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Oh my goodness….

I just realized that it has been 2 months since I have posted something.  So much has happened in these past 2 months!

Justin is now traveling full time.  It blows.  He is never home and we miss him terribly.  I pretty much live the single mom lifestyle from Sunday morning until Friday night.  I am so thankful when he is home because he helps me out more than I can put into words.  I've been stressed out and maxed out these past two months.  I'm surviving.  This is by hard one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.  I know I'll get through it!  It would be easier if I wasn't working.  I'm a teacher.  It's who I am and I would feel incomplete if I wasn't working.  I know I was destined to teach.  However, I am struggling balancing teacher and mommy.  I know it would be easier if Justin were home and he could take the responsibility of Cole at night.  I would be able to plan and get school work done.  Unfortunately, that's not how it's working out.  Everything is falling on me...and by the time I put Cole into bed at night and I would have time to plan and do school work.  I'm exhausted and my mind is unable to function. 

Okay enough of me complaining.

I'm thankful for Cole.
I'm thankful for Justin
I'm thankful Justin has a good job.
I'm thankful I have a husband.
I'm thankful to have my husband even if it is for only 34 hours a week.
I'm thankful to have an amazing little boy who makes being a mommy as easy as possible.
I'm thankful that I have my family helping me as much as possible.
I'm thankful I'm able to carry out my dream of being a teacher.

Cole is doing amazing.  He is such a joy to be around.  He is a silly little boy!  He is currently 7 months old and working on crawling.  He is on stage 2 baby food.  He LOVES Apple Blueberry, Apples, and Squash.  He HATES peas.  He refuses to eat peas!  Who can blame him?!?  He laughs all the time.  He smiles all the time.  All I have to do is smile at him and he smiles right back at me.  It melts my heart.

He is babbling all the time.  He has discovered his b's and d's.  Of course it comes out da da.  Justin loves it.  He rolls, turns, and scoots all over the floor.  He loves my laptop.  If I leave it on the floor he will get to it and bang on the keyboard.  Laughing the entire time.  He is sleeping all night long in his crib.  I lay him down at night and he goes to sleep on his own (of course he gets a bedtime story first)  Praise Jesus.  I am so thankful.  Some mornings I even have to wake him up! 

It's officially Holiday season and I am so excited about all of Cole's "firsts."

We've already done his first Halloween.  He, of course, went as a pirate.  His mommy LOVES pirates!  Not just ECU pirates....pirate history.  It was destiny when I saw that pirate costume.  We just took him to grandparents houses for trick or treating this year.  Next year he will get to try some candy!

 

Thanksgiving is less than a week away.  I am so excited about his first Thanksgiving!  We've already put our tree up and Cole loves to look at it.  He also loves to try and get the presents underneath it!  Christmas is coming and we can't wait.  We are practically done with Cole's Christmas shopping.  I am so excited about experiencing all of the Christmas festivities with him this year.  I will be taking plenty of pictures!

Along with the holiday season comes one of the biggest seasons of all.  Basketball season.  That's one of the biggies in our house.  It's Cole's first!  Of course he is split down the middle....Duke/UNC...at least until he can make up his own mind.  Daddy has finally agreed to let us get a Duke shirt.  So I decided he can wear his Duke shirts when Duke plays and UNC jersey when UNC plays...BUT when they play each other it's his ECU shirt.  At least until he is old enough that I can brainwash him :)

Daddy’s little tar heel….

He loves rolling that basketball around the floor.  I definitely see a future!

All is well in the Howell house.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we are adjusting to this new schedule Justin has.  It's tough but as long as we have each other we can beat anything.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Eat lots of turkey on Thursday!

It’s been a long time!!

I know I haven’t posted in a while but things have been WAYYYYY busy since school started back.  I’m still trying to get adjusted to being a “single parent” Monday through Friday until October gets here.  Here are a few updates.

*Cole is doing well in daycare.  He LOVES playing in his jumperoo…he jumps and jumps and jumps and jumps all the time!

*He has tried every baby food now and does not have allergies to any! YAY

*He LOVES apples and HATES peas!

*He is rolling over all the time

*He has started drinking juice from a sippy cup and it is just adorable.

*He laughs ALL the time.

*He has had his first cold and his first trip to the doctor for a sick appointment.  He is on an antibiotic for a bacterial infection.  I hope my baby boy gets better soon.

*He has his Halloween costume and his Halloween candy bucket has been ordered and should be here this week.

*He has two new wubbanubb pacis and LOVES them.  I highly recommend them.

I think that is all for now.  Please check out the link and vote for my project.  You are allowed one vote per email addresse a day for the next ten days.  Please vote my kids (and myself) will really appreciate it.  you don’t have to spend any money all it takes is a vote a day!!!

 

Updates!

I haven't blogged in a while...it's not that I've been busy...I've just been enjoying my time with Cole before I head back to school next week. We've also been spending as much time as possible with Justin, we know that in a couple of week he will be back out on the road again.

Cole is growing like a weed! He is getting heavier by the day. I can barely hold his carseat for more than a couple of minutes now! He is 16 weeks old today!! I can NOT believe he will be 4 months old in a little over a week!

