Happy Birthday, Cooper!

Seriously,

where did the last year go?

I cannot believe you are already one,

Little Man!

You have brought so much 

joy,

love,

and laughter

to our little family.

I LOVE you as BIG as the sky!!!

9 Months

Cooper is actually almost 10 months,

but I am a little behind on my blog

due to more sickies in our home.

Cooper turned 9 months on February 24, 2013.

I am still having a VERY difficult time believing

he will be one in almost 2 months.

Blows. My. Mind.

A few things about Cooper at 9 months:
~12 pounds 7 ounces (12% on the achondroplasia growth chart)
~22.5" long (20% on the achondroplasia growth chart)
~19.5" head circumference (just below the 50% on the achondroplasia growth chart)

~He can roll over and gets around by rolling

~His favorite word is "da da"

~He started meeting with a feeding therapist with Early Intervention

~He is eating solids like a champ

~His favorite foods are:

~Pears

~Sweet peas

~Sweet potatoes

~Bananas

~Applesauce

~Green beans

~Sweet carrots

~Oatmeal cereal

~Rice cereal

~Mix grain cereal

~Ice cream

~Yogurt

~Mango's

~Biter biscuits

~Yogurt melts

~Puff melts

~He is still in size 1 diapers

~He wears size newborn and some 0-3 month

~He LOVES Hunter & Paizlei

~He LOVES interacting with everyone

~He is afraid of any toy animal that makes sounds

~He is cries if anyone talks to him or holds him

~He has had his 10th ear infection

~He loves playing with his toys

~He is so curious about EVERYTHING he gets in his hands, and studies it intently

~He is very ticklish

~He giggles

~He still meets with PT Kelly with Early Intervention

~He met with an peds orthopedist at Shriner's for his kyphosis

~His all-time FAVORITE person is Mommy

Every day I find myself asking,

"How did I get so lucky to get 3 of the most beautiful, special children?"

Truly, 

I feel like the luckiest,

most blessed Mommy on the planet.

Cooper is truly that missing piece in our family puzzle.

We love him more than we can put into words.

We have been blessed in ways I didn't think was possible.

Happy 9 Months Little Man!!!!

Hunter Turns 6

I still cannot believe my Hunter is 6!

6!

Where did that time go?

He turned 6 on January 4, 2013.

To celebrate,

on January 4 we had a little family birthday party for him.

We had cuppiecakes and ice cream.

Hunter picked out which cuppiecake he wanted his candles in.

We sang Happy Birthday to him.

After we sang to him,

he opened his BIG birthday present!

The night before his birthday, I hung this crepe paper up on his bedroom door.  He was a little surprised when he opened the door on the morning of his birthday.

My BIG birthday boy!  LOVE HIM!

He was SOOO EXCITED with his BIG present!  We got him a Ford duellie pulling a BIG camp trailer, it also came with some boats, fish, fishing gear, and people.

On Saturday, January 12, 2013,

we started the day off with Hunter's very first friend birthday party.

We delivered 8 birthday invitations.

3 friends showed up.

For Hunter,

He was in HEAVEN!

His friends that came were

Brenley, Teagon, and Austin.

We tried to play some games,

but Hunter wasn't too into playing.

I think there was too much going on for him to get involved.

We sang Happy Birthday to him,

then had rainbow cuppiecakes and ice cream.

Once they were done eating,

he opened his presents.

He was so excited with everything he got.

 Hunter, Paizlei, Teagon, Austin

Hunter wanted rainbow cuppiecakes with blue frosting.

 His haul from his friend birthday party!

 Austin, Brenley, Hunter, Teagon

FUNNY FACE!!!

After his friends birthday party,

we had a BIG family birthday party for him.

Those who came to his family birthday party were,

Grandma and Grandpa Young, Grandma and Grandpa Black,

great-Grandma & Grandpa Despain, uncle Travis, aunt Shaunna,

cousins Bridger and Kanyon.

Zane ordered the coolest Batman cake from the market!

We sang Happy Birthday to Hunter...AGAIN!

Then had cake and ice cream.

Then he got to open his presents from everyone.

 His present from Grandma & Grandpa Young.

 His present from great-Grandma & Grandpa Despain.

 LOVE this photo of Hunter and his great-Grandma Despain!

Hunter and Bridger playing with the gift Bridger & Kanyon gave him.

All-in-all it was a super fun day!

Thank you everyone for coming out and celebrating Hunter's 6th birthday!

Her BIG Birthday Present

A few weeks before Paizlei's birthday,

one of her little friends from school went to school

and showed everyone that she got her ears pierced.

