Happy One Week Birthday Laney!

We can't believe it's been a week since little Miss Laney came into our lives!  She is a really good, content baby.  We forgot how much newborns sleep, until nighttime that is ;).  However, she is doing great at night, getting up just once now to eat and a couple other times needing her pacifier.  She goes right back to sleep after her night feedings.  Big brother is still doing really well with her too!  He makes sure she always has her little stuffed doll and likes to rock her in the swing (sometimes a little too much ;)).

I am waaay behind in blog posts right now and hope to be catching up the rest of the week and weekend!

Welcome to the World Laney Faith!

In case you haven't heard, it's a GIRL!!!!!!!  Laney Faith Jones was born at 6:08pm, Wednesday August 24th.  Fun fact on her birthdate, it's 8-24-11 and Adam's is 11-24-81, kind of fun!  She was 9 lbs, 4 ounces and 23 inches long...a big baby girl!  I am sure most of you could care less about the rest of the details, just pictures, so if that's you, scroll on down before you are bored beyond belief :)

Adam and I went to the hospital Wednesday morning at 7:30 for induction, officially 39 weeks, 4 days and this baby didn't seem to be going anywhere!  Dr. Gardner broke my water at 9:00 and I was dilated to a 2, baby was way up high.  My nurse used this analogy...baby is in Canada and we need it in Texas, needless to say there was a lot that needed to happen before this baby was making its appearance.  I have had low blood platelets my whole pregnancy and they were 104,000 when they did my bloodwork...the lowest they have been all pregnancy and right on the border as to whether or not I could have an epidural!!!!!!  Yikes!  So, they had to do more bloodwork just to make sure I was in clear, thank goodness I was.  I s-l-o-w-l-y progressed throughout  the day, but had an epidural at 1:00, so after that I was comfortable and even able to nap!  Finally at 5:15 I was dilated to a 9 and definitely feeling pressure and knew we must be getting close.  Again, thanks to that epidural I was still feeling good.  I mean, how do you crazy ladies do birth without an epidural??? At 6:00, my doctor stopped in and sure enough I was at a 10.  A few pushes later and she was saying, "it's a girl" at 6:08.  Honestly, it happened so fast and was so easy, it's kind of a blur, even the part when Dr. Gardner said it was a girl.  She said that and handed her to me, but all I could see was part of an umbilical cord and I thought, this isn't a girl ;).  The next thing out of the nurses' mouths was, "she's so big, get her on the scale!"  Sure enough, they got her on the scale and 9.4 lbs it was and 23 inches long!!!  No wonder her feet felt like they were in chest, they probably were!  I knew this baby was going to be big, but didn't think this big!  We had family/friends giving guesses on sex and weight.  Adam came the closest to weight at 9.1, but he thought it was a boy, I don't think anyone else's weight guesses came close!  

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

Coop wasn't real sure what to think of me stuck in bed, but he did crawl up to cuddle and watch toons for a little bit, love that arm curled around mine :).

She's here!  We named her basically right away, we were pretty sold on Laney Faith.  Now, had she been a he, it would have been a different story, we had about 7 names and couldn't seem to agree on one!  About her name...my first year teaching, one of my student's sisters was named Laney and I just loved it and they were the sweetest family!  As for Faith, we just liked the way it sounded with Laney.  So, Laney Faith Jones it is!

 We brought Cooper back first to meet his sister before anyone else.  Adam said he was excited walking down the hall talking about coming to see mom and his sister.  He came running into the room with a big smile on his face!  He was sucking his thumb and trying to figure it all out.  He gave us both a kiss and then was ecstatic when we told him his sister had brought  him a present!  

This kid loves a present, between his birthday and being a new big brother, he has received plenty this month!  You probably can't see his shirt, but it says, "Best Day Ever." :)

Look at our little chunker!  We had her laid out like this when our families came in and they were shocked at her size and all the hair!

Getting all checked out by the nurse

Could this be any sweeter?

 Mamaw and Papaw with Grandbaby #7

 Grandma and Grandpa with grand baby #3 and first granddaughter!

Aunt Alli got her flower girl and just in time!!!

We were lucky enough to have all the grandparents here for Laney's birth!  Aunt Alli was here too, but missed this pic to be the photographer.  We couldn't be more grateful that they all took off work and made the trip to be here with us!  

Welcome to the world Laney Faith, we couldn't be more in love and happy to have you here!!!!

39 weeks and 4 days

Today is the day!  Yesterday was supposed to be the day, but they moved me back, much to my dismay.  Pretty sure yesterday felt like the longest day e-v-e-r, but we are at the hospital now waiting on this baby to make its appearance.  We checked in at 7:45 this morning dilated to a 2.5, got an epidural at 1:00, and was at a 4 just a few minutes ago at 3:00.  Thanks to the epidural, I feel great so far. :)  Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Alli, Mamaw and Papaw are all here with Coop, Ad and I.  Here are some final pics...

 holy baby, right?  

