And that's 2008

I don't know what you think of 2008, what the history books will say about the late stock market fall, President Bush going out with less than favorable fanfare, Obama elected, wars being all over the Middle East, oil spiking at $145 a barrel, the Beijing Olympics and Michael Phelps' feats ... but, it was a banner year around the Fletcher house. June 18th would figure to be the most memorable day, Kole's birthday, but it was actually June 17th that Kathy and I keep re-living and talking about when we're sipping wine in the hot tub. What a day that was, beginning about 5:00am when Kathy woke up with "cramps", then it led to us being at the hospital before 8:00am, then came pacing the halls of Arlington Memorial ... it was the day that would never end. The June 18th birth date was an early-morning technicality, but what I remember most about the 18th is watching Kathy writhe in unspeakable pain. I was elated, but mentally and physically exhausted from the hours that had preceded.
Lots of pain and discomfort for Kathy most of the year, before and after the birth, but by June 19th the smiles kept adding up. Here at year's end, the smiles beat the frowns by a landslide.
Kole isn't crawling or walking yet, but probably isn't far away from either. We're enjoying our last few moments of setting him down and knowing he'll be close to there if we walk away for 10 seconds. Lots of milestones still to come in 2009, with Kole and with Kathy and I.
Will Kathy return to work? Will Kole have a brother or sister? All questions we've heard before and still don't know the answers to. We agreed at about last April or May that we were going to get through the holidays before discussing any of it. Right now, I'm as thankful as I've ever been for my job and the little freelance gigs that have come along that have kept us comfortably afloat this year. Kathy wasn't making 6-figures in her previous job, but it was a handsome income that is quickly missed when it vanishes in an instant. I say I'm thankful for my job, when it has been as challenging as it ever has in Big 12 Showcase's 13 years on the air. Because of budget cuts and loss of sponsors, we took the show off the road and into studio, and the cuts keep coming. But, pink slips haven't been handed out, so the glass is still half-full here.
I leave you with a picture taken earlier today, December 31st. No - Kole is not pulling himself up just yet. But, if you stand him up in his crib, he'll happily stand and dance for a while.
A happy and safe 2009 to all, and a very hearty thanks for all of you who helped make 2008 unforgettable for us.

Six Months, Doctor's Update

Upon turning 6 months old, Kole was rewarded with a trip to the doctor's office. He weighed 18 pounds, 15 ounces; his length is 29 and 1/4 inches; head circumference 17 and 3/4 inches.
At 29.25 inches, he is above the 97th percentile for 6-month-olds (longer than 97% of the babies in America his same age). Another way of looking at it is - he is exactly the average length of a 12-month-old. His weight is just over the 60th percentile, slightly better than average for his age.
Doctor is very impressed and happy with his health and appearance. He got three shots and one vaccination orally. He whimpered for a bit, but didn't put on a big crying display. He handled it like a boy.

Moments of Discovery

A day short of turning 6 months old, Kole is doing everything but crawling, and he may have developed one of the senses that separates humans from the animals - a sense of his own being.
On the crawling - he has two stances right now. First is the body-surfing stance, essentially balanced on his belly button, hands and feet off the ground. He does this with the idea that his hands and feet are free to reach and kick. But then comes the on-all-fours look - where he's on his hands and knees, rocking slowly. Kathy and/or I will sit there encouraging him to move forward, putting a toy or something he wants out in front of him. But, instead of forward movement, he normally just reverts back to Stance A on the belly. He's getting ever so close - and Kathy and I recognize our fleeting final days of being able to contain him in one general area of the floor.
Another area of discovery is his hands. He looks like he's doing signing for the deaf - or perhaps doing a sock-puppet show without socks. He'll put his hands out, then anything is fair game ... the beauty-pageant wave, the open-close claw, the hippie on acid tripped out by watching his hand wave side to side in front of his eyes ... he'll get both hands working and it's quite amusing. One by-product of this has been mockery. The whole happy-hands thing has created a new world of mimicking. If he appears frustrated, or is obviously hungry and getting a quick case of the red-ass while a bottle is being made, all you have to do is start waving, or open-closing your hands like little chompers, and he'll immediately crack a smile and start doing his hands, putting them out and waving and clasping them.
Another trick for shutting him up when he's upset (are we veteran parents or what!) is to take him to a mirror. He likes what he sees so far. He's fascinated with either Kathy or I through a mirror, and I can only assume that he's fascinated by the prospect of noticing himself. I'll attach photos on this - he even has a little mirror that is one of about four things that dangle from one other little toy he has. But, if we take the mirror and lay it down he will find it, look at the image of himself and hold a frozen stare like a cat that just spotted a mouse. He puts his nose 1 or 2 inches from the mirror and stares. And stares. And stares. It's fun watching and imagining what's going on inside his mind.
He has a doctor's appointment on the 18th, so we'll have an accurate count of his measurements.

Big Day with Santa

Big day at the mall for the little one - another visit with his little pals Noah and Sarah (whose mothers Kathy went through child birth classes, etc.), and a big visit with Santa at the Parks Mall in Arlington. Kole hasn't been strolling with Sarah very long, but felt brave enough in their relationship to begin sucking on her fingers instead of his own. She appeared to enjoy it, and Kole never stopped laughing at her.

Thanksgiving at Wah-Hoo

Scenes from Thanksgiving Day at the Wah-Hoo Ranch - including Kole's after-dinner fireside visit with Grammy, Grandpa Gedy, Grammy's horse Biscuit, and a big smile with Mommy.

Kole's Thanksgiving wishes

Kole gives his own Thanksgiving wishes to everyone ... whales, dolphins and humans. The groan at the end is the ultimate kicker.

Scary Day

When we started this page, we wanted it to be about Kole and not about us. But, since most who read this are concerned friends and family, and if you haven't heard the full story yet, this is as good as any place to explain it.
Monday around 12:30 in the middle of the afternoon, while I was at work, Kathy got a knock at the door. She looked through the peep-hole and saw a young Hispanic-looking guy at the door she did not know. Looked clean cut enough, jeans, tucked-in plaid long-sleeve shirt. Kathy was going to ignore the knocker and wait for him to move on - like a trick-or-treater when you have no more candy. Instead, the guy changed his tune and began banging on the door with a fist, like he was a landlord at the door of a delinquent tenant. Kathy continued to watch out the peep-hole as he walked away, then the black SUV parked on the curb turned off its engine and a second Hispanic-looking guy came to the door and took his turn pounding the door. With Kathy's pulse racing, the second guy took a few steps back, got on a cell phone and appeared to be telling someone our house address - as if he was asking someone if they had the right house. He spoke in Spanish and Kathy couldn't understand. He then put his cell phone down, satisfied with the information given to him, then with Kathy still watching through the peep-hole, watched as the second guy strode purposely towards the door then WHAM! kicked the door with all his might.
Kathy then ran to the bedroom and retrieved the loaded .38 Special I keep in my bedside table - as she's doing this she hears WHAM! .... WHAM! more kicks to the door. By the time she dials 911, a fourth blow had been delivered to the front door in broad daylight.
It's hard to reconstruct this story, but she says the whole time Kole was in his swing, where she put him when she first heard the door knock. Maggie, our cowardly guard dog, mustered a low growl - but even Kathy guesses that she was probably just feeding off of Kathy's own fear, instead of reacting protectively to what was on the other side of the door.
With the 911 operator on line, the kicks stopped and Kathy checked the peep-hole and saw where the two guys and the black SUV were both gone. They left with as many unanswered questions as why they came and picked our house in the first place. The cop eventually arrived and said this had all the characteristics of a typical mid-day burglary attempt.
I took Kathy to the gun range just after we married and tried to get her to accustomed to shooting the gun - but she was just too fearful, and unnerved by the other people shooting large hand cannons just feet away. Still, she had the gun in hand and insists she was ready to use it. The cop later gave her some tips, about keeping the gun closer to her body instead of holding it outstretched like a Charlie's Angels pose. He complimented her on being cool enough to call 911, and said next time, if it escalates to someone attempting to kicking down the door, it might be a good idea to shout something about having a gun, police on the way, etc. Plus, he gave a good pointer to arm our security system (right by our garage door) to where alarms would sound at the first crack of the door.
It was a good stop-down opportunity to review all procedures if the scenario should repeat itself.
I got home before 3:00 and the wine began to flow, taking the edge off of some frayed nerves. In the end, everyone was okay.
Photo: the shoe prints on our front door. Thought we'd have the evidence to compare it to the shoe on the corpse if this should happen again.

