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.