He can ALMOST roll over from his back to his tummy. He can get everything but his shoulder over. He has been rolling from his tummy to his back for a while now...but we just can't get the back to the tummy. I think he'll have it in a week..if not sooner.

He has started grabbing everything....especially MY HAIR! I love to watch him reach out and grab his toys now. I also love when I lay beside him and he reaches out and touches my face. That boy knows how to melt my heart.

We went through a short phase where he didn't like his swing...now he loves it again! He has still been sleeping through the night..but he is starting to get up earlier. Which is good since I start teacher workdays next week.

I have a new camera and I have tons of pictures! I just haven't uploaded them to the computer yet...but I will have those soon!

Cole has a new cousin Colton and a new friend Alaina. Both were born last week. He can't wait to meet both of them!

We are still waiting on his BFF Cooper to get here....

That's all for now folks!

Cole’s Entourage.

I will never have to worry about Cole being bullied, picked on or teased in school.  Why?  - Some might ask.  Well Cole already has an Entourage.   His Entourage consists of:

Cousin Tyler

Cousin Garrett

Cousin Tyndall

Cousin Janeson

Cousin Marett

And Cooper (He isn’t here yet but he will be arriving soon!!)

So pretty much my child has a built in Entourage.  They pretty much come in intervals of 1-2 years…so they will all be going to school with someone else in the Entourage.   

So if someone messes with one of them….they are going to have to take on all SEVEN of them.

WATCH OUT WORLD!!!!!!!!

 

HELP!!!!!!!!

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go and vote….you have NO IDEA how much this amount of money could truly help the children that attend Tommy’s Road Elementary!!  I truly appreciate every vote!  (So do the children!)

My Little Boy…

My little boy….

Is 2 1/2 months old.

Smiles when I walk into his room in the morning.
Already drinks an entire 8 oz….every 3 1/2 hours.

Loves to lay on the floor and play.

Can roll over from his tummy to his back.
Can ALMOST roll over from his back to his tummy.

Smiles when  you talk to him.
LOVES to swing.
Takes every nap during the day in his swing.

Misses  his Daddy when he is gone.
Loves looking at his Daddy on Skype every night.

Loves having his mouth played with.
Doesn’t like to be held like a little baby anymore.
Doesn’t like to be rocked.
Loves watching TV.

Especially Mickey Mouse Clubhouse…

Spits  up…A LOT!!!
Is a messy eater.
Loves bath time..

Loves laying around wrapped in a towel…NAKED.

Is starting daycare part time next week.
Knows that when he smiles he melts his Mommy’s heart.
Sleeps through the night.
Lays down at night and goes to sleep in his big boy crib.
….ALL by himself.

Has a Mommy who loves him to the moon
…..and back!

We Survived!!

So Justin left last Sunday for his first trip since Cole has been born.  Cole and I survived! 

I have to be honest….Cole is a wonderful baby.  He sleeps through the night and only fusses occasionally when he is sleepy.  I have it made.  Cole makes it very easy on me, especially with Justin traveling. 

Being so close to my family made this past week so much easier.  I was able to visit with my family without having to drive 30 minutes…AND Tyler spent the night with us one night.  Cole’s first ever sleepover!

Friday came and of course Justin met every obstacle he could getting home…delayed, bad weather, more delays.  He finally made it home at 2 a.m.    This week he is off to Fort Meyers…and I can’t wait until Friday night when he flies back home.  Then we will be halfway finished with this month!

We also found out this week that Cole got his spot in the daycare that we wanted him at.  This is great news!  As much as I hate he has to go to daycare and not be with me 24/7…I couldn’t have asked for a better place for him to be.  I feel very good about the daycare he is going to…and it makes it even better it’s only a mile down the road from my school! 

He will start going to the daycare 1 or 2 days a week this week.  I figured it would be an easier transition for me if he starts before I go back to school.  Also, it will give me some time to go out to my school to get things done.

My Precious Baby Boy

I haven't had time to post since Cole was born, I never realized how much time a baby really takes up. So I have a month of catching up to do!

I went into labor on April 21st..after 20 hours of labor (so now we are on April 22nd), 3 hours of pushing my beautiful 9 pound 23 inches long baby finally made his entry in this world at 2:38 a.m. I was one tired, exhausted, relieved and hungry Mama.

Justin had 4 days off to help us all get adjusted, and then back to work he went. LUCKILY I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful mother who was able to take a week off to help me. Cole had a great week, we went to the grocery store and shopping at the mall that week. He was sleeping great at night getting up every 4 hours to eat and then right back to sleep. Boy was that week easy!


Part of the reason he slept so well is because we let him sleep in his carseat. I know you think we are crazy making our newborn sleep in a carseat. We have this nice little soft pad in it and we tuck all the straps behind that. He sleeps like a champ in there. The breast feeding specialist at the pediatrician recommended we put him in there to sleep, and he would do better. She said he feels more comfortable bunched up like that....I don't have a clue, I just know that it worked...he sleeps. Last week we tried transitioning out of the carseat and into the pack and play....we had a few long nights, so right now it's back to the carseat until we move.

