My 2 year old

You are such a big boy now and at 2 years old there is more than just what you are eating and what size shirt you are wearing to report.  I'm not really sure where to begin.  So I'll start with the easy stuff.  You have the cutest curly hair.  Sometimes it gets out of control and we have to cut it, but those curls always come back (thank goodness).   You are super tall, 40 inches (99th percentile for you age group) and you are still skinny, 34 lbs.  You are about as big as most 3 year olds.  In fact other 3 year olds will come up to you and try to engage you to play and you are not quite sure what to do some of the time.








Speaking of play, you are still a super energetic little guy.  Running around the house chasing George or with your truck or wagon is pretty much an every day thing.  Some of your favorite things are your power tools, tractors, dinosaurs, legos, puzzles, animals (especially ones that roar), bugs and of course books!  You have not lost your love for books.  You have not lost your love for dancing or music either.  Your Daddy puts on your favorite song and you start to dance.  In the car you demand, "Mom, turn it up!"  It's too cute!  But don't worry you are all boy.  We don't get to do it much since it's so hot outside but any chance you get, you love to go outside and dig in the dirt with your shovel and look for bugs and worms.  You especially love to go outside and help daddy mow the lawn.  Most of the time he lets you help him blow off the patio when he is finished.  Here's my little man in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtJZjuzahP8  You have also finally figured out that movies and cartoons are very entertaining.  I try not to let you zone out too much with your tablet or a movie but every since Emma Gene has come along I have sort of lost my control of how much you watch it.  I will get back my control...one day.  But your favorites are Curious George, Daniel Tiger, Sesame Street, and the best of all Peppa Pig!!  I learn about everything british when I watch it with you.  It's quite the education.  

You are also obsessed with Santa Clause.  Ever since the January or February after your second Christmas you have developed a fascination with Santa.  He must have made quite an impression on you.  If you don't recall the picture I will refresh your memory.  You talk about Santa almost every day.  You love to say, "Mom, I put my shoes on so I can go see Santa Cause and sit on his yap".  You love santa books, santa games, watching Santa videos and singing about Santa.  I think when Christmas gets here your head is gonna explode.

You talk non stop these days!  You are making full sentences, and have been for a while.  I can make out what you are saying most of the time.  It's much easier if it's in context to what we are doing of course.  But your recall is amazing and at times you will try to tell me about something that happened weeks ago and it takes me a while to catch on.  Your speech is very sing songy (is that a word?).  At the end of the sentence your infection goes up.  It's pretty cute.  You have trouble with your "c" sounds so words like taco come out like, ta-to and okay comes out o-tay.  It's adorable.  So adorable I never correct you.  You also like to overuse the word because.  It's your attempt to connect two of your thoughts when telling a story.  For example, "The monkey and the tiger were chasing, because they were chasing"  Makes absolutely no sense, but so adorable.  I try to cherish the cuteness you possess now.  I want to remember every cute thing you say and how cute it sounded.  It's near impossible.  I look back at videos of you 6 months ago and it's crazy how much you have progressed.  I guess I need to get more of you on tape.  Now only if I could get you to cooperate...

You hit another milestone shortly after turning 2.  You are fully potty trained!  Who-hoo! It took some time but in a month or two you had the hang of it.  I was so relieved to not have to change two sets of diapers once Emma Gene got here.  You really are a big boy now!!

We are so proud of you and we love you so much Wey-Wey!!

Emma Gene is One Month Old!

 Emma Gene you are the sweetest baby!  Who knew babies like you existed.  So far your first few weeks have been much less overwhelming than I anticipated.  Granted it has only been a few weeks.

Let's see, first off you sleep like a champ.  Although you are not near as sleepy now as you were during your first 2 weeks of life.  You get fussy a few times a day but most of the time you are easily appeased with just being picked up or some soothing from the vent hood fan.  You love to be rocked and bounced.  Although you are a bit of a challenge to get to sleep at night.  Sometimes it takes a hour or two for you to finally cave.  You are sleeping pretty well at night.  You usually wake up 2-3 times a night to eat.  It took a bit of figuring out how to get to you to sleep well at night too.  You really hate being flat and on your back.  We tried swaddling which helped a little.  We tried the rock n' play which was awesome until I read something about it causing babies heads to be flat.  So finally But I finally cracked the code, you are a tummy sleeper.  I know I know, back is best.  But you love being on your tummy.  You also love to be held.  Which I try to do as much of as I can.  I'm going to blink and I won't be able to hold you like this anymore.

So far breast feeding is not near as challenging as it was the first go round.  You are an okay eater. You are a little bit lazy and you sure do leave a lot of milk behind.  Eating is definitely not your first priority.  You eat about every 2-3 hours.  Throughout the middle of the day, most days I have to wake you up to feed you.  You wake up just enough to eat and then you go right back to sleep.

We have already made several outings out of the house and so far you are excellent when we are out and about.  You stay very content in your car seat or carrier, asleep most of the time.

Here are all your stats so far:  at your two week check you you weighed 8.10 lbs and were 22 inches long (99th percentile, you are one long baby).  You are still fitting into most of your newborn clothes, except the pj's.  Those you outgrew in week one.  You outgrew newborn diapers in week one too.  So you are in size one diapers already.  You have tons of long black hair and blue eyes.  I'm praying those blue eyes stay!