Milestones Abound

It's the 18th of the month, which means that Kole turns over another month - and this makes it 5 months. I think I gave as much of an update of emotional and physical development as possible in the previous post, but really in the last 48 hours we've had a groundbreaking development. I'll let you see the video with your own eyes. There's really nothing more I can say or add.
We both weighed ourselves with Kole, then weighed ourselves without him and took the difference. We were about 6 ounces apart, which is as close as we've ever been. So I think we're fairly accurate, though the weight he's put on is fairly significant - over a full pound in a month, plus one inch. Still, he is only slightly ahead of the bell-curve for his age. It's nothing alarming, he's just right on top of that shaded area of averages for height and weight on the growth chart. As the doctor said last month - he's healthy and happy, the portions of what he's eating are not out of whack, everything is fine. He's just on an earlier growth spurt than the average - and that may all catch up when he's between 4 and 5 and other kids have a more significant spurt, or between ages 11-13, etc. It should be noted, however, that this past month he has been eating more solid foods - oatmeal cereal, bananas, peaches and pears, mostly.
Enjoy the video. Monday afternoon I talked to Kathy from work and she was like - I finally saw him do it by himself! I then wondered how he would do if a camera was propped on him. Making his daddy really proud, he glommed the camera and performed on cue!

Closing out the 4th month

Kole will turn 5 months next week - but until he gets to that point, before we really start grasping for new milestones and new signs of what a big boy he's becoming, we're really trying to harness the sensation of him being a cheery, happy little baby.
From what we read, the 5th month will begin a real emotional development - when he'll become real connected to Kathy and I and recognize us as mother and father, his key caregivers. He will be outwardly emotional and clingy, which is all very cool. But, there will also be separation anxiety and he will bear a large potential to be scared by strangers. So, it's the give and take of growing up, moving up in status from infant to young toddler.
He is still a ways from crawling, and from what we can tell he is beginning to turn over on his own. He's done it a couple of times for sure - but when we weren't looking. Still, he hasn't shown a consistent pattern of showing he can freely do so.
He is still growing like a weed. He now wears clothes that are labeled 9 to 12 months. It's easy to tell by his appetite. Just earlier today, he was cranky and crying and obviously hungry. Kathy stirred up some oatmeal cereal with some pears and peaches - and the kid was like a newly-hatched chick in a nest, craning his neck and crying for more. As soon as Kathy would plunge a spoonful of food in his mouth, he'd be crying again the instant she'd pull the spoon free. It's hard for the two of us not to watch and laugh. It's like ... EASY KID, IT'S COMING! Geez!

Clothes ... Lefty??

The Little One is growing out of many of his clothes, and it's reaching a point that has us scratching our heads. As I keep saying, he's growing faster length-wise than he is outwardly. At the doctor's office, still technically a full week from turning a full 4 months, he was 27 inches long at his '4-month check-up'. I keep reading different things online, including other parents' random blogs like mine, and the average length I keep seeing is 22-24 inches.
The element that causing us a great inconvenience is that clothes-makers seem to go by these averages as well. Kole is wearing clothes that, on their tag, are for 6-9 month olds. And if you read the fine print of the tag, is actually for babies 24-27 inches long. So ... as you can see, Kole is about to out-grow "9-month old" clothes.
After the baby showers and all the initial infant stages, we were on clothes overload. There are some stages where he never had to wear an outfit more than once or twice because he had so many to choose from. Now?? We keep rotating and washing the same 5-7 outfits for every-day wearing, plus the PJs with the little footies for sleeping.
Kathy's been doing lots of shopping lately, but is finding that when babies get to that 9-12 month stage, most are at that crawling/walking stage and everything is pants and tops. Nobody really makes onesies with the snap-crotch at that age. But, here's Kole now needing clothes that most clothing makers are sizing 9-months and up.
It's still far from an issue that is at critical stage - but at this point it's on that border of frustrating and slightly amusing. More of the frustration is aimed towards the clothing makers who have determined that 4-6 month old babies, by average, are about 12 pounds and 23 inches. So, his wardrobe has been greatly diminished as a result.

I've also noticed a recent trend, watching him handle a rattle or little toy. With his right hand, he seems to only have control over it for a couple of seconds before losing grip and having it fall out. But with his left, he sustains a grip on it for 3 or 4 or 5 minutes, with vigorous shaking and constant motion. I don't know if this precludes him being a lefty, but he has shown some early left-hand dominance. Also, while being fed a bottle, I'm seeing some consistency in trends, though it could be the way we have him positioned in our arms. But, his right hand will sit idly on your hand, or the bottle, while his left flails wildly and happily to his side, rubbing his head, and gripping certain things around.
These are just things I've noticed, and not suggesting that either one of us thinks he'll be left handed or whatever. Just interesting observations.

First Holiday?

Don't know if this exactly qualifies as a first holiday. July 4th was technically his first holiday, where he got his first bath. But, at least there's an element of dress-up to Halloween, which more entertains the mother in this case than the baby. She found an outfit too good to pass up, so she bought it several weeks ago. The week of Halloween is also National X-Ray Technician Week (whether you knew it or not), so the skeleton suit was a perfect tribute to both. Since he won't be going door to door for candy, plus the fact that I'll be in Iowa on Halloween night, we decided to play around tonight.

1st Quarter Earnings

Four months old today - a full quarter year. I haven't been good about updating the milestones, so I'll update them now. Many of which come along so subtle, it's hard to define one moment as the milestone. Normally something just gradually happens, and it takes us a while to realize that it's repetitive, then we deduce that it is a trend and a new physical or personality trait.
Like this past week, we would notice a little noise coming out of him - different from his normal cooing and goo-goo noises. Finally we realized that when he would yawn, he would have one of these old-man groans that accompanies it. Very high-pitched and baby-like, but one of those long, sustained, almost sing-song moan and groans with a yawn. Then he'll smack his mouth. He's like a miniature old man. It's hilarious!!
One of his favorite things to do is to stand up and put weight on his legs and feet - like if you were to hold him up in your lap with his feet on your legs. I guess just the act of being vertical and upright is so cool, he will giggle and laugh and do his happy-howl.
Photos: One of the photos I'll attach is of us feeding him cereal this week - his first with solid food. He makes a big mess, but he loves that oatmeal cereal stuff and gets real happy when he's fed. Another photo I'll attach is with him wearing his mom's favorite outfit. We wish each outfit had a Post-It not on it or something to remind us of who bought it, but Kathy thinks his red pin-stripe jammies is the coolest looking thing on him. The catch is, the size on the tag is "6-9 months". We now have to look at clothes not by the suggested age of the tag, but the height/weight dimensions, as he's 27 inches-plus, and climbing towards 17 pounds.
He's a good, happy boy with parents who are slowly but surely getting the hang of things.

