It's Finally Christmas At The Searcy's

It took us a little longer than normal to get the decorations up this year but we finally did it! And I love them!!! Rhonald and I always decorate the tree together, drinking hot chocolate and watching Christmas Vacation. This year we waited until Cole was sound asleep to put the tree up so we were able to continue our tradition and not worry about him getting in to everything while we decorated. Rhonald even decided to put lights up outside this year. I have never lived in a house with outside lights and I was thrilled when he mentioned doing it. And I have to say, they are beautiful and I love looking at them when we drive up to the house! We were so excited for Cole to see the tree that, in a moment of insanity, we almost woke him up - BUT we thought about it a moment longer and realized that would be totally crazy so we waited for morning. He was a bit unsure of the tree at first but quickly adjusted and then just stared at it for a long time. As the day progressed so did his curiosity and he did manage to snag a few ornaments off of the tree. Since then we have been working with him to not bother it - just look - and he has been doing very well. Every morning he acts like it is the first time he has seen the tree and all of the decorations and it is precious! We are so excited to continue making new Christmas traditions with Cole .... last night I bought a copy of The Night Before Christmas to read on Christmas Eve and Friday we plan to go see Santa! I love it - it is like reliving Christmas as a child but better!

Mommy and Me

Cole and I attended our first "Mommy and Me" class at Gymboree Play and Music this afternoon. I wish I had a picture to share with you but I did not even think to bring my camera! It was such a blast! Cole is the youngest in his class and, honestly, I thought he would be a little bit shy and intimidated but boy was I wrong! As soon as we got there he started following his friend, Ben, around and playing on the equipment. When the class started we sat in a circle to sing a few songs and Cole LOVED it. Like, loved it with all of his heart!!! It was so sweet to watch him - he even clapped his hands for the 1st time! He played well and tried a lot of new things (like crawling up stairs and through tunnels). At the end we sang a few more songs and again, Cole went nuts! I was so happy that I signed us up for the classes --- the hour went by much too fast and I am already excited to take him back next week!

An update - thank you for your prayers....they have worked! We have had a great day with a long morning nap! He is 26 hours out from the Splenda oranges and seems to be back to normal and happy! Poor thing...I hate that his tummy was hurting so much but I am so thankful that he seems to be feeling much better!

Some New News

So, Cole has been doing a few new things since we got home from our trip! It is always exciting to watch him learn something!!!
1. He likes to hand us things....anything and everything. Last night he kept handing me food during dinner!
2. He can hold his own sippy cup and drink out of it...if we are holding him and can lean him back a little bit.
3. He can drink out of a straw! Funny story about that...we were at lunch with our playgroup friends Tuesday and he was playing with my straw. I told my friend, Kellie, how he liked to play with them but he could not drink out of them. Then Wednesday I had a milkshake for lunch (yes, you read that right and I am not ashamed!) and he wanted to play with the straw as I was getting him out of the car. Well, when I got in the house I looked over at him and he had ice cream all over his face and was smiling so big! Then I watched him take a big drink!!!

In other Cole news....we had 4 glorious weeks of Cole sleeping through the night and then we had the nerve to go on a trip! Needless to say naps and night time sleep have not been the best for us over the past few days. I think 2 things are going on....I think another tooth MIGHT be coming in but more than that I think I made a boo boo! Cole has never tolerated artificial sweeteners...major tummy upset. We have never directly given him any but whenever I would drink even 1 Diet Coke and then nurse him he would cry and cry. Well, we accidentally bought some mandarin oranges over the trip with Splenda in them and when we got home - to save room - we took all of the fruit out of the boxes to put them away. He loves oranges so he gets them a lot and I thought last night...I never got rid of the Splenda oranges and I bet he has been eating them! UGH!!!! So, I share this story with you to ask for prayers for patience as Cole has not been his normal happy, sweet self and for prayers that he starts to sleep well again so that mommy can be her normal happy, sweet self too!!!!

Cole's First Thanksgiving

(The pictures on this post are in a random order and I apologize. I wanted to get them on the blog to share with you and could not figure out how to reorder them).

Thanksgiving has always been the biggest of holidays for my side of the family. Growing up Thanksgiving was the only time where all of my dad's family was able to be together. I was so excited to introduce Cole to everyone this year and be able to include him in our traditions! We were blessed to spend a wonderful day at my cousin Katie and her husband Marc's beautiful home in Chicago. The food was AMAZING, but more than that, the company was wonderful! As you can see above Cole even had his own place with Rhonald and I at the table which was so sweet. Our sweet boy loved the Thanksgiving feast....not a big surprise!

You know how there are people in your life that you love so much but rarely get to spend time with? Well, my aunts and Katie are 3 of those people for me. I have such awesome memories of spending time with these women throughout my life and I loved sharing Cole with them and watching him develop relationships with them. I wish I had gotten a picture of him with my cousin Katie - he adored her...as well as my Aunt Peggy and Aunt Debbie. I think they were a little shocked at how much Cole loved to look at books but I think they loved it at the same time....that way they were able to get some one on one time with him. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to watch him with them.

