Sunday, October 27, 2013
Grandparents
So Benn's Grandma and Grandpa Cole came to Boston to go on a cruise so we were lucky enough to get to spend a couple days with them. It's so wonderful to have people take some time to visit us. We loved getting to get to know Benn's grandparents better. They are wonderful people. So here is a picture of them with their great-granddaughter!
Mommy/Baby Dates!
So there is a group of ladies in my ward and around Boston that get together once or twice a week for play dates. Rebecca and I have started going the past couple of weeks. It's been so fun to get to spend time with other adults during the day! We have gone to a sculpture park, a preserve, and a cemetery. So here are some pictures from those fun outings (some are just the scenery because it's been so beautiful this fall with the changing leaves).
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Being a Mom
It's still so weird to call myself a Mom. I look at my beautiful baby and sometimes I forget that she is mine! These past 6 - 7 weeks have given me a new appreciation and understanding to what it means to be a Mom. And I realized that it all comes down to one thing. And that one thing is...
My whole day revolves around when Rebecca needs to eat and sleep. I can't shower, sleep, or go to the store whenever I want or whenever it's most convenient anymore. And I imagine it will be a long time before that changes. My fashion is lacking because breastfeeding clothes are not exactly the most fashionable things. I'm still working on getting my body back and, lets be honest, it will never be exactly like it was before I had Rebecca. My clothes often times smell like spit-up and my hair gets done...sometimes. Quality time with my husband is rare and let's not even talk about quality "me" time! My life has forever changed and I'm starting to see all the different ways it has.
At one point I thought to myself, "Why do people do this and how in the world do they handle doing it again, and again, and again?" And then a few days ago, Rebecca was looking right at me while I talked to her and she smiled. Now, when I say she smiled, I mean she SMILED - her eyes lit up, a little dimple showed up, and you could see her gums. I wished I would have been able to take a picture of it! As I looked back at that moment, I understand why people do this again and again and again.
I have a new understanding of love and appreciation for Mothers. I will kindly disagree with anyone that says being a stay-at-home mom is not a full-time job. Mothers are heroes! They gladly give up whatever they need to for their children. Some of you may be thinking, "I don't always give it up gladly..." but the reality is that you still give up whatever it is - gladly or not. So thanks to all those mothers out there! You guys are amazing and are true inspirations to me. And to my own Mom - I have always known you to do whatever you could for us kids. And I have realized there were plenty of other things you gave up for us that I never noticed. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being a stellar Mom! I love you and hope to become the Mother you are.
being a Mom means putting yourself second.
My whole day revolves around when Rebecca needs to eat and sleep. I can't shower, sleep, or go to the store whenever I want or whenever it's most convenient anymore. And I imagine it will be a long time before that changes. My fashion is lacking because breastfeeding clothes are not exactly the most fashionable things. I'm still working on getting my body back and, lets be honest, it will never be exactly like it was before I had Rebecca. My clothes often times smell like spit-up and my hair gets done...sometimes. Quality time with my husband is rare and let's not even talk about quality "me" time! My life has forever changed and I'm starting to see all the different ways it has.
At one point I thought to myself, "Why do people do this and how in the world do they handle doing it again, and again, and again?" And then a few days ago, Rebecca was looking right at me while I talked to her and she smiled. Now, when I say she smiled, I mean she SMILED - her eyes lit up, a little dimple showed up, and you could see her gums. I wished I would have been able to take a picture of it! As I looked back at that moment, I understand why people do this again and again and again.
I have a new understanding of love and appreciation for Mothers. I will kindly disagree with anyone that says being a stay-at-home mom is not a full-time job. Mothers are heroes! They gladly give up whatever they need to for their children. Some of you may be thinking, "I don't always give it up gladly..." but the reality is that you still give up whatever it is - gladly or not. So thanks to all those mothers out there! You guys are amazing and are true inspirations to me. And to my own Mom - I have always known you to do whatever you could for us kids. And I have realized there were plenty of other things you gave up for us that I never noticed. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being a stellar Mom! I love you and hope to become the Mother you are.
Monday, September 2, 2013
One Month down, a lifetime to go!
Well, our little lady is one month old! We found out that she is growing great - at her 5 week appointment she weighed 11 lbs 10 oz which is in the 95th percentile. So...she is definitely not petite! We LOVE that she is more awake and alert now. It's still a little hard to play with her, but we are able to get a little more response out of her. She has some great smiles that appear every now and then, which makes it a little hard to catch on camera (even though we have tried MANY times). She is starting to sleep 6-7 hours at night which is AMAZING! I love it - a good 6 hours of sleep does wonders these days. We love our little girl and feel so blessed to have a strong, healthy baby. And to make it even better, she's adorable! Here are some pictures that have been taken over the past few weeks.
A smile that Benn's mom caught during bath time.
Her second Sunday to Church - I think she looks SO cute with little bows. Too bad she doesn't really like wearing them yet...
Love how she is just kickin' it here!
She is starting to really enjoy her little play area. Thanks Aunt Jessica!
She is starting to escape from her swaddle.
She loves bath time and Benn is a pro!
These next three are pictures we took on her one month birthday.
