Grandparents Visit!!!

Kris (Mimi) was in town for 10 days to help out with things once Gwen was born. She loved getting to hold Gwen and play with Cole. She also cooked and froze tons of food for us so that we'll have stuff to eat in the weeks ahead. Thanks Kris!Grandpa Al joined in on the fun for a few days and brought presents with him. Here he is trying to coerce Cole to open a gift.

Here is Gwen with the bear that Grandpa Al brought for her.

Grandpa, Cole, Mimi, & Gwen

Papa and Gramee got into town last night, traveling through slick and snowy roads to get here. We woke up this morning, had some breakfast, and headed outside to partake in some snow-filled activities.
Here is some video of Cole & Gramee doing some sledding.


Papa and Cole take to the slopes!


The Gators are 1-0 in Cole's lifetime against Georgia, so Cole is very excited and confident about the FL/GA game tomorrow. Gooooo Gators!!!!

Gwen's First Week

Gwen has done excellent so far in her first week of life. She is eating like a champ and is only 4 ounces off her birth weight, which is great news. Emily has been diligent in making sure Gwen eats every 2.5 - 3 hours. Emily's mom and dad are now both in town and have been a huge help.

People have been stopping by to meet Gwen, including our friends Steve & Laura.

As well as Lauren & Brad. Lauren in our new operator at Chick-fil-A.
Awake and alert!

Sleeping and serene.

A very proud big brother.

2 Months Overdue

I know that once baby girl enters the world I will hardly have time to do any blogging, so it was now or never to get these pics and videos up as Emily is due in 11 days! Emily's family came for a visit back in July and it was a very busy week full of lots of activities.

We started the festivities on a Sunday by celebrating Cole's 2nd First Birthday (which was already blogged about back in July). We took some time to celebrate Alycia and Al's birthdays as well. I had to work on Monday, but they had a great time exploring a local park and living through one of the most intense hail/wind storms to ever blow through Littleton. I came home from work and the power was still out!

On Tuesday we headed north to explore Fort Collins. We first stopped at the Swetsville Zoo, which is really a sculpture park and isn't a zoo at all. Here is a picture of the sculpture that greeted us in our parking space.

Here are the Bentley ladies and Cole in front of a sculpture of a two-headed dragon.

Most of the sculptures were made mostly out of steel and other metals. Emily kind of looks like this crazy metal bug.

Next we hit up downtown Ft. Collins where the ladies did some shopping and Al and I ran back and forth to our parking meter to feed it more quarters. We also had a great lunch at CooperSmith's Pub & Brewery.

Finally, we went to the Anheuser Busch Brewery and took one of their guided walking tours. Cole did a lot of the walking himself as this was his newest skill at the time. The tour began with a look at their famous clydesdale horses and beer carriage.

Then we got to see the entire process on how they make their beer. Here is a shot from the lager cellar. That's a lot of beer!

The next day was a big day for Cole as he got to experience a real pool for the first time. Here are Em, Mimi, and Grandpa getting Cole situated.
He was a little shell-shocked at first, but by the end of the day he was loving the pool.

The rest of their time here was spent just hanging out and getting quality time with Cole. Here is a video of Mimi teaching Cole how to rock out on his drum.


Mimi is schduled to fly in on the due date (October 15), with Grandpa scheduled to follow soon after. And Alycia will be visiting for a week over Thanksgiving, so we'll get to see them all again very soon!

The Cole Show: Video Overload

Yeah, it's been a while since I last updated the blog. I have been spending a lot of time looking for a job, and now I finally found one. I will be working part-time (10-14 hours/week) as the "accounting assistant" at a ministry called China Partner. They are going to be very flexible with my hours so that we can plan my work schedule around Emily's class schedule. I started this week and it feels good to be back in the work force.

Emily is starting to get into the part of her semester when papers are due and midterms are on the horizon, so she is studying a lot and trying to find the right balance between being a mom, a wife, and a student. She is awesome.