So, when Paizlei got home,

she told me, matter of fact, 

that she WAS getting her ears pierced.

Back up to when she just got released from the NICU.

Mommy REALLY wanted to get her ears pierced.

Daddy said, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

For the longest time,

I kept asking him if we could get them pierced.

His answer was,

"Not until she can take care of them herself."

Fast forward to the day her little friend went to school

and showed off her pretty little earrings.

She was SO EXCITED to tell her Daddy

that she was getting her ears pierced for her birthday.

FINALLY!!!!

We got Daddy on board!

Paizlei (and Mommy) were over the moon with excitement!

Everyday, Paizlei would ask,

several times, "Is it my birthday?"

"I want my ears pierced!"

It was so cute!

I loved every minute of it.

The day finally came!

Paizlei's birthday!

December 17!

We took her to WalMart in Richfield.

She picked out pretty little pink & gold heart studs.

She was SO EXCITED!!!

She was telling the sales associates all about herself,

her baby brother,

her big brother,

what she wanted for Christmas.

Then, they asked her to sit down on the little chair.

The two gals put 2 little purple dots on her ears.

Then they told her to hold SUPER STILL!

One!

Two!

Three!

Ears pierced!

Not without a little bit of trouble,

but not from Paizlei.

One of the sales associates couldn't get her piercing gun to work.

Poor Paizlei got poked twice in one ear.f

CRY!!!

Did she ever cry!

Once the sting wore off,

she was completely over the moon with her pretty pink earrings!

She had to call her Grandmas!

Her Grandpas!

Anyone she could think of to call!

A couple weeks out and she is still showing off

her pretty pink earrings!

She has left them alone.

She doesn't play with them.

So proud of you Baby Girl!!!

Paizlei Turns 4

December 17, 2008, was one of the scariest and happiest days of my life.  At 7:58pm, I gave birth to our GORGEOUS baby girl.  She was 2 months premature, weighing in at 4 lbs. 10 oz and 17" long.  She surprised everyone, doctors and nurses included, and came into this world full of sass, spunk and a lot of attitude.

As we celebrate her BIG 4th BIRTHDAY, marvel at just how strong-willed she is.  She came into the world kicking and screaming like she was ready to face the world all by herself.  And, if you ask her, she will tell you just how strong-willed she is.  I absolutely LOVE her BIG ATTITUDE, sometimes her sass, and always LOVE her spunk.  She is one of the sweetest little girls, best little sister, best big sister, loveable, huggable, caring, kind, imaginative, creative, funny little girls I know.  How truly blessed Zane and are, to have been chosen to be her parents.

One thing that I will never forget the night she was born, was when I was wheeled back into recovery (I had her in the L&D OR because it is closer to the NICU), my Daddy bent down, kissed my forehead, and whispered 6 sweet words into my ear.  "You just made your Grandpa proud."  Even though I was super drugged up from the preeclampsia, headache, and labor pain, it hit me.  That day, December 17th is my Grandpa Young's birthday.  How sweet it is, that such a sweet, sassy, spunky, lovable, huggable, caring, kind, imaginative, creative, funny little girl, gets to share her birthday with her Grandpa.  A Grandpa she never met...only in Heaven.  I'm sure he protected her with she was in Heaven.  I'm sure he told her to come into this world fighting.  I'm sure he told her to be strong-willed.

On Saturday, December 8, 2012, we celebrated Paizlei's birthday.  This was the first year she was able to have a friend party, which she thought was SOOO NEAT!!!  She was so excited to go pick out her invitations and to take them around to all her little school friends.  Her little friends that came were, Jaylee, Rylee, Esme, Sariah, Autumn, and Gracie.  After her friend party, we also had a family party.  Those who came to her family party were, Grandma and Grandpa Young, Grandma Black, great-Grandma Despain, Aunt Melanie and cousin Jacob, Aunt Shaunna, Uncle Travis, cousins Bridger and Kanyon.  She got completely spoiled...and LOVED every minute of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAIZLEI MAE!!!

Your bring so much love and joy into our little family!

I LOVE you as BIG as the sky!

For Paizlei's friend party, we decorated salt dough ornaments and made hand print snowmen on glass ball ornaments.

It was a HUGE hit!  All the little girls LOVED it!!!

 The star and heart shaped salt dough ornaments they decorated.

 The crew decorating their salt dough ornaments.  Each one had already put their hand print on the glass ball ornament, hence the reason they are in the cups.  

 Of course Paizlei would choose Hello Kitty for her birthday party theme!  I found a kit to make these Hello Kitty red velvet cake pops.  This is the first time I have made them so they actually stay on the stick. 

