Where did the last year go?

It is hard to believe that Cole is going to be one this coming Tuesday! This past year literally flew by.
We had Cole's first birthday party today! Our theme was ELMO! Cole officially loves Elmo. Michael cooked bbq brisket, pork, and baked beans. Our families helped to make the sides that accompanied the meal. We also had a cake and cupcakes. My family (and Gayle and Evelyn too) helped me to make Elmo cupcakes. They looked amazing. The looked so good that as soon as Cole say them he started saying Melmo (his version of Elmo)! It thought that was a good sign. The party went off without a hitch and Cole had a wonderful time. I'll post some pics at some point so everyone can see him and Melmo.

Hard to Believe

Cole with a very "familiar" Santa!

It's extremely hard for me to believe that my son is almost nine months old. It doesn't seem possible that he should be that old. He should still be a little baby. I now understand what parents mean when they say once you have kids that time flies by! I noticed this when I started teaching. I would watch how much the kids changed in the short time span that they were with me. Now I look at my own child and sit in amazement that he is this old! (I also had a moment the other day where I realized that my first class will be graduating from St. Gregory's in TWO years!)

I apologize for not updating the blog but hopefully you will all understand considering what life is like with a little one.

Cole has officially had his first ear infection.... in both ears... at the same time! The doctor said it is only a slight one but it has definitely affect his attitude and sleep. He wants to be held ALL the time, which is soooo not out little guys normal behavior. He has had several nights where sleep has eluded him after a couple hours. It doesn't help he has a head cold and he is struggling to keep his nose clean so he can breathe!

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!