Ailah is ONE MONTH

I know I'm already behind but wanted to get her one month up before she's 2 months!

This little lady as you can tell likes to be held. She is a snuggle bug. She's still little bitty, wearing newborn clothes. She sleeps great, maybe only waking up once in the night/early morning. She sleeps best swaddled. She eats every 2-3 hours during the day. On July 16 she weighed 7 lbs and was 20 1/4 inches. 

My goal is to take a rocking chair picture each month to track her growth. Hopefully I can keep up with it.

Sweet baby Ailah you've already stolen my heart. I'm loving seeing see how much you change daily. I can't get enough of your snuggles. Your Daddy loves to snuggle you to sleep at night. Big Brother likes to shoosh you, sing to you and hold you. You're already having to share your toys with him because he wants to figure everything out and make everything new and exciting.

We love you baby girl.

Welcome baby Ailah!

WELCOME BABY AILAH!

 

Well I'm only a month late with this!

 

Ailah was born Wednesday June 19, 2013 at 12:44 am. She weighed 5.13 and was 19 inches long. 

She's already the perfect addition to our little family.

She's still tiny and loves to be snuggled. 

For those of you who don't know the labor of love story here's a condensed version: 

I started having contractions in the middle of the night/early morning Tuesday. Enough to wake me up but not enough to time just yet. By 5:00 am they were 5 min apart so we decided to get around and hope it was baby day. 

We went to L&D by 9ish we stayed a little over an hour but they sent me home because I was only dilated to a 1. Never mind that my contractions were now coming every 3-4 minutes. They told us to stay in town for a few hours. We headed to get some lunch and try to walk her out. Since we are building our house we used the time to shop for house things. Let me tell you it was HOT and NOT FUN walking through the warehouse and stores! Needless to say we didn't get much shopping done as I walked and leaned on Gary or the shopping cart. After several hours of walking and contractions we decided to head back to see if I had dilated more before we headed home. Much to my disappointment I was still at a 1! However while there my contractions intensified. I had hopes of having a VBAC-vaginal birth after csection. We were having trouble keeping Ailah on the fetal monitor due to her irregular heart beat and we knew that if that happened the chances of VBAC were slim. Unfortunately we had a hospitalist that had zero bedside manor and just wanted to get the job done. She came in and said Ailah wasn't staying on and I needed a csection. This caused a major meltdown thus causing my contractions to skyrocket. I was getting sick through them, Gary said I wasn't breathing and I was in complete misery! We began to pray for the decision, because at that time we were considering leaving until morning but having to sign an against medical advisement form to do so. However my contractions weren't going to allow that to happen. I didn't feel like I'd survive there let alone go home like that. After several prayers pleading with the Lord we decided that the csection was all we could do since the VBAC was no longer an option with that doctor. When the anesthesiologist came in I was suddenly more at peace and wanted it instantly. I used to work in that department and he was one of my very favorite doctors. Praise the Lord!

So Miss Ailah Michelle was born about an hour after that via csection at 12:44am.

That was ONE.LONG.DAY!

Let me tell you I couldn't have survived it without Gary. He was incredible. I fell more in love with him on that day. He was miserable for me and hated it because I was in such pain and couldn't take it away but he was amazing. We had a good day together considering and I'll never forget it. 

Here are some pictures of our sweet girl.

 

  

 This is big brother meeting her for the first time. He didn't know she was born when Courtney brought him to the hospital. Gary met them downstairs to bring him up for some family time before anyone else came up. He heard her crying when they opened the door and thought they were coming into the wrong room. His sweet little face was priceless when he saw her. He's been her biggest fan ever since.

   

This last one is one from the set our friend Ginger took when she was 2.5 weeks old. Isn't she precious?

Thank you to everyone that helped out during that madness. Had Courtney not kept Cooper I wouldn't have had the little sanity that I did. Thank you sweet sister for being such an amazing servant and loving mine as your own. I'm forever grateful. 

Ok now it's time to catch up on our month...

More posts to come!

Special 34 weeks

Today has been an emotional day for several reasons. Not only was it a wonderful Mother's Day celebrating with my little man and his Daddy that helped make it such a special day but it was also a day that I reflected on what week of pregnancy that we are in. 

Cooper was born was born at 34 weeks and almost 4 years later we are at that mark again.  I have a hard time wrapping my head around having such a wonderful little guy that lights up my life and being at the mark in pregnancy where we met him. All 3 of us are anticipating the arrival of Cooper's little sister. I can't wait to see her and her features. Will she look like her big brother? Will she be as crazy active as she is now? I know she'll steal our hearts the second we meet her. We are praising God for a completely different pregnancy thus far. God has had His hand at work before we even knew we were expecting her. 

