1 Month!

Brooke is 1 month and we are so happy to have her around! She is such a little blessing. She is content and very relaxed...I think she must know that we have our hands full with big brother! :) Here is her update...

• She weighs 9.6 pounds...that was determined by the very accurate weigh myself and then add her method! :) 
• She is on the same routine as Cole was...my mom said it must be me! :) She eats every 3 hours and is sleeping 5 hour stretches at night. Having a baby full term really helps with that sleep stuff! 
• She is awake quite a bit in the morning and then takes a pretty good nap. 
• We have been laying her down in her crib for 1-2 naps a day...she does really well with this. 
• She is still sleeping in our room
• She doesn't really cry in the middle of the night...she grunts. HA!
• She has been a busy girl in this first month of life...weddings, parks, walks, pools, beach, etc. She sleeps through most of it. 
• She loves bath time...it is almost like she gets excited about it.
• I think she might smile soon as a reaction...I think! 
• I love when she smiles in her sleep...so cute!
• She loves her nuk. 
• Cole and her are getting along well...he doesn't want me to take her back to the hospital yet. We have a few moments where he wants all my attention but we are working on it. 
• She is almost done with her newborn clothing...good thing cause I am excited for the 3 month stash...super cute stuff!
• Dressing a girl is very fun!
• We walk every morning...Brooke in the baby bjorn and Cole in the stroller. That is another thing that Cole is getting used to sharing...the stroller. Sometimes he has to be a big boy and walk...poor guy!
• Everything about her is more girly...even her squeaks and coos sound like a girl! :) 

We are having fun and adjusting to having 2 kids. It is going really well I think. I am lucky to have this time and more coming that I won't be working. Even though I did enjoy going to my training this week. Brooke really is a doll and we thank God for giving us this gift! She was meant for us and it is amazing how God plans that out!  I will make sure to post some more pictures of her when I figure out how to add more photo storage...I AM OUT! OH NO! :) Either I will be starting a second edition blog or buying more space...Guess which option Kyle is going for? I suppose after 4 years it was bound to fill up. 

Brooke Elizabeth

I am about 2 weeks overdue but better late than never! Brooke Elizabeth has arrived! She was born on June 28th at 1:06pm weighing 7 lbs 14 oz. She was 20 inches long. She has a nice head of hair and is a lovely little baby! I can't get enough of her! :) Her arrival was forced as Kyle had to go out of town and we needed to be at Emily's wedding! She was ready and the labor went really well. I arrived at the hospital at 6 am, was induced around 7, water broke around 7:30 and baby was born at 1:06pm. Ever since then it has been a whirlwind with family events, healing, and now getting back to our "routine." We will see how that goes. 

Pretty girl looked almost identical to Cole. 

When Cole arrived I bawled my eyes out! 

Family of 4!

As Cole would say, "Two Babies"

My mom was a huge help for the past 2 weeks. 

You can never start too early! :) 

Cole suddenly is HUGE! He LOVES his sister...he is as gentle as a 22 month old can be! 

And now that I can't watch Cole every second...he puts lip stain all over his face and it won't come off for 3 days!

She has lots of pretty dresses!

Strong girl already! 

Cole was showing Brooke what Diaper Head was all about. 

Sleepy smiles...love them!

I can't believe I am taking pictures of 2 kids taking baths together and those kids are both mine! :) 

Today Brooke had her 2 week appointment. She weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and grew 1/2 an inch! Our little lady is getting some rolls...super cute! We love her so much and are so glad that God blessed us with her! We are now back at home after being at my parents for a week and celebrating Emily and Tony's wedding. I am so lucky to have my parents to help me out any time I need. Kyle missed us on his work trip but we are all back and enjoying being home. Next week I am going to try this 2 kids thing out on my own...we will go to the park and to target to start...I know I can do it! :)

38 Weeks and Ready to Go...

Well this baby experience is completely opposite of the last. With Cole I was completely focused on school and getting to conferences! I was so focused on everything else that I never had anything prepared for this his arrival...I had 4 weeks still...and I could get ready in a weekend! :)

Well.......I am beyond prepared this time. The room is complete. The diapers are bought. The bags are packed. AND NOTHING IS HAPPENING! I am a whole stinkin 1 cm! I cry after every weekly appointment and then go do something fun with Cole to get over myself. I am blessed to have this time with him and I really am enjoying it. I feel pretty good! I rest when I am tired and work and play when I am not!
I am hoping for next week but who knows...right! I think it is funny how even my doctor totally expected my "short and small" body to not have enough room for a baby after 37 weeks. HA! Well, obviously I am not that short and small! I am carrying this baby completely differently....mostly belly and not swollen like an elephant...Thank the good Lord! ;)

I  needed to update since it has been over a month. The next update will be her arrival...however long or short we have to wait! Is that a contraction I feel?!?! HA!

Breaking News...

