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!!!

And he will be called...

COOPER!!

We are excited to announce that we will name our little boy Cooper Fries Botts. Josh and I really liked the name Cooper before and think it fits perfectly for this little one!  Fries, although it is spelled like "fries" is actually pronounced "freese".  This is Josh's middle name and the last name of his maternal grandfather.  Josh was very close to him and always looked up to him.  For that we really want to continue the tradition and honor him. 

I am now 26 weeks pregnant and doing really well!  The nausea and sickness is all gone and now I'm just watching my stomach grow quickly before my eyes!  Cooper is a little kicker and prefers to be awake during the night.

The Friday after Thanksgiving Josh and I decided to start working on his room.  We are going to transform Josh's old office into Cooper's room.  The walls were already painted blue and we've decided to use a lot of the decor that was already in there.  This was basically the "catch all" room for Josh's stuff so we are going to continue using his old antique toys and games.  That way those things still have a place.  Unfortunately, there's quite a bit more that had to go.  I guess this is the point in life where you decide what you really need and what has to go to make room for the kids!  Our house is growing smaller quite quickly!  We still have our guestroom though and put the desk out in our loft.  So don't feel too sorry for him!  :) 



The Room Before...

  There might be one piece of furniture that we can't get rid of.  Caroline discovered the office chair and Daddy showed her a fun new game.  The two of them have done this over and over for long periods of time.  It is SO cute to see her laughing.  She's quite the dare-devil! 

 We were lucky enough to receive a toddler bed from Josh's brother's family.  We put bedding on it and set it in her room next to her crib.  So far she has loved playing in it and reading books, but I am just not sure if she's quite ready to transition.  We might just have to buy another crib for a little while...  we will see!

Drumroll please...

And as you can see...

WE ARE HAVING A BABY BOY!!!

Josh, Caroline and I celebrated our new addition at the Cheesecake Factory on Friday night. We wanted to make finding out the gender a special time and we couldn't think of a better place than here! 2 years ago on the same Friday night (then it was Halloween night), we found out we were pregnant with Caroline and celebrated at the same spot. We opened the envelope and were actually both shocked to find out that we will be parents to a son!

It was a little past someone's bedtime so we got our cheesecakes to go and headed home! Caroline and I had gotten some surprises for Josh and a Big Sister Book for Caroline. We had pink and blue bags with some special presents depending on what the envelope read. After Caroline headed to bed, we celebrated by eating our cheesecake and toasting with sparkling apple cider! This little guy is already so special and we could not be more excited!!

It will be interesting learning all things BOY! I have heard many stories already about the differences and the one I'm most scared about it getting pee'd on nearly every day! The joys of parenthood! :)

Have we changed from 2 years ago?