It's a Waltrip Life

10 months

2012-01-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday our favorite little guy turned 10 months old. It's amazing how much he continues to grow and change everyday. It's also sad and scary to think that in 7 short weeks, our little boy will be a 1 year old toddler!

Cooper has been using his walker he got for Christmas A LOT, and he's actually gotten really good at maneauvering it around the house. He'll run into a wall or table, and then turn the walker around so he can get around whatever obstacle is in front of him. He's been able to walk around the house by himself for a while. He cruises around from room to room checking things out and seeing what he can get into. We knew it was only a matter of time before he took a real step on his own, and that time came the Monday before last (March 9th). He took a step when I got home, but when Brad got home he took about 4 steps. Of course we weren't able to get a video of it, and he wouldn't do it again when we tried. Since then he's taken a few more steps everyday. His balance is still off and he would rather run than walk, so I'm sure it'll still be a little while before he's off and running on his own. (Maybe I just keep telling myself that because I don't know if we're ready to have a "walker" in the house.)

We also noticed last night that Cooper has a new tooth that has popped through. It's his other middle, bottom one. That makes a total of 3 teeth, but I just know there are more that will soon follow. Cooper also has his very first diaper rash. Yes, I think it's weird that he's 10 months old and just now has a diaper rash, but the poop he's had the past few days has really been weird and nasty so we're blaming it on that. He is also getting over an ear infection, and it may have something to do with the antibiotic he's been on since Monday when I took him to the doctor.

Cooper is "talking" more than ever these days. I'm pretty sure he says bye, ball, book (and knows what they mean), and he also says dada and mama. I'm not sure that he knows what dada means yet, but he's gotten pretty good at mama (especially when he's whining). :)

I also think Cooper is ready to say goodbye to baby food completely and just eat adult food. It's been more of a struggle to get him to eat his baby food because he'd much rather have something else. I really don't blame him though. Cooper loves to eat peanut butter sandwiches, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs (he had some with cheese this morning), bananas, nilla wafers, green beans, carrots, peas, pasta, vegetable soup, and pretty much anything else you're willing to offer him.

Another new thing Cooper has done in the past couple of weeks is he's FINALLY started clapping! I don't know how long we've tried to get him to do this, but one day he just decided he was ready to stop watching us do it and start doing it himself. He also likes to play "patty cake" and he'll clap his hands if you start singing it. JuJu, Pops, and Beck have taught him a little sign language at grandparent daycare. He knows how to say "more" and does it ALL the time when he's eating. It's so fun to see him communicate with us and we actually understand what he's saying!

We measured Cooper's weight and length right around the time he turned 10 months, and according to our measurements, he weighed 20.6 lbs. and is 30 1/2 in. long.

A few more facts about 10 month old Cooper

Still loves books
Loves to watch Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins
Loves to be chased
Wants to get his little hands on Bailey so bad
Loves looking at pictures around the house
Still the sweetest, cutest little boy we know

Baby's First Christmas

2012-01-12T03:39:00.000-08:00

Cooper's 10 month birthday is today, and I just realized I never made a post about his first Christmas. I could just go on and on about our busy few days, but I will make it a little more enjoyable and just recap Christmas through pictures! :)

Opening presents the weekend before Christmas at the Carters

Cooper's 1st bite of Pops' sugar cookies

Great Grandma

Huddled around the computer watching the Elf Yourself video

SANTA CAME!

Sharing their love for food

Our family on Christmas morning!

The Lyons family came to visit Christmas morning. Cooper had fun sharing his toys with Jake!

Daddy and Cooper at JuJu and Pops on Christmas morning

Cooper was a pro at opening presents!

A NEW CAR at Nana and Papaws!

LOVE this face!

We were so glad to have a short visit with the Harpers the day after Christmas. This is the best picture I could get of the boys!

Bad Momma! :(

2012-01-06T14:43:00.000-08:00

Anyone that knows me knows that Brad and I treat Bailey like a real, human kid. Well, something happened a few weeks ago that makes me so sad and makes me a bad dog mom. We forgot Bailey's 5th birthday! Yep...me...who always orders Bailey a special doggie cake or special doggie cookies for her birthday...

Her birthday was on a Friday (December 16th). I woke up that Sunday, and the first thing that popped in my mind when I opened my eyes was that we missed her birthday. I never thought the day would come, but it happened, and it will never happen again! :)

9 months or 3/4 of a year

2011-12-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

You read that right! Cooper was 9 months old the Saturday before last! I'm not sure where the time has gone, but I want time to stop right at this point! Cooper is at such a fun age. Yes, he's all over the place and into everything, but it's so much fun to see him having fun and exploring new things.

A little bit about Cooper at 9 months:

Went to the doctor on December 2nd for a follow-up appointment for his ear infection, and the doctor went ahead and did his 9 month well check-up since he was only a week away from being 9 months. He weighed 20 lbs., 5 oz. and was 29 in. long.
Wears 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers.
Taking less and less formula and eating more and more baby food and people food. If you're eating something you better be prepared to share with the little guy.
Started crawling on November 25th (the day after Thanksgiving) and continues to get faster and faster everyday. He has the cutest little crawl on the hardwood floors. Now that he's mobile, he moves all over the house. The 3 of us were playing on the living room floor one night and Cooper just decided he was done playing with us, and he took off crawling into his room by himself and started pulling all of his books off the shelf. He also likes to crawl in the kitchen and shake the cereal boxes.
Pulls up on everything (couch, toys, bed, dresser, bookshelf, bathtub, people....)
Has started throwing a few little "fits" when you tell him no. He'll kick his legs and put his chin down to this chest and scream or start babbling like he's talking back. Isn't it a little early for this? :)
Favorite toys are still books...he can just sit and flip the pages of his books for the longest time.
Has 1 little tooth on his bottom left, and I think there may be more to follow pretty soon.

Loves going around the house and looking at the pictures on the wall. He'll crawl up to them, look up, and just start laughing and talking to them.
Babbles and talks more and more each day. He still says "bye bye" sometimes (when he wants to) and he'll say "ball." He says "da da" all the time, but I still don't think he puts it together with it being Brad.

We had Cooper's 9 month pictures taken on December 4th (a little early) so we could also get some Christmas pictures made too. They turned out great considering he never sat still and wanted to crawl around and grab everything!

Even the 9 month pictures I took turned out cute! Cooper woke up from his nap, and he was in the best mood...can't you tell?

What a difference 7 months makes!

2011-12-02T03:42:00.000-08:00

Go away germs!

2011-11-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Well, the whole Waltrip household has been hit with some type of sickness, and now that we're all actually feeling better, hopefully it won't hit our house again for a long time! It all started with me catching a pretty bad cold (probably from my kids at school). It lasted about a week, and then some small stomach bug hit me one day. The first day I started feeling better, Brad and Cooper started to get sick. Cooper's started out as a bad stuffy nose and a cough, and Brad was just achy and feverish with a sore throat and cough. We took Cooper to the doctor, and it ended up that he had an ear infection in his left ear. So that everyone could get well, my parents ended up coming down and picking Cooper up to spend a few days with them. When he came home, he was still pretty stuffy and still pulling on his ear, so I took him back to the doctor on Wednesday. It ended up that the left ear was completely clear, but the ear infection had moved to his right ear. Yay! So that means we had to start a new antibiotic to clear up this new infection. Just when I thought we were all on the mend, we ended up peeking at Bailey's ears on Thursday, and we noticed that one of them was VERY red and hot. I took her to the vet today, and it ended up that she also has an ear infection...probably caused by her food allergies. So now she's on some ointment and pills to get all better, and we've been put under strict orders that she can't have any people food. So that means we have to pay extra special attention to Cooper when he's eating puffs since Bailey knows that's when she usually gets an extra special treat.

On a positive note, the four of us are all starting to feel back to our normal selves, and we cleaned the house pretty well to hopefully kill any lingering germs. I sure hope those germs stay away for a long, long time!

8 months (2/3 of a year)

2011-11-23T06:14:00.000-08:00

A little late (as usual)....

Weight: 20.8 pounds
Length: 28 inches

Cooper still eats pretty much anything and everything. He LOVES his puffs! When we went to Florida, I gave him a couple of small bites off of a roll one night when we went out to eat. At his Uncle Greg's birthday party a couple of weeks ago he ate a few bites of chicken and dumplings, green beans, and a roll. He LOVED every second of it, and he kept reaching out for more. We went to Hendersonville with JuJu and Pops the weekend before last, and of course Pops had to give him a few bites of pizza that we had for lunch. :) It's so much fun to watch his reaction everytime he tries something new.
He still doesn't have any teeth, but I know they're right around the corner. His gums have been kind of swollen and bumpy feeling. He won't let me touch them, so I guess they probably hurt.
Cooper's still not crawling either, and he doesn't seem to even care about it. He has started pulling up on things and wanting to stand and walk. He even tries to pull your hands off of him when he's standing (like he wants to do it all by himself). He hasn't realized that when we let go he falls. We had to put his crib down a couple of weeks ago because he started sitting and standing in his crib. Our boy is getting way too big!
Right now his favorite toys are probably books and paper, but he also loves remotes, cell phones, the computer, and anything else he's not supposed to have. He's started the thing where if he has something that he really wants and you take it away he'll scream. The kid already has a little attitude and temper. He gets that from his daddy! :)
Cooper's just getting over his second ear infection (the first one came when he was about 4 months) and a pretty nasty little cold. He's still kind of stuffy and has a bad sounding cough, but hopefully that'll all pass soon.
As for what he's wearing...we're moving him up to size 4 diapers. We're trying to use up the last of the few size 3 we have. After a couple of blow-outs, I think it's time we move to another size. He's wearing 9 and 12 month clothes. I think he's slimmed up a bit in the past month or so. I think it may be because he's just gotten taller, but I can tell his clothes aren't fitting as tightly anymore.
A couple of weeks ago he started waving bye bye, and he will even say "bye" and "bye bye". He won't do it all the time, but it's so cute when he does. Brad got this video of us saying bye bye in the mirror.

8 month pictures definitely weren't as much fun as they have been in the past. This was the first month we haven't been able to go outside. With it getting dark so early and the cold temperatures, we had to do pictures inside. Cooper was tired, and he didn't really want anything to do with it. Here are some of the best shots I got on his 8 month birthday.

Cooper is so excited for his first Thanksgiving tomorrow! I think we might actually take him to see Santa today to try to beat all the crowds after Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see his reaction to the big bearded man. He'll either love him or hate him I'm sure.

A recap of the past month (in pictures)!

2011-11-12T06:42:00.000-08:00

Cooper had a busy month of being 7 months old! He took his first trip to the beach...

Went to his first Homecoming at the KD house...

Got his first rug burn to the face...

Got to experience his first Halloween...

and he went to his first WKU football game...

Of course there were many days in between where Cooper was just his cute little self...

Mama

2011-10-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of weeks Brad and I can tell a huge difference in the sounds Cooper makes. It really seems like he's trying to actually "talk". He's got the "dada" mastered (even though he doesn't associate that with Brad yet). So of course I've really been trying to get him to do "mama". Here's his version of "mama"....or at least I like to think that's what he's saying! He started this yesterday, and the face he makes is just hilarious. It's even funnier in person! I just love how much personality this little boy has! :)

7 months

2011-10-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

Yes you heard that right! Our little baby boy is 7 months old (actually 7 months and 9 days old now). I'm not sure how time has gone by so fast the past 7 months, but I feel like every month goes faster and faster. I know I've said it before, but Cooper is at such a fun age. He notices everything, wants to play with everything, puts everything in his mouth, eats anything and everything, smiles and laughs at everything, and is still the best little boy ever!

We had a great time taking his 7 month pictures. Cooper still loves the trees and leaves, so I figured that he would love to go play in the few leaves that had fallen at the time. He LOVED the leaves and LOVED trying to eat them over and over again!

Attempt # 1 at eating a leaf

YUCK!

Attempt # 2

Yuck again!

Attempt #3...still not good!

