Beautiful days and random happenings...

We have had an incredible week of warm weather and have had some great opportunities to spend time outside. I bought Cooper some sidewalk chalk and a new ball for outside. The other evening we sat outside waiting for Daddy to come home and drew some pictures. Cooper helped enhance my drawings. I didn’t think sidewalk chalk would be so messy, but who cares… it washes. And we had fun!

Last night we got out for another walk. It was just a beautiful night. Cierra is not fond of wearing a gentle leader collar, but in her adolescent state she is pulling too much to walk without it. What happened to our beautiful off-leash walker during puppy class??? She is testing her boundaries.

Cooper also scored a new lawn chair. The other night while out on the deck to grill brats, he tried to climb onto the patio chairs, but he is too little… so while we were waiting for a prescription at Target (of course that is dangerous for Mommy if Cooper is with since we wander the store and we find too much), I found a little dinosaur chair for him. At first he could crawl in it, but struggled to get out, but with Cooper being Cooper, persistence paid off and it didn’t take him long to figure out how to get out. Now he can sit in his chair like a big boy.

Hanging out in my chair

Little One and I had another appointment on Monday. She is looking really good. Her heart rate was high, but then Dr. M determined the Doppler was picking up my heart rate, too. She could hear it in the background. Little One was really in the 140-150 range. She measured right on for 27 weeks.

I don’t think I shared that with Cooper I had gestational diabetes. So there you have it… a confession. It’s just that as a woman I feel like I have failed my unborn child. I am doing everything I can to have a healthy pregnancy. I did that with Cooper. He was more important than any craving I had and so is she. But along with this confession comes the truth that I have many, many moments where I hit the wall and want to throw a pity party for myself. Today in fact… or if you ask Jackie and Steve I’m sure I sound like a broken record and they would tell you every day for the last six weeks. I have to talk myself out of something I am desperately craving. I am very fortunate. This is something that can be controlled. I also didn’t have to do the one hour or the three hour glucose tests. It is just assumed that you have it the second time around. So I watch what I eat and poke my fingers. Unfortunately it isn’t as easy as it sounds. I need calories without carbohydrates. And most of the calories I love are carbohydrates. I’m starting to reach a point of being very tired of peanut butter, nuts, eggs, salads, etc. Now what? Since my first OB appointment I have gained 2 ½ pounds. With about 11 weeks to go my OB is starting to get concerned. So for now we watch it. Enough complaining. ** As I write this my little girl is wiggling just above my belly button. It’s her reminder to me that she is right here with me. **

Can someone tell me how to control the emotional hormones? I struggled with this while I was pregnant for Cooper, too. I am a sobbing mess. There is one OnStar commercial that I keep hearing that sends me into tears every time I hear it. It is the woman who was just hit by a truck and the OnStar operator asks if there is anyone she can call, after calling for an ambulance, and the woman asks for her husband. She is worried about the car and he is worried about her. Sob, sob. Then, I watch the Disney commercial with the little guy getting his hair cut with Celebrate You in the background. I just want to go to the daycare and cuddle with Cooper every time I see that one.

So here’s to hugging your kids and loving your husband! I need a Kleenex, please.

Sitting with Daddy in the back of the van

Walking up the driveway. (Those really aren't Bermuda shorts, but Cooper has short legs.)

"I love how grass feels"

"River Rocks!"

Happy Mother's Day!

Okay, it is a day late, but… everyday should be celebrated as Mother’s Day, right? I LOVE being a mom every day. I LOVE my mom every day. And I celebrate those women that have an impact on my life every day. Now I suppose I can’t request flowers and the wonderful meals I enjoyed yesterday every day, but we can celebrate life… which is what it is all about.

Yesterday, Chef Steven… aka daddy, made a wonderful breakfast of white chocolate chip pancakes and then an absolutely awesome lunch of rib eyes, cantaloupe, salad with sun dried tomato vinaigrette, and Dove chocolate ice cream bars. I also got a beautiful pot of New Guinea Impatiens … I love them!

We had another fast weekend. There is just so much to do and so little time.

