3 years and 6 months

Cohen has been 3 for well...3 months now, which is really quite impressive I have pictures of him only 3 months late. I was really good at getting his interval pictures when he was young but now my time disappears into thin air and his "head shot" photos don't get taken regularly anymore. I'm afraid 3 months late is as good as it gets:) He started preschool in August and after a couple rough weeks, he really likes it. Josh and I love hearing all the fun things he does and he can't WAIT for his Halloween party at school. He's already made a few friends in our new neighborhood that he really enjoys playing with. So thus far, we are liking our new area. This morning he was playing with a measuring tape and measuring everyone. The conversation went like this: "Mom I'm 45 inches tall. Let me measure you." After quickly "measuring" me while I was laying down he said "Mom you're 43 inches tall." Me: "Wow I am?", "Yes, but Shya is small. Hmm, let me see Shya, you are 43 inches small." That put a smile on my face. What a good way to start my day.




Shya on the other hand, I was 10 days early for her 6 month pictures!!! Yahoo! However I keep forgetting to schedule her well check-ups on time so I still don't have any 6 month stats. She is such a serious girl. You really have to work for her smiles, unless you're Cohen, she just thinks his shenanigans are plain funny. At least somebody does:)
Here's what she's been doing:

~Rolling over constantly
~Sitting without support for 20ish seconds, before toppling over
~L.O.V.E.s her jummper
~Longs for food (I've given her tiny bites of butternut squash but haven't actually started feeding her)
~Still dislikes a pacifier, even with my many attempts addict her
~Dislikes her car seat unless she's a sleep or eating:)

Family Pictures

We have ZERO family pictures displayed in our home. I've been wanting them for an extremly long time but just haven't committed. We FINALLY took pictures a couple weeks ago and I love them! Here's a peek.

4 months

Shya is actually 4 1/2 months now but these pictures are from 4 months. At her check up she weighed 13lbs (40%) (Cohen weighed the same at 4 months but was only in the 10% for boys) and she was 24in (40%...I think). She has started to roll over, but not consistently. She loves to watch whatever crazy thing Cohen is doing and she has definitely started to express her self and throw tantrums. She's really becoming quite dramatic, which actually makes me laugh because when Cohen was a baby he was so mellow. The two kids couldnt be more different. I just hope that continues on into the 2's and 3's because the stage Cohen is in right now, basically makes me want to pull my hair out. :)

Bountiful Basket

I'm putting in a plug for Bountiful Baskets. My sister saw it on a friends blog and told me about it a few months ago. Since then, I have found that many of my friends already knew about bountiful baskets. Completely rude they didn't share their info with me. So now I'm sharing the news. I've only done the basket twice and the first time I wasn't completely convinced it was worth it but after giving it another try, I've decided its totally worth the money. Plus it makes our family eat healthier because we're trying to use up all the fruits and veggies. I haven't tried the bread basket...but I've heard its YUMMY!

For $15 I got:
1 C antelope
2 Bunches of bananas (9 to be exact)
1 Box of strawberries
1 HUGE bag of purple grapes (that are delicious)
8 Nectarines
10 Pears

1 Stalk of celery
1 Head of Romaine lettuce
1 Bag of big carrots
5 Bell peppers
3 Spears of Broccoli
10 Large tomatoes

They have tons of pick up locations. Here's their website: http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

TP Farm

I took Cohen to a local farm with my friend Megan and little girl Savannah a couples weeks ago. And I learned Cohen is becoming such a little boy. He spent the whole time climing all the fences and rock walls just to get a little closer to the animals, and when that wasn't close enough... he crawled into the cow pen (I had to climb the fence, chase him down and climb the fence again with him under my arm just to get him out.) I'm sure the crowd watching me thought it was pretty hilarious. Megan couldn't find the camera fast enough or I would have had picture documentation! I'm telling you, this kid is tricky. I swear when it comes to leaving any venue with animals, I have to drag him out and then he's asking to go back before we even get home. What can I say, the kid LOVES animals.

Farm Party!

Birthday at the Zoo

One year older and mischevious too...

