doctors and tears

kate went to her first appointment this week. she is growing like a weed - gained her birth weight plus 2 oz back and has grown 1.25 inches in length. i had to start over on my non-crying streak :) i made it a week without shedding a tear! yesterday was a rough day for both of us. it made me understand those women who say going back to work full time is easier than being a stay at home mom - i had to agree with that statement SEVERAL times throughout the day. for me, it would probably be true - it would be MUCH easier to just go back to work. unfortunately, that's what i'll have to do in a few weeks from now. although, i won't be going back full time, 3 days a week will be hard i'm sure. it's crazy how much love you can instantly have for someone you've never met! she's a blessing.

i'm working on weston for some new pictures - stay tuned!

a new post - finally

but i can't promise it will contain anything worth reading :) i have been adjusting to motherhood and kate is an excellent teacher. she is such a good baby - my dad asked if i knew how good she was and how lucky we were - we do :) in fact, last night kate slept through the entire night - well from 1am to after 730am ... i had to wake her up to eat! we definitely know how lucky we are to get even one night like that! for all of you people who have called me and i haven't answered or haven't called you back yet, i'm making a list :) i'm basically trying to get as much rest as i can and my phone is one of the lowest priorities on the totem pole right now. my mom said i needed to change my voicemail message to say something along the lines of "if i haven't answered, it's because i'm sleeping - leave me a message and i'll get back to you" :) she might be onto something. here are a few shots (horrible pictures, i know ... weston will have to be more in charge of the photographing of kate) of what she's been doing lately

i have never been prouder of my daughter :) she found her thumb! anyone who knows me well enough knows i sucked my thumb until i was 5 ... my mom told me i couldn't go to kindergarten if i still sucked my thumb. i remember 2 occasions when i would run to the closet under the stairs after getting home from kindergarten and suck my thumb in hiding and in the dark. my mom totally caught me! my sister finally painted my fingernails and probably told me it would come off if i sucked my thumb - it cured me! anyway, i'm so proud because this may be the only thing kate inherited from me :) everyone, including me, thinks she looks just like weston ... so at least there's one thing she got from mom :)


here is weston giving kate her first taste of a bottle. they were both champs :) kate has had no real problems going back and forth between bottle and me ... hopefully it stays that way. this has been a HUGE help - weston sharing some of the nighttime feedings with me ... i'm sure it's his FAVORITE thing to do in the middle of the night, but he's a LIFESAVER.


here is zoey dunn holding kate. she was so cute saying her name - cory and danae had been teaching her to say "kate" before they came over. zoey's version turned out to be "cake" i love it :)


and here is a picture of kate's new belly button! her stump finally fell off today. i had been waiting for the last couple of days for this to happen because the stump was starting to separate and it was really goopy and fleshy looking underneath. everything scabbed over by the time the stump showed up in her onesie this morning. how long does this scab last now?

well, hopefully weston will be able to find some time (he's been ultra busy this past week or so trying to play catch-up with school and projects) to shoot some real pictures of kate. stay tuned :)

Kate - Day 2

Kate is changing so fast. Day 2 and she already looks different. I have shot almost 10 GB of photos in the past 3 days. That is about 500 images in RAW+jpeg mode on my camera. Kate has been a perfect model and has not complained a bit about my flash constantly going off in her face. For anyone that cares or is curious, all of these shots were taken with an on camera flash bounced off a wall or the ceiling.
Erin and Kate came home today. Erin is recovering well, and Kate is sleeping a lot...I'm jealous.

Kate Colton...just Kate

Erin and I went to the hospital yesterday at around 9:30 in the morning so Erin could be induced. After a couple hours , the doctor came and broke her water to get things really going. After finally feeling what real contractions feel like, Erin requested an epidural. She labored until about 8 p.m., but her body just wasn't cooperating. At 8 the doctor decided it was time to do a C-Section. By about 8:45 Kate was out crying and squirming around on a table. She's 6 lbs 6 oz, and 18 inches. I can't believe how small she is, and she is a week overdue. I also can't believe she has some hair. Hopefully she keeps it. Erin and I were both bald babies. She is healthy and Erin is doing well. Erin and Kate will stay in the hospital until Saturday.
I am the proud father of a beautiful baby girl.
Kate's first bath.



