Friday Night Lights

We've taken Coops to a couple of smaller fairs, during which he fell asleep both times. But this past Friday we decided to risk taking him in public during bewitching hour (think a pint sized version of Jekyll meets Hyde) & head one town over from us to the Guilford Fair.

The weather was amazing- one of those end of summer air is crisp kind of nights. So hubs & I broke out the long sleeves & Coops got to wear one of his new sweatshirts that I ordered a couple of weeks back <3 <3

Striped French Terrie Hoodie // Fleece Pants

And then... bewitching hour never came. We did everything from eating fried dough to meeting farm animals to watching the clowns. It was one of those perfect never forget it kind of nights & then the little darling fell asleep on the walk back to the car (#thatsmykindofnight).

We got home & Coops slept right through my getting him ready for bed, which is definitely on my list of top ten cutest things baby does, & in the crib he went to dream about all those farm animals.

Next up- I'm on the hunt for a Punkin Chunkin event in the CT area- anyone know of any??

Favorite Reads

By now you know we're huge readers around here, & I had to share these new books we've gathered up since last month's Favorite Reads.  With summer winding down (sniff sniff) we're enjoying every possible minute reading outside until it gets too chilly.  My new goal is to get Cooper's reading nook finished by the holidays (fingers crossed).

Harry the Dirty Dog

I recognized the cover of this as soon as I saw it in the bookstore.  With the contrasting black & white pictures Coops was riveted the first time we read it. And we've already sat down twice reading aloud with our own dogs on each side. 

Where the Wild Things Are

I wasn't a fan of this book growing up. There I said it, feel free to throw stones. But my husband was, so having a little boy I decided to give it another go & fell in love. Plus Coops is captivated by the monsters. Staring in awe & listening as I read every time which says something because this is definitely a long one for a 14 week old.

That's not my puppy...

Even though I'm not participating in tons of events right now with PS, we still love to go to them & support local.  So at Woofstock this year (super fun afternoon if you're in the Branford CT area come August) we came upon a Children's tent & chose this touchy feely board book where each puppy page has something you can pet.  Coops isn't too excited to play with the textures yet, but LOVES the bright colors. 

On the Night You Were Born

This one is hands down my new favorite; the drawings are amazing, writing is phenomenal & Cooper chats along smiling as soon as I open the first page. 

What are some of your favorite reads?  We love suggestions to keep building our own library, plus follow Cooper's Library on Pinterest to see our constantly updated book wish list.

Laughter & Spit Up

It's 5:30 in the morning & I'm walking baby back to bed when he spits up all over me, himself & then a huge splash sounds on our hardwood floors. And I cannot stop laughing. Neither can he.

I'm looking into the biggest toothless grin he's made yet & the coos are starting. It hits me that this is going to be a wonderful day.

I clean us up, clean the floor (after being shocked one of our dogs didn't snatch that delicious treat right up), feed baby once more & put him back to bed where he chats with himself before falling  asleep. Then I take out my phone & start writing. I want to remember this moment, a messier one but a moment nonetheless.

I sometimes forget in between the mad dash to get work done, keep the house clean & run errands that this is life. It is crazy wonderful, including the spit up.

Today will be filled with some quality Aunt time, a play group at the library, visit with great grandfather, a bank run, a stop at Michael's craft store & all that before Grandma stops by later on to give me a rest.  We are so blessed to live near as much family as we do. It keeps my heart full & there's no shortage of fun times for Cooper.

So on this wonderful day, as the sunrise is starting to peek through the shades, I want to remember that it started with laughter & spit up, & I wouldn't have it any other way.

Baby speak

Every morning Coops wakes up happily chatting & we plop him right onto one of our laps to have morning conversations.  We talk to him in his coos & giggles, mimic his facial expressions & use words to keep the talks going.  It's definitely a favorite part of the day for all 3 of us & something I've grown to treasure.

Aside from that we read books, sometimes one a day, or when he's in the mood we'll do up to a half dozen in a couple sit down sessions like today.  It's perfect for quality downtime & gives me a chance to relax after constant running around (#momlife).  And now 12 weeks in Coops will read stories back to me in his own language.  Even pausing for pages to be turned before chatting again.  It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Another of Coop's top 10 favorite things to do is chat with home fixtures.  It seems whatever room we're in or house we're visiting he'll find lights, ceiling fans or windows & visit with them; often kicking & waving his arms to get closer for a better look.

