What would we do with out Grami??

My mom was gracious enough to come and stay for 3 weeks!!  She got here one week before Cooper arrived and allowed us to go out for my birthday.  We spent that week shopping and getting ready for the arrival of our little guy.  We might have also tried all things to induce labor, however nothing seemed to work.  The main thing she helped with was keeping Caroline occupied!  She took great care of her while we were at the hospital and then afterwards while I was tending to Cooper.  Caroline found a new love of emptying out all of her clothes from her dresser and scattering the clothes around the house.  Definitely not an easy task to keep up with!

And of course while she was here she got in great snuggle time with Coopster!

We couldn't have done it with out you Grami!!  I miss the early mornings the most when you would get up with Caroline and I could keep sleeping!!  :)  WE LOVE AND MISS YOU!

Making our Escape!

 Cooper was born on Tuesday, March 15th and after not sleeping the two nights before, we decided that we wanted to leave early and go home on the 16th. It was so hard to sleep when nurses and hospital people kept coming in the room every couple of hours to draw blood, give medicine, take blood pressure, etc.  We were a little frustrated by the end, but once we got home we might have wished we had stayed another night.  :)  They had taken Cooper early the morning of the 16th to do routine tests and ended up keeping him in the nursery for 5 hours.  Once the pediatrician arrived, they kept him for observation for an extra hour. We kept waiting and waiting and finally that afternoon they brought him back.  Well he had not eaten all day and was worn out from the circumcision that he slept most of the time.  We arrived home around 4:30 that afternoon and it wasn't until around 7 that he "woke" up.  He must have been hungry because he cluster fed every 30 minutes from 7:30 until midnight.  5 WHOLE HOURS!!  I was pretty worn out to say the least and Josh and I needed sleep!  All in all it was great to stay in our own bed and just be home.  We hadn't quite remembered how it would be with a newborn!  After that night, Cooper figured out his nights and days and definitely has gotten into a good schedule!  He's such a calm and relaxed boy and is now sleeping well!  (As well as you can expect for a 4 week old!)

Caroline was waiting so patiently at home and was SO excited when we walked through the door!  She just kept pointing and saying baby and waiting to be right next to him.  It really makes me smile to think about these two together!  Some of the newness has worn off, but he is still the first thing she asks for in the morning!

Here he comes!

Cooper didn't come before his due date so we headed to the hospital the night of March 14th and started the induction process.



40 weeks pregnant on my due date.  A tad bigger than before!  :)

Everything went perfectly this time and was pretty similar to before.  However, things took just a little longer.  We were so spoiled that Caroline came so quickly and was born by 8am, that when morning came and the doctor said I was only dialated to 2.5cm, Josh and I were a little discouraged.  But our little man just wanted to come on his own time!  The nurse started pitocin around 9:30 am and then my water was broken at 11:15 am. The contractions started to get pretty uncomfortable by this point and I really wanted to get the epidural!  However the hospital had other plans.  There was already a c-section scheduled for that morning so the anesthesiologist was going to be tied up for at least an hour.  Okay I thought, I can handle this for just a little bit longer, but I definitely want to get it soon!!  Well, then another lady was having a bad labor and they decided to do an emergency c-section.  This meant I couldn't get the epideral for at least 2 more hours!!  WHAT??  I just did not want to go so far and not get it and was tired from not sleeping the night before that I just started crying.  All of the emotion just overtook me and I couldn't handle it.  I just kept imagining what the pain would be like.  So my nurse was fabulous and kept going to check on the doctor.  They ended up calling another anesthesiologist that just happened to be stopping by the hospital and he came and gave me the epideral.  Praise God!!  After that, everything was smooth sailing and with about 20 minutes of pushing, Cooper arrived! 

After Caroline was born, she had fluid in her lungs and they took her out of the room immediately.  No one expected her to be born so early in the day so it was about 2 hours until anyone arrived at the hospital.  This was such a different experience!  We had alerted everyone when we started pushing, so everyone was ready!  Once Cooper came out, they let us take pictures and keep him in the room for almost 2 hours.  Everyone was able to come in the Labor & Delivery room and meet little Coop.  I hadn't even had a chance to get out of the bed or clean up before all of our visitors filled the room.  Grami was able to get Caroline ready and she came running in the room EXCITED!  She was smiling, laughing and all around giddy for her brother.  We had talked about Cooper SO much and now she was finally meeting him!   

our little miracle!

 COOPER FRIES BOTTS

is here!!

We welcomed Cooper into this world on March 15th, 2011 at 2:31pm.  He came out weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz and was 19 inches long.  What an incredible miracle!  I am just amazed once again at how perfectly labor is designed.  How can you not believe there is a God when a little one enters this world?  He is perfectly healthy and passed all of his newborn tests with flying colors!!  We did have him induced and went to the hospital the night before to get everything started.  He took his time and came a little later in the day than his big sister did, but this just shows his personality so far.  He has been a very relaxed baby and hardly ever cries.  Our first couple nights were a little rough, but the last two have been amazing!!  I can't tell you how much better I feel with a 6 hour stretch of sleep!! 

Caroline welcomed her little brother with such excitement!  She arrived at the hospital and I was a little weary of how she would react to me being in the hospital bed.  There were so many people around, but she went right to Cooper and was giddy!  She was laughing and saying baby and just wanted to hug and kiss him.  I hope this enthusiasm lasts as these two grow up.  Wishful thinking?  :)

Getting Ready

We are definitely getting ready around here for Baby Cooper! I'm not sure how Caroline is going to react to the real Baby Cooper, but she sure knows his name, knows he is in Mommy's tummy and knows his room and toys. I'm sure she's getting a little sick of us telling her "No, that is for Baby Cooper" or "Only babies use those" but soon enough they will meet!! Caroline has her own baby which we have named Cooper and we have taken him around quite a bit. She gets excited to play with the doll and is quite the little mommy.  We are getting close and have 11 more days... if not less!  :)

38 weeks!!

38 weeks down with 2 more to go!! Cooper is going to be here in no time and we are now in the home stretch!  I honestly cannot wait for him to get here, but still really need these last 2 weeks to prepare myself for what is to come.  We are getting ready and so far this entire thing has seemed unreal!! 

AMAZED!!

I am absolutely amazed with everyone around us! All of our friends have already showed so much love, support and encouragement for Cooper and we can tell that he is already one blessed child!! We sure appreciate EVERYTHING!! I was pretty adamant about not having yet another shower for us. Yes, we're having a boy but we have done everything so quickly and have already asked so much of our friends. We've had bridal showers, bachelorette/bachelor parties, baby showers, and birthday parties all within the past 3 1/2 years. (Fast, I know!!) I just did not want to ask anyone to come to yet another one! With me being the second child, I have always insisted that my second child will be treated the same, if not better than the first! :) I don't mind spoiling him myself, but I did not want to ask anyone else to get him presents. Well, everyone sure showed me!! Amanda would not take no for an answer and decided to plan a little "sprinkle" anyways! We had a great brunch last weekend at Breadwinners in Dallas and she had so many little details planned perfectly! I was overwhelmed and overjoyed with everyone that came! It was a wonderful morning and great to see everyone who cared.

Then on Monday the Mom's Group that I am a part of also sprinkled Cooper with love!  It was so sweet and again I am just so appreciative of everything!  I was afraid we would not have enough clothes for this little guy and now his closet is almost completely full!!  Even Caroline walked away with several Big Sister presents!  What a lucky family!

Thank you to EVERYONE!  We appreciate it more than you know and can not wait to show off our little guy!  2 1/2 more weeks!!!