Friday, Cooper made his TV debut. Minnesota passed legislation last week that will ban BPA, which helps make plastic shatter-proof, in 2011. I started to hear about the possible negative health effects of BPA when I was pregnant for Cooper and stopped using my Nalgene water bottle. We also made the decision to not use BPA bottles for Cooper… I didn't have to change the bottle I wanted to use since the Playtex Drop-Ins are BPA-free. Cooper’s daycare provides his bottles and sippy cups and I made the request that he only use BPA-free items. I maybe be a BPA-free nut, but why take chances. I've been glad to see that most of the manufacturers of bottles have already made them BPA-free. That wasn't the case when we were getting bottle for Cooper. In fact, Babies'R'Us had a sign up that they are now BPA-free. So anyway… there was a reporter coming to the daycare as I picked Cooper up and the director asked if I would stay so that he could get footage of Cooper along with a couple of other BPA-free kids. I agreed, but didn’t realize I would be interviewed until it happened. If you would like to see the video or read the story here is the link… But be gentle if you comment. Watching yourself on video is hard enough.
http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S922773.shtml?cat=10151

We made great progress on Cooper’s new room this weekend. The wallpaper border came on Friday, but it may take a week or two to get it up. Steve and I bought another crib mattress for the toddler bed last night and Steve put the bed together. I still need to wash the bedding and make it. Cooper loved crawling on it, so I hope that it is a good sign that he won’t mind moving in there. He can’t quite crawl up on it, but I think within a day or so he will master it. He’s about an inch too short to crawl up on it easily. He can get off of it really well by turning around and sliding down on his tummy. We bought foam mats of the alphabet, numbers, and Cooper’s name in place of a rug. They are very comfy to sit and stand on. And hopefully, will provide a bit of cushion if he rolls out of bed. His room is very bright and cheery with the décor. I was going to take a picture of it, but figured I would wait until I get the bedding on and the wallpaper border up. Now will be the challenge in transitioning all of Cooper’s stuff to his new room. We will still need to use the changing table, but I want to move his clothes over. I think I will stack his diapers in one drawer and little one’s in the other drawer. We’ll get this figured out some day.

About a week ago while giving Cooper a bath, he started to lie on his tummy and blow bubbles. I didn’t have the camera, but did get a shot of it yesterday. He loves to be in the bath. I’m not sure how he knows to blow bubbles, but I can’t wait to try swimming lessons when he is a little older. He did get a couple of mouthfuls of water, but not bad considering. He can kick his feet, too. My little fish. We’ll get a pool for him this summer. Mommy may have to share it with him.

I had an OB appointment last week. It was again fairly uneventful. Little one is measuring right on for my due date and her heart rate was in the 140’s. I’m starting to feel pregnant. I keep thinking I need to pace myself as I still have about three months. My back is starting to ache with long walks or walking with Cooper for too long. She is very active most days. I love feeling her move. She really gets active when I am holding Cooper. I don’t know if it is the beginnings of sibling rivalry or if she is feeling the pressure of him next to her. Cooper doesn’t know or feel that she is moving, but I wonder if that will change once she makes the really powerful kicks in the next few months.

Well it’s Monday afternoon and I am ready for a nap… too bad I still have a few hours of work left. Sleep… it will come many, many years from now.

Time flies, but we are having fun!

April 28th… where did the month go? Where did the first four months of the year go? Little one’s ticker says 109 days until she is “officially” due, but she be here sooner. Wow!

Here are a few pictures and updates from the last two weeks…

Oh where, oh where, oh where is Cooper???

"Here I am!"


Peek-a-boo!



My mom and dad came to visit last week. They were just here overnight, but we had fun in the short time they were here…. lots of shopping and chatting. They brought Logan’s toddler bed and the bedding set for Cooper’s new room. Hopefully we can get it started soon. They also brought some of Jacob’s old toys and Missy’s baby doll from when we were younger. Cooper has taken to his “baby sister”. He’ll have his baby to take care of once his real baby sister arrives.

Maybe we should work on how to hold a baby...

And how to hug them...

I love babies!

"Does she have teeth, yet?"

Cooper had fun playing with Papa.

Cierra graduated from puppy class on Saturday! I can’t believe we started the class eight weeks ago! We’ve had her over two months now. She is still young and has some work to do, but she did very well on her graduation test. She had to sit, lie down, stay at an open door without going out until called, leave treats until told she could have them, walk on a loose leash through PetSmart, walk off leash for a lap (keep in mind PetSmart has lots and lots of distractions!), and stay for 30 seconds. The stay took a couple of tries, but not bad for a pup with a lot of energy. I’m still amazed she can do “leave it” with food and stay at an open door until called. We’ll miss the formal class time to work on commands, but we’ll appreciate getting our Saturday mornings back… I’m sure Jackie will, too. Jackie has been wonderful and has kept Cooper so that we could both take Cierra to class. Maybe in a few months… or next year we’ll take the intermediate class. I would love for her to get a Good Canine Citizenship certificate. Someday.

