Easter

Easter 2013

How have I let so much time pass without posting on Easter?! Oops!
With Easter falling kind of early this year and it being so cold still, it just didn't feel like Easter time, and I let it sneak up on me! I did squeeze a couple crafts in during the week of Easter, but Cooper wasn't feeling great that week due to another ear infection and some kind of kiddy virus-thing. Our favorite craft was this little bunny face he made. I cut out the ears and bow tie, but he glued everything down and did really good. When I tried taking his picture with it, he got silly, of course!

                         

The day before Easter, Cooper was feeling a little better, so we got busy!  By 9:30 a.m., we had dyed our eggs and made our bunny shaped sugar cookies!  This year for the egg dye, we did the Kool-Aid/water mixture.  It was so much better than the traditional colored tablet dye!  The colors were so much more vibrant than with the tablets, and the smell was a million times more pleasant!  However, something about the smell of vinegar does make me think of Easter eggs!  Last year Coop wasn't interested in dying eggs after he put the first egg in.  This year he was all about it!  He did such a great job carefully putting the eggs in the cups and taking them out.  He was very gentle, and his excitement was contagious!

This picture is representation of my ADD.  I couldn't just have us dye eggs...I had to start the cookie dough and get everything out and ready at the same time and in the same area!  I think my need to start dozens of projects at once is Karl's least favorite thing about me!

Easter morning we discovered that Cooper's enthusiasm and excitement wasn't the only thing that was contagious that week...so was whatever little cold/virus/crud he had.  Karl complained the night before that he wasn't feeling very well and felt kind of flu-ish.  The next morning he felt absolutely terrible.  He didn't have a fever, but he was achy, had a headache, was congested, and just felt awful.  I knew he felt really bad when he opted to stay in bed instead of getting up when Cooper did to see his reaction to his Easter basket.  That showed me right off the bat that he was really hurting and that it was going to low-key Easter!  Nevertheless, Coop was super excited about the Easter Bunny coming to his house and dove right in his basket full of goodies!

By about 3:30, after several hours of rest and lots of ibuprofen, Karl felt well enough to leave the bed.  His parents came over about the same time, and we had our Easter egg hunt...inside...because it was raining...like it has been more than enough this year.  It wasn't the same doing it inside, but Cooper loved it.  We had practiced a bunch that week with empty eggs.  He was some kind of excited when he realized these eggs had candy in them!

He celebrated finding each egg!

One of my favorite things about this little boy is his natural desire to share.  He has always been the best sharer!  When he opened an egg and saw the jellybean, he immediately gave the first one to Karl.  That is just typical of this child!

When he finally ate one himself (which he had been doing all week), he had to spit it for a second to inspect it.  I guess it wasn't what he was expecting???  He did end up eating it.

And a lot more!  Sugar rush!!

Although this Easter didn't have all the bells and whistles that it typically does, it was still special and still a day for celebrating our wonderful Savior.  I think I thought about what Easter is really about a lot more this year than normal since we did have to stay home and not be too busy.  I had a lot more time for reflection than I typically do on a holiday.  I found myself getting choked up a lot that day as I thought about what Jesus went through.  And why.  He went through indescribable pain, agony, and torture so that my sinner's heart could know what redemption and forgiveness are.  What an amazing love.  

