The Cook Family Adventures

75 baths and counting...

2011-05-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

So we had an appointment today for Harper... she has been in the band for 9 days... I have started to see a difference every night at bath time, and today her Therapist Josie confirmed her head is rounding out! :)
They have a mold of her head from where she started so we are able to compare at every appointment. They put a pantyhose on her head to smooth the her crazy hair so you can really see everything. We also started Physical Therapy today as well for her head tilt, doing this physical therapy will help her ears align as well and loosen her tightness. So as much as it sucks that she has to wear this stylish band for 23 hours and have a head that smells like gym socks... it is SO WORTH IT! She is going to have the best looking head AROUND:)

84 Baths!!!

2011-05-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

So I am sure you are wondering about the title... this is the amount of baths Harper is going to have over the next 12 weeks, while she is in Doc Band Treatment.... I know you are all wondering what is a Doc Band??? Well I always wondered too... you see little infants rocking helmets and wonder WHY??? You think something is really wrong with them... you fear the worse and feel bad for staring... I know I have.

So back in February I woke up one morning and I was feeding Harper and I noticed that she had a very odd shaped head and that it was REALLY FLAT???? I showed BJ thinking am I crazy??? He thought it was a little weird and we both decided to wait until she had her next Dr check up. At that appointment, I ended up pointing out Harpers head to him and asked him to evaluate... He did notice that her ears where not aligned and that she did have an area that would need to be looked at. He recommended that we see a Physical Therapist. I waited for a week to hear from a physical therapist, and in the mean time I started to do my own digging and found Cranial Technologies, I did there online evaluation and made an appointment with them for a week later. We brought Harper in and found out she has a Moderate form of Plagiocephaly... What is Plagiocephaly???? It actually means Oblique Head in Greek... it is when your ears do not align , you can have facial asymmetry and also a bulging forward. Harper did have some of these things.. so we moved forward with her Doc Band. This can be cause because she was a Twin and she was in crammed quarters and it could have also been caused because of her sleeping on her back. Apparently it is on the rise since The Back to Sleep campaign has began.

We did find out that our insurance was not going to cover a penny... BYE BYE summer family vacation... Hello Drs appointments every week and of course Hello Perfect Round Head for little Miss Harper:)

So May 10th Harper got her Doc Band, the first 24 hour was an adjustment for her and us. The person most concerned with her HELMET was Helena, she was worried her "baby sister" was hurt. We reassured her she was ok and now Helena thinks of it more as a hat. We found and awesone sign company that provides wraps for the bands Pro Bono, so BJ was able to design Harper's rocking band.

All I can say is she will be getting a 84 baths ... her poor little head smells like sweaty socks, she has to wear her Band 23 hours a day, it leaves me one hour to clean the Band with a toothbrush and alcohol and get her into to the tub, she loves baths so this is a fun hour for her as well:)

3 Cookies to 5 Cookies in 2 days!!!

2010-11-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

So my mom was pointing out to me that I have been a very very bad blogger for these babies.... Harper and Gunner, mommy is sorry, but with work and your sister, moving and over all just being plain tired I have not been as up to snuff for you 2! But I would like to THANK YOU for being such good babies and over all giving me a GREAT pregnancy! Dr O'Hara's says if you were not breech and he did not have to take you via c-section you 2 would probably stay put until your due date! I do not know HOW I would be able to do that... Your Grammies Clark has been here for a week and I have been taking it pretty easy.... I am extremely swollen, gaining 10-20lbs of water weight a day, my belly is 48inches around. I am sleeping for 2 hours at a time and I waddle EVERYWHERE!!! I feel so blessed that I have not had to go on bed rest and I was able to work until my 36th week. All and All and AWESOME job babies.... I hope when I meet you on TUESDAY that you are perfect visions of health just like your sister was!!! PS I am very curious to know what you guys look like.... We have been able to see Gunners profile a few times, however Harper is always facing my back. My dr explained this week she is just trying to be polite to her brother since he has his BALLS in her face!!! He is already trying to show his true colors:)

So we have made it to 38 weeks, this Tuesday November 9th. This is the day our babies will be born, we are scheduled for a c-section at noon! This has been my most trying week of pregnancy for sure, I am swollen, short of breath, and so tired! The Dr thinks they are going to be 6 to 7lbs babies, that is very good sized TWINS:)
The only thing left to do is repack our hospital bag ( I had to throw one together since I thought I was having back labor and ruched to TRIAGE! FALSE ALARM) and finish the bookshelf in the babies room! All and all we are as ready as we are going to be! I have been talking to Helena a lot about the babies and that they are coming, I know that one baby would rock a toddlers world, but Helena will never know the difference, she is getting 2, the best of both worlds a BROTHER & SISTER.

The last couple of weeks have been great, i have been done working and I have been able to get ready for the babies! I also have had lots of time to snuggle and love Helena! I have been taking her to school, reading with her, coloring with her, playing playdoh:) I just love her so much, she is such an amazing little bean:) She is saying so many things and trying to put things together, she still jibber jabbers, but repeats all the things we say to her. My favorite thing she does is, she loves POPSICLES... and when she is eating meals or gets hungry she says "POPSICLE?" We respond, "lets eat dinner or wait until your finished eating." Helena then responds " 2 Popsicles" Totally disregarding anything we just said! TOO FUNNY! She loves playing on the I-pad, BJ has gotten a lot of educational games and she LOVES THEM! It is super cute to watch them play together. She still loves singing and dancing! It is so fun having dance parties every morning:) I love that she LOVES THE BEATLES:) THATS MY GIRL... oh and Kelly Clarkston, thats my fault too!!!

We got to truly experience Halloween this year, Helena had a festival at school that just her and BJ attended, I need to stay home and relax due to just being HUGE! She got to ROCK her Rainbow Brite costume, she loved it and looked adorable wearing it! The festival was Friday, Saturday we carved pumpkins and Sunday we went Trick or Treating, she was a PRO! She said Trick or Treat at every house, she also said Thank YOU, and she did want to go and check every ones house out! It was funny watching her try to bust in!!! I made it a couple blocks and then I switched with my mom, and I stayed back and handed out candy. We ran out of candy in an HOUR!!! I can not believe it... 5 bags next year for sure:) Helena is not a sweet eater but we found out she loves suckers.... I was tempted to count and see HOW MANY LICKS DOES IT TAKE TO GET TO THE CENTER OF A TOOTSIE POP :) She sucked on hers for almost an HOUR, got to the center and declared she was done!!! We had such a great Halloween, such a fun fun night!

Something that is so crazy is that on November 3rd, I had my last drs appointment and we went to the park after. It ended up being over 100 degrees that day and we busted out the swimming pool! Helena had so much fun.... but who is swimming in NOVEMBER! WE ARE.... it was over 100 degrees for 3 days straight, so hot and does not help a 9 month preggo with her swelling at all.

We are so grateful for every ones kind word and prayers during this pregnancy, we did it, we have made to the end!!! I look forward to sharing our journey as a family of 5!!! BJ will be in charge of pictures, he will be uploading them to facebook and then to flickr a few days after there arrival. I will do my best to update before Thanksgiving! We have so much to be THANKFUL FOR:)

Wow.... 35 weeks Preggos with Twins....

2010-10-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well.... I am the worst blogger ever... These poor babies do have not blog records like Helena does:( I have no idea how I had so much time to blog with her. But here goes nothing.

We are all moved into to the house... we still are making it OUR cozy home, I know that will take some time and I know we will get there. The house is going to be filled with Baby stuff starting this weekend... the swing and pack n play are going to get set up and I am going to have BJ put the finishing touches on the babies room. Over all I am not prepared at all like I was with Helena... I do have nightmares that they come early and we get home and BJ can not find anything and he is so MAD at me!!! AHHHHH the pressure, not to mention that I do not have a bag packed or anything. I just let the babies know that we should wait a few more weeks:) As of right now we are scheduled November 9th at Noon. I would like to make it this far for many reasons, #1 they will be 38 weeks, #2 Dr Ohara will be delivering them, #3 my mom will be here. I am a planner and I would just like everything to go as I know it should:)

I started this blog last week and we are now almost 36 weeks.... the nursery is done, I have a little bit more laundry to do and put away. Things are coming together.... BJ and I have decided that I have DROPPED which means I now really have to TAKE IT EASY! The pressure on my hips and legs after an hour of running around is INTENSE!!! We are both doing our best to hold out until the 9th. He has been great HOUSEWIFE:) At last weeks appointment I was not dilated just very soft and Harpers feet are very much planted in my pelvis. At this time it looks like she is smaller then her brother, but we will see about this.... They thought Helena was 8lbs, she was not even 7lbs when she was born!

Helena has gotten another sinus infection, so she is currently on antibiotics. Bummer for her, but so glad I took her in, with in 24 hours of being on them, her nose cleared right up! This means good night sleep for all of us, and a little less clingy toddler. WHO AM I KIDDING... this kid has been glued to me for a week straight.... I do love her to pieces and snuggling with her is my FAVORITE thing to do, however I am 300 degrees and HUGE, so it is hard to have a 30 lbs little person draped over me! But we are making it thru!
Helena loves her minivan and is very ready to make the move to the 3rd row, her carseat will go there this next weekend... she always vlines for the back seat and driver seat when she enters.... future Danica Patrick on our hands. Speaking my lovely van, I have had it for ONE MONTH today and it is RECALLED! I have to take it in for its brakes... REALLY HONDA.... come on! Like I need one more thing to worry about!
I am getting excited for Halloween this next weekend, I think Helena is really going to enjoy Trick or Treating even though she is not a candy eater. But she loves dressing up and I know she will love being outside in the dark:) We also have her fall festival at school this week, excited to dress her up and see her with all of her friends!
We are also picking my mom up from the airport of Friday night! So we are going to have an extra set of hands in the Cook house! We are all looking forward to this and I think a little nervous, since she really marks the fact that we are going to be having the TWINS really really soon! Once she is here, it is the 11 day count down! CRAZY, EXCITING, SCARY!!! Well I will do my best to update later this week after my appointments.
Other things..... Helena is saying so many words and trying to put things together. Sometimes she gets very stubborn and her emotions get the best of her so she points, grunts, cries, and rolls around on the floor, she thinks we will break down and give in to her.... CONFESSION... sometimes we do! All and all though, she is doing a great job communicating, I love hearing her little voice! She is also an amazing dancer and singer, this kid sings every song in the car! SO CUTE.... I got her a little microphone for the car and we have singing dance parties A LOT! I just can not believe that is going to be 28 months, she is over all such a HAPPY little girl who truly LOVES life.

August!!!

2010-08-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

So it is now August 23rd, I am almost 27 weeks pregnant, I have 2 year old and we are moving in 5 days!!!

Helena is 2, can you believe it! Grammies, my Aunt Cheryl drove from Minnesota to spend sometime with us! They got her on August 8th! We found out on August 9th that we got the house we wanted in Tierrasanta... it is 4 bedrooms, 1 full, 2 half baths, garage, washer and dryer, office area! All good things and a great space for us to grow! We also have a yard!

While grammies was here, we celebrated Helenas Birthday 2 times. She went to Seaworld on her actual bday. My cousin flew down from Sacramento to see us and her mommy... from the pictures it looks like she had a great day! She even got a SHAMU button and got to skip the lines for all the rides at Elmos World! We had dinner with her and a cupcake! We then had a little birthday party on Saturday for her! She loved seeing all of her friends and playing, eating, blowing out her candles and also eating her ice cream cake! It was a great BIRTHDAY!!!

Helena is now 2 and continues to amaze us with all of the word she is learning and trying to say, my favorite is OH SHEET!!! you all know what that means and she does say it from time to time! She says so many things that I could fill a blog of just words... my favorite thing she says is HA-PER.... with a Boston Accent! Another adorable thing she does , when she wants to watch one of her shows... she lists them... WOW WOW WUBBZY... KAI... LIVIA until you pick one or she gets lucky and we put one on! She also loves to help her self to FOOD, whether it is in the fridge or the pantry nothing is safe from her!

We are living amongst boxes right now! There are so many I can not even count! We have been getting lots of stuff done... We really only have a few things left to pack, I should be doing that right now, but instead I am blogging and about to upload pictures! I will do a little each day after work! Before I know it, it will be FRIDAY... we will head to the drs and then come home and pack the final things, clothes out of the drawers and all of the electronics!

Harper Laine and Gunner Reid
In case you had not heard those are the names of our beautiful babies... it is so crazy to think they will be here in a MAX 11 weeks!!! So excited and so nervous all at the same time! Every appointment has gone well! My last appointment I had my diabetes test and that was negative. I also got to see the babies again, Helena and my mom came along. My OBGYN informed me that my cervix is TEXT BOOK! In all of his years of practice he has never seen anything like it... IS THIS A GOOD THING! It was so funny, my mom and I laughed all the way home! I have a feeling that I will be carrying these babies until the 38th week... NOV 9th, we have not decided on whether we are going to go thru with a VBAC or have another csection. We have decided to see what happens!!! Since my appointments have been going so well, I am going to continue working, this means Helena James is going to start preschool September 7th, she will be attending a German Preschool 4 days a week and I will be working 4 half days:) I pick her up by 2pm and get to go home and NAP!!! I am hoping to make it to the end of October.... so wish me luck! Other baby news is just that I am going to start getting the nursery ready, and getting all the baby stuff set up! This way Helena gets use to it. ( 25 weeks pregnant)

I also want to make sure we get her big girl room ready.... I have purchased a daybed, dresser and a adorable book shelve... all we need is some curtains. I have not decided on a color for those, but I am going to get them at Target since they have cute ones that keep the room dark. As for the babies room, we are doing Brown, Baby Pink and Baby Blue... with a few cute jungle animals on the wall:) It will be warm and relaxing in there! My friend Natalie is throwing me a Diaper Drizzle at the end of September, It will be so good to see friends and maybe some family... I feel so out of the loop, from working, packing, vacations, dr appts, house hunting you name it I feel like it has been on our plates... so I am not ignoring you FRIENDS and FAMILY... I just truly am scraping by!!! Well the next post will be from our new HOUSE! Wish us luck!

JULY

2010-08-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2010, this is the day I turned 29 years old! Also I had my big doctors appt to see if we could see Baby A's sex. BJ was meeting me at the appointment. I drank some lemonade and a huge bottle of water. I HAD TO PEE SO BAD!!! BJ was not there when they called me in and they got started right away. Before BJ could get there, the tech had the sex of Baby A and so badly wanted to show me because she had a clear picture. So I said what the HELL its my birthday, she told me IT WAS A................. GIRL! I started to cry... I told her I am having a HARPER LAINE:) I was overjoyed to be having one of each. BJ walked in a second later and we kept him in the dark for a about 15 minutes. Harper did not go back into position so I ended up telling him we were having a GIRL! Just Baby A's ultrasound took forever... I had to pee like a race horse, she was moving everywhere and kept kicking my bladder! Finally after over 30 minutes of holding my pee I got to go to the bathroom. Then we got to look around at Baby B for a while... He looked awesome and was so calm and relaxed! We got a great picture of his profile. He looks pretty cute:) It was a great day... so glad I got to experience that on the big 29!

We had date night on Saturday night for my birthday weekend and saw Twilight Eclipse and had Dinner. On the 4th of July, we brought Helena to see Toy Story 3! She had such an awesome time, but DEAR PIXAR... 7 previews before a kids movie is TOO MUCH! Bring on the movie already! It was her first kid movie in the theater and she loved it and did a really good job!

So the rest of our month was our family vacation to the East Coast. BIG THING... Helena got her first pedicure with MOMMY!!! We left on July 15th, it was a red eye... BJ and I did not sleep, however Helena did right until we landed for our layover in ATLANTA... that is a HUG airport and we had to TREK across it! We got some breakfast and then headed to our gate. We got on the next flight and BJ and Helena both took a little nap! We made it to the Philly Airport just fine and headed to BJs moms for some much need R and R! Helena stayed awake for a few hours and then we headed upstairs were we watched the portable dvd player and both passed out for 5 hours!!! Helena got her first haircut ... not as traumatic as I thought it would be, but there were tears! Good thing her Mimi did it!