At 7 months Cooper:

Weighs about 19.6 pounds and is 27 3/4 in. long according to our measurements.
Still wears 6-9 month or just 9 month clothes.
Still wears 12 month PJs and is busting out of some of the footed PJs.
Still wears size 3 diapers.
Still has no teeth.
Doesn't crawl but wants to very badly. He rolls everywhere to get things he wants, and he gets mad because he can't crawl or walk.
Has to constantly be doing something. The kid doesn't sit still unless he's sleeping.
Loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (definitely his favorite show). I've started just singing the song, and he will look at the TV and wait for it to come on.
Has gone from screaming all the time to more of a babble or talk.
Takes 5 bottles a day (usually around 6 oz. each but sometimes doesn't finish them).
Eats any solids you give him. I don't think he has a favorite anymore...he loves it all!
Has been practicing drinking water out of a sippy cup. He would rather chew on it though.
Has started eating puffs and Baby Mum Mums. He's finally starting to get the hang of it!
Sleeps from about 8:45-6:45 on an average day.
Still loves to jump and look at himself in the mirror.
Loves to stare at Bailey and try to pet/grab her.

1/2 a year!

2011-09-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again...I haven't made a post since Cooper was 5 months old, and now he's a week and a half away from being 7 months old. I guess it's still not too late to talk about my favorite 6 month old though.

The 1/2 of a year mark started on September 10th with his 6 month photo shoot. I must say it was by far the hardest month yet to take pictures of (and yes I know it will just get harder as the months go on). He was constantly wanting to roll around, eat his hands and feet, look at things other than the camera, jump out of the chair, or pull off his sticker. I definitely didn't get as many pictures as usual, but some of them still turned out pretty cute!

It's amazing to think how much Cooper has changed in the past month or two. I feel like he's starting to change form a baby into a little boy. If he's awake, the kid is constantly moving! I mean he will roll across the room in a matter of seconds it seems like. I have a feeling he'll be crawling before too long, and when he does, I think we'll be in trouble because he'll be into everything. He is definitely sitting up on his own now, and he sometimes gets mad because he'd rather stand or jump. Check out this video of him jumping last week. The trim around our door facings are too wide, so the jumper only works down in our basement. Please excuse Brad's burp in the middle of the video. :)

We still have the happiest baby ever I think. He laughs and smiles at pretty much everything, and I just love listening to the sound of his laughter. It's by far the best noise ever!

We took Cooper to the park the weekend before last and he just loved swinging! Can't you tell....

We took Cooper to his 6 month check-up last Friday, and he got a great report as usual. He weighs 18 pounds 5 ounces and is 26 3/4 inches long. She said everything was great with him, and he's right on track where he needs to be, and it actually seems like he's doing things a little ahead of time. The most exciting part of our trip to the doctor was that Cooper discovered the tissue paper type stuff, and he absolutely had the best time playing with it. After he would shred some of the paper, we would pull off more, and then that would be destroyed in just a minute or two.

Last weekend we got Cooper's 6 month pictures made, and they are by far my favorite pictures we've taken yet! It was so much fun because Cooper was able to do so much more, and he has so much more personality than he did for his newborn or 3 month pictures. It's hard to pick, but here are some of my favorites (including the family picture at the top of my blog)....

Cooper is going to be a little monkey for Halloween, and we got a little sneak peek of him in his costume.

Isn't he the cutest little monkey you've ever seen?

A few little facts about Cooper at 6 months:

He has been taking about 7 ounces of formula, but starting last week he stopped finishing most of his bottles. Sometimes he'll leave just half an ounce, and other times he'll leave 2 ounces. The pediatrician acted like this was normal since his body is starting to change and want solids more often.
He eats cereal mixed with fruit every morning, a fruit and vegetable during the day, and then another fruit and vegetable in the evening. He LOVES every kind of food he's tried so far....even peas! He is in the Stage 2 foods. I was trying to make the food for a while, but when I started back to work and my two Master's classes started it pretty much got impossible to add baby food making into the schedule too. I am planning on making some more food though while I'm off for 2 weeks for Fall Break.
He wears mostly 6-9 month clothes and 12 month PJs.
He's still in size 3 diapers.
He still LOVES to be outside more than anything. We've decided we're in trouble when it starts to get too cold to go outside all of the time. We need to go ahead and stock up on warm clothes because I have a feeling we'll be bundling up to go outside a lot.
He is talking more than ever these days. His favorite sayings are "Ga-Ga" and "Da-Da". For a while he was saying "OL-GA" a lot, and we decided that must be his girlfriend.

We love our little guy more and more each day (if that's possible). He is at such a fun age right now, and I would do anything to stop time for a while. Cooper is spending his first two nights with my parents (last night and tonight) and we are definitely missing him! Brad and I were watching videos of him earlier from when he was just 1 or 2 months old, and we don't even remember him being that small. It's crazy how much time flies. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow because our little man will be home! :)

5 MONTHS

2011-08-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not surprised that I'm 2 weeks late making this post....school has started back (3 1/2 weeks ago), and I am still trying to adjust to working all day, doing things around the house, and most importantly spending time with my family.

Cooper turned 5 months old on August 10th, and it seems like he grows and changed everyday.

Based on our measurements, Cooper is about 15 1/2 pounds. He's wearing size 3 diapers and is in mostly 6 month clothes. I did put him in some 9 month onesies this past week, and they fit him pretty good too.

I feel like in the past month he's really changed when it comes to what he can do. He is still only rolling over from his belly to his back. He won't go from his back to belly. It seems like he really wants to, and his bottom half will roll over, but his top half won't go all the way over. I think his big shoulder gets in the way, and he doesn't quite know what to do with that arm that gets stuck underneath him.

In the past couple of weeks he's also been wanting to not sit still. He wants to sit up, stand, jump, fall backwards...anything but sit still. I can't imagine what it'll be like once he's mobile. Once he figures out how to crawl I don't think he'll ever slow down!

He LOVES when you talk to him, and he tries so hard to talk back.  I think he learns to make a new sound everyday, and it's so funny to watch his face when he realizes he did something new. He's constantly chewing on his hands and feet, and he still LOVES to be outside.

I don't know what happened over the past few weeks, but Cooper went from sleeping through the night like a rock since he was 6 weeks old to waking up once or twice during the night about 4 or 5 nights a week. We've been trying to let him "cry it out" but after 30 minutes one of us will go in there and put his pacifier in. He's not really awake when he does this, and he goes right back to sleep, so I'm not sure what the problem is. I think he just misses us and wants to see us at 2 am. :)  A lot of people have told me it could be that he's teething. We haven't felt any teeth yet, but he does chew on everything and drool a lot. He has been doing better the past couple of nights, so hopefully he'll get this sleep thing worked out soon. Because he's had some sleep issues, we figured it was the perfect time to get him out of the swaddle blanket. We took him out of that and put him in a sleep sack to keep him warm.

When it comes to eating, he takes about a 6 1/2 oz. bottle about every 3 1/2 hours. We kind of cut back on the solids during his whole sleeping issue because we first thought the food might be upsetting his stomach.  He was going a few days at a time with pooping, and we blamed it on the food. Once we let up on the food, it seemed to ease his stomach issues. For the past few days, we have been bringing solids back into the picture. As of now, Cooper's eaten applesauce, pears, sweet potatoes, green beans, prunes, and bananas. He's liked everything he's tried so far except he hasn't been a big fan of green beans. He takes a few bites and acts like he likes them, and then he'll just start spitting them out. It's so fun watching him try new things.

Just in the past few days, he's been trying to pull up on my legs or the couch pillows. His legs are still a little too weak to do it all on his own, but he has the whole process down, and he knows what to do. He's also doing great at sitting up. We can leave him sitting up by himself for about 2 minutes before he starts kicking, and then he topples over. We usually put the boppy pillow around him, and he loves to sit up and look and grab at everything.

This may be my most scattered post yet....I feel like I've jumped all over the place, but I wanted to hurry about make this post before he turns 6 months old! Since I've been back in school, time is flying by even faster. 5 months is such a fun age, and I wish I could stop time right now.

We had a great 5 month photo shoot and got a lot of cute pictures....

Baby Laughter (the BEST sound ever)

2011-07-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Cooper laughed at his "Aunt" Stacey a lot during our trip to St. Louis the weekend before last. Stacey got this cute video of Cooper before he went to bed one night!

After Cooper ate his cereal today, he started laughing at the weird noises I was making. I took a video of him on my phone, and everytime I replayed the video he laughed at it. It was too cute not to capture it on the video camera too! Who knew I was so funny? :)

Lovin' the solids!

2011-07-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

We started Cooper on rice cereal 6 days before he turned 4 months. The pediatrician said this was ok to do, and he was acting like he was starving all the time, so we figured this was the perfect time. Well, since then, Cooper had his 4 month appointment and the pediatrician told us we could start introducing solids. The day after his appointment (July 12th) we gave Cooper applesauce, and he LOVED it! You're probably wondering "where's the picture?" and I can't believe I'm actually saying this but I forgot to take pictures of this!!!! How in the world did that happen?!? I was very upset with myself, but I've taken several pictures and videos since then of him eating his applesauce, so I think I've made up for it.

He makes the cutest like "AAAHHH" sound with his mouth wide open when he's waiting for you to stick the spoon in his mouth. Check out this video we got of him eating his cereal and applesauce yesterday.

He ate his first sweet potatoes on Sunday, and he loved those too! I DID get pictures this time! :)

It's so much fun watching all of the faces he makes when he tries new food. I think we'll try something new tomorrow, but I'm not sure what yet.

I wish there was some instruction booklet for this stuff (and I'm sure there is somewhere) because I feel like we're just kind of making some of this stuff up as we go. I'm not sure what's best, but I've been giving Cooper a bottle when he wakes up in the morning, and then he'll nap for about an hour or so, and then I'll give him a fruit and veggie (so far it's only been sweet potatoes and applesauce or prunes). After his afternoon nap, I give him a bottle, and then about an hour or so later I give him cereal mixed with applesauce. Since he's been trying different foods, he doesn't like just the plain rice cereal anymore so I've got to trick him into eating it! :) I think the cereal works best in the late afternoon because this is the time when he's the most hungry. It's worked so far the past couple of days, so I guess we'll stick with it for a while.

140 days

2011-07-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

140 days---that's how long I will get to spend at home with my sweet little boy before going back to work next week. Yes, I went back to school the last 2 days of the year in May, and I went to a couple all day professional development meetings, but other than that, I've been home with my little guy everyday, and I have LOVED every minute of it. Over the past couple of days, it's really hit me that I have to go back to work. I've been trying to think of what I can do to stay home....win the lottery, ask Brad to get a second job...but then I realize that I don't even play the lottery, and I would sure hate if Brad had to work another job because he'd never be home with us. So I guess I will suck it up and head off to work next Thursday because I know it's the best thing for all of us....even though I know Cooper would rather have me home everyday! :) haha

Brad and I are VERY lucky that his parents are going to keep Cooper everyday. We know he will be in great hands, and we won't have to worry about him at all as we head off to work everyday.

I also know I am VERY lucky that I have gotten to stay at home for as long as I have. It worked out perfectly that I had Cooper in March, and I was able to stretch my maternity leave out until summer break. (Thanks to all of my wonderful co-workers who donated days to me, I only had to take a few days without pay!)

I must admit that I am excited to start a new school year with 23 new students, but I know the first few days leaving Cooper will be rough. It does make it so much better to know that I will have 23 kids at school that are depending on me everyday, and I know it's going to be a great year! I know Cooper will have a great time with JuJu and Pops everyday (and playing with Beck 3 days a week).

As the summer comes to an end, I am going to enjoy the next 7 days I have at home with my little man. BUT, for the next 7 days I will also still be secretly hoping I win the lottery or Brad gets a second job...but only because I want to be able to see this face as much as possible...

Cleaning out the cellphone!

2011-07-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

Since the day Cooper was born, I have taken at least one picture of him everyday. Some people probably think I'm crazy with the camera, but I'm pretty proud of myself that I can say I have a picture of everyday of Cooper's life so far. I TRY to take at least one picture or video on my phone everyday to send to the grandparents. I cleaned out my phone today, and I realized I have a lot of cute pictures and videos that haven't been seen, so I wanted to share some of these! Sorry...I had a hard time picking my favorites, so I attached A LOT of pictures and several videos! Oh, and sorry some of the videos are sideways...I don't know how to flip them! :)

4 months old!

