Found the camera!!!

Okay, all.  I found the camera.  Guess where it was?  My purse!  The same exact purse that I had already went through looking for it - not once but twice!!  Is somebody messing with me or what?  I would've bet you a million dollars that the camera was not in my purse.  I would've lost but you still wouldn't have a million dollars because I wouldn't have it to give it to you!  Ha!  So anyway, here are the promised pictures of the parties.

The first one is of Carissa on the new ride-on/walk-behind toy that she got from me and Daddy.   She loves it!

This one is of the birthday girl lookin' cool on her big day.

These two are of Daddy and his girl. 

Aren't they cute??

The next one is of Carissa checking out her new bracelet from Craig and LuAnn.  She wasn't sure what to think of it at first.  But now she is totally used to it.  The other picture of is her riding her new turtle.  She loves that thing!

This one is of Carissa gingerly touching a little bit of the polka dot icing.

Here she is taking a bath in the kitchen sink after she ate the icing.  This picture really shows off her new jewelry that she got for her birthday.  The "Carissa" necklace is from me and Jason and the new bracelet from Craig and LuAnn. 

This is Carissa listening to everyone sing to her.  The next one is of the cake we had at the party at my Mom and Dad's house.  And the last one is of Maleah blowing out her candles.

Happy 1st Birthday, Carissa Faith!!

We had another busy week here at the Cooper's.  Carissa Faith turned one year old on Friday, March 26th.  I can't believe it has been a year ago that I had her.  It's crazy how time flies by so fast!!  Hold on to your seats, I'm about to take you back down memory lane.  You might want to fast forward a few paragraphs if you're not interested in reading birth stories.  Personally, I love to hear other people's birth stories so I'm going to tell you the whole story...

My pregnancy with Carissa was a doozy.  My mother was a nervous wreck for nine months over it.  Because of Maleah's preterm birth and a few other health problems, the main one being high blood pressure, I was considered high risk.  Dr. Whightsel in Effingham had told me that there was no way he would take me on again.  I was fine with that because I really thought hell would freeze over before I let myself get loaded onto another ambulance when I was in labor.  I decided to doctor at the same hospital where I delivered Maleah, St. John's Mercy in West St. Louis County.  There is an awesome practice of high risk doctors there and a great NICU if I were to need it again.  The downside is that it takes two and a half hours to get there and that is a long drive for a pregnant lady who has to pee a lot.  Dr. Bartelsmeyer kept a really close eye on me and got me to 38 weeks.  There were a couple of hospital stays prior to that but I always ended up going back home still pregnant.  I really wasn't prepared to have a full term baby.  I hadn't really considered that it would really happen.  But one day it occurred to me, "Hey, you're 38 weeks, you're going to get to take your baby home with you when you leave the hospital!"  My next thought was "Oh my gosh!  I don't know how to get a baby on a schedule!".  Maleah came home on a strict every four hour eating schedule.  Every minute of her little life was scheduled thanks to those NICU nurses.  What was I going to do now??  Worrying over that probably didn't help my blood pressure which was already through the roof and continuing to climb despite the bedrest I was on.  Eventually they had to induce me because of the high blood pressure.  It was a little ironic that I had been having to get a shot in my backside (thanks, Jeana!!) for the last six months to prevent me from going into labor and now they were suddenly giving me medicine to make me go into labor.  But whatever.  At that point, I didn't care.