That weekend we were off to Ocean City NJ... Mimi had rented a beach house. We all were there for a week. The house was full, MIMI,Buddy, Auntie Nicki, Uncle Ian, Cousins Taylor and Evan. It was a great big house we all had great space! Helena slept on a twin mattress in our room and did really well! The week was full of beach days, nights at the boardwalk, ice cream, rides, good food, and great company. We had so much fun! Helena did develop the worst diaper rash she has ever had... we ended up treating it like a yeast infection. There were lots of sand castles and trenches built, also some good naps on the beach! Helena loved playing in the water... it was so warm and refreshing! The weather was HOT, which lead me to swell a little and there was night which I had some serious braxton hicks, and later my belly looked different, so I am guessing that the babies changed positions. We had a great trip, Helena loved playing with her cousins, she was afraid of Evan... AKA BEAST... he would come toward her and she would jump up on the couch or into your arms. She also loved playing games with Taylor, they played Hullaboo and Elefun! Helena loved them... I am going to have to get games this year for Christmas!!! We made it home safe to find our house FILLED with cat hair! BJ and I cleaned for 45 minutes and then relaxed the rest of the day!

By the end of July, BJ and I did find a house... and applied... that leads us to AUGUST......

The rest of June

2010-08-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well the last time I updated was right before my trip to MINNESOTA.... We know what one of the babies was not both.... and we were dealing with a super fun 22 month old:)

Minnesota.... The trip started off on a Thursday, I went to work for 1/2 day got home and off to the airport we went! This is the first trip I had brought anything to check at the gate and it was not to bad... I am glad I had the stroller.... Carrying Helena and a giant belly does not work in an airport. BJ came home to take us to the airport and also brought us in to make sure we got situated.... We get to the counter and the plane is VERY VERY FULL.... only middle seats available.... this is not ideal for a 18 week pregnant lady with a toddler on her lap..... so BJ FORCED us to upgrade to first:) HE HE.... I really did not plan for this, but I booked this trip and the east coast trip at the same time! And reserved seats for the East Coast trip not MINNESOTA... OOOOPS! So Helena and I rode 1st class... we got a row to ourselves and she got her own seat in 1st... this is a big deal so much room for us both. In a matter of minutes Helena was pants less on the plane... She is always soaking thru her diaper and of course the wonderful forgetful mother I am forgot to pack and extra outfit! Helena did awesome on the plane, portable DVD players are amazing! She never cried and was the only kid in 1st and all the other passengers in 1st complimented her on being such a BIG GIRL :)

The trip to Minnesota was great and a little hot. Helena ended up running a fever for a few days so I did not get to see and do as much as I wanted but all in all we had lots of fun. She got to go the park, play with friends, swim NAKED in the backyard in her very own pool! Grammies also put up a swing in the yard and she LOVED that! We spent time with Robyn and her girls... Helena and Auriana switched rolls this time... last time we say them Auriana was smothering Helena with Hugs and Kisses and Helena wanted nothing to do with it... this time Helena was to be on top of her... hugging her, kissing her, tickling her.... Auriana was not so sure, but the last day they bonded at the park going down the tunnel slide and also found that they both had a love for SWINGING. We took the girls to my dads band concert... this is not a rock band, it is a community band, he plays trombone, Helena was dancing for an hour straight! She loved it... we also got to celebrate Kaposia Days, which is So St Pauls yearly celebration, Helena won lots of prizes at the kiddie carnival and she got a button!!!

I also headed to Iowa with my dad to see my friend Jaime for the day and her new little bundle of joy Lincoln... he is such a cutie. It was very nice to see them! Glad we made it down there:)

So again all and all a good trip... also started to get a few things for Baby Boy.... got to love buying clothes and it is tax free!!!!

17 week Doctors Appointment

2010-06-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

(Below is both babies head to head, Left: Baby A grabbing its little toes)

So today was our big Dr's appointment. I remember very much that I was so excited to find out whether Helena was a girl or boy.... but today, maybe because I knew I was pushing my luck, I was very calm:) As usual we had a very good appointment. The babies look great, they are so big and active.... Baby A is a show off, always moving around and being crazy. Today it was curled up with its feet above its forehead and grabbing its toes with its hands. However because of the position, Baby A was to close to my hip so we could not get a gender:( Its OK.... I have 2 weeks and 3 days and I will know. Plus the time will fly because for 10 of those days I will be in in Minnesota!!!

B was relaxing as usual.... not the most active one at the ultrasounds, so I made a comment about how calm it was being and IT got mad and started moving everywhere... and then Dr O'Hara yelled " WHOA, I think its a boy.... " Baby B moved back in to position and low and behold a BOY :) Could not be happier....

So Baby A will be determined on July 2nd, my 29th birthday:) What a great present besides the fact that I have 3 healthy babies, and an amazing husband!!!

(Left Baby B and his little manhood) I know he will kill me when he is older:)

PS ALL night I was trying to get Helena to say BABY BOY..... she just keep saying TICKLE TICKLE and laughing... at one point as we were saying BABY BOY again and she laid her head down on the babies and sighed..... I think she knows that there is TROUBLE in there:)

BIG SISTER HELENA JAMES

2010-06-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

So Yesterday Helena turned 22 months.... SHE IS THE MOST AMAZING LITTLE GIRL! I feel so blessed. We take the good with the bad, I think she is a very normal tantrum throwing little lady:) She has her moments of pure meltdowns, but then the next minute she is hugging you, kissing you, playing with my hair! She is just so sweet!

Helena understands that was are having babies, we ask her how many babies are you having.... she responds with 2 fingers in the air and states DO.... toddler word for TWO:) Know does that means she really gets it??? Not sure, but she is trying... I am sure she will freak and 2 really do come home!!!

She is such a big helper, she loves to help put dishes away, she cleans up when we sing the CLEAN UP song.... she feeds the cats, she puts all the shoes in the house away. BJ tells me she likes to organize his shoes for him!!! She is really good at making PAIRS! She has been trying to help us get her dress which is fun and exciting. I think the biggest girlie thing that is happening in Helena life is she has officially gotten to wear a ponytail and pigtails! That's what big girls do, so I guess my baby is gone!

She does something new everyday..... she is doing really well with me being at work and her and BJ have an amazing bond now that they spend so much time together in the mornings. Helena loves to get up at 5-6am.... BJ IS NOT A FAN of this... however he does get up, he has officially made us a hotel, since he chops Helena a fresh fruit salad every morning.... Apparently I did not get that memo that we are CASA de la Cook.... I have very high standards on the my mornings to fill.

Helena is saying many words, however she says them once or twice then stores them somewhere... we ask her to say it again and then she jumbles a few words together! Cute, but BJ and I are very ready to hear her little voice, we both know once she starts talking though there will be no going back:) She will talk from the minute she wakes until the minute she goes to sleep! I think she gets that from BJ!

BJ has also started a blog about Helena and being a dad... I recommend reading it, he is such a great writer and it melts my heart to hear what he thinks about all the crazy stuff we do:)

http://www.dadsarerad.com/

It is hard for me to think that we are having 2 more babies, I just look at Helena and wonder how am I every going to love these babies as much. I know I will, but she is just my BABY.... and I just feel so blessed to have her! Im excited to continue to watch her grow and flourish into a little girl. I have started to realize that I do not have a baby any more, she is my LITTLE GIRL or as BJ would say she is a MINI LADY FRIEND:)

I promise to be better about updating, I just get busy with Helena, work, sleep, eating, ..... all the stuff , but this is important so I can remember all the amazing things my family and I are doing!

GUESS WHAT TWINS!!!

2010-05-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

13 weeks 5 days preggers!!! Below: BABY B was partying on its head and also was showing off its feet:)

BABY A (ON LEFT) Waving at the camera, already not shy and has Big Sisters profile!!! Ultrasound 13 weeks, 6 days
BOTH BABIES: 10 weeks, 6 days

I started this update back on MAY 17th...... at that time I was officially 13 weeks pregnant... and we had found out we are having TWINS...... so I think I am going to have few different posts.... This one I will just fill everyone in .... Ultrasound Both Babies: 8 weeks, 6 days

On March 17th, HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY... BJ, Helena, and I found out we were going to have another member of our family! We were all very excited! I knew I was pregnant from the get go... we had been trying and a week later I was feeling sick, tired, cranky... I waited until I was one day late and before work took a test and low and behold, our St Patricks Day did not include Green Beer, but a really pretty PINK plus sign!

At almost 9 weeks we went in for our first appt, I believe the date was April 19th, I had a weird weekend and thought I was feeling movement, so I looked up when do you feel TWINS move??? Yahoo answers had moms feeling them as early as 8 weeks, so I thought.... HMMMMM could there be 2???? At the drs appointment, BJ and Helena were with, the first half I was on my own and I let the nurse know that I was curious if there was more then one. I felt this way because of the early symptoms I was having and because of the weird movement from the weekend. So I asked her to PLEASE look in every nook and cranny of my uterus. The second half of my appointment, Bj and Helena were present and it was time to meet the FETUS! and with in ONE MINUTE she confirmed my motherly instinct and said there are 2!!!!! We were excited, scared, shocked.... no words can truly describe that moment. Good thing BJ was holding Helena because had he not was would have been picking him up from the floor!

I was feeling pretty good up to week 10 and then I started to become VERY ILL!!! This is why you are all just getting the blog update and I uploaded over 3 months worth of pictures last weekend:) I was lucky to keep one meal a day down, I was not sleeping even though I was beyond tired. We had another appointment at the almost 11 week point, we all went again, it was crazy too see how much bigger they were. They did a little wave to Big Sister! We also were then informed of all the good, the bad, and the ugly of what was to come with a Twin pregnancy. The Good.... I see the babies every appointment... The Bad, I go to the doctor every 2-3 weeks, The Ugly, I could end up on bed rest, the babies could come early, at some point I should not carry Helena, the list goes on and on!!!

So that appointment sent me in a TIZZY.... I ended up with almost a week off of work because I was having mini panic attacks... my heart would start racing and I would get so sick.... We figured it out...ONE DAY AT A TIME.... MIND OVER MATTER..... I have decided to tackle what has to be done. And as for bed rest and babies coming early, I just tell myself that it is not an option.... so that means that I am going to do what I can to keep them in until November 9th, that would put us at 38 weeks.... as for all the other craziness that has come along with twins. We are dealing... we plan to move in August, we are in search for a house, with a yard and some storage:) We are debating preschool for Helena..... but hey she is only going to be 2.... I figure lots of other people have done this.... SO CAN I!!!

We had our last appointment right before our 14th week on May 24th, I went to this appointment alone, again I was lucky to keep a meal down so I was actually a little worried about the appointment, but they say the sicker you are in your pregnancy the BETTER! I had not gained any weight in the 1st trimester which is normal and when we did the ultrasound on the babies, they had gotten so big that they did not fit on the screen together! They were both doing well... Baby A has a higher heart rate and is very active.... Baby B was chilling and had a much slower heart rate. This appointment lead me to believe we have one of each....

So today is June 12th, I am no longer feeling sick, I have my days that a smell gets me gagging and I lose it. I am still pretty tired, however I pee every couple of hours so a good night sleep is not happening, I also love sleeping on my back, which makes me not be able to breath and its not good for the babies!!! So we are working on that:) The good news is that I go to the DR June 14th..... we will be 16 weeks 6 days and Dr Ohara said he will take a look for us to see what the babies are.... please babies let us take a look:) If not I have an appointment on my birthday July 2nd, not a bad birthday present RIGHT???

18 Months

2010-02-13T11:28:00.000-08:00

I was suppose to write after Christmas and guess what THAT DID NOT HAPPEN... so the time is now to catch you up on what the Cooks have been up to and it is A LOT!

So the Cook that is the most important and has the most updates is, you guessed it HELENA JAMES!

Helena just turned 18 months... really she is a year and a half. Where has the time gone. She is not a baby anymore, she is getting longer hair, she is talking, signing, singing, marching.... you do it she mimics. SHE IS AMAZING. She has lost her baby features to and totally looks like a little GIRL! There is so much she is doing so bear with me while I share with you and document it for us....

Helena's vocabulary is growing here is a list of things she loves to say: cracker, car, read, bubble, woof, kitty, puppy,yummy, Blues Clues, plane, truck, ROAR , I did it, mama, dada, fish
She also is in love with the show Blues Clues, from this show she has learned to say, Blues Clues, Hi Steve, and sing "EIEIO" She also does all the dances to a perfectly and begs us to watch it DAILY!
She is also signing very basically. She signs more and says it too, signs milk, all done, help, and we are working on Thank you.
She also tells us when things are hot by waving her hand and blowing on it and she like to tell us when things are yucky by saying "ish"

Other milestones that she is reaching:

She is in her big girl bed... she has been since the New Year and is doing AWESOME in it.
She loves her body parts, she points to all of hers and yours as well. She likes belly, teeth, and tongue the most right now :)
She is very independent she likes to pick out her clothes, wash her hair and body by herself. She also like to pick out her snacks and food for herself!
Something that is funny... we take a lot of pictures of her from our phones, she now takes our phones and holds it towards us and says " CHEESE" like she is taking a picture:)
She tells us NO of course, but she also started to shake her head YES, and shrug her shoulders for I Don't Know.
She tells us OH OH if she did something or I DID IT... very funny especially if it is something she is not suppose to be doing.
She hit a huge milestone at the park, she climbed a ladder after she watched 2 other kids do so.... she was so proud she could not stop smiling or clapping.
She also loves jumping.... we say 123.... she squats then tries to jump up, she usually gets one foot off the ground, its pretty cute!
OBSESSED with BUBBLES.... to all the moms out there GAZILLION bubbles from Target ROCK and they just came back out.... stock up now!
The other big thing she is into is pointing at things and wanting us to tell her what it is... its like she is an encyclopedia that just stores every word sometimes she will try to mimic. Most times she will just go back and forth between 2 or 3 objects.

On a negative note..... Helena is a TANTRUM thrower and WHINER some days are awesome and others are very challenging. I just keep telling myself that she will be talking soon and that will help both of these things.

Grammies was just here to visit and Helena liked that very much. As I called Grammies THE ENABLER..... its funny, I love having my mom around,but all rules go out the door! Grammies allows ALL:) HA HA Helena and Grammies had an awesome visit. BJ and I got to go out a few times since it was our 3rd Anniversary and I also got some just Sarah time. All and all it was a great trip .... 11 days went by so fast though :( Glad she made it home safely and I am sure in a week she will be begging to come back to the 70 degree weather!!!

As for the last big change in the Cook house..... I am going back to work part time. Starting in March I will be working 3 days a week. We have hired a nanny to come in and help with Helena, this is going to be a huge transition for us since I have been home with her everyday for 18 months. I went in a few times when my mom was here and I am looking forward to interacting with adults. Even though I am working I guess it will be time I am working on myself. I'm very nervous about going to work and missing out on things Helena maybe doing. However I will be with her Friday thru Monday and working Tuesday thru Thursday from 6:30-3.... so it will really be about 18 hours a week that I am missing..... I know it is going to be a tough transition but a very good one.

BJ's business is growing rapidly and it sounds like there is a lot of new and exciting things in store over the next few months. Well I hope everyone has a very Happy Valentines Day..... again I say that I will try to blog more GOAL at least once a month:)

I almost forgot, Helena had her 18 month check up..... 25lbs 62 %, 32.5 inches tall 66%, 19 inch head 90% :) and she is developing fine:)

Dadpreneurship - Balancing Family, Business and BJ

2009-12-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

So I've only had the time to write once on our family blog here. So I decided it was time to "make the time" to give my side of what's been happening so far the past few months :)

(I started this post about 2 weeks ago and like most things that fall into the "BJ" bucket; I am finally getting around to it)

What I like most about this post is that I don't have to do any research, see what types of topics people are interested in reading about currently or make sure I've got keywords present throughout my post; I just write.

What is Dadpreneurship?

Well it seems to be the act of being a dad. Also seems to be about a dad that assembles resources available to him to ensure that he addresses the goals of his family and business, while balancing the organization of his life to also meet his personal goals. Those goals being: 1) staying healthy 2) growing one's knowledgebase 3) being in touch with one's values and so on. The end goal with all these really is balance at the end of the day and if you can achieve that, well then you've got a great formula and I wouldn't mind borrowing it sometime.

Knowing that I've got people reading this who are my family, colleagues and complete strangers; I hope you find little nuggets that may help you or just feel up-to-date on what we've been up to.

What a year I have to start off with ... 1) Started a new business 2) Moved to a new place 3) Watched Helena James learn and grow everyday 4) Helped Sarah start her own entrepreneurial endeavors 5) Discovered that balance was harder than just doing it.

Helena has moved into her big girl bed (I hear Sarah telling her why standing in her bed is dangerous), started saying words like "bubbles", "fish", "kitty", "dada", "mama", "i did it" and "ball" and battled her first real cold that lasted about 2 weeks. The kind of cold your child gets where you can't really give her anything, you give your spot up to her in your bed so she's comfortable, she wipes her nose on everything and she learns that coughing makes mommy and daddy run to see what's wrong ... kind of like strategic manipulation.

