"I Am A Child of God"

 At last, this little love bug of ours is baptized and we could not be happier! After planning the baptism for September and having to postpone it due to the Rubberducks winning, this day was so special. Although D.J. did not grow up in the Catholic church, having HC baptized in the same church I grew up going to and the same church we were married in.  Harrison was baptized with six other little babies by Deacon Derek, who could not have been more appreciative of us continuing the faith alive in Harrison.

Not to brag or anything, but Harrison has some pretty amazing Godparents.  Two people who serve and love the Lord - people that practice the Catholic faith in their daily lives - people who I know will love and teach Harrison the way of the Lord as he continues to grow in his faith.  Thank you, Wyatt and Maria, for being there already and in the future for us and for Harrison. 

To have Harrison's Godfather be someone I've know since elementary school is so special.  We have grown up in the church together and sat through lots of CCD classes together.  And Maria is nothing short of amazing.  She packed up her family of four (including an 8 week old little nursling and wild-child 2 1/2 year old) and drove from Michigan to be here for Harrison's special day. Maria and I have been best of friends for the past four baseball seasons.  I can not imagine going through this baseball life without your family.  Life is coming full circle as we have seen Sonny be born, talk about more babies, find out Harrison was in my belly, add little Francesca to the mix and now have you in our life forever as Harrison's Godmother. I can't say enough good things about these two special people.

We are so fortunate to have so many family members that live close to us, but to have so many people that love us to drive in town for this was so sweet. We had people come from Washington, D.C., Fredericksburg, VA and as far away as Michigan.  Gosh, we love our friends and family!

We are so honored, blessed and thankful for all the love and support our friends and family have shown us since Harrison has been born and especially on this special day of his life. 

8 Months || Harrison Cole

Ugh, I say this every time its time for the monthly blog post, but how in the world is he already 8 months old???!!!! And my bad - my lack of blogging is partially due to being busy and because I just forgot... oops (insert monkey covering eyes emoji)!

Harrison,

This month has been the absolute best month yet.  You continue to surprise us with how fast you are growing.  One minute we had a little baby burrito all swaddled up, and now you are sitting up in your crib when we come in to get you.  Seeing your milestones are seriously one of the most rewarding things a parent gets to experience.  Your daddy and I look at you all the time and just say how did we get so lucky with you? I am so thankful that God chose me to be your mommy.  You really are the best addition to our family and are loved by so many people. 

Weight and Length: When we took you for the flu shot two weeks ago, you were 20 pounds and 28 inches long. Starting to level out a bit.

Diapers: 3's but I sometimes question if he's ready to move up to 4's

Teeth: YES- we added a new category because you have 5 teeth!!!! And I'm pretty sure you are getting ready to pop the 6th one! Two on the bottom and three on the top! I seriously cannot believe it.  You still nurse just fine with your teeth and we haven't had any crazy biting issues.  You have bit me a few times, but nothing to cause bleeding or anything like that. 

Clothes: Pretty much wearing all 9 and 12 month clothes.  9 mo pants are too short but fit in the waist and 12 mo fit in the length, but fall off - typical - just like your daddy. 

Sleep:  You have been sleeping pretty well lately.  Sometimes when you were teething it was a little rough, but if I nurse you, most of the time you will fall back to sleep. You like to sleep on your back and when you wake up you are still just pushing up to your hand and knees.  I bet sometime this next month we will find you pulling up.  We lowered the crib one notch and the hardest part is transitioning you asleep from my arms to the crib because I'm not tall enough to reach down in there! 

Daddy can put you back to sleep most of the time without me having to nurse you, but sometimes it's just easier for me to nurse you and then you fall back asleep a lot easier. 

Most days, you take two naps anywhere between 9 to 11 a.m. and 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Daddy really has the magic touch with putting you to sleep. 

