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!