Catching up a bit...

Alright, so I'm really far behind in my blogging. Where did I leave off? Just before Cooper's birthday. So I finished these for a swap on Craftster:

Then the weekend before Cooper's birthday we took him out shopping (Build A Bear & the Lego Store) & he rode on a mall train for the first time. He was a big fan, especially because he had to have a ticket.

On Cooper's actual birthday, John was working so Cooper & I went to the zoo. We walked around quite a bit & I started having contractions. I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for quite a while, but at some point they got more regular & I realized labor was starting. My contractions stayed about 10 minutes about for at least 24 hours before they started to pick up. In that time I walked around the zoo, slept all night, went shopping with John & Cooper, & we all took the dogs for a walk, so I was obviously not feeling too bad.
Wonderful cousin Karen (a nurse who does home births) came out to our house to check on me (after her bedtime even! & she lives an hour away!) so I could postpone the hospital as long as possible. (Thanks Karen!) A few hours after she left my contractions were 3 minutes apart & even though I was sure we had a long time, John insisted we head to the hospital. My mom (who lives an hour & a half away) was able to meet us at the hospital (and I'm sure she didn't break any traffic laws doing it). As I suspected, we had plenty of time. I was only 5-6 cm. Unfortunately, the hospital insisted I lay flat on the bed so they could monitor the baby, making the contractions much worse & me much more tense. Three hours later when I was still at 5-6 cm I gave up & asked for the epidural. Not the natural birth I'd been hoping for, but it all worked out in the end. Dexter was born after only 3 pushes & he was healthy & beautiful.


We came home from the hospital a couple days later & a swap package was waiting for me. This was probably the best one I've gotten so far - a rocket zipper pouch:

And a personalized toddler busy book:

Shapes that snap on, velcroed finger puppet animals,

velcroed finger puppet space characters,

a magnetic tic tac "toad" game, and buttoned flowers. Just in time too. Cooper got these as soon as he came home from spending a few days with Grandma & Papa Fred & it kept him busy as we adjusted to having the baby home.

The day after we got home we got to see Adam! His training was done & he had a weekend break before leaving for Afghanistan. He has a condo with basically four rooms (living room, bedroom, office, & kitchen/dining room) & we filled it with screaming kids: Zak, Caycee, Cooper, Lynzee, & Dexter. We're getting close to being outnumbered by the kids which is pretty scary, but we had a great time (although Adam's neighbors probably hated us for being so loud; good thing he won't be living there for almost a year). Here's Uncle Adam with Cooper & Dexter (in green eggs & ham shirts mommy made them!):