Our little Co is 3 years old! He seriously cracks us up on a daily basis and also pushes our buttons till no end. Lucky for him he knows how to use his get out of trouble smile and laugh that makes it hard not to crack a smile. And he's got negotiating skills of a 30 year old instead of a 3 year old. He LOVES animals and asks to go to the zoo or the farm on a weekly if not daily basis. Given his love for animals, we decided to have a little farm party for him. . We played farm games (that held 3 yr olds attention for about 30 seconds) and had a tractor pinata that the adults had to break for them. We also had a pony come so all the kids could take rides around the backyard and then shot off fireworks Josh picked up on his drive home from New Jersey. The kids had a blast! On Cohen's actual birthday we took him to the zoo, which of course he loved! Within 10 min of leaving he was already asking to go back. His memory still astounds me and he surprises me quite often with songs that I didn't know he knew all the words to, including his letter sounds song. (The "A"says aahh, the "A" says ahhh. Every letter makes a sound the "A" says ahh!)

His current favorites are:
~Singing "Old McDonald" (he's pretty creative in making up is own verses...he gets that from his dad)
~Singing I love to see the temple and Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam
~Eating crackers morning, noon and night
~Nursery (after Shya's blessing he was pretty upset we weren't staying for our classes)
~Hot dogs and Jello
~Jumping on the trampoline, or jump off of anything for that matter
~Running (in circles around the house, in the backyard or away from you, he must get that from me)
~Playing with friends and cousins
~Animals
~Growling

His current dislikes are:
Vegetables
Bedtime
Watching "not fun" shows
Playing by himself

Funny/embarrassing things he's said recently:
~Calling McDonalds "Old McDonalds"
~"That lady has a BIG bum!"
~Dating back to when I was still pregnant with Shya he use to tell his toys he couldn't carry them because they were too heavy for his belly. (That's what I would tell him when he wanted me to carry him) Or if I told him I'd watch him jump on the trampoline he would tell me he couldn't cause his belly was too big.
~"Seriously Bro!!" (Someone listens to his dad VERY closely)

3 Months

I can't believe it's already been 3 months. Ever since I put Princess Shy on gripe water and an acid reflux medicine she has been a dream. She is so content to watch whatever her brother is doing, staring at her colorful Larry the Lion or trying every way possible to watch the tv. She gives the best smiles, especially if you're the one getting her up from her nap! She sleeps 12 hrs at night and 2, 2 1/2hr naps during the day and some times a little cat nap if she can't quite make it to bedtime. Today was the first time I really got her laughing. I love the sound of little kids and babies laughing. She's wearing one of the little dresses and headband/flower I made her before she was born and its already starting to get too short as a dress. Shirt and skirt...here we come!

Because 1 piece swimsuits just weren't modest enough...

this lady took it to the next level!!! While searching for this swim place in town that makes custom swimsuits I found this ladies site. She makes her grand kids model them. Thank goodness she wasn't my grandmother!! Nothing like being fully clothed in the water!





http://www.swimmodest.com/modestswimsuits.lasso

I still never found the place I was looking for. Anyone know what it's called?

4th of July!

This was me 3 years ago...less than 2 weeks to go before having Cohen. And now he is a big boy! He will be turning 3 in just 2 weeks and I just can't wrap my head around it.

Here are the kidos this 4th of July.

(11 weeks old)

4th of July after church. This was the 1 and only picture I got before Cohen decided he no longer wanted to hold Shya and pushed her off. Gotta love 3 year olds!

7 years and 2 kids laster...

Last week we celebrated our 7th anniversary. Its hard to believe its been 7 years already. It's still so strange how 7 years can go by so fast yet when I think of the first year we were married it seems like a distant memory. As this anniversary approached I asked Josh if he could remember what we did on past anniversaries and what presents we got each other. Apparently we don't have great memories or maybe we just didn't do anything memorable. We remembered a few things but we were only positive what we did and got on our first anniversary and the other 6 sort of just blended together or were forgotten. We started reminiscing on "fun" things that just the two of us have done together and it seems like a life time ago. Apparently we need try a little harder at making our anniversaries "memorable" and vacations with our kids for that matter.