Getting rested for his big brother duties :).  Coop actually fell asleep for a short bit on the chair in my room watching Cars...so sweet!  

Safari Park

We had a fun morning with the Fimmen kids at Safari Park last week!  Coop just loves to play with the Fimmen kids!  

Tom and Coop on the train.

He was lovin' the train

 Jump, jump, jumpin' on the trampoline

Tom, Meghan and Coop played miniature golf forever!  They were loving it!  After a couple hours of playing we headed to Chick Fil A for lunch!  A perfect morning :).

Cooper's been a trooper...

through all my doctor's appointments!  He has made every trip but a couple with me to the OB and that includes a 40 minute one way drive.  Our average waiting time has been 2 hours, on a good day we were in and out in an hour but there were days we there for over 3 hours.  Most of the time he sat contently in his stroller people watching, eating snacks, coloring or reading magazines (he always requests the "football one" ESPN).  The last half of my pregnancy he has really been flirting it up with my nurse, Nurse Amy.  He talks about her at home and gets so excited on mornings I tell him we get to visit Nurse Amy and Dr. Gardner.  Nurse Amy couldn't be sweeter and is always loving on him, she has even offered to baby-sit :).  Not only have we been at our regular OB visits, but twice monthly visits to the blood doctor and chiropractor visits too.  Couldn't ask for a better companion!

This was at our last visit

Baby #2 update...was supposed to be induced tomorrow (Tuesday), but Dr. office called today and pushed it back to Wednesday...boo!!!!!!!!!   Take a wild guess about how I feel about this.  Anyway, don't be expecting a baby update tomorrow unless he/she decides to come out on its own which I highly doubt is happening.

Fort Worth Cats Baseball Game

At the beginning of the summer we bought tickets on Groupon to see the Fort Worth Cats, the local minor league baseball team.  We kept waiting for the weather to cool off, but that just wasn't happening and we knew we wanted to go with Coop before the baby came.  So, off we went last night and as we pulled into the ball park our car read 106 degrees!  Luckily, all the seats were in the shade, still hot, but not completely miserable.  With it being a minor league game, the stadium was small and there weren't many people there so we got to sit real close.  Cooper loves to play baseball so he was anxious to see home runs :).  He liked the game, but think he liked the action in between innings better, they had kids dressing up and playing funny games.  Overall, a great night!  We can't wait to take Coop back next season, a fun activity and cheap too!

*Have I mentioned how uncooperative Cooper is with pics these days?  Will barely look at the camera, and a smile?  Forget about it!  It's like I need a personal clown traveling with me at all times to get him to smile/laugh!*

Standing in the direct sun waiting in line for our tickets, not fun.  Coop's hat is a little big, but it served the purpose. :)

 I think he was watching the mascot here, look at those rosy red cheeks!  It was a hot one!

Best way to cool off?  A sno-cone!  

He told us he was ready to go home, can you tell?  Maybe he won't be sucking his thumb this time next year???

This picture is shocking!  Coop is not a fan of cartoon figures in person at all!  So, when Adam took him to see "Dodger the Cat," I stayed in my seat thinking it was going to be a failure and definitely not camera worthy.  The kid proved me wrong! Thankfully Dad had his phone to capture the moment!

Blog Book, 38 weeks, and a Weather Update

So, this blog is not only to keep family/friends in the loop on our life, but also to document Cooper's life!  I knew pretty early on that I would turn the first year of the blog/Coop's life into a book. I was able to do it thru Blurb.  They import all your posts into a book and from there you can edit it as you wish.  Well, I officially finished Cooper's first year this month...yeah, just a little behind as he turned 2!  Better late then never, right?  I was like a kid on Christmas morning this weekend, waiting for it to arrive on the doorstep.  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was truly a labor of love!  Now...on to year two!

 Coop and Dad opening the book.  He was pretty excited!  Here are a few pics from the book...not the best quality-it was late and I was in a hurry.

The back cover-a few of our favorite pics from Coop's first year.

So, I am officially 38 and 1/2 weeks along!  This baby seems pretty content where it's at.  I, on the other hand, am beyond ready for "it" to make its appearance!!!!!!  Really can't complain because I feel pretty good.  However, I am ready to be able to lay on my stomach/back, play more easily on the floor with Coop and be able to tie my shoes without it being next to impossible :).  As of now, being induced a week from today, August 23rd...can't come soon enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Although I can't believe that my baby is going to be a big brother and someone else is going to fill the "baby" role...

38 weeks!

