Brothers bonding

Here is a collection of photos documenting the process of Pudge and Coen growing closer. At first, Pudge was intrigued by Coen's presence, but kept his distance. I'm sure he was sensing our own tension for fear of breaking the baby. After about 6 weeks, Pudge grew more brave with his approaches and began licking Coen at every opportunity. Coen wasn't what one would call receptive at first, but his fondness of this adorable, loving pooch has blossomed!! Now, he finds Pudge to be perfectly entertaining and spends a good part of his days looking for, and watching Pudge. I'm sure it won't be long before Coen will want to saddle up and go for a ride on Pudge, we can only hope Pudge will continue with his extremely tolerant nature!!!

Dressed for SNOW!!!!

Well, we finally got some snow! So, I promptly put Coen in his warmest attire to take pictures. I didn't actually take him outside into the snow because of the lovely daycare funk that he has been dealing with for the last couple of weeks, but we watched it fall from the window. Absolutely beautiful!! And, then I had to take his cold weather attire off because he was sweating profusely. 

Coen's 4 mo. stats:

Weight  14 pounds, 2 oz

Length  25 inches

Head Circumference  16.5 inches

Rice cereal!!!!

Well, we finally made it to the 4 mo. mark and Coen got to enjoy his first bites of "real food"! I say that he enjoyed it, but these pictures seem to tell a different story. I think he was the least impressed person in the room. I'm sure he was wondering why the paparazzi were out in full force for this event. It looks like he's saying, "really you guys should try this before you get so excited." It took me a while to understand that the whole eating with a spoon is a learning process. I guess I just assumed he would be able to do it, without making a mess, right away. Needless to say, I was wrong. But now, a week later, I think we've got the hang of it. 

Coco's First Photoshoot...

Well, I finally got around to having Coen's picture made. I had such a hard time narrowing it down to 5 pictures to put in the post! Of course, every picture looks like a masterpiece to me. I don't think I've said "Awe" so many times in one day! The session did take longer than I had anticipated, but working with an 11 week-old can often prove to be a challenge. I've mentioned before how much this little guy loves bath time, now we have the pictures to prove it! When he got fussy, we just filled up the turtle time tub and he was all smiles again!! Now, at least I'll be able to pull up the blog while I'm a work and look at this adorable little man. Thank you so much Lirit, you did an amazing job and I'm so very grateful! 

I love Oliver!!

This is Coco's favorite toy right now. It is a stuffed purple octopus that we have named Oliver. He, however, doesn't hold a candle to the razorback mobile, but I believe those razorbacks will always be number one in Coco's eyes. I find it quite humorous that the one toy that can hold his attention the longest is not battery operated, so I have to wind it by hand every 2 minutes! 

I can't believe that I have to go back to work next week! I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it. We are having so much fun together. These twelve weeks have just flown by. I have vowed to totally spoil him this week. Although, it is more of a selfish act on my own behalf because I am finding it so hard to put him down. Poor Jonathan will be lucky if he gets 5 minutes with him!

Coco's First Christmas!!!!

Coco's first Christmas proved to be quite fun! We spent the holiday in Crossett, AR with Jonathan's side of the family, but both of Coen's grandmothers were there to celebrate. He attended his first children's nativity play, and behaved beautifully! Between Mama Linda, Nanna, and Aunt Sundee I don't think he was put down once! So much for not spoiling the first grandchild. 

The first picture is of Coco and Livi, his first girlfriend. She is exactly one month older than Coen, but he claims not to be intimidated by older women. They have had tons of fun hanging out together while both mommies have been on maternity leave.

I couldn't stop thinking, during this holiday season, about how different next Christmas will be... How, next year, Coen will be walking and getting into everything. How I will have to strategically place Christmas decorations and ornaments. And, sadly, how he won't want to be held and snuggled as much. 

Reflections from the beginning...

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from Coen's first couple of days. 

After looking at the first picture, it becomes incredibly obvious how jaundiced he indeed was! It seems like so long ago. 

I can't believe how small he is in these pictures. The car seat pictures really do provide a great scale. We left the hospital when he was four days old, and weighed 5 pounds 15 ounces after losing some of his birth weight! He now weighs a little over 10 pounds, and looks like a totally different baby in that same car seat.