I went in to the hospital on Wednesday night, the 25th of March.  It took them about 12 hours to get my blood pressure down enough to start inducing me.  The next morning they started giving me pitocin in an iv to get my labor started.  I could tell from the monitor that I was having lots of regular contractions but I couldn't feel them.  Then they started to be too close together and the baby was stressing so then they would back off of the pitocin.  Then a little while later they would give me a little more pitocin and the same thing would happen again. This went on all day.  I still hadn't felt a thing.  Then they decided to break my water.  An hour and half later, at 5:31 p.m., little Carissa Faith made her way into the world.  I went from 2 cm to 10 cm in about an hour.  I was determined to have another natural birth like Maleah's.  I sort of did.  Sort of didn't.  The labor came on so fast and so furious that I was having trouble focusing to put it mildly.  I remember telling my mother "What was I thinking??".   They checked me and I was at a 5.  I remember thinking that there is no way I can do this.  I wasn't even at transition yet and it was too much.  So I asked for the epidural (something I swore I wouldn't do).  The anesthesiologist was there and had it in within five minutes I think.  The whole time he was doing it  I felt like I needed to push.  The nurse said something like "well, I just checked you but I'll check you again."  Lo and behold, I was completely dialated and ready to push.  It happened that fast.  So much for the epidural.  It kicked in about twenty minutes after Carissa was born.  The nurse told me not to push because she had to call for the doctor.  She told me it was going to be 10 minutes before he could get there.  Do you know how hard it is not to push when your body is saying "push, push!"?  Extremely hard!!  Ten minutes turned into twenty and my body was pushing and I couldn't control it.  I was sure that the nurse was going to deliver the baby.  The doctor walked in and within two more pushes (Jason thinks three) Carissa was born.  She was 6 lbs, 11 oz. and perfectly healthy.  I got to hold her right away and nobody rushed off with her to the NICU or anything.  It was so peaceful and there was only four or five people in the room.  So so different than Maleah's birth.  Here are some of her first pictures.

But that was a whole year ago.  And now I have a little girl who is talking and almost walking.  Her new word this week is bird.  She says "burr? burr?".  So cute!  We celebrated her birthday Friday night with the Cooper side of the family.  Jason's Mom and Dad and his brother, Craig, and his wife, LuAnn, came over for cake and ice cream.  It was fun and Maleah got to open Carissa's presents because Carissa didn't have a clue as to what she was supposed to do with them and because Maleah was dying to open them anyway.  She got a cute little ride-on turtle from her Grandma and Grandpa and a gold bracelet from Craig and LuAnn.  It looks so pretty on her!  She got her own little cake to eat and guess what??  She didn't eat it!  Are you surprised?  The kid who doesn't like anything doesn't like birthday cake too much either.  It was pretty and had polka dots all over it.  She would take one finger and lightly touch a dot, then she would lick her finger.  She ate most of the dots off the cake and that's it.  The cake and the rest of the icing weren't even touched.  But she still needed a bath afterwards because apparently she didn't like her finger being sticky because she kept trying to wipe the extra icing off in her hair and on her cheeks.  So she did get messy but nothing like her sister did on her first birthday.

Then on Sunday we celebrated with my side of the family.  My best friend from Harrisburg, Jessi, and her mom Becky also came to the party.  It was a lot of fun and Maleah and Carissa both got a lot of presents.  We had another big cake and Carissa had another little cake.  Same thing happened again.  She ate the dots.  That was it.  She somehow managed to get icing in her ear but did not require an immediate bath.   I have some great party pictures to share with you.  But, I can't find my camera!  I swear I'm going to have to get an alarm for that thing.  You know how you can hit a button on the base of your cordless phone and it will help you track down the phone?  I need something like that for my camera.  As soon as I find it, I will post pics!

On Saturday Jason and I took the girls to Cracker Barrel to eat.  Maleah loves to eat and to shop there.  She was mad at me that I cut her shopping short though and made her go to the car.  On the way home Jason and I were holding hands and from the backseat we could hear her say "Oh brother!  There is too much romance in this car."  Even though I couldn't see her I know she was rolling her eyes.  She sounded somewhat amused, somewhat disgusted with us.  Jason and I got a kick out of it. 

Maleah is on spring break this week and she is so bummed about it.  She loves school and is disappointed that she doesn't get to go again until next Tuesday.  Hopefully I can think of some fun things that we can do at home so that she doesn't realize how much she's missing school.

I am also proud to say that I weigh fifty pounds less than I did at this time last year.  Yay for me!  A lot of that baby weight came off pretty quick but a lot of it didn't.  I started Weight Watchers in November and have lost over 25 pounds since then.  I am almost to my goal weight and am feeling great!  I've been able to cut way back on my blood pressure medicine too, so that makes me really happy.  I really want to be a healthy and active mother to my kids and I'm getting there.  Slowly but surely!

