2 months old!

Two months old, already!  This little guy is keeping us on our toes.  He has a sensitive little tummy so he can be pretty fussy and have some nasty screaming fits.  We got him a Rock 'n Sleep Bunny Bed and that has helped him sleep more comfortably.  He goes to the dr. this week and I am hoping she can help us more with his tummy!  He is by far our smiliest and most talkative baby.  His big smiles just melt me every time.  Cooper has taken to watching out for him and talks about him regularly.  We have started to get into a routine when it is just the three of us home.  Throw the others in and it gets nutso!  Bo still loves to be swaddled and loves to eat.  At his last appointment at the beginning of the month he weighed in at 10 pounds 6 ounces and 23.5 inches long.  He has slept thru the night once!  He is a bit of a mama's boy these days...this can definitely be frustrating for daddy.  He is starting to reach for things and loves to bear weight on his legs.  He is growing so fast!

Bo gets a bath

Bo just lost his umbilical stump last week so we finally gave him a full on bath.  He hated it and screamed.  He is so much like Timmy as a baby!  Here are some pictures from the event :)

This is him giving me "kisses" aka trying to tell me he is ready to eat.  It is actually very sweet!

Yup, he is MAD!

Notice Timmy grinning...I am telling him about how loud he screamed during his first bath too!

Silly Cooper

Cooper has been growing up so much lately.  In the last week alone he has grown in maturity more than I expected.  Here are some things I want to remember!

1. He calls me "money" and Ben "dotty"

2. He loves to call Bo by name but still won't say Timmy

3. He loves to play choo choos

4. Oswald is his favorite tv show because he thinks it is about a ball

5. He regularly runs around pretending to being a monster, the other night he covered up his face with a blanket and ran around...all good fun until he crashed into the wall

6. He stinks at eating and sitting still long enough to eat

7. He goes to sleep really easy as long as you read to him and sing with him

8. He uses the phrase C'mon all the time...usually it starts with him waving one hand seeing if he needs to actually talk or if you will understand from just that.

9. He has also taken a liking to playing swords with anything from a key to a bubble wand.  He yells "ha ha ha" as he does it and has remarkably good form.  We have no idea where he picked this up from.

10.  We call him Little Chef because he loves to play with kitchen items and pretend he is cooking.  When I couldn't locate a pan the other day Ben pointed out that Coop had been cooking with it and it was on the table.  Because of this we have locks on the fridge, oven, and microwave :)

He makes us laugh constantly and for that we are thankful!

The delivery of Bo

Boaz Roger made his grand entry almost two weeks ago.  After weeks of contracting, false labor, and just plain exhaustion; I was thrilled when the Dr. suggested an induction.  But I woke up Sunday morning to major painful contractions and some other not so pleasant symptoms of labor.  Since my hubby is a Pastor Sunday morning is not exactly the most convenient time, but we had no doubt today was the day so after a quick stop at an elder's house to drop off the things they would need for church we headed 45 minutes north to the hospital!

My husband has wonderful elders and I was so thankful that we could both feel at peace leaving the service in their hands. All the way to the hospital I was praying for things to slow down so that I could get an epidural.  Things did just that and the rest of the morning was very slow labor but I came in already 5 cm dilated so we knew things could pick up in intensity at any time.  Some friends from church who live near the hospital brought Ben some lunch.  I was starving so he ate outside.  I was thankful he got some good food and was able to keep up his own energy!

About noon my contractions really picked up in intensity.  I put off the epidural not wanting to slow things down.  There were a lot of different things going thru my head because this was my first labor ever that was not pitocin induced. I knew that i was getting into the worst part of labor when i started having random crying episodes before contractions and my body started to shake.  I requested that they get me the epidural...little did i know that two other women in the wing were also requesting it.  I was at almost a nine by the time they got it in.  I was thankful nonetheless!  My Dr. Came and broke my water and let me know that the midwife (a family acquaintance) would be in to help with delivery.  I adore her, so I was thrilled!

Shortly after getting my epidural my blood pressure dropped to 70/40.  That was scary.  I have never felt like I was going to pass out before and I just kept looking at Ben feeling scared.  They upped my iv fluids and my pressure got back up to normal.  All my vitals were good but I continued to feel dizzy off and on...my guess is that my blood sugar was low because I hadn't eaten much. 

 

Pushing took longer then it has with any of my kids but was sped up with me being sick to my stomach...

Boaz came out healthy and beautiful and the crazyness of labor was settled.

Mom and the kids came up to meet Bo and the same friends came back with food for me.  I was never so happy to have a turkey sandwich!  This was by far my most violent and rough labor...just goes to show how each one can be so different!

