1 month old already!

Cooper is one month old today.  It has gone by so very quickly.  We are incredibly lucky that he is such a sweet and content baby.  He only cries if he is hungry, so there's no mystery as to why he is squeaking!

1 month old with a little grin!

I don't own a scale (it's on my shopping list) so I haven't weighed him.  I would venture to guess that he is about 12 to 12.5 pounds though.  He has certainly grown in height.  He is wearing all 0-3 month clothes, but they are all getting to be too short.  He'll probably be able to wear them for a week or so before I have to switch them out for 3-6 month clothes.  The pants are all too big in the waist for him still.  He hasn't gotten a lot of rolls yet, but his cheeks are getting chubbier by the day.  I love it!

He sleeps between 3 and 3.5 hours at night.  I'm hoping we can stretch 3.5 to 4 hours this week, but we will see how it goes.  He doesn't miss a meal!  I am nursing him exclusively and seem to be producing plenty of milk for him, for which I am quite grateful...Formula is expensive, and it's nice for helping to drop weight as well!!

We have gotten Cooper's baptism planned and have a couple of trips coming up.  As fast as this month went by, they will be here before we know it.  California in August, Baptism in September, and Arkansas in October.  Busy, busy.

Not too much else going on, just trying to establish our daily routine.  below are just some pictures I took of Cooper...

Telling me a story

I HAVE THE POWER!!

Snuggling with Dad

My favorite little face

Thinking...Probably tooting too!

napping while Mom watches me sleep!

Have a great week!
Cheers,
Kelli

Cooper's Birth Story

We had a baby!  My labor started about 11:45 pm on Wednesday, the 7th, which was my due date.  I'm glad he came on time, because my mom came up here so she could help me with the baby and we wanted for her to have as much time with him as she could.  She arrived on the 3rd, so we didn't have to wait too long for Cooper to arrive!

39 weeks, 5 days pregnant...Tuesday 5/6/2014

I started having contractions at 11:45 Wednesday night (5/7/14) .  At first, I thought it was just the baby stretching, but they became more frequent, so I called my doctor.  She told me when I had 3 contractions in 10 minutes to call back, and she would tell me to go to the hospital at that point.  It was about 4:30 in the morning before the contractions reached that point, so we called and then headed to the hospital.  The nurses brought me back into the delivery room, and the Dr. came in to check me.  I was dilated less than 1, but was having regular and painful contractions, so she ordered the epidural for me.  Oh, thank GOD for epidurals.  She also ordered pitocin to help me dilate more.  They did an ultrasound because I had a little bleeding, and said the baby looked to be about 8 and a half pounds, but that the ultrasound could be off by a pound in either direction.  We had anticipated Cooper being about 8 and  half pounds, so that was no news for me.

Around 6:30 AM, the anesthesiologist came in to give me the epidural.  I was so tired, because I hadn't slept at all the night before since I was having contractions.  The epidural allowed me to sleep off and on for most of the day.  My mom and Marc were there with me in the delivery room.  Marc was sleeping on the tile floor...I knew my labor wasn't progressing quickly at all, so after the Dr. came to check me again and I was still dilated to 1, I sent Marc home to sleep and check on Max & Pixie.  The Dr. didn't come back in for about 6 hours, and when she checked me the next time, I was finally making progress and was dilated to 5cm.  This was about 4:30 PM, so Mom called Marc and told him to go ahead and make his way back to the hospital.  My Epidural was wearing off and I was feeling every contraction again, so the anesthesiologist came back in and added a little bit to make me comfortable.  The Dr. came back an hour later, and I was dilated to 10 cm.  She told me to ring my call bell when I felt like I had to push.  By 10 minutes to 6, I called in the delivery team and was ready to have this baby!!

I pushed about 12 times and at 6:07 pm they placed a huge baby on my chest!! I couldn't believe how long he was...I mean, I know Marc and I are both quite tall, but it was still a surprise.  Cooper had to have been so balled up inside of me, because he took up the entire table where the nurse was weighing him!

9lb, 8.5oz, 22.5inches.  Welcome, Cooper!

He weighed 9 pounds, 8.5 ounces and was 22.5 inches long.  He was nice and pink and all filled out.  he truly didn't look like a newborn!  He has blonde hair and his eyes are currently blue (I hope they stay that way!).  He has my fingers, Marc's nose, ears, eyebrows and toes.  He is adorable and we just love him to pieces!!!