We really got a great dog. She is so good with Cooper! She will do the puppy nips with us when she wants to play, but only licks at Cooper. He will tug on her ears and coat, but she just takes it as attention from Cooper and just sits there. Such a good puppy. We’ve been bring her into the living room more and more and she is doing really well. I think we can say that she is officially potty trained! Now to just get past the chewing… someday. She just has a couple more teeth to lose and then I think she will have all of her adult teeth. She loves Cooper’s toys, so she needs constant watching. I can’t wait for the day that we can have her in the living room all the time. She is definitely growing. I’ll take her back to the vet early Mayo to get a current weight. I’m sure she has made it to 50 pounds. This might be why...

Cooper got outside a few times this last week. He loves to explore. He loves to pick up mulch and the river rocks next to the house and hand them to me… What a find! It’s been a bit cooler and rainy the last few days, but we’ll get out again soon.

Cooper got to spend last Friday evening with his friend Amaya… a very big thank you to Jan and Steve!!! Steve and I got to go out for a quiet dinner… a rare treat these days and I’m sure it will soon be even rarer. He had a blast with Amaya! They look like they could be twins…, but then again they are only about two weeks apart. Very cute kids!

I'm sooo tired...


"These puppies are calmer than the other one."



Little one… oh, she needs a name!... is doing great! I’m really feeling her on the outside now. She got in a few really good kicks last night and then a few more this morning. I had Steve put his hand on my belly last night, but as soon as he did she stopped. Sounds like what Cooper did. Silly kids! Soon her movements will be even easier to feel. I love it! I have an OB appointment next week. Just three months (and a few days) and she’ll be here.

More later...........

After Easter update

I had hoped to get an update on Easter, but it just didn’t happen. So here it is…

Steve’s parents came to visit on their way back from Texas on Friday and spent the weekend with us. Friday night was fairly uneventful as Steve and I left Cooper with Grandma and Grandpa to go to Babies’R’Us to buy diapers and a few extra things. Gotta get diapers cheap when you can! Saturday we took Cierra to puppy class while Grandma took care of Cooper again. I think she enjoyed spending the time with him.

Cierra did great at class. With the other dog gone for Easter we had one on one time with our trainer. We worked on sit and stay at the door with distractions… and she did very well. As long as there is food involved Cierra will do just about anything. We walked a few laps around the store and greeted staff. Cierra had to sit to get attention from them. She also had to go a sit, a down, or a “leave it” on each wall of the walk. She really does well with leave it! She breezed through that exercise. Then we worked on staying for 20 seconds. That one was a bit harder. We still need to work on it more.

Saturday then became a bit more interesting with Cooper running a fever of 102. We game him Motrin and Tylenol, but he creeped up to 103. Steve’s mom and I gave him a bath that evening and when I took him out of the tub he didn’t want me to unwrap him from the towel and he was shivering. I checked his temp again and this time he was 104.5. We had been alternating the Tylenol and Motrin all day and never saw a break. After calling the pediatrician on-call, he suggested being seen right away as it was the weekend… of course. We spent about three hours in the ER and had absolutely wonderful care! No waiting this time. After a diagnosis of bronchiolitis and an ear infection… still, he got more Tylenol and Motrin, a neb, and antibiotics and we were sent home.

If it hadn’t been Easter we wouldn’t have gone to church, but Cooper seemed to be in a pretty good mood even with a temp. He slept through much of the service. I think a combination of him radiating heat and me being pregnant, I was miserable by the end of the sermon. I don’t know, but I would think he was back to about 104. Probably against my better judgment, but with more Tylenol and Motrin, we went out to dinner. The experience was lacking in service and the food was questionable, but it was reasonably good.


Cooper didn't have a ton of energy in these pictures, but he's still cute and quite handsome in his shirt and sweater! Usually the pacifier is for bed, but when he doesn't feel good, he wants it. Don't ask about the bottle nipple in the last picture... he loves playing with them.



"Can I eat my bunny now?... Before Mom get's to the ears?"

Steve’s parents left about 3pm on Sunday to head back to Michigan and get settled for the summer.