Happy anniversary babe! I hope the next 7 years slow down a bit. By then we will be out of the baby and toddler stage, and sadly our sweet baby Shya will be 7 and Cohen 10. One day, too soon, we will only be able to wish we had toothpaste and balmex to clean up, kids to put in time out and children waking us up at 6:30am asking for some crackers and to "play toys" or watch cartoons.

Thank you! Thank you!

I seriously can't thank all my friends and family enough for all the yummy lunches and dinners and help with Cohen while I've been adjusting to 2 kiddos. You know who you are...so thanks!

Happy Mother's Day!

I find that in times of my own parenting difficulties, I really appreciate my own mother so much more and seriously question...how did she do it? My almost 3 year old has been a "tester" since about 20 moths old. He has never really been good with change, and with multiple big changes in our life lately (moving and having a new little sister, among other things) his testing and defiance has gone up about 10 notches. I know many children go this this stage, but I marvel that my mom is still standing after raising my siblings and I. I just have one in the stubborn, tantrum throwing, mess making, his way or the highway stage. Which is why I often wonder how my mom did it. My mom had 3, that's right 3, under the age of 3 (this does not include me). And my oldest 2 siblings were nothing short of a handful when they were young. And again I think...how did she do it? There are days when I call my mom crying because I just don't know what to do to gain control of my 2 year old. She could say she had it worse (because she did) and that she doesn't feel bad for me. Instead she offers words of encouragement. So thanks mom for understanding and being the best mom ever. Happy mother's day!

And thanks to my husband. ..who really went all out this year. He took me to yummy dinner, then on a little post-pregnancy shopping spree and then to a movie. He got up in the night with our 3 week old baby girl (that was my mother's day request). Then made me waffles for breakfast and... did the dishes all day! Happy mother's day to me!

Shya's Photoshoot

My friend Megan is the best Craigs lister ever! Last week she was looking at who knows what on Craigs list and found a lady who had only posted an ad 15 min earlier, advertising that she needed a baby girl model who was less than 2 weeks old to model head bands and some hats for her. She was willing to give the mom a disk of all the pictures for her time. Her website looked really good, so I called her up. Lucky for me, Shya got professional pictures for free. And she will now be the model on this guys etsy sight for his headbands. . She was 9 days old at the time (tomorrow she will already be 2 weeks). The lady kept gushing how pretty of a baby Shya was...and I just kept saying "I know!" because of course I think my baby is beautiful!
Here is her blog to see a few more pictures: http://www.chelseastirlenphotography.com/blog/

I will get my proofs back soon. I can't wait!

Shya's Story 4/15/10

Wednesday April 14th I was 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant, I had my 39 week appointment that morning. I was hoping to have made progress from 38 weeks but after being check...no such luck. I found it surprising that I wasn't very depressed leaving the office that day, like I had been after my 38 week check-up. But, I think I had come to terms that having another c-section wasn't the end of the world. At my appointment that day we set up my c-section date for April 21, which was 2 days after my due date. And although it was draining thinking that I still another week to go if I made it all the way to my c-section date...my pregnancy finally had an end date. I went home that day, thinking I probably had another week to get stuff done so I played with Cohen all morning. We were outside for hours since it was finally nice weather. We jumped on the trampoline, in which I did a somersault at Cohen's request...much harder than I anticipated when you're 39+ weeks pregnant. Cohen looked for bugs while I half weeded the grow boxes. We moved to the front yard, played a little basket ball, I helped Cohen ride his tricycle, and then I weeded the front flowers while he again looked for bugs and spiders. We went in for lunch, took naps and then went to Brooke's house to play. After catching up on my shows while Josh watched a movie with his team downstairs, he had come up stairs and watched the last couple mintues of a show with me. My back was starting to hurt so as I was getting up from the couch I kind of rolled into a balled position to stretch it out. Josh asking jokingly if he was going to have to take me to the hospital in the middle of the night like on "Thrill of it All". I said no. By the time I was getting to bed it was 11:30. At 1:00, I had a pretty painful contraction and thought I just needed to go to the bathroom. Five minutes later I had another painful contraction. They continued for the next half hour before I woke up Josh. Our converstaion went something like this:
Me: Josh...I don't know when... but we are going to need to call your mom tonight. I'm in labor.
Josh: What? No you aren't.
Me: Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am.
Josh: You can't go into labor...I have to go to work tomorrow...everyone knows you're not going to have the baby on your own, except for you. (take into account I'm waking him up, maybe an hour after he went to bed...apparently an hour wasn't enough sleep for Mr. Cranky pants)

