James Talking!!

James has really started talking this past week and a half!! I finally got a really cute video of him talking to me. When I play it, he starts talking back to it. Oh how I love the stages they go through, I just don't like how fast they go through them. James is already 6 weeks old and time is flying by way too fast. His smiles are so cute, and I just can't enough snuggles.



I took him to my doctor's appointment yesterday and while I was waiting for the doctor, I put his blanket on the scale and weighed him. I was shocked to see the scale balance out around 13 pounds. I guess eating 6 ounces or more every 2 hours adds the weight quickly. That would be why his car seat with him in it gives me a great arm workout. He has his first cold though. Brooklyn was sick 2 1/2 weeks ago and he got it from her. That's one hard thing about having two kids. I hope you enjoy the movie of him talking. He really gets going closer to the end!!

James Levi Coles

Yesterday started for me at 4:00 am. I started having contractions off and on until 10:00 am which is when they started to be more consistent. We called the doctor's office to find out what exactly we should do. Whether we needed to go to the hospital or whether they needed me to go to the office first. The contractions had been really sporadic so we weren't sure what to do. They told us to go to their office so they could make sure I was truly in labor. We left for their office around 1:00 pm and Gary and Kaye picked Brooklyn up to watch her while we were there. We got to the doctor's office and they told me I was dilated to a 5-6 and in labor. They called the hospital to tell them that I was on my way up. The hospital put up a fight saying that they were full and if I wasn't in active labor, I was going to have to walk around until I was. The Nurse Practitioner was shocked that they wanted me to walk around when I was this far into labor. She had the doctor call again and they gave him as much grief as they did her. So we asked if we could go to lunch and then head up to the hospital. She told us that it would be fine and to just make sure I wasn't up and walking around too much. We went to WalMart to get some Tylenol for my headache and the NP called and told me she wanted us to come back to the office in an hour and they would see how far I had progressed and then maybe the hospital wouldn't put up such a fuss about us coming up. We ate lunch and went back up to the office and found out I was at a 7 and really in labor. The doctor's office told the hospital that I was on my way up and that I wasn't going to be able to wait any longer.

I was officially admitted at 2:45 pm and that is when the contractions really got painful and hard. At around 3:40 pm, the contractions got so hard that I was having a hard time not pushing. They got the doctor in and after 10 minutes of pushing we welcomed our little boy into our family!!! I didn't get an epidural and by the end of that 10 minutes I was wishing I had. My legs felt like someone had poured hot acid from my hips down. However, after they put him on my chest, it made all of the pain worth it. The nurse weighed him and we found out our little boy was a whopping 9 pounds. I was completely shocked. I had no inclination that he would be that big seeing as how I wasn't really much bigger with him than I was with Brooklyn. Everyone was surprised that he was so big.

We had quite a few visitors in the hospital yesterday and today. It was a lot of fun to see everyone hold him. We weren't able to leave the hospital until 4 so we had extra time to find a name for him. We were definitely having a very hard time coming up with a name that we both liked. Earlier this morning we decided the first name was going to be James, but we were having a hard time figuring out a middle name. We looked through the top 1000 baby boy names to see if we could find one we both agreed on. The nurse came in and said that she needed the paperwork so we were frantically trying to come up with the last part. We had seen Levi on the list and had been talking about it when the nurse came, so we decided we both liked it and put it on the paperwork and gave it to the nurse.

Then we were on our way home!!! This is James' going home outfit!

Brooklyn was so excited to see him. She continually wanted to give him hugs and kisses. She kept saying "hold you, hold you" which is her way of saying she wants to hold him. We got her a baby doll with a carseat so that she had her own and she thought that was really cool. She really enjoyed opening her gift.

It's a Boy!!

This morning started off like any normal day. Brooklyn and I went to town to get groceries. I think it was the shortest shopping trip we've ever had!! It usually takes us 3-4 hours and today it was only 2 hours! We got home and took a nap. Where she hasn't slept well all week we both took one and it felt great! We woke up, ate lunch and then headed to Rexburg for the ultrasound!!

