Movember

Happy Movember

Shelby sent this to me the other day

All I can say is I think Matt would be a little jealous if Cooper ends up growing that great of a stache

Cooper's Birth Story

What? Your baby is 8 months old and you're just now writing his birth story?

 Yep that's me. 

I had thoughts about it a long time ago because Matt is so good at telling the story that I wanted to record it and use that......

But every time I ask him to tell it he won't let me record it

So I'll just have to settle for writing it out here for Cooper to hear about one day

This is going to be a long post! 

So if you have no interest in hearing a birth story

Or have already heard it you're welcome to skip to the end and just look at the pictures instead

I was going to warn that it might be graphic but I'll try to steer clear of all that

I'll bet Cooper's first accident will be more graphic than this story so if you could handle that I'm sure you'll be fine.

So without further adieu I'll get started

My whole pregnancy was going great. I was almost 39 weeks along and was super excited that I didn't have any stretch marks! I had just finished telling Matt that I didn't think I would get any stretch marks at all and BAM! I got some. It really happened that quick..... They were super itchy so I tried Gold Bond. Luckily I finished working that week because it seemed like I couldn't go 5 minutes without scratching them. 

I went to my Dr.'s appointment on Friday and mentioned to the nurse how lucky I was that I didn't have stretch marks the whole time because they were so itchy! She took a look and kindly informed me that the big red welts on my stomach were indeed not stretch marks at all. Needless to say I felt a little stupid. What kind of pregnant woman doesn't know what stretch marks are? I just kind of figured they were so red from being scratched. The Dr. came in and took a look and said I had a PUPPS rash. My first reaction was: What?

Basically it's a rash that pregnant women get that spreads really quick and is incredibly itchy. My Dr. told me it wasn't very common at all and that he'd only seen one case of it before. Lucky me. I actually do consider myself incredibly lucky because I didn't get it until the last few weeks of my pregnancy and it's possible to get it right at the beginning which I don't know how some women can handle since it only goes away once the baby is born. At that point the rash was only on my stomach so I was sure I could handle it for the next three weeks. Regardless my Dr. said he would be working at the hospital in the delivery room that weekend so if it got worse to give him a call there. 

I woke up the next morning and the rash had spread to my legs and the itching was unbearable. I looked up anything and everything the internet said to try. I bought pine tar soap, slathered on lotion, and soaked in an oatmeal bath for the majority of the day. Nothing was working but I was determined to wait. Some women had to put up with that for 6 months I could surely last longer than a day. 

Sunday March 11th came around and it was now covering my arms and starting to show up on my face. My Grandma was having a family dinner at her house in Lethbridge so Matt and I went in. 

*Side Note* Matt knew I was uncomfortable so he tried to cheer me up by saying how nice the weather was and that we could drive his red truck in. In hindsight we should have just taken the car because that's where all the hospital bags were but we'll get to that in a minute.

We had a great dinner with my family but I knew I needed to give Dr. Stewart a call by the end of it. He told us to meet him at the hospital and he'd take a look at things. When we got there around 7:30 PM they hooked me up to start monitoring things and said I was actually having some pretty impressive contractions about 4 minutes apart and that I was already 2 cm dilated. I couldn't feel anything except the itching so when Dr. Stewart explained that I was close enough to my due date and the rash was spreading too quick so he wanted to induce me I agreed. Yep I caved. Matt was more hesitant but after seeing my welts again he said he was fine with it.

So they started things going and told me it was going to take a while and that I should just sleep through the night and in the morning I'd probably be going into labor. We called our parents and had my mom bring out stuff in from our car and Matt's parents came so I could have a blessing and I settled into what I thought would be a relaxing night. I started feeling some contractions but since I came in having "impressive contractions" according to them, I figured I could handle it. Boy was I wrong.