2011-07-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

Cooper celebrated his 1/3 of a year birthday yesterday! We went for his 4-month well check-up today, and he weighs 13.1 pounds (15%-ile) and is 25 inches long (54%-ile). The pediatrician said that Cooper was "perfect" and everything looked great. He did have to get two shots and one oral medication. If you remember back to his 2-month appointment and his first round of shots, I got to skip out of those because I had to go to a meeting for work. Brad has been warning me for the past month a half that the shots are terrible and he will cry like I've never heard him cry. Well, Cooper proved him wrong today because he did cry, but it wasn't bad at all. It sounded like one of the cries/screams he does when you take the bottle away to burp him.
We also had a little surprise at the doctor's office when she told us that he had a slight ear infection. Brad passed a cold to Cooper a couple of weeks ago, and he's been kind of congested for the past week and a half or two weeks. It started to get better, but toward the end of last week and over the weekend he was very stopped up and snotty again. She said she saw a little fluid in his ears but it wasn't nearly to the point as most ear infections. She prescribed an antibiotic and told us she thought it would clear up, but if it doesn't seem to then we should come back in three weeks or so.
The pediatrician also gave us the go ahead to start solids anytime we wanted to. I think we might start applesauce in the next day or two to see how he does and then maybe move on to carrots. He loves to eat, so I'm sure he'll love trying new foods. I can't wait to see how he reacts to different foods!
Our little boy is getting so big and he seems to be changing everyday. Check out some of his 4 month pictures...

At 4 months, Cooper is...

Sleeping from about 10:00-7:00 everyday (Some nights he goes to be a little earlier or later, and some mornings he gets up a little earlier or later. He slept until 8:00 two mornings in a row last week!)
Eating about 5 1/2-6 ounces of formula five times a day
Eating rice cereal in the morning
Rolling over from his stomach to his back
Rolling from side to side when he's on his back
Smiling ALL of the time
Laughing out loud
Grabbing for things
Crossing his legs when he's sitting up
STILL using his swaddle blanket at night and during his afternoon nap (I'm about to stop using it with the nap in the next couple of days.)
Screaming and cooing more than ever

You can find me in St. Louis...

2011-07-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning Cooper, Stacey, and I left Bowling Green and headed to St. Louis to visit Ashley, James, and Carson. This was Cooper's first long trip (longer than an hour and a half) so I was pretty nervous about how he would do. The kid rarely sleeps in the car. Yes, I know this doesn't sound normal because everyone always tells me that their kids fall right to sleep as soon as the car starts. Well, not Cooper. He loves to look around too much, and he always has to see what's going on. This little fact made me the most nervous about our 5-5 1/2 hour trip. I was extremely surprised and very proud of my little boy because he did GREAT! He took a few little naps on the way up there, and when he wasn't asleep he was busy smiling and laughing at Stacey or staring at his musical piano. We left Bowling Green around 9:00 and got to the Harper's house about 2:30. We only had to stop twice...once for a bathroom break for Stacey and I and once to feed Cooper.

Friday afternoon we spent some time in their backyard while we waited for James to get home from work.

Cooper still loves to be outside.

He worked on perfecting his laugh all weekend!

Carson never stops! I think this was right before he said "tree".

Carson worked on opening doors over the weekend. Ashley said he finally opened one Sunday afternoon after we left.

That night, Ashley made a delicious dinner for us...Cajun Chicken Pasta. We also took the boys and the dog for a walk around the neighborhood, and then we built a fire in the fire pit and roasted marshmellows and made smores. I think we all got eaten by mosquitos too...I know I have about 15 mosquito bites on my legs.

On Saturday, we woke up, Ashley fixed a delicious breakfast, and we took the boys to the outlet mall for a full 3+ hours of shopping.

Ashley and Carson before we left for the mall.

Both boys did great, and I'm pretty sure neither one of them cried once. Saturday night we went and ate at P.F. Changs and then stopped by the Cheesecake Factory for a little dessert. Of course we had to do a little photo shoot before we left for dinner because the boys looked so cute!

Could this get any cuter?

Best Buds!

Love them!

Carson held Cooper, but I don't think either one of them liked it too much.

The boys and their "Aunt" Stacey

Ashley and I with our favorite little boys!

It was SOO good to get to hang out with Stacey and spend longer than 2 hours with Ashley and that sweet little boy of hers.
Oh, and I can't forget all of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse we watched.

I definitely could not have made the trip without Stacey. She sat in the back with Cooper pretty much the whole trip there and back to keep him company. He loves her! We had a GREAT weekend, and Cooper did GREAT on his first long roadtrip. Now I'm looking forward to our next trip to Florida in October! :)

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July weekend started on Friday when Brad stayed home with us. I went to bed Thursday night with a really bad headache, and when I woke up Friday morning the headache was still there and was even worse than it was the night before. Thankfully, being the good husband that he is, Brad took off work to stay home and help me out because I'm pretty sure I couldn't function by myself. By Friday afternoon I started feeling a little better, and we ventured out of the house and took Cooper to the pool. He had a great time with his mommy and daddy, and Bailey even got to swim with us! :)

Ready for the pool

He loves the Mickey Mouse float and the noise the horn makes!

Mommy and Cooper

Daddy and Cooper

On Saturday, we went back to the pool for a little while. Cooper has been taking a GREAT nap from about 12:00-3:00 everyday, which makes for GREAT pool time.

We took Cooper to his first Hot Rods game on Sunday night. He got a little overwhelmed by all the people when we first got there, and he had a little screaming fit. Once we got to our seats he looked around during the first inning.

He made it to the top of the 2nd before he started crying again. I really think it was a mixture of all of the people, the noise, and the heat. After Brad's dad got him to calm down again, Brad and I took him out to the seats in left field where there weren't many people sitting, and I think he actually enjoyed looking around for a few more innings.

Take me out to the ballgame...

Sunday, the 4th of July, was a very big day for Cooper. He ate rice cereal for the first time, and he couldn't quite figure out how to eat it and move his tongue.

He got pretty mad because he wasn't getting anything, so we ended up giving him his bottle, and he was a happy little guy again.

We went to JuJu and Pops' house around lunchtime and Cooper played in their exersaucer for the first time. I wasn't so sure that he'd be able to hold himself up in there, but he did great, and I think he really liked it.

After he woke up from his nap that afternoon my little fish got back in the pool, and I think he liked it more than ever.

He just laughs and laughs when Pops does this.

Look at that little belly hanging out!

4th of July weekend ended Monday night with Cooper rolling over from his belly to his back for the first time. He still doesn't like tummy time, so it was just a matter of time before he figured out how to get out of it! Of course, as soon as I got the video camera out he stopped rolling, but I got it out again last night and he did it again! Go Cooper!!!

Thanks to our neighbors across the street and behind us, we did get to see a few fireworks and we heard plenty of them for several days. Our neighbors behind us had some great ones (the really big, pretty ones) that we watched from the window. Cooper didn't mind all of the noise, and he slept right through it as they were going off until about midnight every night, but Bailey was very freaked out and wanted to be held the whole time.

As you can tell, we had a very busy, but very fun long weekend! I just love my family!!! :)

One year ago today!

2011-06-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year ago was when I had my embryo transfer and when I technically became pregnant (even though I wouldn't know it until 10 days later). We were given a picture of the 2 embryos that were transferred on that day, and what we didn't know at the time would be that one of those was our little boy.

I can still remember the thoughts and feelings I had that day. I remember how excited we were that both embryos survived the "thawing out" process and how we were both a little hesitant to get our hopes up too much. It seems like just yesterday when I go back and read the post from last year (Embryo Transfer a SUCCESS!!!).

I feel like I say it all the time, but it's crazy how much things can change in one year. :)

These are a few of Cooper's favorite things...

2011-06-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of weeks I've caught myself saying "Cooper loves___". There are many things that would fit in the blank, but here are most of Cooper's favorite things (in no particular order).

Pacifiers

Ceiling Fans

He loves to scream and he loves his changing table. We've always said that his changing table is his "happy place".

Fingers

Bottle

Blankets

Mirrors

Trees

Stuffy Noses

2011-06-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

After 15 weeks, Cooper has his first cold. Brad came home from work one day last week complaining that he was getting a cold. He was sneezing and had a runny/stuffy nose. Well, Sunday afternoon when Cooper woke up from his nap, he was congested and coughing. Yesterday morning he woke up coughing and his nose was very stuffy. I was worried that he would feel bad, but he was in a GREAT mood all day! Of course I called the doctor to see if I needed to do anything, but the nurse said to just use saline drops and a humidifier (which I was already doing), and she said they wouldn't want to see him unless he started running a fever, not wanting to eat, not sleeping, or was extremely fussy. None of those things have happened yet, and hopefully they won't, and hopefully I won't be the next one to get it!

Sunday afternoon Cooper rode in his "big boy" stroller for the first time. We went for a walk around the neighborhood, and he LOVED it!

Cooper also met Big Red for the first time this weekend...not the real one, but the stuffed one. Notice his reaction...

Hopefully when he meets the real thing in a couple of months at his first WKU football game he won't look so worried. :)

Oh, and Bailey is finally starting to come around and play with Cooper. See for yourself...

Ok, so actually Bailey still pays no attention to Cooper. She just loves socks! :)

Mother's/Father's Day

2011-06-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

I just went back to last month's posts and realized I never posted anything about my 1st Mother's Day which happened a month and a half ago. I had a great day spending time with my little guy, and I feel so lucky to be his mommy! Of course we had to take some Mommy and Cooper pictures...(remember this was 7 weeks ago and Cooper was only 8 weeks old).

I just love my Mother's Day gift. Cooper's birthstone is in the middle, and Brad and I's birthstones are on the bottom. And yes, he went to Jared! :)

Now that we've gone back several weeks ago to Mother's Day, we can catch up to this past Sunday which was Father's Day. Daddy pulled out one of Cooper's 3-6 month UK onesies and didn't realize he had on a matching t-shirt. Of course this called for a picture.

I think Cooper was very excited to be dressed like his daddy! :)

Sunday afternoon we went to Brad's parents (JuJu and Pops) for lunch. The plan was to have a pool day, but the rain and storms stopped that, so we spent the afternoon being lazy and watching the U.S. Open instead.

Cooper wore his "I love Dad" shirt, but you can't really see it in the picture.

Mother's Day and Father's Day were extra special to both of us this year! It's amazing how much things can change in one year, and we are so lucky to have our special little guy in our lives this year.

1/4 of a year!

2011-06-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

That's right, Cooper was 3 months old this past Friday! Of course we had to celebrate the day by taking the monthly photos. Here are a few of my favorites...

I thought he smiled a lot in his 2 month pictures, but this month was FULL of smiles! :)

This kid LOVES being outside!

I wish I knew what this face meant.

I love when he makes this face!

Saturday, we took Cooper to get his 3 month pictures made. We also got to take a few family pictures which I'm really excited about. I can't wait to see how they turned out. I was a little sad that we couldn't take Bailey to be in the family pictures with us, but Brad promised that she could go when we get his 6 month pictures made.

Cooper is still such a good baby! He is starting to be very predictable. Over the past couple of weeks, we've really started to get into a routine. For the past several days, here is what his schedule has looked like:
7:00 Wake up and eat
7:45 or 8:00 Power nap (usually last anywhere from 30 min. to an hour)
10:45 Eat
12:00-2:45 or 3:00 Nap (I am LOVING this long afternoon nap. I've gotten a lot of house work, school work, and pool time in during this time.)
3:00 Eat
Somewhere between these 2 eating times he will sleep for about 30-45 minutes.
6:45 Eat
7:30 Nap? Sleep? Not sure what this time is, but Cooper sleeps for about 2 hours.
9:45 Wake up for bath and last bottle
10:15 Sleep

I feel like Cooper still sleeps a lot, but he seems happy doing this. We would eventually like to get rid of the last bottle around 9:45 so he can have an earlier bed time. For now, the schedule we're on is working great for all of us!
Eating- Eats between 5-6 ounces every 3 1/2-4 hours during the day. He still loves to eat and still hates when you take the bottle away to burp.

Sleeping- We still have a GREAT sleeper that sleeps through the night every night! I must say, it is wonderful! We do still use the swaddle blanket at night and during his long afternoon nap. We've taken it away for the other nap times though. My goal is by the time I go back to school to have him completely out of the swaddle blanket. I think he could do it during the day, but I am a little worried about the night time. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can ease our way out of stopping the swaddle blanket?

Playing- Over the past couple of weeks he's really started paying more attention to his surroundings. He loves music and lights. He used to be able to pick out a ceiling fan no matter where we were, but these days, he's more interested in the TV. We caught him staring at the TV this morning, and it wasn't even on. He loves his Baby Einstein DVDs!

Measurements- Based on my measurements and our scale, Cooper weighs 12.4 pounds and is about 24 1/2 inches long. This sounds about right, but he doesn't go back to the doctor until July, so we have a few weeks to find out the real doctor measurements.

