The Week in Review

This week has been absolutely nuts.  Quentin left on Tuesday for his bone marrow physical in Fairfax, VA (DC area).  Physical went great, took half the morning on Wednsday.  Wednesday evening, Q teamed up with a good buddy and they went to the "road show" where he was able to talk to his recruiter.  This is what we know: We are going to Norfolk.  End of discussion.  We still do not have orders, but even if the proposed orders fall through, there are plenty other places for Q to be in Norfolk...

Quentin spent all day Thursday and today looking at houses.  We now realize that our wants/expectations were not exactly in line with the market out there.  All the houses that looked great online, ended up being total dumps, to the extent that one didn't even have anything in it.  Really.  No carpet, flooring, cabinets, appliances, countertops... nothing.  Literally a slab of concrete with pipes coming up out of it. 

Re-freaking-diculous. 

We did find 2 houses that we weighed out and made an offer on one.  It is increadibly overpriced so we made an offer almost 30K under the asking price.  We will see what happens...

So with all that excitement out of the way... Home alone with these two crazy kids has been a ton of fun (wink, wink).  Okay, it really hasn't been THAT bad, but definitely exhausting.  I can't wait for deployment!! HA!

Ady did manage to slow down long enough for me to get a picture of her loving on Cooper...

Cooper is getting really really good at holding his head up these days.  Here he is sitting in the bumbo seat like a big boy with his "friend".  Cooper likes to play with his burp rags and Adyson has dubbed them his "friends"

Granola Bar Please!!

So this story is gross... but funny :)

Yesterday we had a list of things to accomplish out and about in town. As we were walking out the door I grabbed a couple granola bars for the road. Ady doesn't usually have any interest in granola bars, so the two I grabbed were FiberOne bars (which oh by the way provide 35% of your daily fiber).

After we had been out for a while, Quentin decided to eat his granola bar. Adyson said she wanted some, so I passed her a small piece. She gobbled it up and asked for more. Since she hadn't pooped the day before I decided to go ahead and giver her half a bar. She gobbled that up too and asked for even more!!! i gave her one more little piece and she finally decided she was done eating.

Fast forward 4 hours later. (We are working on the language thing... Really. Watch what you say around your toddlers...) Adyson says to me "Mom, I think my shit my pants" Diaper change - regular ol' normal Ady poop. 2 minutes later she was grunting and red-faced again. I asked her if she was pooping and she said yes, but she "not done yet". When I saw it leaking out onto her pants I made her let me change her. Chunks, yes literally chunks, of granola and nothing else. Great. A few minutes later "Mom, I think I made fart-toot" and then she "fart-tooted" again although it was more like fart splatter (I was actually glad she is still in diapers yesterday). Diaper change. Chunks again.

Dinner time. Cheese quesadilla. Extra cheese.

2 more diapers later and probably an overdose on dairy Ady finally went to bed,

So far no issues today. Moral of the story - Don't give Ady FiberOne granola bars!!

Resolutions

This year I didn't really make a set resolution, but some things I would like to accomplish are:

Eat better - and maybe even lose some weight

Blog more - I plan to get at least one post up a week

Be more patient - I'm working on it... it is hard to be patient with two screaming kids... maybe I want them to be more patient... Hmmmmmm....

So far, I have joined Weight Watchers Online and while I am not expecting to lose a ton of weight immediately, it is nice to have a place to track my "points" and utilize all the tools and recipes. I will posts on my successes and failures, but so far I have only had one real failure. Whatever you do, do not look at the nutrition label on your Cheddar Brats next time you eat them...you will probably never eat them again...

Blogging - as you well know I am not very good at keeping up with this thing. I like to change the background and font colors a lot, but I feel like I do not post nearly enough. Even today: Ady's at achool, Cooper is fed and sleeping, Shasta is fed and sleeping, I pumped, ate breakfast, checked email and Facebook, then decided I should write a blog... about what? I couldn't think of anything good so this is what you get! HA!

As far as being more patient. I am really working on it. Adyson has taken to being the most, well I am not really sure how to describe it, but she is certainly pleading for our attention every waking minute. She has gotten into a pattern that as soon as I sit down to feed Cooper she will do things that she knows she is not supposed to. She will continue to do so, even while being asked, told, and yelled at not to, until I get up and walk over to spank her. Then she stops and says "I love you". She is a turkey. I am working on keeping a more strict regimen, asking three times and then time out, but then she spends 3/4 of her day in time out, crying the whole time. We are going to work on it.

On that note, Coop and I have some shopping to do before we pick Ady up at school so we better get going!!

Happy New Year!!!

