Closing on 6 weeks

Thought I'd post some new pictures of the kids. Last week we went to a fun bday party where the kids played on their big waterslide. It was pretty fun and you can bet that's all the talked about wanting that day. I love the picture of us driving home and both of them asleep on Cooper's carseat.
Cooper has been pretty good. I'm always playing with something to try to lessen the fuss. My newest thought is that he doesn't like his bottles and we may be over feeding him with bottle, so I am now trying the Dr. Brown's bottle and trying to breastfeed more than pumping all the time. Too early to tell, but day one was a lot less gassy. Last night he was asleep by 10pm and didn't wake up til 3:00 and then almost 8:00. Not too bad. I told him today he can do that every night.
Tomorrow we head on our first party of 5 roadtrip. We have a family reunion on my dad's side. Hopefully the weather is good. The kids always have fun playing with all the other kids.

5 weeks tomorrow

These pictures are from last week, haven't downloaded anything lately. Cooper is doing well. He has lost some hair and developed his baby acne, but he is still a cutie. I've started to mix a tad bit of formula in with his breastmilk here and there. I'm not sure I'm am giving him enough. So far it's just an extra 2 oz at night, but I tried 2oz yesterday afternoon and he took one large nap. I've been a pumping fool, which is getting old fast, but it seems he is more satisfied if he eats from the bottle rather than from me. Timesaver too, cuz he lingers on me. We've found he loves his bath. The kids love to help. Next week will be our first roadtrip... to Iowa. I start back at work in 3 weeks... good and bad. I hate to leave the little guy, but someone has to work in this family!

Just some rando,m pictures of some random days. Cooper went to the doctor on monday for his 2 week appointment, although he was really 3 weeks and 2 days. He weighed in at 8lbs 8oz and was 20.5 inches long. Moving up the growth curve nicely. Made me feel good about the nursing. 3 weeks of live in grandma has come to an end. She endured our simple midwest living. It was nice to have her share some of Cooper's early moments. Now it's time to get in gear and get a routine down for him. Nighttime has been a piece of cake, with two feedings, but the day has varied. The kid would live on my boob if he could. And I'd let him too, if I didn't have people constantly saying he's eating again and waiting around to hold him. Anyhow, time is short and dinner is complete.
Enjoy the pics.

Super Duper Cooper

Here's an array of pics of Cooper at home. He's been pretty good. We had one really bad day, that may be attributed to gas. Hopefully those gas drops should keep him a little bit happier. He's definately growing fast, which is unheard of with our children. His next weigh-in isn't until right after 3 weeks, but I think I'm gonna take him in to work and weigh him myself sometime next week.
Adam's mom is here, which helps with Maya and Brennan. I'm just trying to figure the little guy out. We've got the nighttime down and I think that's due to having my own time with him. Love our nighttime feedings together. Kids still think he is pretty awesome and continue to fight over holding him. He's 2 weeks old today already!!

Baby Cooper

I know it's been many moons since I've last posted. The obvious new topic is the birth of Cooper on June 13th.
As we hit 39 weeks I was horribly uncomfortable. Typical to most pregnant women I suppose. I went into my appointment on June 12th with hopes of hearing some good news as I had been dilated 2 from about 36 weeks. The news came as a shock, but the little guy managed to wiggle his way up and turned the wrong way. The doctor thought the best option was probably just to do a C-section, which we scheduled for the morning of June 14th. I wasn't planning a C-section by any means, so I was a bit upset, but I wanted the safest birth possible. So, I finished my last day of work on the 12th. Got home about 11:30pm. I woke up around 3:30am starting to feel a little pain in before painfree contractions. I got up of course and started cleaning. It was making me a little nervous that these started. If anyone recalls, I went into labor pretty darn fast with Brennan and I didn't want to go through labor if I knew the best thing for both of us was this c-section. Well anyhow, I awake Adam and just let him know what's kinda going on. We both spent the early morn sleeping on the couches in the living room. I woke up feeling a little better, just a little cautious. I had my pre-blood work that needed to be drawn at the hospital and got that done around 11am. On my way back from the hospital, it started again. It was all irregular, but I knew... I wasn't gonna last to Sunday morning. When I got home, Adam had a hard time understanding the situation, but by 2pm, I called my parents and had them take the kids. Again, I knew we were going to have to go at some point. Around 3pm the contractions were on average 10 minutes apart, sometimes 15 sometimes only 5. We got to the hospital around 4ish and they called my doctor to see what they should do. She agreed that I should still have the section and it'd be best just to do it now, so I was scheduled for 7pm in the OR. By 5:30 my contractions were not my friend. I dealt with them, however when that spinal got started and I was able to lay there painfree, I was loving that we were going this way. I was happy that I wasn't gonna have to push this guy through my crotch. It was exciting. At 6:55 I was wheeled into the OR room, put on the table with bright lights shining down. There were so many people in there, I kinda got a little freaked. The tears started as I was nervous, scared and excited. Once I was hooked up to all the monitors, oxygen and the tent was up they got Adam in the room. I felt like seconds went by when they said you are going to feel a little pressure and as my body wiggled painlessly on the table I heard a crying baby. C-sections are amazing! 7lbs5oz and 19 inches long.... little Cooper Jaxon was born.

C sections weren't so amazing day 2 when I was told to get out of bed and was in a pain I've never had before. Holy shit, I didn't think I was ever gonna be able to walk normal again. But, I'm sitting here with my little man at 1 week old and am doing really well. They told me it would take a good 6 weeks to heal completely, but I'm quite impressed how fast I've seemed to recover. One real nice thing... I have no pain in the crotch area at all. I have about a 6 inch bikini cut. Call me weird, but I don't mind showing it off either. I am so proud of this scar, because Cooper is amazing.

I don't know if it's because it's been 4.5 years since my last baby, or that I'm just a little older and appreciative, but I am loving him so much. He's got a great temperment, he's an awesome eater (yeah breastfeeding is actually going great) and he sleeps. Third baby is a charm. Maya and Brennan love him. They have lots of funny questions... like Brennan wants to know if I make chocolate milk. I think this was a good thing for our family. It feels complete now.