Christmas (4 weeks)

My 2 handsome boys on Christmas Eve

Eating minty chocolate bars in front of the tree

Cole slept through the entire church service

Santa came and he brought a drill!!!!

Goofy action shot with his safety goggles on
Staring at all of his loot and the Christmas tree
Even Cole was wide awake on Christmas morning
Big brother kiss

3 weeks

Cole is still growing like crazy. We have really noticed his cheeks getting chubbier and he's now got a little belly. He's now eating every 2.5-3 hours and the majority of his awake time is during the day and evening. We just switched his formula to see if we can help him out with his spit ups and huge amount of gas. This little boy can fart as loud as his dad! My parents have been here all week and will be here through next week. They have both been a huge help and have given me a chance to get a little more sleep and continue recovering. I'm actually feeling pretty well even though I've been sleeping in the recliner most nights. I started driving again this week so Cade and I and either grandpa or grandma have been running errands in the afternoons. It's nice to at least get out of the house.

2 weeks

Cole is now 2 weeks old and is growing like crazy. We had him into the doctor today for his 2 week check and he gained 12 oz in a week! He's up to 6 lbs 12 oz now. I guess those feedings every 2 hours are paying off. He continues to have his awake times and sleepy times a little messed up. He likes to be up from 10pm-2am but I think we are slowly changing that. He and I slept in the recliner most of last night. Then he was up from 6:30 - 8 and was up a few other times today but seems sleepy now. I have my fingers crossed that he will sleep better tonight. After Cole's appt, we went out to dinner and to Southdale for a little while. It was good for Cade to get out and also good for me. Sean and Cade have made a few trips to Target this week but I haven't gone anywhere since last Friday. It's been another rough week of recovery with cramping in my stomach and for some odd reason my left shoulder has been cramping up too. It seems to be better finally today. Sean has really been doing alot to help me get some extra sleep and keep both boys fed and happy. I'll be a little sad when he goes back to work on Monday but luckily my parents are coming on Monday afternoon to help out through Christmas. Then, Sean will be home again the week between Christmas and New Year's. I'm going to have 5 weeks of help and am thankful beyond words.

Sean and Cade on the train at Southdale

Cole waiting for his big brother and daddy

One week

It's hard to believe that Cole is one week old already. We took him to the doctor today for a quick weight check and bilirubin check. He was up to 6 lbs from 5lbs 11oz at discharge and only an ounce away from his birth weight. No jaundice to worry about either. He has another appt in a week for the standard 2 week check. When we were making the appt, Dr Stealey happened to be in the office and was nice enough to schedule something with us during his non-office time. Since he's Cade's primary doctor and a really great guy, we want him to be Cole's primary as well. I love the fact that we go to such a wonderful pediatrician's office. After our doctor's appt, we went to our first lunch out as a family of four. Luckily we went to a Baker's Square that was not busy and we were seated in the least busy portion of the restaurant. Cade decided to spend most of lunch running around and chatting with people. Good thing he's a big flirt and can get by with it. Cole got his first public restroom changing where we ran into a woman that insisted on touching him while I was trying to change him. I almost started screaming at her to stop touching my child. How can people be so rude? Why do they automatically think it's ok to touch babies? I wished I had our big red stop sign from Children's, that is hanging on our car seat, plastered to his forehead. I'm not sure if even that would have been a deterrent though. Of course, there were many nice people there too that commented on how cute he was and asked how old he was.

Things we know about Cole so far:1. He has a head full of blond hair. It's funny to see such a blondie in our otherwise dark family. But, both his aunt Marcy and his uncle Andy were blond as babies.
2. He is a ladies man like his big brother. The night nurses fell in love with him. He really was only in the nursery at night and I heard form our nurse and our nursing assistant that he was the favorite in the nursery. The assistant finally decided that she had to put him down because she didn't want to spoil him.
3. He can shoot poop with the best of them. While the night nurse was changing him, he shot poop all the way across his plastic bassinet. He also got daddy's hand full of poop yesterday.
4. He has pooped more in 4 days of being home than Cade did in his first month home.
5. He pees like a fountain over everything. Cade never really did.
6. He's a good eater. He takes 2 oz at every bottle and eats every 2-3 hours.
7. He can hold his head up and turn it and has been able to since the day after he was born.
8. He can focus his eyes on your face already.

Surprise!

Baby Bober decided to come a little earlier than expected. On the night of Thanksgiving, I went to bed with a feeling that the baby was going to come even though I didn't have any signs of labor. By 12:15, I woke up with some bleeding and told Sean that we needed to call the doctor. I explained my situation to the on-call doctor and at first he said, "ok, I think you should call the office in the morning." I think he said that at first because the bleeding could be coming from my cerclage. But, I asked again and he said, "yep, head to the hospital and I'll tell them you are coming." So, we packed up Cade and headed to Abbott. Once we were there, I started to have contractions but they were not very consistent. By the time the doctor got there, I was contracting every 3 minutes even though I didn't know it. So, he said that since I was in labor, had bleeding and was at 36 weeks that he thought we should deliver the baby. He told us that at 36 weeks, we were likely to be able to take the baby home with us when I was discharged. But, they called the special care nursery and got them prepped for our pre-term baby. Sean quickly took Cade up to Andy and Jill's and was back in time to head to the OR with me. Then, by 5:45am Cole Andrew Bober was born. He came out screaming which was such a relief. He was 6 lbs 1 oz and 19 1/4" long. Even his Apgar scores were great at 8 and 9. He ended up with some bruising on his face so for awhile the doctors and nurses weren't sure if he was turning blue or if he was bruised. But, his O2 levels were high so they decided that he had bruising around his nose. He ended up in the regular nursery. I couldn't believe it. No NICU needed!