I'm sorry

I doubt at this point that I actually have any blog followers considering how long it has been since I've posted. I get busy and completely forget to get on here.
Cole is doing WONDERFUL! He will be 5 months old in 9 days! Frankly I don't know how this happened! It doesn't seem possible that he should be that old already but he is! We are planning on getting some professional pictures taken when he's six months old. We'll also get some family pictures at this time!
I'll try to add some pictures of little man tonight for everyone to see.
Have a great Friday and check back later!

Lots to catch up on!

So these orders aren't in the best order but I figured no one actually cares about that!

This was after Cole's Baptism. Michael's dad was holding Cole and then put him on Neal's shoulders!

Cole wore Michael's Baptism outfit and we also used the blanket that Michael had at his Baptism.

Riley was extremely helpful!

I love this picture of the boys!

Both boys look just like their dads!

Cole had to eat at his great grandma's house!

Feeling sleepy after the bottle!

Grandpa feeding Cole.

Can you tell he likes looking at lights?

Another picture of Cole checking out the lights! He is definitely a very alert baby!

I really love this picture of Fr. Martin and Cole. They both look sooo happy!

Cole with Michael's parents.

Family picture after the Baptism!

This is my favorite picture right now! I'm kind of in a black and white mood right now!

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures! We've been taking a lot!

So I have been a total slacker when it comes to this blog. It just hasn't been high on my list of priorities lately. I'm sure everyone can understand why. Instead diapers, feedings, and sleeping have taken over my life!

Cole continues to grow. We're guessing that he's around 8 and 1/2 to 9 pounds right now. I can't believe that some babies are that big when they are born and it's take my lovely little son 6 weeks to get there! :)

Cole has been a lot of places in the past 6 weeks. He's been to St. Joe, Raymore, Peculiar, Ravannah, and Princeton. This past weekend we went to Ravannah for Cole to meet his Great Grandma Bessie (my dad's mom). We stopped by Princeton to see my Aunt and cousins. It was SOOOO cute. My cousin's son was all about Cole. I should say that Riley (the little boy) is going to be 2 in October so it made it even more adorable! He kept asking to hold Cole. He also gave Cole his "night night" to use. His "night night" is his little blanket that he takes to bed! The two were too stickin cute!

Next week we are going on vacation at Table Rock. My extended family is going including Riley. We asked Riley if it was okay if Cole went on vacation and he was all about that! Michael, Cole, and I are going to leave one day early and stay with one of my friends from college. I finally get to meet her little girl that turned one in March! I'm really excited to see her!

We'll I better get off of here - I have to get ready for my six week doctor's appointment. I will admit that I'm excited to go to this appointment because I'll get to show Cole off to all of the nurses that helped us out throughout the whole pregnancy. Michael suggested I get someone to watch Cole but I told him I wanted to take him with me. Michael asked why. I told him that at one of my last appointments before Cole was born I was talking to the nurse and she made the comment about how they help all these women through the pregnancy and then they don't get to see the end results (the baby). I figured they might want to see the little guy!

Cole's Baptism and the 4th of July

Today was a very special day for our family. Cole was Baptized at St. Gregory's Church at the 10:30 Mass. We were extremely lucky to have our family there and some friends as well to help us celebrate. There were four Baptism today during Mass. We actually knew all four babies and their parents rather well. One of the mom's I worked with during my student teaching, another mom did her student teaching at my school and joined the church when I did, and the other dad worked with Michael. The other kind of crazy thing is that three of us actually had our babies in the same order that we got married!
Cole was really good during the service except when he decided to poop REALLY loud while another baby was getting Baptized! Ohhh well... what are you going to do!
I'll try to update later and get some pictures up as well.
We hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL and SAFE 4th of July!

Taking it day by day!

Grandma decided to have a fashion shoot while she was at the house. This is just one of the outfits that Cole had to try on!

All bundled up!

This was taken right before we went to church for the first time!

My mom bought Cole this outfit!

Crashed and burned!

It's hard to believe that Cole is already past the two week mark! I'm having an even harder time imaging that I have to go back to work in eight weeks... Let's not talk about that!

We've been taking it day by day and that seems to be working out really well for us. Cole is a really good baby. He sleeps a lot and eats a lot but we figure that's what he is supposed to be doing!

We have had a truck load of visitors, which has been WONDERFUL. Cole has even been out and about. He's gone to Wal-Mart, Pagilia's, La Bonita, the church office, and to Mass (twice).

Today we took Cole in for a weight check. He weighed 7 lbs. and 4 oz. So he has gained 7 oz in a week! I think that's pretty good!

Well, we're going to head to St. Joe tonight for Michael's birthday so I better go get the little man ready. We hope everyone is doing well.

