A week visiting my family

Last week the kids and I went to my mom and dad's to spend a nice 4 days with them and with my brother and sis in law. We had such a good time. It was my first trip with two kids without my husband. He had to stay and work :( I do have to say that Cooper did a fabulous job. He slept like a champ in a twin bed. Never got up once. I was so proud of him. What a good boy :) The baby did good also. My mom was a huge help the whole week.

We went to the splash pad....

Cooper and his Nana. He's absolutely in love with her.
Blakey bug got to wear her swimsuit for the very first time.
Sam and Jamie were enjoying the sun...
The OKC zoo, where we got to see a brand new baby elephant. It was truly the cutest little thing I've ever seen at the zoo.
We had a cookout at my brothers house with some of their friends. The kids swam and Cooper played with the kid mower the entire night. He loved that thing :)......

Sebastian, Natalie and CooperWe went swimming and we went to an arcade play gym.
We did tons of fun activities.
My brothers and husband.
Now we are home and enjoying some lazy days.

Here is a pic of Blake in her Kung fu Master shirty aunt Laura and uncle John got her. :) So cute.

Both of my kids are coming up on a special day.
Blake will be 1 month old on June 15Th, Cooper will be 21 months old on June 16Th. My babies are growing so fast already.

Week 2 and 3

Blake is up to her birth weight and more. At her two week appointment she gained 3 oz's past her birth weight. 8LB 5OZS to 8LBS 8OZS. Yay Blake.

Things are going good, we are just doing what all families do with new babies. Giving first baths, tummy time and spending lots of cuddly moments getting to know our baby girl.
Blakely was baptized in the catholic church on June 5th 2011. It was beautiful and special. We had tons of friends and family there to celebrate this beautiful moment with us.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks and from the baptism.

Playing with my camera. Nothing near as good as the professional ones we had taken last week but fun to play around either way.





Cousins with their little baby sisters.
Blake's god parents.



Cousins. Cooper blends in with his triplet cousins.




A day at the park with Cooper's daycare friends.

Second bath. Same face Coop used to make in the tub. :)

Today I said my daily prayers

Today I said my daily prayers while in my car. But something was different. I usually say my prayers in my car while driving to work. I turn my radio off and I take some time to talk to God. Its the only time I'm alone and able to really focus on what I want to pray about that day. But today, I dropped my sweet Blakely off for the very first time at her Nana's. Cooper stayed with me, and we were off to the zoo for a mommy and Cooper day. We met his friends from his in home daycare at the zoo today. I felt good and comfortable dropping off Blake. I felt good driving away with my little man for some special one on one time.

I decided that being home has messed with my daily prayers. So I started to say my prayers. Cooper sat quietly in the back seat (probably wondering why the heck his mom was talking to herself). I prayed and talked to God all the way to the sitters house.
At the end of my prayer I said Amen and loudly from the back Cooper said AMEN!
I said to him. Mommy is talking to God. I was praying and thanking him and asking him to please watch over us and keep us safe.
Cooper so sweetly then said "God, "Jesus"?. I said yes... God and his son Jesus.
I love that we have talked to him about Jesus and God. It makes me happy that he recognizes the names even if he isn't really sure who it is quite yet.

My point in telling you guys all of this is....
When we had Cooper things were tough. I was stressed, exhausted, worried all the time. I had some depression trying to get used to everything. Nothing really bad, just some tears and emotions. I couldn't put my faith in God that nothing bad would happen to my baby boy. I had a hard time adjusting to the lack of sleep and to the demands of being a mom. It was just difficult. I loved every second of my time with my baby but it was hard.
This time around I really tried to make sure that I had a different outlook on everything. I wanted to make sure that I enjoyed the early days more this time. Not as much worry, not as many tears and un-needed stress. To my surprise I somehow have handled this baby coming into our world exactly the way I hoped I could.
I have been calm and for the most part happy. The lack of sleep and the running around after a toddler while trying to get used to number 2 has not been bad at all. I am actually doing so good. I'm proud of myself. I know that sounds silly but I am. I am mentally more prepared this time and its helped a ton.
Our little girl is such a blessing, Cooper is such a blessing. Sometimes these past few weeks, I sit back and just think about how truly lucky I am. How great life is and that even with the added stresses and worries of another child. Even with all the craziness around me in life, I'm the happiest I've ever been. I wanted to share this, not to upset those of you still trying to conceive. Not trying to hurt anyone who is going through something painful, or gloat about how great my life is to someone not feeling the same way. But to aknowledge that I am so truly blessed and to thank God truly for these amazing gifts. I'm sure many of you moms reading this know what I mean. I hope you feel this way also. Its such a beautiful way to enjoy your kids. Now I'm not saying everything is always cookies and cream. But I am saying that I'm lucky and thankful.

I just wanted to share this. Today while saying those daily prayers with my sweet little boy listening, It hit me just how happy I am and how lucky I am.
Thank you God, for all you do for us. Thank you for watching over my loved ones. Thank you for caring!

Her first few weeks and how big brother is doing....

I have a post written below and I just decided to post all these pics first. Its just easier this way.

Coming home from the hospital

Just got home





Cooper's friend Landon came over to play last weekend. They both had their back packs. SO CUTE.

Daddy and Blakely time.

Haha, can you imagine if these were all her kids. CRAZY!!!
Here are some pics of the cousins first time together. Samantha and Blake will be such great friends. I'm so excited for them.





This is my best friends little girl Bella with Coop and Blake. They will also be such great friends I just know it.




Well for starters our little man is 20 months old :) The day after he became a big brother he also turned 20 months. He's growing so fast. Saying SO SO much. He looks like he aged about 3-4 months in the two days we were in the hospital. Bringing home our little Blake made Cooper seem so much older so suddenly.
He been doing an amazing job with adjusting. He absolutely loves his baby sister.
In the hospital my mom brought gifts each individually wrapped for Cooper. Each day he came to the hospital he would get a present "from his baby". We would set it on her lap and say "Your baby got a gift for you". He loved that! I think it helped him see her in a good way rather than, why are you all loving on this new stranger.

Blake has been doing so good. She's growing great and sleeping ok. I've had a few stressful sleepless nights, but its getting better. I've only cried once since I had her almost two weeks ago. I get so tired from lack of sleep and usually break into tears because of it. However with this baby I seem to be handling the adjustment so much better. We now have our little miss on a strict eating schedule. She wasn't sleeping at night without a schedule. She was mixed up on nights and days for the first week or so and then decided she wanted to eat each hour which I'm so not having!!! That is exhausting and my sweet little girl is healthy so a schedule won't hurt her or our sleep.
She eats every 3 hours 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 all day each day. In hopes that at night she will sleep longer and we can slowly stretch those feedings and she will start sleeping through the night. I know, I know, she's only just about 2 weeks old. But trust me for us and our kids schedules work the best so we are beginning one right now due to the exhaustion I started to feel.
Last night she slept for 5 hours from 12:00 to 5:00 and I fed her. Now yes we are off on our schedule but she slept her next stretch until about 8:40 and pretty much filled in the gap we missed during that sleep time. So we are pretty much back on schedule now. Its working so far, I hope it lasts.

My mom has been in town this week. We have had fun bonding with the two kids together. My mom is such an angel. She is so wonderful and helpful.
Cooper has just loved having her hear with him. He absolutely loves his grandma.
First trip to the park with both kids





Life is going good. God has blessed us with health and happiness. I am truly thankful for these gifts he gives to my life.