Within a couple hours things had gotten much worse. They came in and offered me some morphine so I could get some sleep but not even that gave me enough relief to get some sleep. Pretty soon I was in hard labor and I asked for an epidural. Seriously I'm a baby. They wouldn't give me one because I hand't dilated any more and I needed to be at least at a 4 to get one. A few nurses came in to monitor the baby's heartbeat. It seemed like they were taking forever! They would watch for a while then leave and someone else would come in who would watch and leave. We could tell something wasn't right and we were pretty worried when Dr. Stewart came in. He explained that the baby's heartbeat was getting stressed because my body was having a hard contraction, then a mild one, then a hard one and back and forth with no breaks in-between for the baby to rest. 

That's when he had Dr.      come in. She said she was going to take a look to see how things were progressing. Out of nowhere she said she was going to break my water and that's when things seemed unbearable. They monitored his heartbeat for another little while and since I had only progressed to a 3 in the past 10 hours they said they were going to have to do an emergency C-section. Dr. Stewart asked if I knew the procedure. I said no I hadn't read anything about it and he offered to explain to to me. I told him I'd rather just go into things without knowing because I didn't want to freak out.

Things happened so quickly after that. They started prepping me for surgery and the nurses started getting their gowns on. One nurse came in with an extra gown and asked who was going in with me. That's when I looked over to see Matt kneeling on the ground beside my bed white as a ghost. 

I've kind of left Matt out of the entire story but he was amazing the whole time! He never left me once and was so good about letting me squeeze his hand as hard as I needed him to. It was about 5:30 AM by the time they decided they needed to do a C-section so he'd been in there for 10 hours without any sleep, or anything for him to eat and drink. Combine that with how worried he was about Cooper and the fact that everything was happening so quickly and I can't blame him. 

The first thing he said to me was "Baby, I'm not doing so good."

My response "You're not doing good?!?! Will you look at me!?!" Granted I could have been a lot kinder to him but I feel like I had a decent excuse for a little freak out. 

When I told the nurse Matt was coming in with me she looked pretty skeptical but handed him the scrubs to go get changed. He ran to the bathroom and in his words "stuffed as much food down his throat as he could while he was changing". When it came to the pants Matt ran into a bit of a problem. See he's a pretty slim guy and the pants just wouldn't tighten enough for him but he knew they were about ready to take us to the OR so he just ran out anyways trying to hold up his pants. He got there just in time to grab my hand while they wheeled me to the OR, all the while still holding his pants up with the other. 

When we got to the OR I was still trying to breath through contractions while the anesthesiologist prepped me for the spinal. He asked me to arch my back so he could put the needle in. I thought I did but I'm pretty sure he asked me 3 times to arch it more. I was about ready to rip his head off. I mean come on. My belly is the size of a large watermelon and I'm having constant contractions while sitting up so you can put that giant needle in my spine and you're really asking me to arch my back even more? Don't you think I'm trying? Just stick it in!

Seriously instant relief! I'm sure I would have been more nervous for the needle if I wasn't having contractions but with the pain I was in I didn't feel a thing. I probably could have fallen asleep at that point. The Dr. asked if I could feel something and when my response was "Feel what?" they knew they were ready to start. From that point on I really had no idea what happened. No I still haven't read up on what exactly goes on with a C-section. My reasoning is if I have to have another on I'd rather not know. Ignorance is bliss.

Soon enough we were being handed our little Cooper! Now I don't want to seem like a bad mother but at this point I really did feel like one. I'd always heard about how women had this instant love for their babies the second they saw them and I didn't feel that. I felt terrible! A few weeks later we got to talking about it with a bunch of other young mothers from our ward and luckily a ton of them had similar feelings. I mean don't get me wrong I definitely love him now and couldn't imagine life without him but those feelings weren't instantaneous and I realize now that's ok! Let's just say it was a huge relief to find out I wasn't alone. Anyways back to the story.

I was brought to the recovery room where I had to wait for an hour before they took me back to my room so this portion of the story is from Matt. He went with Cooper to the NICU so the nurses could check him out, literally. Matt was just standing there staring at our sweet little boy so mesmerized by him that he forgot the trouble he'd been having earlier with his pants. Out of nowhere he hears a nurse from across the room yell "Sir, can you pull your pants up!" He was so distracted he forgot to hold his pants up and they were down to his ankles! So there he was just standing in his underwear with all these nurses looking at him wondering what to say. He figured out pretty quick how to tie them tight enough so they wouldn't fall down anymore.