Baby Cole has arrived!

We have a son!

On Monday, May 31st (Memorial Day), we greeted our son, Cole Michael Casteel, at 10:36 p.m.

I guess I should start at the beginning of the story. On Monday morning I woke up at 7:30 a.m. with some back and lower abdominal pain. The past two nights I had been up until 1:30 a.m. for not specific reason. I had a feeling we were getting closer to delivery but didn't know that we were that close! I got up and started walking around the house. I had read that with false labor sometimes if you different things it can make it go away so I figured I would try some different things. After walking, taking a little nap, and showering the contractions weren't going away. Michael and I decided to start timing them to see how far apart they were. They were six minutes apart. At that point we were trying to decide if we should cook our BBQ dinner that we had to do (we had helped the school I work for by offering to cook a BBQ dinner as part of the silent auction and we had talked to the people who bought it and they wanted it Monday). I told him to go ahead and cook it. We were supposed to have it ready for them at 4 p.m. and I just wanted to know that we were done with it. So Michael started the meat for the dinner and then mowed the lawn. I called my parents and told them they might want to bring a bag. They had already planned on coming up that day with my aunt to visit. My parents arrived at 10:30. I decided to call the hospital at 12:30 and asked them at what point I should come in. They told me when my contractions were two and three minutes apart. I called my boss around 12:30 and told her that I was in labor and I wouldn't be coming in on Tuesday for our meetings. I ended up going to school around 1 so that I could enter grades. My mom came with me so that she could do some organizing. I was laboring the whole time I was entering grades. I know my mom thought the whole thing was pretty comical! Michael texted me around 2:30 to see how I was doing. At that point the contractions were three minutes apart. I called him and told him he needed to head home so we could go to the hospital. We got Michael's mom to make the mac and cheese for our BBQ dinner and we were at the hospital between 2:30 and 2:45. When we got there I was at a 4 and 100% effaced. The nurse informed me that my "bag was bulging" and the doctor would probably want to break it. That's exactly what the doctor did. Once she did that my contractions got a bit more intense. They asked what I wanted for my pain and I gladly told them to get me an epidural. Somewhere between 4 and 5 I received my epidural. I was much more pleasant upon receiving that! I was a little disappointed because I was ready to "eat" actually drink my chicken broth and I asked for it and they informed me that because I had the epidural I couldn't have the broth! I was really hungry at that point because I hadn't ate since about 8 in the morning. We continued to labor throughout the early evening. I began pushing around 9:15 and at 10:36 Cole Michael Casteel entered the world. Of course anyone who knows us knows that Michael and I aren't really straight laced or anything so it probably isn't a surprise to find out we were listening to music during the majority of the labor/delivery! I listened to Lady Antabellum for the majority of the labor and then at the end Michael switched to the Black Eyed Peas! :) My mom and Michael were both in the room to help and they were wonderful!

I will post more pictures later of our lovely little munchkin later but here's one to appease anyone who hasn't' seen him yet!

Busy Weekend - including lots of changes!

Well, Thursday after I wrote my blog we had the last day of school. I pretty much felt horrible the whole time I was at school. I had a horrible headache when I woke up and my back was killing me. I finally called the doctor's office after school was out (we got out at 12:30). They were concerned about my headache because it can be a sign of preclampsia (sp?) so they had me come in and get monitored. Everything was just fine and I was able to leave. They told me that they think it's because the baby is laying against my spine and causing pressure on my lower back! Isn't that nice of him!?!? I went home and put heat on my back and took a two hour nap. I felt a lot better after that. Thursday evening I went to SATC 2 with my some of my girlfriends. We ate supper and watched the movie. It was a nice way to end the school year.
Friday we had meetings in the morning and then had our last baby shower. This one was put on by the faculty and staff at my school. We received some VERY nice gifts. I must admit that I feel pretty lucky to be teaching at my school with such wonderful and considerate people! Friday afternoon/early evening Michael and I worked in my classroom trying to get somethings finished. After we were done we went next door. Michael's boss, Corey, bought the house next to us and is doing some major renovations. I asked him if I could destroy anything. They gave me a hammer and I went to town on his dining room wall. I think they were a little shocked at how fast I tore the wall down! I'm sure if a lot of people would have seen me they would have been shocked. Here's a 38 and 1/2 week pregnant lady completely destroying a wall! It was a WONDERFUL form of stress relief. Michael and I didn't got to bed until 1:30 on Saturday morning, which means we got up late Saturday morning. We got up around 10 am. We headed to St. Joe and bought a TON of stuff at Menard's for the house. We got three ceiling fans, two dome lights, a chandler for the kitchen, and mini blinds for Cole's room. When we got home Michael installed the mini blinds and all the lights. He didn't get to the fans because he will have to run the wires up in the ceiling and we figured it would be pretty warm up there considering how hot it was today! He's planning on doing that some morning soon. I ended up packing Cole's bag for the hospital. I got our bedroom organized (since we now have furniture to put stuff in) and cleaned up the living room a bit. I still need to pack my bag for the hospital but I don't think that will take me too long. :)
Well, I am going to go to bed! Good night everyone! We'll keep everyone updated on how things are going with Cole's arrival.... only 10 days left before our due date!

