Penney’s “Non-Cents”

We have had a fantastic year at KDO!! Drew had some amazing teachers and Mommy is pretty sad to be losing them. Drew had such a good experience and learned so much. Miss Cassie and Mrs. Holly, thank you so much for loving our son!

The end of the year was jam-packed with so many fun activities! Thanks to Miss Cassie for sharing some of her pictures with me!

Here is a modge podge of several different things that went on at school the last month…

Finally warm enough for the outdoor playground

Drew’s 3 year old class- yes, he was the only boy all year long but he didn’t seem to mind

Field trip to Market Street to decorate a cake for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day Tea- all the little girls were supposed to dress up in “tea” attire and the boys were supposed to wear Daddy’s clothes! So cute!! They had a little program and then we had tea and cookies!

Naptime at school

Centers at school

Stretch N Grow- This is a fantastic program that is along the lines of a PE once a week. Drew LOVED it. He came home learning so much. In fact he told me, pointing to a body part, that it was called the anterior tibialis- do you know which body part he is talking about???? I still can’t believe my three year old does!

End of the year field day- Drew’s team was called “The Princesses and the Frog”. Who do you think was the frog??!!

This next picture I died laughing. The kiddos where waiting in line for their turn and I turn around and find Drew lining all the girls up and teaching them “Saw Varsity’s Horns Off”. OH NO!!! We might have an Aggie on our hands.

Drew had a great time and an amazing year! Now we are ready for a summer full of fun!!

We were so blessed to have our church honor Cooper and all the other babies that were born this year through Baby Dedication on Mother’s Day. This was the last Baby Dedication that our church was hosting so we felt very lucky that Cooper was born just in time to participate! The purpose of Baby Dedication is for us, as parents, to make a commitment to raise our child in a Godly home and bring him up in church. The Lord is very important in both mine and Andy’s life and we pray daily for our children to know the Lord as their savior someday too.

Baby dedication for Cooper was a little different than it was when Drew was a baby. They provided a terrific brunch and had fantastic slide show but it was separate from the service itself. We felt very honored that my parents (JuJu and Grandaddy) made a special trip up to Lubbock to be here to support such an important symbol of dedication for our family!

Here are a few pics from the event…

When we announced that we were expecting Cooper in Sunday School, two other girls announced the very same day!! Our class has been booming with new babies these last few months. Cooper is the oldest (only by weeks), In the middle of the picture are the Greene’s with baby Austin who is the youngest, and the Rigler’s are on the far right with baby Nash.

This picture isn’t from baby dedication but it’s of the three boys that were born within weeks of each other (From left to right Cooper, Austin, Nash) Thanks Mandy for sharing the pic

Back to Baby Dedication…

Reciting the dedication as a group

What a terrific and momentos way to celebrate Mother’s Day. I couldn’t have asked for a better Mother’s Day present!!

This year was the first year that Drew was old enough to participate in Wednesday night activities at our church (other than just child care). Our church has a program called Awanas and it is AMAZING!!! Drew had to memorize a Bible verse each week and I was shocked at how quickly he learned them AND remembered them weeks later! The Bible promises us in Isaiah 55:11 “the word will not return void” and in Proverbs 22:6 to “train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it”. We take these verses to heart and are so delighted to have a program at our church for young children to dive so deeply into God’s word. I was very impressed by how organized it was every Wednesday. Drew could hardly wait for Awanas day to role around each week. I truly appreciate all those that devoted their time to teaching our children! Here are a few pictures from the year at Awanas.

Crazy Hair Day-October

(He looks so little in this picture- amazing how much he has grown in the last few months!)

Cream the Commander Night- throwing pies at the leaders (April)

End of the year Ceremony- (May)

Well, as usual, I’m a little behind on blogging so this is a little late! It’s hard to believe that our baby is a fourth through his first year!! He is growing and changing every day!

Cooper, you light up our world so much and just make us all melt!! At three months you are…

12 pounds

Smiling like crazy

“talking” up a storm with the sweetest coo’s and babbles

Don’t like to be left alone

Only waking up once in a 12 hour period at night. (Usually bedtime is 8:00 or 8:30 and you wake up around 4:30 or 5:00 for a feeding and will usually go right back to sleep)

You are still nursing and taking a supplement but you are starting to prefer the bottle (much to mommy’s dismay)

You are protesting more at tummy time but are raising your head really well

You want to roll from your tummy to your back and can get your arms in the right position but haven’t figured out how to kick your leg over yet.

You are really long compared to others around your age (no official stats since we didn’t go to the doctor this month)

You go with the flow really well and it doesn’t take much to make you happy!

You are still the easiest, sweetest, little thing ever! We love you so very much!

It’s hard to believe that Cooper is already two months old. He is such a joy and definitely completes our family!