Another year has come and gone... 2009 was a great year and we are looking forward to what 2010 brings!!

In February, on Valentine's Day to be exact, we found out that we were expecting a little bundle of joy. We were extremely excited, but scared at the same time. We decided that it was best to keep it our little secret until we passed the 3 month mark. Time flew and in June we were so happy to find out that we were having a boy. We had our hearts set on having a boy, to the point that we had not even decided on a girl name. Time flew by and the next thing you know,

Cooper Patrick Lease was born on October 23rd, 2009.

During 2009 Quentin had the opportunity to do a little traveling. One thing we learned during all his trips to Virginia and Georgia is that the Atlanta airport sucks and if you are flying through there just plan on being delayed! :) During his internship here at Scott he studied the many aspects of transportation by land, air, and sea. One of the most interesting classes for me was the HAZMAT class...he can tell me what every placard on every semi truck on the road means. I am sure it wasn't his favorite class, but it was interesting to me.

One of the classes he went to at Ft. Eustis (Williamsburg, VA) was only a week long so Adyson and I decided to join him. We had a great time, but one week is no where near enough time to soak up the history and sites in the Hampton Roads area of Virgina. We took Adyson to the beach for the very first time and she loved it. She asked for weeks to go back to the beach...

Little did she know, not even a year later, we are planning our move to Norfolk. We are excited about the move, but of course the logistics of finding a house from here are complicating things. We lucked out and a good friend of ours has a good friend (and fellow Navy wife) who is a realtor out there and she is working her tail of for us. We have a list of house possibilities that Quentin will look at when he travels out there later this month...

Mid-January Quentin will again be traveling out to the Washington DC area as part of a bone marrow donation process. Back in November we got the call that Quentin was a possible match for a 17 year old male with leukemia (he had signed up on a registry back in 2006 while on board the Lincoln). He did the additional blood test to determine if he was a match or not on December 1st and with a couple weeks they called to tell us he was a match. This month he goes out for a full physical and in February he will do the actual donation. He is donating through a process called Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation (PBSC). With PBSC he will receive a shot of a drug called Filgrastim for 5 days and then on the last day he receives the shot he will also donate the stem cells. The donation process is much like that of donating platelets or plasma. I will keep you posted on how that all goes...

And that pretty much is our year in review...

Happy New Year!!!

Cooper is 2 months old!!!

I feel like just a few days ago I was posting Cooper's one month pictures so I am really having a hard time believing he already 2 month old!!

Cooper had his two month check up on Dec 23rd. He weighed 11lbs!! He was 22" long. And his head circumference was something ridiculous off the charts...I think they must have measured wrong because he head sure doesn't look too big to me :) We didn't have any real concerns at his appointment except he has been going some pretty good stretches without pooping. All the docs say it is normal so we just go with it. This last stretch was 14 days with no poop!! Yikes! After his appointment we headed over to immunizations, 3 shots and an oral dropper later, HE. WAS. PISSED. The rest of the day wasn't much fun either, but by the next morning he had forgotten all about his shots.

Two months old and he has already figured out how to mess with my post it note...

Put up your dukes!!

Can you say cheese??? or Maybe "ham" is a better description...

I guess this is his serious face... maybe he was tired of taking pictures.

Christmas 2009 (better late than never, right?)

We actually cheated and had Christmas early this year. Luckily for me, Adyson hasn't figured out how to read a calendar yet so she couldn't call me on it!!! My mom came up the weekend before Christmas so we opened all our present then. Of course, we still made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and he still paid Ady and Cooper a visit, filling their "Christmas Boots" to the brim!

Adyson was pretty good at opening presents this year. While I fully expected her to be tired of opening presents long before she was out, I was wrong. In fact, half of the things she opened, she didn't even take time to look inside. She opened it and said "It's a box!!!" and went on to the next present to open. We finally convinced her to look inside the boxes and she was quite surprised!!

I am going to try to recreate a list of everything she got, but really... I am not sure I can remember it all... Adyson got: a digital camera, a SpongeBob Memory game, SpongeBob Ants in His Pants game, Candyland, a Mermaid Barbie (that she calls Mermaid Man...), a stick horse, several outfits, AquaDoodle and many accessories, Tom and Jerry, Ice Age, Shrek the Halls, and Little Birdie (also known as Chicken Little to the rest of the world...) movies, and the list goes on, and on, and on. Poor Cooper got the short end of the stick. We bought him mostly clothes and just a couple toys. He also got a couple of trucks from Granny Lolli (Sally) and a Choo-Choo from Papa and Mema (Mikes and Carla).

