July 23, 2008

  • 5 weeks!

    Well here it is – 9:56 p.m. — and I am finally sitting down to write my weekly Colt Report. 

    Colt - 1 Month Old

    He started smiling some this week – but I haven’t been able to get a picture yet. I hope he is smiling a lot more by this time next week and I can get a shot of it. He’s really started to enjoy playing a little more every day. In the crib:

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    And on the floor:

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    If you look closely at that last photo – I was trying to get a picture of him checking himself out in the mirror. He loved it!

    Colt with Mom - 5 weeks old

     

     

    I set the timer to take our picture today. Try to direct your attention to the baby in the photo – instead of the crazy, sleep-deprived lady holding him.

     

     

     

     

     

    He’s getting more and more alert (and less and less hair!) every day. Still eating well and sleeping well at night. In fact, he’s officially moved from the bassinet in our room to the crib in his room!  

    Colt - 5 weeks old

    I really have some incredibly talented friends. Nancy met us up on campus last night to take some photos. And they are amazing! She did such a great job. Here are a few of my favorites–

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    Until next week!

July 18, 2008

  • One Month Young

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    Another exciting week in the life of Baby Hood! Though I couldn’t quite get my act together to have Colt participate in Cow Appreciation Day last weekend at Chick-fil-A, we did have a good week.

    I know I’ve mentioned before that our backyard is like our own personal Wild Kingdom. This week was no different. In addition to our regulars – the bunnies, cats, and at least one unwelcome mole – we had these critters:

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    We needed you, Chip! We still haven’t seen any bears, so you must have scared them all away when you were last here.  

     

     

     

    Jeff is back from his trip out west to Mt. Rainier – and my few days of single parenthood are finally over!

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    He had a good time and is glad to be home. While he was gone, Nancy and her family took me in – so Colt and I spent the weekend playing Wii bowling (which I am embarrassed to admit made me sore for days) and hanging out with Nancy, Matt, Abby and Ethan.

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    Abby and Colt – singing the ABCs.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    We had such a good time that we stayed all day Saturday. Inexperienced first-timer that I am, I didn’t anticipate how long we’d be gone and I didn’t bring enough diapers. So as we were leaving Saturday night – Matt and Nancy helped me put this HUGE diaper from Ethan’s stash on Colt for the ride home. Poor guy.

     

     

     

    We had a few visitors from my office this week, too – which was great. It was good to see all of them and catch up on what’s been going on at work. Other than that it’s been a nice, quiet, fourth week of “babyhood” for Colt and me. He’s still eating and sleeping well – and growing like crazy. I didn’t get to weigh him this week – but I think he’s easily up to 8 pounds. And his Mama is trying not to get too upset at his beautiful little baby head going bald!

    Thanks to all of you for the happy thoughts and well wishes —

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July 11, 2008

  • You’re Gonna Miss This – Trace Adkins

    She was starin’ out the window of their SUV
    Complainin’, sayin’ “I can’t wait to turn 18″
    She said “I’ll make my own money, and I’ll make my own rules”
    Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
    Then she kissed her head and said “I was just like you”

    You’re gonna miss this
    You’re gonna want this back
    You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
    These are some good times
    So take a good look around
    You may not know it now
    But you’re gonna miss this

    Before she knows it she’s a brand new bride
    In a one-bedroom apartment, and her Daddy stops by
    He tells her “It’s a nice place”
    She says “It’ll do for now”
    Starts talkin’ about babies and buyin’ a house
    Daddy shakes his head and says “Baby, just slow down”

    Cause you’re gonna miss this
    You’re gonna want this back
    You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
    These are some good times
    So take a good look around
    You may not know it now
    But you’re gonna miss this

    Five years later there’s a plumber workin’ on the water heater
    Dog’s barkin’, phone’s ringin’
    One kid’s cryin’, one kid’s screamin’
    And she keeps apologizin’
    He says “They don’t bother me.
    I’ve got 2 babies of my own.
    One’s 36, one’s 23.
    Huh, it’s hard to believe, but…

    You’re gonna miss this
    You’re gonna want this back
    You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
    These are some good times
    So take a good look around
    You may not know it now
    But you’re gonna miss this”

July 9, 2008

  • 3 weeks!

    Time is flying! Colt is 3 weeks old today and growing like crazy. He gained back up to his birth weight (and then some!) before he was a week old — and, though we haven’t been back to the doctor for an official weigh-in, I swear he’s gotta be 8 pounds by now. When we were at Keith and Don’s last weekend for the 4th, we weighed the little guy on their bathroom scale — 8 pounds — but with his clothes on and everything, I don’t know how accurate that is.

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    He’s eating well and sleeping well, and Jeff is trying to keep me from getting cabin fever by taking the two of us out - in some fashion – nearly every day. Colt’s made appearances at Wal-Mart, Jason’s Deli, Sam’s Club, Chick-fil-A, the Post Office, Target, and today we had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. He is SO good for the most part and mostly sleeps while we’re out.

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    Colt’s already pretty good about keeping his days and nights straight — and we spend our days playing on the floor, reading, and dancing to music on GAC tv. I can already tell that he inherited his parents’ love of Country music and it soothes him like little else.

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    I think he’s really close to smiling, and his muscles are getting very strong — he’ll be holding up his head and rolling over in no time!

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July 7, 2008

  • Happy 4th of July!

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    As has become the tradition, Jeff and I spent the 4th of July with Keith, Don and crew — and this year we brought our little firecracker along to celebrate.

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    There was food and fun — and we were all marveling at the fireworks Don had bought this year and couldn’t wait to set them off. I have no idea why – but it’s legal to shoot fireworks in your front yard here in NWA… so we set up shop in the street in front of Keith and Don’s house.