I tried the bath to help the contractions. I seriously have no idea what people are talking about when they say that makes the contractions better. It didn't do jack squat. So since I couldn't sleep anyway, I called my mother-in-law and told her she should start getting ready to come. I hung up clothes, got dressed and finished putting the last items into my hospital bag, in between contractions. By the time Josh's mom got there and we got to the hospital it was 3:30 am Thursday morning. When they checked I was a 3 1/2. So they decided to watch me over the next hr. Which actually turned into an hour and a half because in the time that I had gotten there 4 girls had come in and had their babies within the hour. I hadn't made progress in the hour and a half and they normally would have sent me home, but I think there are 2 reasons they didn't. The first being I had just been checked that morning and I was still a 2, so I was progressing. The second probably more important reason I think they didn't send me home was that I had previously had a c-section and was trying for a v-bac, and although they didn't say it ,were thinking I was high risk. They watched me for a while longer, all while my contractions were getting harder and harder. The worst part was it seemed like my contractions never stopped because my previous c-section scar had been hurting during my contractions the whole time, but it had begun to BURN and continue burning after the contraction had stopped. Just about the time the burning would stop, another contraction would start. It was about this time that I remember thinking being induced is actually a pretty good option (which I will never have) but you skip the crappy labor with out drugs. I never experienced this part with Cohen since I was overdue and had been induced.

At 6:30 I was finally a 4, and they admitted me. Turns out my Dr. was out of town at a medical conference so the Dr on call would be delivering me. I was a tad nervous because I didn't know how another Dr would react to my wanting a v-bac. Because my c-section scar was hurting me so bad I wanted my epidural. They were able to give that to be shortly after being admitted. At 8:30ish the Dr came in and introduced herself, since I had never met her. My Dr. is leaving the practice and a new Dr. is replacing her. Turns out the new Dr had just moved from Grand Junction and my sister had been to her. Anyway, she broke my water and the process began. She would NOT give me any petocin and the epidural totally slowed down my labor. It was a very LONG day of waiting. The good news was this time my epidural was working, up until I got to a 7, then they had to keep upping my dosage. I also liked my nurse, so really I was already off to a better start. We litterally waited all day. At about 5:20 I was finally able to start pushing. I pushed for about 50 min and had Shya at 6:07pm. I wouldn't have had to push for so long but my epidural had slowed my contractions down to 4 1/2 mins apart so I was getting quite a bit of rest inbetween pushes. The nurse and the Dr. probably thought I was crazy because I kept asking them...so she's making progress?? while I was pushing. Given my previous experience you can understand why that was so important to me...I pushed for 3 1/2 hrs and made NO progress. In the back of my mind all day I kept thinking it might still end in a c-section. And I could tell it was in Josh's mind too when he was so shocked that she was actually descending. Lucky for me, I have a compliant little girl who did in fact want to come on her own and give me the best gift...a v-bac.

I've talked to other people who have had their babies both ways and they were right...there is good and bad to both. But I would NEVER opt for a c-section over what I went through the second go around. I didn't even take IB profin once I got home from the hospital and I was on heavy duty drugs for a couple weeks after the c-section. I felt and looked so much better after this birth than the first. I would recommend a v-bac to anyone who has a chance. My Dr. told me in the beginning that my chances of a v-bac were statistically low because I had gotten to the 10, pushed and was still unable to deliver Cohen. So much for statistics.

Pictures of Shya....story to come!

Shya
7lbs 1 oz
20 inches long

More Shya

Just incase you're wondering...

I'm still pregnant. Almost 39 weeks and I'm still pregnant. Its not the 39 weeks and pregnant that's the problem. I went overdue with Cohen. My pregnancies go really well so I'm still feeling good. But you see here's the thing...if you've had a previous c-section (which I had with Cohen, after 3 1/2hrs of pushing) the Dr. WON'T induce you...and they really don't like you to go past 39 weeks, but if they're nice they'll let you go to 40, and 1 or 2 days over but they WILL NOT let you go to 41 weeks. So you see, unless this little girls desides to make an appearance all by her self before my actual due date...I have to have another c-section. And...once you've had 2 c-sections...my Dr has told me I will always have to have c-sections. So please little girl, I understand that you're comfy and cozy right where you're at... and you're welcome to stay for another week, as long as you come out at least the day before your due date!