Life with My Boys

We found out yesterday that baby #2 is definitely a boy! I have two sons. Oh my heart! I told Karl I feel like my heart is just overflowing with joy. I am 15 weeks pregnant now, and we had our little bi-weekly check-ups with my high-risk doctor and regular ob-gyn. Our ultrasound started with our baby boy pressing his hand against my womb. We could see his tiny fingers and all the little bones in his hand. He flexed his muscle before rubbing his sweet face. He kicked his legs, rolled, and played. He kept opening and closing his mouth. He showed us how perfect his spine is. And he let us know for sure that he is a boy! Before the ultrasound began, the tech asked us if we knew, and I told her we thought it was a boy, but we were only 90% sure. As soon as she started the ultrasound, she said, "Oh yeah!" I asked if the baby was in fact a boy, and she said, "Oh yeah! See that thing sticking up! There is no doubt!" Knowing for sure that we have another son on the way made my heart literally feel like it could explode with pure joy! After the ultrasound, she checked my cervical length, and everything looked great there too. We left feeling on top of the world! From that moment on, and for the rest of the day, I could not think about or talk about the baby without getting choked up! He looked like such a baby during the ultrasound, and I could not get over how much he had grown in two weeks! And just knowing for sure that the baby is a boy...a second son, a best buddy of Cooper, a sweet new baby to cuddle, kiss on, and love...it just feels like the realization of so many dreams come true. I saw our lives take a new shape as we start preparing to welcome this new life into ours. Life just feels so gloriously rich and full. 

Here's our baby boy at 15 weeks:

I love this sweet picture of him!

My muscle man!

I didn't post the "proof" picture with Cooper, but I'm told things are different the second time around, so we minds well start now!

This was when he was opening and closing his mouth.  It was so cute!

So that's what's going on with our baby #2. Now on to our precious little boy...

Cooper is 2 years and 8 months old. A good friend told us awhile back that 2 years/8 months is when the "terrible twos" really strike. I remembered this pearl of wisdom the other night as Cooper was pitching a major fit because he was having to go to bed without a story or rocking because he wouldn't follow any directions and was being out-of-control-stubborn. I was questioning his sanity, our sanity, and everything in between when I thought about his age...his exact age...and what this friend had said. I then breathed a sigh of relief because I found hope and a sense of normalcy in her words. It's not just us. It'll get better. He's 2 years and 8 months old. 
We definitely have hit a rough spell with doing what mommy and daddy say and being cooperative. Some days involve many, many, many timeouts, spankings, words of redirection/disapproval, etc. One night last week, after a particularly rough day, I sat by his crib after he fell asleep, rubbed his little foot that was sticking out the side, and unleashed a flood of tears. I was frustrated, exhausted, and just plain sad. But the reality of parenthood is that it's not all play, fun, and giggles. Some days have to involve endless disciplining because it's what your child needs. We just seem to need more of those days lately than I would like!
But.. 
Then there are other moments. Good, rewarding, tender, fulfilling moments...and a lot of 'em.  I remind myself often this is all just a stage. He'll outgrow the terrible twos and learn to follow directions without being told a hundred times to do something. He'll also outgrow needing my kisses to make his boo-boos better, calling me back to his room at night for one more kiss and hug, reaching for me to pick him up or hold his hand when he's scared. It'll all pass, and as I'm told, it'll happen too quickly. 
Around 5:45 this morning, I heard Coop stir in his crib and get out. A few seconds later, there was a little boy with a big smile, tousled hair, and sleepy eyes standing at the side of my bed holding his bed buddy, Dog. I told him it was too early and to get back in bed, so he climbed up beside me. That's not exactly what I meant, but we snuggled up, and within a few minutes, he was snoozing. I laid there, cuddled up to my boy, listening to Karl breathe behind me, and feeling Sadie cuddled at my legs, and it was the perfect way to wake up. My whole little family, together and peaceful. We can get through the terrible twos with enough of these sweet moments. Only 4 more months until he's three. Oh wait...I'm told three is worse than two!!
Here are some random pictures of my crazy two year old...

Coop and I have a restaurant that we go to sometimes together for lunch.  It's our date spot.  I LOVE these lunches with him.  He is always so good, so polite, and so fun!  He knows how to turn on the charm, and my picky eater eats soooo good here!

Little Man at his favorite place...the choo-choo park

A few weeks ago, a couple of Karl's friends with south Louisiana came up for a weekend of turkey hunting.  They brought lots of crawfish, and we had an awesome crawfish boil!  It was the best crawfish I have ever had.  They also taught me how to make crawfish etoufee that weekend.  I ate it like a true pregnant woman...for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a few snacks thrown in too!

