Christmas

Paige and Cooper on Christmas morning showing off their new hats and such that Santa brought for them in their stockings.

Family photo on Christmas Eve before going to church

Wow, what a busy 3 days we had! The blessings of having our families close by means we get to see almost everyone, but we spend some time running from one place to another. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, Christmas Day with Ryan's Dad's family; and late Christmas Day evening and part of Sunday with Ryan's Mom. Needless to say, the kids and I are staying home today to recover! Our daycare provider is off, so we happily are using the time to play with new toys and try to get some of the mess cleaned up. Cooper had a great first Christmas and was a super good baby--he handled being passed around and just smiled. Paige got lots of nice presents and really enjoyed the fact that her little brother is too small to open up his presents and she had to do it!

The third try. . .

I finally got a somewhat good picture of Cooper in front of the tree--too bad Christmas cards are ordered! The third attempt was the best; and I caught him right away this morning. Too bad he is losing all his hair on the right side of his head--he's going to have a mohawk pretty soon. He continues to be pretty 'smiley' and happy. Plus, he is starting to roll--or at least fall over on his side! Haven't had a complete 180 from back to tummy yet, but I am thinking pretty soon. He doesn't really like his tummy, so it doesn't shock me he doesn't want to hang out on it.

A Visit to Santa

So the time of year is upon us again. Santa is in town, waiting for the children to come sit on his lap and tell him their wishes. The photographer is there waiting to snap pictures of the cute kids. It could be a magical evening, especially if your 4 year old is super excited. She's all dolled up and ready to go. I could tell you the whole story, but I am sure you know how it goes. I'll give you a hint, one of my children sat on Santa's lap and one did not. One of them sat very nicely and smiled for the photographer, even with super tired eyes. Another hint, the one who sat nicely wasn't wearing a dress! She was glued to her Dad or I and sort of stood beside Santa, but was not going too close to him. Oh well, one out of two isn't bad! The plus side is she was excited and very cute in her dress and let me take pictures :)

Paige & Cooper

I am starting to see little glimpses of brotherly/sisterly love amongst my children. As an only child, I am intrigued by this and am so excited to see how they grow together. The minute Cooper hears his sister, he smiles and watches her. There can be lots of other people in the room, but he seems to know where she is and watches her the most. She loves him in return, and is such a good big sister. We've never had any negative comments about him from her; and she is starting to love to be a helper. She'll gladly run and grab a diaper, a toy, his nuk, etc. Yesterday, Gramma let her help feed him, which went over very well. I hear he stopped often to look up and smile at her, so it took a while--but the job still got done.

Cooper's 3 month photo--below is with the horse, above is with his sister. Either way, he is growing! And starting to be a mover--as noted by the blurs below.

Christmas card reject photo

So . . its hard to try to get a decent picture with a 4 year old who likes to become a ham when a camera is out and a 3 month old. We'll see if we actually get a decent picture of the two of them!

Christmas prep

We brought out the good old artificial tree for our first Christmas in our new home. This is against Ryan's wishes; however, his woodburner in the living room would kill a live tree in a matter of days, so its a compromise. Paige is so excited for Christmas and could hardly wait to start putting ornaments on the tree. She did a great job of putting hooks on, helping me 'fluff' the fake branches, put ornaments on, etc. 4 years old is apparently the prime age for Christmas. She's so excited for Santa and everything else that goes with it. She's been talking about leaving him cookies already (chocolate chip) and how he will still find her at Grammas if she's there on Chrismas. Cooper was a typical man and had limited Christmas excitement! Rather, he sort of napped and looked halfway interested as we decorated much like an older version we also have. Now that we are mostly done, he does like the bright lights everywhere.

A day to be thankful

Dad and Ryan carving the bird

Mom & I--a rare photo I am happy Bonnie took for us



My beautiful children on Cooper's first thankgiving.

My family

It has been a wonderful year for our family with lots to be thankful for. We have been blessed with our first home and our second child. We have wonderful families and friends who helped us with the challenges we faced with another baby and remodeling over the summer. Overall; it has been a wonderful year for our family and we are thankful for all the good things that have came our way this year. 2010 has been a great year for us and we are very thankful.

Smiles

This is what I am blessed with seeing very frequently these days. Lots of smiles by my little guy. He wakes up and when he sees us he smiles and starts to coo. Its hard to be sad about 6 am with that much happiness radiating towards you.

A busy week

Cooper this morning helping me cook a little breakfast and being a big boy in his Bumbo chair.

Miss Paige and her Santa bubble beard. She's getting so excited for Christmas.