We feel so blessed everything worked out with the delivery and that Cooper was so healthy. We can't imagine our lives without him.

Coop's First Halloween

It's been a busy week!

First Matt turned the big 2-6

We did a Texas Roadhouse style dinner and I attempted to make their famous rolls

(I only call them rolls because they are American and every recipe I looked up said rolls)

Needless to say they didn't turn out nearly as good but were still edible

And for dessert of course we had a peach pie

I don't know what it was about that weave pattern but I was having some serious difficulties

For his presents Cooper gave him a tie that matches a little one for Cooper

And I made him a book about how we met

I know it's a super girly present but I think Matt kinda liked it

Then we took family pictures right before Halloween

We'd postponed the pictures for a few weeks because of Matt's leg and the weather

It was a little chilly outside so we were only out for 45 minutes but I think we got some cute pictures

Then came Halloween!

I haven't dressed up for Halloween for a few years but it was so fun to all dress up together!

We knew all along that Cooper was going to be Clark Kent

So originally I planned to just dress up as Superheroes

I bought a Batman shirt with a cape attached

I figured it was easy enough cause I could just wear some black pants with it and I'd be good to go

Here's how the conversation went when I ran that idea past Matt

Me: So we'll just be superheroes. I have that Batman shirt that I'll wear and we'll find something for you.

Matt: So we're going to be fake superheroes now??

Me: ..........What?

Matt: It's called Batman not Batwoman

I should have figured he would take Halloween this seriously

Especially when I considered his last Halloween costume

So we were back to square one since Matt understandably didn't want to wear a girls shirt

We headed to the Halloween store and Matt found a sweet costume

It was impossible to find an appropriate superhero costume for a girl though so I ended up making most of mine which was actually pretty fun

This kid amazes me so much!

We went to the Welling Halloween Party and he didn't touch his wig or glasses for the whole 2 hours we were there!

I think he had a tough time recognizing me with the wig though

Thank goodness he's not playing strange yet

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Cooper's First Snow!

It snowed last night and although yesterday was definitely one of the most stressful days I've had in a long time it was all worth it waking up to fresh snow on the ground.

Cooper and I got all dressed up and played in the snow for a grand total of 5 minutes then came in and warmed up with hot chocolate, or at least I did.

Look at my little boy getting all grown up! What a stud!!

I'm so lucky to be able to spend all day with this cutie pie!

Hiatus

Well I'm finally back from hiatus!

The past few weeks have been super busy for us so I took a little break from blogging...

I'm mostly back because of 2 things

1) It's freezing outside so Cooper and I have been indoors today and

2) We finally have internet at our new place!

That's right we've moved

Basically here's how the past few weeks have been

Remember how excited I was to go to Utah?

Well about a week and a half before we were supposed to go we decided to move...luckily there was a place here in Welling for rent so we get to stay in our AMAZING ward!!!

I figured our Utah/Vegas trip was out of the question because I knew how much "crap", as Matt would call it, we have accumulated over the past few years.

But thanks to my wonderful husband and our amazing families that we have around we were able to get everything moved over to our new place just days before we were supposed to leave.

We decided to cut the trip a little short though and only go to Utah.

In hindsight I'm glad we did because we were ready to come home after 10 days.

So we left on a Tuesday and took 2 days to drive to Utah.

We stopped in Andrew's mission and dropped off a care package for him with a lady in his ward.

This lady lived in Hyrum.

Do you know where that is?

We didn't so we used our trusty little GPS to find it.

It did a fantastic job until we were trying to get back to the highway.

Could we have just backtracked? Probably

But I was driving and I have undying faith in our GPS.

In hindsight I'll just trust Matt's gut instinct instead because when it comes to directions he somehow always knows where to go.