Cole went potty on the potty! I bought 2 training seats yesterday to start exploring the idea because he is ready for that. Well, that was an OBSESSION last night and I had to put the potty up high to stop the madness. This afternoon I was laying down and Kyle was playing with Cole...this is how the conversation went.
Cole: "Potty"
Kyle: "You want to go potty on the big toilet?"
Cole: "Ya"
Kyle: "Ok, lets go."
Cole: "Diapy off."
Kyle takes diaper off and Cole sat down by himself. Kyle heard a stream...and was shocked! LOL He thought it was a joke.
Kyle: "Let's go show Mama"
Cole jumps into bed with me with no diaper on, "Potty!"
And then he had 2 M & M's.

Then Kyle and I were like....what do we do with the pee? LOL
I know this is a fluke but it was fun to experience it and start the exploring of the potty!

Here is a link to Cole doing Pat a Cake...he always says he will share with Josh! Makes us laugh.
http://youtu.be/A14qeZ-kQ40

30 Weeks

Here I am at 30 weeks! If this baby is like Cole, I only have 6 1/2 weeks left....OMG! I will take that extra 1/2 week for sure! :) We are working on preparing baby girls room. My mom, sister, and I made a pillow, curtains, and a wall hanging for her room. We are still working on painting a dresser and another wall hanging. I am feeling fine. You know, sore and tired. The doctor said that she stills has a good amount of room left in there. That's about enough for a pregnant update. 

Cole likes taking pictures of himself...and his newest development is he likes to SHOWER. By. Himself. LOL He will close the shower curtain on me when I peek at him. He loves the bath too but the shower is a new adventure!

Exciting!

In the midst of busy season we realized with all this warm weather we needed a lawnmower and FAST! Kyle even made the comment that we were going to get fined for the length of our grass. Of course, I was ready to borrow a lawnmower from someone but we really needed to get one. So, I searched the ads, Kyle searched craigslist and WA-LA, Kyle found a great deal on a pretty brand new lawn mower. He is REALLY excited! Cole loves it too!

Next up for the Exciting! post is Cole's weight update for 18 months. He is a whoppin 32 inches, in the 43% for height. He is STILL 21 pounds, in the 6 % for weight. Geez Louise! He is highly active so I am just assuming that he has the Dieringer skinny in him. Baby girl was in the 70% during her ultrasound and Cole was in the 50% during his so I am guessing she has the opposite. Poor girl! :) 

Finally, Cole has now learned "No!" He has been saying no to Nala for awhile but never no to a question when I ask. It is great when I ask if he is done and he says no and takes a bite to eat. Today he started the naughty no. I was telling him to sit down at the restaurant and he said "NO!" I totally laughed before I realized that he isn't supposed to be saying NO to me! LOL So, now we are working on being respectful! It is still kind of funny though....

SPRING BREAK for Cole and I starts in 5 days! I. CAN'T. WAIT! 

18 Month Baby Boy and 24 week Baby Girl

Cole is 1 1/2 years old next week! Where has the time gone? He is SO fun! I think this is my favorite age so far! He understands me and I understand him. He is starting to put phrases together. He LOVES to play outside. I think we have been outside every night this week from the moment we get home to the moment he goes to bed. He loves the girls at babysitting. They call him their little brother. He follows them around and they protect him. We took him to a park the other day and he was up and down and up and down the slide over and over again. He is a handful for sure! He is still a little peanut wearing 12 month pants and we finally moved him to 18 months shirts. We have some 18 month pants too but they just drag a bit too much. He eats everything. Ice cream and Mexican food seem to be his favorite. He sleeps a good 12 hours and naps 2 1/2 every day. Cole is such a blessing and he loves his baby sister already. He points to my belly and says baby and smiles when I talk about buying stuff for baby girl. 

The leprechaun's brought Cole some gold coins and turned his milk green! 

Bossing Nala around....

                                                              


  BABY GIRL - 24 Weeks

I am about 6 months pregnant. I feel good, lots of energy until about 8:30pm and then I crash. This good weather has been good for my weight gain. At the last appt I had gained 4 pounds and before that it was 1 or 2 each time. I am running after Cole and taking walks daily. We are slowly picking up outfits for baby girl with all my 30% at Kohls. Her due date is still July 4th but I am hoping for June 15ish.... HAHA! My doctor expects me to be early again...but you never know! I just can't have her from July 3-6. :) This past week I have had the first signs of swollen ankles! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! How depressing! I was hoping to skip that part this time because elephant legs aren't very cute on me. 

I have been posting on pinterest lots of ideas for baby girls room. I really had lots of ideas going and I had a color scheme in my mind but I needed to get fabric so we could start creating. This morning I went to Joann's and below is what I found. I AM THRILLED! It isn't too pink...it is actually more melon colored. It is bright and fun without being babyish. We are going to make a rag quilt, curtains, pillows, bed skirt, and whatever else we can think of. I am going to stay at my mom's for a few days during my spring break when Kyle will be slaving away at work and we will create. I have needed to get the fabric so I could start thinking about wall colors and I might whip up some paint in the coming weeks as well. We do a project a month so it looks like March will be baby girl...I hope she doesn't turn out to be a boy! :)