We blessed her at church Sept. 1st so the next few pictures are from that. Her dress was made by Benn's mom and it is beautiful!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
World: Say hello to Rebecca Cole!
Welp, it happened. Our beautiful little lady arrived Saturday July 27th at 11:56 pm. She came weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs 13 oz and measured 21 inches long. It was one of the most painful yet fulfilling experiences of my life. For anybody who cares...here's a Reader's Digest version of how it all went down...
My mom flew in on the 25th and that evening, after having a delicious sandwich from Firehouse, I drank some caster oil in hopes to get things moving. Well, contractions started around midnight and I may have gone into serious labor if I would have done some walking. But, I didn't. So I was awake most of the night with mild contractions and then in the morning (when I DID start walking), they began to die down. Total bummer! So...caster oil round 2 came. Few hours later, contractions started up again. They were coming about every 4-5 minutes, but not quite hard enough yet. We were tired of waiting for things to happen though, so we headed into the hospital. I was only at 2 cm and they wouldn't break my water to get things going because there was still a little space between her head and the cervix and breaking the water could cause some problems, which obviously we didn't want. So the Doc gave me some pain medicine so I could get some sleep and sent me packing. Just in case anybody was wondering, it is now Friday evening (the 26th) which was my due date. So, Saturday morning comes and we start another round of walking. Around noon, my water broke. Now when I say my water broke, I mean it was the "I peed a little" kind of water breaking not the huge gush. So we call the doctor and they say to come in once contractions start up again or in 12 hours if no contractions have started. A few hours pass....nothing so of course, we start caster oil round 3. Yes...I drank that stuff 3 times (if we are going to be technical, I drank it 4 times because I threw it up the first try for round 2). Around 6:30, a little more "I peed a little" water breaking so I go on a walk and then some serious contractions start. So when I got home I took a shower and we headed to hospital! We got there around 8 and by then I was having serious contractions. They were getting way more intense and were mostly in my lower back...which was absolutely horrid. I hadn't really decided on pain medication yet, and when the nurses asked what I wanted to do I told them I wanted whatever would bring some relief the fastest. So within the next hour the epidural was administered and it was in just the nick of time because I was about ready to tell everybody where they could go. :) The baby's heart rate started to get a little low during contractions so they put me on oxygen to try and raise her heart rate, which worked. While checking me one time, the doctor accidentally broke the rest of my water. Around 11:40 I started pushing and about 15 minutes later our little lady was here! Which I was really happy about because I like 7/27 better than 7/28.
When they laid her on my chest right after birth, I remember just staring at her and thinking, "oh my gosh...that's my baby!" She was so beautiful and I realized at that moment that all the pain, frequent potty breaks, weight gain, and any other undesired things that happened to make that beautiful baby was worth it. A whole new kind of love was born and I felt a rush of gratitude that the Lord blessed us with such a wonderful miracle. We were discharged from the hospital Monday afternoon and have enjoyed being at home! We were lucky to have both Benn's mom and my mom there with us. My mom stayed through the end of the week and I have no idea what I would have done without all the love and support given.
Being a new mom is definitely challenging. I find myself facing fears that I've never faced before. I'm so worried about being the best mom for my little girl that I have to remind myself to cherish these moments with her. She is already 10 days old and I've realized that she will never be this little baby again. In a matter of months I won't be getting up in the middle of the night to take care of her and as wonderful as that sounds, I have a feeling that part of me will miss it. That might sound a little crazy, but sleeping through the night means she is getting growing up and she won't stop growing up. There is nothing I can do to stop it and some day I'll be going to visit her as her and her husband prepare to have their first baby. So I've decided to try to stop being so worried about how I'm doing and take time to enjoy this precious new baby I have because sooner than I know, she'll be all grown up!
Here are some pictures from the labor/delivery as well as the few days following. We attempted a little photo shoot so I put those up as well. ENJOY!
My mom flew in on the 25th and that evening, after having a delicious sandwich from Firehouse, I drank some caster oil in hopes to get things moving. Well, contractions started around midnight and I may have gone into serious labor if I would have done some walking. But, I didn't. So I was awake most of the night with mild contractions and then in the morning (when I DID start walking), they began to die down. Total bummer! So...caster oil round 2 came. Few hours later, contractions started up again. They were coming about every 4-5 minutes, but not quite hard enough yet. We were tired of waiting for things to happen though, so we headed into the hospital. I was only at 2 cm and they wouldn't break my water to get things going because there was still a little space between her head and the cervix and breaking the water could cause some problems, which obviously we didn't want. So the Doc gave me some pain medicine so I could get some sleep and sent me packing. Just in case anybody was wondering, it is now Friday evening (the 26th) which was my due date. So, Saturday morning comes and we start another round of walking. Around noon, my water broke. Now when I say my water broke, I mean it was the "I peed a little" kind of water breaking not the huge gush. So we call the doctor and they say to come in once contractions start up again or in 12 hours if no contractions have started. A few hours pass....nothing so of course, we start caster oil round 3. Yes...I drank that stuff 3 times (if we are going to be technical, I drank it 4 times because I threw it up the first try for round 2). Around 6:30, a little more "I peed a little" water breaking so I go on a walk and then some serious contractions start. So when I got home I took a shower and we headed to hospital! We got there around 8 and by then I was having serious contractions. They were getting way more intense and were mostly in my lower back...which was absolutely horrid. I hadn't really decided on pain medication yet, and when the nurses asked what I wanted to do I told them I wanted whatever would bring some relief the fastest. So within the next hour the epidural was administered and it was in just the nick of time because I was about ready to tell everybody where they could go. :) The baby's heart rate started to get a little low during contractions so they put me on oxygen to try and raise her heart rate, which worked. While checking me one time, the doctor accidentally broke the rest of my water. Around 11:40 I started pushing and about 15 minutes later our little lady was here! Which I was really happy about because I like 7/27 better than 7/28.