Have a Happy Easter everybody!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Maleah Rose!!

Oh, what a week!  Maleah turned five years old on Monday.  She had a great birthday.  Here's look back at some pictures of her.  I have no idea why these old ones are so grainy.  Maybe it was the scanner or the old camera I had back then.  I don't know.

I can't believe it was five years ago that I had her.  I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I was sitting at my desk at work (I worked for my Aunt Lori at Farmer's Insurance) and I stood up to head to the restroom and as soon as I did I realized that my water broke.  So I hurried up and sat back down.  That didn't really help anything and within seconds everything around me was soaked - the chair, the floor, myself, everything!!  I was six weeks from my due date.  Lori helped me to the restroom and my Uncle Timmy (who worked in the other part of the building) was watching and asked if I wanted him to call Jason.  Within two minutes Jason and my mom were both there.  We headed to Effingham.  I knew the baby was early but I wasn't really that worried.  After I got to Effingham is when I got worried because Dr. Whightsel told me I had two choices.  I could deliver at Springfield or I could deliver at St. Louis.  He wouldn't deliver me because I was too early.  Sooo, I picked St. Louis because I knew my Aunt Cheryl (who lives over that way) could meet me there.  She had been a labor and delivery nurse and a lamaze instructor for a long time.  And I wanted her to be with me if she could.  They put me in an ambulance, flat on my back, with my legs from the knees down draped around an oxygen tank because my legs were so long there was no place else to put them.  I found out ambulances are made for short people and I think that is unfair.  I was very VERY uncomfortable for 2 hours.  I was having lots of contractions and had pretty much made up my mind that I was going to deliver in that ambulance.  The labor nurse who was supposed to be tracking my contractions was too busy flirting with the male EMT who was riding along.  I'm pretty sure he was gay.  Apparently she wasn't so sure.  If this would've been a sitcom, I would've sat up, obviously in agony, but still able to scream at her to shut up, quit talking about dinner plans, he's gay, quit wasting your time, and pay attention to ME!!  But, it wasn't a sitcom and I didn't say a word.  I arrived in St. Louis and actually wasn't as close to delivery as I thought.  But the nurses at St. John's Mercy made me much more comfortable and within a few more hours I was pushing out baby Maleah.  The worst part of the whole day wasn't the long hours of pushing her out but the ambulance ride.  I hope I never have to ride in another one again.  My Aunt Cheryl was able to meet me at the hospital and was there with me the whole time I was in labor.  She was a wonderful coach and without her I don't think I could've accomplished the natural childbirth I had.  It was a difficult delivery and I'm betting there was at least 35 people in the room watching.  Many were students.  Apparently I was the talk of the OB ward the next day.  How cool is that??  lol.  But it was all worth it and I'll never forget the second that Maleah was born and how loud she screamed.  She is still a very loud child.  My mom commented that there was nothing wrong with her lungs and she was right about that.  She did have to stay in the nicu for 9 days though.  She was so little that she had a hard time eating.  So she had a feeding tube but soon she learned to eat on her own and got rid of her jaundice and she came home.  The hardest day of my life was when we had to leave her in the hospital and we came home for a night to get clothes and stuff.  We headed back the next morning.  But still my heart was broken that I was leaving the hospital and didn't have a baby with me.  Jason started his new job at Newton when she was three days old.  So he couldn't stay with me in St. Louis.  But luckily my mom was able to get off of work and she stayed with me.  It was so exciting when we finally got to bring that little baby home!!

I'll get off my trip down memory lane now and bring you up to speed with what has happened this week.  Maleah had her skating party on Saturday and boy was that a lot of fun!!  A lot of friends and family were able to be there and most of them skated with her.  She is turning into such a good little skater.  I'm so proud of her!!  She had a beautiful cake that was super yummy too.  Jason's cousin Lora made it.  The kids all enjoyed the mini golf, the big slide, the games, and the bounce house at the skating rink too.  It was really the perfect place to have her party.  Maleah and her Daddy skated together too.  He and I decided to find out who was the faster skater.  I am sorry to admit that it was not me.   He beat me!!  This time anyway. 