Cooper you are growing and changing each and every day and we all just adore and love you very much!

At two months you are…

-Giving smiles that completely melt your Mommy

-You are just starting to Coo

-You discovered the animals on your swing mobile and will watch with intent as they turn around

-Your brother thinks you are the greatest and wants to hold you all the time

-You are not on a schedule yet but Mommy is starting to figure out patterns

-You still take about 3-4 naps during the day

-You are still eating every 3-4 hours and getting up to eat about 2 times a night

-You don’t mind tummy time too much but still have a hard time holding your head up

-You are already a traveler with first trip to Midland and soon after to Waco.

-You are one of the most mild-mannered babies I have ever seen- very easy going

-Your stats from the doctor’s visit are:

10 pounds (15^th percentile)

23.6 inches (75^th percentile)

40.25 head circumference (60^th percentile)

We got to go to Waco this weekend so that Andy’s brother and his family could meet Cooper! It was so fun getting all the grandkids together and letting them see Cooper for the first time. The boys did great on the six hour drive, however, with feedings it turned into about 7, which made for a long drive for the parents. But it was worth it getting to see everybody. We are excited that Matt and Theresa will be moving back to Waco so now we won’t have to coordinate weekends anymore! I was also excited about getting down there while the Bluebonnets were blooming but the weather did not cooperate for me. No bluebonnet pictures for me again this year- L I’ll let the pics tell the rest of the story!

Pops and Grams with all their grandkids (I think it will be increasingly harder to get good pictures of all four for the next couple of years!)

Aunt Theresa and Uncle Matt meeting baby Cooper

Aunt Theresa getting big grins from the bud

Cutie on his 2 month b-day

We promised Drew this trip that he could go see the Baylor Bears stadiums (football, basketball, and baseball). If you know Drew then you know how excited he was about this! We couldn’t work out a time for everyone to go with feedings and naps so the big boys all went and Andy took some cute pics on his phone.

It was a great weekend getting to see family! We look forward to the next time we can all get together again!

Life has finally started to settle down into a routine and pattern for our family! We had my folks stay with us for 2 weeks after Cooper was born and then Andy’s mom stayed for several days, then Andy was home for Spring Break. So it took a full solid month before we got to experience life as a family of four. Routine and schedule has proved to be beneficial for all of us! Drew had some adjustment periods but has loved being a big brother. He is such a big help and wants to hold Cooper all the time! He is really very sweet. He has enjoyed going back to KDO two days a week and I am dreading May because we LOVE his teachers. I do not want to leave them!

Cooper is doing wonderful! He is by far one of the easiest babies I have ever seen. Cooper has already showed signs of wanting to be just like his big brother! We had a rocky start because he got jaundice so bad we had to have a billi-light and home health care come to our house daily. By the way, Drew did the exact same thing (I was going to post pictures of both of them laying in their little beds but Andy has the camera that has Cooper’s pics and his first bath and I’ve been waiting to upload those for weeks now- so I finally gave up and decided to go ahead and update!) Anyway, Cooper dropped a lot of weight due to the jaundice and wasn’t thriving on nursing alone so the pediatrician gave us no choice but to supplement with formula (once again, just like Drew). Once we got that solved Cooper has been gaining weight steadily and is doing terrific both nursing and taking a bottle. Here are his stats from the last month (not that you probably want to know all of them but because I want record of it myself!)

Birth Weight- 8 pounds 3 ounces

Weight and Color Check at 6 days old: 6 pounds 14 ounces- supplementation was suggested but Cooper didn’t really take it

Home Health Care at 1 week: 6 pounds 10 ounces

2 week check-up: 7 pounds- supplementation was forced by pedi

3 week- 8 pounds 4 ounces- (finally weight gain!!!)

4 week- 8 pounds 12 ounces

5 week- 9 pounds 4 ounces

6 week- 9 pounds 10 ounces

We go to weight clinic every Monday at the hospital to check on Cooper and make sure what we are doing is still working. It’s crazy- but I really look forward to those days!

I’ve also heard that 10 pounds is the magic number for sleeping more during the night. I’m guess we just might have a 10-pounder now (I’ll find out today) because he has gone 5 ½ and 4 ½ hour stretches at night and goes right back to sleep. He goes to bed at 8:30ish and wakes up around 1:30 or 2:00 and again around 6:00ish and again around 8:30 or 9:00. I can’t complain- especially since he goes right back to sleep after a feeding!

Anyway, we love our new family and are finally starting to get settled in our new home. We are super close to getting both cars parked in the garage and have office furniture coming this week or next. A yard is on the agenda as well. When we get those things checked off I think we will finally start feeling like we are living in a home! Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks (minus a few I hope to add at a later date)

Around 1 week old

2 weeks

JuJu getting some lovin’s while helping out here!