The first two weeks of Cole's life were a breeze. Then I got an infection called mastitis. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. It was awful! I couldn't even pick up my own baby I was in so much pain! After a week of that, Justin got a stomach virus. Luckily I was feeling better from my infection to take care of the baby since he was now the one sick. Then two days after Justin gets the virus...I get the stomach virus. Talk about luck! This was by far the worst week imaginable. Luckily we are both now much better and we are both now well. We had lots of family members helping us out during that time.

Also during this whole ordeal Cole gets this TERRIBLE diaper rash. Not on his butt but on his private area. This rash will not go away, even with a prescription from the doctor. Finally my mom hears on the radio that the new pampers with dry max is causing a horrible diaper rash with CHEMICAL like burns. So we take him off the pampers with dry max...start using desitin and the rash goes away. Now we just have to wait for his skin to grow back from where it peeled off....YES peeled off. The exact same thing happened to my cousins baby, who is 2 weeks younger than Cole. Exact same diaper rash, same area, same skin peeling off. So obviously it is the new type of pampers.

So now my sweet little angel wants to be held all the time! Of course family wants to hold the baby when they are around, so Cole got use to being held the entire time we were sick. Then after a week of not being able to hold my baby...I couldn't put him down. Now we are in the process of trying to break him from being held all day long. We are starting to make a little progress. I have a feeling it might take a while.

Also in good news...we closed on our house! We started painting and *fingers crossed* we will be moving in this upcoming weekend! We are so excited! You can imagine how easy it is to pack up a house with a baby that wants to be held all the time!


Okay that is all I have time for now!

One Year Anniversary and Good News!

Last Sunday Justin and I had our 1 year wedding anniversary. His side of the family threw a baby shower on our anniversary so we decided to spend the day together on Saturday. We went to one of the malls in Raleigh and just spent some time together. It will be our last trip to Raleigh without a baby stroller, bottles, diapers and a diaper bag....OH and a baby!

The entire week before our anniversary I was on spring break. It was great. I had some time to try and get Cole's room finished. Justin and I also went and looked at a house. We fell in love with the house, made an offer and the couple accepted! We are so excited about buying this house. We will finally have room to put all of our stuff. Ever since we got married we have been very pressed for space, and now with a baby on the way we really don't have any room for anything. Our closest are packed jam tight, and random items are placed in very random spots in our house right now.

We agreed to close on May 26th but since the couple has already moved out of the house and overseas to Germany they asked if we would want to close sooner...of course we agreed! So hopefully we will be closing on the house mid-May, and moving in at the end of May. I will hopefully have some pictures up soon.

Now it's about one week to my due date and we THINK we have everything ready. My bags are packed with what I THINK I will need at the hospital and we've got his room ready. Justin has put together everything that needs to be put together and the carseats are installed....now we just play the waiting game. So hopefully next time I update we will have a new addition to our family!

4 1/2 weeks to go!

I had my FIRST baby shower today at work! I am overwhelmed with all the gifts I received from my co-workers. I really will miss the 3rd grade team when I go out on maternity leave in April...but I know that I will be loving being with my little boy at home!

It seems so surreal that the time is getting closer and closer. Justin comes home from Cartersville, Georgia tomorrow night, next week he will work in Fayetville and then FINALLY he will be home with me...and eventually the baby until July. It has been so frightening with him being in Georgia the past 3 weeks...but we made it! I am so thankful his work is working with him and allowing him to be home with me.

On another happy note...I LOVE THIS WEATHER! Justin and I spent all day outside Saturday doing yard work...okay he did the yard work I sat in a chair and pointed at where I wanted things planted. Atleast I was outside. This Saturday will be spent putting baby shower gifts away, because on Sunday we have another shower that my family is giving us. We are so fortunate to have such great people supporting us.

I've been staying with my Daddy and Mama the past 3 weeks while Justin has been out of town and they have REALLY spoiled me by taking care of me. It's so nice to not have to drive 55 minutes to work and 55 minutes home from work.

Anyways...It's after my bed time!

I'm still around..

So…it’s been a while since I’ve blogged…quite a while. I’ve been lazy! Actually super super busy and when I’m not super super busy I’m super super tired….but I figured since I am now 32 weeks I should start blogging more since it is getting closer and closer to Cole getting here. (Which is an exciting but frightening thing!)

Everything is going well with the baby! He is healthy and growing! He moves all the time and I LOVE it! It is by far my favorite thing about being pregnant. I’m really going to miss feeling him moving when he gets here…but I know I will be overwhelmed with joy when he makes his grand entrance into this world.

This entire pregnancy has been very easy and I have been very blessed.

Justin and I have started working on his nursery, it is nowhere near close to being finished, but hopefully it will be complete by the spring break which is the first week of April.

Justin left today for his first trip of his last month of traveling before the baby arrives. So far it's been the hardest because ALL I think about is "what if he comes early?!?!" We only have 4 weeks of him traveling and then he will be in Kinston working until July. I am SO thankful they are working with him so that he can be home for those first few months.