I wanted to get some pictures of my 34 week belly on Mother's Day so we headed out to the field and captured some nice sun and green grass. Gary does such a great job doesn't he? 

Here were some of our favorites. We hope to take some more poses this week.

 That face gets my heart every time!

 He thinks he such a big kid. Well... he is but he's still my baby boy.

Some Mother's Day bloopers from today that I need to share.

This morning before I got out of bed I knew the guys were up but I was refusing to get up so I continued to lay there. The door opens and loudly Cooper yells SURPRISE!!! Gary laughed and said he was supposed to say Happy Mother's Day. I'm wiping my eyes because they are watering and trying to roll over to sit up, Cooper is already trying to hand me my gift and Gary turns on the light. What an awakening let me tell you! 

They gave me a new charm for my bracelet with sister's initial ;) and a homemade card, then Cooper proceeds to tell me a knock knock joke. (that's his new thing is knock knock jokes)

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Blaire.

Blaire who?

Blaire's cutting your haaaaair!!  

Awhahahaha!!

That means I'm getting my hair cut! Blaire is who does my hair and I'm super excited! So next week I get a little bit of delight by going to the salon.

The funnies continued. As we all laid on our bed talking Cooper wanted to talk to baby sissy. But not the way you'd think that he'd want to talk. Nope he didn't want to talk to my belly he wanted to talk down my throat. So I had to open my mouth so he could talk into it. Crazy cat!

Then he proceeds to tell us that she's going to come up my throat and see us talking to her. 

You see last week during breakfast he very seriously told me that she was going to come out of my throat. I told him it feels like it sometimes but probably not. So then he said No, I think you'll lay an egg. That's how she'll come out he says. 

Well... that's a little closer!

One more to make you smile. When we got to church I let Gary check Cooper in on the computer security system so I could go to the restroom before we went to class since we were running late. There was another family standing in line at the computers. A mom and 3 daughters. An older woman walks by and tells that mom Happy Mother's Day. To which Cooper replies, It's my Mother's Mother's Day too!!! Apparently everyone got a good laugh out of that and I'm sorry I missed it. His enthusiasm about things like that cracks me up. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. I sure missed getting to hug my Mama today but I'm so very thankful for her and everything she's done for me and my brother.  We wouldn't be who we are today without her and her prayers. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

IT'S A GIRL!

Yesterday was an exciting day. We had our ultrasound to see what this 'mover and shaker' inside of me looked like, what the gender is and how everything was looking. As far as the tech could "unofficially" tell us everything was looking good. Fluid looked good!!! That's an answer to prayer for sure. We just continue to pray that the fluid stays good.
This baby GIRL was dancing all over the place during the ultrasound and is super low (hints why I frequent the bathroom I'm sure). At one point she looked like she was waving. I so wish Cooper could have been there to see that! It was a very thorough ultrasound which didn't hurt my feelings but made me wonder how long mothers of multiples have to lay there while they measure just about everything.
Gary's phone rang as soon as she said, "Looks like it's a Girl". Which if you know G this is no surprise. He on the other hand was happy for the less emotional distraction.
The ultrasound tech Sheri gave us a stack of pictures so that was exciting. We have pictures of a lot, hand, feet, 2profile, gender shot and a few more. So that's always exciting to have to look at and dream. We already think she looks like Cooper from her profile.

Cooper was SO excited to hear he was getting a baby sister! Yesterday morning while I was fixing breakfast he said, "what do you want to do today?" I told him he was going to Bapa's house. He said, "is it my birthday today? Are you getting the baby out today?"
We told him that they baby was coming after his birthday so that's why he asked that. But he was excited to know that we were getting a picture of the baby.
So when we came home to tell him we asked him if he wanted to see a picture of his baby sister. He was so excited and said he always wanted a sister! So now our only issue is that he wants to name the baby Gary! Needless to say we'll be working on that.

Here's a picture of our sweet baby girl. It's a profile, her head is in the middle of the picture. 

This one is a joke that since I work out that we'd get a picture of the baby pumping iron. I hope to get a picture of me at the gym with a belly and split shot with this one. It was too cute to not share now. 

Please join us in praying for this sweet baby and the continued health of us all. We thank you in advance for the prayers. 

Coal for Christmas

We had so much fun with Coop this year for Christmas. He's very excitable and loved everything, everything except the apple in his stocking. He was opening his stocking and got to the bottom where the big red apple was and his comment was, apples aren't presents! We got a REALLY good laugh out of that one! Growing up the apple and orange in my stocking was one of my favorite things. I remember it was the biggest apple and orange we'd get all year and they tasted wonderful. Coop apparently doesn't appreciate that tradition but don't worry I'll still carry it on with him. 

Apples= Coal 

 He was SO excited to get his paper jamz guitar. He dreams of being a rock star someday. 

