Our first week of bliss!

We have had such a great week! A whole week already, I can't believe it-it feels like he has just always been here. We love this little Will so much already!!!! He is finally starting to get into a good sleeping routine at night and so the days are a little easier. My recovery has been quick and I am trying to not overdo it, but I am so thrilled to get things done and clean and feel a little caught up. Owen is so good with Will too. It is really funny to watch the two of them together. If I show him Will and say this is your brother-he has no response whatsoever, but if Will is kicking or making noise, he comes over and touches his head or his feet. CUTE! He is really gentle with him and it is such a blessing to be surrounded by my wonderful boys. Here are a few of the many great moments I have been quick enough to get my camera for.

We have a new addition to our family!

Well, for those of you that are curious here is how it all played out...

I started having some heavy duty contractions about 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday night. They were starting to get about 5-7 minutes apart and so we called Whitney (a minute to praise this wonderful lady-she dropped everything to watch Owen and stay the night so that Zac could be there with me, and stayed most of the next day to make sure he was okay...we can't thank her enough for being there for us...Owen loves her and they had a lot of fun playing), and she came right over and we went as fast as I could coerce Zac to drive and we were there by 6 p.m. and man alive, was I feeling it.

By the time I got to the hospital I was dilated to a 5 and very anxious for drugs. :) I got my epidural and within an hour I was at a 7. They broke my water and we were well on our way to the end. He was born at 8:36 p.m. and our nurses and the on-call doctor were wonderful! We felt so lucky. He had a little too much in his lungs when he was first born and so they took him to the NICU for an hour to keep an eye on his breathing and then he was brought right back to our room. He got a bath and liked it for the most part and just wanted to sleep and cuddle which was great for all of us.

We had a hard time settling on a name. We went in with a list of about 25 or so names that we both liked and then we progressively narrowed it down until we settled on William Hendrix Cook. We'll call him Will. It just fit and we love him so much already!!!! He is really content and only cries when he's messy or we have to wake him up to nurse. We had Whitney come visit yesterday and it was really fun to show him off. My parents got here last night and have been able to spend some time with him too. I think he's won us all over. We left the hospital this afternoon with a sweet new addition to our family. Owen was a little curious to see him when he first got here and wanted to touch him on the cheek a little. CUTE! Here are some pictures of our little guy!

Observation

I think it is so funny that I am 10 times happier the last week or so than I have been in awhile. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have my husband back now that finals are over, I don't have to be careful about "doing too much" I am having so much fun playing with Owen more, getting around and getting some exercise and just getting things done in general. We are getting so excited for this little one to get here and to hold that sweet little one in my arms. Owen has been sooooooo good lately! He is almost always good, but he had a sore throat for about a week or so and so he was a little grumpy, but now he is back to his old self and he's smiling and laughing all the time. What a cutie!!! When I think of having another boy even a little bit like Owen, I get so excited!!!! We are so blessed and I really do feel it all the time. Here's hoping the happiness holds out before my body gives out and that this little one gets here soon!

Just a note...

I had one of my emotional breakdowns yesterday (that comes with pregnancy hormones) and my good husband sat right next to me, put his arm around me and reassured me that everything would be okay. All the stress I carried with me for a few hours just melted away. I felt so much better and just loved. I feel so blessed to have a good husband that loves to make me happy and genuinely wants to cheer me up even if I just have crazy random emotional explosions. Thank you love!!!

Owen is two today!

I honestly can't believe that my sweet little baby is already 2. I still remember the excitement of him joining our family. We had just gone on a trip to Pocatello (where I jumped on a trampoline) and within a couple of hours of coming home, I was having contractions. And before I knew it he was in my arms. I remember thinking there was never a sweeter baby. He was ours. I remember getting so excited to think about what he would be like as he got older, the things he would like to do, and what kind of personality he would have.

He is such an amazing boy and I love him more than anything. He is so fun and adventurous and not afraid of anything. He always wants to run and play and just try new things. He is so cute too! And I get to be his mother and see him EVERY day! That is so incredible! I can't wait to watch him grow into a young man and continue to make us proud! Love you Owen!!! Happy Birthday! We love you so much!!!!

Owen's Birthday and Other Stuff

We decided to cheat a little bit and have a party for Owen's birthday a little early. He turns two on Wednesday (December 1st), but with all the family around, we decided to party right before Thanksgiving. It was so much fun! Owen got really curious about the gifts as you can tell. You may not be able to tell by his facial expressions, but he loved having his cousins buzz around and hand him presents. All the kids were soooooo cute!!!