With Grandma Cottle. I picked out the bows.

off we go!

a day for the books

today is a big anniversary for weston and me. exactly 4 years ago, weston asked me to be his wife :) awwww ....

a tiny bit of backstory - we had dated for years and years (on and off, of course) and after his mission we were still on and off - what a nightmare! :) but we were finally in a really good on period. weston had been slacking off at work (we worked at the same place and i knew how much work he had been missing). he hadn't been working much and had been shopping a lot - which really bothered me because we had talked a bit about getting married and there were hangups about affording a ring. i thought - well maybe if you were at work more and you weren't buying crap you didn't need {!} then maybe you could get me a ring! what a brat i was :) apparently all those days of missed work were spent in and out of jewelry stores learning all he could about diamond shopping {awwww}.

so a few days before he popped the question, he had called my parents (2 hours away) and left a message saying he was on his way down to see them, wanted to talk to them, and hoped they would be home by the time he got there (of course i was at work). my mom got the message when she got home and by the time weston got there, my dad had arrived as well. my mom was terrified (when she heard his message) that he was going to really end the relationship and needed help getting me through it {oh brother!} :)

my parents were both completely pleased and surprised when weston told them he was there because he loved their daughter and wanted to ask me to marry him. he even tells me they all shed a tear or two {awwww!} of course my parents were eager to give him their blessing and after a quick dinner, weston was back on his way to provo to meet me when i was finished working.

a few days later, on february 3rd ... he picked me up from work so we could run a few errands and spend a few hours together. i needed to get to target before 10pm to pick up some supplies for a lesson i was presenting the next day, but he didn't seem too worried about what i needed to get done (obviously he had other things on his mind at this point!) we ended up at the old tabernacle in provo. i was just baffled at what we were doing walking around the grounds in the snow - it was freezing and he just kept saying, "i just want to look at something." i finally asked him, "are we here to look at skate stuff?" :) we stopped at this point where there was an overhang on the building and just talked for a minute. he pulled out his latest roll of developed film and asked if i wanted to see his pictures for his assignment. of course i said i did, even though i was still thinking about the things i needed to do before 10 o'clock :) i started flipping through these pictures, trying to be interested in each one. at the end of the roll, there were a couple of his sister and then the last four were these: when i was looking at this last picture, i was confused for about 2 seconds - then it hit me :) when i looked back at weston, he was down on his knee with the ring box opened. he told me how he felt about me and all that mushy stuff we love :) then he asked if i would marry him and be his wife forever {awwww!} of course i said, YES!!! i threw my arms around him and we hugged and kissed and i just couldn't believe it :) but it was perfect and amazing and an actual dream come true. he's the best man for me and my best friend in the world. so, happy anniversary! :)

s-s-h-s s-e-n-s-a-t-i-o-n-s to-the-top!

so that was our cheer when i was a sensation in high school. for those of you who don't know, i was on the drill team for 4 years and loved every second of it.

can you find me?

no matter how hard we tried, each year we came out with a 3rd place at the state competition. it's now been 11 seasons since my last 3rd place year and i witnessed greatness yesterday! :)

i should mention that one of my friends in HS, Shauna, took over the team several years ago and our coach in HS, Larisa, is now her assistant. clearly, they make a fabulous team because last year the sensations FINALLY took 1st place in the state championship - the news was amazing for all of us alumni :) they had a year in review and invited all the alumni to come and participate - it was a super fun evening reliving the old glory days :)

so yesterday, being hugely pregnant and all, i met some friends and we sat through the days' events, including dozens of military, dance, and novelty routines. i wasn't sure if i wanted to make the day 12 hours long and stay for the awards, but it kept feeling "right around the corner" so i stuck it out. GOOD THING!!!

the results:

the girls got a 2nd place in military with millard (grrrr....) getting 1st. next was dance - millard got 2nd (yay!) and sshs got 1st (bigger yay!!!) my friend, tiffany, and i were going nuts - so far we were tied with millard and there was only one category left - novelty. millard had a good routine but it was pretty much identical to manti's (strangely identical). our routine was amazing {of course} but you never know how the judges will score things .... the tension was crazy thick! :) the biggest shock was when 3rd place was announced for novelty - going to millard ... which meant even if sshs got 2nd place {yeah right} we would still win - millard couldn't win with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ... it was in the bag! 1st place went to the sensations and we knew it was a back to back victory! here is a picture of the humble sensations trying to hold in their excitement when they realized what was ahead :)it was amazing to see the win for shauna and larisa - what a fantastic saturday. i'm so happy for you guys and your team and all the hard hard work that goes into every day and every practice! you guys deserve it!!!