The nurses took Cooper to the nursery while 2 doctors worked on me.  I was bleeding a lot and they were working to get that stopped. Thankfully, they were able to do so pretty quickly so there were no real complications.  The hospital was SO busy with babies being born that I had to wait in the delivery room for 3 hours before they had a regular room ready for me.  I didn't get to see or hold Cooper at all during that time.  In fact, I didn't get to hold him prior to them taking him to the nursery because of the aforementioned bleeding.  I wanted to see MY baby!  Finally, around 10 pm, I got to my room and they brought my gorgeous baby boy to me.  I cried.  It surprised me how quickly you can love this little person so completely.

Happy tears!

I can't believe I grew him! :)

Sweet baby boy

We stayed in the hospital 2 nights and came home on Saturday the 10th at about noon.  It's been a transition for sure, but I can't imagine our lives without him.  My mom was the biggest help, I would've been lost had she not been able to come up for the 4 weeks she was here.  I really didn't want her to leave, but she has a job and a dog who need her too.  Bummer.  ;)

First car ride.  

Wore my Giants gear for Dad!

Now, I'm trying to get him on a schedule.  He sleeps about 3-3.5 hours at a time, so it's not terrible.  I am nursing him, so I get up and take care of business.  He is a very happy and content baby.  He goes right back to sleep after his nighttime feedings, which is truly a blessing.  The sleep stretches are getting longer, I think in a few more weeks he will be sleeping about 5 hours at a time, which is not too shabby!

We had newborn photos taken of him when he was a week old.  We used Jennifer Sirris at Storybook Portraits.  She is amazing to work with; so calm and patient with the babies!  She took the pics right in our living room!  I can't wait to work with her again in the future when Cooper has pictures taken.

Go Hogs!

I have my momma's fingers

Little football

Kisses!

3 generations

One very proud Grandma!

Pouty face

Baby feet!

With Dad's uniform

With Uncle Justin's photo and Dog Tags.  Cooper Justin's namesake & guardian angel

love his sweet baby face

Future Arkansas Razorback!

Cute Koala 

Sweet sleepy baby

So peaceful in Black & white!

I love all of the pictures she took so much, I didn't post every one of them, but a lot of them.

I'm glad to have a place to write everything so I don't forget!  As I get a routine set, I should be able to update more regularly.

Have a great week!
Cheers,
Kelli

Nothing too exciting

This week was pretty routine.  Just working around the house and in the nursery making room for all of Cooper's stuff.  He needs a much larger bedroom and he's not even HERE yet!  I got his clothes all organized by size both in his dresser and in his closet.  This kid has more blankets than you can imagine.  He'll probably get his dad's inner thermostat and never ever want them.  Marc is pretty hot-natured and just radiates heat 99% of the time.  I'll probably make my hospital bag sometime this week.  I want to get some new pajamas and stuff to take with us.

We cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and the 2 linen closets to make room for baby stuff.  We donate everything that's useful to the AMVETS.  They've seen us already about 5 times this year.  I've never had the time or energy to dedicate to a yard sale, so I'd rather donate everything and just take the tax write-off at the end of the year.  Good riddance!

We went to dinner at our Favorite German restaurant last night in Queens.  It's called Zum Stammtisch.  It is so delicious.  Definitely stick-to-your-ribs food, but so, so good!  I can't wait to go after Cooper is born so I can have the steak Tartare appetizer.  Yum!

Today we went to Easter dinner at Marc's parent's house.  We had ham and veggies and 2 rounds of dessert.  We are back at the house now watching the pups wrestle...I meant to go to Target on the way home but I forgot.  Oh, well.  It'll still be there tomorrow or next weekend when I get around to it!

Hope y'all have a great week and enjoy the beautiful spring weather that FINALLY arrived!

Cheers,
Kelli

Keeping busy

This week wasn't terrible busy outside of the house, but I got a lot accomplished at home.  Since our bathroom remodel, it has really been bothering me how dirty our grout in the kitchen floor had gotten.  I bought a shark steam cleaner a few weeks ago and decided to steam clean the kitchen floor grout to see if it would take out the stains so I could seal the grout properly.   I never sealed it when we had the kitchen remodeled, so it has been soaking up stains for 4 years now.  EEW!

Top left corner steamed, the rest not...ICKY!

Before steam.  GROSS!