Update from Doctor's Visit

Little one had a visit with Dr. Carlson today for a 4-month check-up, though four months won't technically come until next week. He had some shots due, so he got FOUR of those. Kathy said he absolutely freaked - red-faced crying with tears in his eyes. She said she could barely contain herself just watching. But, he survived and came home with a smile.
He weighed 16 lbs, 6.1 oz., so he's more than doubled his birth weight in four months. He is 27 inches long. I'm tempted to say still 27 inches long, but I was probably off when I measured him at that three weeks ago at the 3-month mark. In fact, since the doctor's visit today is official, I'm modifying Kole's chart to reflect that he was 26 inches at 3 months.
Otherwise, Kole is healthy as a horse and everything is going well. The doctor's quote: "Whatever you guys are doing is perfect for him." And for what it's worth, his head circumference is now 17 inches. Otherwise, the weight and height chart since birth is ...
Birth: 8 lbs, 2 oz - 21 inches
1 Mo: 10 lbs, 9 oz - 23 inches
2 Mo: 13 lbs, 1 oz - 24 inches
3 Mo: 15 lbs, 10 oz - 26 inches
4 Mo: 16 lbs, 6 oz - 27 inches

Update II (10/11) Little guy had a rough night last night - crying or irritated pretty much all night. We ended up giving him a dose of baby Tylenol twice, then actually took our first toil with semi-solid food. We fed him rice cereal just before he went to bed to see if that would help knock him out, and apparently it did as he slept well all night. In fact, he's working on a solid 12-hour snooze right now.
It's Texas-OU week, and it's hard for me not to forget that it was Texas-OU last year that we found out that Kathy was pregnant.

Crib peeker

Beyond the physical stats of length and weight, perhaps there's no better image of how big he's getting than seeing him hold himself up on his belly, craning his neck up to see what's on the other side of the crib.

Ticklish Kole

We discovered a soft spot on the little critter. Right on his bare belly - when bathing him or changing a diaper - we've now found that he is ticklish!

Play Date

Kathy made two good friends during her pregnancy, as she took classes through Arlington Memorial Hospital for birthing, breastfeeding and infant care. Among a handful of others, two young mothers named Beverly and Ellie were who Kathy kept in contact with through pregnancy, emailing and phone calling, sharing misery, asking advice, etc. Both other girls ended up giving birth on June 16 - Beverly had a little girl (Sara) and Ellie had a boy (Noah). In fact, Beverly was still in the hospital recovering on the 17th when Kathy and I went in for our big, long, marathon day of labor. So anyway - they've kept in touch and Kathy has seen each individually since the births, but they all three got together today with their kids. It was just the second time we've seen Kole around a baby near his same age. We had the one meeting with our next door neighbor who was born in April and Kole was obviously bigger than already.
Kole was a lot bigger than the little girl, Sara. But, he was just longer than Noah by an inch or two. But, they were about the same size. Like Kathy, Ellie (who is from England and has only been in the US for less than 5 years and still has a thick, wonderful British accent) gave up breastfeeding soon after birth and her baby has been on the bottle as well. So, maybe that's contributed to their early growth spurt.
Anyway, I'm attaching a photo of Kole's first day with his first little friends.

Speak Up

Since I never technically gave a three-month update, I'll go ahead and do that and see what else I can add that I didn't at 12 weeks. For one, I'll add this video so you can see what sort of conversations we have around the house. It's still very much a toss-up as to which of us Kole will look like, or resemble in one personality facet or another. Even people at our church where Kathy grew up and dozens upon dozens of people have known her all her life insist that he looks like me. The only thing I can really figure is that people keep saying he has really long eyelashes, which is one of my stronger traits. If he can get the rest of his looks from his mother, he's in great shape.
Today we had a little boys day out. Since Friday I went out and played golf, then Saturday had a working assignment at the Texas A&M-Miami football game, I gave Kathy the day off today. Kole and I went to Costco and to Home Depot and he was a model child. Of course, we left right after a feeding, so he was good and groggy the whole time, but never really knocked out asleep.
Check the video out. I purposely left my own goo-goo commentary out of it and just let him do his thing. Obviously unprovoked verbally, but I'm holding the camera with my right hand while doing funny faces off to the left (his right).

12 Weeks

It's weird what to think and count - is he still a week away from being three months? But, as of today he's 12 weeks. Well, actually it's a week from tomorrow that it will actually be September 18, but 12 weeks is the official count right now.
No - it doesn't just seem like yesterday that we brought him home. But, I can't remember counting down 12 weeks quite the same as this. It's everyone's nature to say the time flies by - especially in a retrospective look back. But, being in the moment, 12 weeks has seemed like 12 weeks with Kole. There are so many milestones you can't wait for him to achieve, in order to maintain your sanity, but there are times when it seems like it just flies by in an instant.
I am elated that he spends more time smiling than crying, coming from a stage where crying is all he knew how to do and poop. Now he smiles and laughs and goes Ooooooohh all day and all night. This morning I sort of woke him up from a dead sleep at 6am. He was already kicking a little, shifting, but I rubbed him then turned him on his back. It's our little routine to get him worked up and want to eat. We're now keeping him on a fairly regular eat/sleep schedule. So I roll him over, he has the bewildered look anyone should have when they've just snapped out of a dead sleep, but within seconds he notices me and smiles his big cheeky, toothless smile - kicking his feet and flopping his arms around. It's a great daddy moment.
I'm attaching a photo of the clothes he has now left behind - 31 onesies or outfits since we brought him home. One has a tag left on it, plus there are two others he never wore. Even when we brought him home there were a handful of outfits we struggled getting his head through. He outgrew many, quickly. Really, it's his length that is outgrowing things the quickest. The quickest way for us to tell he's outgrowing something is when we have to struggle to button up his pants from the bottom, between his legs. From his shoulders to his crotch they just get more and more stretched - eventually barely hanging of his shoulders and arcing underneath his neck, plus being tight around his diaper.
Kathy has always dodged the topic of having a second baby - especially since Kole's birth and her ... well ... recovery. Another childbirth just wasn't on the radar. But, she has made the initial vow to hang on to these onesies and such "just in case" an oopsie comes along anytime soon. Of course, she admits, keeping boy clothes would almost guarantee a girl if another should come.
As the Just the Facts notes on the left, we weighed him at 15-and-1/2 pounds today. I measured him at 25-and-1/2 inches. He's a growing boy and he's adjusting great to his schedule. He gets to sleep around 10:00-10:30, and for the last few nights [knocking on wood] he has slept until 5:30-6:00am. As noted just above, today he was barely stirring at 6:00, and if I hadn't stirred him up and turned him over he could have easily gone another half hour.
We'll get a better idea of how he is measuring comparatively with babies his age when Kathy catches up with her buddies from childbirth class next week. Both of their babies were born a day or two before Kole.
I'll put one one more picture - with me reading (actually showing) Kole his new book Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. A very clever and astute find by my friend Sara in Iowa. It's about a little baby fox named Fletcher who gets freaked by falling leaves when Fall comes - he thinks the tree is hurt and he tries to put the leaves back on. Eventually, after the plot drags through nearly 10 more pages, an ice storm creates a pretty display of icicles hanging off the tree and it makes Fletcher happy. Unwittingly, he's a perfect Fletcher - innocent and a little dimwitted. Eventually, very entertained by nature.