Christmas was way different this year for me because not only was I thinking about what I needed to get for my family, I was also thinking about the other 10 people in my business. So this year we did the DOoeys 2009, where each person was recognized for their own special superlative. I happened to get "Mr. Late Night." We had Ryan and his mom make custom wooden-bases with springs that held a corrugated cardboard DO logo. Fully sustainable of course! I think it went off well and we'll be taking it to another level next year. The little things you put into place in your business are what make all the difference in the culture you try so hard to maintain and communicate the importance of to the people around you.

So for 2010 you might wonder?

Well, I'm looking forward to finding a better balance this year to 1) Spend more time with Sarah/Helena 2) Find the right people to put into place at Digital Operative to distribute responsibility 3) Splice out more time for training/exercising for myself and 4) Set goals for my 40th birthday that span both family, personal and career.

That's all for this year! I'm going to go kick my feet up and enjoy my vacation time. Blackberry on silent, unplugged and recharging for 2010.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

Well again.... story of my life I have not written in over a month! HA HA it is Christmas Eve... presents are wrapped, BJ is at work, Helena is taking a nap and I am BLOGGING... one day Helena you will read this and laugh because I hope you know how excited we are to see your face tomorrow once Santa comes. I told him to not bring you coal this year... you were a good girl:)
Helena has been quite the comedian lately, she has been trying to talk to us... I am not sure what she is saying... but she does say, GOOK or COOK when asked what her name is. She says CA CA for cracker. She says I did it... for when she does things... I love when she tells me that and she is doing something when she is not suppose too!!! This is 99% of the time! She has been battling a cold for almost a month and it has dwindled down to a cough. So I would say she is on the mend and getting back to herself. However this means I have had a month of no sleep! I have been getting 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night again, not ideal but hey I signed up to be a mom... so Ill take it:) I promise to write more after Christmas. I have a list of things to update so my next blog will be LONG, with lots of Christmas pictures of Helena and all of her gifts. I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Christmas. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (The picture is of Helena and I at the San Diego Zoo... we participated in a show and got red noses just like RUDOLPH!!)

NO MORE BOOB!!!

2009-11-22T20:27:00.000-08:00

Well I know it has been a long time coming... however after 468 days of breast feeding we are done!!! Helena has been putting herself to bed at night with out MILK from a cup or from the boob! Now lets see how I hold up. I have been wanting to be done for some time... however I have felt fulfilled that I have been able to keep up with her for this long! We have been down to 1 to 2 times a day for awhile and she has not been asking any more so I figured why not give it a try. And what does she do, she sleeps all night! Man she is really a big girl now:) This is a good thing for me too, I get to have 3-4 morning workouts along with a afternoon run a few days a week. I am going to participate in a half marathon on Valentines day and I am really looking forward to training and also doing most of my training pushing Miss Helena!
Helena was working on her cheering this weekend while we cheered on the 3 day Breast Cancer Walkers in San Diego (she cheered so much she passed out.) What an amazing experience and San Diego is so welcoming and there were lots of horns honking, whooping and howling going on for the ladies and gentleman participating in the 60 mile trek. My favorite shirt was from the guys I saw walking "We are busting our balls for BOOBS!!!"
I hope everyone had a great weekend... I am sure most of you are looking forward to a short work week and a nice long weekend! I am looking forward to starting and finishing all my Christmas shopping and taking Helena to see Santa. I am also thankful for having a nice relaxing 4 day weekend with my HUBBY... putting up Christmas decorations and making our new place nice and Christmas like.... and figuring out how to make our stuff child proof and safe... SHOULD BE INTERESTING!!!

Lots of New Stuff.... Helena is 15 months!

2009-11-18T13:08:00.001-08:00

Well we have been having major Internet issues so I am so sorry for not updating. First things first.... Helena is now 15 months old! Where has the time gone:( She went in for her check up and she is 32.25 inches tall, 25 lbs, and her head is 18.5 inches..... she is between the 80th-90th percentile. She is just getting SO big. Here is a list of stuff she is doing now...

* She is now an expert climber at the park. She can do almost everything on her own including going down the slide all by herself!! She loves it and she laughs all the way down:)
* She is getting better at eating with a fork or spoon on her own, she would still prefer to use her hands, so I just give her a utensil so she gets use to it.
* She loves drumming on everything. She uses anything and everything as in instrument. I love it. (Helena got to play a grand piano on Halloween.... I think she is going to be better then me. Look at the way her fingers fly across the keys!)
* She also is an expert car singer and dancer. I have the same CD playing in the car and when #5 comes on she is singing before they do! It is awesome that she knows what is coming.
* She is still saying the same words... ( DADA, MAMA, Bubb Bubb (bubbles) ball, kiki, wuff, pup pup) are a few. I feel like she is trying to mimic things we are saying but a lot of the time she stares at us and watches our lips instead.
* She really like to mimic her dad. Pretty much anything he does she does. She does not do that with me. If I say Helena can you do this.... NOTHING. BJ asks and she does it on command. He loves it.... Helena always makes him laugh. I think it needs that especially after a stressful day at the office:)
* A negative thing is that Helena is a very picky eater and will not try new things! We are trying to get her to but no luck so Avocado, Bug Mac n Cheese, Cheese Sticks, Pasta, Oatmeal, Fruits.... those are out staples at this moment.... oh wait DON'T FORGET PUFFS:)
* A positive thing... she has been sleeping almost through the night... we had a whole week with no waking up. I have not been getting her in the night when she does... I need her to know and understand that night time is for SLEEPING! Another positive thing about this is that I get up early around 515am to head to the gym! I love it and it really jump starts my day!

So in October Helena and I were in Minnesota. It was very nice to have some fall weather, see family and friends, and drink Caribou Coffee everyday! We also went to the apple orchard picked some apples and played with the barnyard animals. There was a baby cow who was 4 days old that kept mooing at us.... so cute. We were there with Grammies, my bff Robyn,Auriana her daughter, and Robyns Mom Sue. It was an awesome girls day:) We had lots of fun and I think we took over 100 pictures:) I also got to spend time with my family it is always nice to go home. I hated that it rained almost all the days I was there, however there were about 3 really perfect fall days. The last day I was there I woke up to snow on the ground so I knew it was time to get out of there! Helena loved having a yard to run in and a pup pup to throw a ball too! She was very funny around Ava, our black lab. At first she was really into her and then Ava knocked her down for her cheese stick... for that moment on she would scream and crouch down when Ava would walk by. Then she got a little braver and would back herself up against the wall and sneak by her. This was too funny... Ava is the biggest baby in the world and would not hurt a fly... maybe lick you to death so to see Helena so cautious was very funny.

Well we made it home safe and it took us awhile to get back into the swing of things... but we are back in normal mode. We made it to a pumpkin patch to get ready for HALLOWEEN:) We had a great Halloween, we were at a birthday party that evening for my CA grandma Alice. She had an amazing party with her friends and family. Helena had the best costume... for those of you that did not know she was a LADYBUG! She enjoyed dressing up and got to eat some M & M's. We did not go trick or treating this year. But next year we will be up for that.... I guess I better start thinking of some costume ideas to top this year!!!

So we are into November and I can not believe that holidays are around the corner. With all of this crazy flu stuff, we have not been doing to many organized indoor kid activities. We go to the park daily and swimming once a week. I just get nervous.... some parents are just so irresponsible and I do not want Helena getting these nasty viruses since she can not have her shot until next month. I lost a friend from high school last week from H1N1, she was only 29. I do not want to be paranoid.... but I am a little!

We have been battle the temper tantrums here... a lot of screaming has been happening. I am thinking this is because she really wants to communicate to us and just does not have the right words to say yet! She has also been on a biting kick, this is not good and I do not like that she does this! I ended up putting my teeth on her arm after she bit me 3 times in one day.... good news is she has not done it since. Helena has a very bad temper.... somethings that really make her mad are, diaper changes, getting dressed, and getting cleaned up after eating or her hair washed! SHE HATES THESE THINGS..... however she really loves the bathroom and is very curious about what BJ and I do in there. Is it time for a potty? I think at the start of the new year we will get one for her to try... She is really growing into her own little person. She is very funny, energetic, silly.... she is developing a very unique personality.

13 Months

2009-10-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well Helena is already approaching her 14th month!!! Where has the time gone? She is always doing something funny! I would have to say that she is a very active little lady! She never want to sit still for a minute! She wants to be outside and on the GO!!! We almost go somewhere everyday. Between the gym and park or out for a run she must get out of the house at least once.... did I tell you she loves TARGET!!! HE HE

Some of the things she has been doing...

* Walking on her tip toes

* Talking from the moment she wakes up and her feet hit the floor.

* Saying bubble and ball

* Climbing the steps at the park and goes down the slide

* She has been eating more things... she always wants to steal my spinach put it in her mouth and then spit it out QUICKLY:)

* She loves when we build her nesting blocks... they stand about 3 feet tall and she knocks them down and yells BOOM or OHHHHHH. She loves throwing things down and making them crash!

* LOVES LOVES LOVES brushing her teeth

* She also loves reading her books to herself.... if we read them she like to walk around and come up and turn the page. Again there is no sitting unless she is very sleepy.

* She loves doing her ABC flashcards while eating breakfast and also her sign cards. Still not a big signer but we are trying!

Helena is the queen of silly faces!!! She always keeps us laughing.... never a dull moment :)

We are currently in Minnesota, I was looking forward to a nice fall vacation and we are having a FLOOD:( We got to the apple orchard on the only day it did not rain. I will post pics soon but the one above should do for now. We are doing some fun stuff for the next few days... I am hoping we get to fly out on Saturday... there is talks of snow!!!

It is SEPTEMBER???? REALLY? COME ON!

2009-09-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

Ok so I am the worst blogger ever.... and I have not written in almost a month which means I have a lot to catch everyone up on!!!
THE MOVE
If you did not know, we moved, no more beach living for us, we are now living on a golf course! That's right we are now golf course people ( whatever that means) HE HE... We made the move on August 14th. It was a Friday night and it was LONG!!! We moved from 4pm-3am or something like that! The next day we got some stuff put away and finished getting stuff from the old place! Thank god for my parents they were troopers... they let me boss them around and we got things in to place in no time! Now for those of you thinking... man Sarah is a slave driver... I AM:) however I do feed you and provide beer and whatever else you may need! So I am very nice to work for! HA HA We had my parents here with us from August 10 thru August 20th... we got almost everything done before they left so it was very live able in the new place! We love it and it is really starting to feel like HOME!!!
HELENA JAMES
Well Helena James turned ONE!!! Can you believe a year has gone by... I can not! I understand why people have their babies close, because once they do turn one you forget about the craziness of a newborn and you think MAN I could totally do that again! (Don't tell my husband this... he would freak...) We are not going for #2 just yet but I can see why so many people go for it! Man it does go by so quickly.... it is so funny what they learn and do. A funny story, when Grandpa was here he said Sh*@ sometimes, and for those of you that do not know that was my first word. So one day Helena is playing with her toys and I hear "SHEET".... and disregard it and again she drops or throws something on the floor "SHEET" this time it was used in the appropriate context... I am know laughing and thinking this is soooo funny. I tell my mom and BJ they do not believe me.... she say SHHHHH a few more times and then she lets it fly "SHEET" Oh my little mimic... she is smart and when she hears something she remembers it and lets it fly! Helena is very good at mimicking... she meows, barks, clicks her tongue. She also tries to mimic words or sounds you make. This is not something she does everyday... she has to be in the right mood. I have been doing flash card with her and she gets so excited when we get to certain cards, she then waits for me to day the letter and object... you can see the wheels turning and she babbles something:) So there is always a good effort made! (Picture of her eatting a cupcake on her offical 1st Birthday!)
WALKING
Helena is walking. She started walking right after we moved in. We got it on tape so I will post the video! She is still very cautious however is cruising on the carpet from object to object. Tonight she went from sitting to standing with out any help from anyone or anything. We all clapped including her:) She was very excited! So we all went for froyo to celebrate. It has been in the 90's so special cold treats are a must these days!
MORE HELENA
So there is so much going on with Helena, she is truly an amazing little girl. She is over a very sweet and happy little girl and she LOVES me very much. She is really started to love her some daddy time so it is a nice break. We are currently weaning from breast feeding. This is very exciting for me. I have exceeded my expectations and am so glad for her and me that I was able to provide her with breast milk for this long. However I would like to preserve my nipples for #2 and with 8 teeth sometimes that is HARD! She did have her shots and at her appointment she weighed 23.5 lbs and was 30.25 inches tall. She is in the 80th percent tile. She did cry pretty hard for the shots and ran a fever for a few days. But all and all a TROOPER! Our pediatrician told me to watch out.... he was testing her on lots of things and he wanted me to not be surprised if maybe the TERRIBLE TWO's arrived a little early in our house. I told him not to worry I have already experience tantrums, her shaking her head no. Now I am just waiting for the day she throws her hand on her hip! I know it is coming.... it was one of my signature moves:)
We did have a party for Helena.... it was lots of fun and I loved watching her eat her cake! I am glad we had 3 different parties for her.... I got to experience ice cream cake, a cupcake, and a butter cream cake! She got lots of books and some fun toys. I had to get her a new bin to hold everything!
Well I am getting tired and I hope this is enough to start catching everyone up... I am sure there is more! I will do my best to go back to writing once a week so I do not forget stuff. I want Helena to be able to read this when she is older and laugh at all the crazy stuff we did together as a family! We did get her 1 year pictures taken. They are on the slide show on this blog or go to our flickr page! I am looking forward to coming home in OCTOBER! Excited for some fall weather and CARIBOU coffee!!! OH AND FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF COURSE:)

LONG TIME NO WRITE

2009-08-25T22:39:00.000-07:00

I am going to post a very long blog over the next few days.... Good news... we are all moved and have thrown a successful 1st birthday party. I have tons of pictures to post and so much to write about between Helena and the move:) Talk to you all soon!!!

CHANGES CHANGES CHANGES

2009-08-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have not written in quite some time... I have been between homes. We got the keys to the new place we are renting and we have making it COOK worthy every since! We have started to paint and clean up to our standards. We will be making the move on Saturday. We have a lot of work to do in 4 days before we get all the furniture and small stuff in. Really looking forward to the move and the new place:)
As for Helena... she is going to be ONE TOMORROW! Where has the time gone? I do not know.... I remember what I was doing a year ago today... I actually blogged that day it was the day before knowing I was having a baby the next day. The last day of being pregnant and the last day of it just being me and BJ. Having Helena James is one of the greatest joys I have ever experienced. I am still in awe of her everyday.
New things she is doing... she says UP, MOMMA,DADA, NIGH NIGH (NIGHT),COOL(She mimics this) and she is mimicking other sounds or things we do. She is still not walking but showing signs that it is not far away.
We are picking up my parents tonight.... and just going to ENJOY Helena's big day tomorrow by spoiling her rotten!

July is already here???

2009-07-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well it is already the middle of July and I have not blogged in over a month:( SORRY! Things that have been going on.... we have all been sick:( It started with BJ, he was sick for almost 3 weeks. During his 3 weeks, he did however win his first volleyball tournament of the summer and he did finally get some anti-botics for and URI and Sinus Infection. Then he passed it on to me the day we were leaving on VACATION! So I was sick through out our trip and have been under the weather since we have returned! I have horrible allergies, so I do attribute most of my symptoms to that. However it has know been 2 weeks, of stuffy nose, runny nose, sneezing, ringing ears and MIGRAINES! Oh well, life goes on :)

So in the last month, I celebrated my 28th birthday. Which was a great day, I spent the day with Helena. BJ got me an amazing handbag that is big enough to carry all of Helena's stuff and Helena got me some personalized picture coffee mugs:) We enjoyed a family dinner and I got to come home and watch movies in bed! For the 4th we were just getting ready for our trip, so we had a relaxing weekend of beaching it and packing.
We left for vacation on July 6th, it was a red eye flight, which was very interesting with Helena, all and all she did great, she stayed up 3 hours past her bed time and passed out during the take off. She had a few outburst throughout the flight, and she really melted down during the landing, it was 3am CA time and 6am East coast time. I would have melted down too! She was attached to my BOOB for a majority of the flight I think for comfort, the negative part of this was that the plane was 1000 degrees and we were all sweating. We slept off and on the first day of vacation to try to catch up on sleep and get adjusted to the time. BJ's mom made the most amazing soup and also a fish dish for dinner!
Our vacation was based on spending time with family, which we did and we loved it! We got to see our niece and nephew a lot and BJ's sister, her husband, and mom. It was so great to spend time with them since we only see them a few times a year. We also got to have Dunkin Dounut's coffee, Water Ice, and East Coast pizza. BJ, Helena, and I also went in to Philly for a day and did some historic site seeing. It was a quick trip since Helena's attention span is a little shorter then ours.
Helena also had a little birthday party that Mimi and Aunt Nicki through her. They had some of BJ's oldest friends surprise him. She had a great day with everyone, she got some fun gifts and also got to taste her first ICE CREAM CAKE! Helena had many food firsts on her trip, Water Ice, Pizza, Ice Cream Cake, Fish,Spinach. It is good to know that she will pretty much try anything:) Helena also was practicing climbing the stairs. She only did that a few times, but she did a great job! Helena also got to meet her Great Great Mum Mum, she is 90. It was fun visiting with her, I am glad that we got to spend sometime with her! Vacation was amazing, I wish we could have had a few more days.
So we have not even been back a week and most of you know that our lease on our apartment is coming up and we have had some issues here so we are MOVING! We looked earlier this year and have been looking for this last month. There have been somethings we have been interested in, however there is always a catch.... so I called the place we were interested in before and it seems that the price is doable and I will have a washer/dryer, nice heated pool, and gym. We are happy to have this crossed off our list. Now it is time to pack.... we have less then a months time to get everything ready! Good thing is though that my parent will be here help with Helena and to get situated!
I think the last really cool thing that has happened since we got home.... I took Helena to swimming this week. She has not been for 3 weeks and I was so amazed how much she REMEMBERED! She is jumping in on her own, kicking like a champ, back floating, she also blew bubbles..... and the coolest thing was that I got to wear goggles while Helena swam to me under water. She did everything perfect, she was holding her breath with her EYES wide open:) It was so cool to see her kicking her way to me. I was so proud of her! She is really is turning into a fish! I hope everyone's summer is going well. The next month for us is going to be crazy, getting ready to move. I am training for my RKC, planning Helena's 1st birthday! Lots of fun and exciting things happen with the COOKS!