When they laid her on my chest right after birth, I remember just staring at her and thinking, "oh my gosh...that's my baby!" She was so beautiful and I realized at that moment that all the pain, frequent potty breaks, weight gain, and any other undesired things that happened to make that beautiful baby was worth it. A whole new kind of love was born and I felt a rush of gratitude that the Lord blessed us with such a wonderful miracle. We were discharged from the hospital Monday afternoon and have enjoyed being at home! We were lucky to have both Benn's mom and my mom there with us. My mom stayed through the end of the week and I have no idea what I would have done without all the love and support given.
Being a new mom is definitely challenging. I find myself facing fears that I've never faced before. I'm so worried about being the best mom for my little girl that I have to remind myself to cherish these moments with her. She is already 10 days old and I've realized that she will never be this little baby again. In a matter of months I won't be getting up in the middle of the night to take care of her and as wonderful as that sounds, I have a feeling that part of me will miss it. That might sound a little crazy, but sleeping through the night means she is getting growing up and she won't stop growing up. There is nothing I can do to stop it and some day I'll be going to visit her as her and her husband prepare to have their first baby. So I've decided to try to stop being so worried about how I'm doing and take time to enjoy this precious new baby I have because sooner than I know, she'll be all grown up!
Here are some pictures from the labor/delivery as well as the few days following. We attempted a little photo shoot so I put those up as well. ENJOY!
I think we did pretty good on our photo shoot :)
Benn and Rebecca just a few minutes after birth
Benn and Rebecca on day 2
Eyes wide open!
She did this with her little fingers one time while breast feeding
All strapped into her car seat for the very first time on our way home from the hospital. Not sure if she likes it...
Rebecca and I getting ready to head home!
My mom and I after the epidural...notice I'm smiling. :)
Right after the birth
Benn LOVES to hold her while she's sleeping
She has some great poses! This is after she ate one night.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Less than 2 weeks...and slightly terrified
So the other day as Benn and I are talking about how excited we are for our new little girl to almost be here, I realized that I am also slightly terrified. I mean...in so many ways I still feel like a kid myself and realizing that in a less than 2 weeks I will officially be a mom just seems so surreal. I find myself worrying if I have enough clothes and if I got the right kind of bottles and just so many other weird random things. Then I realized that the worrying will never go away. I will worry about this girl for the rest of my life. Obviously the worries I have will change as she grows and new children come into our family, but the worries will always be there. And that...ladies and gentleman, is terrifying to me!
A day or so after having all of these realizations, Benn and I had interview with the Stake Presidency to renew our temple recommends. The man that did my interview couldn't help but notice my rather large belly (no surprise there!), so naturally we talked a little about the new baby. I mentioned some of the realizations that I had the previous day and he offered some wonderful council. As I left the Stake building, I felt such comfort and peace. I felt an over-whelming gratitude for a Heavenly Father that hears and understands my worries and fears. I realized how grateful I am for the ability and privilege to hold a recommend to the house of the Lord where I can go to find comfort and peace for all those fears and worries. I have the wonderful opportunity to spend time in that beautiful building and receive answers and guidance on so many different obstacles that I currently face and will face in the future. What a wonderful blessing in these terrifying times!
So while yes, I am terrified about this new chapter in our lives, I am also comforted. I'm comforted to know that I'm never alone. I have a wonderful husband, amazing family and friends, and a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of me. Who could ask for more?
A day or so after having all of these realizations, Benn and I had interview with the Stake Presidency to renew our temple recommends. The man that did my interview couldn't help but notice my rather large belly (no surprise there!), so naturally we talked a little about the new baby. I mentioned some of the realizations that I had the previous day and he offered some wonderful council. As I left the Stake building, I felt such comfort and peace. I felt an over-whelming gratitude for a Heavenly Father that hears and understands my worries and fears. I realized how grateful I am for the ability and privilege to hold a recommend to the house of the Lord where I can go to find comfort and peace for all those fears and worries. I have the wonderful opportunity to spend time in that beautiful building and receive answers and guidance on so many different obstacles that I currently face and will face in the future. What a wonderful blessing in these terrifying times!
So while yes, I am terrified about this new chapter in our lives, I am also comforted. I'm comforted to know that I'm never alone. I have a wonderful husband, amazing family and friends, and a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of me. Who could ask for more?
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