38 Weeks - Only TWO weeks left

Below you will find my 38 week picture. I find it amazing to look at the pictures I started taking 10 weeks ago. I waited to take pictures because I really didn't show until 28 weeks and then suddenly I had a baby bump! :)

Now at 38 weeks, I am starting to get a little stressed that we won't get everything done that we have to before Cole arrives. I think part of my stressing is coming from the fact that yesterday morning one of our friends had her baby and I know that I'm next on the list for having a baby.

We had our 38 week appointment yesterday. The doctor checked me. I will say that before we went in I told myself that it was going to be the same as last time (1 cm and 50% effaced) so that I wouldn't be disappointed. Yes, secretly, I was hoping for some kind of a change but I didn't want to get my hopes up. She checked me and said that I was 2 to 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I did ask her what station the baby was at. The station is how far down the birthing canal the baby's head is. Cole is currently at a 0. That means his head is even with my pelvic bone. The doctor even commented on how far down he was! She asked me how far along I was and I told her 38 weeks and she make the comment of how low he was. She also informed me that she stripped my membrane. I guess this can sometimes bring on labor. At that point she told me we could have a baby in as little as two to three days or we could go full term or late. I was a little shocked when she said it could be a couple of days! I wasn't expecting that. Of course Michael had to go and ask her after this if that meant I couldn't travel anymore! I had just planned on not asking so that way I couldn't get told no. She told me I can't go to Kansas City but I can go to St. Joe. So we won't be headed to my sister's this weekend for her BBQ but at least I can still go to my class next week in St. Joe, assuming I don't have a baby before then!

Well, I better go get ready for the last day of school. I hope everyone has a great Thursday. We'll keep you updated on baby Cole's progress!

38 weeks - I do have to say that I am wearing a bright yellow shirt not to look like a big sun but for field day. Each year we have field day shirts made and this year they were yellow, which made me feel like a giant sun! :)

Taking a little break!

This weekend is going to be a buys one. We don't actually have any plans with anyone else but we have plans of what we want to get accomplished. I have already been up at school this morning and worked for a couple of hours. My plans are to get my room organized for the end of the school year. At some point I need to pack my bag for the hospital and Cole's stuff for the hospital. I really want to make sure that everything at school and home are in order in case I would have this baby early. Right now I am so busy that most (most but not all) of me wants Cole to stay right where he is. I hope he is enjoying his last couple of days, or weeks inside of me.
I came home from school to eat a late lunch with Michael. Michael has several plans for his weekend too! He's already cleaned out the gutters, he's doing some kind of electrical fix, painting a spot on the siding and installing a new basement door. He is also going to come into school and help me move some of the stuff that I can't, since I'm not allowed to do any heavy lifting!
Hopefully we can get everything on our to do lists done so that we can relax a little bit this week. I would love to be able to come home one night this week and take a nap and not worry about needing to do something!
Right now we are in count down mode... 3.5 days of school left and the baby is due in 18 days. The doctor did tell me she wouldn't let me go over a week late so at the most I only have 25 more days of being pregnant before I get to meet my son! SCARY!!!
I hope everyone has a good weekend and enjoys the beautiful weather!

Quick Update

This is going to be a quick update. I just realized I haven't updated the blog in quite a while and people may be inquisitive about how we're doing.

This past weekend my aunts had a baby shower for us! My family was there and so were some friends from high school and college. It was great to see them! We received a TON of stuff! I'm pretty sure that we have EVERYTHING we need to get ready for Cole's arrival. I know we have more than enough. We are extremely lucky to have such great friends and family. I'll upload some pictures later to show some of the things we got.

Below is a picture of me take last Wednesday. I'm 36 weeks in the picture. Hard to believe that I've been pregnant for 9 months. Today is another doctor's appointment. We will be going in again next week, the following week, and the week after that. Today is the first time they will check me to see if I'm dilated at all. I think appointment is going to be the one that makes it even more realistic that this baby is coming! I'm getting excited and ready for this baby to come. I need to pack my bag and the baby's soon.

