In the last few weeks I have found myself increasingly fond of a few things, both new and old. Like showers. I have never liked a shower as much as I do right now, probably because prior to February 18, I could shower anytime I pleased. I'm also loving the Koala Sheet Saver. Yes, I'm doing laundry everyday. And yes, it only saves me from having to wash the crib sheet. But the fact that I don't have to fuss with dressing and undressing the crib mattress daily has made me a fan. More than anything else though, I am so, so fond of my new Kindle. Allow me to explain:
After a month of breastfeeding I found myself desperate for an activity that could be done while nursing that wasn't watching excessive amounts of television. Don't misunderstand, I like TV. It's just that between bed rest and nursing I'm confident I've seen nearly everything I care to. While I am grateful that I can nurse Cole and perhaps have that moment where I feel connected to women throughout history (I'm still waiting), hours upon hours spent providing milk left me feeling more bovine than feminine.
After considerable research, I finally bit the bullet and bought the e-reader—
clearly I am not an early adopter. I'm smitten with my new Kindle! It is easy to use one-handed which is perfect. With any luck, reading while nursing will help me stop feeling like a cow. And grant me a very full 2012 Reading List.
It was just a short while after we found out I was expecting that we picked out baby names. We wanted to use a family name and we wanted the name our child would go by to be his/her first name. In honor of my paternal grandfather we picked Walter as our boy name. For our girl name, we decided to use my maternal grandfather's middle name, Colegate. Knowing full well that if we had a girl and named her Colegate we'd call her Cole, we opted to shorten the name so she wouldn't have to spend the first day of school every year correcting her teachers.
With first names pick out, it was time to come up with middle names. For our boy name, we considered the names of the Slaton men ultimately deciding on Peter's father's name, Phillip. It was relatively quickly decided that our boy name would be Walter Phillip. Sidenote: I can't say whether or not we'll use Walter Phillip down the road. We won't keep the unused boy name in
reserve since Walter and Phillip are both family names. The names should be
available for any child-bearing family member to use.
Our girl middle name took a bit more time. We considered names from both sides of our family but failed to find a name that flowed well with Cole. It didn't take long to realize we wanted an über-feminine middle name to balance Cole. Peter and I started to generate lists of names we found to be "very girly." While we considered a few names pretty seriously, we ultimately decided to use the name Annabel. Unlike our other names, Annabel can be spelled several different ways. Conveniently, one of my dearest friend's middle name is Annabel, spelled A-n-n-a-b-e-l-l-e, so we chose to use her spelling of Annabelle for the girl middle name. Thus, the name Cole Annabelle was born.
Since Cole's arrival there has been a tiny bit of confusion as to what
we are calling her. I should say for the record, we are calling her Cole. She doesn't have a double
name and we're not calling her Annabelle, just Cole. She's already
received an inspired nickname from one of her grandfathers, Colibelle, but to us she's Cole... or Miss Cole... or Baby Girl... or Birdie... or Little Miss... Well admittedly she has a few nicknames. We'll have to see if any stick.
It's hard to believe our baby girl is a month old already. What a busy month it has been! Cole has had so many firsts including her first bath, first play-date, and first nickname. She has gone all over town shopping for clothes and keeping us company at restaurants. Just this morning she went to church for the first time! She managed to stay quiet until after the sermon when we decided to duck out. Hopefully we'll be able to stay for the whole service soon.
The overwhelming theme of Cole's first month has been love, evidenced by cards, calls, emails, gifts, and visitors. In the last four weeks Cole met her Grandma Kathy, Pop Pop Tim, Scottie, BD, Uncle TJ, Aunt Kelsey, and Uncle Ryan. She also met lots of her Memphis family!
Cole takes her responsibilities very seriously; she is devoted to eating and sleeping well. She loves to check out the world around her with particular interest in her mobiles and art cards. Little miss does not like to be hungry or naked and has no problem letting us know. Cole is learning to love the dogs who, fortunately, have loved her from the start.
Its been exciting to watch Cole wake-up in the last few weeks. I'm sure as the weeks go by, we'll find Cole to be even more alert. In the last month Peter and I have become much more comfortable with Cole as she becomes more comfortable to life on the outside.