This is Cooper's first piece of furniture for his big boy room.  It's a bookshelf we ordered, but it's in the hallway because his new room hasn't been cleared out yet.  He kept bringing all kinds of toys in his wheelbarrow to put on display in it!

Karl's boss has a plane and invited Cooper to come see it and ride around the runway.  Cooper was so excited to go!

 He might have found his calling that day!  My grandfather was a pilot, and I'm sure he was smiling down at our boy this day!

I didn't get to go, but Karl said it was a great time.  Cooper was enthralled with everything!

It is (Probably) A...

We think Baby #2 is a 

BOY!!!  

Little One is apparently modest and doesn't want us looking!  At last week's ultrasound, the tech said she thought the baby was a boy because she could sometimes see something sticking up, but that was only her best guess.  Our sweet baby was all hyped up on the sweet tea I had before our appointment and wouldn't be still long enough for us to get a good look.  This week we had the same wonderful tech, and she tried so hard to get that good "money shot!" Little One had his legs tucked under him and his umbilical cord between his legs, and although we could get him to roll over and play a little, he kept those sweet little legs tucked under.  He was precious though!  We joked about whether he was going to be an uncooperative child or simply modest.  Since Cooper is the opposite of modest (Remember a few months ago he had to sit in time out at school for continuously taking off his pants!), I'm thinking this baby just might be the opposite and be a little shy!  We are so excited to be having another little boy (if that is in fact what we are having)!  I just can't believe Karl and I have two sons!!!  What a precious, beautiful, exciting blessing!  I think it's an awesome gift for a boy to have a brother; it's a built-in best buddy.  We are so thrilled to be adding another boy to our family and that our boys will always have each other!  I am over the moon!!!

Baby #2 at 12 Weeks

Last Tuesday we had our 12 week check-up. This was a super busy day. We had to drop Cooper off at school and book it to the hospital for our first trimester screening with our high-risk doctor, meet with my ob about my cerclage surgery scheduled for Thursday, and do all the not-so-fun pre-op stuff for Thursday's surgery. Before we left, we had a quick photo shoot...

On the way to the hospital, I drank sweet tea to get our little baby up and moving. I love seeing the baby move during ultrasounds, but the sweet tea got this little one super excited, and he/she was a jumping bean during the ultrasound! I was hoping we would be able to find out our baby's gender, but  we just weren't able to get a good look. The baby was just too excited and bouncy to cooperate for a good sneak peek! However, everything else about the baby looked great. I did the blood test that goes along with the first trimester screening as well, and the office called yesterday to let us know the results were in and everything looked great there too. What a blessing!

Our other two appointments were not very exciting, but we reviewed the schedule and plan for Thursday's surgery and got all the paperwork/blood work/tests done as well. 

Two days later we returned to the hospital for my cerclage. (That's when they sew your cervix closed to help prevent pre-term labor. In my case it's because I have a t-shaped uterus which gives me an increased risk of going into labor early. We did this when I was pregnant with Cooper, and it worked great, so we decided to do it again with baby #2.) I was really nervous this time around, probably more so than when I had it done for Cooper. My plan was to go home that evening rather than spend the night. Right from the beginning things just weren't going smoothly or easily though. The nurse had a hard time getting the IV in and almost blew my vein, they tried to confirm the baby's heartbeat with a Doppler instead of doing an ultrasound and couldn't pick up the heart beat (which is normal at this point, but scared me to death...ultrasound showed not only a healthy heartbeat but a very active baby!), the spinal block used to numb me didn't fully take so I felt a lot of pain during the surgery, same annoying nurse tried to use a Doppler again after the surgery to check on the baby and couldn't pick up a heartbeat again because she was too lazy/dumb to bring the ultrasound machine she had to walk right past on her way to see me (another nurse did get it, and the baby waved to us :)), and then after spending hours on an uncomfortable bed in post-op and trying so hard to empty my bladder on my own without success, I had to be catheterized and kept overnight. Although the day was stressful, the baby did great and the surgery was successful. The cerclage will stay in place until right before the baby is born in six months. We go tomorrow to see my high-risk doctor for my post-op appointment. Hopefully the cerclage placement will look perfect, my cervix will be measuring great, and maybe we'll get to see if our baby is a boy or girl!