Other facts about our boy- For about 3 weeks, Cooper's starting doing his "crunches" as we like to call them. When you take the bottle away, he will pull his upper body up almost like he's trying to sit up. He really just wants the bottle back. He does this constantly in his car seat too. I'll look back at him (we have a mirror on the back seat so I can see him), and he'll be couched down. He's been sucking on his hand A LOT, so I think he is trying to do that. Sometimes he forgets that his hands will go up to his mouth. Instead, he likes to take his head and mouth down to his hands. It's so funny to watch him to do this.

At the beginning of the last week (at 12 weeks) I noticed that he laughed out loud. I had thought he had done it before, but this time it was really noticable. He was taking a bath, and was laughing at me....probably singing or making funny noises. Since then, he's been doing it all the time. Everytime I get the video camera out he stops. My goal is to get a video of this sweet little laugh soon.

I really can't believe that Cooper is 1/4 of a year old! Even though it's only been 3 months, it seems like this little guy has been in our lives forever!

A few days of "FIRSTS"

2011-05-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

It seems like over the past couple of days Cooper has experienced several "firsts". He stayed over night for the FIRST time at my parent's house on Saturday night. He went to his FIRST birthday party on Sunday (actually he went to 2 parties). On Monday, he got in the pool for the FIRST time, and he really liked it. Thank goodness Brad's mom got pictures of this first because Cooper sure looked cute in his little speedo looking thing.

I can't wait to get him in the pool again. He'll learn soon enough that his mommy LOVES the pool and spends A LOT of time there in the summer.

This next first might be a little too much for some of you, but I have to mention it anyway. When we got back from the pool Cooper has his FIRST major diaper blowout. Yes, it was going up his back and ended up getting on just about everything. Brad got lucky and was out mowing, so it was just me and the little man. I ended up throwing away his onesie because I wasn't about to figure out how to get that mess off of it. I held him under the running bathtub water (which he hated), but I feel like I got most of it cleaned up pretty well. Brad still owes me big time for that one! :) Oh, and don't worry, I didn't get a picture of this first! haha

Today, Cooper went for his FIRST shots. It was his 2-month appointment, but he's closer to 3 months now. This was just the earliest day they could get him in. I felt like such a bad mom because I actually had to work today so Brad and his mom took him. Let me just say that even though I hated to miss it, I am really glad I wasn't there. Brad said the sound he made was something he had never heard before and never wants to hear again. The doctor said Cooper was perfect...but we already knew this. He's doing everything she asked about (grabbing your finger, following you with his eyes/head, smiling), and he's even doing most of the things that she said he would be doing in the next couple of months.

Cooper's 2 month and 21 day stats:

Weight= 10 lbs. 15 oz. (11%-ile)

Height= 24 in. (61%-ile)

Head Circumference= 15 3/4 in. (27%-ile)

We definitely have a very long and lean baby, but he is 100% healthy! Brad took a couple of pictures after his shots. He made sure to wait until the little guy was happy again.

I was a little disappointed to see that he didn't get any fun, colorful band-aids. I didn't think he'd just get the plain, boring tan ones that big people get, but I guess he doesn't know any different.

Cooper is growing way too fast, but I am excited to see what other "firsts" will be in the near future.

Birthday Party Sunday

2011-05-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a FULL day celebrating three birthdays in Owensboro, and Cooper got to go to his first two birthday parties. He had a great time, of course, and he loved getting to see everyone and meeting some of the family for the first time. My cousin, Allison, celebrated her 12th birthday with my grandfather who turned 80.

The birthday girl and boy

As soon as we got to the party my cousin, Camille snatched Cooper right up and he LOVED her holding him...

I didn't get a picture of Cooper with everyone, but here are a few I was able to get.

Hannah Kate and Cooper

Cooper's ready to play ball with his new glove!

Cori and Cooper

After we left the first party, we walked down the street to the next birthday party for Carson. I can't believe that he's already one! It seems like he was just Cooper's size, which is pretty scary thinking about how fast time flies. Carson looked adorable in his "1" shirt made my his very crafty mommy.

Cooper was worn out by this point and slept through most of the party.

But when he did wake up, he was able to wish Carson a happy birthday!

I'm so glad we were able to see so many people on this very busy, but very fun day!

Storm Warning

2011-05-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

I think this has been the year for thunderstorm and tornado warnings, and they all seems to come in the middle of the night. This is not fun when you're trying to sleep with a baby in the next room.

We have four HUGE trees in our yard (two in the front and two on the side) that I love, but I must admit, when storms roll in they do make me nervous because they are so big and pretty close to the house. We've been pretty lucky up until now and only lost a few little limbs and branches, but after Wednesday night, that all changed.

We were under a thunderstorm warning, but for those of you that watch WBKO in Bowling Green, the weathermen were not breaking in so we didn't think the storm was going to be bad and we went to bed. Brad put Cooper down about 10:45, and then about 11:30 they finally broke in on TV with the weather. After about 30 seconds of listening to the weathermen say "Bowling Green is starting to get the high winds" we heard the loud wind outside and then a cracking, popping sound coming from the trees outside our window. The next thing I knew I heard a big crash and I was on the floor. Yes, I rolled onto the floor thinking that could save me if our roof was caving in. Too bad we didn't have a video camera to capture this because I'm sure it was quite hysterical. Brad and I jumped up, I grabbed Bailey, and he ran and got Cooper, and we headed to the basement. When we came back upstairs we looked out the bedroom window and could see through the flashes of lightning that we had lost a huge part of our side trees and they were laying against the house. Brad went up to the attic to make sure our roof didn't have any holes in it, which it didn't. We knew there was nothing we could do since it was still storming so we went back to bed. (Cooper slept through the whole thing, by the way.) At about 2:00 we heard another crashing sound of another big branch coming down.

The next morning we got up, went outside, and surveyed the damage.

We were very lucky that this was the only damage we had. Our bedroom is in this corner of the house and Cooper's is right in the front of the house, so it is very scary to think that the WHOLE tree could have fallen on the house.

I normally love storms, but after this, I think I've had enough for this year.

Like Father Like Son

2011-05-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many times I've heard people say how much Cooper looks like Brad. In the hospital, the baby nurse even made the comment that she didn't even need to check our armbands because it was very obvious that Cooper was ours because he's Brad's mini me.

See for yourself...what do you think?

Tummy time

Watching basketball

Splish Splash Cooper was taking a bath!

2011-05-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

The first couple of times we gave Cooper a bath starting when he was 5 weeks old (yes, I know that is a long time to wait but if you remember from a previous post, the kid just wouldn't let go of his stump!) he hated it! We did discover that if we left the water running during the time he was in his tub he would sit there but he looked miserable. If the water stopped then he looked like this...

Because of this reaction, bath time lasted maybe 2 minutes each time.

After a trip to Kohl's I stumbled upon what I just knew might be the perfect solution- a body washcloth thing! The first time we used it, bath time was a success. Cooper now LOVES the bath and smiles and talks the whole time. See for yourself...

I just love this picture, and I love that you can see Cooper's reflection in my glasses!

In between smiles we get tons of yawns! I'm not exaggerating when I say that he yawns at least 15 times during each bath.

I think Cooper loves baths as much as his mom now! :) So I have to say thank you to that mom out there that invented Cooper's favorite bath time accessory!

It doesn't get any better than this...

2011-05-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

I just love how Cooper's starting to get a little personality of his own. It's crazy how much he's changed in the past month, and I can't even begin to imagine what next month will be like! :)

Happy Boy!

2011-05-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Playdate

2011-05-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, Cooper and I took a little roadtrip to the big town of Russellville to spend the afternoon with McKense and her 2 kiddos (Riley and Piper). McKense and I are both on maternity leave so it was GREAT to get out of the house and do something different...and talk to another adult. It's amazing how crazy I feel at the end of the day when I spend my day talking to a baby and a dog all day! HAHA! I think we're going to make these little playdates a weekly thing so that we don't go crazy over the next few weeks!
Cooper got to spend a little time getting to know his girlfriend, Piper. Here are a few pictures to show how their official meeting unfolded. *These pictures took place in about a one minute time frame.

"Umm...what is this leaning on me?"

"Mom, can you help me out here?"

"I think she's trying to snuggle with me."

"This girl is giving me cooties...YUCK!"

"Is she serious? How can she take a nap at a time like this?"

"I don't think I like this too much."

"Nope, I don't like it!"

"HELP ME!"

I just love these pictures of our two sweet babies. It's so weird to think that just three short months ago this is where we were...

And now we have two precious babies that are going to have so much fun together on their future playdates. Hopefully their next dates will go a little better! :)

Our 2 Month Old

2011-05-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Yep...I can't believe it either! Cooper was 2 months old on Tuesday ! Of course we had a couple of photo shoots in between naps, and I was able to get some great pictures. He makes taking great pictures so easy since he has so stinkin' cute. :) Here are a few of my favorites.

At 2 months Cooper is sleeping through the night about 6 out of 7 nights.  YAY!!! He usually eats around 9:00 or 9:30 and then he'll get up about 6:30 or 6:45. During the day he'll eat about every 4 hours. He eats about 4-4 1/2 ounces of formula at every feeding.
He started smiling several weeks ago, but I would say in the last 2 weeks or so he's really got the smiling thing down. I love getting to spend my whole day with this little guy, but my favorite time of day would have to be as soon as he wakes up in the morning. He doesn't really cry when he wakes up. He just makes little noises like he's yelling for us to come get him. As soon as we walk in his room he'll look up and start smiling. When we put him on his changing table he'll continue smiling and start "talking" to us. His noises are starting to get more frequent and louder, and if you talk back to him he seems like he'll respond with his baby talk. Right now he's really making the "goo", "oo", and "oh" sounds. I've been really trying to get a video of him doing this, but everytime I get the video camera out, he just freezing and wants to stare at it.   I feel like I have a camera in front of this kids face the majority of the day, so you would think it's be used to it.
Something else I have noticed in the past few days is that he's starting to use his hands more. He LOVES his pacifier, and I've noticed that when he doesn't have it, he'll grab things (his shirt, blanket, burp cloth, bib, etc.) and pull them to his mouth.  Yesterday he was in his swing, and I was putting his pacifier in, and he grabbed my hands and pulled them to his face like he was trying to help me. I also noticed that he was kicking his legs and staring at them while they were moving. It's amazing how much more he notices now. He also loves to be outside and look around at everything. I think his favorite things outside are the green leaves on the trees and the telephone poles. He'll bend his neck in all kinds of different ways just to look at these things.

It's amazing to think back to where we were a year ago. I definitely can't imagine my life without this little guy in it!

On a roll...

2011-05-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

I know every mom says this, but I'm pretty sure we have the BEST baby in the world! Cooper is so easy-going and laid back. From our second day at home, he has pretty much been like clockwork. He was eating right at every 3 1/2-4 hours all day and night. He was getting up two times a night (Brad had first shift and I got second). This schedule was great, and after that first week of getting adjusted to parenthood, I felt like we were into a routine. Our daily/nightly routine has changed just a bit over the past few days, and I must say it has been a great change. I don't want to jinx it, but Cooper has slept through the night 3 nights in a row!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Friday night he slept from 9:40-6:30, Saturday night he slept from 8:00-5:45, and last night he slept from 10:15-6:00. He is simply amazing! I'm hoping this is going to be the NEW routine, but I know not to get my hopes up too high. :)

Here are some recent pictures of the best baby in the world. :) Notice all of the smiles! He's really getting good at flashing that toothless grin, and we're loving it every time!

One of Cooper's MANY faces!

Sweet smile

Cracking up

He has really started using his eyebrows!

Perfect

I LOVE him! I think this is my new favorite picture!

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

2011-05-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Easter was so much fun getting to celebrate it with out little man! After getting up and getting dressed, Cooper was able to see what the Easter Bunny left him in his basket. He also got a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups that aren't in the picture because Mommy and Daddy dug into them before we took pictures! :)

I always thought holidays were hard ever since we've gotten married because we always have to decide where we're going and who we're going to spend each holiday with. Now, the holidays have gotten even harder with a baby!

We went to Owensboro and had lunch with my parents, visited with my grandmother, and then we came back to Bowling Green to eat dinner with Brad's side of the family. By the time we got home we were exhausted, but the long day was so worth it!

I love my family!

Happy Easter!

Cooper looks like he's trying to lick Bailey, and she looks disgusted! haha

Nana, Papaw, and Cooper

JuJu, Pops, Cooper, and Beck

Great Grandma and Cooper

Goodbye Stump!