This is a picture of Helena on the way home! She never once fussed for the 5.5 hour trip home, she napped and read and played with us and DID AWESOME! We are very lucky parents to have such a good little girl on our hands!

Crazy Weekend!

2009-06-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

So Helena has jumped on the I am going to be 1 ban wagon and has changed over night! She use to be totally content sitting and playing with her toys, she was the kid that never wanted to roll over. She also did not want to acknowledge that you were teaching her something, she would give you the look like DUH I know that already:) Well man in 2 days things have totally changed....
So like I have said before Helena has been standing and walking around things, chair, toys, sofa.... and just last week she started to crawl. While over night she taught herself to pull up on anything, including her crib which now she is EATING. Yes I am aware I have given birth to a beaver:)
She is moving like a champ and is very brave, we are making bets here in the Cook apt. to see when this lady walks. I am saying by the end of July.... please let me know if you would like to take part in these shenanigans, the pot is going to get hot I can feel it.
Now because Helena is moving she seems to be getting into trouble, this is not her fault since we still have stuff in her reach. We are moving in 45 days somewhere so why move it now. Well this leads to us distracting her and teaching what she can play with and not. I told her no, and well she now fakes a sad face and pretends to cry. Yes again I know I not only gave birth to a beaver, it is a beaver who is nominated for an Oscar.
Well since Helena has been moving she is a lot happier, which means she seems to be more into learning things. We do lessons everyday, from clapping, touching our nose, eyes, ears, hair. I am teaching her to plug her nose and say "PHEW" her daddy stinks sometimes... we love you Daddy:) She is also signing a little more, she now signs, MILK, Drink, Eat, and More. 3 more then she would do a month ago. She is also babbling up a storm and its so funny... when BJ comes home or into a room she says HEY..... that's what it sounds like and it is every single time. So cute and sweet it is something she really only does for him... it like she is on of his buddies just hanging out saying HEY!
Helena has also been getting her appetite back, she has been eating more solid food, eggs, bananas, cheerios, grapes, blueberries, bagels. I have yet to really give her meat, however she really love beans and that to me is a good start. I took Helena to the Baby Time Expo this weekend with her friend Emma and they did so well. I got Helena some Baby Legs. THESE are genius... I have never heard of them or seen them and I am in love with them.... BABY LEGS you are amazing. I also go these really awesome utensils for free from always learning. They are also amazing and Helena loves feeding herself with them!
All in all a very busy weekend of change....She really has changed to me over night. She is such a little lady, I love being able to spend every day with her and I feel so blessed and lucky. Thank you Helena James for letting me be the best mommy I can be!

A terror on the loose! Mr Jones WATCH OUT!

2009-06-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Helena is moving and it is very funny she will go a little then rest, with a big breath! Its so funny. She is also sitting up from laying now and when we go to get her from her crib she is either sitting, kneeling or standing! Good thing I dropped it down a few weeks ago. We had an incident the other night, she started crying and we went in to check on her and she was "SLEEP CRAWLING" she was on all fours moving around her crib with her eyes totally closed! They say the practice what they learn during the day.... IT IS TRUE! Enjoy the video:)

We have a mover and a shaker people!

2009-06-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

Lots going on in the Cook house.... Helena unfortunately got a stomach bug last week, Thursday night she woke up with a low grade fever and the fever just kept getting higher. We ended up bringing her in and found out she probably had a stomach bug. She got to sleep with me for a few nights so she got some rest and by Sunday her fever had broke and she was getting back to normal. She is also cutting 4 more teeth so she has been a little more irritable.
But the good news is that HELENA is crawling all over the house! It is so exciting for all of us. She is leaving no spot unturned. She is also pulling herself up onto things and walking around anything she can get her hands on. I do not think we have very long before she is running around the house!!!
Helena is 10 months old today. I look at her and am amazed, she is not my baby anymore she is such a little lady. She is saying MA MA and knows that it is me. She is also very close to telling us NO. When she does not want something or is done she yells and it sounds a little like NO or she shakes her head NO, can we say SMARTIE PANTS. She also is pointing to Nose when she is asked and we working on mouth, ears, and eyes. She loves reading her books everyday we read before her naps and she very patiently waits to turn every page. She is just really starting to be a sponge absorbing and taking everything in! Our days are truly becoming an adventure!

Walking..... OH MY!

2009-05-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

So we have bought Helena a push walker.....she does not necessarily push it. However she does walk around it!

" See Mom one handed...." and she is at her starting position.

And she is rounding the corner....

Her last leg....

As you can see she is really starting to move.... I think it is only a matter of time before we are in for some real trouble!!!

The Month of May

2009-05-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

So this is a little late, but Happy Mother's Day to all of your beautiful mothers out there! I hope you enjoyed your day:) I know I did... I got to spend my first mothers day with my mom:) My mom flew in and we all headed to Palm Springs for the weekend! SO MUCH FUN! Lots of swimming and relaxing, good food and Margaritas!
I feel like so much has been going on let me see if I can blog it all....
Miss Helena James is just getting so big, she is now 9 months. She has her 4 teeth and 2 more coming. She is getting more beautiful red hair, it is the most amazing shade of copper you have ever seen.
* Helena is still saying, Mama, Dada, Ya Ya, MMMMMMMMM, and Yea!
* She is walking along all the furniture and pulling herself up with a little help
* Today she actually got up on all fours and flew herself forward in to the carpet! SHE GOT PISSED:( Ok is was a little funny....
*She is wanting to do everything by herself.... she is 9.75 months going on 3!!!
* She is now loving swimming lessons and really learning... when we count 123 she jumps off the edge to us. She also is very close to swimming underwater by herself instead of us diving her!
*Helena is also finally getting better about sleeping ( knock on wood) She is almost sleeping thru the night... she sleeps from 7:30ish to between 2:30am and 4:00am!!! She eats and goes back to sleep until 645ish.... now if we could get her to sleep until 10am:) Just Kidding
* Helena is an amazing dancer and singer, she hears music and starts to raise her hands, like she is raising the roof. She also yells out AHHHHHH AHHHH OOOOOOO in harmony to must tunes, it use to be when we sang to her, now it is also in the car.... it is so cute I just smile while I am driving, I have a personal concert everyday!

I am sure most of you that read this have had kids, so you will understand what I am talking about. This last month has been the most trying month with Helena, she spends so much of the day frustrated between trying to move and communicate what she would like. It is a test of patience and it has shown me that I actually have some! I have been trying to sign with her, say all the words that she may want or need and also pointing at things.... she is just so stubborn she looks at me like I am CRAZY.... and then gets bright red, tenses up, and arches her back in ANGER! ( I know some of you are saying pay back is a B&^%$ .... I know I was not that bad of a kid) HA HA.... I just hope that soon enough everything will come together for her and we can talk, walk, and laugh!
We brought Helena to her first kids movie UP.... needless to say we did not make it thru the end. She was so restless and babbled the whole time so we needed to leave so close to the end. She has been to 3 mommy matinees and done well, but now that she can move, I do not think movies are in our cards.
More fun and exciting things the little girls I nannied were in town so we got to spend the day with them. It was so much fun. They are now 7 and almost 11.... they are such great girls and are turning out into beautiful young ladies!
I am sure there is so much more..... BIG news.... our nephew was born on Friday May 29th, 2009 Evan Patrick McGann. We are very excited for the McGann clan and can not to get out there in 6 weeks! We have a busy summer ahead of us.... between, birthdays, vacation, moving, and my RKC course. By September we will be ready for another vacation, but instead we will be planning BJ's 30th birthday bash! Well I hope every ones May was great! I will do better this next month with blogging. When I do not do it every week, I know I am missing out on things....oh something funny.... BJ dressed Helena the other day and this is what he came up with.... its a new style and I think it is pretty cute!!!

The Busy Cooks!

2009-05-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a while since we have written and of course there is so much going on! We have all been sick here in the Cook house so things have been a little chaotic. BJ was getting random fevers and feeling run down, I started to get a fever, body aches, and fatigue and poor baby Helena is cutting another top and every time she cuts a tooth she gets a NASTY COLD! So all of us have been to the doctors and we are all going to LIVE!
There is so much going on.... I am starting to work sort-0f.... it is a top secret project that I can not talk about. But when I can I will and it will be BIG!!! I can say that I am very excited to be working on something I am passionate about and to be able to do with Helena. So I am sure in the next few months I will fill you in on everything!!!
As for BJ, his business is booming and I am so proud of him! He is doing an awesome job at balancing everything, from work, to home, and he is even getting in some V-ball from time to time! We both try to stay active so we can be a positive example for Helena as she grows!
As for the little stinker herself, we have figured out that she loves to sleep on her stomach, now if I could only find a diaper that holds thru the night. She wakes up soaked all the time! I have tried the Pamper Night-Time Diapers, however she is so sensitive she has gotten her first diaper rash:( So thank god I bought 6 sets of sheets and crib saver pads!!! Since she has been sleeping on her stomach she has been getting up less thru out the night. It is very nice to actually get a little bit of sleep. Other things Helena is doing...

* She is saying "Mama" and "YA YA DA DA"
* She is really good at feeding herself things.... and we are getting more adventurous about what types of food we feed her since she can eat some of what we eat:)
* She is still butt scooting
* She loves to stand and walk with us. (We got her a walking push toy and are very excited to see how she does with it.)
* She also loves reading and turning the pages. We read 3 to 5 books a day, and most of them we read at least 2 times!
* Helena loves playing with the grass and flowers, she got to experience mud for the first time this weekend and of course I did not have the camera!!!
* Helena has been enjoying wearing her sunglasses like her mommy, she thinks she is sooooo cool.
* Helena also really enjoys playing with her friends, she has a couple of friends her age and she loves to scream at them, pull their hair, and also hold their hands:) Over all it sounds kind of rough, however they have a way of being gentle to each other.
Here are some pictures of what has been going on over the past couple of weeks!

Helena feeding herself puffs.... (Good pinching skills)

Helena realized she could dump them in her mouth!
Ooops she is missing her mouth and feeding the sofa...

She decided that the sofa was REALLY hungry too, so she shared all of her puffs!!! HA HA

Swimming Disaster!

2009-04-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

So BJ and I thought since Helena did not have a good lesson last week, we should get her in the water to just have some fun! We decided to go to family night at the pool. BAD IDEA.... we were in the pool for maybe 8 minutes and the next thing you know she had been smack in the head with a diving ring that some little kid threw! These were not supervised kids and the little girl felt horrible! Needless to say Helena cried like she never has cried before. She was so pissed and of course that was her first real injury.... POOR GIRL. We told the lifegaurd what happened, it took us awhile to calm her down but she was back to her old self before we knew it. I took a bath with her last night so she did not end the night with a bad water experience. I had her totally cracking up, we played for about 20 minutes splashing, blowing bubbles, and floating around. So glad we did that! So we will see how she does on Friday, we may walk into the pool area and she may just start screaming!!! Wish us luck:)

Videos

2009-04-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

I have finally downloaded some videos.... I hope you enjoy.....

First day in the hospital.... she is so small where is that little girl....

So little!!!!

What A Week!

2009-04-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

So the Cook family has been falling apart!
On a positive note, we had an awesome Easter! Helena loved her basket especially the shredded paper:) We spent the day together as a family and actually all got some down time. Helena and I have a packed schedule every week, between kettle bells, play dates, story time , and other things that pop up I feel like sometimes we are never here! So on Easter we went to breakfast downtown and then we just had a comfy Sunday and enjoyed playing with Helena and watched some movies. For those of you that have not seen BOLT, very cute and we give it 2 thumbs up.
On Monday, I was going to go to dinner with the girls, when BJ who had not been feeling well all weekend with sporadic fevers came home very ill. So started the long week of the Cooks falling apart. We ended up going to the Dr's for BJ and found out that he is ok and just needs to take better care of himself. Helena has been cutting her other top tooth which means we are up 2-5 times a night and with that we are also up for 1-3 hour stretches at a time. This is the hardest thing I would say about the first year. I have never slept thru the night, however there were weeks and days in there where Helena would sleep for 7-9 hours stretches. So when we are up every 1-3 hours it is very DIFFICULT! I feel very bad for her and I really hope that after this tooth is out we have a little break! GOD knows we need sleep! And then due to the lack of sleep I started to become very congested and running a low grade fever myself. We all have recovered except Helena she is still cutting that tooth:(
Helena is doing new things everyday, she has started to scoot on her butt in a circle, she is also scooting on her back. Still no crawling, but I'm sure we will get there soon. She is also pulling herself up with your fingers or if she has a ledge. She loves to be standing on her feet. She is not that big into walking her feet yet, but again I am sure we will get there. She loves feeding herself and is getting more things in her mouth. She does a great job eating her puffs she eats them one at a time and does it all by herself. She also loves drinking out of cups! The Easter Bunny brought her, her very own big girl cup and she loves it and does not dump it on herself which is GOOD! Last but not least, I know we have talked about swim lessons before, BJ took Helena this week by himself and apparently they did not get to participate very much because Helena cried most of the time:( Hopefully next week will be better! I hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weekend. I know we are going too!!!

8 months

2009-04-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 8TH MONTH HELENA JAMES!!! You are growing in to such a little lady. We love watching you grow and learn. We love all of your funny faces, noises,and smiles! YOU never cease to amaze us! We are blessed to have you as our little girl! We love you very much!

Teething yet again!

2009-04-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

Helena is officially cutting her top teeth. The first has broke through and man is she extra clingy and moody. She really wants to be with you all the time! I was fortunate enough today to get all the laundry done with her help of course and a light cleaning. We just dusted a little. When she teeth's she either sleeps a lot or not at all. This time it has been a little bit of both. I sure hope she gets some relief soon. Something fun is that she will be 8 months this Saturday and I am sure the Easter Bunny will be visiting on Sunday. Enjoy the picture of her folding laundry, we are having her start chores young. ( She was playing peek-a - boo, and when she pulls the shirt of she was keeping her eyes closed... like if she did that I could not see her! So silly:) )

Growing....

2009-04-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

I just realized I did not update her height and weight after her 6 month check up! Her next appointment is in May!

August 18th, 2008 20 inches long, 6 lbs 10 oz
September 9th, 2008 21 inches long, 8lbs 4 oz
October 22, 2008 22.25 inches long, 11lbs 13 oz
December 18th, 2009 24.25 inches long, 14lbs 12 oz
February 27th, 2009 27 inches long, 18lbs 9 oz

Is it really April!!!

2009-04-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

So I have not been writing because I have had an eye infection. I have some stuff going on with my corneas, so I have been trying to not be on the computer as much. I have been on drops for almost a week and my eyes are getting better and my vision is no longer blurry! We had Helena's second swim lesson this week and BJ and I both took her. She goes on Fridays at 9:30am which is not the best time, because Helena is usually napping around 10ish, so she is just really tired and cranky at this time. Friday, she was a little bit of both. She was doing great until it was time to practice underwater swimming. The teacher did the first underwater dive and we noticed she goes under the water with her eyes wide open! She then comes up a little angry that she went under! Everyone in class claps for Helena and then she stopped! BJ did the next one, I know he was super nervous but he did a great job, she did not go in has head down as she was suppose to, so she was even more mad when she came up! Helena has the week off from swim lessons this week and I am sure she will be grateful!