Saturday morning before the party, my sorority put on their 2nd Annual Beta Sigma Phi-ve K and Half Marathon and I am proud to say that it was very successful.   We had lots of runners and quite a few more walkers this year.  We donate to families in need, support groups, and other local charities.  We try to keep all of our money in Clay County.  It was a great race!  My Mom walked and got 3rd in her age group.  Good job, Mom!!

Monday was Maleah's actual birthday and we ate dinner at my Mom and Dad's.  We had tacos, which is Maleah's favorite.   This weekend we're having a family party for Maleah and Carissa.  Maleah's birthday just seems to go on and on. 

Friday is Carissa's birthday.  I won't bore you with her birth story this week.  I'll save that for next week.  One a week may be all you can handle.  She is starting to cruise the furniture but hasn't taken any steps on her own without holding on to the couch or chair.  But it won't be long.  She had her one year check up and she is in the 22nd percentile for weight and the 60th percentile for height.  I think she is going to be tall and skinny like her sister.  Although when Maleah was one, she was kind of chubby.  Once she started catching up on weight, she packed it on.  She loved to eat.  Carissa, still not so much.  But she's getting there.  She's eaten more this week than last.  So that's good.

She is such a good little girl.  This week we've been walking Maleah to school and back and then walking to pick her up and back.  It's about six miles total.  So Carissa has been in the stroller a lot.  But she does good.   She's gotten frustrated a few times but that's usually on the way back when Maleah is riding with her.  Carissa actually grabbed a hold of Maleah's "Chloey Blanket" (named for cousin Chloey who made it for her, it is the one she sleeps with, naps with, etc.) and said "MINE!" very plainly.  That didn't go over so well.  I think she only said it to irk Maleah.  She's only one but she knows how to push her sister's buttons.  Maleah's reaction made Carissa laugh.  Here are a few cute new pics of Carissa. 
Here's a funny Maleah moment.  Her new favorite show is "Full House".  She told me today, in all seriousness, that she wished Daddy would get his hair done like Uncle Jesse's.  I relayed that message on to Jason.  He wasn't interested.  It's funny just picturing Jason with a long, dark, rock 'n roll kind of a hairdo though, isn't it?  There were a lot more funny stories I was going to tell you this week but it is late, I am tired, and I seriously can not think of any of them!  Sorry! 

Stay tuned next week to hear all about Carissa and her 1st birthday!!!

Oh, funny girl!

We've had a pretty funny week around here.  Maleah has really been on a roll.  I really need to carry a notebook around with me to write down the stuff she says before I forget it.  I've been saying that for four years though and haven't done it yet.  It's not looking like it's ever going to happen.  But who knows!?

For those of you who keep up with me on Facebook, you've already heard this first one.  Maleah always likes to talk about "what-ifs".  So she is always thinking about what we are going to name a baby if we were to ever have another one.  I am not pregnant but she just likes to talk about it.  She told me this week that she really likes the name "Crystal Bowersox for a girl because it is a beautiful name" and for a boy she still likes the same two boy names that she had picked out if Carissa had been a boy - either Mark Weber or Michael Phelps.  She just loves those two names and likes to say them a lot.  Funny kid.

She also told me that she is not going to have kids when she grows up.  I asked why.  She said in a very matter of fact voice, "because I'm not ever going to move out.  I'm always going to live with you and Daddy."  Okay.  I should've recorded that so I could play it back to her when she's sixteen.

Right now she is wearing a ballerina outfit with tutu, a pink necktie, a tiara, two green St. Patrick's Day barrettes, and carrying a trophy.  She is standing in front of the tv (where we will be sure and see her) and saying "I'd like to thank my friend Amber and all of the people for making me the winner of this great dance competition."  Then she bowed.  Her tiara fell off.  She doesn't even have a friend named Amber.  She forgot to thank the Academy.