Food: Since your 7 month blog, your schedule has not changed.  You still wake up right at 7 a.m. - some days a little earlier.  You are getting Gerbers #2 and #3 "Lil' Bites" for food. You have three "meals" a day and nursing twice and having two 5 oz bottles. We try to have you in bed around 7:30 at the latest, but sometime we push it till 8:30! EEK! 

Pacifier: Still loving the pacifier. It's a good distraction.  But now you know how to take it out and throw it!  

Other 8 month memories:

Since you got your teeth, you have been grinding your teeth together and it just kills us! I really hope you grow out of that bad habit because it's like fingernails on a chalkboard! 

 

You are able to scoot all over the room.  I still don't understand how you move all around but can't grasp the concept of going forward.  I think by the end of the year you will be crawling though. 

You can go from the crawling position to the sitting position and then back to crawling. I love seeing these milestones because you seem so proud of yourself. 

We celebrated your first Thanksgiving at the Browns house.  You were not the best sleeper since we didn't have a crib, but daddy slept next to you on the floor mattress that we created a little crib for you. 

On the way up to the Brown's for Thanksgiving, you started to give high 5's and it was so stinken cute.  You now know how to do it on command and its so awesome. You are getting close to clapping on your own, but still haven't mastered that technique yet. 

You love playing with the blocks at Gigi and Grandpa's house. 

We did our first finger painting and you absolutely loved it.  We started off trying to make something cute, but it turned into a Pinterest fail that I just let you go crazy with.  I actually really love the way it turned out! 

You experienced one of the most controversial elections our nation has ever, and probably will ever for that matter, go through.  Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump.  Trump won, but if you were on the ballot, I'm confident you would have done a better job than either of the two candidates could do ;). 

We made our first trip to Georgia and you had your first plane ride! Of course, you did amazing.  We wore you in the Ergo most of the time we were walking, but on the plane you just took a nap. Our weekend in Atlanta/Athens was great.  You don't like sleeping anywhere but your crib, so this caused a bit of a struggle, but it was worth it.  We scalped tickets for the Auburn vs. Georgia game and you were there for the biggest Georgia upset of the season! 

We took family photos on the beach and they just turned out so amazing. 

I know that your 9 month blog is going to be the best one yet. Christmas with a child is magical. Not to mention all the firsts that com along with it, we are in for a real treat! 

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2016 Family Photos

Two weekends ago, we got together with the amazing Meghan Ippoliti Photography for an amazing family photo session! We took these beauties at 88th street at the oceanfront. I knew I wanted to get photos around this time of the year for Christmas cards, but these are so much more than pictures for a Christmas card for us.  They are memories saves in hard copy.  I cannot get enough of these photos and cannot wait to print them and get them up in the house. Here are some of our favorites...

Harrison Cole at 7 months old.

 
It's hard having a 7 month old and a solid marriage.  I strive to make our marriage a priority every day and show D.J. that.  I hope that over the next few months he is home for the off season we can continue to grow in love for one another and show Harrison what it means to not only be mommy and daddy, but husband and wife.

7 Month || Harrison Cole

Well considering I've done three post since Harrison's last monthly update, here's to hoping I get some more blog posts together in the next month.  Anyways...

Harrison,
You continue to impress us each and every day.  You are learning so much - like a little sponge just taking everything in and storing it.  I love to see you look at something and understand what is happening. You love saying ma ma ma and I'm starting to think that you are figuring out that I am ma ma ma! Clinginess has set in this month and you only want me to hold you when I'm an option.  You cry when I leave to go to work and it just breaks my heart! I'm so thankful that you get to stay with daddy when I'm gone.

Weight and Length: Not quite sure on his actual weight and length, but little man sure is getting big! 

Diapers: Still in 3's and fitting fine. 

Clothes: You are mostly wearing all 9 month and some 12 month onesies and jammies scattered in there.  We try to squeeze you in 6 months outerwear because we have lot of hand-me-downs of that size, but they are looking small.  I continue to pack things up that don't fit anymore for future babies - I cannot believe how fast you grow. 