Cooper and I stayed home together on Monday and Tuesday and he slept, snuggled, and played. We had two really good days together.

Yesterday I missed a great photo opportunity. Cooper was standing at the gate and Cierra was sitting up against the gate on the other side. Cooper reached through the bars and gave her a big hug. As soon as I grabbed the camera they were both looking at me like, “Missed it!” He does so well with her and she with him!

I had an incredible experience this morning. If it hadn’t been at about 5am it would have been a bit better, but still very neat… in its own way. I had both kids kicking me at the same time. Cooper was in bed with me and was very restless and was kicking my upper belly. My little girl was kicking my lower belly at the same time. While being kicked by Cooper isn’t usually a pleasant experience, it was interesting to feel them both. The day will probably come where both will be kicking on the outside… in our bed. We may need a bigger bed.

My other incredible experience of the day was when I put Cooper on the changing table to get him dressed. We’ve been doing these hugs in the morning when he gets dressed. I say, “I love you!” and he squeezes me back really tight… and gives me a kiss… really wet and on the mouth… a very endearing act. This morning he started to say, “Waa u”. I think it was his version of “I love you”. It will make a mommy’s heart melt.

Cooper, Cierra, and Baby...

Hello again! I finally found a few minutes to update. The fast-paced adventure continues.

The poor camera has been neglected which means the blog has been neglected of pictures. But I got a few. These are the ones that keep us busy. :)

Mealtimes have become a real adventure! Cooper is trying to use a spoon, but most things don’t end up in his mouth. He also does not want any help, so unless we are prepare for a mess, anything the consistency of yogurt or applesauce, etc is not had. We are sticking to lots of finger foods. Cooper also loves to “get into” his food. His tray is “finger painted” as well as his face. Cleaning him up is fun, but I know this is a learning process. He is really good at rubbing it through his eyebrows and hair… especially when he isn't due for a bath. While Cierra doesn’t beg from us, she knows exactly where to sit to get treats from Cooper. About two weeks ago tooth #5 and tooth #6 came in. Cooper is great at biting into things… and even bit Mommy while I was brushing his teeth last weekend. He didn’t mean to… I don’t think… but it hurt.

You should see our master walker! Very little crawling for Cooper these days! He went from a step or two to five or six steps to across the room to now from one end of the house to the other. He has made great strides in balance.

We have one smart little boy. He loves to play with the real phone… hoping he doesn’t try to call China. We were taking out the one of the batteries, but he figured out what we were doing and now he just hands the phone back if one is out. He loves to turn anything into a phone and pretend to talk, but then he wants us to talk on it, too. Yesterday he was “talking” on the light/fan remote from our bedroom. It does look like his play cell phone. Watching him figure things out is amazing.

Last night he was taking all our (I suppose that should read “my”) books and putting them on the floor. Steve went to sit with him and they carried on a conversation for quite some time. I wish I would have caught it on video… oh yeah, we need to use that more often.

Cierra is doing really well. I think she is growing. It’s hard to tell when we are with her every day, but she seems bigger. She also seems to be losing her puppy look. Puppy classes are going well. We are working on sit and stay at the door. So far so good as long as we have treats. Last week she had to walk over treats and leave them… very tough for a food motivated dog. The trainer said it would likely take a few weeks to master. She has had virtually no potty accidents in the house for about two weeks. Wow! We’ve been letting her in the living room more and more. It is easier to do after Cooper has gone to bed and his toys are picked up. She just seems so much happier to be with us. I can’t wait for the day when she can have free run of the house. The vet said the chewing should slow down after about six months… she’s five now. We’ve found seven puppy teeth, but I think she is nearly done as most look pretty adult. The other night at some point she started to chew the corner of the kitchen wall. Ugh. I think we may need to get the movie Marley and Me and rename it Cierra and Me. But overall she is such a good dog. This stuff, while not desired, is to be expected. At least she didn’t eat a huge chuck of wall… that spot will just have to be repainted.

I had an OB appointment yesterday and all is going great! Her heart rate was in the 140s and she is measuring right on. I’ll see my OB again in four weeks. Wow, these months are going fast! Every time I look at the ticker at the top of the blog I think, “Really??? Only that may more days??? Wasn’t is just at 165?”. And keep in mind that we will likely go a week early, so subtract six or so days.