This is one of my only profile shots while pregnant. I always forget to do it. I only have 4 weeks left and I cannot wait!
When all the snow came we got really excited for Christmas and decided to put up our tree and some decorations. Zac found this screen saver of a fireplace and we listened to Christmas music and set the tone for the season. Owen likes the tree and actually does really good about not playing with the ornaments. Our kid rocks!!!

Christmas projects...

Okay, so I decided I was going to pretend to be domestic this Christmas and make Owen a few homemade Christmas gifts. Here are a few of the projects I've finished.

I found these two boxes at DI for about 50 cents each and then painted them.

I found this material at DI too for about 2 bucks and so with the help of my mother in law and her sewing machine and beans, I made 6 bean bags with the tassels, because he likes those.

The final one that I am almost done with are these picture albums that I got at DI for 1 dollar each. I will insert colored sheets that say " Mommy", "Daddy", "Owen", and so on and then our pictures below it. I figure they will make good quiet books in church and help him to remember who everyone is.

A really great birthday

So, my sweet husband set up a babysitter (my sweet friend Whitney-who Owen loves) and he took me to dinner and a movie. We went to see Mega Mind and we both thought it was hilarious!!! Then we went to dinner at Cafe Rio. YUM! He did good. It was so nice to just away from life and everything that's been going on lately. Last week was a rough one for me and so it was just what I needed and I think he knew it. Thank you love for a great birthday!!!!

3 new posts including Halloween

Right before Halloween, we went to our ward's Fall Festival. This year was a lot of fun, with soup that was soooooo yummy and games for the kids and just a lot of socializing. Owen was our little monkey and boy was it fitting. He was all over the place and so excited to see everything. He tried a lot more candy than he normally does, but come on now....it was Halloween. :)

The Corn Maze

We went to the corn maze the other night with Owen and he was soooooo cute! They had a little train ride that he liked to watch go by and then he was fearless when we went into the maze. He would just run all over the place and liked the freedom of it. It was pretty dark and he didn't seem to even notice. When we got done with the main corn maze, there was a kid size one that he could go in by himself and he loved that. I'm pretty sure he's just cute!

A day at the park

This is random, but we went to the park the other night and we just got some cute pictures while we were there. Love this kid!!!!

One beefy post because of all that happened in one beefy weekend

In case you can't tell, Grayce is tickling Owen's toes. He thought these girls were pretty fun!The girls were so funny. They kept telling me that Owen needed pushes. What sweethearts!!!

Big smiles from Grayce.

Believe it or not, he actually wasn't trying to take Maggie's toy. He liked sitting with her.
I thought this was adorable!!!

My sister showed us where Owen could go and feed some nearby sheep. He liked the sheep, but had a little more fun just throwing grass.

The girls were really cute to watch. They got excited when the sheep would eat out of their hands.

It was one big race when we got to a place that the kids could run. Owen loved how fast the girls could run and even kept up pretty well. This made nap time come all the quicker too.
There was a LOT of stuff going on this weekend! On Thursday night I went to my sister's house in Ogden and stayed the night. My baby is all about consistency and kicked me nearly all night (like he usually does) and I didn't sleep a lot. Then in the morning I headed to Lehi to visit my other sister and her cute kiddos. (Pictures above). We went for a walk and fed some sheep and played in the backyard. The kids were so good with Owen and I loved watching them all together. We had so much fun and I was so glad I went. But, by the time I went home, I was exhausted and ready for a break. I decided I would take a long hot bath and just take it easy.

Well, when I went to get out of the tub, I was hurting a lot, but I figured I was just worn out. Then, about half an hour later, I had a contraction. Then a few minutes later I had another one. Well, after about 8 or 9 in a half hour (and they were intense), we decided it was time to go to the hospital. We called a good friend to come and listen for Owen, who was thankfully asleep and we headed to the hospital. After a couple hours worth of monitoring and a shot to stop my fairly consistent contractions, we headed home. I was told to take it easy. So, what did I do? I went the next day to Pocatello for my girls day.

I know that probably sounds crazy, but I thought really hard about it and I was excited to have a day with a slow easy going drive and then a baby-less day with my really good friends. I sat a lot and didn't do hardly anything. It was perfect! We all had such a good time. We caught up and just laughed. Life is so busy and so much happens in just a few months and I was really excited to be there. The only downfall was that Lisa wasn't able to make this one. She is such a blast and it made me miss her. But, I could easily understand her not being able to go. We just need to plan another one after our little ones are born, so that we can have an excuse to see each other again.

So, that's it! That was my insanely crazy weekend last weekend and I have been pacing myself and taking it more easy this week and I can tell it's making a difference. So, here are some pictures from both my day with my sister and my girls day. Enjoy!