Into September

Kole is approaching his third month. He is growing and probably around 14 pounds, though we haven't weighed him in a while. He is nearly sleeping 6 hours a stretch at night, and at this point that would be considered an average. He has gone longer, but also shorter. He is up more in the day and plays with things in his hands - a rattle, even a little cloth football that has a little handle on it. He coos loudly and sometimes appears to be attempting to sing. We've caught him more than once staring at his hands as they fidget and wave wildly in front of himself. We have a little Bumbo seat, which helps young kids sit up a little better. Just over a week ago he would sit up for about 10-15 seconds before his head would get to heavy and he would slowly sink his chin into his chest. Now, his head and neck are strong enough to endure several minutes in the Bumbo. When laying down, he can prop himself up on his hand and hold his head up for inspection like a lizard. And with his tongue hanging out at least 20 hours of the day, he may not be far from being a lizard.
It's definitely a transition, parenting wise. He's become more than just a eat-sleep-poop machine, spending all remainder time in a swing to keep him happy. He now needs stimulation in the daytime, and also shows his enjoyment for it more.
Good times in the Iota Nu Beta house (some people haven't got that title. It's to be pronounced: I oughtta knew bettah). College football season is upon us and Kole is beginning to digest the finer points of the no-huddle spread offense, as I try to explain it slowly and use stuffed animals as defense guys.

Finding a Schedule

It's been an interesting week here at the Fletcher house. We think Kole is old enough to where we kind of went into a second gear finally. He's getting bigger and a little personality full of sounds and kicks and reaching is starting to evolve like a chick pecking its way out of a shell. Plus, all the books have said that between 2-4 months, we'll want to get a couple of things accomplished: get him on a nap/sleep and feeding schedule, and get him sleeping in his own crib.
The sleep thing, thankfully (and knocking on wood) he's been real good about. Two nights ago we put him down around 9:30 after a feeding and he went solid until 5:15am. We were both like ... damn! Last night he went down closer to 10pm and woke up hungry around 4am. So, the schedule is coming. KOLE-TV is alive and well in our room now. Our baby monitor has a little A/V plug and I run a cable from that to our TV so we get his little spy cam on our big 38-inch bedroom TV. So long, David Letterman, hello Kole - every kick and squirm live and in war-like night-vision video. He took to his crib real easily. We had been putting him there for a while, letting him lay on his back watching his mobile while stretching and kicking. Now he sleeps like a lazy dog.
We also made a formula change, which all the doctors and books preach against. But, Nestle Good Start with Natural Cultures goes for about $29.49 for a 24-oz. can at our Tom Thumb when it's not on sale. It's the most expensive formula on the entire formula shelf, simply put. But, formula is formula, we're learning. The FDA has such strict standards of what has to be in baby formula, and what cannot be in it, that the back labels of the name brands and the generics are a mirror image. Target sells its brand of denatured whey cultures with DHA & ARA and all the stuff Good Start has, and sells it for $17.29. It takes Kole about 5 days to suck down a can of formula. Do the math. The one thing the Target brand doesn't have is a reuterin additive, which produces antimicrobials. Good Start had it, and it's found naturally in breast milk - simply put, it helps digestion. So, we found a good reuterin additive from the Vitamin Shoppe, we give him a 1/2-teaspoon a day. When we made the formula switch, he at first was grumpy and occasionally screaming in pain, grunting in pain, and he'd have poops that were hard as a rock. The poor kid was constipated and gassy. But, with the reuterin additive he's back making green and yellow chili in his diaper, ooh-ing and smiling more.
I've done a bad job of updating the 'Milestones', but he's now kind-of reaching for toys when he's on one of those play mat things with little toys dangling around. Either that, or he's wildly throwing his arms around and hitting them over and over again.
[PHOTO: Maggie still hasn't warmed up to Kole one bit, but we're still trying.]

KOLE TV

As a further sign that things are getting back to normal, or pretty close to it - we were able to sit out in our hot tub tonight. Kathy needs it for therapy, and I need it to watch the sun set. We took Kole's digital video baby monitor, set up the camera fixed on him in his swing while he watched the Olympics, then took the receiver out to the hot tub. Not a bad system!

**Update: there is not a US television station with the call letters KOLE, but there is a radio station in Port Arthur, Texas - KOLE-AM, it's a Fox radio affiliate that does news talk and carries Rush Limbaugh. Let me know if anyone has access to a t-shirt or bumper sticker to this station.

** Helpful parent tip #1: I haven't offered too many of these because frankly I feel we're steeped too far in the learning process to pass off to many ideas we didn't learn from others first. However, we found an impromptu form of audio baby monitoring using phones. We recently got new digital cordless phones from Panasonic. They're real nice with phone books, caller ID, speaker-phone, just like cell phones. They also can intercom one another. Kathy can take a phone with her to a bath (Bedroom Phone 3) and intercom me in the office (Phone 4) if she needs something, instead of trying to scream at the top of her lungs. Now when we need to monitor Kole and don't want to re-set the camera, we'll just put a phone right next to him, intercom that phone to another wherever we are (Kitchen Phone 1, for example), then put our phone on speaker. Boom. Instant baby monitor.

2 Months in the Books

Calendar says August 18, which is two months from June 18, but time is so weird right now. At times it seems hard remembering life with out the little guy in our life. Other times, Kathy and I look at each other and say - 'Can you believe he didn't even exist this time a year ago?'
His existence was to begin shortly after we got back from our anniversary trip to Vegas last year. But, it ended up taking a little more time. It's a good thing. This way we didn't feel compelled to give him the middle name of Caesar or something (stayed at Caesar's Palace last year).
Did the weigh-in thing while burping him during the early-AM feed - weigh the both of us, minus the weight of me without him. In the past Kathy has done it too, then we see how close we are to his weight difference. She's still asleep, so I went solo and came out with 13 pounds, 1 or 2 ounces. He easily stretches the tape 24 inches. Yesterday we finally got some sort of apples-to-apples comparison to how big he's got. Our next-door neighbors recently had a little boy (named him Cameron Cole, oddly enough) and we finally were both lolly-gagging around our garages yesterday to go fetch our kids and show each other. It was weird walking up and seeing how they're already identically sized. I asked how old he was, she said "he'll be four months in about a week". Okay, he's nearly 4 months, Kole's a day away from 2 months. "How big is he?" I ask ... she then explained where at his doctor's visit earlier in the week he was 12 pounds, 8 ounces. HOLY CRAP!!! So, Kole may have topped 13 pounds in 2 months before our neighbor's kid hits 13 pounds in 4 months. Kathy and I then spent 2 hours convincing oursleves that we are are not doing anything out of the ordinary - feeding him when he's screaming, 3-5 hours between feedings, stopping when he stops. At the pediatrician's visit last week, he went on and on how great Kole looks, everything is normal, normal, normal, he's healthy and great, etc. Yes, he's above average on size right now, but every kid will hit his own growth spurt at a different point in life, then when his voice starts yodeling and his boy parts become man parts, yet another growth spurt may emerge. Still, this kid Cameron was nearly a mirror image of Kole's size, but he could keep his head still, he was blowing spit bubbles, hands neatly propped on his mom's shoulder, all the things 4-month-old kids do; while Kole has nearly the exact body and head, but he's got the tongue stuck out, head bobbing around and hands flailing like an Irishman on St.Patty's Day.
The summer is winding down. It was a blast. Couldn't have picked a better time to have a kid. It's my down-time of the year with the show, and there were some weeks where I only went in for a day or two. I still never technically took a single day off this entire summer, as I continued to play catch-up with my off days from the year (at some points I'd work 25-35 straight days with travel all over the place, all without a single day off). Then the Olympics came along and provided some outstanding 2:00am-6:00am TV watching during feedings. Not to be all name-droppy, but I know probably about 50 athletes in the Olympics - covering their exploits in college, interviewing them, being chummy with them before and after events, meeting their parents, etc. Among my interviewees are gold-medal swimmers Garrett Weber-Gale, Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker and Brendan Hansen - all swimmers at the U. of Texas. I'm also buddies with Ben Askren, freestyle wrestler at 74 kilos (from U. of Missouri), Priscilla Lopes, hurdler from Canada (and U. of Nebraska), and distance runners Jorge Torres and Jenny Barringer (both from U. of Colorado). Still, I've caught myself watching badminton matches between a Spaniard and Mongolian at 4AM and been reasonably entertained. So, the timing of having a kid couldn't have been any better - and it all comes to a crashing halt next week. College football beckons.

