Day Two - Cooper's First Days

Here are some great pictures from Cooper's First Days; this is Day 2.

::Cooper's First Few Hours::

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Cooper from the first few hours:

::Cooper::

WELCOME COOPER!!

Cooper Joseph Simon was born on April 25, 2009 @ 8:50pm.

He weighed 6lb 15oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

He was born at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA.

Time to Have Some FUN!

My recent Facebook Status: "contracted all night. Now, no contractions, no baby, no sleep. Doctor's appt this afternoon." The next day's Facebook Status: "slept great- amazing how well you can sleep when you are not contracting! Seriously, I feel wonderful; I have just never had: every 3rd night, all night, false labor. This is new---guess the 4th child has to be different somehow. ;)"

NOW, I have slept really well 2 days in a row and I am 100% back to my completely happy pregnant person attitude. I have to admit it was very strange for me to be so discouraged and frustrated; amazing what sleep deprivation does to you. I had experienced 4 or 5 nights in 9 days with little or no sleep and had definitely reached my limit.

I have said all that to say that now that I am back to Happy Pregnant Person Status. I am ready to have some fun. So, we are going to have a guess the baby's weight contest. We have never done this but we have also never been pregnant this long before!

Here are the facts for you to consider when making your guess:

Colin was born at 39 1/7 weeks and weighed 7lbs 8 oz, I gained 26 pounds.
Connor was born at 38 2/7 weeks and weighed 8lbs 4 oz. I gained 26 pounds.
Sybella was born at 39 weeks and weighed 7lbs 10oz. I gained 27 pounds.
I am currently 39 3/7 weeks and I have gained 28 pounds (so far). Cooper was estimated to be 6lb 4oz at the 36 week Ultrasound. I am scheduled for an induction on Tuesday April 28, 2009.

The rules:
1. Guesses must be posted before time of birth. (And it could be anytime between Now and Tuesday, April 28.)
2. One guess per person.
3. Guesses may be posted to the Blog OR Facebook.
4. The winner will be the person who comes the closest to Cooper's birth weight, WITHOUT going over (this is like The Price is Right folks).
5. I am the Final Authority on who the winner is--and there will be no appeals.
6. There will be a prize, likely a gift certificate. AND, I reserve the right to not mail it out until Cooper is 3 months old....just in case 4 kids is as crazy as I am imagining.
7. By entering the contest, you are consenting to have your picture posted to this Blog and Facebook, especially if you live local and I can get a picture of you with Cooper.

Let me know if you have any questions and Happy Weight Guessing!

Take your Child to Work Day

Until yesterday, we didn't know that today was Take Your Child to Work Day. It was a little late to pull the boys out of school and organize a day at work. Sybella is a bit young and has too short an attention span to spend the day at Dad's work [and she is with Mom at work every day :) ]
But, I decided that 10 minutes at work might be do-able. After running some errands, I took Sybella to David's office to see some of the people and to "play" with answering the phone.
I think that both her and David enjoyed it.

Dominican Republic Trip GROWS into Long-Term Missions

WOW!!!!!

We are so excited to share our friend Katie McFaddin with you. Katie was one of our teammates on the Dominican Republic (DR) Missions Trip in January. God has such big plans for Katie. He used the DR Trip, along with its people, our missions team, and the missionaries we served with to water a seed that He planted in Katie's heart.
I am including part of Katie's newsletter/announcement here. But the short story is that 7 days is GROWING into a YEAR of missionary service through Katie's willingness to listen to God's voice and take action on what God laid on her heart during the recent trip to the DR.