Well, I have to go get ready for our field trip today! I hope everyone has a great week and that it goes by QUICKLY!

More Fox Pictures

On my birthday, Saturday, we got some more pictures of the baby fox and his momma! He or she was hanging out playing around! It was pretty funny because he or she kept trying to get the momma to play and she wasn't too interested!

Isn't he or she cute!

I love this look!

The pretty momma in the back yard!

She was checking out a dog that was running around in one of the neighbor's yards.

I just love her color!

My First Mother's Day!

I guess today is my first official Mother's Day. Some of my friends have said that today counts as my first Mother's Day even if my son is still in the womb. I'm not sure if it does but it's nice to think that people already consider me a mom! :)
It's odd to think that next year I will be taking care of a 11 month old son! I still can't wrap my head around the fact that we are going to be having a baby in a little over a month!
We hope EVERYONE has a great Mother's Day!

Another Fox Siting!

Well, we had another fox siting this morning! Michael was downstairs and heard one of the fox pups yelping. I went to check it out and he was on the back porch. He was all by himself the poor thing! I don't know if he got lost or what. We figured out that he wasn't really happy because Michael had moved the piece of cement back into place. The cement had been blocking the hole under the steps. I was able to stand on the back porch and take pictures. Michael went down and moved the concrete. Once it was out of the way the little guy went right on in!
Enjoy the pictures and the video. I can't believe how much he's changed. He's almost completely red now!

34 and 1/2 weeks

As of last Wednesday I was 34 weeks. Below is a picture of me on Wednesday morning before school. The little guy is gradually starting to drop down a bit. He isn't up in my ribs as much as he was a couple weeks ago! I'm glad to say that he is still pretty active. The weekly e-mails that I get about my pregnancy said that he should start slowing down because he's running out of space but so far he doesn't seem to care about that. He's still kicking like crazy and having a good time! :) I frankly can't believe that we have about five and a half weeks left. It doesn't seem possible that we should be so close to the end.

Tomorrow is our 34 week appointment. I know it's a little late. I got a call last week letting me know that I needed to reschedule my doctor's appointment that was supposed to be last Thursday. So I called and got it rescheduled for tomorrow. I'm excited to go in tomorrow because i know that this is our the last our our "two week" appointments. I will have to start scheduling an appointment every week now!

The other night Michael kind of had a moment where he realized that I am getting bigger and that this baby is coming pretty soon! He looked at my belly as he was dropping me off at school and said, "You're getting really big." I then informed him that it is normal for pregnant ladies to get big! He said he knew that but seeing my big belly made it more realistic. :)

Well I am going to go relax after our big exciting weekend (Apple Blossom BBQ on Friday and all day Saturday and then the Pancake Breakfast for school today). I'll update again soon!

Updated pictures of the Cole's room!

This evening I was pretty lucky! My mother-in-law and father-in-law came over to help Michael and I organize Cole's room. We have not had a chance to get things the way we want them because of how busy we have been! Below are some updated pictures of the room!

These are the curtains that Michael's c0-worker made. We will be adding some mini-blinds to help get some privacy!

Here is our dresser. The little blow up animals are from one of our showers. The picture frame on the wall hold the parenting advice from my second graders! TOO FUNNY!

This is the changing table with our cute monkey hooks on the wall!

This is the left side of the room.

This is the adorable growth chart that I found to match the monkey hooks!

This is our crib with the blanket and our new mobile! The mobile even has a remote control!!!!

This is a picture of the rocker, ottoman, and pictures that we got from some friends!

Another picture of our monkey hooks

Here's the close up of the hooks. I am in love with the NW hat. It was a gift from my in-laws!

This is our bookcase that we just received as a gift from Michael's mom and sister! I'm SOOOOO happy they decided to give us the bookcase! I love it!!

Video of the momma fox and her babies!

I've never set up a video so I don't know if this will work or not. If this does work this is video of the momma fox feeding her babies!

Pictures that go with the last post

Fox Pictures

Before you look at these pictures I would like to make sure that everyone realizes that I had to take the pictures without the flash because I didn't want to scare the momma fox. Because I didn't have the flash on it made them a little blurry.

The little three clumps at the bottom of the picture are the fox puppies!

This little one was pretty daring. He was running all over the steps!

Here's our daredevil puppy getting himself a drink!

Isn't the momma pretty?

Pregnancy Picture - Update

Here's the newest belly picture!

My 32 week picture. This was taken on April 14, 2010.

Pictures from the Baby Shower on April 10, 2010.

Our bathtub for the baby full of goodies to help with bath time!

The blanket that Janette made for us. It's so beautiful!

Michael with his balloon belly and my real belly!

Our adorable monkey cake!

Michael and I behind the cake table!