The first day, I worked for about 3 hours and got about 3 square feet done.  The steamer was working well, but it was taking several passes over the same area to get the stains to come up.  I had seen on Pinterest that you can use carpet cleaner on grout and it will magically lift the stains with no scrubbing.  I must have had the wrong brand, because there was no magic happening.  It did help a little bit, but nothing significant.  I decided that I would finish the floor the next day and I would try a more natural cleaner to see if it worked any better.

On Day 2, I mixed 3/4 cup of white vinegar with 1/4 cup Dawn platinum dishwashing soap.  I used my turkey baster to put the solution into the grout lines and let it sit for several minutes.  I even left it for an hour one time while I went to the couch and took a nap by the puppies.  After soaking, I'd wipe up the vinegar solution, then steam over the grout.  It worked much faster and I was able to complete the kitchen the second day.  I'd work a couple of hours then get up and stretch, go put my FAT feet up on the back of the couch, or sit outside to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having.  I'm really glad that the vinegar solution worked; it is cheap and effective for so many household chores!

After steam cleaning.  Pretty as new!

Marc finished up a class he was taking for work that had him extremely busy for the past 3 weeks.  He had class all day then still had to go to his office to keep up with his normal workload.  He was tired, to say the least.  He finally got to be home for a whole weekend this weekend, which was great. We did some work inside and outside the house and took the puppies along on all of our errand running.  They love going in the car or truck.  We donated a couple pieces of furniture that we didn't use, and frankly, didn't have room for in the house.  We seeded the lawn, then spent some time soaking it down with the hose.  It was way too gorgeous to just let the sprinkler run, so we watered with the spray nozzles and enjoyed some sunshine.  Spring weather is fantastic after such a long and snowy winter!

The puppies were super snuggly this morning.  Pixie came to get me out of bed at 7AM, which she does every day.  I sit on the couch and she usually climbs right in my lap, but today, she climbed right back on the couch by Max and curled up and went back to sleep.  They are SO adorable, I just love them to pieces.  I thought that since they were both asleep that they wouldn't really care if I snuck back to bed to snooze for a little longer, but I was wrong.  About 2 minutes after I got up off the couch, they decided it was time to have full wrestle mania, with furniture rearrangement as a complimentary side just for me!  It's always interesting to see where the couches will end up once they've finished the wrestling match! :)

Snuggle babies

I see you!

Sleepy babies

Snuggly Pixie & Max on the love seat with me

I have been in the mood to cook some of our favorites, so yesterday, I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner.  I made a huge batch so we would have left-overs and Marc could take a full pan to work.  This morning, I made a recipe I had seen on Trisha Yearwood's show on Food Network.  It is called Country Quiche.  Very easy, and VERY tasty!  I had 3 slices!

Some of our friends had a cookout this afternoon and asked that we bring dessert, so I made a  4 layer chocolate delight.  It is one of my favorite desserts, and it was a BIG hit!

Hope y'all have a great week and enjoy this gorgeous weather we're having!

Cheers,
Kelli

36 Weeks

Today, I had my 36 week appointment and ultrasound.  The technician took all of her measurements and said all looks well for Mr. Cooper.  He is weighing about 6lb and 14oz right now, and will probably be 8lbs and change at birth.  She double checked that he is, indeed, a boy.  (I know someone who was told all along she was having a boy only to turn out to have a girl!) I wanted to be sure!  There were definitely testicles on the monitor.  The only pictures she printed for me were of his profile. He is being a good little boy and is head down, and face down in preparation for delivery in a few short weeks.  He had his hands in front of his face, so the picture isn't fantastic, but you can make out his little nose, which is just too cute.

Cooper's profile at 36 weeks

After my OB appointment, I went to meet with the pediatrician we will be using for Cooper.  They tell you at about 28 weeks that you need to choose a pediatrician.  When it's your first baby, you're like..."Ummm....how do I choose a baby doctor?!?"  I asked some good friends of ours who live close to us who they use and decided to go to the same pediatrician they use.  I liked the office a lot, and there are 4 doctors and a nurse practitioner there.  Another item checked off my list.

My OB gave me a prescription for the last round of blood work that I have to do while pregnant, so I went to the lab and had that drawn today, since I was already out and about.  I had plans to meet Katie for lunch and needed to kill some time, so that worked out perfectly.  After the lab, I went to my old office and went to lunch with Katie & Jackie.  We went to the usual pizza place right by the office.  It was SO good!  I hadn't had pizza in a few weeks and it definitely hit the spot.  Now to decide what to make for dinner...