Adyson somehow convinced herself that my mom was bringing her a "new house" when she came to visit (this all came about when we were explaining to Adyson that we were moving to a new house by the beach). So my mom bought a gingerbread house kit and they decorated our "new house"! It was quite comical as Adyson was far more interested in eating the icing instead of using it to glue on the decorations. She kept saying "It drips. I eat the drips" and of course it wasn't really dripping... Silly girl.

They really had a blast decorating the house.

So it started out putting icing on Ady's finger and she would suck it off. Turns out that wasn't a fast enough "icing delivery system" so they ended up just squeezing it into directly into her mouth. Needless to day, Ady was on a sugar high the rest of the day.

The finished products...

Cooper is ONE month old!

First off, I totally copied this post-it note idea from a good friend of mine. Thanks, Monica!!!

I cannot believe that Cooper is one month old (well really more since I am behind on posting, but whatever)!! It really does just feel like a few days ago that he was this teeny, tiny little boy that couldn't even fill up a newborn diaper or onsie.

Here are a few pictures from his one month "photo-shoot"

Almost a smile...

Peace, ladies.

This was one of the first pictures I took, he was sleeping, but so darn cute I decided to snap a picture anyway.

Once I took a couple he started waking up from the flash... he was still asleep in the picture but was rolling his eyes around and I caught it just right. Probably one of my favorite pictures of him so far.

When we finished pictures it was time for a diaper change and he managed to pee, poop, and puke all within a couple minutes, so he ended up in new clothes too.

But seriously, is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

Nope, I don't think so.

Oh! How time flies!!!

Well, I am officially willing to admit that time is flying by much faster than I would like and my little newborn Cooper is fast approaching 2 month old! Really!! Trust me. Hard to believe isn't it!?!?! With that being said he is keeping me plenty busy along with his loving older sister (hehe) so I am pretty far behind on the blog.

Adyson is still doing really well with Cooper although I am pretty sure the jealousy has started to settle in. She is suddenly very needy, especially when I am feeding Cooper and cannot respond to her every request immediately. She loves playing with Cooper under his "butterfly toy" and when they are laying on the floor together Cooper just coos and oooooh and aahhhhhhs!

The picture above is from mid-Novemberish, way back when Cooper could actually fit into Newborn size clothes... HA! Here is a picture from today, nasty baby acne and all!! Luckily the pic isn't great (I took it on my phone) so you can't really see all his "baby pimples".

Introducing the "Future President"...

One of Cooper's favorite places is in the Moby Wrap which is a giant piece of material that you wrap all around you and tie to make a little pouch for Coop to hang out in. Of course, Ady had to have one to so here she is wearing her baby girl. This is how we went to the mailbox on this day, I am sure we got a few weird looks. HA!

Adyson and Cooper

Adyson LOVES her baby brother. She a wonderful big sister and really enjoys helping with diaper changes!! She is the one in charge of bringing the diaper to change Cooper and she gets pretty upset if someone else get the diaper before she does!!

The other day, I was in the kitchen and not watching Ady as closely as I probably should have been. When I realized she was incredibly quiet I went to check on her. I found her reading a book to Cooper while he was sitting his bouncy seat. It was pretty much adorable!

Here Ady is reading her book to Grandma Bonnie and Cooper.

"I read my book to Baby Cooper"

She wanted Cooper to snuggle with her on the couch, and was kinda upset that we wouldn't let her hold him. She got over it and let Daddy hold Cooper next to her and loves every second of it.

This was still in the hospital. Adyson like to rub Coopers head because it is "fuzzy." She couldn't get enough of him and we had to tell her to back off several times because she was way to close in his face.

Adyson was amazed that Cooper has ears. She kept going through the list of facial features and saying:

"He got ears? Baby Cooper got ears? Like me?"

"He got nose? Baby Cooper got nose? Like me?

and on... and on... and on.

I haven't tried a video on here before, but if this works I have a couple more I can post too. Adyson has taken a sudden interest in taking pictures so I bought her two disposable cameras to take pictures of Cooper. She has to wind it up, and count to 5 (holding down the flash button) that usually turns into counting to 10. Then she looks for Cooper in the window and takes his picture. If you watch all the way to the end, she even gives Cooper kisses!!

Cooper Patrick Lease is here!!

I know, I know. This is old news by now, but for those who want details, here they are.

Cooper Patrick Lease was born at 11:43AM Friday, October 23, 2009. He weighed 7lbs 3.4oz and was 20.5" long.

He is absolutely the most handsome little guy I have ever seen.