Sort of caught one of those smiles he's giving out lately.


Mighty deer hunter

The last week was a busy one for us; with some nice weather, a brief snowfall, and now more sunshine. The mighty deer hunter was successfull his first afternoon out. He says he was in the right place at the right time. It made me happy as I had a husband to hang out with all weekend and wasn't a 'deer hunting widow.' We used the time on Saturday to go over to Hettinger and visit some family we hardly see. We spent several hours with Bob and Jean; so they could meet Cooper and I could get the tour of their place. We had a great afternoon with some wonderful people.

The week brought about my first out of town meeting; and Ryan had to drop Paige and Cooper off. He remembered the milk so all went well! The down side of this week is Cooper is getting a stuffy nose and is congested. He's been sleeping pretty well, but we are still in the early stages of his cold I believe.

We are spending this weekend catching up on stuff. Pictures, laundry, dusting, all the fun stuff.

Cooper 2 months

November 2nd. Roughly about 12.5 pounds!

Here are the monthly horse pictures of Cooper. Paige and he are in the one together for comparisons sake! He is doing really well and is a good baby. He's starting to have great neck control and we've put him in the Bumbo chair a time or two and within a few weeks I think it will be his favorite new place to hang out. He can sit there now; but his neck gets tired and he starts to tilt! Cooper is sleeping so well I can't believe it. We've started swaddling him super tight and we've had countless all nighters because of it. I enjoy getting 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep and am getting spoiled! He is starting to be more alert and likes to 'sit up' and watch his surroundings. The biggest thing he's been doing is smiling. Of course I can't catch it very well with a picture; but he's starting to be very 'smiley' and reacts to our voices with huge smiles. He is starting to coo more and will sometimes 'talk' back to you. Overall, I feel he's phasing out of that newborn stage and starting to be a fun baby. He's starting to get his own little personality.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween--that's we had. Paige was primed for trick or treating and did a great job of saying it and thanking people. It was a beautiful night and we didn't have to wrestle with snowsuits! Plus, the reptiles liked to cuddle earlier in the day!

Trick or Treating Practice

Today at preschool, they were in costume and went trick or treating at the courthouse. Paige has been teetering between being a dragon and a princess. Thanks to the movie, "How to Train a Dragon" she thinks they are pretty cool. I was just excited to think we may not have a princess for a 3rd year in a row. Thanks to Kim we smuggled Kyler's dragon costume out of the house and can borrow it. The problem is her son can't know we have it as he doesn't want anyone else to wear it. That's understandable, however, they go to preschool together. So Paige was a princess today to eliminate any costume drama. She wasn't any old princess though. She was a rodeo-cowgirl-princess. Belle dress, black cowboy hat with tiara, black leggings and pink boots. Kim curled her hair before they left and gave her 'big' queen hair. I am told she was so excited that she kept saying, "I just can't stop smiling!". They did well trick or treating and she came home with a bag of goodies. She has declared she will be a dragon on Halloween though. Cooper is going to be Kermit the Frog; so I guess its a green Halloween for us!

Halloween prep

Paige and Gramma carving the pumpkin. Paige thought the insides were gross and funny--but she pulled out some seeds. She preferred to paint pumpkins.

The lovely Clarke ladies with Cooper and Paige. Would be a really nice picture if my daughter would cooperate taking a picture!

So we had a busy weekend following up my first week back to work. It started out on Saturday morning with Cooper sleeping through the night--he went from 10pm to 5:45am. I thought that was a great way to start the day. Then Gramma and Grampa came over with a bunch of pumpkins for us to paint and carve on Saturday afternoon. Paige and Gramma spent some time with them and did a good job. Cowboy said he'll even carve some later in the week. We have enough pumpkins we could spend each night this week working on some! After they left, Paige's surprise company came. Bobbi and the girls detoured through after Jensen's track meet in Jamestown so they could meet Cooper. Paige got the spend the night with them at Gramma Jane's and we all spent Sunday morning together. Cooper seemed to enjoy all the female attention as he slept through it all! Paige loved seeing her cousins and finished Sunday afternoon off with a 2+hour nap that she desperately needed. Our afternoon ended with friends over for supper and homemade knoephla soup. Not a bad weekend at all. Here is hoping for another good week!

Surviving the routine

So. . .its day 2 of the back to work/daycare routine and we are doing alright. Cooper's not on a scheduled feeding time yet or too consistant, but its working alright. He slept super good on Monday night--must have been a very tiring day with all those new kids! We'll hope that continues for the remainder of the week. He has slept a lot today and is crashed now, so I really hope I am not up all night with him. Paige is having a good week, and it was so cute when I dropped them off on Monday. She was right by him, sort of staking her claim as big sister and helper. Here is hoping for a successful week!

