Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011


Hay girls lets decorate pumpkins = pink paint, glitter and girly pumpkins, wouldn't have it any other way!!

Sydnee decorated the pig

Mardee and Ainslee created a fancy pumpkin

Bailee decorated the owl

Ainslee created penguin pumpkins

Toree went with the Angry Bird theme

Cooper of course slept through the entire night

Ainslee

Sydnee

Bailee

Toree

Toree and Sister Maddy

Kasadee - rocking the goth theme - (ok enough switch back to normal)

Rock it

So apparently I listen to 80's hair bands a little to much because my team at work gave me a Pink Floyd and AC-DC t-shirt for Cooper.  Here he is pulling a funny face in his new duds!!

Sleeping on the floor

So today Kas got up and showered to get ready for church - she then decided she was tired but her room was to cold do she got a blanket and laid down on the floor. Luckily Toree was there to document. - thanks Toree













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Cooper meets Grandpa Ray

Thursday we were in cv for the day. We met Grandpa Ray for dinner at El Sol - great to see him.




Cooper and Grandpa Ray


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Great weekend

Friday we took Cooper to the doctor for a checkup. He has been getting more and more fussy each day - we have baby Pepcid for him and it really seems to be helping. His oxygen levels were high enough that he can be off oxygen during the day which is awesome, it is very fun to finally have a wireless baby. He also put on another pound of weight - apparently we are growing a line backer. Up to 8.9 - good thing he didn't go full term or he would have been a 10 pounder!




Cooper on his way to the doctor.

Robert and Kayla came down for a visit - it was great to see and hang out with them. Robert even held Cooper for a minute.




Robert and Cooper- notice no oxygen!!!


All in all we had a pretty mellow weekend - spent lots of time watching conference, hanging out with the girls and taking it easy. The girls roped me into a few games of guitar hero and Mario cart. They of course schooled me and love to laugh at me trying to win.



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Location:Hicken Ct,Heber,United States

Just chilling

Sometimes after a long day it's nice to come home and just chill at least that's what Kas and Cooper think.




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Life getting back to normal

Life is settling into a routine, I was able to mow my lawn this week for the first time in a month.  It felt pretty good and is a sign that we may be settling back into normal - what ever that is at our house - right.

Friday afternoon Mardee was feeling a little cabin fever so we went for a ride.  Mardee and I took Bailee, Sydnee, Ainslee and Cooper on a leaf collecting ride.  The fall colors are just starting to show and Friday was a perfect day for an outing.  The girls had fun collecting leaves and Cooper was a good sport and slept the whole time.

Friday night Kasadee watched Cooper (while he slept) and I took Mardee out for a quick dinner in Heber.  Kas - you rock!

Because it was nice to get some fresh air I decided a 4-wheeler ride was in order, Saturday Kasadee, Toree and Sydnee went with me for a ride.  We rode from Wasatch State park to the back side of Alta, about 25 miles round trip.  Great day for a ride and we had a lot of fun.  The aspens are a not really turning colors yet, next weekend should be nice.

Kasadee ate a little road dirt

Sydnee, Kasadee and Toree 

Sydnee and Toree at the mine site

Kas - you may have missed a spot

Toree - how does she look cute - even with dirt on her face?

Cooper Update

I know I know, I haven't posted for a week

Cooper updates

Cooper is doing great - he has gained a pound over the past week and his oxygen stats have increased from 70 to 80 so hopefully he can be oxygen free soon and we can finally have a cordless baby.  He is a great baby although we find that for some reason when you hold him time seems to evaporate.  But there aren't many better things to spend a few hours doing than holding him - right.

He is continually watched over, carried, kissed, mauled, and pampered - his sisters are always on hand to help.  I told Mardee tonight most boys can only dream of this much attention from 5 cute girls - yes I am partial but we do have some cute kids.

