Visitors!

My aunt Kim and her kids, Joe, Olivia and Will hit I-35 South to come meet Baby Laney and visit us the weekend after she was born...we couldn't have been happier to have them here!  We are very grateful they took their weekend to make the quick trip to visit us!!!  I don't have any pictures, but those kids sure kept Coop entertained and gave him some new Buzz Lightyear pjs that he adores!

Cousin Will

 Cousin Olivia

 Cousin Joe

After seeing everyone else hold his sister, Coop decided he wanted to as well.  The pillow was set up more for Laney, but Coop took full advantage!

Laney's first dinner out, we went to Fuzzy's!  She slept the whole time:).  Technically we did stop at Mooyah Burgers on the way home from the hospital but we didn't eat there, just ordered and picked up :).

 The whole Finestead crew with our 3 kids ;)

Our good friends the Fimmens stopped in on Sunday to meet Laney and visit.  Cooper was sooo excited to see his friends!  Meghan and Laney have each other now...watch out brothers!!!  Meghan gave Laney lots of her baby clothes and bows that we couldn't be more thankful for, she has already been wearing them!  

Aunt Alli hung with us for the week before going back for work, thanks for all your help Al!

We were fortunate enough to have Grandma here for a week after Laney was born and she couldn't have been more helpful!  I felt as though I had a personal nanny/chef/maid all wrapped up in one, she made life pretty easy for us!  

Welcome home Laney Faith!

We brought Laney home on Friday, August 26th!  We were happy to get out of our small hospital room and to our home and beds :).  

headed home!  so little in that big carseat!

 Lola immediately took to Laney and was right by her side at all times!  She was just as protective with Cooper when we brought him home from the hospital.

 Home less than an hour and Aunt Alli and I were playing dress up with her :)

First full day of life

Laney's first full day of life started with a trip to the NICU.  We thought she was doing a lot of grunting when breathing in the morning and asked the nursery nurses about it, they took her back to wait for our pediatrician to come and check her out.  Our pediatrician decided to send her to the NICU for precautionary reasons to have her lungs x-rayed and breathing monitored.  She spent about 4-5 hours being monitored and everything came back good!  Just having her in the NICU for a few hours and on precautionary reasons made us realize how lucky and blessed we are to have a healthy baby!

Other than that, Laney continued to do great!  Our families visited on and off throughout the day and we just soaked in our Baby Laney!

 pics from the day...

the proud big brother!

 peaceful as can be, hooked up to lots of cords in NICU

 Had to get an up close picture of all the hair!

My fabulous OB that delivered Cooper too, we love Dr. Gardner!!!!!!

My boys on their computers, Coop was watching Toy Story and Adam was playing Words with Friends (we were introduced to this game the week Laney was born and it occupied lots of free time :))

 Our two kids :)

Melt my heart!  

Laney's First Bath

One of the changes at our hospital since Cooper was born is that they give the babies their first bath in the room with parents.  I clearly remember with Coop watching through the nursery window glass in a wheelchair (my epidural hadn't worn off yet).  This was so much better!  We were settled in our postpartum room, everyone had left, it was just us and I could watch from the comfort of my hospital bed just a few feet away.  The nurse brought in the tub they bathe the babies in and laughed when she saw Laney because she knew she wouldn't fit ;), apparently the tub wasn't meant for babies over 9 lbs and 23 inches long.  So, Laney was bathed in her hospital crib/bassinet.  The nurse also said she was going to be a "4 shampooer" with all that hair!  I loved that the sweet nurse, a grandma herself, called Laney Momma while bathing her.  Laney was pretty content, whimpered a little bit while washing her hair, but really let loose for the footprints...she had enough!

 I remember looking over at her here and thinking...I can't believe that baby was in my belly just a few hours ago...she's huge!

That sweet nurse had her all wrapped up perfectly! Happy to report that "forehead hair" is disappearing day by day ;).

I have loved having both of my babies in the evening, everyone gets to be there and hang out with us and the new baby for a bit.  Then baby gets a bath and Adam and I really get to take them in and realize how lucky we are to be blessed with a healthy baby.  It really is such an amazing process!  

Of course we had to get her out of that boring hospital hat and into something more "us."  She looks pretty good in those letters, huh?  

Another change in our hospital...they encourage "rooming in," meaning baby is with you 23 out of 24 hours a day.  My first thought...no way!!  This baby is sleeping in the nursery!  However, I thought I would try it and we did pretty good.  The nursery nurse came in to check on her at 3:00 and I sent her for a few hours.  Honestly, I don't remember the second night!  I definitely slept better with her in our room than with Cooper, I remember constantly checking on him to make sure he was breathing ;).  

Slumber Party

The week before we had Laney, I am pretty sure Cooper could have got anything he asked for...thank goodness he didn't know that!  Even though we knew we were giving the best gift of all, a sibling, we just hated that he had no idea what was coming and we didn't know how he would react.  (happy to report that he couldn't be sweeter!)  So, we decided to have a movie night and sleepover with Coopie in our bed.  Not so sure about the sleeping part as he likes to be horizontal, head was in my big belly and feet were in Dad's ribs.  Coop was pretty excited to wake up with us and watch cartoons in bed, Dad and I were ready for a nap.

Of course, I wanted to document the night, but decided to do so in the middle of Toy Story...hence Cooper's lack of cooperation.

 Dad always makes pancakes on the weekends, but these were extra special!

As Cooper started eating them, Dad quickly rethought the food coloring, but all was good, came off easily.  

Laney's newborn pics

Click here to see a sneak peek of Laney's newborn pics!  

Yes, we drove 3 hours one way to visit our fabulous photographer and friend, Kristin Cook, for Laney's pics.  She took Cooper's newborn pictures that we still admire daily!  Don't judge us for packing up our 5 day old baby for that car trip...Kristin's just that awesome!  And 3 hours to us is nothing, we are used to road trips.  Laney and Cooper were fabulous on the car trip, both ways, a big thanks to Grandma for joining us and helping out!  The pictures turned out perfectly, just as we knew they would...can't wait to see the rest, but know that it will be next to impossible to decide what to order!!!  Kristin is in the Norman, OK area, but does do photo shoots in the DFW area.  We highly recommend her if you are in the area and looking for a unique and fun family photog!!!   

Queen Car

That is what Cooper calls Lightening McQueen from Cars.  He has a jibbet of Lightening on his Crocs (that he wears daily, poor kid needs some new shoes) and loves to tell any stranger about him.  But, his most prized Queen car possession is a hand me down from our fabulous neighbors, The Hammons.  We took it over the beginning of summer and the newness has definitely not worn off yet.  Coop asks to ride Queen car almost daily, but with the crazy hot weather we have to do it first thing in the morning or late in the evening.  He can circle the garage dozens of times before he's ready to call it quits.  

 Obviously this was a morning time in the garage as Coop is still in pajamas-missing pants!

This air pump serves double duty on Queen car, it fills up tires and gas tanks ;) 

No Queen car here, but how funny that he thought the helmet was needed to mow the garage floor!