The Swing Comparison

Today we finally removed the second head rest from the swing for Kole. The "second head rest" you ask? Well ... do you remember the photo from the "We're Home" post on June 20, when we came back from the hospital. With him in that seat as a "before" photo, here he is today also, just before closing out his 7th full week on this earth.
So, the before/after age difference is: 3 days ... 7 weeks.

Photos from Riley/Reagan visit

Be sure to check with the post below of the video of Kole with Riley and Reagan. I'll add these photos, as Kole first met his only two blood 1st-cousins, who he'll hopefully grow old with and treat like sisters, God willing.
First is a photo with he and I, showing what a big boy he is and how he now holds up his head with no help (I know my left hand is missing, but it's not like I'm grabbing the back of his hair and holding his head up - it's all on his own, I swear! Big t-shirt love to the Valero Alamo Bowl folks out there!).
Then comes photos with Kole and Reagan, then Riley.

Kole video

This is an experiment, if nothing else, at uploading video to this site. Since the video speaks for itself and needs little introduction, I'll address some name-ties to those who don't know my family, or to those out there who apparently have latched onto this blog out of the middle of the nowhere of cyberspace and made a point to tune into my personal life, for whatever reason. My sister, Kelley, has two daughters - my nieces Riley and Reagan - who have been on the road throughout the summer with their daddy (bro-in-law Kelly) since just before Kole was born. Kelly is a pro golfer on the Nationwide Tour, and they have a nice RV they've been touring the country in since about early June. So, when Kole was born, they were hopelessly on the road. Kelley made a return last week before her 40th birthday trip to Mexico, and met Kole then, while Kelly (Don) and the girls just met Kole earlier today. It was the first meeting of Kole with the cousins he'll grow old with, and though my face never showed it, it was an emotional day in my brain.
I thought it was the perfect opportunity to catch on video what Kole has been doing the past week - cooing out loud, nearly on command. Little Reagan got her first chance to hold him and he responded immediately with his own little greeting.

Doctor's visit 2

Today was not a fun day at the pediatrician's office. Shots were the order of business for this visit. Four in all - the 'DTP', Polio, this-that-and-the-other. Kole took it like a boy - screaming his head off at the first poke, but quickly calmed and was cool as a cracker by the time he got in his car seat and was ready to leave the place.

He measured, officially, 12 pounds 13 ounces, 23-and-1/3 inches long, and a head circumference of 16 inches. Doctor says he looks great, is growing well, and is probably on the above-average scale of growth. The slap in the face from that is - it means his body is growing faster than his brain. Doc says smaller babies develop more motor skills (turning over in the crib, etc.) quicker than those who grow out a little faster.

The only thing that made Kathy and I wait till the doctor to leave to giggle about was that he said that we may go ahead and allow more tummy time now, that we need to watch how much time he spends on his back. Truth is - even if he's dead tired, putting him flat on his back is a recipe to have him go ape. On his tummy, he sleeps like a rock. Yes, we know, we know, we know - it's not recommended. But, in the big picture, I think sleep is recommended over no sleep. He likes being on his tummy, so that's that.

The Five Faces of Feeding

Face #1 - This is the early stage, when hunger is imminent. He does not suck his thumb, but will suck a hand or wrist. Getting the sucking muscles warmed up.

Face #2 - This comes 5 to 10 minutes after Face 1. Sucking is accompanied by grunting and kicking. Still very pleasant to be around and fun to watch.


Face #3 - Showing signs of defined unhappiness and distress. If you're not mixing the bottle by now, you're about to have problems.


Face #4 - PUT DOWN THE CAMERA, CUT THE CRAP, AND GET THE DAMN BOTTLE!!!


Face #5 - Resolution. We are beginning to call this the "Victory Stretch", or "5-ounce Touchdown". After he is done, quite instinctively, he goes into a full-body stretch - stretching the biggest stretch he can stretch ... then halts mid-stretch in a full catatonic freeze.


Face #5b - Exhibit B of Victory Stretch. It's so hilarious - he stops sucking, you put the bottle down then get ready to position him to burp, then comes the stretch and the freeze.

First-time visits

I'm not sure if Kole had an eventful week, or if others had more of the eventful week involving him. Anyway - lots of people got their first gander at the little nipper. First was Wednesday, when we went to Graford, TX for a funeral of Kathy's aunt Linda - a great lady who was an old GP High alum and knew many members of my family. If you don't know your Texas geography, Graford is just west of Whitt - so we actually had the opportunity to drop Kole off at my mom and Gedy's house (just 15 minutes away) first for a few hours while Kat and I went to the funeral. We then picked him up, skipped the graveside burial service, then met back up with Kathy's family at her uncle Doug's house in Millsap. This time we brought Kole with us, and he started getting fussy and cranky right about the time we passed through the town of Cool, TX. It brought some needed comic relief to the car ("Cool! This is really Cool around here! I mean ... Dallas is cool, but this place is really, really Cool!!!" Pointing at nothing on the side of the road "Hey - COOL!!") It took 60 seconds for the joke to get old, but it was nice while we had it. Eventually we had a bottle in Kole's mouth when we drove up to the uncle's house. He lives on a hill on about 10 acres and his next door neighbor is Alice Walton, who Forbes currently has at #9 on their list of richest Americans - sitting on a cool 15.5 billion. She's Sam's youngest daughter. Kathy's uncle Doug is a state trooper and provides some security for Alice on the side, so he's the only neighbor she hasn't bought off (she apparently owns most all of the land along the I-20 corridor between Weatherford and Mineral Wells, raising and ranching horses) and they stay in very good graces. ANYWAY - long way to say that all of Kathy's mother's side of the family (the Wood family) got a chance to meet Kole and there was barely a moment when he wasn't being held and loved on.
Then earlier today, Kelley arrived from Omaha so she can turn right around tomorrow and leave for Mexico with my mom and a couple of her friends to go have her 40th birthday bash. I picked her up from the airport and brought her by the house and she got a nose-full of Kole for a couple of hours herself. So, lots of good times had in recent days - even in light of the unfortunate passing of Kathy's aunt.
Through Kathy's pregnancy she couldn't sit in our hot tub - since water that hot raises her body temperature, and thus of the baby, and gets dangerous. So, the hot tub has been idle since last October. Last weekend, I emptied it, cleaned it out, filled it up and balanced the water. With Kathy still in recovery and not quite ready to hop in a 104-degree tub, I just left it at its temperature straight out of the hose, about 88 degrees. Instead of putting on the normal lid - I put a tarp over the hot tub. The normal insulated lid has a hole in it, and disgusting rain water gets through it and into the hot tub. So, I just got a $20 tarp from Wal-Mart (have another dollar, Alice) and put it on top. Today, I mowed the lawn with it 104 degrees outside. My gift to myself was a little dip in my cool-water hot tub. I pulled the tarp off and confirmed that the heater had not been turned on. It hadn't. It was still set on 88. But the water temperature?? 106 degrees!! On the settings, I can only set it as high as 104! The tarp must have acted like a magnifying glass for the sun, then trapped the heat. It was damn-near boiling! So much for that idea. So, I dropped a few choice 4-letter words, came inside popped open a Michelob Light. Take THAT, hot tub!
(PHOTO 1: Kathy's cousin Laura with Kole at their Uncle Doug's in Millsap. PHOTO 2: Kole gives Aunt Kelley the smile she's only read about for the last few weeks.)