2011-05-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

The nurses at the hospital, Cooper's pediatrician, all the books, Rosie Pope on Pregnant in Heels....everyone says that a baby will lose their umbilical cord within the first 1-3 weeks. This little fact is NOT true, and Cooper proved that. After 5 long weeks of cleaning his little stump once or twice a day with alcohol, rolling down his diapers in the front, and giving sponge baths (which he hated) Cooper finally lost his stump! I didn't think the kid was ever going to get a real bath, but the day the stump fell off, Cooper got his first real bath in his little tub. I finally feel like we have a clean, sweet smelling little boy! :)

Oh, and if you didn't notice, I'm a couple of weeks behind at posting this! :) One of these days I'll make sure to post things as they happen and not 2 weeks later.

Changes

2011-05-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how quickly your life changes once you have a baby. Sleeping and eating schedules change, a shower may or may not be on the daily agenda, the house gets a little more messy, yard work gets pushed back, and it's no longer easy to run to the grocery to pick up a few things. On top of all of these things, Brad and I decided that we definitely needed a bigger car to haul around our new addition and all of the things that he requires (car seat, stroller, etc,). So...we sold my Saturn Ion and bought our first "family" vehicle...a Buick Rendeveous.

Brad says we are officially old now because we drive a Buick. :) Old or not, we are LOVING all the space!

We have a 1 month old?!?

2011-04-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to think of how many times people have told us to enjoy every second of parenthood because it flies by, but I think the past month has made us realize how true that is. I was telling someone the other day that it seems like Cooper has been in our lives forever, but then again it definitely does not seem like he should already be a month old. Actually, he's 5 weeks old today!

Our little man is definitely growing and changing every day. I think he had his first "real" smile on Saturday. He was laying on his little mat, and Bailey went up and sniffed him, and he got a huge grin on his face, and then I said something to him and he smiled again. Ever since then, he's been doing it a lot when you talk to him. I finally captured a picture of one of these cute, toothless grins yesterday.

He's also making A LOT more cooing noises. Tuesday morning Brad was getting ready for work and Cooper wanted to get up, so he closed the door and let me sleep a few more minutes, and he got him up. His little cry didn't wake me up, but it did wake me up when I heard him in the living room making some of the loudest little noises he's ever made. Of course I had to get up and go see my little boy. What a great way to wake up in the morning! :) And to make it even better, my sweet husband had made my coffee for me.

I'm not really sure how much Cooper weighs now (he doesn't go back to the doctor until May 31st for his 2 month check-up) but I do know that he is growing quickly! He's in between sizes in his clothes. Most of his newborn clothes finally fit him around the waist, but the legs and arms are too short. He has been wearing a lot more 0-3 month clothes, but they are still kind of baggy on him. I hate to see him grow out of his newborn clothes, but I must admit it has been kind of fun to dress him in different clothes (other than footed PJs). :)

This was Cooper's first time wearing a 0-3 month outfit. Doesn't he look cute?

Well, I think I've spent enough time on the blog for now...I've been working on this one post for 2 days. :) I'm getting behind in my daily chores of washing and making bottles. I better get back to the usual routine before the little guy wakes up!

4 weeks

2011-04-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Once again, I've gotten behind on blogging, but I definitely have a good excuse this time. The excuse...

Cooper is 4 weeks old today! It feels like he's been in our lives forever, but I really can't believe that he's already 4 weeks old. It seems like we were just at the hospital and spending our first few days with him. We have definitely gotten into a routine around here. My life pretty much consists of changing Cooper, feeding Cooper, playing with Cooper, washing bottles, making bottles...and then it seems to start all over again! I am definitely not complaining though! I'm enjoying every second of it.

A couple of weeks ago Cooper went to the doctor for his 2 week check-up. He did great! When he was born he weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. At his check-up he was 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. The doctor said he was PERFECT (which we already knew).

Waiting to see the doctor

Our little man is growing and changing everyday. He has always been a very alert newborn, but over the past week or two, he has really started to look at things. Right now, his favorite thing to stare at is the ceiling fan (and it's not even on). Yesterday he was in his swing, and I noticed that he was staring at the TV so I put in a Baby Einstein video, and he sat there and watched it for a good 30 minutes.

For now, Cooper is eating about 3 1/4 ounces every 4 hours or so. The boy LOVES to eat! I really need to get a video of him eating and burping. Brad and I always joke and call him a little monster because he makes the funniest noises, and he hates to stop eating to burp.

At night, he sleeps about 3 1/2-4 hours at a time before he wakes up needing to be changed and fed. Last night we started using the swaddle blanket again. He moves his arms around constantly, and it wakes him up, so I thought the blanket would be a good idea. We haven't used it since the first night we were home (which wasn't a great night) so we were a little nervous about trying it again. I really think it works though because he slept great last night! Depending on what time he eats at night (last night it was 8:15) he usually gets up twice a night. Last night Brad got up with him at 12:45, and then I got up at 4:45. After a couple of nights at home, we decided that Brad does better on first shift and I do better really early in the morning. It works out great, and I have a GREAT husband who wants to get up and help out as much as he can. :)

Last Friday, I took Cooper to get his newborn pictures made. They turned out great! Here are a couple of my favorites...

Isn't he the cutest? :) I guess the million ultrasounds we had prepared this little guy for all of the pictures that would be taken once he got here. I definitely won't post them all on here because I'm sure most of you have seen then on Facebook, but here are a few of my favorites that I've taken over the past couple of weeks.

Hospital Stay

2011-03-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

The hospital stay wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Everyone was extremely nice! I would say the worst part was having a nurse come in the first night every couple of hours to check my blood pressure and temperature. I was very glad when our night nurse the second night we were there told me she would just peek in a couple of times, but if we were sleeping she would leave us alone. I did hear her open the door, but I'm pretty good at pretending to be asleep! haha

We were there from Thursday-Saturday (March 10th-12th). While we were there we were able to spend some time with some of our favorite people. I didn't get a picture of everyone, but here are a few. Cooper loved meeting everyone for the first time! :)

Nana and Cooper

Pops and Cooper

Papaw and Cooper

JuJu and Cooper

Aunt Tammy and Cooper

Aunt Beth and Cooper

"Aunt" Stacey and Cooper

John Thomas, Great Grandma, Spencer, and Cooper

Great Papaw and Cooper

Jaime and Cooper

Natalie and Cooper

McKense and Cooper

*On a little side note, Jaime and Natalie are expecting a little girl (Peyton) at the end of May, and McKense and her husband Chandler are also expecting a little girl (Piper) in the middle of May. Cooper is looking forward to meeting his first 2 girlfriends very soon! :)

Cooper's Big Arrival

2011-03-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

I figured while it's still pretty fresh on my mind, I better go ahead and write about Cooper's big arrival...even if I am 10 days late!

First of all, I must say that I was always and am still so glad I had a scheduled c-section. It was so nice to get mentally prepared for what would be the biggest day of our lives. Last Thursday morning (March 10th) started bright and early at 4:15 am. Brad and I set our alarm, took showers, packed the car, and headed to the hospital at 6:00. Once we got there the hour and a half we had to wait seems to drag by. The nurses started my IV first and then hooked me up to the machine to monitor Cooper's heart rate. Our parents arrived by 6:30 or so, and we all sat around and waited for the big moment. Of course we had to snap a few before pictures...

Our last picture together before Cooper's big arrival

Finally, at 7:32 the nurses came in to take me to the operating room. Brad had to go into a waiting room so they could get me all prepped. From the moment I got into the very cold OR, time seemed to FLY by and everyone seemed like they were moving in fast forward. The anesthesiologist started my spinal block, and within a couple of minutes, my lower half was completely numb. After that, it seems like the blue sheet went up, Brad came in, and the c-section had started. I remember everything so vividly. I didn't feel any pain, but I felt a lot of pulling and tugging, and I remember my doctor saying what I was feeling was some type of electricity. I'm still not really sure what that meant, but it felt like someone was constantly pulling on my ab muscles...it was a very weird feeling. The next thing I knew, the anesthesiologist told me I was going to feel a lot of pressure for about 5-10 seconds, and I remember squeezing Brad's hand as hard as I could. I didn't feel anything, but before I knew it, I heard everyone start saying that Cooper was here, and then I heard the very loud cries and screams.

Cooper's first picture
Born at 7:59 am
6 pounds 15 ounces
20 inches long

The nurses took him and cleaned him up a little before bringing him over for me to see. The anesthesiologist captured some of my favorite pictures of the day...

Love at first sight!

First family picture

I think I got to see him for about 30 seconds before Brad took him out to meet our families.

I love how happy Brad is in this picture! Such a proud dad!

I stayed in the room for a little while longer while they finished fixing me up, and then they wheeled me off to the recovery room. The nurse told me I would only be in there for an hour, but it ended up being 2 hours because the nurse that was monitoring me had about 10 patients, and it took her forever to finish my paperwork. When I did finally get to my room, I had to wait another hour or so for Cooper to come in, but I must say, when I did finally get to see him again, it was love at first sight all over again!

Seeing this little boy made everything we had been through over the past couple of years completely worth it! He is absolutely PERFECT!!!

Only the beginning....

2011-03-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of days, it seems like we've referred to everything as "the last..." before Cooper is here.

Bailey had her LAST haircut Monday.
I had my LAST doctor's appointment yesterday.
I also had my LAST haircut yesterday.
I gave Brad his LAST haircut yesterday.
We cleaned the house for the LAST time.
I did the LAST couple of loads of laundry today.
We had our LAST supper tonight.
We had our LAST full day of just the 2 of us.
We will go to bed tonight one LAST time without being parents.
Brad, Bailey, and I took our LAST picture together.

It's completely amazing to think that in 24 hours from now Cooper will be coming into the world. Tomorrow starts a brand new beginning of the next chapter of our lives. :)

Ready or Not

2011-03-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you how many times in the last week someone has asked me if I'm ready for Thursday. My first thought is always yes, but I really don't think anyone can ever be all the way ready for such a major thing. So my reply always seems to be "yes" at first, but then after I think about it for a second, the only thing I can think of is "ready or not". :)

The plan for this weekend was to spend one last relaxing weekend together before our little boy comes into this world. I must say we did A LOT of relaxing, and we also got A LOT of things done. We spent all day Saturday running a ton of errands, doing laundry, and of course napping. Today was packed full of more errands, grocery shopping, UK basketball, and more napping.

Brad asked me today if I was nervous, and I really don't think I am right now. I know once Thursday gets here the nerves will start to set in since I don't really like hospitals, and I have never had to go through anything like a c-section before, but I am not worried about it because I know that it will be all worth it once we see Cooper's face.

So, as I really start to think about how ready I am for Thursday to get here, I keep seeing a to-do list in my head....

Cooper's room- CHECK
My bag packed- CHECK
Cooper's bag packed- HALF-WAY CHECK
Car seat installed- CHECK

As for Bailey, I think she's slowly starting to get used to the idea of having a little brother. We put together his bouncy seat last weekend, and we turned our back for a second to look at the directions, and this is where she was...

The seat has been sitting in our living room since this day, and she hasn't paid anymore attention to it. Thank goodness!

The more I think about it, the more I know we're ready. It seems like we've waited so long for this, and I can't believe the time is already here. In 4 days we will be holding our little boy!!!! How can we NOT be ready for that?!

Cooper's Room

2011-02-24T03:38:00.000-08:00

After the many weeks of waiting and waiting for the nursery furniture, we finally have everything in the room ready for our sweet little baby. Who would have thought that ordering a crib and dresser would be so hard? I think we went through 3 months and 3 cracked cribs before we finally have the perfect furniture. It's a good thing we started back in October, or Cooper might have had to sleep in a dresser for a while! :) It's so hard to believe that in 2 short weeks we will have a BABY to put in this room!

16 days and counting...

2011-02-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

With just a little over 2 short weeks left, Cooper is continuing to grow and I'm beginning to get more uncomfortable. At our doctor's appointment today, Cooper was weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. On average, babies will gain about half a pound a week at this point, and our little guy was right above that at 10 ounces. I think that weight sounds pretty good to be a couple of days short of 37 weeks, but our little munchkin is still hovering around the 25th %-ile for weight. It looks like we may have a skinny little guy on our hands, but if he likes to eat like his momma he will definitely gain the weight quickly once he's here! :)

*I'm going to go ahead and make a prediction that I think Cooper will weigh 6 lb., 9 oz. when he's born, and Brad is guessing 6 lb., 8 oz.