Our day started about 4:00AM. Quentin and I were both so anxious that we couldn't sleep anymore, so we got up and dressed. We had planned to leave for the hospital around 6AM (I was supposed to be there by 7:30) but we jumped the gun on that too, and I was all checked in at the hospital and in an "assessment" room by 6:30AM. Apparently it was a crazy morning, and even though I was not supposed to stay in the "assessment center" I did because there were no rooms in Labor and Delivery available. The nurses came in and hooked me up to the monitors, started an IV, and then we waited.

I was anxious, and there of course was nothing on tv, so the time seemed to pass like molasses. Finally, at 9:00 we decided to ask about the expected timeline and they told us that there were at least 2 emergency C-sections ahead of us, and they weren't sure how much longer it would be. My scheduled C-section was at 9:30 - so we knew it wasn't going to be on time. Not long after that they came in ad got me to go over to Labor and Delivery so that final preparations could be made. Anesthesiology came in and told me all about the procedure and the checked to make sure Cooper was still head down, and then the ball really started rolling.


I have to admit, it is quite strange walking yourself in the operating room. Once we got there I sat up on the table and they did a combination spinal block / epidural. It is nerve wracking sitting there while you know someone is about to stick a giant needle into your back, my legs were shaking uncontrollably and I was scared to death I was going to move and mess everything up. It didn't help matters that the doctor that I thought would actually be doing it was standing to the side of me telling a grad student what to do as he poked and jabbed before finally starting the procedure. All in all, it wasn't that bad and life was numb. I laid down and they checked me about every 2 minutes to see how far up I was numb. By the time they quit poking me with a toothpick, I was numb up to my armpits, and couldn't feel anything but "touch, tug, pull, and pressure". I could feel everything, but there was no pain. I heard the doctors talk about getting started and had to send someone to get Quentin (he wasn't allowed in the room during the epidural). He came in the room literally right as they were starting.

I remember everything, the lights, the monitors, the sounds, the weird feelings of body parts moving around, everything. The actual C-section was relatively comfortable, except right when they were delivering Cooper. There was a TON of pressure on my ribs and stomach area, it almost felt like I couldn't breath. I was laying there feeling like it was taking forever to get Cooper out, and when they held that little purple guy up over the drapes I was instantly in love. I remember being completely overwhelmed with joy and even crying. When Quentin told me it had only been 13 minutes since they started I couldn't hardly believe it.



They took Cooper over and got him all cleaned up and weighed. Quentin got to go over and watch, but he couldn't get the camera out because of his scrubs so we didn't get pictures of him in the delivery room. They let Quentin bring him over to me and I was able to see him. My arms weren't tied down, but I was afraid to move them so I didn't even try. They finished putting me back together, which really did take forever. I was in a hurry to go hold my baby after all.. They moved me off the operating table and I had an awful feeling that they were going to drop me for some reason, and off we went to recovery. Cooper came with us and I was able to hold him and nurse him immediately. I was really worried about breastfeeding, but my milk came in on the second day and we have been going strong ever since.

After a couple hours we were ready for visitors. I was so excited to see Adyson's reaction to her baby brother. My mom, Grandma Bonnie, and Adyson came into the room, and Adyson was immediately awestruck. She knew right away that he was her "baby Cooper" and the he came out of mommy's belly. Adyson absolutely LOVES her little brother and she is a wonderful big sister.

We came home from the hospital Monday afternoon. Recovery has actually been a little easier than I expected, don't get me wrong, the first few days were awful. I felt fine as long as I was laying down, but when I stood up I felt like my stomach was going to fall out onto the floor!! Today, a little over a week later, I can get up and out of bed onmy own, up and down the stairs with no problems, and even went out trick or treating for a little bit with Ady and Coop last night. Each day it gets easier and easier.

Cooper's Pumpkin

Well, we figured that we are getting down to the wire now, so we had better decorate Cooper's "pumpkin" before it was too late!! Adyson was a great help (wink, wink!) and Daddy did a pretty darn good job, too!!

Of course, Adyson had to paint a pumpkin on "her" baby Cooper too, so here it is...

And the finished product...


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We are getting close. I am definitely ready to NOT be pregnant anymore. We installed the car seat today so I guess that means I really am about to have two kiddos!! We have all the clothes washed, the cradle and bassinet ready to go, and the diapers all stacked up ready to go. Today, I opened a pack of newborn diapers, and for some reason, even though I have done this before they were surprisingly small. I mean really. Adyson had doll diapers bigger than the ones I plan to put on Cooper. I really do not know why this was such a "shock" but it really put things into perspective.

So now we wait. and wait...and wait.... I am not down to counting the hours yet, but there are only 4 full days between now and Cooper. Adyson is even asking for me to "bring my baby brother home for me" and telling (directly to my - errrrr - what used to be my belly button) "Baby Cooper, please some out and play with me!" She is too cute, and she is going to be a wonderful big sister!!

