Cooper

When Cooper gets excited about something, he always declares, "Beta jaqua dig on it!!"  We still have no idea what it means.

 He is kinda obsessed with the word "either" and throws it on the end of almost every sentence.  "go outside either" or "hungry either".  I can't help but think, "why do you keep using that word?  I do not think it means what you think it means."  hahaha

And he leaves out negatives, so if he doesn't like something he will say, "like it either"  which means, "I don't like this".  He also says, "I know" when he means "I don't know"  though he lingers on the "n" sound a little longer when it's something he doesn't know.  "I knnnnow".  It's no wonder only moms and dads can understand 2 year olds!

 Yesterday, he threw all the pom poms down the stairs and then got a bucket and said, "Cooper picking berries!"  Then he started gathering them all up.  I thought it was so cute and so I told him someday he could pick real berries like that with Dad in Washington, to which he replied, "George Washington!"  I laughed and said, "You know about George Washington hu?" And he proudly said, "YES!"

 Cooper is the most reasonable 2 year old I have ever known.  You can explain things to him and he'll just say ok.  Like why he can't have a snack or why he can't play with something.  Though occasionally he'll act his age…no is his favorite word after all, apart from either.  And he's REALLY good and shouting, "Cooper DO IT!!!"  But he's very polite.  He'll say, "juice please" 85 times at dinner before he'll start yelling it!  And he's very good at saying "thank you" too.  And he apologizes when he knows he's done something wrong.  It still catches me off guard.  What a sweet kid!

 He loves dancing.  He has a favorite song on Oliver's swing and we go in a dance in there every day.  It's mostly just going around in circles until you are so dizzy you fall over.

 Lately he just loves being my helper.  He is always happy when he can "help too" and loves doing the laundry with me and sweeping and scrubbing things with cloths.  He is obsessed with little crumbs and messes and when he notices them will say, "oh no! oh no! mess!  Put it in the garbage!"  He's much more content when the crumbs are gone.  Too bad he isn't as concerned about the heaps of diggers in my living room!

February's Ten Things

I think I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that every month for the rest of ever will be crazy.  That every month for the rest of ever will be busy and full of unexpected struggles and possibly overwhelming at times, but also full of unexpected blessings too.  This month, like the last and the one before that and the one before that has been a blur.  But I guess that's how it is now.  And I really think I'm learning a lot about loving it just that way.  

I'm grateful I have this chance to look back on things that made me smile this month.  Because having a baby in the hospital and then getting very sick myself, would make it easy to forget.  But really, so many wonderful things happened in February.  And today, I'm actually starting to feel better myself.  So it's a good day to smile!

1.  Oliver's Blessing Day

 2.  Todd's Birthday

 3.  Todd took out our old fluorescent light in our kitchen from 1993 and replaced it with 6 new can lights.  All I can say is MY KITCHEN IS SO BRIGHT AND AMAZING!  I LOVE IT!!!

4.  Ethan being Mozart for his school's wax museum.  Awesome.

 5.  My date with Madeline to get pedicures and then have Menchies.

 6.  Valentine's Day.  But mostly just this picture:

 7.  The fact that since 2015 began, I have lost 18 pounds.  EIGHTEEN POUNDS!  After months of being pregnant where the only thing I could do was lay on my bed and eat, I had a lot of work to do.  I still have a small ways to go, but I feel so much better.  So much happier.  So much more like myself and my clothes are starting to fit right again!  It has taken so much self discipline.  But it's totally worth passing on treats and cheese and being hungry for a few months…and it's awesome that I proved to myself that I could do it.

8.  Cooper.  Cooper ALWAYS makes me smile.  But he deserves another blog post all to himself...

 9.  Parent Teacher Conferences this month.  It's hard not to smile when you have kids that are basically awesome.  :)

10.  And of course, I will never stop smiling at the blessings that have been poured down upon Oliver this month.  Though it has been a rough month for my sweet little one, he was blessed beyond measure through his illness.

 I'm grateful his hospital stay was short.  I'm grateful he only had to be on oxygen a few days.  I'm grateful that he smiles at me every day now and acts like himself.  I'm grateful he's in my life.

Our Valentine's Day

This year on Valentine's Day, Todd gave me pink roses and Ethan gave Madeline yellow ones.

 I have enjoyed them every moment I'm in my kitchen.  They are so beautiful.

Oliver was quite sick on Valentine's day this year, though it was before the hospital and oxygen.  I spent the majority of the day with him in the front pack or just in my arms.  The older kids had fun with cousins and Mimi and Bapa on an outing to the RV show.

 And when Grandpa and Nana came with giant red velvet cupcakes, Cooper was in heaven!

We had our family valentine dinner that evening, which has become a fun tradition.