Wow - this never happens! This is a picture of us with my brother, Mark, and his family, along with my mom and dad. Everyone is actually smiling and paying attention...priceless! My dad is the oldest of 3 boys. I know my grandparents would have been so happy to see everyone having such a wonderful time together.

As I mentioned before, Thanksgiving has always been the biggest holiday for us and this year was no different. Katie and Marc have a beautiful new home and had everything decorated perfectly! It is so fun to get dressed up and enjoy good food while you are surrounded by those that you love! The only "downer" to the day was that my grandparents were not able to be with us this year. Traveling is just too hard on them now. It was impossible to look around the room and not think of them and the fact that they started this family and this fun tradition. I remember my grandpa saying the Thanksgiving blessing dressed in his white dress shirt, grey cardigan sweater and red tie like it was yesterday. I know they are so proud to think of everyone celebrating together even though they were unable to be there.

Cole had a blast with his cousins: Luke, Tyler and Kylie. The last time we were with them he was so small he could not play very much. This time he was very excited to see them and play with them. Luke and Tyler were such a big help to Rhonald and I. They would keep Cole laughing at all times and help watch him while we got ready each day!

Cole playing with his Uncle Mark and Aunt Laura. It is a lot of fun to be able to share parenthood with them. Mark is 10 years older than me but as time goes on the age difference seems less and less. I hope that Cole is able to see them a lot and get to know them over the years.

Poor Sasha! Sasha is Katie and Marc's lab (who we love) and Cole spotted her as soon as we walked in the door! He was a bit shy of all of the new people at first but boy did he want to get down and play with Sasha! Thank goodness she is so sweet and loved Cole as much as he loved her. Sasha was so great that we wanted to take her home with us!

We had such a blast over the weekend. Friday night we ate dinner at a nice Italian place in Chicago. I will be the first to admit that I was stressed out most of the time waiting for Cole to lose it in this nice place but he never did. Actually he was perfect the entire weekend. As much as Cole and I depend on our routine while we are at home he did amazingly well without it. Rhonald and I were so proud of him and the way he seemed to just go with the flow and enjoy his holiday too. The weekend ended much too quickly. The drive seemed forever long and ended with 6 hours of beautiful snow falling on us! I could not stop looking out the window the entire way home. As nice as it is to be home I am already excited for next year!

Boys Are From Mars

My mom sent Cole these PJ's and we love them! They say "Boys are from Mars" - isn't that the truth???? I don't think there is anything cuter than a baby in jammies!

Enjoying some quality time with daddy! Cole is so into books right now. It is so fun to watch him learn about reading and point to things on the page that he recognizes. I hope he enjoys reading forever like his mama!

Sweet smile!!!

This is from a few weeks ago but I love it all the same. Since I take most of the pictures I don't get to be in many. Cole is such a happy and sweet boy. I am so proud to be his mama!!!

The Big 1-0

It is so hard to believe that we have gone from this (Cole the day he came home from the hospital)...

to this, in just 10 months!

That is right...at 4:42 pm Cole will officially be 10 months old! He has been very hard to get a picture of today so I had to use one we took last week. Our 10 month old baby boy is very busy these days. He is learning so many new things it is hard to keep up with him! Let's see...Cole can put objects into containers. His favorite thing to do is put his toy fish into their fish bowl. He walks while holding on to his walking toys. If you ask Cole "where is the light?" he looks up and almost points at the ceiling fan. My favorite thing is that when Cole is playing with his books (which he does a lot lately) he will turn the pages and babble away like he is reading them. It is precious!!! He claps his hands and is starting to wave. He is still eating like a horse! His favorite foods are: chicken, blueberries, applesauce, mandarin oranges and peas. I say favorite foods but really, I think he would eat anything. The best news is that Cole is sleeping through the night and has been for about 3 weeks!!!!! It is wonderful! He goes to bed around 8 pm and wakes up around 6 am. He still loves bath time, taking walks and playing with Mason. It is really seems strange to me that he is already 10 months old. Time has flown by yet it seems like he has been with us forever. We are so blessed and we are having such a great time being parents to this little guy!

An Afternoon On The Pig Trail

Rhonald is on vacation this week so we have been trying to enjoy the nice weather and our time together. Today we decided to head down the Pig Trail and look at the beautiful fall colors! And beautiful it was!!! Our dentist recommended we stop at a lookout point called White Rock (yes, another fun vacation activity was that we both went to the dentist). After driving for quite a while we found the turn off and headed up a mountain on a very rough dirt road to White Rock. The drive reminded us of a scary movie - it was so pretty but totally out in the middle of nowhere. Once we got to the actual lookout point we were so glad that we had made the drive. It was amazing!!!! We were the only people there so we let Cole crawl around in the leaves. He loved that so much!!!! It was a great day and a wonderful way to spend time together. I could not help but think about how glad I am to live in Arkansas - it really is a beautiful, beautiful state.