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    Shortly after that photo was taken, Jeff and I had our very first “must-protect-our-young” moment. We were on our way home, and had just put Colt in the car. We were sticking around to set off one of the “big” fireworks so we could show-up the pansies down the street. While we stood in the driveway – beside the car – Randy (friend of Don’s from Dallas) lit something wild and it tipped over as it went off — shooting horizontally across the ground – AT US – and AT the CAR containing our CHILD. And - it was time to go. We were in the car and out of the driveway in about 5 seconds. Happy 4th of July everyone!

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July 1, 2008

  • The Baby Diaries: Week 2

    Tomorrow Colt will be 2 whole weeks old – which is truly hard to believe. We waited for him for so long and we are enjoying every minute of him being here. I am almost ready to say that I can’t remember what we did without him.

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    He’s such a sweet little guy, and – understandably – I’ve been unable to fight off the visitors since he arrived. We have been so lucky to be surrounded by family and friends the last few weeks– coming to visit, bringing supper, and helping us keep some sanity by helping out around the house. (Not to mention how polite everyone has been in not commenting on our overrun-by-baby-ness little house!)

    Being the Northwest Arkansas native that he is, it is only fitting that Colt make a pilgrimage second only to a Razorback sporting event — Wal-Mart! He escorted me on a short trip late last week, and – though he slept the whole time – seemed to enjoy himself.

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    And Grandmother and Pop came to visit this weekend! Grandmother tried unsuccessfully to convince Pop that they had come to take Colt home with them – but they enjoyed meeting him and we had a nice weekend.

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    Nearly as important as attending a game and calling the Hogs – we took Colt on a walk around campus on Sunday. Among his cool new toys (most of which he is not quite big enough to enjoy yet) is a jogging stroller - courtesy of Ross. It completely dwarfs him and I’m fairly certain the harness system in the seat would protect him should we want to stroll to the Moon and back — but he loved it. We walked around campus and got some much needed fresh air.

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    Looking forward to a thrilling and fun-filled Week 3 — we’ll keep you updated!

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June 28, 2008

  • One step forward, two steps back.

    Dear Bill,

    I understand I have you to thank for inadvertently informing my husband of the existence and accessibility of the “Sports and Information Tier” of cable channels. We were barely scraping by with only three devoted Sports channels, their HD equivalents, and the frequently aired sports programming on network television. Now, (while we are still only able to watch one at a time…) we are blessed to have access to an additional eleven sports channels.

    I suppose it’s only appropriate that - in adding another boy to the house in the last week - we adjust our TV programming accordingly. I trust that we’re prepared– even if Colt gets a hankering for Canadian Football or archived “Classic” basketball games. Though if it were up to his Dad, we would be able to opt out of such wastes-of-space as the NHL Network and the Tennis Channel…

    The silver lining here (and you know there had to be one) is that I finally get the Discovery Health Channel! Apparently, the “Discovery Tier” isn’t a top seller — they throw it in when you subscribe to the ”Sports and Information Tier”. And if it takes wading through gems like the Golf Channel and The NFL Network to get to all the good baby shows on Discovery Health – it’s worth it. Not to mention the fact that football will no longer only seemingly last all year long…

    Thanks again for your help,  

    One Very Satisfied Customer

     

June 25, 2008

  • Colt: First Week on the Job

    It’s hard to believe he’s been here a whole week already! It’s been very exciting – and I know everyone is anxious for updates on the little guy.

    We got home late Thursday night after we endured what we gather was one of the more pleasant Labor and Delivery experiences EVER. As Frank and Sarah put it – we think we’ve hit the Baby Lottery. Healthy pregnancy, easy delivery, healthy baby J  And he shares a birthday with a few notables – Aunt Erlene, Ms. Linda, and Sam Woods!

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    Grandma and Grandpa Martin made it to town to visit in the hospital before we came home, and Aunt Becky was there, too. Tara, Jami, Autumn and Nancy also couldn’t resist and dropped by to see us in the hospital.  Friday – at home, Aunt Lynn drove up from Little Rock to say hello – and tried her hardest to convince Jeff that Colt needs some LSU duds – good luck, Lynn! J And Beth and Ms. Connie came to say hi. Saturday, Frank and Sarah brought lunch and we had a good time visiting with them. We have loved all the visitors and are so thrilled that everyone is as excited as we are that Colt is finally here! It takes a village, right?

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    First night at home was good – only woke up twice to eat. Colt’s been letting us sleep 3 or 4 hours at a time – so no complaints there! And he’s started eating like a madman in the last few days – so we were anxious to hear the doctor’s report at our appointment yesterday morning. He weighed 6lbs 6oz at birth and was down to 6lbs when we left the hospital. We had read that it takes babies 7-10 days to get back up to their birth weight and breastfed babies – sometimes longer. So we were mostly hoping he hadn’t lost more weight by his appointment. Well… the little porker weighs 6lbs 8.5ozs! Even the doctor was impressed! Everything else checked out, the doctor gave Colt an “A+”, and told us we were “remarkably relaxed” for first time parents. We walked out of his office beaming – yah! Gold star for Colt!

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    Thank you so much for all the well wishes, congratulations, and prayers – we have never been so thankful for friends and family. We would love to see you – any and all of you – please let us know if you’ll be in town.

June 23, 2008

  • Colt misses Grandma and Grandpa Martin - they had to get home for Grandma’s surgery, but we hope they come back soon!

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June 20, 2008

  • Colt Edmund. Born Wednesday, 18 June at 3:06 pm. 6lbs 6 oz. 19 3/4 inches.

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