 And enjoyed chocolate lava cakes for dessert.  And yes, I'm crazy and put chocolate ice cream on top. And no, I couldn't finish it…entirely too rich and too many calories.  But oh so good!

Mostly, I'm grateful for my man.  He is the best husband and father I could have ever hoped for.

And even when it's hard, it still is...

Poor Oliver has had it rough since my "Life is Good" post.  But he's definitely been blessed along the way.  The night I wrote that post was the beginning of the end for my sweet little guy.  He slept awful that night, almost waking every hour and by Thursday I could tell he had caught Cooper's cold.  Well, the cold turned to RSV which turned to Bronchiolitis which they said would have turned to pneumonia had we not gone to the doctor.

At the doctor's office, his pediatrician was scared at Oliver's oxygen saturation levels.  High 70s at best.    He immediately administered a vapor med through the little mask I had to hold over his nose and mouth. It was five minutes of torture.  He cried and screamed until he passed right out…the vapor didn't help his levels at all and that's when I was told to drive directly to the emergency room.

 At the ER, the doctors put a power suction tube up his nose and got out an incredible amount of gunk. He did NOT like that.  Then the oxygen was put on.  He was tired.  And sick.  And I was trying not to cry too much...

 But soon the effects of being cleaned out and full of oxygen kicked in and my little Oliver seemed to be back to his normal happy content self.

 I stayed overnight at the hospital with him.  He slept through most of the times the nurses poked and checked him all night long, but I didn't.  I was pretty much woken up every hour by either the monitors beeping or him crying to eat or the nurses coming in.  Hospitals…I'm grateful for the care he received and was even more grateful that we could go home on oxygen.  Being home is much better.

We are going back in tomorrow to see if he can go off the oxygen.  I'm hopeful that he can, but realize it's not the end of the world if he needs it a little longer.  His 50 feet of tubing makes for a fairly portable baby even when we leave his oxygen machine in his room!  Though I have to admit, I've never been so eager for late spring to arrive!  But I'm so beyond grateful that he is doing so well.  It could have turned out much worse.  He could have been much worse.  Instead, we were blessed, like we always are, and I got one more chance to learn that even when it's hard, life is still good.

Life is Good

Today, I'm grateful for my simple life.  Filled with darling children and all that goes with them:

Waffles and milk

 play dough

 snack bowls and blankie

 smiles and snuggles (and MORE SLEEP!  Last night, this cutie pie slept from 10PM-4:30AM before waking up, and then went back to sleep until 8!)

 Jacob's ladder

 AND MORE SNUGGLES

xoxoxo

My Hubby's Birthday

My five favorite people in the world:

 Todd's birthday was really enjoyable yesterday.  I loved watching the kids gather around him while he opened presents and read their handmade cards.  Earlier in the day, I had pulled out his old scrapbooks and the kids enjoyed looking through all the pictures with him.  Um, Todd was such a cute little kid.  Just saying.  It was fun because some pictures looked like Cooper, and some looked like Ethan.  A little of the other kids too.

 We had fun going out to dinner as a family too.

 And of course, eating cake after we sang.  Cooper sang "Happy Birthday to Daddy" all day long, but wouldn't join in when it was the real moment!

 But he gladly helped blow out the candles!

Happy Birthday Todd.  You truly are the best man I know!

Three Months Old on Daddy's Birthday!

Oliver woke up all smiles today.  And I can't believe he's already 3 months old.  I thought it was kind of funny because Cooper was 3 months old exactly on Ethan's 7th birthday and now, today, Oliver is 3 months old on Todd's birthday!  Happy Birthday Todd, I love you so very much! 

 Oliver is quite the little love bug.

 And I'm loving his smiles and coos.  Still waiting on the laughing…that will be fun!

 He's gonna snuggle up to his birthday dad in just a few hours.  And love every minute.

kiss kiss

Oliver's Blessing Day

Oliver was happy and excited to be able to go to church for the first time yesterday, and have his father give him a name and a blessing.

 I thought he was such a cutie and I felt overwhelmed with gratitude that we finally could all go to church again together.  It's been far too long.

 The blessing was very beautiful.  The Spirit was strong.  I'm so grateful Todd is a worthy Priesthood holder.  That he can bless my children and me.  The thing that stood out to me the most was when Todd blessed him to be a peacemaker.  I have always felt he would be, since holding him in the NICU.

 He'll be a mighty missionary too.  I've never had a doubt in my mind that there was a reason he came to this family.  He's supposed to be with us, and he makes us complete.

 Our Bishop shared in his testimony, after Oliver's blessing, how he couldn't help but open his eyes during the blessing and watch Oliver stare up at his Father.  Never did Oliver take his eyes off Todd.  He was awake and calm and seemed to know it was a special moment.

 Oh how I love you, my sweet baby.  My darling boy.

And someday, just maybe, I might get a family picture of all of us that I actually like...