6 Months Old Today

Today Cole is 6 months old! He is becoming such the big boy. He goes for his 6-month well baby appointment next week so I'll have the official stats but he continues to surprise us everyday as he develops. Here are a few pictures from this morning.



Cole is loving having Drew home and Drew loves it too. We've been waiting for a tooth to appear because it has been obvious he's teething and sure enough, Drew noticed on Monday morning that two little bottom front teeth came through. So cute! They are not out far enough yet for me to get a good picture but I will as soon as I can.
A few more pics from this week.


I need to keep trying to take cute pics of Drew and Cole. Every time I take one with Cole smiling it's blurry because he is moving too. Have to take these pics while I can!

This weekend we'll be packing up the moving truck and Drew should deploy on/around next weekend. Lots going on!

Heading Home from NTC

Today Drew is heading home from NTC. Woo hoo!! He returned from the field (or the box as they call it) on Thursday. We were so excited to be able to talk to each other after 10 days without his phone. We have so much going on between Cole, his training, our move and new house that it was non-stop updates for the first hour and a half. He enjoyed training which I'm not surprised to hear and he's ready to get this show on the road. It was hard for him to hang out the last couple of days now that he had finished his training but fortunately it is now Sunday and he's heading home! Cole and I will be picking him up from work late tonight. Operation 'enjoy every second until we drop him off again' starts tonight. Can't wait!
Drew's company heading out of the box.

Busy Busy

First and foremost, my parents are the most thoughtful, caring, giving, supportive, helpful, loving people I know. I was telling my friend today that saying thanks just doesn't do my gratitude justice. They are always so eager and willing to bend over backwards to help our little family...and of course they have just struck again with their generosity. My mom flew down on Saturday morning and drove the Subaru back to St. Louis today. That helped us out a TON because we sold the Civic so now we only have the truck to move back next month. My mom volunteered to drive all by herself back to St. Louis. SO KIND and GENEROUS. Love that woman. And while she was here my Dad was taking care of our dogs in St. Louis and painting the nursery at the Brophy Ranch in preparation for Cole. Don't know what we would do without them. SO thankful.
Now that I got that out of my system, here's a quick update. Things have been so crazy (in a good way) that I actually had to look back on this blog to see what day Drew turned in his phone so I know when I'll hear from him next. If he turned in his phone on Monday for 10 days I guess I should hear from him Thursday? I guess I'll know when he calls. Can't wait to talk to him!! So many things have happened with the house, my mom's visit, packing...etc. His boss has been emailing us updates from training and it sounds like things are going great so I can't wait to hear all about that too. I have had to make some pretty big executive decisions but fortunately Drew has complete confidence in my decision making ability so better not mess it up now! I'm pretty happy with how much I have been able to get done already. We should be in good shape when Drew gets back that we can hang out instead of having to pack all day everyday. I want to relax and spend fun time together as much as possible so that's exactly what we'll do!
Somehow I did not get one single picture of my Mom and Cole. We were able to sneak away from packing both nights to enjoy good dinners but no pics. At least they'll be together again in about four weeks. This next month is going to be a whirlwind.
Pics from this week have a common theme: Cole's new thing is sitting up all by himself. He likes to show off his skills while we are making the bed in the morning. Such a big boy.



He sits up and his hair stands up. :)

NTC

On Wednesday night, 1/4/12, I dropped Drew off to head to CA. He is now at NTC (the National Training Center) at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert for pre-deployment training. He'll be there for about 3 weeks. The guys went last time before their Iraq deployment but Drew didn't go because we had just been assigned to the unit and were in the process of moving here. So far Drew has found the training to be beneficial which always makes the time apart seem worth it. He'll come back for a very short time at the end of this month before deploying.
Before Drew left Cole was very intent on making sure Drew signed the mortgage papers for our new house correctly. :)

Then it was time to drop Dad off for camp.

Fort Irwin

Tomorrow they head out for 10 days in the field without cell phones. Days in the field really make the time go by fast.

Before Drew left he had some pretty cute talks with Cole which I overheard... or at least I heard some of them. :) Cole is taking his job seriously as the man of the house. He is helping me with yard work...or at least supervising from the deck.

And taking a real hand (or I should say mouth) in helping me pack.

I think every item of Drew's clothing that I placed on the bed went into Cole's mouth before it went into the box. Quality assurance?

A couple more from this week:

It was only cold enough to wear a hat one morning. It is now 73 and sunny.

Can't wait to see Drew again in a couple of weeks!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Thank you to all of our friends and family who have made 2011 a great year. We'll never forget this year since we welcomed our healthy baby boy into the world. Talk about exciting things going on! We ended the year with a great trip home. We started with Sarah's graduation as a Nurse Practitioner in Kansas City, headed to Big Cedar Lodge for a getaway without baby, stopped by Springfield for a night with Pete and Ash, spent time with family and friends in St. Louis, went to the farm for Christmas, and came back to St. Louis for more hunting and time with friends and fam. As if that wasn't action packed enough, we are also under contract for a house in Eureka. That's right. We may just be closing on a new house in February! Pending inspections and all those fun things of course, but it looks like we have found the perfect fit. We have talked for so long about what we want and we happened to see it and have been hooked ever since. As my Aunt Ann Cordeal said (who is our real estate agent), it's a cross between an Innsbrook A-frame where we had a weekend house growing up and the Brophy Ranch. Bingo! It's also on almost 4 acres but right by 109 and 44 so we can be anywhere in St. Louis easily. We'll see but we are excited! I would then spend time redecorating and getting it ready while Drew is in Afghanistan. I think we take that saying 'Never a dull moment' a little too literally. :) 2012 is sure to be an exciting year!
Starting off the trip with Sarah's graduation. SOOOO proud of her! Friday she graduated, Saturday we had her graduation party, and Sunday Drew joined us in KC for our Brophy/Brown/Harris Christmas.



First trip away from baby. We missed our little boogie but had such a nice time together. Relaxed and enjoyed every minute of it. And yes, relaxing includes long hikes where Drew rucked.




Had such a nice do-nothing visit with Pete and Ash on our way home from Big Cedar. I'm finding do-nothing visits are so nice because you don't have plans pulling you in twenty directions. Had fun just hanging out.

Cole got to meet Mary Beth and Eric! Mary Beth and I have been friends since 3rd grade and it happened that we had two huge life events happen in the same month. She got married and I had Cole so was too pregnant to make it to her wedding. It was great to share congratulations in person!

Love this pic of my Dad and Cole. It was Christmas Eve morning which is also my Dad's birthday.

Christmas at the farm. :)


Love this picture. Not only do we have my new nephew (Rex the puppy) and Ashley's new nephew (Cole) but we are also both wearing previous Christmas presents from Jeannie with our matching PJs.

Had a great time with the fam at City Cottage (one of Carleen's Catering St. Louis venues).

Cole's first time meeting his cousins Audrey and Jack. Jack was so cute doing peek-a-boo for Cole. :)


We'll see what happens with the house but fingers crossed inspections go well. :)