So we ended up in our Tucson driving on this road

I reluctantly kept driving and slowly the road got even more barren eventually turning into this:

Then the gravel road turned to a quad trail....

At this point I was very nervous but Matt just laughed and said we'd get to the highway eventually

We rounded another bend and this is what we saw

My heart sunk......

until we came over the hill and saw the freeway just below us

Finally we made it to Provo to see my cousins at BYU and then went to Park City for 2 days!!

It was amazing!

If you've never been you should go. 

It's this incredible outlet mall that's outdoors.

I planned on being there 2 days because I didn't want to tire the boys out too much and I think Matt was pretty happy that we did it that way.

I found so many great deals for Cooper! I'm pretty sure I won't have to buy any more clothes for him until he's at least 5. 

Yep I'm a planner like that and bought stuff that was 5T

Am I ashamed? Not in the slightest. 

After Park City we went back to Provo and my fantastic cousin watched Cooper for us while we got to go to conference!

It was incredible!

*Side story* 

Just before we left on our trip I called Matt's doctor and got us a handicapped pass for the month. At first we felt ridiculous using it and I'd tell Matt to make sure he was limping really bad when he got out of the car, but I'm so glad we had it for conference because there was no way Matt would have been able to walk that far on his leg! Thanks Grandma for suggesting it to us. You're a lifesaver!

So we got to park in the Handicapped section right across the street from the conference centre (don't judge us)

Even though we could park so close it was still 6 whole hours that we were away from our little Cooper!

Definitely the longest we've both been away from him at the same time.

Alexis did a great job with him though and we're so thankful she was able to watch him for us.

After we picked up Cooper we headed down to see De and Jason!

But first we took a couple hours to stop at a dirt biking shop that Matt loves in Payson. 

Finally we made it to Richfield!

We got to watch conference with De and Jason and their kids.

It was so much fun seeing them and we even got to have Canadian Thanksgiving with their family and their neighbours! 

We started on our way back on Tuesday so we were only able to see their family for a couple days but we loved seeing them and having them meet Cooper who their kids loved!

On our way home we almost ran out of gas....3 times......and I was driving each time.....I choose to blame it on the fact that I'm still getting used to the Tucson and don't quite know how far I can go on a tank of gas.

It was a little scary seeing as how we literally coasted into Shelby on fumes with me putting it in neutral and turning the car off every time we were going down hill.

All in all it was a great trip! 

Wanna know how you can tell?

Because we were having such a great time that we forgot to take pictures :P

Not About Cooper

So this post is not about Cooper.

Trust me there won't be many like this because not a whole lot happens in my life that doesn't involve him.

This is more for my own good since "those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it."

A few weeks ago I was asked to help out with Activity Days here in Welling. 

They asked me to still keep my calling as Primary teacher and since 1/2 the girls in Activity Days are from my class I figured it couldn't be that much harder since it's only twice a month after school. 

For the first activity we did an Unbirthday to celebrate everyone's birthdays at once.

My job: make cupcakes. Easy peasy I thought.

Then my favorite sister Maycee stopped by.

Maycee: I heard you have to make cupcakes for Activity Days next week. I have a whole book on decorating cupcakes. You can borrow it if you want. There's this one that makes them look like high heels that I really want to make and it's really easy.

Me thinking to myself: Make a cupcake look like a high heel. How hard could it be?

*This was my first mistake. Overestimating my abilities*

Me: Yeah that sounds like a lot of fun, but with Cooper I might need some help.....

Maycee: I can help you!!!

Me: Oh really? That would be great.

Matt and I stopped by my parents on Monday and I took a look at the book. After reading the 4 pages, yes you read right 4 PAGES!!, of instructions I started to have a few doubts. 

I figured it'd be better to back out now so she didn't get her hopes up too much.

Me: Sooo Maycee, about these cupcakes....

Maycee: Aren't they great! I already told Baylee and Ellie about them at school today and they're so excited to come on Wednesday!

I was stuck.

So I went home and got to work.