 She also wanted strawberry and vanilla cuppiecakes!

 Paizlei's very own cuppiecake for her birthday!

She LOVED blowing out the candles!  She thought it was the coolest thing!

 For her family party,m I had this Hello Kitty cake made!  She LOVED it!!!

 This was the look she gave everyone while we all sang "Happy Birthday"!

LOVE IT!!!

 Cousin Jacob, Hunter and Paizlei playing with the wooden paper dolls Mommy, Daddy, Hunter & Cooper gave her.

 My GORGEOUS baby girl!!!

LOVE HER!!!

 Paizlei, cousin Jacob, Hunter, cousin Kanyon, and cousin Bridger had an absolute ball playing with the balloons!  I was honestly surprised that no one was hurt.

Cousin Jacob and Hunter...Hunter wanted to show Jacob how to play his Batman game on the Wii.  They were both so into the game.  It was funny.

Her First Invitation

On Saturday, October 20, 2012, Paizlei got to go to her very first birthday party for one of her little friends from preschool.  And, it was a costume party at that!  She was so excited when we went to pick out her Halloween costume so she could wear it to the party.  Can you guess what she picked out?

 Yep, it just had to be Rapunzel!

 Awe, she is such a BEAUTIFUL little Princess!  Love her to pieces!

What Princess goes to the "ball" without her "glass" slippers?  Definitely not this little Princess!

Hunter...My Little Photographer

I'm not sure whether Hunter is taking after me for his love of having a camera in his hands and capturing those great...or not so great...moments in life.  I frequently catch him with his DS, my iPhone or my EXPENSIVE camera taking pictures.  He LOVES it!  And he is SO EXCITED with the pictures he takes, he has to show me.  I LOVE IT!  Here are a few pictures he took with my camera.

They are both AMAZING shots of Cooper.  He has the focus on Coopie's eyes in both shots and got amazing DOF in each shot too!  Pretty awesome for a 5 year old!  I'm thinking a camera would be a good thing to get him for his birthday...

Cooper's Birth Announcement

Hunter Turns 5

I am still in complete shock that my baby boy is 5!  5!!!  I am still trying to wrap my finger around it and wonder where the last 5 years went.  He is at such a fun age right now, constantly asking, "What's this?" or "What's that?" or "Where does ___ come from?" or "How does ___ work?".  It's a whole new world to me being able to explain things to him.  It's so awesome because he soaks it all up.  We can be driving down the road and he sees something he remembers asking me about, and he will tell me about it.  He is such a smart little boy!

Hunter's actual birthday was on the Wednesday, January 4, however, we celebrated his BIG day today (01/07/12).  He has been looking so forward to this day all week.  As I was decorating his cupcakes, I asked him what color's he wanted the frosting to include him in the preparations.  His face lit up when I asked him.  His smile was priceless.  I asked him who he wanted to invite, so he invited his friends Paislee, Riker and Hunter.  His Grandma & Grandpa Young, Grandma & Grandpa Black, Grandma & Grandpa Vincent and great-Grandma & Grandpa Despain, as well as his aunts, uncles and cousins.  Hunter had such a FUN birthday party and had all of his Grandma's and Grandpa's and his friends Paislee and Riker.

Here are a few photos from Hunter's BIG day.

 Hunter's blue and green cupcakes.

 When we were at WalMart buying the stuff for his party, I asked him what candles he wanted.  These tall, skinny, colorful candles are what he picked out.  He said, "Them are cool, Mom!".  A Mom can't argue with that.

 As soon as we started singing "Happy Birthday" to Hunter, he curled up on the floor and wouldn't look at anyone.  I kept looking at him (in between taking pictures) and he had a BIG smile on his face.  It was so cute...and so funny!

 How's that for a great shot?  Captured that one perfectly!

 I think he was a tiny bit happy with this present!  Hunter has been eyeing this toy EVERY TIME we go to WalMart.

 Opening his BIG present from Mom, Dad and Paizlei.  He was actually with us when we bought this...it's a BIG racetrack for Cars 2.  It retails at $40...we got it right after Christmas for $10!!!  I couldn't believe the awesome price!  He LOVES it though!

 I had to share this cute picture of Paizlei.  Not sure if she feel asleep because it was nap time, or if it was because Grandma Black was rubbing her chubby little feet.  Usually when she gets her feet rubbed, she will fall asleep in no time.

Happy Birthday, my Hunter!!!1  I hope you had a SUPER FUN day!!!  Mommy, Daddy and Paizlei LOVE you!!!