Monster trucks with "camotes" are big stuff these days! 

 Our traditional Christmas jams picture. 

He clearly loves tearing into gifts.

Hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season. 

Family of 4 Announcement

We've had an exciting couple of months with the anticipation of announcing that we are expecting. Gary had been dreaming of making a video of Cooper announcing our news. He did a great job and Coop did an amazing job acting and being patient with us asking him to do things over and over again.

So if you haven't seen the video yet take a look and enjoy!!
Merry Christmas Coop


To answer a few questions:
I am due June 21 2013. I have been feeling great. I'm getting past the completely exhausted stage and that feels so good. I do have a cold today and yesterday but to have not been sick the past 12 weeks it's hard to complain about a runny nose and headache.
Cooper is excited. His prayer lately has been, "Dear God, thank you for my mommy and daddy who take care of me and thank you for my new baby that will be here after my birthday. Thank you for our blessings. Amen."  MELT. MY. HEART!!!
We will still be in shop so we'll share a room with the babe until we built and move. We will hopefully if everything goes alright with the bank will start that in the spring so that's exciting as well. We are trying to decide on house plans.
Gary is excited to have a baby to snuggle with. And I'm excited to see our family grow. Our prayer is that this pregnancy continues to go smoothly without complications. So far so good. The doctor plans to monitor more closely after the 20 week ultrasound which makes me happy to have the extra peace of mind.

Thank you for your continued prayers and excitement with us.

From Coast to Coast

Life has been crazy and is about to get even crazier. I wanted to just give up on blogging but that's not very nice for the peeps that want to see all these pictures and hear about all of our adventures. So I thought I'd tell you about our Coast to Coast Summer.

We went to see Kirk my brother and his family in Oregon. It was a beautiful trip, some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. I hope to go back soon and have Gary with us. My Dad, Erin and Nana went as well so we had a house full everywhere we went. We were a traveling party it seemed. 

 Coop and Trip enjoyed the sand no matter how chilly it was!

CHEESE! - At Tillamook Cheese Factory.

On our way down the coast to Kirk's house we saw some beautiful things. We stopped at this lighthouse. It was incredible.  

Coop and Trip playing with the outdoor kitchen. 

Kirk had this motorcycle in his shop and Dad was itching to get it running. With a little tinkering he did and the boys we happy he did! It took Trip a little convincing to ride but liked it when he did. The boys are yelling WEEEE-EWWWW!!! Trying to sound like an ambulance or firetruck. We were just glad neither came! 

The Round-up is county fair where Kirk and Aimee live. It's a big deal. The boys had so much fun going there. Looking at the animals, eating treats and riding rides. Coop was unstoppable. He loved all the rides, a little too much. It made us nervous at times the rides he got on alone! Trip liked the jungle house that had ropes to climb and slides.  

Round-up had church on site in the sale barn that Kirk's church hosted. He lead worship with the praise band and he also brought the message and did a fantastic job. 

The boys enjoyed a super hero lunch and playtime.

We had a wonderful time! I can't wait to go back. Family time is never long enough. Thanks Kirk, Aimee and Trip for letting us bombard your house for so long! We love you.

A few weeks later Coop and I headed to the other coast and went to see the Florida fam while Gary was hunting in South Dakota. 

Coop and PawPaw making Jer's birthday cake. Coop of course loved licking the beaters and bowl. 

Gram and PawPaw were good sports playing with Coop in the water at the bait shop. He's a little fish and didn't mind the salt water, he swam in it like any pool.

 Jer helped Coop fish several times. He LOVED it! It was quick fishing so he had so much fun pulling in fish after fish. 

We finally made it to the beach once again he was everywhere! He would've surfed had he been able to stand up on it. I hope he continues to love the water. 

Cooper is obsessed with "cars with no windows" convertibles. So he was thrilled to get to take rides with the top down. This was his first ride. 

Having coffee with Pawpaw and watching cartoons. 

One of our several rides on the carousel. 

We were riding somewhere and this is what Coop looked like. I took his picture and he wanted to see it. He didn't even know a lens was missing until he saw the picture. Silly boy. 

St. Augustine has a few tourist trains so we took a ride. It was as fast at Coop had hoped so we didn't stay on the entire time around town. We got off at the marina where we saw this pirate ship and watched the turtles eat the moss. 

"SINGING IN THE RAIN" We had a few pop up storms so Coop made the best of it and played in the rain.

We had such a great time in Florida. It was hard to leave as usual but we look forward to our next trip… probably after we are a family of four!!

Stayed tuned. I'll post the short video we made to announce the news in case you haven't seen it.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and looking at so many pictures in one post.

Have a Merry Christmas! Hope you have all your shopping done and are able to enjoy some family time and remember 'Jesus is the reason for the season'.