5 1/2 hours and 2 days later we were left with 18 high heel cupcakes.

That means it took over 18 minutes to decorate each cupcake.

Opposed to 2 minutes to throw some icing on them.

But I got to hang out with Maycee for an afternoon and we had a lot of fun "designing" our shoes.

Morale of the story when asked to make cupcakes.....just make a regular old cupcakes....they're just going to get eaten either way.

The Accident

WARNING: This post contains graphic content. If you have a weak stomach for the sake of your computer keyboard please stop reading.

Cooper is a GREAT baby! 

Really he is. 

That's why sometimes when other moms of new babies talk about some of the things they're struggling with I have a hard time relating. 

I am by no means trying to brag because I have this feeling I've gotten off pretty easy with Cooper and my next one (not that there will be a next one for awhile) will be a lot more trouble. 

So when I hear about these nasty blow out diapers some moms have to deal with I've always counted myself really lucky with Cooper.....until last week.

*At this point if you're not a mom or someone who can handle a little potty talk you should stop reading now. Don't worry. I won't judge you. To be honest I found this all a little TMI before I became a mom*

It all started a few days ago. Cooper's on solid foods and so I've noticed him having some "trouble" filling his diaper lately.

Each day that went past one part of me breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't have a poopy diaper to change....

And the other part dreaded when it would happen knowing it would be just that much worse.

Well Friday morning rolled around and after waiting 3 days I knew this was going to be bad.

Cooper woke up that morning and I knew today was the day.

He got real quiet.

He clenched his fists and concentrated really hard.

His face got VERY red.

With his stalky build I would say he was nothing short of a mini red Incredible Hulk.

Luckily for me Matt was still home!! And after a little begging he agreed to change the diaper if I made him breakfast. 

As I'm scrambling the eggs Matt comes back with Cooper....too quickly. Then he said it really wasn't that bad and I knew it was not going to be a good day.

Later that morning the Incredible Hulk appeared again.

I fearfully put him on the change table and expected the worst. 

It wasn't bad at all! After giving myself a quick pat on the back for having such a great kid I threw his diaper in the garbage and grabbed another one from on top the dresser. 

Boy was I in for a surprise.

In that 3.45 seconds this was what I had welcoming me....

I was almost glad I hadn't gotten the diaper on him because that was definitely not all and there is no way it would have all stayed in there. 

After that mess I feel like a deserve a plaque saying "Welcome to Motherhood".

But even if it's filled with more days like that I'm glad I've arrived and think I'll stay awhile.....

My little baby is 6 MONTHS!!!!

I can't believe how fast time has gone already.

For his half birthday we......

made freezer meals....

All day........

We were both pretty exhausted by the end of it.

Along with turning 1/2 a year old we had to get his immunizations done today.

He was not a happy camper.

But on a happier note Halloween is getting closer which means

Cooper got to try on his wig and he loved it!

I thought the wig might bother him or at least he would try to pull it off

But go figure this kid didn't even try to touch it.

I think he was just excited to finally have some hair.

September?

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I last blogged,

Not to mention that it's already September!

Could someone please tell me where August went?

I guess when you're trying to cram your entire summer into just the month of August it flies by so quickly!

Here's a little recap of our summer August.

Our little man weights a whopping 20 lbs now!

I laid Coop on the bed while I went to the bathroom and came back to find him zonked out sucking his thumb. I'm not sure how I feel about the thumb sucking but for right now it's pretty darn cute.

We've gone harvesting a bit these past few weeks and Coop loves sleeping in the combine

Mom and Dad got to go out for dinner for the first time without Cooper!

Cooper has loved splashing in his pool this summer

Matt could not stop laughing when he was playing Peek-A-Boo with Coop and he got the blanket in his mouth.
Name that movie. Anyone? Here's a hint *Mr. Napkin Head*

Lately Cooper's been watching movies....and I've been watching Cooper watch the movies...I can't help it he's just so darn cute! He even jumps and grabs his teddy bear at the scary parts!