The other day I stopped in the baby section of JCP and found two little pink and white sundresses. I’ve wanted to find a going home outfit (yes, I know it is a few months away, but…) and I couldn’t decide between the two, so I bought them both with a little pink cardigan and matching booties. I keep telling myself that I only really get to do this once. I love buying little boy clothes and I’m having just as much fun with little girl clothes.

Well there is so much I could tell you, but this will do for now. I hope to be back sooner than two weeks from now.

Welcome to the Hull Three Ring Circus…

Well maybe it’s just two rings for the moment, but I’m sure life is only going to get more interesting. I’m not sure which way is up and which way is down and I don’t know if I am coming or coning. Things seem to be a bit of a blur these days. So I thought I’d write a quick post to let you know that we are still here. I’m not sure what happened in the last week or so, but time has gone very fast.

To start, Cooper is sick again. I had a cold a few weeks ago… nothing much and I was really hopefully he wouldn’t get it. I don’t know if it was my cold or if he picked something up elsewhere, but he is sick. After a few days of him whining and being easily irritated… not fun in a 13 month old, we suspected he had another ear infection and guess what??? He does! I hate to say we are getting good at diagnosing these things… in Cooper. When I asked about tubes the pediatrician said six in a year… well he is on #5. I don’t want to put my child through a procedure just for the fun of it, but I can only imagine he isn’t going to miraculously stop having them. She said we are moving out of ear infection season and we’ll see how he does. But as I remember he had ear infections in July and August… not quite ear infection season. He also has a horrible cough, so we are back to doing the albuterol inhaler. He still sounds rough and I’m walking that line of do I take him in again or wait another day or two. Sure enough it is the weekend which makes that decision even harder. They do have appointments tomorrow morning, if we need to. Poor kid. I know he doesn’t feel good.

Even though Cooper is sick, it hasn’t deterred him from walking. The longest stretch I have seen was about five feet. He usually does about 5-6 steps and falls, but that is an improvement from the 1-2 and falling. I think in the next week or so he will have it mastered. He also continues to climb on anything he can. That skill (hmmm is that what it is?) got him a sore lip and gum yesterday at daycare as he fell off a step stool. They try to keep him on the floor, but any opportunity to climb, he does. Thankfully his teeth are fine and he didn’t get a fat lip. Yesterday he also sat on a basketball, so he doesn’t really have any issues with balance. Silly boy.

Oh Miss Cierra. She is a wonderful dog, but the puppy stage can be challenging at times. In all honesty she is doing great… hardly any potty accidents in the house and she is quick to learn new things. She has sit and down mastered. Last week at puppy class we had a 20 foot lead that we couldn’t hold onto. We could step on it if we needed to. The task was to wander around PetSmart and have her follow us on voice command. Keep in mind this was a Saturday morning with people, kids, and other dogs in the store. I was a bit frightened when I trainer told us what we were doing, but Cierra did extremely well. She listened and followed us. As part of the puppy stage, last Saturday she had to be de-wormed again and the label on the tablets said, “May cause loose stools”… yeah right. Cierra had a reaction to the medication and had brown water coming from her… yuck. On Monday she had an accident in her kennel while were at work. I’m quite sensitive to smells and other things these days… sorry to gross you out, but I started retching while cleaning it up and added to the already disgusting mess. Yuck! Poor Cooper and Cierra sat watching me.

The other night Cierra got the sillies… where she goes crazy running from one end of the kitchen to the other. Well, she discovered that with a good running start she could launch herself over the baby gate and into the dining room to be with us. How she did it without getting hurt, I don’t know. She hasn’t made it over since, but I know she is trying. We’ve been slowing introducing her to the living room. She wants to be with us, but we don’t trust her yet and need to watch her every second. Cooper’s toys also have to be picked up or she thinks she can take them. Once the novelty of the living room wears off she’ll probably be fine.