This summer is breaking all sorts of records, so I feel I should document it too.  Last Thursday was the first day it wasn't triple digits in 40 days...unbelievable!  The average high in July was 107 degrees!  But, on Saturday morning we woke to rain!!!  It was the best sound early on a Saturday morning, especially since we hadn't had rain (someone correct me if I am wrong) since May!!  We are on the verge of watering restrictions as lake levels continue to drop with no other rain in the forecast.  The couple days of 90's was short lived as the 100's came back with a vengeance.  I feel so lucky to have a working air-conditioner and that we don't have to be out in this crazy heat!

2nd Birthday Party...A Diggin' Good Time!

I mentioned here about Coop's current passion for tractors, diggers, guys workin', etc.  So, it was an easy decision when deciding on a theme for his 2nd birthday party!  We celebrated Friday night with some family and good friends.  With it being so stinking hot out and 38 weeks pregnant, I went the easy route and we did pizza and salad for dinner.  The kids all got along great and it was just fun!!!

Click here to see Coop's 1st birthday party...I am sure you all are just dying to take a walk down memory lane with me, right?

 Dinner time, cheese pizza and Capri-Suns!  The kids were eerily quiet eating dinner, they quickly warmed up to one another and were busy little bees playing the rest of the night.

 Watching everyone sing Happy Birthday to him, think he kind of liked it :).  Later on in the night he was busy playing with his trains and singing the song to himself.

Couldn't quite master the candle blowing out, had some help from Kynslee.

A little secret...cookie cakes are my all time favorite!  It is what I always had growing up for my birthdays. And, when you are the party planner you get to make decisions like this, so cookie cake it was!  Not to mention they were the most reasonable place I found that would do a construction truck.  I ate an embarrassing amount of this over the weekend, I would hate to think what fraction I consumed myself!

 We love our 2 year old Cooper William and he loved his cake and ice cream.  All the other kids finished and took off playing, here he stood at the table until every last bit was gone!  

 Opening presents!  Of course he got lots of cool things that he has been playing with since opening them.  

 Could this be any cuter?  I can't believe all the kids cooperated, considering they were busy playing and moms just grabbed them, stuck them on the couch and slid party hats on!  I think in big part to Coop's 2nd cousin, Kynslee.  They all looked up to her and she kindly played the part :).

Family Pic, doesn't Cooper look thrilled?

Man,  Coop couldn't have been more excited about the party decor when it came in the mail...so cute!  I wonder what next year will be???

Believe it or not, we were still opening birthday presents on Sunday!  Friday was birthday overload, Saturday morning we were busy then Adam and I took advantage of our free grandparent babysitters and had our 2nd camera class (holy cow there is a lot to learn about these DSLR cameras...overwhelming!), went out to dinner and did some shopping.  So, Sunday Coop opened this fun farm set from Grandma and Grandpa and fun Cars stuff from the Finesteads and Visceks!

I think this picture sums up his feelings on the weekend, I feel the same way Coop!  By the way...don't you love his shirt?  A gift from his Great Uncle Jim and Aunt Ann!  Can you tell we buzzed his hair again?  Someday we will let it grow out, but for now it is in a bad stage of thinness and he seems to only grow a mullet...

Thanks to all our wonderful family and friends that made Coop's day extra special whether you were here or not, we are so blessed!

Birthday Morning with Presents and Trip to Aquarium!

We had been prepping Cooper all week about his birthday Friday...telling him he was going to get presents, have a party with friends and be 2!  Obviously understood more than last year, but still semi-clueless...that is until he saw the presents in the morning.  He knew exactly what to do with them :).  We opened presents and had a pancake breakfast before heading out to Sealife Aquarium.  We were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa make the trip down for the weekend to help us celebrate and Dad took off work on Friday, so it was a great 3 day weekend of fun!

tearing into his first present

Dad doing what Dads do on birthdays/holidays...opening and putting toys together.

 Playing on his new train table!

 First of many starfish spottings

 lots of interesting looking fish

 checking out sharks with Grandpa

 Coop is at a bad stage when it comes to looking at the camera and smiling...drives me crazy!

 Loving the stingray exhibit

walking thru the shark tunnel

Coopie got to pet a starfish!!!

 Birdseye view of the stingray exhibit

Petting the crab

 More presents!  We skyped with Mamaw, Aunt Tanya, Emily, Kellen, Braeden, Ava-Grace, and Cash!  They all sang happy birthday to him and then he opened his presents from Papaw and Mamaw.  Don't you love how Cash's face on the computer?  He just couldn't get close enough to check out Coop's gifts!

Cooper started the morning with his digger stickers on his jammies.  When I changed him into his clothes, I told him we could put them on his belly, thinking the belly of his shirt...nope, he took it literally.  He left the sticker on all day and kept lifting his shirt to show us, thought it was pretty funny!

More to come on the birthday party!