Sleep:  Jammies and sleep sacks are the go-to these days.  You like to sleep on your tummy or side, but whenever you wake up, you are almost pushing yourself up over the crib - time to lower it! Since your 6 month blog, we did a pretty good sleep training, aka, crying it out.  It took about two nights, but that really made a huge difference and now you sleep through the night!!!! My supply really tanked then and now I only make enough for exactly what you need during the day - no extra to store.  I'm simply replacing a frozen bag with a fresh bag every day. 

The past couple of weeks though, you have been an absolute terrible sleeper.  I'm almost positive you are cutting your top tooth or waking yourself up figuring out how to push up and crawl.  I hate that your little brain is trying to wake you up to learn! It's such a catch 22! You are still good at putting yourself back to sleep, but I think you are going through clingy phase and really just want mommy or daddy to hold you when you sleep.

You are a pretty solid napper. You take two naps a day ranging 1-2 hours.  You nap usually around 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Food: There hasn't been one food you don't like yet! Your schedule goes a little like this... 

Nurse when you wake up usually around 7 or 7:30 a.m.

Solid food for breakfast around 8:30-9 a.m.

Nap at 9:30 a.m.

Bottle at 11 a.m.

Solid food for lunch at 12 p.m.

Nap at 1 p.m.

Bottle at 3 p.m.

Solid food for dinner at 5 p.m.

Sometimes nurse when I get home around 5 or 5:30 p.m. and then one more nurse before bed around 7:15, 7:30 p.m.

Pacifier: Yes! You are loving the pacifier and it has been such a good distraction after you finish eating or nursing. 

Other 7 month memories:

You still love strolling around in the stroller.  You and daddy have spent lots of time on walks with Stryker and runs with mommy. 

You graduated from the Bumbo to the highchair for food! We have been giving you teething crackers and slices of fruit to chew on.  We are trying to get you to realize you can feed yourself too when you get some more teeth!

You went to your first pumpkin patch this month! You went on a hay ride, saw a bull and got to pretend you were a pumpkin with cousin Jayden!

Mawmaw, Pawpaw, Jayden, Stef and James came down for the day and we all had a blast!

As always, you are the most well behaved 7 month old.  You go with the flow, love being in the car, and really just are an overall happy little man. We went to Harrisonburg for JMU's Homecoming Weekend.  We stayed in Staunton with The Browns, and the soon-to-be Shabans.

You got to meet the sweetest little lady, Ella while we were tailgating before the game.

This special trip marked your first football game! We will add another state and football game to your list next weekend in Georgia, but for now, JMU it is!

This month you also took your first swing in the baby swing and haven't looked back yet! You love to swing and have gotten the hang of it.

This month you also cracked your first tooth and that was quickly followed by your second tooth! I finally realized why you were being such a crazy sleeper - TEETHING!! It was making you so miserable.  I haven't been able to snap a good picture where you can see them, but it was the bottom two teeth that came in literally days apart from each other. 

We took our first trip to O'Connor Brewery with you, and of course met Russell there.  #BabiesAtBreweries is the best. 

And what made it ever more exciting was the fact that we decided to go during the middle of a hurricane.  Oops.  Parenting fail. We survived and you got to experience your first hurricane - Matthew!

Mommy had a busy week at work in the middle of the month, so you and daddy came to see me at work! You wore your Norfolk Collegiate shirt and were just so stinken adorable.

Russell isn't your only buddy that we got to see this month. We saw Raleigh too! The weekends have been busy, so we haven't had much play time, but I love seeing you grow up with these friends!

And of course, we can't forget about your first Halloween! Cutest little fire fighter on the truck! 

And you got to go around the neighborhood in your awesome new wagon, thanks to one of mommy's friends!

But when I went to take your picture before I left for work on Halloween, you weren't to thrilled. 

You really make every day worth while and make me so proud to me your mommy.