From Katie's Newsletter: I’ve shared with many that while I was on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in January, 2009 that I felt called to serve on a long-term mission assignment, but I had no idea exactly what, where, when or how… After prayer and getting advice from other Christian friends, I interviewed for the World Race with Adventures in Missions. The World Race is a mission assignment to serve Christ in 11 countries in 11 months with a team of 50 young adults. In February, I found out that I was accepted to run the race!
…and then I developed a “Jonah-syndrome” and went back to the chaos of work and comforts of life in Washington, D.C. I’m grateful that God puts us back in our place because as of April 17, I was spewed out of the belly of the whale, or in other words, RIFFED along with a large chunk of my former co-workers due to major budget cuts.
I’m so grateful that God is in control and He’s working through me, calling me to be His hands, feet, mouth and heart in all parts of the world. I’m ready to go, serve, teach, and to be used by Him!

Katie's race will begin in August 2009 and will include the following locations: Cambodia, Egypt, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Romania, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam and another country in Africa to be decided later.
If you are able, please consider supporting Katie. Prayers are always essential but consider financial support too. Katie will need to raise approximately $14,000 in the short-term just to embark on the journey and will need some additional support over the coming year. You can make a one time contribution or commit to monthly support. I assure it, it will not only be worth it but your contributions will have eternal value.

I am amazed at Katie's spirit, heart, and her willingness (in her words) to spend the year: ministering to the poor, sharing God’s love to widows and orphans, building community, growth, discipleship, and being a part of God's work all over the world. My greatest desire is to allow God to use me outside of my comfort zone and serve for His glory. During this trip, I will have the opportunity to pray for and minister to people who need to hear of salvation through Jesus Christ.

**Links to Katie's blog and support page are included.

Shack Attack!

I am not much for fiction...I do enjoy an occasional read to break up all the other books. So when this one was recommended to me I did not jump on it. Then I had the opportunity to hear Paul speak at Catalyst and decided to grab The Shack and find out what the 'hub bub' was all about.

What a great read. I stopped several times throughout the book to stop and really think about the ideas, concepts, and images he was describing. I loved everything about the book.

Don't read it on the plane (like I did) or you'll find yourself trying to explain how the elevation always makes your eyes water. There are some pretty rough moments in the book, "the great sadness" as the author calls it. As a parent, I found myself a little more paranoid for a while after reading parts of this.

The first 5 chapters are slow but absolutely necessary to build the background of the story line and make it all come together. I love how Paul Young stretches the readers mind to a whole new playing field.

Water Water Everywhere...

A few candid moments while the
boys 'soaked' in the great weather
here in Northern Virginia.
As much as they can be 'all boy'
I love to watch them have fun and just be brothers. It is also great to live in a neighborhood where they have tons of kids their age to play with.

~David

Another Saturday Morning in Dad's Eyes

Here are some more Saturday morning pictures from David...he is developing a habit of walking around with the camera on Saturdays. It's a good thing we're not shy about being photographed at "our best." LOL!!

Here is Dad's favorite: All of our kids drink every drop of sugary-milk in the bowl.

Great-Grandma Cretella's Birthday

This week I took the kids to Ohio to celebrate their Great-Grandma Cretella's 78th Birthday. She lives about 5 1/2 hours away in Niles, OH. (Audrey is David's Grandmother.) We had not seen her in a little a little over a year--since she came and spent Christmas with us. This week is Spring Break for the boys and they were itching to go on a road trip. So, Tuesday morning we got in the car and headed for the snow and cold of NE Ohio. We stayed with Luke and Kristin, David's Brother and Sister-in-Law; we always enjoy a visit with them and Uncle Luke will indulge the kids and play video games LATE into the night. (Aunt Kristin cooks for us and the girls hang out.)

On Tuesday night, we had a small SURPRISE party for Grandma Cretella. And I do mean Surprise. She had no idea we were coming. We just showed up at the front door. We spent time hanging out, playing with Sassy the dog, and catching up, along with eating her great birthday cake. We also got to meet Larry, a long-time friend of hers.

On Wednesday, we headed back home to DC; it was a very short visit. Even though delivery didn't seem to be approaching, I am in my 37th week of pregnancy and Cooper could decide to come at any time so, we had to keep it brief.

**If you click on the Mosaic, the pictures will enlarge for better viewing.