As for being uncomfortable...I think I've hit the point where I'm ready to be done being pregnant. I must say this has been an extremely easy pregnancy. BUT, I am ready for the indigestion to be gone (the burning in my throat at night is not fun) and I CAN'T WAIT to sleep on my stomach again. I'm also ready for my ribs to stop aching. The drive home from school is the worst because I'm sitting and standing all day, and my posture is not good. Cooper's not up high in my ribs, but Brad said that what I'm feeling is my expanding uterus going under my ribs. I'm pretty sure he spends many hours at work looking this stuff up for me! :) The good news is that in a little over 2 weeks, my uterus will be shrinking back to normal size, and my ribs will get a break! Thank goodness! haha

Busy Week/Weekend

2011-02-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

My week consisted of...

A FULL 5-day work week
2 field trips in one week (with 4th graders)
Doctor's appointment and denist appointment
Cleaning and laundry
An amazing day with friends filled with lunch at Federal Grove Bed and Breakfast, manicures, pedicures, and yogurt
Bailey's near death experience with rat poisoining (thank goodness I was not around to witness the chaos...and thank goodness Bailey is alive and well)
Grocery shopping
My last baby shower
A night full of unpacking gifts, organizing, and adding finishing touches to Cooper's room

Usually Monday is my favorite day of the week, but this pregnant girl needs another weekend to recooperate from the previous week and weekend! 17 more days until the "big day". :)

23 Days

2011-02-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is how long we have left until we become a family of 3 (and a half...including Bailey of course). Cooper's estimated date of delivery is set for Thursday, March 10th. We are scheduled to go in at 5:30 that morning, and the c-section is scheduled for 7:30. I can't believe I'm actually typing that...23 days?!?! That is not long AT ALL, and I feel like we still have a million things left to do. We are sooo excited to actually have a day set that we can expect the little guy!!! :)

My ultrasound and appointment went well today. Cooper weighed in at 4 lbs., 14 oz. His %-ile for weight did go down since the last time, but my doctor looked over the ultrasound pictures, and he said even though he is small, everything still looked fine. He wants to keep a close eye on his growth though to make sure he continues growing, so we are scheduled to have an ultrasound at my remaining appointments. He also did a non-stress test today, and he wants to continue those at my next appointments too. I think he just wants to make sure Cooper stays healthy in the new couple of weeks, and the non-stress test today showed that things looked good. If you're not familiar with that test, they had me lay on a bed, and they hooked me up to a monitor to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Everytime I felt a movement, I had to push a button. Apparently, they are looking for a movement or many movements close together, and then they watch to see if the heartrate increases. In our case, this happened several times (which was a good thing).

Did I mention how excited we are that we get to meet baby Cooper in 23 days????

Now we've just got to work on getting this little girl as excited as we are...

The last leg of the race

2011-02-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

So I really can't believe that the time has come where I've started my weekly appointments. At times, it seems like I've been pregnant forever, but then again it also seems like it has flown by. When we first found out we were pregnant in July, we thought March would never get here. The first few months we were both busy with work, and I was starting a new school year, serving on jury duty, and on bed rest for a week. The last couple of months we were busy with the holidays, and now we've been busy with getting Cooper's room ready (yes, I know...I have not posted pictures. I will get to that soon!) and baby
showers. Now, it is just about March, and our little boy will be here in no time. :)

35 WEEKS

I went to the doctor on Thursday for my first "check", and to no surprise, Cooper is still breech. This might be too much information for the blog, but my doctor said he thought he could "feel" a foot or two. That means that either Cooper has put his legs down (YAY!) or the doctor was feeling something else besides a foot. Anyway, I know for a fact that his head is still in the same place...right under my right rib cage. I feel it everyday, and it's definitely very easy to tell that it's his hard head. The big news we did get was that at my next appointment (tomorrow), we're going to have another ultrasound to check his position again, and if he hasn't moved, then we're going to go ahead and talk about scheduling a C-section. Even though it is possible for Cooper to still turn in the next few weeks, my doctor is pretty sure he won't because of the way he is wedged in there. As crazy as it might sound, Brad and I are both very excited about the C-section. The recovery period may be a little longer and maybe a little more uncomfortable, but how great is it that we can schedule the exact day and time we get to go into the hospital and I don't have to go through the hours and hours of labor? Sounds like a plan to me! :) Hopefully after tomorrow we'll have more information and maybe even an exact day and time that our little guy will be born. I'll be sure to post again tomorrow night with an update.

Growing like a weed...

2011-02-06T16:28:00.000-08:00

That phrase describes our little boy and my growing belly! :) If you remember back to an earlier post, we went to the doctor for my 28 week appt. at the end of December, and Cooper was in the 34 %-ile for weight (2 lbs., 7 oz.). Also at this time, my amniotic fluid level had been around 7.8 or 7.9. My doctor had said he didn't consider this low (3 or 4 would be low), but he likes to see that number at 8 or higher. Well, when we went back to the doctor a week and a half ago for yes, you guessed it, ANOTHER ultrasound, we were very pleased to hear that Cooper was weighing in at 4 lbs., 7 oz. (59%-ile)! And, my amniotic level had increased to 11, which my doctor said was great. Way to go buddy! I guess he's plumping up from all the extra food I've been eating. Brad thought I always ate a lot before, but now it feels like I'm always hungry. I go to bed hungry, get up hungry, am still hungry after lunch...it never stops!

We also went back to Precious View for our very last attempt at a 3D/4D ultrasound. The lady did say we had set a record of being there a total of 6 times (from 15 weeks-33 weeks). She was able to get some of the best pictures we've ever gotten. The neatest thing that we got to see during this ultrasound (besides Cooper's sweet face) was that we got to see him hiccup for several minutes. It was so weird because I felt every one, and then on the screen, you could see his little stomach bounce up and down at the same time. So neat!!! At the time of this ultrasound and of my doctor's appointment, Cooper's legs were still up in front of his face and he was still breech, so Brad and I have pretty much told ourselves that a C-section is definitely a strong possibility. The more I think about it, the more I am ok with a C-section. It would be nice to know exactly when I have to go to the hospital and what day he will be born on. The thought of not going through the many hours of labor also sounds pretty good right about now. BUT, I know the recovery period is a lot worse. So, we will take it as it comes, but we just want our little guy to get here and be healthy.

Enjoy what MIGHT be our last ultrasound pictures of Cooper (I can't believe I'm saying that considering we've had over 15 ultrasounds)...

Side view of his face. I love his lips in this one. It looks like he's puckering up! :)

Great shot of his foot in front of his face! He was poking himself in the eye with his big toe.

I'm pretty sure he'll come out with a flat nose since his legs have been smashed in front of his face for several weeks. His lips look plump in this picture too.

Look at those chubby cheeks!

Profile shot

Sweet baby feet

Attempt #3...unsuccessful!

2011-01-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

Thursday afternoon we went back for our 3rd try to get a facial shot of our little guy on the 3D/4D ultrasound. I'm at the point now where I would rather just wait to see what he looks like when he gets here in a couple of months, but since we paid for the session, the pictures, and the CD, the lady wants to make sure we get our money's worth.
Every post I make is starting to be repetitive, so I'll keep it short and say that his hands were down, but his legs and feet were right in front of his face. As you can see from this picture of the side of his face, his leg is smashed against his nose and his toes are on top of his head.

She did worry us a little when she said she wanted us to come back one more time (this Thursday) to see if he COULD put his legs down. She said he's getting so big now that he'll eventually run out of room and not be able to put his feet and legs down. She even told me she wanted me to mention it to my doctor so that in case I went into labor they would know how he was positioned. If he stays like this, it looks like a C-section could be in our future because I definitely don't want him coming out folded in half---OUCH! The good news is that he wasn't sitting on his butt this time. He was actually almost completely head down! Yay!

Ok now little guy, we've given up on getting a good picture of you (for now), but let's just work on getting those feet down in the next couple of weeks! :)

Bathroom Renovation

2011-01-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

We've been in our house for a little over 3 1/2 years, and we have done a lot of updates....new siding, new windows, insulation, new lighting fixtures and ceiling fans, installed gas logs in the fireplace....but I must admit that we just finished a project that is on the top of my list as one of my favorites so far----THE BATHROOM!

When we first moved in, the bathroom was the one room in the house that I really didn't like. It is really small and we can't do anything about that, but it was extremely outdated. The tub was the original from when the house was built in 1940, so the finish on it was completely gone from 70 years of scrubbing. I tried every cleaning product on the tub and tile of the shower surround, and nothing made the tub look clean. So who did we call??? Bath Fitters! They came in and installed their product on top of our old tub and shower and we went from this...

To this...

Amazing isn't it? Well, this was were the total bathroom redo started. The new bright white tub and surround didn't match the old dingy tile on the rest of the bathroom walls and floor, so Brad had the idea of redoing the floors. I'll spare you all the details, but here's a before and after of the floor.

I'm so proud of Brad for completing and doing such a great job on his first tile project! I love it!!! :)

After finishing the floors, we realized we had to do something with the tile walls, so we found a handyman to put up wainscoting. 2 or so months, a new tub/shower, floor, toilet, wainscoting, mirror, light, fan, and paint later, we had a completely new bathroom.

BEFORE

AFTER

Did I mention how much I LOVE our new bathroom?

Tick Tock....

2011-01-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Wow!!! Time is FLYING! I just realized today that my last post was on November 30, and I had no clue it had been a month and a half. I don't make New Year's resolutions (I know I wouldn't keep them if I did), but I am going to promise that I'm going to do a much better job at keeping my blog up-to-date. We have a very busy next couple of months ahead with getting ready for the arrival of our sweet little boy, and I want to make sure I write down everything from this point on. Please forgive me if this post ends up being super long, but I'm going to try to cram the past month and half into one post.

Here's a recap:

December 22- Brad and I, along with our parents, went back to Precious View for our last 3D/4D ultrasound to get some facial shots of Cooper. Go figure that he had his little arms right in front of his face the whole time. There was a split second where he did move them down, and she was able to capture this picture...

Isn't that amazing how clear it is? Obviously, since we were only able to get one shot, she asked us to come back the following week, and wouldn't you know it that his arms AND legs were in front of his face (which means we didn't get any pictures on our second try). The ultrasound lady decided that we should wait until he gets a little bigger so that hopefully he won't have enough room to put his arms and legs up as far as they were. We go back for our 3rd try this Thursday. I really hope he cooperates for once because we really want to see that sweet face again.

Christmas- Brad and I had a great Christmas with both of our families. After the Christmas Eve service at church, we spent Christmas Eve with Brad's parents and grandmother, and we woke up on Christmas morning to this sight.

3 or 4 inches of snow made it look and feel so much more like Christmas. We woke up bright and early Christmas morning so Bailey could see what Santa left her in her stocking. She was very excited to get a Big Red doll and a couple of balls.

After packing up the car, we headed to Owensboro for the annual Christmas breakfast at Mamaw's. We spent the next 2-3 hours opening presents at my parents. Yes, it does take that long considering how many presents there are and the fact that we have to go around and open them one at a time. That night, we went to my cousin's house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. By the time we got home, I'm pretty sure we were all exhausted from all of the festivities. It's crazy to think that next Christmas we will have a 9 month old to share Christmas with. It's going to be so much fun and completely different from what we're used to!

December 28- We had our 28 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment. I also had to do my 1-hour glucose test that day...which I passed! :) The ultrasound showed that Cooper was weighing in at 2 lbs. 7 oz. I thought that sounded great, but the doctor said it was only the 34%-ile. He said he wasn't concerned because he didn't expect me to have a big baby, but when we go back on my 33 week appointment, he's going to do another ultrasound to make sure that number is staying around 34% and not dropping. During the past couple of ultrasounds we've had, the ladies have said that it seems like he has long legs. So I guess he might be a long and lean baby like his buddy Carson!

We also had a scary experience on this day. After I got home from my doctor's appointment, I layed down for a few minutes and got a really sharp pain in the lower right side of my stomach where I think my appendix is. It was a constant pain that just got worse everytime I tried to move. After about 20 minutes, I decided I would take a bath to see if that would help, but it didn't, and after about 45 minutes of laying in pain I decided I should call Brad and my doctor. Brad immediately came home, and my doctor told me he wanted me to go up to the Labor and Delivery floor of the hospital just so they could check my appendix and check me for kidney stones, a urinary tract infection, or pre-term labor!!! YIKES!!!! This was not something I wanted to hear, but we made it to the hospital in record time, and thankfully, after hooking me up to all the machines, the nurse was able to tell me that I was not contracting, so pre-term labor wasn't looking like a factor (THANKFULLY!!!). It ended up that my doctor was certain that what I was experiencing was just a severe case of round ligament pains. By this point, the pain had subsided, and my side muscles were just extremely sore. Our hospital trip only last about an hour and a half, and I felt so silly for going up there for round ligament pains, but I guess it's better to be more safe than sorry. I was so happy and relieved to walk out of there and hopefully not go back for several more weeks!