Vienna Sausage...really?

She's so nasty! I knew there was reason I wanted Kypton to be the bachelor and not Jake. What's wrong with him? And I did like Allie, but I wanted the next bachelorette to be Tenley. PS I love how after the show it say if you'd like be the next bachelor or nominate someone go to such and such site. Like people have a chance doing that...they just keep choosing people from the previous show.

Bird Mobile

It's finished! I've had this bird mobile on my "to do for little girls room" list for quite some time. And in between packing, working and my other daily obligations I've been able to get a few of the projects finished. I made a mobile for one of my friends and I just had to have one for me. I added little pink flowers to mine so my branches had cherry blossoms. This thing is SUPER time consuming, but every time I walk into my laundry room, where it's currently hanging until after we move, I admire my hard work and get excited to hang it when her room. Starting in May I will be selling this gem on my CocoBella blog. Until then... you'll have to keep dreaming of one in your child's room while I'm packing, moving, having a baby and recovering.

Chuck-E-Cheese

Last night we took our little boy to Chuck-E-Cheeses for family night. He has been seeing their comercials on TV for a few weeks now and has been asking to go. Saturday he was pretty persistent about going but we had a birthday to attend. He has only been 1 time, and it was last JUNE (I was at girls camp). As I'm leaving the house with him to go meet J, at Chuck-E-Cheeses, Co tells me he wants to ride in the truck. Last time he was there he rode in this truck that has Chuck-E sitting next to him. Explain to me how my little boy remembers that almost a year ago, when he was ALMOST but not quite 2, he rode in a truck when he went to Chuck-E-Cheeses. Seriously you have to be careful what you tell this kid...he doesn't forget ANYTHING!!! I also frequently hear about when he went with his cousins on a boat last year when we went to Lake Powell. I know I say it all the time, but his memory amazes me. Here are some pictures from the night.

32 Weeks

I've been really bad about taking maternity pictures this time around. Maybe it's because I have another child at home and so if I'm not going anywhere that day I put on sweats...and who wants pictures in their sweats?? And a husband who complains every time I ask him to take a picture, and when its more than one picture, watch out. I think its more that he doesn't understand why I would ever want pictures of my growing belly. Anyway, I FINALLY took one on Sunday. Here is me the day before my 32 weeks is official. I compared my stomach to a picture of when I was pregnant with Co at about the same time...bad news...I'm bigger this time. Ugh! P.S. Ignore the nasty white pasty legs living in a state that doesn't see enough sun gives you. Seriously looks like I'm wearing white nylons. Yuck!

Think Ahead!!!

I'm asking people to think ahead for their CocoBella purchases. I will not be taking orders for the whole month of April. I am due to have my baby the first part of April and will likely have a c-section, and will be recovering the second half of April.

If you know of showers, birthday's, whatever, or even Easter (cute matching dresses for your girls) please let me know ahead of time so that I can have all orders taken care of by April 1st.

Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience.

Christmas

If I would blog more often I wouldn't think it was so time consuming, but lets be honest, probably not going to happen. Time just gets away from me. I can't believe I will have another baby in 3 months, it just seems like we found out we were pregnant and 3 months will be gone before I know it.


This holiday season was especially fun and will always be remembered. This is Cohen's 3rd Christmas, but this Christmas, he "gets" it and it was so much fun to be apart of his excitement.

This year we decided to buy an avent calendar that you fill with your own little treasures. We wanted to start buying Christmas decorations that our kids will look back on and remember every year just like we remember certain decorations from when we grew up. Cohen LOVED getting his "surprises" as he would call them every day. Among his surprises were Toy story and Cars stamps, stickers, rubber bugs, match box cars and candy. The bugs, candy and stickers were his favorite, but probably only the stickers because they always came with candy!