Cooper buried in his car seat thinking, "I am going where this morning?"

Back to work. . .

I am heading back to work on Monday morning, and my maternity leave will be officially over. I am a working mom. I don't have any shame with this and have gotten over people who try to 'guilt' me because I don't stay home with my children. Don't get me wrong, I would just love to stay home with my kids and rock my baby all day long; however, its not a feasible option for our family. Financially and for my mental health! I have been a little antsy the last few weeks and realized its because I am missing my schedule. I like having to get up in the morning and get stuff done--like take a shower before noon. I am also staring to miss the adult conversations. Paige has been going to daycare since I have been home for the most part; but even when she's home its not the same. I know I will be more exhausted than ever in the coming weeks, but I am trying to brace myself for that. I am also more comfortable with leaving my baby in the hands of a daycare provider, and I think that is helping me tremediously as I know what to expect. The bonus for me is we love our provider who has been watching Paige since she's been 3 months old; so my comfort level with her is very high.



Being on leave with Cooper has been much more enjoyable than it was being on leave with Paige. I think its because I had some experience coming into this round! I have loved getting to know the newest man in my life and could spend weeks just cuddling him and staring into his beautiful blue eyes. Come Monday morning about 8:10 am I will miss the cuddles. I'll miss the adorable pout he has right before he attempts to cry. I'll miss the smiles he's starting to give me when he hears my voice. I'll miss the quiet hours we've spent together just the two of us. However, at 5:00 pm I'll get them all back and those things I have missed will be so much sweeter.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Bismarck and had a great day. The weather was perfect; not windy and high 60's. My friend Kelly and her two boys met us there, as did my cousins Kira and Allison. Gramma Shelly played hooky from work and went up with us. We spent the night at her house the evening before to get a jump start on the day and I am pleased to say Cooper did very well on his first overnight trip. He crashed at 10:30 and slept until 4am. He was also a good traveler and shopper; so overall a very good baby yesterday. He didn't sleep much when we weren't in the vehicle for fear he would miss something though. Paige is a seasoned shopper but got pretty tuckered out late in the afternoon. So did Mom!

We had a really good time, and thanks for Allison and Kelly for taking some pictures for me after my camera died. Allison took the good one of Paige and Kelly the great one of Cooper--thanks ladies. Miss Paige is starting to get uncooperative when she sees a camera; so the fact we got anything with a smile was a bonus.

Also, Cooper was weighed on the 12th for this 6 week mark and was 12 pounds even. That is with clothes on, so he's technically a few ounces under that; but I am sure it won't take more than a few days for that margin to disappear.

Pictures

As a previous post explained, we were with out a computer for a week so my pictures have been stuck on my camera with no where to go. Here are some pictures from this week. The one is of Cooper's cute shirt, which says "this is what handsome looks like." Just because he's a boy doesn't mean he can't have cute clothes--plus its nice to have something without a sports emblem/ball on it!

This one is of Daddy feeding Cooper his first bottle. Cooper did really well, but took a while to drink the bottle. He kept falling asleep, but that's okay. The important thing is he took the bottle so that means he can go to day care and Mom can go back to work!

Tummy time! My children hate being on their stomachs and its probably my own fault, so I am making a conscious effect with Cooper to make sure he is on his tummy so I don't have to lie to the doctor when he has his 8 week checkup soon.

One month old

The top picture is Cooper on the first, with his horse we are using for a growth comparison. The other picture was taken on 9-8-10. He is growing so fast, and I took him in to get weighed on his 4 week day. His weight was 10 pounds, 8 ounces. He's a good eater! Can't see too much difference in the photos, but I imagine in a month or two we'll see lots of changes!

Paige

Paige has decided its fun to kiss her brother and this is the only picture I have managed to capture. I am aiming for a beautiful lovely artsy one; but we'll see if that happens! This particular evening she was playing with her baby and feeding it a bottle. She doesn't really play with dolls so this was a rare event; the funny thing was when she went on the couch and told us her baby was so little it had to eat from her and she nursed her baby. Granted, she made a wall of pillows so we couldn't see her, but I thought Ryan was going to die laughing. I guess she is paying attention.