Adventures with Jaundice and White Blood Cell Counts

Once we got thru labor the first 24 hours of life were very calm for Bo.  Visits from friends and family, lots of pain meds for me, and lots of rest.

But that all changed on Monday night.  They took Bo to do a couple of blood tests and about an hour later came back and said they needed to put him in their equivalent of a nicu under the billi lights.  His jaundice levels were far too high for only being 24 hours old. It was a complete bummer because I love the bonding time the hospital allows...I hated to lose that but knew it was necessary.  As I tried to settle in and get some sleep the on call pediatrician came in to talk to us.  Having a newborn and having a pediatrician wake you up at 11:30 pm is terrifying.  She told us in addition to the billi lights she was going to put an iv with antibiotics on him.  His white blood cell count had come back on the high side of normal indicating a possible infection.  All she could tell us was that it could be nothing or it could be serious. At that point you may as well throw out any rational thoughts that I was having...the hormones and exhaustion were in full force.  Thank God Ben is a very calm man...he talked me down.  I spent the night either in the nicu or trying to block out his crying (which you could hear in our room).  He did not like not being held and it was a rough night.  He got better about that with each hour.

In the morning they moved him into the isolette for more intense billi lights as his newest test showed a rise in levels.  We knew at this time we were looking at him needing at least an additional 24 hours of care and were assured that we would be able to stay somewhere in the hospital, if not on the maternity wing.  That night exhaution had set in big time and I was a crying, hormonal mess...it was not pretty.  We were moved up to a different room, far away from Bo.  I was grateful for the room but worried about being so far away.  That was a long night of trips across the hospital and phone calls to our room paging me down.  At one point I fell asleep in the rocker in the nicu.  I talked to the nicu nurse and mad clear our desire to go home if his tests came back good...i did not want to do another night like that if we didn't have to.

The morning did bring good news!  His results were all so good that they took him out of the lights and off antibiotics.  But we still needed to wait on another round of rebound bloodwork.  The nicu nurse worked hard all morning finishing off everything that he needed to be discharged.  I really appreciated all the work the nurses put in!  Finally about mid afternoon we got the all clear and we started getting ready to go.

He's Two!

He's two! He has dimples that can melt you with a quick flash of his smile.  He loves music and will sing along and dance his heart out.  He loves to watch The Wiggles and Super Why and The Land Before Time.  He doesn't talk a lot, at least not that we understand...but he does have some very clear words.  At meals it is the norm for him to demand a second or third prayer after we say our regular prayer.  He likes the singing prayers that we call the Superman prayer and Johnny Appleseed.  His favorite things to do are play outside, play ball, and read books.  He adores his brother and sister but has very different relationships with them.  He looks to Lucy more as a playmate and Timmy to teach him things.  He refuses to say Timmy's name and seems to get great satisfaction from that game.  If daddy is in the house he wants nothing to do with me.  His favorite foods lately are smoothies, baked beans, and pizza.  We haven't found too many things he doesn't like. He loves to do "cheers" at meals.  High fives are almost always followed up with fist bumps.  He likes to snuggle up with a stuffed animal at night, most of the time it's one bear in particular.  He is a great sleeper! He is by far the most social of our kids at this age...this is especially evident at church.  He is an exhausting bundle of energy, but we absolutely adore him.

Timmy's Baseball Season

The baseball season has officially wrapped up, just in time for the crazy heat!  Timmy had a blast and was able this year to play on a team with kids that are all from our church/school.  Ben helped another dad coach which was great to have the shared responsibility.

This year was a mixture of coach pitch and machine pitch.  Timmy did really well hitting, he seems to have really good hand eye coordination, which we saw last year too.  But this year we saw his power get stronger and it was fun to watch that.  He hit his first home run this year and regularly hit doubles.  Kids all excel in different areas, it was really nice to have him find something he does well and watch that confidence grow.  His favorite positions to play were first base and catcher.  The last two games of the season were crazy hot and the coaches tried to not have a catcher...but Timmy and one of his buddies protested that idea :)

Unless they change the age he will get one more year at this level.  Lucy is excited that she will get to start tball next year too!

Swim Lessons

We had swim lessons for the past two weeks.  Our local pool does a great job with these and the kids enjoy them a lot.  Timmy passed level 1 last year but was barely putting his head under at the end of lessons.  He had the same teacher this year and she was shocked how much more comfortable he was.  

Of course he loved going off the diving board and he got quite good at not needing any lifeguard help with that.

He ended up passing Level 2!

This little monkey had to hang out with me during lessons.  Some days I kept him contained in the stroller and other days I kept him in the fence in baby pool area.  Nothing is easy with a toddler, but all in all he did well!