I can't believe how much Coops absorbs every day, babies are such amazing sponges that we're blessed with the once in a lifetime opportunity to fill with knowledge & fun.  Speaking of fun- what does everyone do for activities in the fall/winter?  Right now we spend so much time outside I can't imagine being without that time for a week let alone the chilly months to come!

Rolling rolling rolling

Our sweet little boy is growing so fast. Half of me wants time to slow & the other half can't even contain herself with all these amazing milestones going on.  I swear every day there's a small change & every few weeks there's a huge one.

Speaking of- Coops is officially on the move, rolling over for THE FIRST TIME at 10 weeks!! He went twice from back to stomach & I cried happy tears both times. We haven't had a full roll since, just lots of half rolls & kicks to get there but it seems every big milestone Cooper hits he'll do a couple of times, then nothing for a week or two followed by non-stop.  

Along with the rolling came a lot more wiggles that have him going in circles on the play mat & starting to move toward toys or four-legged friends that he wants to play with.

Plus we've started grabbing like crazy- holding on to everything from toys to pinching my arms while I breastfeed (nursing necklace recommendations anyone??) to grabbing hair. That last one, combined with the postpartum hair loss that started last week, may be my least favorite. I swear there's a couple of my hairs in his little fist at least half the time I look down.  Which makes me panic over my hair thinning & laugh at the same time with how cute Coops is with a fist full of red curls & that giant toothless smile on his face.  

Post rollover smiles :)

From Cradle to Crib

When we brought Cooper home the intention was for him to sleep in a wooden cradle that had been passed around my family for 40+ years, I'd even slept in it as a newborn. That lasted about a night & a half. He hated that cradle more than either of us could have imagined.

Then I remembered a friend saying THIS sleeper saved her & her husband when they came home from the hospital. I'd registered for the same & we'd been gifted it at my shower.  So halfway through the second night I stumbled half asleep into the living room, picked the rocker up, stumbled up the stairs & set it up in our room while Eric was changing baby.

He came back, popped Cooper in, we turned on the slow rocker & soothing music options & amazingly got our first couple hours of solid sleep since getting home. Cooper has slept in that rocker ever since (now without rocking or music).

In Sleeper, 3 Weeks Old

Then this past week I noticed his head was almost at the top of it, shoulders were a bit smushed & Friday he learned that he could kick those long legs & the cradle would rock or jump.  A BIG no-no.  So it's crib time- something he hates sleeping in every time we've tried for a day time nap.  But surprisingly the first night in he slept between 6-7 hours, then woke up hourly after.  

1st Night in Crib, 11 Weeks Old

Naps are turning out to be a bit harder & I'm convinced it's because the crib doesn't cradle him the same way as the sleeper.  So (meep) letting him cry it out for a bit during his usual nap times (9, 12:30 & 4).  I'd love to hear some tips on how to ease the transition?  Or what worked for you to get baby re-adjusted to his usual nap times after such a big change?

I swear, every time we hit a growth milestone like this my heart fills & my eyes tear.  Time is flying by so quickly & I'm so excited to embrace everything to come but it's painful to see all of this go by so fast.  I find myself missing being pregnant, the first few days after Cooper was born & even the sleepless nights that followed our return from the hospital.  That's probably why my phone is filled with so many photos that it needs to be emptied monthly (gasp), I want to hold on to every piece & have those memories saved to reflect on in case I forget one along the way.

:)

Cooper's Birth Story

Every time I think about the day Cooper was born my heart fills & tears start flowing because it was so amazing, every second was perfect, even the hard ones.  Now as I write this I have an eleven week old sleeping soundly next to me.  Instead of newborn clothes, he's already in 6-9 month sizes measuring an amazing 25 1/2" tall & weighing in at 14 lbs as of his 2 month check up.

In the months leading up to delivery I was terrified.  Everything from not knowing what to expect, when to expect it or whether I'd be able to do this at all.  Then in the weeks & days leading up to early June I became calmer & calmer about the entire process.  We intentionally didn't create a birth plan, & decided instead to go into the hospital with an open mind to what would come.

At 5am on June 6th I woke up with a cramp, followed by a gush of water.  Our birthing class taught us that only around 15% of women have their water break pre-labor so I assumed I'd peed myself, another beautiful pregnancy symptom.  We'd already had an early morning run to the hospital the week prior & were used to middle of the night contractions that would stop by lunchtime the next day; so going into "time to go to the hospital" labor was far from my mind.  I had it in my head that this baby was never coming out, & surely not before my 6/9 due date.