Updates

My computer was down and out and I felt so lost it wasn't even funny. I am not addicted that much to Facebook or email; it was the inability to look up my addresses, balance my checkbook, not be able to access my photos, etc. that really got to me. But we are back up and running. I will post photos later but here is our week in review:

• Paige made it across the monkey bars all by herself yesterday. This is huge as she's been trying for a while. I think she did it accidentally as well as she was waiting for me to 'help' her and I heard her shriek, "Mom, I did it!"
• Cooper took his first bottle on Monday night from Ryan--all went well other than he took forever to drink it. Mommy stayed far away so he didn't get confused. Our plan is to have Ryan give him a bottle each night so he gets used to them; plus they get to bond :)
• Cooper and I went on our first road trip of more than 40 miles--granted we just went to Dickinson, but I had to deal with the 'we are out in public and where do I feed you' problem. The car worked just fine and he realized he can puke on me anywhere and it doesn't matter. Plus, he was a pretty good shopper and wouldn't sleep in his carseat while we were in the stores--there was too much going on.
• Cooper has also went 5 hours between feedings for two nights in a row! He eats at 9ish and has woken up to eat at 2:30 am--granted he doesn't sleep until about 10:30 or 11:00 but I am still getting more sleep on those nights. He is then on a 3 hour schedule the rest of the day and let me tell you, he is a little clock.
• Cowboy is chopping corn and basically is missing as we see him for only about 2 hours each night before he passes out. The fun of fall.
• I am heading back to work on the 18th. Have mixed feelings about it--I like my job but its been nice to cuddle my little guy and hang out in my pjs in the morning!

Cooper

I was trying to get a picture of Cooper when he was sleeping--the beautiful infant picture of a newborn blissfully sleeping. Today was not the day to try that. However, you can see his 'old man eyebrows' that are growing in if you look. His profile shows these blonde eyebrows that stick out! Plus, I love the odd angle of this that shows his chunky little cheeks. He's starting to look less like Paige's pictures and more like. . .Cooper.

A Friday picnic

Paige stayed home from daycare on Friday to hang with Cooper and myself. We stayed in our pjs for quite a while in the morning, and then decided it was too nice outside to be inside anymore. We planned a picnic at the park for lunch, gathered Paige's bike and the stroller. Paige rode her bike so well in town on the streets--I was amazed how aware of the cars she was and she even walked her bike across the busy street instead of recklessly riding. We grabbed sandwiches and headed back to the park to be attacked by wasps; so we ate our picnic at Gramma Jane's house a block away. It was safer there. Paige then declared she was too tired to ride her bike and would walk by the stroller. We strolled to the post office, the library and the bank before heading back to the park. That is a lot of walking for little legs. She only mentioned once that you could get strollers that held two kids! We got back home very tuckered out. . .oh wait, that was just me! Paige didn't nap but I sure wanted too. Cooper napped perfectly through our two hour stroll.

House updates

So we had the long awaited baby and have slacked for awhile with the house. Cowboy got back in the swing of things during the last few weeks; and all the light fixtures upstairs have been subbed out with newer ceiling fixtures--except for the ceiling fans--they aren't in yet. He also took down the yellow hood above my stove and put the new white one up. There isn't a trace of an orange/yellow appliance anywhere now! Dad and Ryan also got the woodburner put into place with some additional manpower last weekend. We still need to get the chimney pieces installed and Cowboy needs to do some tweaking with the chimney before he'll be happy. However, Dad did a great job painting the woodburner and getting it cleaned up for us. We are recycling it; as it used to be in my parent's house in town. My job was to get it started when I got home from school when I was in junior high and high school; and this stove makes it easy enough I can do it! I grew up in a house with this stove and running around in tank tops and shorts most of the winter because it puts out some heat.

On the Paige and Cooper side of things; they are doing well. Preschool was very successful last week. It was nice on Friday to be the one to drop her off and there were no tears--just a hug and she ran off. Paige, Cowboy and I attended the PRCA rodeo held in Bowman on Friday night and Cooper got to hang out with Gramma for a few hours. I was a nervous mom when I realized my cell phone didn't work in the metal building and didn't like the idea of a starving baby who had a mom that couldn't be contacted. I only stayed away about 1.5 hours; but was needed within 10 minutes of getting home. We also had company on Sunday; as Keith and Sandy came and met Cooper. He was a good boy for them; but didn't want to be awake for them very much.

I have a hard time keeping clothes on my daughter. Wondering when this phase will run out.

Cooper on 9-20-10--he's starting to fill out and get some cheeks!

He's also starting to stretch out and unfold--I giggle when babies start to do this. Most mornings in his crib he sleeps with his arms above his head like this.