Cuties and their matching shirts (Cooper is about 5 weeks)

Enjoying a day at the park! (Cooper too!)

Ready for an egg hunt at school!six weeks

Making Resurrection rollsTime to Enjoy Easter Egg hunting on a glorious Easter Sunday!

And just for kicks…

Drew

Cooper

They are spitting images (in my opinion) Just a little side note- Cooper was born with a head full of hair and has lost almost every single bit of it. I thought Drew was my baldy and Cooper was my baby with hair, now looking at these pictures, I can’t believe that Drew had more hair than Coop!)

Well that wraps up life in the Penney household for the last few weeks! We hope all is going well with you. By the way- Comments rock if you actually read the blog!

We welcomed Cooper Lane Penney into our family on February 18, 2010! He never did turn, so since he was breech we ended up having a c-section. Since I had Drew the natural way I was really apprehensive about a c-section. Several of my friends had terrible experiences with their c-sections so I was really worried. However, the alternative to what could happen to our baby with him being breech reassured me that we were making the right decision to go ahead with the c-section. Andy and I went in bright and early at 5:00 AM, while my parents took care of Drew and got him delivered for KDO. Everything seemed to happen so quickly after that. I was prepped and got pretty sick from the spinal but luckily wasn’t able to feel a thing! I heard a nurse announce that the first cut was at 7:51 AM and Cooper was born at 7:56 AM- talk about fast! The doc’s said he was in a very awkward position and he was BREECH, BREECH, BREECH- so it was confirmed that a c-section was a necessity.

Cooper weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces, measuring 21 inches long, with a head 14 ½ inches round. He was 100% perfect!

(Big Brother Drew’s first look at Cooper- he wanted to share his Snuggle Bear- very special!)

We were so grateful to have our family travel into town to welcome Cooper to the world! My parents stayed for two weeks to help with recovery and learning to live a life of two children. They just left yesterday. Andy’s mom is coming on Wednesday to spend some time with us as well! I hope now that we are beginning to learn our new normal I’ll be a little better updating the blog. Up next…coming home!

Well as usual I’m a little behind in my blogging! The last month (or maybe I should say 9 months) has been a whirl wind! The last month of my pregnancy provided many unexpected turns and twists. Cooper decided that he would give us a few scares. At my 35 week sonogram appointment it was thought that I might be leaking amniotic fluid so I was rushed to the hospital to get set up on a monitor to check everything out. As I was leaving the sonogram doctor the nurse shouts to me, “Hopfully it’s just a scare but you just might be having a baby today.” Talk about freaking me out! We weren’t anywhere close to being ready for Cooper’s arrival at this point. Needless to say when everything checked out ok we ran home to quickly locate the car seat and set up the crib and nursery (something we hadn’t done yet since we just moved!) We couldn’t find the car seat anywhere so we made a few phone calls and discovered that it was still in the attic of our old house! So glad we found that out before we really did need it! Anyway, the weeks went by with a few nights of strong contractions and we just knew this baby was coming anytime! Unfortunately, this terrified me more than anything because Cooper was still breech and I didn’t want to go into labor with him breech since it could cause all kinds of complications and doc said it would be an emergency situation if I did. Well Cooper hung tight and didn’t try to make an early appearance after all (his birth story will be in the next post).

(Sonogram in December)

(Cooper’s nursery- Taken two days before delivery)

(Almost 39 weeks- isn’t this the cutest shirt ever! My great friend Melissa made it for me!!)

I was also blessed with an amazing shower given by my dear friend, Sarah McKinnon. I felt so special and honored from all the generosity that everyone laid upon us as we awaited the arrival of our sweet Cooper!

(The sweetest hostess EVER!)

(Linda and Dee Dee- good friends from the good ‘ol teachin’ days!)

Coleen and Kyla-two of the greatest friends a girl could ask for- Coleen is expecting her first baby girl in just a few weeks. Cooper is anxiously awaiting the arrival of his future girlfriend!    

Amber and Mandy- friends from Sunday School- we are all expecting boys- there was something in the water at church!

Leah, baby Casey, and Jill! Leah and Jill are from our Newlywed Sunday School class. They have since moved but we continue to stay close! They both traveled in for my shower- how special is that??!! I LOVE it when I get a chance to hang out with these girls and I wish they still lived here.

Amber, Julie, and Jennifer- friends from MOPS!

Janda, Kim, Kathy, Melissa and Rachel- friends from church. We’ve got such a great group of church friends!

My mom and sister- greatest family ever!!

The belly at 37+ weeks

Matching outfits for my boys!!

Well- that’s a small recap of our awaiting the arrival of Cooper. We are so grateful those days are now over and that we have him in our arms! I’ll post more about his birth next!