Lucy is/was as scared of water as Timmy...she was doing her second year in Level 1.  By the end of week 1 she still didn't want to put her face under water.  My good friend Jan practiced with her and was able to get her that over that fear.  And by the end of week 2 she was doing this!

She still didn't want to do the diving board but I am proud of her for going under and learning to swim.  

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Vacation Part 3: Texas

Time for the last installment of the vacation entries.   We spent the last bit of our time in Texas with the goals being to spend time with friends and eat at all of our favorite restaurants.  It has been 11 years since we loved in Austin...so we didn't know how our old faves would hold up.  With each restaurant stop Timmy would ask if the place was famous.

Our first stop was In n Out in Dallas (on our drive down).  Timmy got carsick as soon as we walked in the door. Although it is a favorite of his and mine it was a little hard to enjoy. We gave him some Dramamine and he did better for the duration of the drive and got to enjoy Bill Miller that night.  They have our fave fried chicken...it was disappointing to us but Timmy loved it.  

I did really well getting us hotels on Priceline for the trip.  Here we stayed at Holiday Inn Express...which had a great breakfast and a fun little pool.

I took Lucy shopping at Sam Moon, a giant stor full of jewelry and purses.  

 

We picked up Iron Works BBQ for lunch on our way to visit friends.  It was a major disappontment! After lunch we headed to San Antonio to see the Alamo, Riverwalk, and. More friends.

Early the next day we took the kids to tour the new Concordia TX campus.  It is beautiful!  We won't talk about how depressing it was to drive by the old campus though.  Breakfast for the adults was yummy Taco Cabana breakfast tacos.  every time I have one of those it takes me back to student teaching and treating myself to those once a week.  We had Freebirds burritos for lunch (awesome as always) topped off with coffee from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  That and in n out are new transplants from California, no complaints from this pregnant lady!

We finished our eating tour off having dinner with Kristin at Trudy's.  That was our favorite place in college to have nachos and a good margarita (or beer in Ben's case).  We had the same nachos and they were fabulous, but obviously no margarita for me.  

We did enjoy brownies together though....

We tried to wait for the bats to come out, but it was getting too late and Coop was cranky so we gave up after awhile.  I will have to YouTube it for the older two to watch.

The past two days have consisted of all driving, we are ready to be home!  We had a blast going to some of our favorite places and seeing so many dear friends.  Now it is on to normal summer activities....church picnic, swim lessons, baseball, etc!

Vacation part two: Oklahoma

Oklahoma was wonderful, everything that we remembered and loved about that area still holds true!  We were blessed to stay in a huge room with beds for all of us at the West house.  I call the room the hunting lodge, not sure if I got that from them or not.  The first thing we did when we got to town was stop by the church and visit Pastor Henke.  Seeing him and getting to spend some time with him was a big part of this vacation!

Cooper Thought it was fabulous to snuggle with Timmy, he definitely did not sleep there though!

The older kids got to help Tim train one of his labs for field trials, he was a gracious and patient teacher.  I did not get a picture, but I know it is a memory that will not soon be forgotten by them!  They have a large pond so they were also able to fish!  We became increasingly aware of Lucy's love of the outdoors on this trip!  

Both kids caught four fish!  Gotta love an easy fishing hole to help them see the fun in it.  While fishing Lucy declared this is "the best day ever.". Timmy also commented that he is a good fisherman but is better at being a "fisher of man". I love when my kids get to experience something new or out our normal routine!

It was 60 on Friday and then 90 on Saturday, we decided to give the pool a whirl!  It was cold, but that didn't stop us, just made the swim a little shorter.

If you have been around Lucy and dogs, you know she is not at all a fan.  She really warmed up to their dogs...this picture was taken last night.  Nancy caught Lucy standing and petting Idgy and even had her face resting on her...it knocked my socks off?  They had one dog that was skid dish with th kids, we think that may have helped Lu.  Seeing a dog be afraid of her and having it pointed out by Nancy.

We are so blessed to have friends all over the country, it happens that way in this ministry.  It is truly wonderful to be able to reconnect with them!  

A stop at Pops

We stayed with friends in Oklahoma.  Last time we were there I used an abandoned gas station to know where to turn.  This time it had been completely rebuilt into a fun destination!  The highway is part of Route 66 and this place fits the route 66 idea perfectly!  It is called Pops and it's main feature is they sell over 600 different sodas.  They also sell food and gas.  It has a giant soda bottle sculpture out front that is at least 40 feet tall and lit up with colors at night.  We thought it would be fun to add a trip there to our itinerary and try out some different sodas.

Timmy picked out a cherry (his favorite flavor) to try.  We agreed it was pretty yummy!

I picked all weird favors, just to have fun with it...this is to show our Illinois friends.  Farmers...you don't need to make sweet corn soda, it is bad!  Tasted like corn puffs in a soda.