Helena also started clapping this weekend! It is very cute, she joins in when we clap and she seems to start clapping when we say YEAH!!!!! She also closes her eyes when she claps it is pretty funny!
We are also still having tummy time to encourage her to crawl. We know she can get up on all fours because she does it a lot. So for now she just scoots in a circle on her belly! She is also defending her sit and reach championship!
Helena is also feeding herself more with her hands and with her spoon. We give her melting puffs on her highchair tray and she gets 1 out of 5 in her mouth and then the rest she gets stuck on her face:) She does really well her spoon, she gets it in her mouth and then she picks it out with her fingers and smears it all around! Lots of fun before bath time!!!
She is also still talking a lot, between squeals, cooing, and yelling MAMA in lots of different ways. She is also really good at singing to songs! She hmmmmm's along, IT IS ADORABLE! She is also blowing tons of bubbles that is very wet:)
Helena is getting really good at taking all of her rings off her ring tower, she is also getting a few back on. The best part is that she has realized she does not need to take them off one by one anymore, she now just turns the tower up side down and watches them fall off! HA HA
Helena also did something new today, she was sitting on BJ's lap and I was across the sofa from them, I reaching my arms out and she was trying to stand herself up! She did a few times, she is just so cautious so she would just lift her butt up a little bit!
BJ wanted me to add that on the weekends Helena enjoys lounging on him! She does this almost every night and pets his arm hair. She really just loves every minute she can spend with him and I know he loves when she snuggles on him!!

BJ and Helena were playing guitar this weekend, she got very excited about this and enjoyed strumming with him! I also brought Helena to lunch with me this weekend with a girlfriend! She did so great! Never fussed, just ate her puffs, sweet potatoes and teething biscuit! She loved talking to everyone around us and just being the center of attention!

Other updates for the Cook's, BJ's business is really booming, they are Fung Shuing the office and getting settled. We are really enjoying that summer has arrived in San Diego, yes we skip spring! It was 79 degrees today:) We are just enjoying every minute with Helena, I just can not believe she is going to be 8 months next weekend!

Helena is finding her voice!!!

2009-03-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

We were at my friend Natalie's house. Helena has her days of loving the dogs and then hating them. She loved them this day! TOOOOO FUNNY:)

SWIM LESSONS!

2009-03-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Helena had her first swim lesson today. It started a little rocky since she puked in the pool and the instructor freaked out:) We got all the chunks out of the pool and continued. We splashed and sang songs. We floated on our backs, kicked our feet, went under water, and jumped into the pool. All of these things were assisted.... Helena did a great job, she really loves the water. She did get a little freaked out about going under. They have you dive them under.... she came up a little freaked however we clapped and then she smiled! This is going to be a daddy and Helena activity, however I will be in the water too. We both want to be comfortable in the water with her. We do not have pics from the class, but I did get her a new suit and cover up! I will post pictures this weekend. We are off for a walk, the weather has been beautiful so we are spending a lot of time outside:)

32 Weeks! TIME IS FLYING!!

2009-03-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

Wow I am a bad mom, I have not been keeping up on the blogging! Well big things happening in the Cook house. BJ and his company moved into an office space this last weekend. So that is a really big deal for them. They are getting new projects each day, so we feel really grateful especially when a lot of people are struggling. It will be nice to have in only 10 minutes away instead of 30 minutes. So CONGRATS Digital Operative, may the new office space bring you lots PEOPLE/PLANET/PROFIT :)
As for home life things have been a little stressful, we are trying to move out of our falling apart apartment. We are in a lease until August, however there are somethings going on and we would like to work with them on getting out. So we are giving them our notice and MAY 1st, 2009 the Cook family should have a new address:) We are all very excited for this, I am most excited to de-clutter our lives! Really dig in and get rid of stuff. How do you accumulate so much SH$%!!! We found a place we like we are just waiting to finalize everything till the middle of April so we can take advantage of being an immediate move-in.
On a positive not, Helena went swimming for the first time last week, she is natural in the water, she splashes and has no fear! She loves putting her face in the water, kicking her feet, and blowing bubbles! If I would have let her she would have stayed in there all day! Other things she is doing, she is really starting to have a temper, if she does not want to do something she squeals and arches her back and sometime throws herself back. It is very funny I do have to say, however you have to really watch where she is throwing herself, she is soooo strong, she wipes back so fast you can barely catch her. She is cutting her top teeth and I think on a growth spurt, she is eating, drooling, and sleeping a lot! We are doing really good with naps, she puts herself down with out a fuss most days. Bedtime I still rock her, which is not working as well anymore but again most days we snuggle up and rock till our heart is content! All and all she is such a good little girl, she loves to smile, laugh and talk! What more could you want:)

AIR CHEEKY BACCA!

2009-03-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favorite pictures, Helena is very much a girlie girl. She loves hats, headbands, shoes and dresses! She loves to pose for the camera and most of the time she becomes very serious. We have to catch her off guard to get a smile. She is just too funny and is developing quite the personality. I can already tell what a smart pants she is going to be we will have our hands full!

Happy St Patricks Day!

2009-03-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is doing well. Things in the Cook house are very well, BJ is currently finishing our tax preparation so we can bring them into our accountant! YEA for our first big deduction... HELENA:) HA HA Lets see what else has been happening... oh that is right Helena is saying M words.... she is mimicking MILK and Meow. She is also a pro at MOM and MOMMA! It is the best thing ever when she says it, I think I might blush a little:) We got a little off with the time change, tonight is the first night Helena went down with out a fight, man she is really stubborn. She is doing really well on her naps, she goes down 2 times a day by herself and with in 10 minutes she is sound a sleep. As for sleeping through the night I have completly given up, we get up between 2-4 times a night, really just depends on the night. Getting up 2 times is a BREEZE.... I have really gotten use to this and it is pretty consistent. We will see if getting her to bed early tonight helps, lets hope so.
So we having been having a lot of tummy time to encourage crawling, she is getting better, however would be just as happy sitting in the same position with all of her toys. So she has a crawl ball that she has been very interested in and that makes her scoot in a circle, its a start right:) We also took Helena to the beach on Sunday and she experienced the sand for the first time, BJ was playing Vball so I do not have a pic, she loved it!!!! Did not cring or anything, I did not let her get her hands on it, I was not ready for a mouth full of sand yet. I have a summer full of sand ahead so I was saving myself.
Helena and I spent the day with my friend Maria and Tristan we played at the park and had lunch. It is always nice having playdates, she sleeps so much better after playing with kids. I LIKE IT:) We also found out today that we maybe moving. We found a place that we really love, so we are waiting to hear if they accept us and then we will need to help find some for our current spot. Our manager is also helping us which is sooooo nice! So keep your fingers crossed, we are ready for a more modern place and a washer and dryer in our unit!!! This is Helena wearing her GREEN, showing her Irish side:)

7 Months Old! Where is the time going???

2009-03-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Happy 7 Month Birthday Helena James! All day today I was wondering where the last 7 months has gone! Helena is really a girlie girl. She loves shoes, clothes, and hats. I tell her how pretty she is when we get her dressed or we put her shoes on and she just smiles and hams it up. I have a little miss look at me:) I love it! We have been struggling a little with the time change, but we are working on it. We are also letting Helena cry it out when it is naptime. She has cried as long as 20 minutes and there was one time she did not cry at all! It has only 5 days of this and everyday it does get easier and she falls asleep faster:) Well we are head to the Wild Animal Park tomorrow. So I am sure I will have lots of pictures and more to blog!

29 weeks and TALKING!!!!

2009-03-05T12:43:00.001-08:00

So last night Helena said MOM MOM!!! We were shopping at Trader Joes and I was doing my own thing when BJ meet me in the check out line and he was in shock. She was staring at him saying MOM, MOM. Then he found me and she said it again! We thought maybe it was a fluc, however all night it was mmmmmm MOM! And today, she was looking up at me from her stroller saying MOM! It really does melt your heart. She is good with the MMMMMMM sounds. She is also signing MILK, and get very excited when we sign that and then she signs with us! We are working on all done now. She also always puts her hands up when she wants up! TOOOO CUTE!
Some other things she is doing, she is eating teething biscuits, she is really good at drinking out of her sippy cup! She loves riding in the shopping carts, she feels like such a big girl. We have a cart cover so that keeps her pretty entertained! She is also loving tummy time, she is not crawling, we practice the motions with her and get her up on her hands and knees. She does move herself in a circle then she gets pretty upset! She loves to stand next to things, tonight she was standing by the ottoman and Jones, ( SHE LOVES JONES) she laughs and gets so excited when he comes around!
Helena also has a new friend, my friend Sarah the owner of my gym have worked out a babysitting schedule for each other, so Emma and Helena are together Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30am to 10am. They are soooo cute! Emma is quite the mover and shaker so maybe she will motivate Miss Helena to get going. At Kettle Bells the other day, Helena did get to go in an AWESOME jumper! She did not really jumped but spin in circles and smiled up a storm! I am now going to work out from 8:30 to 9:15 and then take the girl for a walk by the bay! It is lots of fun to see them interact! Helena is also really enjoying her stroller now and just loves being outside on walks or at the park going down the slide and swinging. It is really hard to believe she is going to be 7 months next week!

Too Funny!

2009-02-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

So as I said before we have all been sick in the house! BJ is feeling better he has been fighting off his cold with lots of vitamin c and zinc. I got on antibiotics for my sinus infection, and little Miss Helena is just a trooper... I am pretty sure she is cutting her top teeth since she is just chomping up a storm on anything she can get her hands on! She is still a little congested but getting better everyday! ( Picture is of Helena and I watching The Little Mermaid in bed the other day! )
So yesterday was pretty funny! Helena was getting ready to go to sleep we were watching her show on the sofa she was perched on her boppy and she grunted a little bit so I know she was pooping, I gave her a few minutes and I picked her up and I noticed a large mound of poop on the sofa!!! HA HA she pooped out of her diaper on to the sofa. There is no stain, thank you Spot Shot! I am not going to lie, we have a blow out each day! There is just something about Pampers Cruisers that are not working with Helena James! HA HA Just thought I would share... hope everyone else is laughing as hard as I am!
Today was just another funny moment with Helena, I got her to sleep and I had the TV paused... all of a sudden her favorite show came on Miss Spider with the intro song and she almost jumped out of my arms with excitement! She knows that song so well! It is the one thing that can actually soothe her and clam her down! SO funny woke up out of dead sleep to watch Miss Spider! HA HA Our nosey little girl! Hope everyone is having a great week, it is finally getting nicer here! We are looking forward to walking to the park this afternoon! PS We hope MIMI had a great birthday yesterday! Can't wait to go back East this summer!

February 23rd, 2009

2009-02-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

I have been a bad blogger.... it is has almost been 2 weeks..... so let me fill you in! Not to much has been going on. I am currently working on my parents vacation package.... so if you know of anyone who would like to travel to Mexico or anywhere else in the US or world. Let us know and we will see what we can do for you! Check out www.karismahotels.com

I have also decided that I am going to undertake a new business... I am going to do a San Diego Mommy site... it is a work in progress. I think it will be up in about 12 weeks. It will be a work in progress. But I am very excited to get started!

Helena actually has a cold, she woke up last night very congested:( Poor girl! I think BJ and I got about 3 hours of sleep! She then slept for almost 5 hours today and was in bed tonight by 7:15! BJ came home from work early today SICK too! AHHHHH so I have been playing nurse.
Helena is suppose to have shoots this Friday, I spoke with a nurse today and she thinks that Helena should be ok and that this congestion maybe caused by teething. WHO KNOWS!
Helena is 28 weeks today! How crazy! She went to her first baby shower this weekend and of course was an ANGEL! We did not stay long because I had a case of Mastitis:( HORRIBLE! I felt like I had the flu all day on Saturday and Sunday. SO the Cook house is contamented! HA HA I hope ever one is having a great week! We are just trying to get everyone better and get our taxes together this weekend! Come on BIG RETURN!!!

Happy 6 Months Helena James!

2009-02-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

HAPPY Half Birthday Helena James.... We love you very much and love watching you grow and change each and everyday! You are the apple of our eyes! We hope you have a great day! Here are some things Helena is excelling at....

* Helena is a pro at rolling over... she is rolling over on both sides we are still working on going from her tummy to back.

* She has been sitting up for about a month she is just getting stronger by touching her toes and then sitting back up!

* She is also getting stronger and trying to pull herself up from laying down, she is very close!
* Helena took her first shower! SHE LOVED IT! ( Of course it was after another major BLOW OUT!!! I swear we are the only family who has one of these EVERYDAY!)

* She loves her balls... her " Move and Crawl Ball" and her Purple ball! She just has so much fun with rolling them and trying to get them!

* She is really loving bath time, splashing herself and us... she also dunked her face in the water when Grammies was here.... thank goodness it was Grammies and not us WE WOULD HAVE FREAKED!

*She is attempting to feed herself.... eating is a very messy event.

* Helena loves to touch our face however it usually hurts so we always say gentle and now she seems to understand.

* She is in love with the cats... she gets to "Gently" pet Jones, however Vegas is grumpy so she stares at him and laughs:)

* Helena is giggling... what is crazy is that she does it only if you feed into her. It is never just because something is funny! I wish she would laugh all the time... it is just so cute!

* She is also very good at responding to "up" she puts her arms up to be held or picked up.

* She also is very good with her name... however she does have selective hearing like her father:) Sometimes you will be talking to her and saying her name and she IGNORES you... it is very funny.

She really does do something new and exciting everyday! I have little notes all around so I do not forget to write about it! We had a great half birthday day!

Saturday Morning Snuggles

2009-02-07T10:38:00.001-08:00

So now that I'm officially a writer on this family blog here, I wanted to capture some of the awesome parenting experiences I have. This morning, I got to spend lots of time with Helena James while Sarah was off at kettle bells training. Not very often, Helena and I get snuggle time that is unlimited. Things are busy with the new company and at times I only get to see her for an hour or so before she heads to bed. Today, we snuggled up on the couch, watch some Oswald, gabbed at each other, exchanged lots of hugs and finally hushed her to sleep. A good solid hour of sleep for Helena ... quite an accomplishment at this time for her. So needless to say, it was a great morning. Now she is in her jumperoo, gabbing away, trying to jump through the roof and watching Noggin. Anyways, thanks for sharing in our family adventures and I'm sure Sarah will remind me to jump on here now and then.

February 5th, 2009

2009-02-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

I have not written for a few weeks.... we have just been busy lot to update though!!!
Helena has both of her bottom teeth and has been battling the top teeth for the last couple of weeks. I actually took her to the dr's since she has not been herself and she has not been sleeping at all naps or at night:( She now weighs 18lbs 2 ozs and 26 inches! I can not believe it! It will be really interesting to see how much she grows in 2 weeks, we have to go back for shots! She does not have an ear infection like we thought, she is just teething!
Helena is now rolling over often and really loving to be on her belly. We have been practicing getting up on all fours and she is doing a really good job at scooting backwards. We also got her a big purple ball and she loves kneeling by that, playing soccer and volleyball! It is so much fun how interactive she is with all her toys!
We have had my mom her for a week, it was nice to go out as a couple for sushi and a movie.... 4 whole hours with out Helena... we did really well and did not even talk about her until the last 20 minutes! Adult conversation.... who knew we had it in us! We had a great time out on our actual anniversary my mom made us AMAZING lasagna, BJ came home early and we just spent time as a family.
Helena is doing really well eating her solids, she loves green beans and peaches. I am making her food however am not having that much success doing the veggies:( I am making plums, peaches, and carrots. I have also been giving her bananas in her oatmeal in the morning. She LOVES it! She is just a ham when you talk to her and sing songs. We have songs for almost everything we do. I am hoping to get our Greenbean song on video.... she was laughing so hard by the time we thought of video taping it was over!
We also got Helena a new carseat! Since she is almost 20 lbs the carrier was getting a little confining! So she has been upgraded and she loves it! She never fusses or cries anymore in the car... THAT IS FANTASTIC!!! It is nice to have a happy baby when driving.
One big thing is that Helena got to go to the park this week with me and grammies... this was an adventure. As normal Helena had a HUGE blow out! This is a daily occurance.... we are keeping oxi-clean in business and carters as well since we go thru 2-3 outfits aday! So at the park we had to strip Helena down in the grass... which she LOVED! She just talked and talked to the trees

...( did I mention from the time this little girl wakes up she does not stop talking... I am pretty sure since I read all of BJ's report cards that she may get it from him and maybe a little from me!!!) So she got to experience her toes in the grass for the first time! She loved it! And she also got to swing which she likes and at the same time is totally afraid! She makes this crazy face and then smiles like oh that is not that bad!
Over all Helena is growing up! I knew this was going to happen and it is just truly amazing to watch her grow and learn each and everyday! I feel so lucky that I get to be home with her and help her develop! She is just turning out to be such an amazing little person with such a big personality! More to come! Don't forget to check flickr there are lots of new pictures!
www.flickr.com/photos/bjcook

January 24, 2008 23 weeks....