Grandma Neta stopped by for a visit (I think she wanted to be sure it really was a boy)

Cooper Bath time

Plenty of helpers

Fresh duds

Grandpa Glen holds his first grandson

The girls trying to make Cooper into a smurf

Taking Cooper for a walk 

All together again

What a great day,

I picked up Mardee and Cooper around 9 today at the hospital.  Cooper came home on Oxygen and a monitor system so we don't quite have a "wireless" baby yet but he is home and we are very happy to have him here.

Of course the little guy hasn't been in his bed since he got here.  Not quite sure if he will ever learn to walk because I don't know if he will ever be put down.  I think the term is spoiled - he deserves it.

Mardee took a long nap today which gave me some some dad and Cooper time before the girls got home from school.  It was very nice to hold him w/o being bugged, observed or listening to beeping monitors.  Yep glad to be out of the hospital

Melissa and Kourtnie decorated the house for the home coming and Dolly and Kira brought a nice dinner.  We have awesome friends and neighbors!!

Funny of the day - Toree said "you need to point his weenie down or he pees all over" - lol I think this little boy is going to be a whole lot of new experiences for the family.

I said I wasn't cutting off the arm bands until Cooper was home - just cut them off - yeah!!

Going home!!!!!

On our way home - yeah!!!







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Kasadee and Cooper

From the day Kasadee found out she was going to have a little brother there has been an instant bond between Kas and Cooper. It has been so fun to watch that bond grow each time they are together. Cooper knows all his sisters voices but is especially animated when Kasadee talks. Yesterday when she was in the room he was smiling so much when she was talking that milk was dribbling out of his mouth. We had to make her be quiet because he wouldn't eat - almost like he was performing for her.





Kasadee and Cooper already best buddies.



Kas and her new baby brother.


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Relaxing

With all the running around we have done over the past few weeks we haven't spent much time as a family. Mardee price-lined hotel rooms in Provo so we could spend more time together and be close to Cooper.

It has been a lot of fun - the girls are taking full advantage of the pool to unwind a little and we are only 3 minutes away from the hospital.





Girls unwinding at the pool

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Look ma - no feeding tube

Cooper passed his 24 hour request test last night so his feeding tube was removed today - well he pulled it out before they could get his hands off it - lol


Tonight Mardee is spending the night with Cooper and he comes home tomorrow!!!!!! Yeah







Cooper w/o his feeding tube.

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Two tests down

Cooper passed his 12 hour test - no feeding through the feeding tube only bottle when he wants it.

Now he is doing his 90 min car seat test - which he will pass of course.





Then he will rest for 12 hours and hopefully we can start the 24 hour test tomorrow.

We are getting close - he will come home on oxygen to eat because he can't quite maintain eating, breathing, and swallowing. Overall he is doing great.



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WOW what a week!!

Sorry for the delay in postings this week.  It has been a crazy week and I have neglected to keep the blog updated.  Let me catch up:

First - A huge thanks to my team at work who took on extra jobs to cover for me while I was out last week!!  I truly appreciate all you have done for me and my family.

Mardee is continuing to show improvement - I think she is doing great, she has been cleared to drive if needed - however we are not pushing that one.  She is feeling better each day, the challenge is to keep her from overdoing it.  Yea right....

The girls are feeling the reality of having a new baby in the NICU, as mom and dad are constantly running and not around as much as we would like to be.  They are each being troopers and understand the situation but are anxious to get things back to normal as soon as possible.  Normal - what's that - right??

Cooper continues to show improvement, he has moved to 4 per day feedings with the bottle and even took a bottle last night from the nurse.  He usually doesn't like to eat for anyone besides Mardee and I.  They tried to remove his oxygen today but turned it back up - he still needs oxygen when eating so two steps forward, one step back...  The next hurdle is the 12 hour on-demand feeding which I believe they will start tonight or tomorrow, this is where the nurses let him sleep and wake up when he is hungry to see how he responds to on-demand food.  If he does well with the 12 hour test we move onto a 24 hour test.

Sleeping

Chomp chomp

Smile

Bath time

Asleep in the tub - notice the lounging with the leg out.