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.)