2009-01-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

So many things have been going on this week!!! We have had a jammed packed week:) On Monday, we headed to the zoo.... I know it seems like I go a lot... I do. I take Helena once or twice a week. It is so beautiful there and there are amazing hills. Amazing hills means.... you know what it means:) Also on Monday, Helena first tooth broke through on the bottom. I thought she was also getting her top tooth, however she is also working on the other bottom one. I can see the other bottom one and I can feel the top one. Lets just say there has been some biting this week and the milk machine has been closing.... We also got the good news that we are going to have a nephew.... Evan William McGANN!!! We can not wait to meet you:)
On Tuesday we went and visited Alice the Great... this is our CA great grandma.... it was nice to be able to visit with her we always have such great conversation. We also went over to my friend Maria's house, her son Tristan is one day younger the Helena. This is the first time they were together and they actually really interacted! It was sooooooooo CUTE:) We had them kicking the soccer ball, sitting up and playing with blocks and Tristan was trying to teach Helena how to roll all over the house! He is so great at rolling! It was another great day!

Wednesday Helena and I brought her bassinet to my friend Natalie.... she is due with a little girl named Chloe in April. We are so excited to have another friend her is San Diego!!!
Friday we went to the salon and I got a hair cut and everyone at the salon just was awing over miss Helena and her smiles and amazing hair color:) We also went to the zoo over the weekend as a family and just had a nice time together!

TWO Teeth

2009-01-19T08:07:00.001-08:00

So for the first time I saw Helena's bottom tooth! We can also feel the one on top! Can not believe she is getting 2 teeth at a time! What a big girl:) She is actually doing a lot better. So maybe we have a week or 2 I am sure before the other 2 start coming in. We are headed to the zoo yet again to celebrate Martin Luther King Day! Hope everyone enjoys their Monday off:)

Cookies N Cats N Fish!

2009-01-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

So this weekend we got a fish tank! I use to have this tank with Kendal, she moved so we get to have it! We started out with 4 fish and a frog, we now have 17 fish and a frog! We are so excited. We all love them. Helena's jumper is over there so gets to watch them. Jones spends a good part of his day on top of the tank watching them. And BJ and I just think it is funny that one of the smallest fish, swims around and bites all the other fish! We have a breed of fish that will have babies, so that will be exciting. So far everyone in the tanks seems to be enjoying there home!

Other news from the home front. We are still doing pretty well with sleeping in the crib. She is now taking naps in the crib, we have now had 3 successful 2 hour naps in the crib! I am also working on my parents and our travel website. We have an amazing timeshare to share with our friends and family so keep our eyes out for an email and or a mailer to be at your house in early February. We maybe having a visitor at the end of the month... GRAMMIES is trying to come out so BJ and I can celebrate our 2 your anniversary. We hope she is able to make it.... if not we understand. We are also anxiously awaiting the news on whether or not we are having a new niece or nephew. The McGann's find out on MONDAY what the sex of their baby is. Other then that, we are all doing well. Helena is still always doing new things, like a new laugh she just discovered and she loves playing with her toes. Oh and most importantly she is on to solids, she has now had applesauce and we are on to carrots for the next few days. We hope everyone is having a great week.

Happy 5 Months Helena!

2009-01-11T22:28:00.001-08:00

So I was was transferring some things from our babycookie site and I was looking at her growth chart from her Well Check-ups!

August 18th, 2008 20 inches long, 6 lbs 10 oz
September 9th, 2008 21 inches long, 8lbs 4 oz
October 22, 2008 22.25 inches long, 11lbs 13 oz
December 18th, 2009 24.25 inches long, 14lbs 12 oz

I just think it is so great that she is gaining weight and getting bigger each and everyday! As most of you can tell she has got some major cheeks! Someone asked me if I was breastfeeding her Hagen Daz:) She has a very hearty appetite, she is eating solids 2 times a day and also drinking water from a sippy and lots of breast milk!

We did have a break thru this weekend.... Helena is sleeping thru the night in her crib! She is doing AMAZING!!! I can not believe it! I still am getting up once to pump. I can not make it thru yet plus I like having the extra milk to freeze or for bottles when we are out. Just another milestone for her. I can not believe that 5 months have passed by so quickly! I feel so blessed to have such a great little girl, who is doing new things each and everyday! To celebrate Helena's 5th month, we got a fish tank! We currently have 4 fish and a frog. We will be getting some plants and more fish later this week! I am also bringing Helena to Mommy Matinee. I have not been to the movies since before she was born, so I am really looking forward to this!

I few more things that have happened, the other night while I was getting Helena ready for the bath, BJ had just gotten home and we were chatting with her, I sat her up and she said" Oh yeah" It was so funny! She had no idea what she was saying, just mimicking us... how do they get so smart. She has also really been struggling with her teeth, I feel something on the top but can not see the tooth. She has been beyond fussy, so today while she was whining, I put her pants on her head like a hat. I then made up some crazy songs and we had a good giggle for about 15 minutes and we forgot all about the pain of that tooth. Just goes to show kids do not need any toys, just our imagination!

Week 21!

2009-01-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

So this week has been a long week of ups and down. My Uncle lost his battle with cancer on Monday. It is sad to see him go, however he is in a better place with out pain and suffering. I really wish I could have been in Minnesota this week to support my family, that was just not possible. So our prayers and thoughts are with my family!We love you!

Helena is going to be 5 months on Sunday January 11th! During her 21st week, she has been drinking from her sippy cup by herself. She also just started sitting up by herself and playing with her toys! She is getting sooooo big! I can not believe how much more confidence she is gaining everyday to try new things! This week we also attending a music and story time at the library which was a lot of fun! She loves other kids and singing, so this was a winning activity! Things that we are up too... we are headed to the zoo today and this weekend BJ and I are still working with Helena on sleeping thru the night and taking better naps in her crib. I am currently reading a book, " The No Cry Sleep Solution" So far I like the method. We tried "crying it out" It is not for us and Helena cries so hard she chokes herself. BJ and I just can not do that to our little Cheeks! Well we hope everyone has a great weekend! It is going to be in the 70's.... so we are looking forward to being outside:)

Some More New Things...

2009-01-02T13:39:00.000-08:00

Helena and I were just playing and she reminded me of a few other things she is doing:
* she is starting to understand Peek- a- Boo... I play this everyday with her silky bear... and she is getting the concept and is pulling the bear over her head and slowly pulling it down with a very big grin!
* She is really giggling and laughing with a razz..... it is very funny. She is also very tickalish and really loves when you play "I'm going to get you" game.
* She is also very much like her father and she fights her sleep! She just wants to stay up and party !
* She is also very handsy.... she loves touching your face, hair, eyes, & ears. She is also getting really good at grabbing her toys and getting them to here mouth!
* And She found her toes:)

Week 20!

2009-01-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

So I hope everyone had a great new year! We were bums and just hang around. Helena has been congested and cutting teeth. If we could only see the tooth that is causing a running nose, rosy cheeks, and a very cranky baby..... We spent the day at the San Diego Zoo! We had such a good time. Helena really loved all the plants and waterfalls, so maybe next time she will actually notice the animals. We are members so we can go whenever we want. So we will be there at least once a week. Tons of hills and good walking for me!
Some new things Helena is doing:
* She is almost sitting up by herself.
* She is super talkative.... not sure what she is speaking... lots of high pitch gargles and coos. SOOO CUTE. BJ and I just loved to talk to her! She is the most talkative in her Jumper, on her changing table half naked! Or when we have her on the floor working on rolling.
* Helena is not that interested in rolling, she loves being on her tummy and doing baby pushups and kicking her feet.
* Helena is starting to understand certain words. If I say give me some kisses, she opens her mouth like she is going to eat you! When we say Big Girl Bites, she knows it is time for cereal or oatmeal. SHE LOVES OATMEAL!
* Helena also knows what the camera is and when it comes out she stops smiling. She is sooooo funny, she could be in a full melt down and if she notices the camera, the melt down and over the posing begins. SO funny that she is so little and already gets it! TOO SMART!

Well I hope everyone enjoys the weekend. We are going to de-Christmas our apartment and get back to normal! And just try to catch up on some sleep. Helena is not adjusting well to her crib. We get up anywhere from 2-5 times a night! Believe me BJ and I have almost called it quits, but we are staying strong.

To 2009.... May it bring good things to all!!!

2008-12-31T13:34:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS!
I hope everyone has a great New Years... I am going to stay awake until midnight to kiss my husband! New Years resolutions for me..... NO MORE SUGAR!! and I am sure I will think of some more. I would like to end my blog by sending a prayer to my family in Minnesota, for those of you that don't know my Uncle Steve, was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer back in June and we were told earlier this week that treatment had stopped working and that his kidneys where shutting down. I just want to say that he has been an AMAZING Uncle and Godfather to me and I am so happy my daughter got to meet him when we were home. This is a difficult time for my family and this is when I wish I lived closer so I could be there to help. He and the family are in our thoughts and prayers everyday! I hope everyday for him is comfortable while he is at home and he knows how much we all love him! With that, I do say Happy New Years, stay awake and kiss all the ones that you love and don't sweat the small stuff, it too will pass and tomorrow will be a new year! HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009:)

December 2008

2008-12-31T12:55:00.000-08:00

Minnesota Bound
Well I have not written again in awhile,so bad at keeping up to date. Helena and I were in Minnesota from the 2nd- 17th. We were able to see friends and family. It was such a great trip, I just wish the weather would have been better so I could have seen more of my family. And I also wish BJ could have come with us. Helena got to meet her pen pal Auriana, that is Robyn's little girl and she is 10 weeks older then Helena. They got to spend lots of time together, Robyn took a day off to just hang out with us. I hate saying good-bye to her. She really is the sister I never had! Helena also got to see A LOT of snow. I think it snowed almost 10 inches while we visited and she also got to experience her first wind chill! Lots of very exciting things!
BACK TO CALI!!!
It was very nice being home in Minnesota, but it was also nice getting back to my hubby, cats and my own bed! We got home just in the nick of time for Christmas. We had such and amazing Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with friends and had a Latin meal. It was amazing and I could not eat on Christmas! As for Christmas day... Helena made Santa's nice list and got lots of toys and clothes from the East Coast. I am so glad she did, because this is the last sizes I have.... I have 6 months and some 6-9 month stuff.... so I am sure in the next few months there will be a shopping spree for Helena... What a lucky girl!!! As for me I got gift cards and work out stuff. When you gain 70 plus pounds during pregnancy it takes a lot of hard work to get it off. As of January 1st, there is no more sugar or desserts:( MY FAVORITE!!! Lots of fresh fruit and veggies to go with my Mighty Mom Class. That is my husbands gift to me, beside some gift cards to get a sexy outfit for our 2 year anniversary. Mighty Moms is a Pre and Post Natal Kettle Bell Class! IT IS SOOOOO AMAZING!!! http://www.ironcorekettlebells.com/ check it out! You can buy them at Target, you get a total body workout with cardio... all in 45 minutes! Plus I get to bring Helena and she gets to play with 2 other little girls. They were all born and August. So hopefully come swimsuit season.... WATCH OUT!!!
Updates!
Since we have been home, we have moved Helena to her crib!!! This has been a very interesting week. I feel like I just brought her home again! It has been a hard transition for us all.... all 3 of us are EXHAUSTED!!! We had a better night last night.... so hopefully we are getting closer to sleeping thru the night again. I have a totally new crib set up, thanks to some online research! So if anyone needs some help.... feel free to give me a call and I can give you my advice! Helena is also almost sitting up all by herself and sort of rolling over.... she is not that motivated to do this.... She does however love tummy time and is so fascinated about how to get moving. I try to trick her with toys to roll or crawl and she just smiles at me like I am CRAZY! How does she know this at such a young age:) Helena is also eating cereal and oatmeal and drinking water from her sippy cup. She loves to put the cup all over her face before she finds her mouth. She is very funny:) She also loves her jumper, this weekend while watching the Chargers, we put the jumper in front of the TV... football and jumping are her 2 favorite things and she was gabbing and jumping as fast the football players were running. BJ and I were cracking up. Helena has really found her voice and it is sooo cute when she makes new noises. I am sure she is going to say MAMA or DADA soon!

Minnesota Bound December 2 , 2008

2008-12-29T13:45:00.000-08:00

Minnesota Bound

December 2 , 2008

Helena and I are headed to MN. We will be gone until December 17th. We are looking forward to spending lots of time with family and friends. I have gone a little over board with warm clothes for her. I have none:) HA HA Anyways, we are going to miss BJ, he is staying her and growing there business, that is doing SO WELL!!! We are so proud of him! When we get back Helena has shots and her 4 month check up. And we start going to Mighty Moms 3 days a week. This is a mom's kettlebell class. IT IS THE BEST WORK OUT EVER!!! Hope everyone is well!

Santa Baby

We brought Helena to see Santa today.... SHE LOVED HIM!!! We also uploaded a very cute video of her babbling.... she loves to chat with us.... please check it out at www.flickr.com/photos/bjcook

The Month Of November!!! November 22, 2008

2008-12-29T13:44:00.001-08:00

The Month Of November!!!

November 22, 2008

Well I am a bad mom and have not written in so long:(.... we have had a lot going on. For those of you that do not know BJ lost his job on his birthday back in September, so since then he has been working very hard with his partner Adam to start a new business, Digital Operative. He has been doing an amazing job balancing all his duties. We sure do miss him, it takes a lot of hours to get a consulting business up and running. THEY ARE DOING A GREAT JOB!!!

Helena Meets Great Grandma Mingo

Well the first week of November, Great Grandma Mingo was in town. I think she was expecting this tiny little baby... Helena is still little, however she is very strong. She must be upright at all times and facing outward. She is almost sitting up by herself and she is chatting up a storm. She talked to much when Great Grandma was here, telling lots and lots of baby stories. We had a great time and were sad to see her go!

3 Months Old

On November 11th, Helena turned 3 months, it is crazy to think she is getting so big. It is amazing to watch her grow and take the world in. Things she really loves right now.... TV, she loves all the colors and she really likes to sit and walk it contently. She also loves to be read to and sung too. She has 3 favorite songs, #1 Baby Beluga, we sub the Beluga for Helena and it always calms her down. #2 Pretty Pretty Princess, BJ made this song up, she loves it! and this morning we made up a new song for her Bear. She loves this one because we have combined Peek a Boo. She and I have also been working out. We go to Stroller Strides 3 days a week and walk and I get some resistance training. This next week we will be starting Mighty Moms, which is a 45 minute workout using kettle bells. I am very excited to start this work out and really start toning up. I did gain around 70 pounds:) so with breast feeding and walking I have lost almost 35 and have 35-40 more to go... I shooting a little lower then when I started! Helena is such a good baby, she is starting to really chew on things... I am pretty sure she is getting a tooth she had a low grade fever for a few days and was extremely crabby. This did pass and now she is back to normal.

Schedule

I wish I could say we have a set schedule.... for now we are getting better... She is still getting up between 1am and 3am for just a little night cap. Then we are up by 6am for the morning. She has started to take a 1.5 to 2 hour nap around Lunchtime when we are home. So I am trying not to run around at that time. As for bed she is sleeping before 9pm every night. I would say things are a lot better then in the beginning, now if I could just get to bed by 9pm everynight too...

MINNESOTA

Helena is going to ride her first airplane on December 2, we are flying home to MN for a few weeks. We are really looking forward to seeing some snow. I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends and introducing my Little Red Head, HJ to them. We are going to miss BJ, but with this new business he can not step away. So in the next 2 weeks, we will be having lots of family time, seeing Santa, Christmas Tree decorating and Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to a long weekend next week to really spend some quality time together.