We gave Cooper a chocolate chip cookie right before bed......it probably wan't the best idea we've ever had sine he was up a lot later than his bedtime that night, but.....

Seeing his face like this made it all worth it.

We have loved spending time together as a family this summer and are looking forward to our trip in a few weeks. We get to see some family and have them meet our sweet little addition, go see Conference, and of course do some shopping!! 

I'm just glad Cooper isn't old enough yet to gang up on mom with dad and ix nay the whole shopping portion of the trip ;)

Like Father Like Son

With Matt working away from home so much it was a while before he was able to get a haircut. Thankfully I had a few extra headbands laying around the house to help keep his hair out of his eyes after his crash.

Even though Cooper doesn't have quite enough hair yet he looked a little jealous of all the fun Daddy was having so I gave him a turn too.

Summer

Here's a run down of the past week having Matt home with us

This little guys will eat anything! His new favourite thing is zucchini, carrots, and potatoes fresh from the garden!

He spends a lot of time outside and loves wearing his sunglasses and hat.

Daddy had the great idea of having a little pool party in the front yard.

Cooper could not get enough of splashing in the water.

My little boy just soakin up the sun!

Cooper loves sharing his Daddy's breakfast in bed.

Uncle Paul found a wheelchair for Matt to use and Cooper loves sitting on his lap and wheeling around.

We've loved having Matt to hang out with this past week, but Cooper and I have pretty similar feelings at the end of every day.....

Finally Got Him To Sleep!

Well it's been a long day

We went to bed late

and were up a few time during the night.

It's been miserably hot out today

which means the house has been super hot too

and let's just say he was getting a little cranky,

but I did it!

I finally got him to sleep!

My poor Matthew broke his leg last night dirt biking. 

I'm not sure exactly how it happened because thankfully I wasn't there to watch but I kind of had this feeling that something was going to happen so I wasn't exactly shocked when I got a call from the track saying that he was being taken to the emergency room. It was a clean break so he didn't need surgery or anything and hopefully with the air cast it will heal just fine. 

Truthfully he really hasn't been that cranky.

I think the only complaint I have with him right now is that he doesn't ever ask for anything!

Leave it to Matt to be too concerned with bothering me to actually ask for help when he has a broken leg. He's such a sweetheart.

Matt's Home!

Tuesday afternoon Matt came home!!!

Cooper and I couldn't have been happier.

Matt on the other hand was a little unimpressed with Cooper's welcome home present.

The Stampede

Cooper and I got to see Matt this week!!! Matt flew into Calgary on Tuesday and we got to go to the Stampede with him. It was super hot out so I was a little worried about Cooper being out in the heat so much but he was awesome! 

Cooper just playing with his Daddy at the hypnotist show!

He spent most of his time at the stampede with his shirt off. Look at that belly hanging out!

Even though Cooper is usually in bed by 7:30 he got to stay up and watch the entire Grandstand Show with us. It was amazing! They had Cirque De Soleil people there and I'd never seen anything like it before. The had these little girls standing 3 high on a bicycle with the top girl doing flips and landing on the next girl, all while the bicycle was riding around in a circle on the stage. It was incredible. We got to listen to Paul Brant too and of course there were fireworks!

Cooper couldn't keep his eyes off the stage

I think he liked the fireworks the most. (excuse the messy hair it was so humid out!)

We got back to the hotel just after midnight and Cooper was pooped but he made it the whole day and we're so proud of him. He slept in until 11 the next morning and then we went and watched the rodeo. Cooper was a bit grumpy so I watched some of it from inside on the TVs. For dinner that night we went to Peters. It's been so long since I've been there so I'm glad we had time to go.

Picnic at Peters

Sharing Daddy's burger

Saying goodbye to Dad

Sorry the picture's a bit blurry. Someday I'll get a camera and stop using my phone.

We had so much fun at the Stampede and I'm glad we got to see Matt for a few days. I'm so glad we had so much help from Grandma Barb and Grandpa Clay and all of Cooper's uncles too. We definitely couldn't have done it without them!