Adyson and "Bear"

Yes, Ady and her bear have matching pajamas... :)

Before Ady was born, Quentin and I went to Build a Bear and built her a bear. She has suddenly become attached to this bear and we decided it would be fun for her to build one for Cooper. On Sunday afternoon we loaded up and went to the mall (one of Ady's favorite things to do) and Adyson rode the Zebra (on a carousel) and the choo-choo. Then I went off to get my hair trimmed and she and Daddy went to build a bear. They had a great time, but Adyson was afraid of the the stuffing machine and wouldn't push the button. They were going to dress the bear in a Halloween pumpkin, but Quentin said it was not near as cute as it could be and chose a Harley shirt and bandanna instead. When they were finished they came and found me and she was so excited to tell me "I put heart in Bear's back" and told me all about it. It was super cute as usual. Here are some pics that we took with Ady, Bear, and "Baby Coop's Bear"

Here is Adyson, Bear, and "Baby Coop's Bear"

In true Adyson Fashion... here is "the look" - she crosses her eyes too when she does this look, but I can never snap the pic in time...

Bear and "Baby Coop's Bear"

Adyson and "Baby Coop"

I received a package in the mail today as part of a gift swap that I am participating in. The package contained two incredibly cute outfits for Cooper. Immediately upon opening the package, Adyson started taking the clothes off of her Baby Coop. She told me that his clothes were dirty and needed to go to the laundry room.

Here is Adyson and "Baby Coop" in his brand new outfit.

The outfit had little puppy dogs all over it and the cutest little booties, hat and bib to match. Of course, "Baby Coop" had to wear it all!!

This is her "kiss" face.
Posing for a picture, but of course, Baby Bob Baby couldn't be left behind...he is always in her hand!!

Random thoughts...

Today was a busy day of random randomness. Starting off with an early trip to the airport, which luckily we passed by a wreck practically as it happened - when I came back by traffic was backed up for miles and miles. That would not have been good.


So after the airport, we came home, ate breakfast and called the vet. It was about 9:15ish and they either had an appointment today at 9:30 or next week. Yikes! We made it to the 9:30 appointment. Shasta has some sort of infection on one of her paws. Doc says it doesn't look serious since it is only on one foot, and was most likely from a bug bit or some sort of allergy. We are treating it with antibiotics and will see how it goes.


We spent the rest of the day shopping at Toys 'R' Us and playing outside. Pretty much a normal day in the 'sac! We did manage to add to our "pet count" today. We have four new "friends" and they are "furry worms" according to Adyson. I am hoping maybe they will actually stay alive long enough to make cacoons and maybe even turn into some sort of moths or butterflies... We'll see...


In other news, last night was Adyson's first night with no "B" and let me just say it was freakin' awful. Ady threw a fit yesterday when she woke up because she wanted to stay in bed all day with her binky, but also wanted me and Quentin to stay up there with her. That was obviously not gonna happen so when I picked her up to bring her downstairs, she threw her binky (the old rule was it had to stay in her bed) and it landed behind the headboard. I told her it was lost. We "looked and looked" but just couldn't find it. Last night when it was time for bed (after a day with no nap) she threw an absolute fit. It was rediculous. She literally screamed for an hour and a half until finally she was so tired she fell asleep whining. I fished the binky out this morning and we went on a hunt. We pulled the curtains back and Ady looked behind the headboard and just "couldn't find it," even after we moved the mattress and everything. So tonight I totally cheated!! She was really tired, but as soon as she got out of the bath I gave her the option to go to bed or go downstairs. She went to her bed and when she couldn't find her "B" she wanted to go downstairs. So, we came down and mopped the kitchen floor. After that she said she was ready for bed, and up we went. I expected a very similar episode to last night, but she whined for a few minutes and fell asleep. I think she was just so tired, she didn't have it in her to throw a fit! HA!



And Finally...



How 'bout them COWBOYS!! #5 ?!?! Heck-freakin-yeah!!! And oh by the way - that makes TWO Sports Illustrated covers this season...

In case that wasn't enough randomness for ya, I just looked over and the window sill next to me is covered in ants... Guess I will be hunting for bug spray after I post this...

Edited to add:

Dang - no ant spray but I did forget to mention that I got up the nerve to wash "Baby Bob Baby" tonight - he survived the washing machine tied in a pillow case and is yellow again instead of brown!! Whoo Hoo!!!

32 Weeks and Counting...

Here we are... Adyson and I showing off our bellies, once again!!