Eric thought it would never happen...

Eric did not marry me for my skills in the kitchen. He married me knowing full well that I CANNOT find my way around the kitchen. Despite coming from a home that always had something delicious cooking, he still married me. I've been totally content having my knowledge in the kitchen go only as far as making a bowl of cereal. I have proved many times that I do not belong in the kitchen. I have the scars to prove it! One time I was attempting to help Eric's mom in the kitchen... it ended with a mess EVERYWHERE! All over me, the counter, the floor, and I'm sure if you looked close enough it would have some how ended up on the ceiling. There are six girls in my family. Each on of us has our strengths and my mom would put us to work according to our strengths. My older sister was pretty comfortable in the kitchen. I know how to clean better than any of my sisters and quite frankly, I enjoy it. I didn't want to learn how to cook, it was too messy.

I figured it was about time I start working on developing this skill. I have been making a menu and trying to make new things. There are smells that are filling our house that have never filled our house before! Eric is loving coming home to a delicious dinner and I am really starting to enjoy making it. I made stew and home made bread last night. I don't have a bread machine so this was the real deal. I did it all by myself and it even tasted good! And just to prove that I'm not making it up... I have pictures!

Are you hungry now?? I'm excited to do it again tomorrow!!

Back posting...

FOUR MONTHS!!!

Kooper's first Halloween

Nap time goes a little something like this...

I have been trying to get Kooper on a nap schedule. Up until my visit to Boise I thought babies just slept when they were tired. I couldn't figure out why Kooper would scream every night with no resolve. Then I was informed that you have to train babies to take naps during the day so that they're not so tired that all they know to do is scream at night. Well as soon as I started putting her down for naps during the day the crying started to fade.
We got back from Boise a week ago so I've been trying to stick to the nap schedule that I started while at my parent's house. I have been loving nap time. She's a happier baby and I have a time during the day where I can count on getting things done. I'm not the only one who is loving nap time. This whole last week nap time at our house has gone like so...

Tuesday...
Wednesday...
Thursday...Friday...

I do not put Grace up there. I get Kooper's diaper changed, I feed her, I get some soft music going and then I lay her down on my bed. For some reason she naps better on my bed than in her own. (I know you're not "supposed" to put your baby on their tummy to sleep but she naps so much better on her tummy. I check on her quite frequently and have a baby monitor so I think its fine.) After I get Kooper all settled for her nap along comes Grace. She hops right up on the bed and makes herself comfortable. Notice how as the week goes by she gets closer and closer to Kooper? I think they will be good buddies one day. So this has been her morning/early afternoon nap... We're still working on her taking a good late afternoon/evening nap. Any suggestions for naps or schedules would be very much appreciated!!

Bitter sweet...

Look at this sweet, sweet baby. Do you know where she is??? In HER crib that's in HER room. Yup... my little girl spent her FIRST night in her crib in her own room. Up until last night she slept in the very cradle I slept in when I was a baby, right next to my side of the bed. I was planning on waiting a little longer before this momentous occasion. Eric was suggesting that it was time for her to sleep in her room but I insisted that we wait until she was at least 8 weeks adjusted age... which is 8 weeks from her due date. Saturday the 21st would be 8 weeks. I didn't realize this would be such a hard thing to do. Yes, I woke up to every little grunt, groan, and whimper, but I liked having her there, hearing her breath, and knowing I was just an arms length away from her. Not only did I like having her there next to me all night but I liked the fact that she was still my little baby. I know, she's still a little baby but now it almost feels like she doesn't need me around the clock like she did. She's just getting so big.

Obviously I was not looking forward to moving her out of my room...her taking that huge leap to getting bigger, but it just kind of happened. Last night she was GRUMPY... VERY GRUMPY... She didn't go down for one of her naps and that made a very tired, very grumpy little baby. I was doing everything to get her to calm down and go to bed. I tried nursing her, I tried changing her diaper, I tried swaddling her, I tried rocking her, I tried giving her the pacifier, and I tried everything else you can think of. She just screamed.... screamed through it all. By the time eleven came around all three of us were very frustrated and tired. So I laid her down in her crib, shut the door, and went to bed. I passed out as soon as I hit the pillow. I felt horrible for what felt like abandoning her to cry it out, but I didn't know what else to do. I even had a dream I abandoned her to go do something more fun. Next thing I know my thoughtful husband woke me up at 4:00 am to let me know she was still asleep and doing fine in her crib. He knew how hard this was for me to leave her in her room so when he woke me up to tell me she was OK I felt a little better about it all. What a wonderful husband I have. I woke up one more time to go to the restroom and I snuck by her room to check on her... she was still doing just fine. I didn't get up again until 7:30 am when she started fussing. She might have even gone back to sleep a little longer but I was so excited that she slept for that long that I wanted to go tell her how proud of her I was! She went from 11:00 pm to 7:30 am!! What a good little baby I have! I'm not expecting this to happen every night but it'll be nice to get the extra sleep every once in while.... even if that means she's getting bigger.