Daddy Don't Go!

It's never been a secret that Little Man is a daddy's boy. He absolutely adores Karl. Every morning when Karl is getting ready to leave for work, Coop works effortlessly to distract his daddy and delay his leaving. We've gone through a meltdown stage, a hide daddy's shoes stage, and now we're in a lock-in stage. When Karl grabs his stuff, Cooper starts locking doors and will sit in front of whichever door Karl is headed towards and hold his arms out lengthwise as if he's holding it shut. It is so sweet. He really does try hard to keep his daddy home!

Baby #2 at 10 Weeks

For our 10 week appointment, we decided to bring the Coopster to see our newest little one. That morning, I was running a little behind, so I asked Karl to get Cooper ready. Cooper has a closet full of cute clothes. He also has a pair of camouflage overalls that his daddy got him. They are very cute, but look cutest when worn in certain outdoorsy situations; our family ultrasound excursion is not one of those. Imagine my surprise when Cooper walks into my bathroom in his camos! He has not wanted to wear them all winter, but suddenly on the day his daddy gets him dressed, he wants to wear them. After a long talk with both of them about how today was not the right day for camos and a bit of a meltdown (Cooper, not me :)), we traded our camo overalls for our traditional overalls, which might I had, he has not wanted to wear those all winter either! He was in such a fun mood that morning though and cracked me up in the car "talking" on his phone. The child is not short on personality!

Once at the doctor's office, my little man turned into my little protector. He did not like for me to be away from his side for a second. Karl said when I was called back for my blood test, Cooper got very concerned and nervous. Then we had to wait a really long time for our ultrasound, and I had to leave the waiting room for a minute because my bladder was about to pop. Once again, Cooper got a little upset over me not being there. Finally we were called back for our ultrasound, and Cooper about came unglued when I laid on the table and the tech put the gel on my belly! He did not like anyone touching his mama! In fact, he was so nervous/upset, he had to lay down beside me and hold my hand! He never took his eyes off the ultrasound transducer as long as it was on me! I did not anticipate this reaction from him at all, but he could not have been sweeter or more well behaved. I was so proud of him. It was such a special moment to have him beside me while we looked at his brother or sister growing inside me. It was such an amazing feeling to think that three years ago, I was lying on that same table looking at baby Cooper! Life sure can be beautiful. 

Our little baby looked great and was measuring right on track. I look so forward to watching my two babies grow up together and becoming each other's best buddy!

A February to Remember

The story of Little One #2 actually begins at the end of January.  When my cousin and her children came to stay with us while our husbands took advantage of the last weekend of deer season, we had a big heart-to-heart one night.  I told her of my desires for another baby but the fears that were there too.  I told her, through streams of tears, of how I was scared I wouldn't be able to be a good mother to two.  What if I didn't love my second child as much because how is it possible to love something as much as you love your one and only child?  What if Cooper didn't feel my love any more because he was sharing me with another?  What if I preferred one child over the next?  As I poured out my heart and wept over these silly things that I've heard every mother say (but never understood before), I felt a peace.  For almost 2 years we had been trying for another baby, and that night, there was peace.  Another baby would come when another baby should come, but I was fully content to just be Cooper's mommy for now.

Fast forward a mere 48 hours later...