Tonight we went to Applebee's for supper.  It was delicious!  We told the waitress that it was Maleah's birthday this week and they sang to her and brought her dessert.  She was so excited!  She sat there and smiled and giggled while they sang.  It really made her night. 

Carissa has quite a few new words in her vocabulary now.  But one of the cutest ones to hear her say is "mine!".  She says it with complete authority and confidence.  Even though Maleah was talking in sentences at age one I don't think she ever really said "mine!".  She didn't have to.  There was no one there to say it to.  Carissa, on the other hand, makes it known that some things are her's and hands off!  My other favorite word to hear her say right now is "grandma".  Pretty cute.  She picks up the phone and says "Grandma, Grandma!!" so sometimes I go ahead and dial up Grandma Debby and it thrills Carissa to hear her voice on speaker phone.

I had some pictures to add this week but I keep getting an error message and can't get them to upload.  I will try again next week.   One is of the two girls in the "Schwinn" or at least that's what Maleah calls it.  It's actually a double jogging stroller.  I've been walking Maleah and Carissa in it when I take Maleah to school and then back again to pick her up later.  It's quite the workout!  Maleah loves it!  Carissa tolerates it well.  She doesn't get quite as excited but that's okay. 

On Friday we went shopping for birthday presents.  Maleah is getting a new loft bed for her birthday.  Unfortunately, we had to order it.  We found one but they didn't have it in stock.  It was a long drawn out day of furniture shopping that just didn't feel very productive at the end of the day.  She did manage to entertain one of the furniture salesmen enough that he told us we should put her on tv.  I could totally see her doing commercials or something.  But maybe all parents think that about their kids?  I don't know. 

Carissa got a new necklace.  She now has a "Carissa" necklace that matches the "Maleah" necklace that Maleah wears every day.  I was a little disappointed that Carissa's seems a little bit smaller but there's not much I can do about that now.  It is still very pretty and looks adorable on her.  I wish I could post a picture of it!!  Errr. 

I should have a lot to report next week after Maleah's birthday party on Saturday.  She is so excited about it.  Her friends are going to be there and she can't wait to skate with them.  I hope to have a lot of pictures on here next week! 

200 Questions

Hi again blog readers.  It's hard to believe another week has came and went.  Phew.  They fly by fast around here.  We have been in the middle of planning birthday parties this week.  And it is a lot of work!  I've been a little stressed out trying to get everything done.  My girls' birthdays are four days apart.  The good thing about that is that we get birthdays over with in one week.  The bad thing about that is it is a lot to deal with all in the same week.  Maleah had her heart set on having a skating party this year.  And you only turn five once, right?  So she's having one and she wants to invite everyone she knows.  She is so excited!  She can hardly stand it.  It should be a lot of fun.  The following weekend we're going to have a family party and celebrate Carissa's 1st Birthday.  I can't believe my baby is going to be one!!

In other news, Carissa is now officially off of formula.  Woo hoo!  That stuff is expensive and I'm glad we don't have buy it anymore or mess with it.  She is still not a good eater but has tried a few new things this week that she likes.  Her favorite thing is a baby cone from Dairy Queen.  If you hand her one of those, don't expect to get it back.  She won't let go of it for nothing.  They're a little messy and not the healthiest choice but at least she's getting some calories in her.  She ate two strawberries today.  She thought they were pretty yummy.  And she also ate a few bites of spaghetti yesterday.  I wouldn't think she could be full from as little as she eats but maybe she's just going to be like her Daddy and eat like a bird for the rest of her life. She definitely doesn't get it from me.

Maleah is doing great.  She has really been enjoying the weather.  She loves to play outside.  She rode her bike on the driveway tonight and had a great time.  Then she took her Hannah Montana lawn chair outside and stuck a water bottle in the cup holder and sat down and said "I'm just going to sit here and relax a little bit while you clean out the car."  And that is exactly what she did.  It doesn't matter what I do, I always have an audience. 