One of my favorite Christmas memories followed a not so great night. This particular night I was doing all the grocery shopping for a Christmas party Josh decided to throw for 40 of his fellow employees. Probably many wives know how this plays out...he tells everyone to come... and I do the rest:) Cohen and I had already been to Costco and were now at Walmart, and Co was a stinker the whole time. There was soap all over everything in the cart because Cohen had kicked a lid off one of the soap dispensers without me knowing, my pregnant body was aching, my high heel boots were long past hurting my feet and I choose the line with the checker lady who literally took 1/2 hr to ring one person up. I would have changed lines but my slimy soap groceries were already on the conveyor belt. I was so done by the time I was leaving the store. Then we walked out side. There stood a lady ringing a bell for Sub-for Santa. Co immediately looked straight up in the sky, gasps and says, "Mom, I hear Santa! He's up in the sky!" He stared into the sky the whole walk to the car, so excited he had heard Santa and still trying to catch a glimpse. What fun the innocent spirit of little kids bring the season. If anyone asked him what Santa was bringing him he would tell them "presents and toys" and sure enough that's what Santa brought him. One of my favorite things was listening to Co tell me what Santa says, "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!" in his sweet little voice.

Christmas eve was fun. We spent it with my parents and I was determined to let Cohen see Santa . Mainly because this year he understood what was going on, and I was never going to get the moment back when my excited 2 year old little boy sat on Santa's lap. The past 2 years he has seen him multiple times (and really could have cared less) but this year we kept missing him. We finally found him at Provo towne centere, just in time for them to tell us we were too late. The people in front of us were the last ones through. I was really disappointed, but there was also a train giving kids rides around Santa, so we opted for that instead. Cohen could have ridden that thing all night! He LOVED the train ride. Then after some persuading/arguing going on from a few people who came in after us about getting to see Santa we were able to go see him after all. Don't think I didn't voice my opinion though when the people who came right after us had 3 kids and were allowed to go through to see Santa. But it so happens a lady who came even after the people they let through was not about to go home without her kids seeing Santa, through a fit, and so they let us both in. Lucky for us! When it was Cohen's turn Josh set him down and he ran right up to Santa to sit on his lap. Of course I was still videoing while the best picture could have been taken with his huge smile so I have to settle with a half smile and a hand in his mouth. But at least he got to see Santa. After Santa we ate at Red Robin (yum!) and went to Thanksgiving point to see the Christmas lights.

That night when we were putting out Santa's cookies and milk, Cohen reached right over and had a bite of Santa's Christmas tree sugar cookie, and a swig of milk...sorry Santa! Then he exclaimed..."I ate Santa's cookies and Milk!" I use the word exclaimed because if you know our little boy, you know he is VERY animated and so full of life.

Since he knows how to open his door and comes to wake us up every morning we had to baby gate him in his room Christmas eve so he wouldn't see what Santa brought him with out us. Christmas morning as he let him out of his room he looked over the balcony into the living room and was so excited! And exclaimed "Santa brought me presents and toys!"

We had a good morning opening presents and enjoying his excitement. We had to help him with the last few because he just wanted to play with his toys. By late afternoon my 2 brothers and sister and their families arrived and we had a house full of kids and chaos. We had 11 kids and all but 1 are 5 and under so you can imagine the noise. They all ran around and had a good time and played really well together. We turned our unfinished basement into a little play room to help contain some of the noise just so the adults wouldn't go crazy. We kept talking about how even 5 years from now how different our Christmas will be because most of the kids will be at least 7 and up and 10 years will have a bunch of teenagers that will sit around playing x-box with all the dads. We had our big Christmas dinner that night and the next day we went sledding. Its always fun for me to see my siblings and their kids. For a few years we all lived in the same state, except for my parents but now we've gotten all spread out, so for all of us to be together doesn't happen very often. The 3 days after everyone left Cohen seemed pretty bored and kept asking where his cousins were. Next Christmas we will have another addition to our family, and Cohen will be able to share his excitement with his baby sister.
Don't think this is what I currently look like at 25 weeks...no, no, no...I'm bigger. This picture was taken at 20 weeks, I just haven't taken any more pictures. I'm always envious of the really tall girls with long torsos who look as big as this when they are about to deliver, but me, that's just half way, my stomach will get twice that big.