Happy Halloween October 31st, 2008

2008-12-29T13:43:00.001-08:00

Happy Halloween

October 31st, 2008

So I have not written in a few weeks. We have been doing well, we have been trying to get a on a schedule. Sometimes this is easier said then done. I have been trying to get Helena to start sleeping in her crib, this has not been easy. She has yet to sleep in there for longer then 30 minutes! If I had nothing to do, I would let her sleep on me all day. She is just so cute and cuddly so it is very easy to let her lay with you. She had her shots and did very well, she really did not cry however she did run a fever for a few days. We also had a visitor, Aunt Jaime from Iowa came to visit us and do some work up in Del Mar. It was very nice to have her here to catch up and hang out. I got out of the house for the night to have dinner while BJ had the baby. They had a great time together. As for our Halloween plans... nothing to exciting. Helena and I had lunch with my friend Natalie, she had such a great time over there and loved Nat's husband along with her dog, she got lots of puppy kisses and did not mind at all:). We had her in a very cute outfit for the day time and dressed her up as a pumpkin for fun. We did not take her anywhere, just snapped some pics and hung out with her. She loves to watch the TV, so we put on Baby Einstein. SHE LOVED IT for about 10 minutes she watched and responded with lots of ahhhs and ohhhs. It was really cool to watch her interact. She is really strong and is holding her head up along with wanting to be very independent and sitting up, whether it is propped up with pillows or just sitting on our leg, she must know what is going on at all times. SHE IS VERY NOSY.... wonder where she gets that from. HA HA Well We hope every one had a very safe Halloween. We are looking forward to Great Grandma to get here this week!

Spoke to soon October 17th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:42:00.002-08:00

Spoke to soon

October 17th, 2008

So she is not quite sleeping thru the night.... we are getting up at 3am. Eating on one side while I pump the other. She then would like to to play for an HOUR!!! You can not get upset she just talks and talks for an hour... I am sure she gets that from me! She is 9 weeks old this week and becoming her own little person each and everyday. The funniest thing this week is that she has new fake cries. She loves to tell you that is not what she wants... it is this whiney cry and all you can do is laugh switch position and let her know you are on to her ways. As soon as you do move her she SMILES!!!

Little Miss Lily

Helena and I spent this Thursday with Lily and Monica, Helena LOVES Lily, she is just so interested in her. Lily is 13 months so much bigger then Helena, however they are becoming great friends. I have the cutest pics.... ENJOY!!!

Sleeping Thru the Night

October 14th, 2008

Helena slept from 9pm- 5am!!!! I was sleeping from 10pm- 5am!!! Can you believe it... I did wake up a few times to check on her... you get so nervous even though they are right next to you.

2 Months Old!!! October 11th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:42:00.001-08:00

2 Months Old!!!

October 11th, 2008

Helena is 2 months old... I can not believe it. She has been battling a little cold, we brought her to the dr and she is almost 10 pounds and 23 inches. She is getting so big. She is really starting to recognize things. She loves her floor play-mat. She loves kicking and grabbing the toys. BJ and I also have a little game we play with her. We give her kisses on the cheek and we ask her to give us a kiss. We then place our cheek next to her and she opens up her mouth and slobbers all over us and smiles. She is just getting so big... we are not on a schedule yet, however we are only getting up 2 times at night, so I can not complain. We brought her to polish fest she loved all the music and the baby bjorn. That thing is the best thing... she loves it and can be in it for hours. Helena and I are going to hide to stroller strides this week, it is a walking and weight class for moms and there babies. We are super excited. We pushed back her shots, so we are going in a week from Wednesday, not looking forward to that appointment. BJ will be going with so hopefully, I will not be to much of a mess. We are loving all this time get to spend together as a family, if BJ could only be Semi- Retired forever... Well I am signing off for this week. Enjoy the some new pics and BJ is updating flickr.... www.flickr.com/photos/bjcook

Flickr

So Many Pictures

We have over 600 pics of Helena... it is very time consuming to put them up to this site and very easy for us to upload them to Flickr... so I am just putting a few up a week from now on. Please look at.... www.flickr.com/photos/bjcook Thanks.....

October 5th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:41:00.001-08:00

October 5th, 2008

Long Time No Write

So Helena is going to be 8 weeks old tomorrow. We have been so busy with just trying to get a schedule. This is not easy, with breastfeeding I get about 1.5 hours between each meal. So between trying to keep up with the house, baby laundry, and just trying to brush my teeth. There is not much time for me to keep up on this site. So from now on I am going to try my best to write once a week.

Last 8 weeks and counting

So recovering from a c-section was not that bad. By week 2 I was pretty mobile. My dad was here to help out for a week and then my mom followed and stayed for 3 weeks. It was so nice to have her here, she cooked and cleaned and baked.... it was the best 3 weeks ever. BJ and I was so spoiled and we ate like kings. By week 6 I have been walking by the bay every other day and now I being 2 months after I am going to start to really work out. I am going work on my nutrition too. I have to eat enough to lost weight and keep up with making the good ole milk for Miss Helena James.

Just a few...Milestones for Miss Helena James

So our little peanut-butter pirate... is getting so big, we can not wait to see how big she is at her next appointment October 15th. For the first month Helena was battling breast milk jaundice, she had to be poked 3 times and we had to supplement with formula... Helena HATES formula, it makes her puke .... I think she is allergic or she just has a super sensitive stomach like her father. Lets just say we have spent a few nights up with the little peanut not so happy about the formula, and then I cried and thought I was a horrible mom... ( Thanks mom for telling me that I am a good mom and she is just sensitive and still a little one trying to learn the world.) Helena loves playing in her vibrating chair, she love the chick rattle, and stares at the stripe of the kitty. She is so good at tracking objects and she loves to talk to them. In her words... Ah Goo Ah Goo. Every Morning she wakes up around 6am when I am still very much sleeping, we feed and change her diaper and she smiles and smiles and smiles, of course I do not have my camera so.... I do not have a ton of so cute smile pics. She loves when we say "Good Morning Sweet Girl" This was started by her Grammies Clark, she just smiles and kind of does a crazy giggle. It is to cute for words... everyday we are just so amazed at all the new things she does.

Vistors

Like I said we have had lots of vistor's and we have more to come. We had Grandma and Grandpa Clark. We also had the New Jersey girls here for BJ's birthday, this is Mimi ( BJ's Mom), BJ's Uncle Mike, Auntie Nicki and BIG cousin Taylor. Taylor was so good with Helena all she wanted to do was be with her. They will be great friends and playmates in a year, when Helena can actually do something. We had such a great time for BJ's bday weekend, we went to seaport village, I had wine!! We also went to Seaworld, Helena's favorite part was feeding the Sting-rays. We had such a great weekend, it was nice to get out and enjoy being a family. We are looking forward to having BJ's Dad, my friend Jaime and Helena's Great Grandma Mingo.

Other fun stuff

Some of Helena's other things she loves to do... * Loves being outside, when we walk she either sleeps or is wide awake and she loves to be talked too about all the cool things outside. * She loves Baby Beluga, it is her favorite song and almost every time I sing this she calms down. * She loves laying on her tummy on her boppy. * She loves her daddy... as soon as he enters the room and talks she finds him. * Starting to love her swing. * Loves her purple blankie. * LOVE LOVE LOVES bathtime, she is so good in the water, now if we can just master her getting out. Things Helena does not like... * Getting dressed, she screams like we are beating her * She hates getting gas when she eats, this causes her to scream, rip off my nipple and then we have to convince her to burp so she can feel better. * She also dislikes being in one position for to long... we most always be doing new things. I think she is trying to tell us to get ready... because once she starts moving we will never be still again.

Her First Pet

Ugly Dog

BJ loves Ugly dolls and he found Helena a little on to put on her carseat. She loves to stare at her toys on her car seat so this is a welcome toy in her eyes!!!

Puma's Helena's First Shoes

2008-12-29T13:40:00.001-08:00

Puma's

Helena's First Shoes

How cute are these socks... she already loves shoes... she will not be getting her own credit card. We already have to watch her spending habits. PS she gets them from her dad!!!

Halloween

We bought a costume.... cant wait to dress her up and take a thousand pictures....

I lost my umbilical cord and found my LUNGS!!! August 23rd, 2008

2008-12-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

I lost my umbilical cord and found my LUNGS!!!

August 23rd, 2008

So this morning as we were changing her diaper, we realized that her umbilical cord was gone, her last little thing left of the womb. I am certain that since she has lost her cord, she has realized that she has an amazing set of lungs, in which she loves to use for a total of about an hour day. We feel so bad sometimes because no matter what we do she cries until she coughs:( I am pretty sure she gets little gas bubbles... I am trying really hard to not eat anything spicy or things that may upset her. So if anyone has any tips let me know!!!

Week One August 18th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:38:00.001-08:00

Week One

August 18th, 2008

Helena is one week old!!! Where do I get a serum to keep her so small and innocent. Or where can I get of bottle of this baby smell I breath each and everyday! We had an amazing weekend just getting to know our little girl. She is such a great baby, she sleeps between 2 -4 hours and she eats and eats and eats... We went the the Dr's today and she is almost back to her birth weight and she has already grown an inch. We can not believe how different she looks each and everyday. BJ has been off of work for this whole time, we have been such a great team, and she just loves her daddy.

The Hospital Stay!! August 11th-14th

2008-12-29T13:37:00.002-08:00

The Hospital Stay!!

August 11th-14th

So we needed to stay at the hospital until Thursday, it was really great being there. We had round the clock service... excellent nurses and help. I was not able to walk for the first 12 hours, so BJ changed every poopy diaper. For someone who never changed a diaper... he would win a medal. He was so fast and she barely ever cried when he changed her. Once I got the hang of walking around, we would walk Miss Helena everyday around the halls, and the last day we attended a class... this is when the incident occured. Someone stole our beautiful soft PURPLE blanket.... I am not kidding someone at a hospital stole a child's blanket!!! THANK GOD THEY LO-JACKED MY BABY... Needless to say I have another purple blanket, but lesson learned you can trust no one, not even at a hospital:( After our class we were discharged, putting our little girl in the car seat and heading home to start life as a new and glowing family! I will remember this as one of the happiest moments of our lives. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it!!!

Birth Announcement HELENA JAMES COOK

2008-12-29T13:37:00.001-08:00

Birth Announcement

HELENA JAMES COOK

Helena James was born August 11th, 2008 at 8:36 am at Mary Birch Hospital. We had to have a scheduled c-section due to Miss Helena being breech. Having a scheduled c-section has its perks... since I am a planner I got to know exactly when she was going to be here, however the nerves and my heartrate were soaring. BJ and I arrived at the hospital at 6:30am and we were in the operating room by 8:15am. From what BJ tells me when they brought him in they had already started and I was cut open... thanks for tell me you started Dr O'Hara!!! Dr Farrel was the best... he gave me all the fantastic drugs, that worked in less then 5 seconds. BJ was sitting next to me for less then 5 minutes before Dr. O'Hara asked me how I was feeling and if I could feel anything... I responded I was good and he said great we are almost finished. In my head I was thinking WHAT!!! It felt like literally seconds had passed and then the nurse was yelling here comes her butt, BJ get your camera and then she was over the curtain... my response was "Where is all of her hair???" I had horrible heartburn and to me that was the only reason why I should have been so miserable. She did have a lot of strawberry blonde hair, I just could not tell due to my drugged stupper. By 9:05am I was in recovery and by 9:15am I was holding my daughter for the first time. What an amazing experience. It was UNREAL!!! I still can not believe that she is part me and part my incredible husband!!! I stared at her and tried to figure out who she looked like. I was so overwhelmed with emotion, I am the mother to this beautiful little girl. Let the Journey begin!!!

August 10th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:33:00.003-08:00

Last day being pregnant!!!

August 10th, 2008

So BJ and I have been relaxing all day... yesterday was jammed packed for us both. I cleaned the apartment like I had never cleaned before... and repacked her bag and ours too! This morning we enjoyed some delicious blueberry pancakes... I MADE THEM:) We also got a very cool video camera so we can film Lil Miss HJ!!! We have both been talking about how crazy it is going to be tomorrow afternoon we are going to get to hold this little bean... We are both so excited... we will be uploading pictures to our flickr account... http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjcook/ We can do this directly from BJ's Crackberry:) Here is the last belly picture... we hope everyone has had an AWESOME weekend... we have and we are so excited for what is to come next on this journey!

August 9th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:33:00.001-08:00

Around The Corner

August 9th, 2008

So it is Saturday Morning... BJ is playing in a volleyball tournament... I am doing laundry and cleaning the apartment... and I am thinking that next Saturday it will not just be the 2 of us anymore!!! We are very excited to welcome Helena James in to the world on Monday morning... it is less then 48 hours away!! I will put up one last belly pic this weekend... it is crazy to think that this BELLY is going to go away! YEA!!! I know it is going to be at least 6 weeks before I can really work out... but man I will be blogging up a storm when I can go to TKB, Kettlebells, and a Spin Class again... and I will be throwing myself a party when I get in those SKINNY Jeans and a pair of heels:) I hope all my family in Minnesota enjoy there fishing trip tomorrow.... We will be talking to everyone next week. Have a great weekend!

August 4th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:32:00.000-08:00

6 days....
August 4th, 2008
So I am currently resting at home... headed to work this afternoon. We got a phone call from the Dr's today and we are all scheduled for our C-section on August 11th... at 8:00am.... so hopefully by 9:00am next Monday Miss Helena James Cook will be in this world!!! Let the count down begin 6 days... we will update on Thursday after our appointment... just in case this little stinker decides to flip around. Hope everyone has a great week!!!

July 28th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:31:00.003-08:00

Dr's Appointment

July 28th, 2008

Well today's appointment was a long one. We were there for almost an hour, after Dr O'Hara checked me and we talked about all the different things that had been going on over the last few weeks, he was wondering why things were so different from 2 weeks ago. He suggested an ultrasound so he could see what was going on. So we found out that Miss Helena James has turned.... she is perfectly FRANK BREECH with her little feet above her head. We have decided to not do the external inversion there would be only a 30% chance of the Dr being able to get her to flip. We are going to head to the pool some say doing summer-saults and handstands in the pool can help the babies flip. I am also going to look into some Acupuncturist’s that specialize in pregnancies. Dr O'Hara also talked a little about some Chinese root that we could burn by my pinkie toe. So 10 days and we will see, otherwise we will head in to the hospital August 11th, for a c-section.

July 27th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:31:00.001-08:00

24 days....

July 27th, 2008

So we are due in 24 days... the anticipation is on... I have been procrastinating and only packed Miss Helena's hospital bag. And after the night I had last night today I am going to pack BJ and mine... We went to see The Dark Knight... what an amazing movie... it makes me sad to know that the world lost such an amazing talent in Heath Ledger... his role as the JOKER was unforgettable. Anyways 90 minutes into the movie I started having contractions. Of course only 3 or 4 were real the rest were extremely uncomfortable Braxton Hicks:( So BJ got me a very large water when we got home and I laid on my left side and watch Law and Order until I feel asleep. Today I am still having these fantastic Braxton Hicks with some lovely cramps... Hopefully this means tomorrow when I go to the Dr's he says that we are e-faced and dilated..... KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED.... Oh BJ also installed the car seat in the Durango. I just can't wait to be making the drive home with our little peanut!!! She is still also as active as ever... always moving, jabbing, and kicking her heels up. I am pretty sure she is getting ready to perform a little dance recital most days... Especially when I blast Kelly Clarkson as I do stuff around the house, SHE LOVES IT!!!

July 24th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:30:00.002-08:00

36 Weeks

July 24th, 2008

Well we have started our 36th week and we are getting very excited... however I have not been feeling the greatest:( I am throwing up again and my sleep is becoming less and less. And even poor BJ is not getting the sleep he needs since I am thrashing around most of the night. We have our 36/37 week check-up on Monday... so excited to see what Dr O'Hara thinks.... I will be putting up a belly pic this weekend. We will be putting the car seat in the Durango and just relaxing and enjoying each other... it is crazy to think that it is not just going to be the 2 of us anymore!!! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

July 21st, 2008

2008-12-29T13:30:00.001-08:00

One Month Count Down!!!

July 21st, 2008

Well I do truly believe that Miss Helena James will be with sooner then a month, but today marks the 30 day count down until we are officially due!!! We are just getting so anxious to meet her! We will be 36 weeks on Wednesday and we have a Dr's appointment on Monday July 28th... so we will see what Dr O'Hara thinks then. Oh and the nursery is all done... so make sure to check out the pics! Hope everyone has a

July 17th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:29:00.001-08:00

Week 35

July 17th, 2008

Well we are in week 35 and I have a feeling like this is coming to an end in the next few weeks. I am having a lot of pressure and lower back aches and last night I got sicker then I have been this whole pregnancy:( YUCK... BJ was so great though, he even held my hair back!!! I have also been experiencing some cramping and real contractions. Nothing consistent enough to think we are going into labor though, JUST UNCOMFORTABLE!!! We are almost ready only a few more things to do... like getting the car seat in the truck and just setting up a few more things. I am so excited to meet her, I just want her to incubate at least until week 37. So 2 more weeks. I am still working 3-4 days a week and I think I am going to do this until she comes, it keeps me pre-occupied and actually I do less there then at home. I can find something to do here at the apartment, clean, organize, sweep, vacuum. Between me and my cleaning ladies we will probably be able to eat off the floor soon!!! Well I need to do our laundry now and finish Miss Helena's as well. This weekend we will tackle packing the hospital bags... and I will put up finished nursery pics and some pics of my extra low belly!