Kat at Home

We've been asked if Kathy is going to return to work, and we purposely left our options open. She didn't feel strongly enough before the birth that she definitely wanted to stay home and be a mom, or definitely go back to work. Our finances will be fine for a while, we saved pretty good heading into the birth, but gas and everything going through the roof and the stock market down, etc., I said just after the birth that if she wanted to stay home that would be fine ... until maybe the new year. After the holidays we could use the cash and Kathy by that point may be more ready to have some time away for a few hours a day. Well, her maternity leave time was coming up at her work, and Kathy wanted to give them plenty of notice to leave - so that's what she did, letting Arlington Orthopedic know that she will not return to work. As it turned out, the decision had less to do with finances or her motherly nerves, and more to do with her recovery. There's no real red-flag concern, but also not something I'm privy to discuss in an open forum, but let's just say that she still needs some time to recover. Child-birth related woman stuff. So, she'll be around the house a little more in the coming months.

All the books told us that we'll start to know our baby's cries. We'll eventually interpret cries and what each mean. Right now we know his cry when he's hungry. After that, I interpret every other cry as him crying "Mommy!", while Kathy - coincidentally enough - interprets the same cries as him saying "Daddy!" We have interesting debates about this on a nightly basis and it often brings humor to a non-humorous event.

Dining Out

There probably isn't a more white-knuckle experience for a new parent than to go out to dinner for the first time toting the little one. We spend 75% of our lives rolling our eyes at the table with the screaming kid, and now we tempt having the cross-hairs of loathing fixed squarely on ourselves.
It wasn't even my idea. The middle of Saturday, Kathy came up and decided she was having a craving for the blue cheese crumble wedge salad at BJ's Brewhouse by the Parks Mall. Pregnancy had cut her off from blue cheese and now she was ready to OD. We actually took about 20 seconds to review whether Kathy's mom would be up to seeing her beautiful grandson for an hour or two, as we greedily plotted to throw in a trip to Costco or Target into the mix. But ... with sly grins, we both knew it was time to get initiated into bringing him along. The only other trip we'd gone on with him was to Brent & Courtney's house for Parker's second birthday party - not only a controlled family environment, but a kid-friendly home with family expected to be tolerant of a screaming baby. But, a date with John Q. Public was a new one.
Kole was about an hour away from his next feeding, and we sprinted into action around the house to head it off like we'd just got some red-alert that the President was popping in for a visit. I showered and changed ... Kathy got the diaper bag ready ... I eventually made some adjustments to his car seat carriage that I had been putting off before ... it was a mad scramble all around the house. Finally Kathy began feeding him and the house hit a lull. As soon as he was done and groggy - into the car he would go, hopefully fall asleep from the car ride, then everything would go peacefully at the restaurant. We even did a diaper change at the burp intermission, just to be sure.
After he was done Kathy announced "I think he's getting drowsy", and it was on. I put him in his car seat then into the car and got it running with the air blowing. We got on our way and he never really fell asleep. He was alert and seems to enjoy car rides. At BJ's, we took the big entrance - everyone taking a peak in the car seat, pointing and goo-gooing at Kole. At the table we got the sling basket to put him car-seat-and-all into. Kathy and I eventually giggled at ourselves, nervously watching him out of the corners of our eyes instead of just relaxing and talking about whatever. Waiting for him to erupt. But, he slept at first. Our waitress made a point to say that we were "lucky" he was sleeping, and was otherwise disinterested with the presence of a newborn baby at the table. When she left I told Kathy I'll wait to feel lucky when we're heading out the doors. We had the first booth next to the bathrooms, so Kole got lots of rubbernecking traffic - including one near collision between a distracted, admiring woman heading for the loo and a rushing waiter crossing in her path.
Eventually the food came, we got a few bites in, then the feet started kicking underneath his blanket. Eyes open. No crying yet, but we're familiar with the routine. Soon enough, some squawks and grunts. We scarfed down what we could then asked for to-go containers. We took turns holding him when light groans and whines came along. It wasn't full-blown "I'm hungry", and was still far from a pissed off tirade from a 3-year-old who wants more cherries in his Coke. The stares we got from neighboring tables were actually accompanied with smiles, as everyone saw how tiny and new Kole was and how innocent the crying was. By the time he was back in his car seat and we were leaving he was back quiet again. In the car, he was unimpressed by the ride. He let loose and made an ear-shattering disagreement to be dragged along into a Target. So, we headed straight home then I made the store runs afterwards.
Overall - nothing tragic, no big scene made, no big poops that needed addressing. We barely tasted the food and were still throwing high-5s back at the house.

Beer Songs

It was weird coming home last night - seeing my little son for the first time after three nights on the road. I guess I was waiting for him to meet me with hungry eyes and a big giggle. Instead he stuck his tongue out, leaned his head back and farted. Good to see you too, Junior.
Kathy had solo duty with him for the first time while I was gone, then cheated and had her mom over another night. He treated her very well, as he continues to sleep well at night.
We each are finding our own tune to hum or sing while we hold him and calm him down, before or after a feeding when he's a little cranky. Kathy began humming a tune before I left for KC that had a quick, snappy, and repetitive chorus. I quickly identified the tune as "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall". She says it repeats itself easy enough and doesn't have to get into any tricky musical pitch bridges.
For more than a week, I began humming a tune over and over again that initially I could only identify loosely as an old television commercial jingle, from at least the 80s and possibly even the 70s. I couldn't remember all the words or the product. But, over time I began piecing more and more bits of the tune together. What I've arrived at, and the tune that I hum to my son during prime DWI hours of 2:00-5:00am, is the following ...
Here's to good friends
Tonight is kind of special
The beer will pour
Must say something more somehoowwww....
So tonight ... toniiiiiggghht ....
Let it be Lowenbrau.
I've found that it too does not have any big peaks in pitch and allows me to stay in a bass that I think is soothing to Kole as he feels the vibrations off my chest.

Incidentally, in an update of the previous post, we got our bill from the anaesthesiologist, and his total charges were $3630, of which we are stuck with paying $469. The previous charge I noted below had something to do with anaesthesiology that had something to do with the hospital. So, anyway, put that final price tag at $20,703 to bring a healthy baby into the world without a single complication whatsoever. Real nice, huh?