We got to the doctor's office and had to wait for 20 minutes to get back. Brooklyn had fun with Tyson in the waiting room. She would try to get around him and he would chase her and block her way. She was giggling and squealing. It was so much fun to watch them play. We finally got to go back to the ultrasound room where they put the gel on my stomach. I must say, it is a gross feeling but at least it was warm! The tech started the ultrasound and it wasn't long before we knew it was a BOY!!!! We were so excited. Tyson will have his little farmer boy, and he was super excited about it. There is something about guys when they find out they are having a son. Throughout the ultrasound, our little boy was quite the mover and very shy. Every time the tech tried to get a picture of his face he would turn his head or hide behind his hands. She was trying to get his feet and leg bones and every time she would get close to the picture she needed, he would move. It took a good 10-15 minutes to get his face and she had to keep moving on to other things and coming back to the ones he wouldn't cooperate for. It looks like I might have another busy body on my hands but we'll see what he's like when he gets here in July!! It was so much fun to see his hands, feet and face. I look forward to meeting him soon!

The doctor said everything was looking great. Our little boy must be quite the eater because he was measuring 5 days ahead of his due date. I am hoping he isn't a really big baby. Tyson and I were bigger babies and I really don't want one as big as either of us were. 

This whole pregnancy I've had the feeling that we were having a boy and I'm glad my intuitions were right!! We're so excited to have a little boy running around in the near future! It will be so much fun to see how he and Brooklyn get along where they are close in age. I'm excited to meet this little "football player" I have moving in my tummy. He's definitely very active, just like Brooklyn! They should get along well!!

He's waving!!

He's trying to hide his face again! Cute profile picture!!

Dancing to Tangled

This morning Brooklyn was wanting to watch a movie so I put Tangled in for her. I decided while she was busy watching I would catch up on some laundry and crocheting. Her favorite parts of the movie are the songs and I saw her dancing out of the corner of my eye and hurried to get a video of it. She does so many dance moves and pulls a lot of faces. It's a lot of fun to watch!!



She is such a big helper she decided that I needed to put my shoes on! She loves to hand us our shoes.

Big Girl!!

Today I cleaned all morning and then put Brooklyn down for a nap. When she woke up we ate some lunch. While I cleaned today, I decided maybe she would eat better if she was able to sit at the table with Tyson and I instead of having her tray on the high chair. She seemed to think that was pretty cool because she smile a lot. She didn't eat much better but it seemed to make her day so I was happy.

Here's my happy big girl!

My adorable little sleeper in her "big girl bed," they're so peaceful when they are sleeping!

Paint

Brooklyn's new favorite thing to do lately is peel the paint off our windowsill in our front room. She gets her little fingernails where there is a bubble in the paint and she tears it off. This keeps her entertained for long periods of time, but it adds to my to-do list. I guess we'll just wait until she rips it all off and then we'll repaint this summer when we can open the windows to let the house air out.

Now I know who to get when I need paint taken off of anything. Luckily she doesn't eat it. She just throws it away, gives it to me, or she drops it on the carpet! Thank goodness for that.

Experiment

So today I decided I was going to do an experiment. With this pregnancy it seems like I'm smaller in the morning and bigger in the evening. So I had Tyson take a picture of me before he left for work and then we took another before putting Brooklyn to bed. And sure enough, I get bigger as the day goes on! I'm 20 weeks today and boy has this pregnancy has been different from when I was pregnant with Brooklyn. The morning sickness was worse, but thankfully that has been over for a few weeks. I also have more of those "pregnant feeling" days where I'm exhausted and I feel like a dead weight. But I have felt the baby move a lot which is always a fun part of the pregnancy. Tyson has tried to feel the baby move, but when he puts his hand on my stomach the baby quits moving! It's like the baby knows he wants to feel it move so it's being stubborn :) (I wonder where it gets that from, lol, both of us). All in all though the pregnancy has flown by and I can't believe I'm halfway through it. That means only 20 more weeks and I get to hold my bundle of joy!!

 Morning (As you can tell by my tired looking face)

Evening (We think I look bigger)

Mommy's Little Helper

This morning, Tyson was in working on the computer so I decided I would do something fun and warm for breakfast. I started mixing and getting our Aebleskiver pan on to heat up. Brooklyn came in and wanted to help so I lifted her up and let her help me mix everything. She had a ton of fun!

She is definitely mommy's little helper!! It took me a long time to get all of the batter cooked, but it was so worth the time. I have been craving these my whole pregnancy and it paid off to eat them. Brooklyn even enjoyed them! She ate two of them very quickly. Her hands were covered with butter and powdered sugar by the time she was done eating them but it was a hit. I'll have to do them again soon!