Bitter because my little baby is getting so big but so sweet because I got some much needed sleep.

Lots to post about...

Kooper and I just got back from spending the last week in Boise. There is lots to post about but first I need to get back in a routine... lots of posts to come...

FOUR MONTHS!!!

Our little girl is now four months! Now that she is home time seems to go by even faster!!

Now that Kooper is 4 months...

-She is wearing 0-3 months... she's starting to outgrow most of her newborn clothes and is able to wear a few of her 3 month outfits.

-She loves to look at her rattles and will track them if you move them from side to side.

-She has just started smiling when her momma and daddy talk to her!

-She loves to follow her dad with her eyes. If dad is in the room she is watching him!
-She recognizes her momma and daddy's voice.

-She takes the best naps on her tummy.

-Her neck is starting to get pretty strong but still quite wobbly.

-She is starting to discover her voice and will make cute sounds.

-She will occasionally sleep as long as 6 hours at night.

-She loves to cuddle!

-She is 100% nursing... which is huge since she was only taking the bottle for the first while.

-She is around nine and a half pounds!

-She is discovering her hands. Sometimes she will have her hand in front of her face and just stare.

-She is happiest in the mornings... Don't know how that worked out since neither of her parents are morning people! She gives us the most smiles in the mornings so it makes up for getting us out of bed early.

-She continues to make each day better the next for her momma and daddy... we keep thinking there is no way we could love her anymore but each day we do!

Kooper's first Halloween

Kooper was quite the fashionista this Halloween! She had her pink skeleton that she got from her aunt Ashley...

It even glowed in the dark!! Thanks Ashley!!She had a cute outfit from her Nana and Papa... Kooper knows how to sport a pair of purple leggings! Thanks Nana and Papa!

Got Candy?

The most fitting outfit was this adorable monkey costume from her aunt Chanel. Since we didn't find out Kooper's gender before she was born we referred to her as our little monkey... she was all over the place when I was pregnant! So here she is... our little monkey!

I added the bow to make sure no one confused her for a boy monkey. She sure does make a cute monkey!! Thanks aunt Chanel!!

We spent Halloween day at Grandma and Grandpa's house and then we spent the evening at Nana and Papa's house. Unfortunately, by the time evening rolled around she decided she'd had enough for one day and wasn't a very happy monkey. We still had a fun time and look forward to many more Halloweens with Kooper.

Visit from family and photos...

Its been a while since my last post and I have a few good excuses!! Its A LOT of work adjusting to being a full time mom! But I'm still loving it. We've had a lot going on around here too.

A couple weekends ago my mom and all of my sisters but one came to visit. Hailey couldn't come because it was homecoming weekend. She is in yearbook and she is doing the homecoming page in the yearbook so it wouldn't have been great if she missed it. I was pretty bummed she couldn't come but we still had a really fun time.

From left to right: Mom, Kiley, Chanel, Cesilee, Ashley.

Don't they just all look so beautiful and pleasant??

This picture is probably a little more accurate...

We really did have a lot of fun though. My mom brought her sewing machine and tons of stuff to do crafts with.

We made a sling for me to carry Kooper around in. I love it! She nuzzles right in there and I get a ton of stuff done!! The inside is a nice soft flannel so its comfy for her too!!

My mom made an adorable blanket for Kooper. She made all of us kids blankets when we were born so its fun that she is continuing the tradition with her grandkids.

It says I love grandma... how cute!

And we sewed some fringe on the burp rags to girly them up.

They watched Kooper Saturday night so that Eric and I could go on a date. That was really nice. You don't realize how much attention goes to the little thing until you leave her for a little while. It was nice to be able to focus on each other for a little while. My little sister Ashley slept in Kooper's room with her on Saturday night so that we could get a full nights rest which was AMAZING!! Thank you Ashley!! We had a great time and can't wait to see them again!

After they left us I started feeling pretty crappy. Well last week Kooper and I ended up fighting an intestinal bug and feeling really crappy. So that was no fun. I am happy to report that we are both doing great and we're finally getting into a routine of things.

This last weekend Eric and I thought it would be fun to do a little photo shoot with Kooper before she gets too big. Here are just a couple of the photos. Remember that we are not professionals...just two dorks playing around.

This one is funny because she almost always sleeps with one eye open. She knows she should be worried about us so she always keeps an eye on us.

Bright eyes...

This one is probably me favorite. If you look close enough you can see her scar from her heart surgery under her shoulder blade. I think she's absolutely perfect...