Peanut butter was another flavor chosen by me and was by far the worst.

You can't see the bottle for this one, it is chocolate.  No one liked it except Cooper, we let him have it!

Lucy and daddy love root beer, so of course Daddy's choice was a hit.

The last flavor we tried was blueberry and it was great, not like I want to have it every day great, but I would definitely have it again!

Here is a shot of the kids out in front of the building, great architecture!

This was a fun place to visit and if you are ever on the road near Edmond or Arcadia OK and need a unique stop, this will do it for ya!

Kansas!

The first portion of our family vacation was a quick trip to visit some cousins in Kansas.  We wont be able to make it to the annual family reunion because of how pregnant I will be, so this was at least something.

Between the two families we have 7 kiddos...it was a busy household!  Add to that grandma, grandpa, and an aunt and it was pure Meyer craziness.  I love this shot of the kids, it is pretty obvious who belongs to what parents!

The inseparable cousins, nothing has change...I love Watching their bond!

I have said it before, the bond between these two is awesome.  She spent at least twenty minutes pushing him on the swing, no complaints and no one made her do it, just pure sweet love for her little brother.

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The two dramatic girls of the families, they kept us on our toes!  The first night together I think they kept each other up until at least ten!  Aren't they beautiful?

I just love this silly pic.  This big boy was my first toddler love and now he is hanging with my current toddler love!

The older kiddos in their spots for the night...these three are so well behaved together it is scary!

We had a blast in Kansas and now we are off to enjoy time in Oklahoma with great friends from our vicarage congregation!

Title 2

I am blessed to have three kids who all love books.  This week I was able to catch them reading with each other and thought I would share the sweet photos.

Timmy is very into chapter books and anything to do with sports.  He has been enjoying sitting in his new bean bag chair to read.  Cooper loves th Baby Bear book from the Brown Bear series.  He is also enjoying books with dinosaurs and all animals.  If  you sit in that chair in his room, he will hand you book after book!  He can keep Lucy there for an hour "reading" with him.

He's 8!

He's 8! How did that happen already?  He's a sweet, tender-hearted little boy.  He LOVES to be at home and given the choice would be at home all the time.  While at home he likes to play basketball, football, and baseball outside.  He enjoys playing games on the Wii and watching the NFL network.  He can talk anyone thru just about anything to do with the NFL.  He also loves Phineas and Ferb.  He enjoys reading and never puts up a fight when I tell him to go spend some time reading.  He is a good eater and will try just about everything once.  He sets a good example for his brother and sister on this one (especially since Lucy will do just about anything Timmy will do).  He also sets a good example for them at church.  Each week he helps me get them ready and heads over to church with a smile on his face.  He tolerates school and doesn't complain too much, but I wish we could figure out how to make him less forgetful!  He was diagnosed with with a mild case of dysgraphia this year and we are still adjusting to that and how to help him find success despite it.  His favorite subject in school is math and he does very well in it.  He is always eager to be helpful at home.  He is like me and needs his own quiet time each day so we are careful to provide him with some "Timmy" only time.  He lives in his sports jerseys that he has either been given as gifts or we've found at yard sales.  He has one for Tim Tebow, Albert Pujols, Dante Culpepper, University of Miami, and a brand new one for Adrian Peterson.  If one is clean, he is wearing it!  He makes each day exciting for us and we love him dearly!

She's Five!

She's five! What a tremendous little girl she has turned into. She is our funniest child, but doesn't like us to actually laugh. She regularly scolds us "don't laugh" and we are forced to stifle our giggles. She loves her brothers and probably is happiest when she is making Cooper laugh and he adores her and loves to play in her room. She continues to love Strawberry Shortcake and was excited when they added a new character this year named "cherry jam". She also loves to watch super why, Chloe's closet, anything with princesses, and anything with music. She is very tolerant of whatever Cooper is watching. She does not like to go to sleep and will usually work her way out of bed several times before actually falling asleep. Her favorite colors are purple and yellow. She loves BBQ buffalo wings, baked beans, frozen waffles, and pretty much anything with sugar. She does not like peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies, cake, or bread. She is emotional and dramatic, I can probably be blamed for those genes. she likes to play with her dollhouse, play mommy, play anything imaginary, and ride her bike. It is a regular thing to find dolls scattered around the house underneath her version of a blanket. She continues to be "ascared" of dogs and putting her face under water, but very little else. She asks a million questions a day, usually they led up to her learning a skill such as the days of the week, months, counting, birthdays. Although the questions get tiring at times it is fun to see her master a concept and the see what she is working on next. She is bundle of joy to us each day and we can't wait to see what the next year has in store for her!