Since the New Year, I've started back to work and celebrated my 27th birthday. We've already had 2 snow days (yesterday and today) so I've been trying to enjoy them as best I can by laying around in my PJs and taking naps. My birthday was great, and I can't believe I'm another year closer to 30.

2011 is going to be the BEST year, and Brad and I have so much to look forward to. It's still crazy to think how close we are to becoming parents. This time last year, we were just beginning our journey to becoming parents, and now, we're decorating a nursery, registring, having baby showers, and gearing up for the biggest, most exciting change in our lives.

Stubborn, Strong-willed, Uncooperative

2010-11-30T17:23:00.000-08:00

Yes...these are all adjectives that describe our unborn child. If you can remember back 4 weeks ago to my 20 week ultrasound, you will remember me saying that our little boy was not in the right position for the ultrasound tech to see his profile and spine. This is what we saw 4 weeks ago...

Because of this, my doctor scheduled me to have another ultrasound yesterday (at my 24 week appointment) to try to get a view of the things we couldn't see last time. It took about 10 seconds for the lady to say something like "Well, the baby just doesn't want me to see what I need to see." She said he was sitting with his bottom down, looking face forward AGAIN. As soon as she turned the screen around, this is what we saw...

Looks very familiar don't you think? Needless to say, I was very excited when she and my doctor told me we get to have ANOTHER ultrasound at my 28 week appointment! He wants to try again to get those shots that he hasn't been able to get yet. I was trying to figure it up today, and I think we've gotten to have a total of 9 ultrasounds so far. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely not complaining. We love seeing our little guy every few weeks, and I've decided he just likes having his picture taken. :)

One of the neatest things about this ultrasound was that I got to see him blinking. (Brad wasn't able to see it.) It was the weirdest thing! The lady captured this picture just as he was blinking. I'm pretty sure his eyes are closed in this one...

We also got to see his nostrils, lips (of course he was moving his mouth...eating I guess), and his boy parts.

It is still so surreal that this little baby is growing inside me. Every time we see him, we get more and more excited (if that's even possible)! My doctor said everything is looking perfect, and he would bet that I will have an easy delivery. I sure do hope he's right about that! :)

Everyone I talk to always asks me how I've been feeling, and I can actually say that I feel great. I have been extremely hungry...it's like I'm never full! Those of you who really know me will probably laugh and say that me being hungry isn't anything new, but I promise...it is wayyy worse! My eating consists of breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, another snack (or 2), supper, and maybe another snack. Every night, as soon as I lay down to go to bed, I'm suddenly hungry again. As for any other "symptoms"...I've had heartburn just a couple of times. I never had heartburn before I was pregnant, and I'm still not 100% sure what I've felt in the past couple of weeks is heartburn. Is it heartburn when your throat is burning? That's the only thing I've felt, and I'm blaming it on heartburn. I've also woken up twice over the past month or so with leg cramps. My calf muscle is always sore for like 2 days after I get one of these cramps.

Ohh...and a new milestone is that we can actually SEE my stomach move when Cooper moves and kicks. On Friday, I could really feel him moving around, so I layed down for just a few minutes to feel it. I pulled my shirt up just enough to see a small part of my abdomen, and sure enough, it looked like an earthquake! I yelled for Brad, and he was quickly able to see it too. We sat there and watched my stomach move for a few minutes, and now, every time I feel him moving, I want to look down at my stomach. I LOVE it!!!!

We're planning on starting on the nursery in the next week or 2 once we get completely finished with our bathroom remodel. I really can't believe that our baby boy will be here in just a little over 3 months!

Movement for Daddy!

2010-11-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

Well, after about 4 weeks of me being able to feel Cooper moving, kicking, hitting, and whatever else he's doing in there, Brad was FINALLY able to feel a little bit of what I've been feeling. For the past several weeks, I have been able to sit on the couch after we eat supper and feel tons of movement from our little guy. I always thought I could feel it with my own hand, but whenever Brad would try, he didn't feel a thing. That all changed last Saturday (November 13th) when we got in bed, and I told Brad to try to feel again. I guess laying flat on my back helped because he was finally able to feel him about 4 or 5 times in a matter of a couple of minutes. They were some of the hardest kicks I've felt so far. I'm so glad that Brad can finally feel him now. :) It's so hard to explain the feeling of having little baby movements in my belly, but now Brad actually has a little better understanding of what I've been talking about. I've noticed that Cooper moves around the most when I'm hungry or right after I eat. I guess he gets his eating habits and love for food from me!!! If that's the case, Brad might be in trouble! haha

23 WEEKS

Halfway there...20 weeks!!!

2010-11-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

We went back to the doctor on Monday for our 20 week appointment, and Cooper got an A+ for all of his stats, but he's hovering around a C for his ultrasound etiquette. During the ultrasound, the lady did confirm that he was a boy which was definitely a good thing. She also got MOST of the measurements she needed except she was unable to get a profile shot and a shot of his spine. It's looking like Cooper is either stubborn or camera shy. He better get over this camera shy thing before he's born considering I plan on taking a million pictures in the first year of his life! :) The good news is that we get to have another ultrasound when we go back in 4 weeks! So that means we'll get to see our little guy again at 24 weeks at the doctor and then again at 28 weeks when we go back to Precious View for our last 3D/4D ultrasound. We did get to watch him for a few minutes on the screen, and he was moving around a lot (just not in the right ways she needed him too). I can already tell he's going to get his eating habits from me. The past few times we've seen him, he's been munching away.

As of Monday, he's weighing in at 13 ounces which is in the 50th percentile. We were also told that based on my lab work from last month, there is only a 1 in 10,000 chance that Cooper will have down syndrome or spinal bifida. Those are the best chances you can have, which was great news to hear! It looks like our little guy is healthy and growing like a weed. The 2 ultrasound pictures we got weren't the best, but I keep telling myself that in 4 weeks we'll have a couple more pictures.

I must admit that this frontal view of his face does look kind of creepy. You can see his eye sockets, and if you look closely, you can see the lense of his left eye.

This is another view of the front of his face. This was pretty much the only shot he would let us get.

Decisions

2010-10-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Brad and I took the first step in deciding on nursery decor today. Besides picking out a name for our baby, I guess you could say we made our first decision. If you know Brad and I, you know how indecisive we both are, so this was a major step for us. HAHA! We spent the afternoon at USA Baby in Franklin today, and we bought a crib and a dresser. We were kind of disappointed when they told us they'd have to order it and it could be 8 weeks or so before it came in. I was hoping it would be in stock and we could get started on the room in the next couple of weeks, but it looks like 8 weeks will give us more time to do other little projects around the house.

I copied this picture from the website, but this is the crib we got (same color and everything), and the dresser we got is like the one shown in the picture too except it only has 3 drawers and it's the height of a normal dresser (not tall like the chest that's shown here).

The next decision we make will have to be bedding so we can also pick out the paint color for the room too. I've searched and searched and searched for the PERFECT non-themed bedding, but it seems like everything is either animals, sports, or just plain blue. I want something with more colors in it, and I think I've narrowed it down to 2 sets.

Ashley found this one at Babys R Us, and it looks really cute. I wish I could see it in person, but the Babys R Us in Evansville didn't have it when my mom and I went shopping last weekend. It does have a "safari" theme, but the animals are only on the quilt, which I don't think anyone really uses anyway....do you? The quilt actually turns into a little play-gym thing which I think is cute too! This bedding is full of different colors, which will make it easier to add other decorations to the room.

My second choice for bedding actually just got added to my list today while we were looking at furniture. I've seen this one before, but I've never looked twice at it because the giraffes always threw me off. Remember...I'm looking for something that doesn't have a theme. Look past the room decorations in this picture. I would leave out the wall art, clothes hamper, rug, and curtains...that might be a few too many giraffes! :) The model in the store had the bumper pad facing the other way. The other side has colorful stripes to match the crib skirt. I love the colors in this...blue, red, orange, yellow, green, brown...pretty much every color. I think I could look past the one set of giraffes on the bumper pad and, and I think the small set of giraffes on the crib skirt will be covered by the wood on the crib (that's how it was in the store anyway). The quilt is also reversible with the colorful stripes on the other side.

Bubbles, Butterflies, BABY!!!!

2010-10-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

Right before we found out Baby Waltrip was a boy (Week 15), I had a very strange feeling in my stomach. I just felt it once, and it was like a big bubble that went from the far left side of my stomach all the way across to the right side. I hadn't felt that before so I knew it had to be our baby. The doctor and the ladies at the 3D/4D ultrasound place said that it was definitely the baby that I was feeling. I waited a couple of more weeks, and didn't feel anything else until Week 18. Now, it seems like just about every day (after I eat and sit down) Baby Waltrip...which we now know is Cooper...is doing a lot of moving around. Before school the other day I drank a big glass of orange juice, and during the whole 20 minute drive to school, Cooper was constantly moving. It felt like little butterflies dancing around in my whole stomach. I must say, this is such an AMAZING feeling! :) I can't wait for the next several weeks when I can feel these movements more often. Brad has been trying to feel them too, but he still hasn't been able to. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks that he'll get to experience this too. I'm at the half-way point of my pregnancy (20 weeks), and we are getting so excited to start working on Cooper's room. We have our 20-week doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon, and we can't wait to see our little guy again! I'll be sure to make another post tomorrow night with an update on Cooper and hopefully a few more pictures!

Belly Pictures

2010-10-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

13 weeks

14 weeks

15 weeks

16 weeks 3 days

17 weeks (wearing my first maternity shirt)

17 weeks 3 days

Toes in the sand...

2010-10-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

The past 2 weeks I've been on Fall Break, which has been a much needed break from work. Last week Brad and I (along with Bailey) took our last trip to Destin without a baby. We spent most of our time on the beach, relaxing, shopping, and eating. We had such a great week, and I can't wait to go back with our baby boy! :) Brad and I also celebrated our third anniversary on this trip. Where has the time gone?? It seems like yesterday we were taking these pictures...

Three years later, here are several pictures from our vacation...

I wish I had this view every evening!

Brad and I

Bailey LOVES vacation!

Our nightly walk

Brad and Bailey

My favorite place!

It's a BOY!!!!!

2010-10-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

We had our appointment at Precious View on Tuesday, September 28th to find out the sex of Baby Waltrip. Well...Baby Waltrip is a BOY!!!!!!! If you had talked to me since we found out we were pregnant, I was 99% sure it was going to be a girl. I even caught myself looking at girl things online and in stores because I was just so sure it would be a girl. The majority of my family is girls and Brad's family is all boys, and everyone I know has either recently had a boy or is expecting a boy, and I just knew we'd have a girl. I must say, when I saw those boy parts on the screen (before the ultrasound lady actually said boy) I was MORE than excited! And yes, Baby BOY Waltrip already has a name---COOPER EVANS WALTRIP! We can't wait to meet our little man is March. Here are a few pictures to enjoy....

Cooper at 15 weeks 5 days

BOY!!!!

I think he got a little tired of being poked around so he huddled up and covered his ears!

We got to go back to Precious View on Thursday, September 30th because they didn't get all of the pictures they wanted, and he wouldn't cooperate has much as they hoped. The more pictures the better!

Relaxing

Still a boy!

I love that profile!

Sucking his thumb

The month of August--Weeks 8-12

2010-09-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Once again, I'm WAYYY behind on updating the blog. I hate to make excuses, but on top of work and jury duty, I've still been pretty tired every night, and when I think about making a post on here, I usually decide to go to bed instead. I hate to admit it, but I've gone to bed at 8:30 three times this week, and on normal nights, I'm in bed by 9. I can tell that I've had a little more energy during the day. When I get home I can actually cook supper and take Bailey walking before I get too exhausted.

We had our last appointment in Nashville on August 17th, and my doctor released me to my regular doctor. It was kind of bitter sweet considering how much time we've spent down there for the past 7 months or so. We got to see Baby Waltrip again during this visit, and let me tell you, he/she has really grown and developed. Check it out for yourself....

It was amazing to see that it actually looks like a baby now with a head, arms, and legs (but if you look closely it still had a tail at this point--haha). To top it off, the little thing was moving all over the place. It's unbelievable that something only 1 inch can look so much like a baby. The heartbeat was 170 which was a lot higher than a couple of weeks before.