I’ve really started to feel our little girl move! It is still very faint yet… as I know that won’t last for long… which excites me as I LOVED feeling Cooper move. My belly is popping out more. I’m still having clothing issues as I don’t have enough for maternity shirts, but regular shirts are too short. Oh my, the shirt I put on today works as long as I don’t move, lift anything, or raise my arms. What was I thinking??? I guess it’s time to put most of my regular shirts away until next fall. I love being pregnant… other than being exhausted. I can’t complain I feel really good. Last night I had a dream that she was here and didn’t have a name. In my dream I kept thinking where did those last 20 weeks go and how didn’t we get her named???... I have a feeling the 20 weeks going fast will be a reality, but I hope we have her named before August. Send suggestions, if you would like, but please don’t feel hurt if she isn’t named one of them. And I thought naming the dog was hard…

Well it’s Friday and I’m ready for it. We have determined that we actually get less sleep on the weekends, so here is to hoping for Monday… No, no, no, not really! I love weekends! :)

“g-gl” and pickles…

Interesting title??? Read a little further down…

Well, I didn’t get the ultrasound photos scanned, but I thought I’d give you an update anyway…

It was a fast weekend, but they usually are! It was gorgeous here! Finally warm weather has come. Today it is 63. It is so much easier to do potty training with a dog when you don’t have to get all bundled up and hope she doesn’t go potty in the house in the meantime. Not to mention hoping she would just hurry up and go then it is below zero and blowing. We had a calmer weekend as we didn’t do much. It was nice to have some time to just breathe and relax. I started to clean the bathroom closet yesterday, but put it all back right before bed when I realized it just wasn’t going to happen. Someday we’ll get it done.

Back to Friday afternoon… As you know we had a fabulous OB appointment. Our little girl is absolutely beautiful! Her heart and brain look great. Two kidneys, no spinal defects, no signs of Down’s Syndrome, etc. We saw five fingers on each hand and we have a neat shot of her feet. It looked better on the ultrasound, but they look like footprints. She was wiggling all over… if we thought Cooper was a wiggler, I think she has him beat. It was neat to see her arms move. She had her right arm near her head most of the time that we saw her. She weights about 8oz right now and measures right on for my due date. I saw a resident following the ultrasound as my OB was gone last week. It took him about a minute to tell me everything was fine… which I knew as I had already seen a perinatologist following the ultrasound… another perk of being advanced maternal age. He wrote an appointment request for four weeks and let me go.

A note about Steve’s reaction to a girl… When we started to think about a dog, there was some debate about a male (Steve) or female (me) and which side would win as we knew we’d probably not wait for the ultrasound to decide the gender of the dog. We also knew were going to adopt a dog so we decided to let the right dog choose us. As you know we got a female. So, Steve’s first reaction when the ultrasound tech told us it was a girl was that we needed to go and get a male dog… to keep the testosterone/estrogen balance. No, little Cierra will be more than enough.

So on to other happenings.

I just have to share how much Cooper LOVES pickles. The kid can’t get enough of them. He is completely obsessed if he sees one. Forget any other food. I have a strong love for pickles and apparently it was passed in the genes. Yesterday after breaking off several pieces of a pickle I gave the rest to him… about ¾ of one. I was sitting with him in case he bit off a piece too large. He ate the whole thing! Move over chocolate this kids loves pickles!

This morning during breakfast we heard a word that was something of g-gl. Steve and I both think Cooper is trying to call Cierra “Good Girl”. It makes sense since we usually say something like, “Cierra, sit. Good Girl”. I’m sure he figures “Good Girl” is her name. I asked him where Good Girl was and he looked right at her.

Cooper took about ten steps on Saturday! He is gaining more and more confidence in walking. Soon he’ll be running. Another fun Cooper story is that he is starting to follow commands. I told him to go tickle Daddy and he did it! He is just to fun to watch. He loves to tickle toes.

Have I ever said how much I love being a parent??? No two days are alike!

Sooooo.... Can you guess???

I'll try to ge the ultrsound photos scanned and posted this weekend. So I'll keep this short. We'll be celebrating the news of a healthy baby this weekend! Everything looked great!!! I am excited... now to go buy some dresses and lots of pink!

Another day of anticipated excitement…

Well tomorrow (Friday) afternoon is our anatomy ultrasound for Baby Hull. For those of you that read my blog while I was pregnant with Cooper know I was pretty nervous when we had his ultrasound… and excited, too. This time I am really trying to not get quite as worked up. Why worry? It’s not going to do any good and it will just get me flustered. I am praying for a healthy baby. A great heart and brain, etc. I will be nearly 18 weeks so hopefully this little one cooperates and everything that needs to be seen can be. And hopefully he or she will reveal himself or herself. I know I have had several people say, “don’t find out”, but I really want to know and it will definitely be a surprise. I don’t think it spoils it by knowing early. I loved knowing Cooper was a boy…. partially since it took us so long to finally decide on his name. We probably had him named before he was conceived, but we wanted to make sure that we had chosen the right name. It will hopefully prepare us if we need to buy girl stuff or little boy clothes that are the right season. Knowing Cooper was a boy didn’t change how we felt about him when he did arrive. In fact, I think I may have bonded with him even more after I found out he was a boy. I was so in love with him… and I would have been just in love if Cooper had been a girl. As I said all I want is a healthy baby… that is all that truly matters. So for the next 22 hours I will try to breathe and relax and think good thoughts.