You are such a good baby!!  You are so little and precious so I'm trying to soak up every little moment that I can with you.  I know how fleeting these moments are now.  I can't wait to see how you change in the next month.  Here's hoping you continue to be my good sweet little baby.

Our first selfies! 

           

      

Hehe, this two make me laugh.

You have already had a ton of visitors!  I got so lucky that your Aunt Page and Uncle Justin were going to be traveling to Texas around my due date.  The Sunday after they arrived in Texas you were born.  So a few days later they came down to Houston to meet you.  Aunt Page was a natural!  Emily and Brian were making their second cross country trip, from Seattle to Durham this time.  They decided to explore the southern part of the US and came all the way to Houston, Texas to pay us a visit.  We are so happy that they were able to come and stay with us for a few days.  I think they got a good dose of reality and decided to enjoy their kid free days as much as possible.  :)

Your big brother Weyland is falling into his big brother roll just fine.  Every morning his first request is to see you.  "Where's baby sister?  I wanna see her."  That's typically what I hear first thing every morning from him.  He loves to hug you, kiss you, pat you, and just look at you.  He is very fascinated.   Granted things are not all flowers and sunshine in the Cook house.  There are times where his hugs are closer to smothering you and when he thinks putting a blanket on your face is just fine and dandy.  He has his moments but overall he is a great big brother and loves you so much.  He loves to tell me "I love my baby sister.  She's my best friend"  Oh my goodness, talk about melting my heart!

Weyland's 2nd Birthday Party!

Let's rewind a little...

On May 27th Weyland turned 2!!  Wow, how did that happen!  We had just recently moved to Houston and had a big birthday party at our new house with all of our family and local Houstonians.  It was a construction themed party with dump trucks and construction hats.  We had a total of 11 kids and babies there!  I didn't even realize Weyland had so many friends.  He had a ton of fun with all of his new friends.  We are so happy all of our friends and family that made it came and celebrated Weyland with us!

On his actual birthday Weyland got a birthday cupcake and had a mini celebration.  Here's a little footage of it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcgUyh6zaY&list=UUXY4gB9lIMFbUy_dKB8No8w

My first time ever making a birthday cake.  I was pretty impressed with how it turned out.

The birthday boy!

Happy Birthday buddy!!  We love you so so so much!

It's amazing how much you have changed in just a year!

Emma Gene is here!

On August 3, 2014 at 8:25am Emma Gene Cook was born.  And your birth story is a good one.  At around 5 am I started having contractions.  They were a little more painful than all the Braxton hicks contractions I had been having for the past few weeks, so I decided to start timing them.  With every contraction I had to get up and move around so in my gut I knew that it was probably the real thing but I wanted to be sure.  So after an hour of having contractions about 10 mins apart we started making phone calls and got moving.

We called your Mimi and Big D to come and retrieve Weyland and we called the Dodd's to make sure they were ready to receive Weyland.  After gathering all of our things and getting Weyland ready we were on the road.  We dropped off Weyland a little before 7 at the Dodds, at which point my contractions were now about 6 mins apart.  Your Dad got me all the way to the hospital (in Tomball) in record time, thank God.  Within those 30 mins my contractions had now gone from being 6 mins apart to only 3 mins apart.  We park and get into the hospital as quick as possible.  After a quick encounter with a very rude and unsympathetic receptionist we discover on our own which floor labor and delivery is on and head to the elevators.  My contractions are continuing to get stronger and closer together.  It is now approximately 7:30am.  We find the front desk and a nurse and get checked in.

I don't think any of us were expecting to hear what we hear from the labor and delivery nurse after she helps me get changed checks to see how dilated I am.  8 cm!!  Holy moly!! I had only been in labor for 2.5 hours and I was already dilated to 8.  She instructs David to forget the birthing ball, that I had plans to labor on, and to come help me.  She fumbles with getting my IV in and ultimately has to get another nurse to help her.  By the time she gets done asking me all the necessary questions and completes her protocol I start getting the urge to push.  But the OB (the on call OB, not the OB I had been seeing for the past 4 months) is not there and come to find out won't be there for another 15-20 mins.  Those were the longest 15 mins of my life.  Our nurse frantically puts some consent forms in front of my face and gets me to sign them as fast as possible (since I'm already dilated to 10).

The next 10 mins I spent begging our L&D nurse to break my water and let me push.  Finally the doctor finally arrived! Hallelujah! She introduces herself, breaks my water and three pushes later you were here.  You were perfect!  You weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces and measured 20.5 inches (although I think you were a little longer than that).  You were born with a full head of dark hair.  I'm excited to see if it stays or all falls out like your big brothers' did.
My heart grew even more full that morning.  Love, that I knew existed but didn't comprehend, was there as soon as I saw your precious little face.  You are my sweet little girl and I love you more that you will ever know.  I can not wait to see how you grow and change in the next year.  I love you Emma Gene!

Your first bow!

Your big brother was very excited to meet you!  He was so curious as to who this mysterious "baby sister" really was.  I think he fell in love with you the minute he saw you.