1-Month State of the Family

Kole is a month old today. But then, he was 4-weeks old this past Wednesday ... so, whichever calculator you’re using, he’s growing up fast. Many of you have met him, many others have not. Here’s what I can say about him and his life today and what we’ve figured out about him over the past four weeks.
He likes bottles of formula; his mom’s boobs; getting a diaper taken off and letting his twig and berries air out; swinging; having his head rubbed; laying against his mom or dad’s chest while they hum or talk so he can feel the vibrations of their voice.
He does not like having his clothes changed (garments pulled over his head either way); sitting in a wet diaper or taking a bath. And he does not, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, care to be left laying in a bassinet or swing when he is HUNGRY! That’s a recipe for shit to hit the fan. And when the shit in this scenario is green, soupy, and smells of a possum carcass - LOOK OUT!
Speaking of which ... we are desperately trying to close out his Newborn diapers while they can still tape up. He is so ready for the next stage (8-14 lb.) of diapers it’s not funny.
In a recent inventory of clothing, we realized that there were actually three little onesies that we deemed were to small for him in the first place and he never wore. The size on the tag said “newborn” but it was obvious that they would squeeze him like a body suit.
The BabyCenter.com site has a Milestone chart of things babies should be doing, what some are doing, and what advanced babies may be doing at different stages.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_milestone-chart-1-to-6-months_1496585.bc

Kole is vocalizing and cooing, but I don’t know if I’d categorize them as “oohs and aahs”. He smiles briefly, but has not laughed. He can hold his head at a 45-degree angle. He’s already doing things it says 2-months old do, as he follows objects across his field of vision and he notices his hands; and if you’re laying him on your chest - like burping him - he will hold his head up for short periods. So - he’s ahead of the bell curve on some things, maybe behind on others. Take that for what it’s worth.
For the parents-to-be whom I know, and I know are reading this, we have been able to do some final math on what having a child cost us, the medical bills alone. When Kathy was confirmed pregnant by her ObGyn last October we got packets and packets of information, a gift basket, and essentially a 9-month payment plan which would cover all of their expenses for her prenatal care all the way through delivery and recovery, less deductibles, out-of-pocket, etc., lock-stock-and-barrel. The idea being to have all of their bills paid before the baby comes. Then came the recent hospital bill. Then came the pediatrician’s bill. After taking nearly an hour to sift through papers and add it all up ... (catch my breath) ... it cost about $17,870 to bring a perfect, healthy child into this world without ever paying for the first diaper or bottle or can of blue paint for his room. After insurance stepped in and did what they’re supposed to, as United Healthcare is the Fox Entertainment Group’s provider of choice, our out-of-pocket final tally was $2972. The biggest chunk of that came from Arlington Memorial for “Room & Board; IH Misc. Services” which was $11,999; not including the services of the anaesthesiologist which was $797. Those two things alone accounted for $1953 of our out-of-pocket expense.
God bless the USA and our current state of health care.

A 4th Generation

Kole today met his only living great-grandparent. Kathy's grandmother (her mother's mother) is 89-year-old Ora Jane Wood. Kole is her 11th great grandchild, and she even has a great-great grandchild. With all that expertise, her reaction of Kole is that he is "beautiful - just beautiful!" Ora lives in the Indian Hills neighborhood of Grand Prairie, and has for eons, on Bennie Lane, probably about 7 doors down from where my grandma and grandpa Landers lived all of my life. Kathy and I were probably yards away from one another years ago and never knew it.
Kathy and her mom took Kole to see her, while I actually did some volunteer work that was not court ordered. FSN Southwest has teamed with the Texas Rangers and Habitat for Humanity to build a home for a family in need and I signed up for a shift today, spent on the west side of Dallas helping repair the roof, installing windows and insulation. It was a lot of fun and very rewarding, but I feel like the way you do after 10 hours of non-stop skiing for the first time in a long time.

Milk Poo (in Haiku)

The milk mystery:
How can something start so white
And end up so green?

Random Thoughts

I have some thoughts, but frankly I am so tired right now that I have no urge to put them all together in a logical, flowing story-telling monologue. Instead, I have these offerings in no order or priority.
*We have now switched Kole’s formula again to one with natural cultures, which is still milk-based but supposed to be better for digestion, and the cultures are supposed to be good for colic - which we still haven’t officially diagnosed him. We’re using the Nestle Good Start Natural Cultures.
*I can sleep with more noise than I used to. We’ve always slept with white noise - a ceiling fan and an air purifier which nearly sounds like the motor of a Yamaha motor bike. But, now I can sleep or nap with the TV volume higher than I ever thought I could. Even at night, we used to lower the volume before going to sleep and putting the TV on a sleep timer to turn itself off in two hours. Now I can sleep soundly with the TV at a volume where I normally would need to turn it down just to hear Kathy talking 5 feet from me.
*The house is in a constant state of noise. Kathy retrieved the boom-box/CD player from her work and we have that in Kole’s room. Since he doesn’t know “Mary Had A Little Lamb” from U2's “Vertigo” we just keep it on one of the normal stations we would - Jack, or whatever.
*The guest bedroom has become a nightly fixture for the graveyard shift of feeding. No need for both of us to lose sleep. For example, If Kathy is going to do the midnight feeding, she’ll go in the second bedroom while I sleep in our bedroom. After his midnight feeding and Kole is back to sleep, she’ll roll the bassinet into the bedroom with me, then she’ll go back to sleep in the other bedroom. That way she’ll sleep through the next wake-up call at around 4:00 or 5:00am when it’s my turn..
*I hope women don’t start hating my wife. Here 24 days after Kole’s birth, she’s just 7 pounds off her pre-pregnancy weight. Her medical condition in conjunction with the birth is getting better. She did lose a suture somewhere along the way, but the doctor says it’s fine.
*The kid is definitely acknowledging more - quickly darting his eyes to notice things while he’s in his swing. Our lovely 58-inch HD TV is a mile wide for him, so he has to look all around in order to take in the images he sees.
*I don’t shave very often. Since work is so sporadic and I don’t have to go in every single day, and since it’s such a challenge just to get away for any good length of time while at home, shaving has been put off until it is absolutely necessary. I’ve become accustomed to having a regular scruff of a beard, which I use to comb Kole’s head when I’m holding him and trying to calm him from a cry. It normally works and I’m starting to consider it my secret weapon.

Chip off the old block??

Not jumping to any presumptions whatsoever. Just laying out the two photos of us at 24 days. Obviously, my yellow faded photo has been around a while and luckily my mother dated everything on the back of photos, so "24 Days" was a benchmark I've been waiting for to compare shots. Heck - this may help rule out that he'll look like me and may actually resemble his mother. If the kid only knew how to pray ...

Pain in the Ass

Hold a good thought for Kole’s butt cheeks, which are in a state of repair lately. Hopefully Child Protective Services won’t come barging in and assume too much. We were treating his rosey-red hiney with diaper rash ointment over the course of a day or two, when we noticed on Monday two dime-sized spots raising on each butt cheek. Kathy’s mom Joan referred to them as a “burn” more than a rash. Poor guy! We've been wiping him with baby wash cloths the past few days to avoid the alcohol-soaked wipes. Plus, he’s been getting all sorts of ointments and been drying out al fresco. Last night we tried to give him about 10 minutes every couple of hours with a diaper off to air out. One thing became clearly evident - that kid will pee on cue. In a 10-minute airing-out period, I think he peed nearly three times. Not a whole lot, but maybe like a dog does to a mailbox - little squirt here, little squirt there. I'm hoping it will translate to easy potty training ... he feels cool air, start to pee! But, as of late last night his diaper rash/burn condition was improving greatly.
We think the tummy/gas thing is getting better too. The Enfamil Gentlease appears to be working, plus we’ve been dropping a dose of Mylecon in the bottle. He’s been sleeping well too. Once all these little conditions get under control, especially the one with his butt, we’ll see how his eat and sleep and cry schedule go and re-evaluate whether colic has reared its ugly head or not.