                           

Buddy!!

Brooklyn loves animals, which she shows when she sees them. When we walk by or see the cows, she talks to them and moos at them. She can get quite animated while she talks to them. She loves Barkley and Amber's cats, which we got on video.

But her new favorite animal is Buddy, Barkley and Amber's puppy. She'll stand up on a box and yell to him through the window and she'll stand there and watch him play and sleep forever it seems like. She loves to bark at him while she watches him, which is so fun to watch. Today, Tyson had the front door open with the glass door shut and there was Buddy on our front porch. Brooklyn was very excited to see him that close and of course started talking to him.


She would put her finger on the glass and he would put his nose in the same spot on the other side. She stood and talked to him for about 10 minutes. We had to pick her up so we could shut the door! It is so much fun to watch her as she sees new things, she gets so excited!

Day 3 of breaking Brooklyn away from the binki has been interesting. The morning started out really well. Brooklyn wasn't fussy and she enjoyed playing with her toys, eating cereal, and watching Tangled (her favorite movie). I put cereal in one of her toy bowls and she sat on the floor and watched her movie for a little while and then she would get up and play with her toys.

11:00 hit and she started crying and whining so I figured her molars that are coming in were hurting. I got her undressed to her diaper and brought her into the bathroom. As I started the bath water, Brooklyn undid her diaper and peed all over the rug and floor. So I cleaned that up, got her in the tub and gave her a popsicle to help numb her gums. She went to town and finished both halves quickly. Her mouth and chest were purple but she had so much fun and it seemed to help with the pain.

She was sitting and playing when I heard her pushing. I hurried and put her on the potty just in time for her to poop in the toilet. She still hasn't pooped in the bath tub but we've had many close calls. After her bath, her and I played with her toys and took a nap. Kaye and I went to get groceries at 5 while Gary watched Brooklyn and then Brooklyn and I waited at their house until Tyson got home. The power went out while Kaye and I were gone and didn't come back on until Tyson got home.

We came to our house and put Brooklyn in bed and when I told her to lay down, she said her word for binki. She still gets it when she goes down for a nap and at bedtime and she knows it! I hope we'll have her broken away from it soon!!

Elephant

Brooklyn finally figured out where to put the balls in the gift she got for her birthday. My mom and dad gave her this and she loves to grab the balls out of the elephant's trunk. This has been a favorite toy the last few months and I'm glad she figured out how to reload it so she could continue to grab the balls from its trunk. Usually Tyson or I have to put the balls back into the hole, but she's very smart and figured it out without us having to show her today.


She knows how to turn on the elephant as well. She picked that up about a day after she got it. I can't believe how fast kids pick things up. I wish I could learn thing that quick!

Black Hammock

We had to fly home today but before we go, we wanted to go to Black Hammock. It was only a little ways from Kimarie's so we didn't have to worry about a long drive and being late. We packed up as much as we could but we still had clothes in the drier so we had to go without being fully packed. We decided we would have to be back by 2 so that we could finish packing and be to the airport on time.

When we got there, we went right over to the cages with the female alligators. They didn't move much so we walked around the cage to see if they would move more.

Lake Jesup (full of alligators)

That didn't work so we decided to go over to the huge male alligator. While we were looking at him through his cage, he started making some really weird sounds and tipped his head up. One of the workers told us that it was his mating call. The female alligators in the other cage started calling back, it was really cool. I don't think they so it really often so it was cool to see.

Next we went to show Brooklyn the birds, since they were more colorful, we figured it would be easier for her to see than the alligators. The parrot talked to us and said "hello" which Avery really liked. We tried to get it to talk more but it was more interested in its toys.

Kimarie went into the restaurant to see if she could get take out orders of Gator Bites and saw that there was a live little alligator that you could hold and get your picture taken with. She told the girls to come and get us so we could get our picture taken with it. Tyson and I both held it and Brooklyn just looked at it wondering what in the world it was. It was cold but different than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed it and I was glad that I decided to hold it.

Before Kimarie could get their orders of Gator Bites, Tyson and I decided we had better head back to their house so we could finish packing and get ready to head to the airport. When they got home, Tyson and I both tried alligator, which wasn't bad, it was just really chewy. We finally got packed and headed to the airport after grabbing some lunch on the way.