My sorority is having their annual Beta Sigma Phi-ve K and Half Marathon on March 20th.  If any of you blog readers are interested in running, send me an email and let me know.  We are also accepting walkers for the 5K.  It should be a lot of fun and hopefully a beautiful day!

Here's that picture I was talking about last week.  We finally found Maleah's camera.  Where was it, you ask?  Behind her bedroom door under a purse and a hat, of course.  I cleaned her room from top to bottom and found it.  It is amazing how messy that room can get.  Aren't these girls cute in their matching shirts?

I answer hundreds of questions a day.  I'm serious.  One right after another around here, all day long.  Except for the two hours and 15 minutes each weekday that Maleah is at school and then her teachers take over for a little bit.  I know you've heard of 20 questions, but around here it should be called 200 questions.  Here are a few of the funny ones for the week:  "Are leprechauns real?", "But if they're not married, how are they going to have a baby?", "Spring is here?  I hope you're not getting ready to tell me that pre-k is over and I have to go to Kindergarten?", and "Why on earth would someone want such a loud motorcycle?".

Here are a few more pictures from Maleah's camera.  The one with the lips cracks me up. 

Yes, I let her take her camera into Walmart.  I was hoping she would take a really funny picture of somebody so that we could send it to the "People of Walmart" website.  I think it's a good idea to have a camera ready while you're in Walmart.  You just never know.

We're going shopping this weekend for the girls' birthdays!  Can't wait to show you guys what they're getting!

Ahhh, Oreck Heaven

We have had such a busy week it's been hard to even find time to get on the computer!  I think I'm going to give up on getting the blog done on Sunday nights.  Wednesdays seem to be working out for me right now.  Here's what's been happening at the Cooper's since we last spoke.  ; )

Thursday we had playgroup again!  Yay!!  We started going to playgroup when Maleah was a baby.  Our playgroup consists of a group of my friends that all have children around the same ages.  We meet in our homes and the kids all play while the moms sit around and talk.  We all have school-age kids now instead of babies and it has gotten harder and harder to get together.  So now instead of meeting every Thursday morning, we meet once a month or every other month.  It was so much fun to get to see everyone and get all caught up with what we had all been doing.  Maleah loves getting to see her friends and going to playgroup and Carissa loves everything, so all in all, we had a great time! 

And on Friday I headed to Tuscola with the girls and my mom in tow!  Maleah now has clothes that fit!  Yay for that!  Carissa got some new clothes too.  I took the cutest picture of the two of them in matching shirts.  It is on Maleah's camera though and right now she can't find it.  So as soon as she finds it, I will stick it on here for all you to see.  How blessed am I to have two girls who love to shop??   Blessed and broke is how I'll probably end up. 

And on Saturday I went wedding dress shopping.  How fun is that??  My cousin Andrea is getting married in June and I got to go along with her and her mom (my Aunt Patty) and her sister Abby to pick out her wedding dress.  Oh my gosh!  We had the best time!  I love to see all of the pretty dresses and she looked fabulous trying them on.  The one she ended up buying is absolutely beautiful.  I can't wait for her wedding.  The girls stayed home with Daddy that day and I think they had a pretty fun day too.  It involved Dairy Queen so it was good.

Maleah's funny quote this week was "Put her to bed, Mom.  She's a mean baby."  Carissa was getting tired and only wanted to touch Maleah but Maleah did not want her to at all.  Sisterly love.

I went back to the doctor today and proud to say that I am completely healed up and am feeling great.  Whew!  I am so glad that is behind me.

I am back in Oreck Heaven too.  Goodbye, Dyson!  I hated your guts and I'm glad you are out of my life.  The reason Dyson commercials say "they never lose suction" is because they never had suction to start with!!  People who love Dysons have never had an Oreck is all I can say.  A couple of years ago, my old Oreck died on me and instead of buying a new one I decided to give Dyson a whirl since I had heard a lot of good things about them.  That was a mistake that I have now remedied.  I bought a new Oreck that I love, love, love!!!  It leaves the Dyson in the dust!  (lol.  pun intended.)

I hope you all have a great week!