Nothing interesting ... except everything

I wanted to give an update, but there’s really not a whole lot going on with Kole himself. His sleep is still all over the map. His crying fits at night are bordering on colic, but we’re still not sure. We’re trying some formula that is supposed to be easier on the tummy and better for gas. We made the mistake of giggling like Beavis and Butt-head at his farting at first, but quickly began to appreciate what his digestive system was going through. The jury is still out on the result of the formula change. I can tell you the result of his poop since the change. I never expected poop to smell like French bread straight out of the oven, but there’s definitely a difference between breast milk poop and formula poop. I think his diapers are making Maggie want to roll over and gag. Speaking of diapers, I couldn’t help but notice how much garbage we now take out. Before the baby, we put out one bag of garbage per week. Not one per trash day - one a week! Being good recyclers, our recycle bin was always out full each week. Sometimes we had to put our second recycle bin out. Now? Two weeks running - both recycle bins overflowing, mostly with Ozarka bottles since that’s what we use with the formula in the bottles, plus Kathy has been guzzling more water. We’ve now accompanied the recycle bins with two full bags of trash each trash day. One is the diaper bag. We opted away from the ‘Diaper Genie’ and other tricked up, high-maintenance specialty items with specialty bags, etc. We just keep a second trash can (with a lid) in the garage, which is 8 steps from Kole’s changing table in his room. A regular 13-gallon kitchen trash bag is about half-full every four days. He’s developed great timing for bathroom breaks. Fresh air definitely gets his system moving. We’ve had the projectile poop on a handful of occasions, then we’ve had the pee fountain several other times. I’ve since instituted a 30-second “airing-out” time period. I un-tape the dirty diaper, give his nether regions a few waves of fresh air, then stand back and wait for any secondary discharge before cleaning up and slipping under the new diaper.
Kathy still isn’t fully recovered from her tear, so that adds a level of being bummed out that’s already on top of the sleep deprivation. Hold a good thought for her. I at least get out of the house when I need to. I’m back to work, but luckily this is the slowest time of the year for us. We’re really just doing some Best Of shows during the summer. This week I’m hoping to knock out two shows, and I shouldn’t have to spend more than 20 total hours in the office to get everything knocked out, freeing up some time to help out more here. I don’t have a road trip scheduled until July 20-23 when I go to Kansas City for Big 12 football interview days.
That’s the update. He’s still not potty trained, since he doesn’t really comprehend any house rules he hasn’t defied any of them, he isn’t tugging Maggie's ears and making enemies with her, he’s just barely 3-weeks old and making life ... interesting. I can sum up the joys of fatherhood many ways, but I think that’s my favorite word these days ... interesting.

First Bath

A photo can't always accompany many "Milestones" - like a first smile, which probably won't come right when a camera is poised and ready. But, the first bath was definitely a Kodak moment. Even got some good video. We had to wait until his umbilical cord completely fell off before we could submerge him in water. For some reason, the books like "Baby 411" say to give a baby his first bath just before a feeding. So, once he got all riled up and fussy and hungry, we drew a bath in the little tub that Kelley loaned us, which was also used for Riley and Reagan. Kathy and I took turns bathing and doing camera duties.
We were actually able to get a clear view of the big fireworks show that went on at Joe Pool Lake. I mean, it's not like we can see water from our house, but we are much closer than I thought to the peninsula at the fork of the lake where the show originated, across the water from Lynn Creek Park. Got a clear sight line between houses when standing on our deck looking south and watched the show - plus the occasional stray bottle rocket or Roman Candle flare nearby from the neighborhood drunks.

Circle of life

October 5, 2007 - Kat's a day "late" and no surprises


December 22, 2007 - A little Christmas show


February 8, 2008 - Now she's starting to fill out - maternity attire makes a debut


April 5, 2008 - Getting regular karate kicks


June 18, 2008 - Getting down to business at 2:30am


The first 60 seconds - We were probably billed for a 'foot massage'


All Done - still my favorite photo

Good Check-up

Good visit with Dr. Carlsson, Kole's pediatrician (for the time being - Kathy's not sure if she likes him). He's now a strapping 8 pounds, 8 ounces and is 21-and-1/2 inches long - nearly a full pound up since his discharge from the hospital. Doctor was actually impressed and not a bit alarmed. His little Mr. Wee was given a healthy thumbs-up on its recovery since circumcision, so no more gauze and Vaseline down there.
Doctor was cool with us switching to formula - it's whatever we think is best, like everyone keeps saying. Kole is a little fart machine lately, blasting off some whoppers that have nearly elevated him a few inches out of his bassinet. The kid is seriously ripping off some doozies with impressive length and surprising bass. At times we've worried about how gassy he is - as normally he's predictably fussy just before lifting a leg and cranking one out. Doctor said to try keeping him more elevated upright when bottle feeding him. We'll give it a shot. This doctor, who has nothing to do with the previous hospital visit for jaundice, again picked the word "perfect" to describe his overall status.
We then went to the hospital for his PKU, which is some state-mandated test where they prick his foot to draw blood and put it on some thing they send in. He was fine after the prick, but the little nurse was jerking his leg and trying to milk his foot of blood like it was a cow udder. That got Kole pretty ticked, but otherwise he was great.
Next doctor appointment is Friday, 8-8-08. Until then - we're clear.

Getting Back to Normal?

It almost feels like college again, rolling out of bed at 9:30am on a Sunday. Thing is - this wake up came just after the 5:45, the 3:20, and the 11:30 wake-ups before that. Sleeping in segments is a trick, and Mom has never been able to nap very well in the sun-up hours and is still having a hard time learning.
Kole is being a better sleeper, as we find something like a normal routine to get into with me returning to work tomorrow. With Kathy's mother less than 10 minutes away at all times, I feel a little better about leaving the house. Plus we have a good neighbor 3 houses down who is a stay-at-home mom. Kole has pulled off a feat twice in the past few days that I'm calling the Diaper Trifecta. Putting him down to change a diaper, putting a new one down - not even taped up and fastened yet before he dirties that one. He still hasn't managed what we can technically qualify as a smile, but after that trick he did go into his familiar pose of satisfaction, hands curled up at his chest, puppy-dog eyes big and wide.
Everyone is adjusting pretty well to this baby thing except our beloved mascot - Maggie. Our poor little dog hardly knows what to think of this crying beast. Her sleep, in all hours of the day, is being affected as well. And she doesn't get invited up to the couch nearly as much as she used to, especially when Kat is feeding. There's been a couple of days where she's just been sluggish, like she was sick and we've considered taking her to the vet. But, the next day she'll be better. Still, we see an obvious affect on her in some way. Know what a feat it will be once we get Kole and Maggie together for a photo. Right now Maggie doesn't want anything to do with him. She'll sniff him every now and then, but has not yet developed a protective instinct.
Last night Kathy's mom Joan came over for an hour-and-1/2 and watched Kole while Kat and I hit our favorite sushi place. Kathy came just shy of qualifying for the 2008 Howard Hughes Award for shut-ins. She finally got out of the house for the first time since returning from the hospital, let the sun splash on her face and wore something other than pajamas. It was good therapy. Things are officially going very well in the Fletcher house as we head into Kole's 3rd week.