Last Monday, August 30th, we had our first appointment with my OBGYN in Bowling Green. Everything went great, but we realized how spoiled we had gotten by going to Nashville every week to two weeks. By 9 1/2 weeks we had four ultrasounds in Nashville, and at our first appt. in BG of course he didn't think we needed an ultrasound. We did get to hear Baby Waltrip's heartbeat again, and it had increased to 178. We get to go back on Sept. 27 for our next appointment and an ultrasound will be included in this one. (I made sure to ask!) Then, on Sept. 28 we made an appointment at a 3D/4D ultrasound place to find the sex of the baby! In case you're wondering....I've always thought and still think it's going to be a GIRL, and Brad is still thinking BOY. I guess we'll know for sure in a little over 3 weeks!!! :)

We've still been continuing our weekly picture of me and my belly. I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the bad lighting and shadows in all of the pictures. We take these early in the morning right before I leave for work, and every place in our house makes shadows. We might have to start doing these pictures in the afternoons when the sun is actually up and shining in the windows.

8 WEEKS

9 WEEKS

10 WEEKS

11 WEEKS

12 WEEKS

Bed Rest and Week 7

2010-08-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

I don't know where time has gone, but I am extremely behind on my blog posts. I started writing this post 2 weeks ago, but for some reason I never got around to finishing it and posting it for everyone to read. Better late than never I guess! :)
I really thought week 7 was going to be the slowest week ever because I was on bed rest, but I must say, it flew by! I did a lot of sleeping in, eating, taking naps (sometimes in both the morning and afternoon), watching TV, and playing on the computer. I hate to admit it, but I am very thankful that I got to sleep so much. I only had to work 2 1/2 days (only 2 hours WITH kids) before bed rest, but that was plenty to make me exhausted. My mom came down all day Thursday to keep me company and to babysit Bailey. I wasn't expecting to get my house cleaned, laundry washed, and supper cooked, but that's what Mom did! :) It was a huge relief! Thanks Mom!!!
On Friday, Bailey and I slept in until 10:15! Yes, you heard me right...10:15!!! That was a new record for both of us I think, and it was wonderful! On Friday night, McKense, Chandler, and Riley came over to bring us a pizza. It was so nice to have visitors, and I know Bailey really enjoyed Riley and all of the Goldfish crackers he fed her. She can't wait for him to come back and play! :)
Saturday consisted of more laying around. By this point I was starting to get a little cabin fever, and on Sunday, I talked Brad into letting me go lay in the pool for a little while. I don't know if this counted as bed rest, but I figured all I was doing was laying on a raft, and that wasn't any different than laying on the couch. I definitely didn't mention it to my doctor today though. I don't know if he would have approved. It sure was nice to get out of the house for an hour or so and catch a few rays. Stacey cooked us potato soup on Sunday night, and I must say, it was maybe the best homemade potato soup I've ever eaten!
Out of all the days, Monday definitely went by the fastest. Stacey skipped work and came over all day to play "bed rest" with me! We did a lot of nothing and even had time to watch a movie.
Tuesday, I went back to the doctor for a check-up appointment. My regular ultrasound lady was on vacation, so they had some other woman filling in for her. I hope this lady never discovers my blog, but I have to say that this lady needs to find another job because ultrasounds aren't her specialty. She made me very upset for many reasons...
1. From the second she walked in, she didn't seem sure of herself because she said the ultrasound machines hadn't been working for her all day.
2. When she started the ultrasound, she didn't point the screen toward me so I couldn't see anything the whole time. I stared up at the ceiling and kept asking Brad if he saw anything.
3. She didn't talk the whole time except to say things like "Shoot, it was working earlier" and "I just can't figure this out", and finally "I'm just going to give up."
4. We didn't get to hear the heartbeat and she couldn't measure the heartbeat because she couldn't work the machine right. She did say the heartbeat LOOKED good on the screen.
5. After one ultrasound, we got called back into the room for a second ultrasound because she forgot to measure something.
6. I had to ASK for a picture, and she gave me a picture of nothing. I'm serious, it looks nothing like the other pictures we've gotten, and it's definitely not a picture of the baby.
Well, enough venting about her, the rest of the appointment went well. The doctor said the hemorrhage was still there, but that it should go away as the baby continues to grow. He put me back on my daily progesterone injections, and he wants to see me one more time (August 17th) before he releases me to my regular doctor. Bed rest was officially over, and it was back to my normal routine of school (and jury duty for the month of August).

Also, I must add that besides being extremely tired, I haven't had many pregnancy symptoms at all. When I don't eat for a couple of hours, I start feeling a little sick, so I always make sure I eat a little something about every 2 hours so that I don't get that sick feeling. I'm glad week 7 is behind us, and hopefully that will be the worst thing that happens throughout this whole pregnancy.

Oh, and to add something else...I must say that I feel so lucky to have the best husband EVER. Brad hasn't let me lift a finger, and he has done all of the dishes, cleaning, laundry, and many other things. It has taken a lot of the stress off of me, and I love him so much for that! He's going to be the best dad ever!

A first day of school like no other

2010-07-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Let me just give you a little recap of my week....

Monday- Opening Day at the high school all day and Open House at night

Tuesday- Opening Day at school (work day), stomach virus at night (including vomiting 6 times)
Wednesday- First Day of School (woke up with an empty stomach from the night before, dizzy, lightheaded and no energy)

I will start here with the rest of my story. I finally made it to school Wednesday morning still not feeling well, but as soon as my new kiddos walked in the door, I did start feeling better because I had so much to do and so many new kids to get to know. We had a GREAT morning, and my kids were perfect! Around 10:00, I walked my class down to the computer lab, and we had to wait because another class was in there. My kids sat on the floor in the hall to wait and another teacher watched them while I ran to the bathroom. Well, this is where the day took a turn for the worse. Let me just say when I got to the bathroom, I noticed A LOT of blood. My heart instantly stopped, and of course being almost 7 weeks pregnant, my mind started thinking the worst. I came out of the bathroom and found one of my team teachers and told her what was happening. Of course I was completely freaking out. I left my kids with her, and ran back to my room to call Brad. I was hysterical as soon as he answered, so he instantly knew something was wrong. He called Nashville to find out what we should do, and they said they wanted to see me right away. Thank goodness I work with such loving, supporting people because I literally grabbed my purse and ran out of school as fast as I could. Brad met me at home, and we made the quickest, quietest trip to Nashville ever. After arriving in the office and being the only people there because it was everyone's lunch break, we pretty much walked straight back with the ultrasound technician. I'm pretty sure we still hadn't talked at this point, and we could both tell that that ultrasound lady was pretty nervous about our situation too. As soon as she started the ultrasound, the first thing she said was "The baby's fine!" That's all it took for a wave of relief to rush over the both of us. To make the story a little shorter, it ends up that I had some type of hemorrhage. The doctor did say it is common in early pregnancy, and they see it every week. I wish I had known this was even possible, but then again, I would probably be thinking about it and waiting for it to happen which probably wouldn't have been good. They aren't sure what causes the hemorrhage, but the good news was that is was below the gestational sac. They also said that this was something that could happen again in the future. Let's just hope it doesn't! The baby was measuring in at 8.4 mm (almost tripling in size in 5 days) and it's heart rate was 147. Let me just tell you, this was the most scary experience ever, and I hope I never have to experience this again. To make the week even more crazy, my doctor put me on bed rest until I go back to see him again on Tuesday, Aug. 3rd. That means that I got to spend the first 2 hours of school with my new students, and then I will not see them again for a week. I know this is what my body needs, and I will do anything at all to make sure this baby stays healthy. Because of this bed rest, I do get to get out of jury duty on Monday, so I am pretty excited about that! :) Our next appointment is Tuesday at 1:30 and we'll get to have another ultrasound. I can't wait to see how much Baby Waltrip has grown! We are so thankful that our baby is fine, and this first day of school is definitely the most memorable ever. I do like the more boring, routine first days, so I think I'll stick to those from now on!

Baby Waltrip at 6 weeks and 6 days!

7 weeks! It doesn't look like there's much there, but I promise my pants are getting tight. *Sorry about the PJs, glasses, and hair, but remember...I am on bed rest! haha

First ultrasound- 6 weeks

2010-07-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

We have one Baby Waltrip on the way!!!! So the ultrasound this morning was AMAZING!!! We went in not expecting to hear a heartbeat yet because I am right at 6 weeks, and it's still pretty early. As soon as the ultrasound technician started the ultrasound, we could instantly see our little baby. After a few seconds, she told me to hold my breath, and we could see the little heart beating! WOW!!!! To make it even better, we got to hear the heartbeat. The heartbeat was 115, and she said that was completely normal for how far along I am, and when I go back in a week and a half, the heartbeat will have increased. The baby was measuring right at 6 weeks which is perfect! We also found out that the due date for our little boy/girl is March 17, 2011...St. Patrick's Day and the first day of March Madness (of course Brad would have already looked ahead to that!)
I think after today, Brad and I both feel like this is all more real. I haven't had any symptoms yet, so I haven't felt any different. Last week I was really tired, but it's gotten a lot better this week. I'm really hoping I'll be one of those lucky people who doesn't have any morning sickness. That will make going back to work next week sooo much easier! :)
I'm already looking forward to the next ultrasound on August 3rd, and of course I can't wait for March to get here!

Our first pictures with Baby Waltrip!

5 weeks

2010-07-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Based on our calculations, I'm pretty sure I'm right at 5 weeks pregnant!! It's been 5 days since we found out the amazing, life-changing news, but it still doesn't really seem real. I feel completely fine, but I have noticed that I've been a lot more tired than usual. In the past 4 days, Bailey and I have taken an afternoon nap. It makes me wonder how I'm ever going to make it through a whole school day here in just 2 short weeks! I might be doing A LOT of sitting around this year, and if I get any more tired, I might have to take a quick little nap while the kids are out of the room for specials. haha

I went back down to Nashville on Monday and again this morning for more routine blood work. If you all remember last Friday my beta level was 153. On Monday it had increased to 478, and today it was 1,278. My IVF nurse said this was great because the numbers were so high! This beta level test just detects how much HCG, the pregnancy hormone, is in my body. For the first couple of months, this number keeps increasing, but after the third month or so, the number starts to decrease again.

We also got great news about our first ultrasound. Our nurse told me that they wanted me to come back for the first ultrasound sometime during the week of July 26th. However, this will be my first week of school, and I can't miss one of the first couple of days with my new kids! (Yes...we do start school in July...and yes I do think this should be against the law!) I had a feeling that they may want me to wait until the following week (the first week of August), but when I mentioned it to the nurse today, she actually said we could come next Friday, July 23rd. I will be right at 6 weeks, and this should be when they're able to see how many little "critters" are in there. We are SOOO excited about this appointment. I think that will be when it actually feels a little more real because we'll be able to see that there's actually something in there.

Isn't it amazing to think that one or both of these little embryos will end up being our baby(ies)?

Best day EVER!!!

2010-07-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most of you all know from Brad and I or through Facebook, but we found out on Friday that I'M PREGNANT!!!! We are so thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers over the past several months, and we couldn't have gone through all of this without everyone's encouraging words and positive thoughts.

To sum up the "big day", we went down to Nashville for a 8:30 beta level check appointment. I guess we were anxious about getting there on time, so we got there early and had to wait in the car for about 15 minutes for the place to open. It was a quick 5 minute appointment that consisted only of blood work. We were back home laying ~~patiently~~ not so patiently on the couch by 9:30 or so. If you all remember from the last cycle, we got the phone call with the results only an hour and a half or so after we left the clinic. Well, little did we know, this wouldn't be the case this time. 10:00 rolled around, and we started wondering when they would call. By 11:00, we were starting to get a little worried. At 12:00, we figured we wouldn't be hearing anything until at least 1:00 because the nurses would be on their lunch break. Right around 1:00 the phone rang, and it was the clinic. I don't remember much of the conversation except that she said she had good news and that I was pregnant. After that, everything else was kind of a blur. I did hear her say that my beta level was 153. She explained to me that anything over 50 would indicate that I'm pregnant, so my number was way higher than that. She also said it's a possibility that there could be more than one baby since the number was high, but they won't know that until the ultrasound in a couple of weeks.

Over the weekend, Brad and I have definitely been in shock I think, and I still don't think the news has completely sunk in yet with either one of us. After we got the best news ever on Friday, I talked Brad into going to Walgreens to buy a pregnancy test just so we could double check. Well, the results are in and we received our second opinion....

I'M PREGNANT!!! :)