Karl and I were talking about nothing in particular, and I told him my ovaries were hurting like they did when I was on Clomid.  (Quick rewind: We had done a Clomid cycle this past September and again in November.  Both times I ovulated with 100 mg, but neither time resulted in a pregnancy.  We decided to save our last Clomid cycle with my ob before having to switch to a specialist for this summer.  Yea that we don't need that last round after all!)  My ovaries felt heavy, and I was crampy.  I still had my ovulation predictor test from November, so I decided to see if what I thought might be happening was indeed actually happening.  The test was positive (on day 20 of my cycle...amazing!)!  To emphasize how significant this was, this was my FIRST time in my memory that I ovulated on my own.  No drugs.  No doctors.  Just God making these crazy hormones do their thing...correctly!  We weren't prepared for this.  I hadn't been taking my vitamins.  Stephanie and I had enjoyed plenty of wine that past weekend and even a mojito the day before!  I had been having at least two cups of coffee a day.  All the things I did "right" when I was trying for Cooper, I had not been doing!  But we tried.  And then we waited.

It was a long wait.  Every day I had a list of reasons why I thought it hadn't worked, but I also had a list of reasons why I thought it had.  I don't know how many times a day I said to Karl, "I know I'm not pregnant because..." Within no time, I would follow that with, "Well, I could be because..."  It was all I could think about, and I didn't want to settle on just being happy that I ovulated like a normal girl.  After our journey through infertility with Cooper, I was tired of having to accept the little victories.  I knew what the big victory felt like, and that's what I wanted.  That's what I had prayed for.  I think my prayers for #2 began before Cooper was even born or very shortly thereafter.  I did not want to go through what we'd been through again.  I prayed that our next baby would "just happen."  If God wanted us to do all the treatments all over again, we would be obedient, but my prayer was to let our next baby be just between us.  During the two weeks that we waited to see if I had gotten pregnant, I clung to all the ways God has shown me His divine faithfulness in my life.

On Sunday, February 10th, Karl was at work and Cooper was napping.  I was cramping, my lower back hurt, my boobs were incredibly sore, and I was so bloated (to the point that I thought my metabolism had slowed down since I'm almost 30 and I was going to start having to exercise...and we all know how I feel about exercising!).  I decided to take a pregnancy test, even though I knew I should probably wait at least another day.  Right after I took it, I closed my eyes and decided to start counting as I held the test in my hands.  I guess I wanted to delay the stab of another negative test.  I got to 20, and decided to go on to 30.  At 30, I decided 50 was a better stopping point.  At 50, I had to force myself to open my eyes.  My urine was still moving across the screen!  However, all the sudden, a faint line started to appear next to the testing line.  My hands started shaking and my heart started pounding.

There were two lines.  

As I came out of our room and was rounding the corner to the kitchen, Karl was rounding the corner to come out of the kitchen.  I hadn't heard him come home, so I jumped when I saw him.  This was our conversation:

Allison: "When did you get home?!" 

Karl: "Just now.  What's wrong??"

Allison: "I think I'm pregnant!"

Karl: "Why?"

Allison: "Because there are two lines!"

Karl: "Let me see..."

Allison: "Karl, I can count to two!  There are two lines.  The pregnancy line is faint, but it's there.  A line is a line.  That means I'm pregnant!" 

I showed Karl the test, and he immediately went into "cautiously optimistic" mode.  I, on the other hand, threw caution to the wind.  I was elated!  There are no words to go with that feeling when you find out there is a new little life within you.  It's the feeling of life at its highest.

That night for dinner we went to the same restaurant (different location) that we had been at when I found out I was pregnant with Cooper.  And there we were...3 years later with a precious two year old and another one on the way.  A family of 4.  It just felt totally surreal.

The next day I called the doctor's office, and the following day I went in for blood work (HCG and progesterone check).  When my results came back later that day, the nurse called to say that I was "a little pregnant."  My HCG was kind of low, which immediately led me to the internet.  Normally, the internet just increases any worry you could have, but the charts online showed that my number was right in the middle for someone 4 weeks pregnant, and I was 4 weeks to the day.  I went back 48 hours later for a re-check, and my HCG had more than doubled, as it should.  We kept up this fun routine for the next couple of weeks, and at 6 weeks, the last day of this wonderful month, we had our first ultrasound.  We got to see our little pumpkin and see and hear its beautiful heartbeat.  Oh, the beauty in that sound!

Little One at 6 Weeks

Mama and Baby at 5 and 6 Weeks