Please hold us in your prayers as we anticipate with excitement in seeing our little one tomorrow. I will try to update this after our appointment.

The privilege of parenthood

I have to share an observation from the other night… well I feel this quite often, but the other night really hit me. Maybe it is partially pregnancy hormone induced or the sermon at church on Sunday on peace and the dependence of a small child on his parents.

The other night I was cleaning out my hall closet (yes, I can’t get all my clothes in one closet, but that is changing… hopefully) in preparation to get stuff out of the closet in the room we are going to move Cooper into. Cooper was trying to help me. Steve then came to join us and the three of us were sitting in the hallway. Cooper crawled on Steve’s lap and started giggling. It hit me really hard what a privilege it is to be a parent. God chose us to care for this little guy, protect him, and guide him. I watched the complete joy on his face in the simple act of sitting on the floor with us. There was a peace about him that all of his needs at the moment were met. Often our days are so busy that we continue to move forward, but we don’t always take the time to appreciate the moments of just being together. I am honored that God chose me to be Cooper’s mom. I know I have said many times that I think that Cooper is an incredible child. He is! There is something so incredibly special about the love of a child.

Life is beautiful!

Introducing Cierra...

Life continues to be rich and full in the Hull house. To add to the excitement, on Saturday the three of us ventured to Faribault, MN to a rescue shelter to see a little four month old black lab puppy. Needless to say, we brought a little bundle of energy home with us. I think we knew before we left that we were bringing a dog home. We were to see another dog that day, but we never made it up there as I fell in love within moments and about 45 minutes later I was paying for her and we headed back home.

Cierra (meaning black in Irish) is quite the little girl. She is a typical puppy starting the chewing stage… she is teething and needing to chew… sound familiar? She and Cooper seem to be at the same stage on many levels. She is doing well with potty training. She hasn’t had any accidents in her kennel at night or while we are we’ve been at work. She has had a few potty accidents while we are home and didn’t catch the signal right away (we are still learning, too). But no poo accidents since the one on Saturday. She can sit on command and Steve has her shaking for treats. We need to work on her lying down and staying. She is jumping up, but knows that she doesn’t get any attention until she gets down. Cierra loves to play ball, but being 4 months tires pretty easily and needs frequent “dog” naps. She does really well on a leash and walking. Right now I would guess she is about 30 pounds (we’ll find out when I take her to the vet this afternoon), but her foster mom thinks she’ll get to about 70 pounds. Her mom was Black Lab/ German shepherd. They don’t know what dad was, but since she looks all lab, they think dad was likely a lab, too. She had four brothers and four sisters. She was the largest female. One of her brothers had feet about the same size as Cody’s. They will likely be big boys. She is so small right now (compared to what we are used to) that it is hard to imagine what she will look like full grown. I hope she is big.

As for Cooper, he is enjoying watching the puppy. We are keeping them separated as she has a bit too much energy for Cooper, but someday I think they will be best friends. He has started to feed her Cheerios in the morning and she has started to figure out that they taste good. She doesn’t know to beg yet and hopefully won’t.

Cooper said his first real word… “Hi”. And he loves to say it and wave. Sunday night he started with it and hasn’t stopped. He often initiates it and wants a response back. Apparently the daycare director had some visitors in yesterday (I think it was their accreditation) and he had to say to each person.

Last night Cooper and I spent about twenty minutes pulling off and putting on the cap to a cardboard mailing tube. He was determined to figure it out. Watching his facial expressions was interesting. I’d swear I could see his mind at work. I have a feeling he is going to be quite analytical in his thought processes.

Here is another picture of his climbing adventures. He actually stood up on his feet, too. He has started to climb on objects to reach things that he shouldn’t. He needs a rope and a helmet… and a climbing wall.

As I said life is interesting. It’s no wonder I forget that I am pregnant, other than when I can fall asleep sitting up. We are busy… perhaps a bit crazy at times, but it is all wonderful!

One year photos...