Cole is at a very fun age right now. He's been consistently sleeping through the night, taking decent naps during the day, and is moving around like crazy. He is army crawling like a champ, and he's really fast. He likes to make noises and talk to himself, or talk to us. And he LOVES getting on Skype so that he can see and talk to people like Grandpa & Grams, Papa & Gramee, Steve & Lindsay, Shanon & Truett, and Ashley & Paige. I Skyped with my mom and dad this past week and they just watched Cole play on the ground for an hour while we chatted. We'd love to Skype with some new people, too. So let us know if you ever download it to your computer. It only takes a few minutes, and you don't have to have a webcam to do it. We just won't be able to see you, but you'll be able to see us and we'll be able to hear each other.

Now, on to the good stuff. These are a bunch of videos of Cole doing his thing. My favorite is the last one.

Cole found the door stop to be quite entertaining. But now he tries to bite it, so we try to keep it covered with our shoes.

Cole is fairly content with just playing on the ground these days. He loves to hit the balls and chase them around the apartment.

Cole loves his freedom these days. So instead of playing in his saucer, he likes to play UNDER it.

Cole is getting very vocal these days and will just start "talking" whenever he feels like it.

This is only the second time that we have given Cole a bath in the big bathtub, and the first time he was still too little to really enjoy it. But, now he is big enough to have a blast and to get daddy all wet.

From the Past: August 3 - August 9

While I was on the Man Trip, Emily and her mom spent the week taking care of Cole and packing up our apartment. They did a great job getting things ready for the move. It's amazing how much stuff we were able to squeeze into our 1-bedroom apartment.

Here is Grandma Bentley taking care of Cole.

Cole is getting much more animated these days. He's pretty darn cute.Jeff finally got a chance to meet Cole after being gone most of the summer.
Emily admist the massive wall of boxes.
Mom and Dad Roberts came to town to help us finish packing and load up the moving van. Oh, and to see their grandson as well ;)
Cole still recognized me with my Man Trip man beard. I only got to see Emily and Cole for a day before they flew to Houston to spend a week in limbo while mom and I drove the moving van 2,000 miles to Denver. Cole did a great job on his first airplane flight. Here he is at the Houston airport with Grandpa and Grandma Bentley.

Healthy Baby, Happy Baby

I have spent a lot of time researching baby products recently. It is amazing how much stuff we put on ourselves and on our children. Soaps, shampoos, lotions, diaper rash cream, baby wipes, sunscreen; the list goes on and on. And unfortunately, not all of the things that we put on ourselves are as harmless as companies would like us to think. Nice smelling baby products are full of chemicals that really should never be put on a human being, but especially a young child. One website that has been a blessing is The Environmental Working Group's "Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database". This is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help consumers find out what they are really putting on their skin. They rank thousands of products (about a quarter of the products on the market) on a scale from zero to ten on how harmful products are to your body and specifically explain why each ingredient is or is not harmful. If you're not too scared, type in some of the common skin products you use and find out where they rank. The website is www.cosmeticsdatabase.com. This information has been crucial in determining what we decide to put on Cole. We have also made some changes in what we put on ourselves as well.

Not sure how "healthy" black ink is on your skin, but doing Cole's hand and footprints is a one-time shot, so I think he'll survive. Grandma and Grandpa Bentley helped Emily out with this task. Here is the video:

A Picture Is Good, But.....

Why simply see a picture of Grandpa Bentley holding Cole for the first time when you can watch the video? Have at it!

Baby Cole goes home!

We brought Cole home from the hospital yesterday...


...and it has been a lot of fun using all of the "baby stuff" that has taken up every spare square inch of our apartment for the past five months. Here, Grandma Bentley takes care of Cole on our changing table.

Cole and Emily have been working very hard at this feeding thing, and I am very proud of both of them for sticking with it (no picture -- sorry).
Grandpa Bentley also showed up today and got to hold Cole for the first time.

Cole is my buddy :)