I went to Babies R Us yesterday because I had received a few gift  cards and I also had a 20% off coupon for the entire order, so I wanted to get a few of the items off of our registry that we didn't receive.  When I went to check out, the clerk told me that if I got the store credit card, I would get an additional 15% off the entire order, so 35% off.  That sounded like a deal to me, and I ended up SAVING $245 overall!! I'll just pay off the card when the bill comes in with the money we received as gifts at the shower.  I couldn't believe they let me combine the offers!  I was very proud of myself!  The savings was more than enough to pay for the large car seat and an additional base for the infant seat, so we will have one in each of our vehicles.  It's the little things that make me happy!

Go outside and enjoy this beautiful weather.  I spent about an hour watering the front and back yards with the hose and sprayer instead of the sprinkler because it was just too nice to sit inside.

Hope y'all are enjoying your week!
Cheers,
Kelli

A Baby Shower!

This past Saturday was my baby shower!  I can't thank my friends and family enough for their generosity.  Baby Cooper will be well dressed and cared for with everything he received!  A huge thank you to my dear friends Kathleen, Katie, and my sister-in-law, Jennifer for hosting the awesome shower.  The food was delicious, the cake is still being devoured, and the decorations were adorable.  You three are amazing, and I love you!!  All of our friends and family who came to celebrate with us are so incredibly generous.  We received all of the big items off our registry, like baby monitor, bassinet, stroller, car seat, swing, high chair and so much more!  We only have a few smaller items left to buy.  Thank you all so much for your wonderful gifts, we are so very grateful to have y'all in our lives.  

That's red velvet cake under the cream cheese icing.  MY FAVORITE!

Cooper's hat is a little small for me!

Visiting

Marc is so excited about the Giants clothes! We have a bunch of Razorback clothes, too!

This was made by Marc's grandma & Great-Grandma.  Heirlooms like this are priceless!

Decorations in the room 

The Diaper motorcycle that Jo-Anne made! I'm never taking it apart!

Me & my Momma...SO glad she came up!

My mom called me on Tuesday of last week and told me she would be flying in for the weekend.  I'm so glad because she didn't think she would be able to attend initially due to her work schedule.  Luckily, her boss is understanding and she found a great rate on airfare and flew in on Friday.  We had a great weekend.  Mom, Marc, and I went out to dinner on Friday night at Uncle Jack's steakhouse in Bayside, Queens.  It was delicious!! I had prime rib, and it was so succulent and juicy.  You truly can't beat a great steak!  

Now, Cooper's nursery is full of boxes and bags and I've got to figure out where to store everything until we actually need it.  I can't wait until I have a nice, big house with lots of storage space!! It's getting difficult to get creative with storage here in our tiny house!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Cheers,

Kelli

Nothing exciting

So, I have nothing really exciting to report right now.  I've been trying to get the house back in order since last week's remodel.  There was dust on literally every surface in the house.  I vacuumed everything off on Sunday, and am now kind of going room-by-room to get it all dusted and polished up.  Vacuuming off all the tables made a huge dent in the amount of dust, so it doesn't feel as messy and urgent.  Right now, I'm physically unable to clean the entire house in one fell swoop, like I preferred to do before pregnancy, so I do a little bit and then take a break for a while.  It'll get done, or I'll go crazy.  Stay tuned to see which happens first! ;)

I have been cooking this week, since I can get into the kitchen and not have sheetrock dust in the food.  I made Nasi Goreng Monday night.  I've posted on here how to make it before.  It's a delicious Indonesian curried rice dish that we love.  I hadn't made it in a while, so I made a LOT so we would have left-overs.

Last night, I was going through the freezer and fridge to see what we had in house, and I came up with pork tenderloin rolls stuffed with sautéed garlic, onion, broccoli, & mozzarella.  I am a believer that if something sounds like it would be good together, then it likely will.  I did not use any recipes, just went with my idea.  I pounded the pork chops thin, seasoned them with salt & pepper, then stuffed them with the sautéed broccoli mixture. I secured the rolls with toothpicks.  I then dredged them in a little flour, romano cheese, salt & pepper and browned them in vegetable oil.  Once they were all browned, I put them into a baking dish and topped them with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese, then baked them at 350 for 20 minutes to make sure they were cooked throughout and the cheese was golden and bubbly on top.  I served these with rotini pasta and marinara sauce, or butter  and a fresh mozzarella caprese salad.  It was delicious.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.  It was totally experimental, but Marc loved it and said to please make it again.  We will probably have left-overs tonight.  Back to the never-ending dusting and laundry for me.

Cheers,
Kelli