Mr. Monkey

Now that I haven’t done a “real” post for what seems like months… other than pictures, I thought I would try to get one out. As I’m sure you can imagine life is interesting and busy!

Cooper had a fabulous birthday and was spoiled. You should see our living room. It looks like a toy store... including what he got for Christmas. He is still obsessed with his tool bench. Last Sunday we took the hammer and wrench to church with us. Other than that he just loves to play will all of his toys. He’ll spend time with one item and then go onto the next. There are times that I think, “Wow he hasn’t played with that in a while” and then he plays with it for days. He loves books. Of course being curious and adventurous is always fun, too. Anything he shouldn’t get into he does… or tries to.

He can stand unsupported, but hasn’t taken that first step yet… at least a successful one. I’m sure when he does it will be a flat out run from there on. He has started to climb on things… hence the name Mr. Monkey. He made several attempts at crawling on top of the trunk I have. Once he mastered it, he does it in about half a second. He is so good at being able to get down. He turns around and reaches with his feet for the ground. Wow, how does he know to do that and not go over head first? His new trick is to get both knees on his race truck and hold onto the handle at the back. He is trying to stand up on it and I have a feeling it won’t be long. Steve was saying it was probably a good thing we took down the tree in the front yard as he would be climbing within a few years… now we only have about fifteen other trees for him to climb.

His other top front tooth is coming in… finally. It seems like we keep seeing it and then it goes back up, but I think it is here to stay. He loves that he can bite into crackers and cookies… those teeth are good for something.

He had his 12 month shots and came in at 21 ½ lbs and 29 inches long. He is growing up! So far no signs of a reaction to the MMR, chickenpox, or Hepatitis A vaccines, but they usually start about 7-12 days out so we still have a few days. They so wonderfully tell your child could actually get chickenpox from the shot… great… we’ve had enough illness. Oh, and I just happened to ask them to check his ears as he had an ear infection a couple of weeks ago and was pulling on his ear and acting a bit crabby at night and yes, he had another ear infection. More antibiotics! The Amoxicillin went down great, but the Augmentin he hates.

With allowing him to sleep with us when he’d wake up during the middle of the night for four weeks, we are struggling to get him to sleep the entire night in his crib. Some day…

For those of you that followed my blog while I was pregnant with Cooper will enjoy (or cringe) at hearing that the clothing saga of the last pregnancy is starting again. I am at that weird body stage. It looks like extra pounds instead of a baby bump. I have “too much” for regular pants, but my maternity clothes are really too big. Ladies you might enjoy this… guys skip this part… Yesterday I wore non-maternity tights with a dress. They fit on Friday. Now they want to roll over the “bump” and continue rolling. I’m afraid I am going to walk down the hall with my tights around my knees. Now that would be an embarrassing sight! So let the clothing saga begin!

As for Baby #2, all looks well. We will do the anatomy ultrasound on March 13th. It is a little earlier than the normal 20 weeks, but hey it’s the special attention you get when you are labeled “advanced maternal age”. I’m not 80, but that term makes me feel like it. We’ve seen the little one three times. Two weeks ago it was curled up and didn’t want to be measured from head to rump, but the doc said it looked like a 13+ week baby… right on track. My due date is August 15th, but since we are planning to do a repeat c-section it will likely be the 10th. I have had many requests for “special days”, but unless one of those days is early and this one comes early it probably won’t happen. All I can say is the next five months are going to go fast! We have so much to do. Thankfully we have all of the big baby stuff we need… crib (but Coops will need to transition to a toddler bed early), car seat, bottles, pump, diaper bag, etc. Of course if this is a girl we may need a little bit of pink and a few dresses. If it is a boy we have lots of blue, but they will be of different seasons size-wise. All in due time we will find out… or in a little over two weeks. This pregnancy is so different from Cooper’s. I’m so busy that I often “forget” that I am pregnant. There isn’t the luxury of going home after work to take a nap or going to bed by 8pm. But when I do think about it, I am excited! It is all wonderful. We are so blessed and will be blessed even more.

Well, I suppose that is enough to get me back to blogging. Take care!

Cooper would like to announce...

He will be a big brother around August 10th!

More details to come. :)

First Birthday in photos...

Cooper's cake




Getting my hands in it

Yummmmm!!!! A bit messy, but yummy!

My new tool bench. Papa would be proud.

My giraffe from Jackie and Kyle. Hugs!

Mommy got me balloons!



Have I said I love my tool bench???