We got through security at the airport surprisingly fast for the number of people in line. When we figured out where our gate was, we decided to get some snacks for the wait. We found Smoothie King which had the best strawberry, kiwi, papaya smoothie. It was insanely good. Brooklyn really enjoyed it too. Then we grabbed some chips and some chocolate milk for Brooklyn. We sat and ate for a little while and walked around a bit. When it was time to board, we got on the plane and headed for Salt Lake City airport. Brooklyn was really good on the flight, other than the fact that she kept trying to grab the lady's black hair that was sitting in front of us. But she kept everyone else entertained by saying "hi" the whole trip when she wasn't sleeping.

We landed in Salt Lake and got some pizza for lunch and waited for our next flight. Before we boarded, we decided we needed to find some milk for Brooklyn for the flight but no one had any. Tyson walked around for a while and finally found a Starbucks that gave him a cup of chocolate milk. We boarded the plane and Brooklyn slept the whole way home from there. We landed and Tyson went to grab the car while I held Brooklyn, who was still sleeping, and waited for our luggage. Tyson came back and we loaded up the car and headed home. We got Brooklyn in bed and we're headed to bed ourselves. It was a great vacation, even with Tyson and Brooklyn getting sick. I am looking forward to my own bed though!!

Sunday!!

Today was a wonderful and eventful Sunday!! We started out by going to church with Kimarie, Jason and the kids. We forgot Brooklyn's binki when we went to church this morning so church got cut short. I took her out halfway through Sacrament Meeting and had to find the mother's room because she was crying and screaming so loud. She screamed for the rest of the meeting and when Tyson came out of the chapel we both decided that it would be better to go home than interrupt Sunday for everyone else. We finished getting dinner ready while we were home so it was ready when everyone else got home.

After dinner, we relaxed and then later in the evening, we all went to the Orlando Temple. It was magnificent! I took so many pictures because I couldn't get enough of it. There were a ton of fountains and plants surrounding it. Brooklyn enjoyed getting to get down and run around. She climbed up and down the stairs over and over. She seemed to really enjoy being out in the nice weather.

We headed back to the house for the rest of the evening where Tyson and I began packing for leaving tomorrow. It was an outstanding day even though we had to come home early from church.

Manatees

Today our Florida trip brought us to Blue Spring State Park, where this time of year the manatees swim in for the warmer water. We parked in the upper parking lot and walked down to the water. We got there a little late so we didn't get to see the manatees swim in, but we saw a ton of them out where the sun hit the water.

When we arrived, the worker told us there were about 264 that swam in this morning. We couldn't believe it, there were so many! We walked down the boardwalk to see if we could find a spot to see the manatees up close, but they were all out pretty far. So we decided to walk around and then go back and see if we could see them up close on our way back to the car. We walked down to the dock where they took you out on boats, which weren't running yet. We saw a bunch of birds but no manatees. So we walked around the playground and then back to the boardwalk.

On our way back up the boardwalk, we stopped at one of the lookouts and got to see an alligator swimming in the water. Avery was really excited. She wanted to see one so badly so I'm glad we decided to stop. A couple stops up the boardwalk again, we saw 3 turtles off past the manatees.

We walked up to where the swimming hole and were completely shocked to see a bunch of manatees swimming right under the boardwalk. It was amazing to see them up close. You could see all of the scars on their bodies from boats and other things. They are really big too. I always knew they were bigger animals, but seeing them up close it really hit me as to how big they really are. When you see them out further in the water, they don't look as big so it was definitely a shock up close.

I walked to the stairs where people could walk down to go swimming or snorkeling. There was a manatee at the bottom of the stairs, and when it saw us standing there, it came up the stairs to the top of the water, and poked its nose out. It was so cool to see one that close!!

After we were done looking at the manatees, we got to follow some that were playing together. It was fun to watch them swim around each other. I tried to get it on video, but they didn't seem to play as much when I was recording. I would miss the best parts every time I stopped recording.


After following them, we went inside the house that was turned into a museum. It was nice, but I think the manatees were the best by far! Although, the manatee made out of glass and tile pieces was really cool too. It would take a lot of talent and time to make it.

