My baby shower

My friends from church threw me a baby shower yesterday. I felt a bit spoiled being the guest of honor since it was my 3rd boy. It was a lot of fun and I got spoiled. I'm thankful for good friends!!! Here are all the gifts, unwrapped....

Little baby on a big bed

I'm having way too much fun with this!

My little cutie!

Sick baby:(

Poor little Cooper has a cold. So do the rest of us, but I feel the worst for him. He is struggling to breath normally. I took him to the Dr. twice this week. The second time they gave him a nebulizer to help his breathing. It's kind of helping, I guess. At this point I am giving him a breathing treatment every 4-6 hours. I can't wait until he is feeling better.

Visitors!

My sister and niece are here visiting. Just look how cute my niece is! It's been a laid back visit. We haven't done too much because of the weather and the baby. But it's been fun. Here are a few pics from the week so far....

Avery loves Cooper and gets concerned when he cries. It's really cute!

Cutest picture of Avery going down the slide! Pure joy!

We buzzed Jonah's hair. I like it a little longer than this though.

Smiles

The other night Rich and I were sitting on the couch and Rich was giving Cooper a leg massage, like he likes. It was really cute because Cooper was so relaxed, just enjoying it. So I got out the camera and right when I took the picture I got this huge smile out of Cooper. It was so cute and we both gasped as it was so funny how he smiled just on time for the picture. But what got us going even more was when I clicked back on my camera to see how the picture turned out, and we saw Rich's face! Can you tell he was surprised at Cooper's smile? So funny!No, that's not food in Rich's mouth, just a glare.

3 Weeks!

I should have cleaned the goop out of his eyes before I took these, but they are still cute. I know these all pretty much look the same, but I love them all. Thanks for letting Mommy do a little photo shoot, Cooper!

Little Update

He was 2 wks old here. These pictures crack me up because of the way Cooper is laying. He does this thing where he straightens his legs and we rub his little chicken legs. It's so cute. He loves it and gets this look on his face like he is in heaven.

I have been slacking on taking pictures lately. He hasn't changed too much, although his clothes are starting to fit a little better, so he must be growing. I love this little guy so much. If there is a thing called an easy baby, he is it. I still don't think newborns are easy because they require constant care, but he is so content and that makes him easier. He only cries if he is really hungry or cold as I change him. And his cry is not very loud. Compared to how Julien and Jonah were as babies, he is super mellow. He sleeps so much. I know newborns are supposed to sleep a lot, but Cooper sleeps almost constantly. That might sound great, like "wow how hard could that be," but it has it's downside. He is SO hard to keep awake while nursing. I'm pretty sure it takes the average baby 20-30 min to nurse... not my babies! Each of my kids have taken a whole hour to nurse, sometimes more. They just fall asleep the whole time and I constantly have to tap their chin, tickle their feet, change their diaper (oh all the tricks) just to keep them awake to get their full feeding. It's a bit frustrating because once I finish feeding him, and change him, I already have to feed him again in an hour and a half. And when you are so behind on house work, have two other kids to pay attention to, or want to sleep, that hour and a half goes by super fast! And because he is so sleepy while nursing, he has a weak suck, which caused my milk supply to go down. That's my only complaint:). However, I can't even tell you how much I enjoy HIM. I'm having a hard time wanting to do anything else though. It is getting a little easier each day as I am sleeping a little more and we are all adjusting. But I am far from feeling like I got this 3 kids thing down! I clearly remember feeling overwhelmed about having 2 kids, and then one day I realized "this is really manageable, I can do this." It just clicked one day. I'm really looking forward to that day! It just might take a little longer to get there this time. I'm just so glad I was blessed with a sweet, content, patient baby (at least so far; lets not jinx myself here)! I still believe sleep is the biggest help of all. If I have slept a little better, the day isn't so hard, and my kids tell me nice things. If I haven't slept much, I cry, my house looks like a tornado hit it, I look like i did when i woke up-all day, and worst of all, my kids say mean things to me. Today was a good day. That's because last night I slept 4 hours IN A ROW. It was like heaven. Anyway, that's how life is at this point. And no matter how many times people say, "it's okay, you just had a baby," it is still a bit discouraging how chaotic things are. These are my real feelings and even with all that said, I still feel so blessed to have my sweet Cooper and I would do it all again to have him; he is so worth it; as are all my kids!