I waddled to the bathroom as fast as I could, only to have two more gushes on the way.  A few minutes later I realized what was really going on, opened the door to ask Eric for fresh clothes, & nervously share that my water just broke.  When I came out of the bathroom, happy tears flowing, it felt like the house had filled with excitement. We were both wide awake & started gathering bags, packing dog supplies & wrapping up things at work (perk #100 of us both working at home).  

At 5:30 contractions started.  We coincidentally had a check-up already scheduled for later that morning & Eric had a doctor's appointment of his own before that.  I told him to go & let me know if he got held up, then called Mom to bring me to my appointment when he ran late. During the first few hours of labor my nesting kicked into overdrive & by the time she arrived I was sitting on the sidewalk outside weeding our the garden. I'll never forget the look on her face seeing me there plopped on the ground with my nearly 40 week belly. 

At the appointment we learned I was only 1cm dilated.  The midwife then hooked us up to check baby's heartbeat & my own contractions. I texted Eric that we were being monitored only to have him walk in with Mom from the waiting room a couple minutes later. Everything looked good until one heart rate drop came through causing concern.  After that we were told to go home, gather our things & head to the hospital where they would speed things along to get baby out safely.  

Home we went, calling to board our dogs on the way, giving mom Etsy orders to bring to the post office & filling the cooler with freeze pops to bring (best tip ever from our birthing class).  After arriving & being checked we moved forward with the Foley Balloon until I reached 3cm & followed that with Pitocin late-afternoon on the 6th.  To manage the pain hubs & I alternating between walking the halls, massage & using the exercise ball.  Walking was the biggest relief, & with each contraction I'd stop to lean on Eric & we'd focus on breathing together.  He was my rock throughout the entire process.

Then we hit a wall- test results showed preeclampsia. Because of seizure risk we needed to start magnesium sulfate which weakens your muscles & confines you to bed (while making you feel like you're sick as a dog).  I asked if there was time for one more walk down the hallway & broke down in tears as soon as we were out of the room.  I thought I'd gone into this with no plan, but in the back of my mind I'd wanted to keep moving & not be bedridden for as long as possible.  This was not what I wanted, being induced was not what I wanted & now here we were doing both.  But Eric was there through it all, talking me down & putting it all into perspective. So we headed back to start the magnesium & an epidural since there could no longer be any movement to manage the pain.  The epidural was fantastic after it was placed right, which took 4 tries.

We settled in for a long night of TV, dozing & the most wonderful nurse who kept an eye on me non-stop until breakfast time.  First thing the next morning I was checked & amazingly just under 10cm dilated. Woohoo!!  My first thought was that baby had decided he'd have a birthday of 6/7.

Then came 4 hours of pushing.  In between a series of contractions I said "Cooper" through gritted teeth, & we picked our baby name from the short list of favorites right then. Because I was on Pitocin which causes contractions & Magnesium Sulfate which causes muscles to relax we'd have a series of 4-5 back to back contractions, then nothing for 20 minutes & repeat.  After a few hours I decided to keep pushing during the downtime.  The doctor suggested assisting with a suction cup a few times which I refused repeatedly, determined to get this baby out my way.

When Cooper was born just over 32 hours after my water broke I hemorrhaged twice.  Going in & out of consciousness I only remember snippets of what followed- not hearing him cry immediately (his mouth was being suctioned), having Coops laid on my chest right after he was born, seeing Eric & hearing the word transfusion.

Eric told me later that the room filled with Doctors & nurses faster than he could believe, around a half dozen in total.  One giving me a shot to bring my blood pressure back up, another ordering blood to be on standby (which I narrowly missed needing), another working to stop the bleeding, others tearing pads open & running all around.  Cooper was taken from my chest because I couldn't hold on to him & placed in the nearby bassinet.  Then I lost consciousness when my blood pressure dropped down into the 70s, causing the monitors to start beeping.  Our midwife took control & they had Eric step back.

The whole ordeal lasted 10 minutes, 10 long minutes.  Then the next thing I remember was holding a freshly cleaned Cooper on my chest with Eric by my side & feeling the Doctor stitch me up.  I was confused beyond belief, but nothing could come close to describing the flood of happiness at finally holding that sweet baby I carried for nearly 10 months.

There we were, a new family of 3.  Our lives were forever changed & everything was perfect <3