We all went back to the car and decided to go to Daytona Beach since it wasn't far. We got to go inside where buy tickets for tours or races, but we never figured out how to get in so we could see the actual race track. The gift shop had a ton of jackets and shirts for kids and adults. We weren't there very long but we had a lot of fun. We got to see where the winners put their hand and shoe prints and signed their name. Each winner had a square on the sidewalk.

Then it was back to Kimarie and Jason's to spend the evening! What a fun day, we had a blast!!

Disney Adventure

Our adventure started this morning when we headed to Downtown Disney. We walked around and wen t throught all of the shops with Brooklyn strapped in the carrier. Tyson carried her so she was facing out while strapped to his chest and I carried the diaper bag, that we overpacked again. It was a chilly today so Brooklyn and I both had jackets on.

There were candy shops everywhere! It all looked so good but was so expensive. Our favorite shop of all was the Lego store. Outside the building they had huge Disney characters made out of Legos. The first statue we came to was from the first Toy Story movie, when Buzz and Woody were strapped to the firework. The statue had a cloud of smoke from the firework and at the bottom was the remote control car. All of the statues looked like real toys.

The next one we came to was Snow White kissing Dopey's head on a hill. There were birds in the tree behind them. They had another statue with the other dwarves from Snow White. They were all mining for jewels like in the movie. It was so fun to see the cute 1-2 foot dwarves.

Next, we went into the building to see what was inside. They had several stations where you could sit and build things with all of the Legos and then they had walls of Lego kits yu could buy and one wall of single Legos, in every color, that you could buy. It was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. Tyson got to see several Star Wars sets and built models, which I think he really enjoyed. There were also a huge statue of Buzz and one of Woody. Those were a big hit with a lot of the kids. After looking around in the store, we went outside to look at what else they had. We found a section where you could build Lego cars, and then one of the employees would take it and put it on their racetrack so you could compete with other people. The racetrack was similar to pinewood derby tracks that the scouts do.

And the best statue was from Sleeping Beauty!! It was the scene where Prince Charming was fighting against the dragon. It looked so real, I loved it! I can't imagine the amount of time it took to design and I can't imagine the amount of time it took to design and build all of it.

And the final Lego structure was when you walked out the back of the store. It was a huge statue of the Lock Ness Monster in the water. The statue was enourmous. I couln't believe the detail in all of the statues and it made me want to find my old Legos and get to work on something fun like that. It was such and WONDERFUL, FUN store to go through!!

When we were finally done with Legos, we continued to go through the other shops. We found the one with all of the princess stuff and counldn't believe the prices they charged for things. Princess dresses cost over $60 and the toys were expensive too. As we walked through the store, we found a hair parlor where the girls, in their princess dresses, could get their hair done up like a princess. Parents could easily spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars in under an hour. I was glad Brooklyn wasn't old enough to want to get all of that. This Disney store had tons of the characters from oher movies too. I couldn't believe how many they had. We decided to buy Brooklyn a set of all of the princesses for her to play with. She seemed to really enjoy them. She was smiling when we handed her the box.

So excited!

We went through a bunch of other stores and found a lot of things we really enjoyed. There was one store called "Once Upon a Toy" where the whole front of the store was Potato Head Pieces. They had pieces to build Darth Vador, Storm Troopers, Cruella Devile, Minney or Mickey Mouse, and tons of others. In the rest of the store, there were places where you could build your own lightsaber. There were Potato Heads dressed up as Star Wars characters and tons of others. We had a ton of fun building different things.

  

There were a bunch of other stores and restaurants that were really cool. One of my favorite restaurants was the T-Rex. There were dinosaur bones surrounding the building and a huge T-Rex. I love the sign posted just below it!!

We went inside the restaurant and found out there was a gift shop inside too. When you looked in the restaurant, there was a giant octapus with jelly fish as lights. It was very interesting.

The next restaurant we went into was The Rainforest Cafe. There were aquariums all over and different animals throughout room. Brooklyn's favorite was the cheeta that roared and moved its head. Her least favorite was the giant frog hanging from the wall. She did enjoy seeing so many different animals, even if they weren't real.

We got back in the car and gave Brooklyn her princess dolls and you can tell how much she liked them from this next picture!

All-in-all, we had a really fun day. Brooklyn got to explore something totally new and colorful and enjoyed everything. I'm glad we got to get out and get some fresh air and spend time as a family!