July 16, 2008

2008-12-29T13:28:00.003-08:00

35 weeks and it's time for Dad to finally post!

July 16, 2008

So my last post on here was the infamous "Shrimp" post. Glad to see some of you got a kick out of that. Well now miss Helena James is dropped and ready to come out over the next 2-3 weeks we're told. It's been quite busy the past 34 weeks at work, getting the nursery ready, playing volleyball on the weekends and anything else I can cram into open time slots. Now it's finally hitting me that she's coming soon and I feel pretty ready for her to be here, but the unknown is kind of scary. Just hope that I get to spend a lot of time with her, show her how to push mommy's buttons, prefect the Cat Voice, feed the fish, appreciate a good cappucino, not eat the sand at the beach and just maintain a state of chillness. I heard that I almost could have ended up growing up in California as a kid and now I'm bring a little girl into this crazy world filled with lots of noise in the form of media, the internet, war, people that can't drive and I hope she finds her signal along the way. San Diego is a great area to experience a consistent weather all year long, the ocean, fake grass, palm trees, desert, mountains; a cornucopia of topigraphical treats. Anyways, I'm glad everyone has been hear for us along the way and through the past few years. I'm looking forward to first steps, words, ideas and more with my little "Halien." Thanks again and stay tuned!!!

July 11th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:28:00.001-08:00

34 weeks and counting!!!

July 11th, 2008

So on Wednesday night I woke up in the middle of the night thinking WOW my back is killing me and man do I have to pee!!! So I get up and another WOW... I was feeling tremendous pressure. Something I can say I have not really felt to often. So I tried to go back to bed and I really did not sleep the rest of the night because there was no comfortable spot:( So on Thursday we had our check up with Dr. Ohara.... first the nurse laughed at me a little and asked why I was walking so funny so I explained to her all the same symptoms. So Dr O'Hara checked me out and guess what our little peanut has dropped, he can feel her head... we are not dialated yet, however my cervix is starting to soften.... so he patted me on the knee and said that she is going to be here sooner then later. He told me anywhere from 2-4 weeks:) All I can say is REALITY CHECK!!! We are both so excited and mostly ready... I will post so more pics this weekend and next weekend we are having our Maternity pictures taken.

July 6th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:27:00.003-08:00

July 6th, 2008

San Diego Shower...

So today, Jamie threw me an amazing shower with all of my girlfriends in San Diego, it was such a great day. Of course it was beautiful outside so that helped, but most of all it was just so nice to be surrounded by my nearest and dearest friends. We had a great lunch and my friend Kristen, who has been taking cake decorating classes made Helena the most beautiful cake I have ever seen!!! It looked like something out of a magazine!!! Everyone was very impressed... it also tasted amazing!!! Helena again got so many great gifts.... she is such a little princess already:) But hey that is ok... if you did not know Sarah means Princess... so with a mom as a princess... I am sure she will follow suit:) She got so many cute outfits and also she got some toys and all of her bath stuff. All I can say is THANK YOU !!!! WHAT A FABULOUS DAY!!!

July 5th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:27:00.001-08:00

33.5 weeks

July 5th, 2008

So..... I have not been feeling the greatest... very tired, crabby, extreme heartburn, and acid reflux.... you name it I am feeling it. I am down to about 3-6 hours of sleep a night, I am not a fan, I just get to hot, my nose gets clogged and I just wake up. Everyone keeps telling me this is God's way of preparing me for the lack of sleep that is on its way... but does God know that I have to work... I still need to go to work and be nice and smiley to people. HA HA... The last few weeks.... all the girls at work threw me an amazing shower... Helena got many gifts, of course lots of stuff that she needs:) I also turned 27.... man I am getting old, BJ and I got my favorite take out.... GREEK.... and watched a movie. We also got to watch the fireworks from our kitchen window... it does not get better then this folks, we saw 2 sets of fireworks at the same time!!! I LOVE THE 4th!!! We are going to be headed to our 4th birthing class this week, we are all geared up to visit the hospital. We are both very excited to see where she will be born. Class has been not to horrible, however 2.5 hours is a long time after a long day of work. And everyweek it feels like we are talking about the same stuff. But I am more determined every week to try my hardest on doing this naturally. BJ and I may be getting a Doula to help us during birth and we are reading a Hypno- birthing book as well. Most of you know I am not the most relaxed person, so all of this has been helping me let go!! We also have our 34 week check up this week on Thursday, I am still hoping this little lady is still head down. All and All we are all good, just nesting, trying to rest, and eating tums everyday! Oh we have added new stuff to the nursery, we are not done yet, my deadline is July 21st, one month before we are due... so we have a few weeks before it is complete:)

June 22nd, 2008

2008-12-29T13:26:00.001-08:00

The Nursery

June 22nd, 2008

So BJ, Uncle Jake, and I have been very busy this weekend. First we had a little mix up with the crib. It has been in for over a week, however no one from Babies R Us called because when I picked up the dresser, they set complete our order. So needless to say, after 3 phone calls and finally talking to a new person, they figured out that they had our crib. So we were able to pick it up Friday and we also got our book shelve. BJ put the crib together for me, and I just had to get everything in there!!! I just can not wait for her to come. We still have to put together her book shelve, I am sure I can get BJ to do that next weekend. I also have 2 more showers coming up and I can not wait to see friends and celebrate this precious little girl that could be coming into the world in less then 9 weeks.. WOW TIME FLIES!!! BJ and I are also taking birthing classes, get excited for us we are going to watch the birthing video this week!!! YEA we can not wait. More to come next week, our 32 week check up and probably an almost finished nursery:)

June 15th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:25:00.002-08:00

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!

June 15th, 2008

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY BJ!!!! Today is BJ's first father's day. It is amazing to watch him get ready for Helena coming, we are both very aware she is coming sooner rather then later. We had a great breakfast this morning and we did a little shopping for the nursery trying to figure some other things that are missing. We are both so excited for her to come, she is moving all the time and she always loves showing off for her daddy, I am guessing the minute she arrives she will have him wrapped around her finger in a second. Again babes, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, next year we will have her with us and we can have an awesome day at the beach as a family:)

June 12th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:25:00.001-08:00

30 Weeks

June 12th, 2008

We are officially 30 weeks, so according to your DR we have 7-10 more weeks, until we meet our little girl. We had our Dr's appointment and Helena really enjoys hanging out below my belly button. She is currently laying sideways enjoying the space while she still has it. She is starting to move up toward my ribs, but not very often. She has nested herself and she likes it. She and I are doing fine, she is preparing me for not sleeping, so that is fun, I spend at least 2-4 hours awake in the middle of the night... this is not fun when you need to go and work a 8 hour day:( She did however move away from a bladder so, at least I have some relief!!! We are just waiting for her arrival and getting ready slowly but surly. We truly can not wait:)

June 10th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:24:00.001-08:00

Trip to MN!!!

June 10th, 2008

So BJ and I took the bump to Minnesota for my brothers graduation and my grandma's 80th birthday celebration. What a great little get away. It was very nice to see everyone and to just get to spend some much needed time together:) We also get to experience a little miracle while we were home, my best friend Robyn had her little girl, June 6th, 2008... Auriana Grace. We were blessed enough to get to hold and see her. Reality check for us, we are going to have a baby in 7-10 weeks!!!! AHHHHHHHHH We are getting ready. So welcome to the world Auriana, be good and don't keep mommy and daddy up all night:P

May 30th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:23:00.002-08:00

28 weeks

May 30th, 2008

So our little princess is growing like a weed and is putting some major pressure on her mommies bladder. So much pressure, I had BJ take me to triage last night. I was literally going to the bathroom every 5 to 10 minutes:( NO FUN AT ALL.... I was never in pain, just severe discomfort. Needless to say after 2 hours of hearing our little girls heart beat, and hearing her every kick, hiccup, and punch (she did not like the monitors) HA HA I had a some white blood cells in my urine, so there was a possible infection. So this morning my Dr called to check on my and the baby and I gave him the update from last night, he told me that 10% of woman get bladder infections as there babies get bigger, they are unable to fully unload their bladders, so that leads to an infection. So we are on some antibiotics. Today has been a lot better, at least I am able to sit upright for more then 5 minutes at a time. Lets hope this gets better and this little girl does not find a permanent home on my bladder! Other updates, we are headed to MN on Wednesday for my brother Ben's graduation and also to celebrate my Grandma Mingo's 80th birthday. It will be a short trip but BJ and I really looking for to some much needed time away. We are making headway on the nursery BJ finished painting last weekend, we hung up the cute purple curtains. We also got her dresser yesterday. I set up her changing area... the cats would like to claim this as there new bed. I can see it now we are going to wake up and she will be sleeping in the crib and they will be on her dresser watching and sleeping right by her. The cats love her room, the rocker, dresser and Jone's favorite the purple curtain, the perfect place to hide. We are so excited to meet her, she is moving all the time and being 28 weeks it is unreal to know that we could have a baby in 10 weeks.

May 25th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:23:00.001-08:00

27 weeks

May 25th, 2008

Well, so far the 3 day weekend has been very very productive. I have been in full nesting mode for the last week. BJ has been doing great painting and helping me get things where they need to be! We ordered the nursery furniture and we also got a gilder from a co-worker of mine, that matches everything perfectly. Today we are painting the other wall. We have both decided that Helena's room is our favorite in the apartment. It is just so bright and cheery. We will be able to pick-up the furniture in 10days or so... So by the 2nd weekend in June... I am sure I will have talked BJ in to setting up the crib:) I CAN NOT WAIT!!! This is just so much fun... As for the baby front, she is moving a lot... and she get the hiccups quite often. It just kind of tickles me. She loves when I take a bath, she kicks and punches. We have lots of moments, where we wonder what body part she is pushing, I get some very hard spots on my stomach, we think mostly it is her little butt... so BJ always tells her to stop being fresh and act like a lady. She then usually punches him, to respond, " YEA RIGHT DAD!!! YOU JUST WAIT" HA HA I think she might be just a little stubborn, I have no idea where she maybe getting that from!!! I will put pics up of the finished painted nursery later this weekend! Happy Memorial Day! And a shout out to BABY D... you be good on Tuesday and turn for your mother!!! We can not wait to met you...

May 18th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:22:00.001-08:00

THE PIT

May 18th, 2008

WHAT A DAY... today we tackled moving all the stuff we had the office/junk room. Jake, BJ, and I got all of it to the storage area just a few miles away. We only forgot a few things so that is not that bad! When we got back I got to put some of her stuff away, it is not a permanent spot for most of it, but it makes me feel better to see it all coming together. We are so excited we are getting a glider from a co-worker of mine this week. We are also ordering our furniture next weekend!!! We can not wait to see the whole space come together. Keep checking us out... I give us a few weeks and we will have a lot more done:) Check out the nursery section for before and after shots!

May 17th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:21:00.001-08:00

26 weeks

May 17th, 2008

So many things to update... our daughter is a mover and a shaker... she loves kicking, punching rolling. BJ refers to this and "being fresh" I have also been getting mini contractions nothing to worry about. I will not lie, they are not that pleasant. We had our check up this last week, and I had the Diabetes test... Helena and I are very healthy, everything is going really well. I am right on par with the pound per week rule.... and that is FANTASTIC! I know all woman go thru this but watching your butt triple in size is so fascinating, I know it is all for a good cause. I am still pretty small for almost being in my 7 month. That is right 3 months to go.... CRAZY!!!! Today we are moving everything to storage so we can start getting the nursery ready. Both BJ and I are very excited. I will being putting up so more pics later today or tomorrow of the belly and "The Pit" Things Bj and I are looking forward to... a big 3 day weekend next week:) We have a lot to do but we are getting it done! Other then that, I have heartburn A LOT.... and people love telling me that my boobs are huge. I just say thank you since I have been an "A" cup most of my life.

May 4th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:20:00.002-08:00

24 weeks

May 4th, 2008

Well we are in our 6th month and BJ and I are ready to start getting ready for the little one! We are both getting excited ordering stuff for our little girl. We have gotten lots of accessories for her nursery and now we have the fun and exciting task of cleaning out the PIT (office. storage area)!!!! HA HA So over the next 2 weekends we have A LOT to do. We are moving a ton of stuff to storage on May 17th:) WE CAN NOT WAIT. Then we will start getting the crib and all the other baby essentials. Helena is already a trouble maker, She loves keeping her mom up for hours at night having dance parties. She also loves getting lots of attention from here Daddy, she is starting to show off her soccer skills just for him. More to come next week. We have our 6th month check up were I get to drink some delicious orange sugar stuff. YUM YUM!! I will have before and after pics of the PIT aka nursery then too.

2008-12-29T13:20:00.001-08:00

Belly Update

April 20th, 2008

So I will posting a new pic of the belly every 2 weeks, I am still not that big, but for me I am huge:) HA HA I hope you enjoy!!!

April 18th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:19:00.001-08:00

5 month check up

April 18th, 2008

I went to meet with the dr for our 5 month check up... everything is looking great. She is flipping around like a crazy woman. Her heart rate was 150 bpm. We are on track to continue a healthy pregnancy. Next visit we get to drink some yummy orange stuff to test me for diabetes. WISH ME LUCK!!! Helena is moving all the time and BJ loves feeling her kick. The cats sometimes lay on my belly and then she kicks them and they are forced to move... it is funny, she is telling them to get off! HA HA

April 12th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:18:00.002-08:00

MN Baby Shower

April 12th, 2008

I would like to THANK everyone that shared my special day.... I have never seen so much cute baby stuff in my life!!! I would like to thank my mom, auntie cheryl, auntie sue, auntie brenda, and my grandmother of coming together and throwing me an awesome day! Also thank you ROBYN for writing down every detail of my gifts... it is really coming in handy for my thank you cards:) So about pictures of my shower.... I am a bad mom... so I will be taking little photo collages of all the super cute stuff I got!!! When I got home from, MN BJ and I had so much looking and everything. And about a week later we got a package that I had sent, it was like seeing everything for the first time again! So check out the new pics, I will have them up by the end of today (4/20/2008)

March 31st, 2008

2008-12-29T13:18:00.001-08:00

IT'S A GIRL

Helena James Cook

BJ and I are happy to announce we are having a little girl. We were both shocked, we had convinced ourselves we were having a boy, picked out boy nursery stuff and everything. To our suprise we are having a girl. We are so excited. We are sorry we do not have more pics, we only got 2 today, a profile and a gender pic that we are going to keep to ourselves:) The printer was on the fritz, but we got to see Helena sucking her thumb and of course she was extra stubborn, I have no idea where she gets that from. The tech said that she was worried that we would not be able to see because she was cross legged and had her umbilical cord in between her legs. Well after lots of poking we got her to move. She has all 10 fingers and 10 toes, we also got to see her brain and heart. All and all she is healthy, 6 1/2 inches head to rump and she is a little over 8 oz. For all of you in MN, I can not wait to see you.... sorry no bump pics tonight, my camera died:( So tomorrow I will put bump pictures up and new pics of the new family car. We bought and Audi A4 1.8 turbo, BJ needed a little speed. HA HA

March 20th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:17:00.001-08:00

Our Healthy Baby Cookie:)

March 20th, 2008

So today I went to my last appointment before our ultrasound to find out whether or not Cookie is a boy or girl. We found out our baby is doing fine and all the screenings we had done are negative:) That is a huge weight lifted off our shoulders, it is so exciting to know that everything is going GREAT!!! The heartbeat today we 136 BPM, which totally throws me off, this kids heart rate has been all over so know I have no predictions on what we are having. 11 more days and we will find out.... I CAN NOT WAIT!!!! We are both so excited!!! Well I hope everyone has a great Easter and I will write in 11 days to update the world on what little Cookie is.... BOY OR GIRL:) PS. Today I got to hear the baby hiccup it is so crazy, you could hear it through the doppler well we were hearing the heart beat... crazy I know...

March 16th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:16:00.002-08:00

Something Funny.....

March 16th, 2008

So our little Cookie as been sitting on my bladder the entire weekend. It got so bad uncomfortable that I made BJ, my poor sick husband,take me to urgent care at 7:30pm, because I thought I might have a bladder infection. In the mean time some medical asst, came in and listened to Cookie's fast little heart rate and it was beating at 156 bpm. So according to the wives tale, I think we might be having a little girl. The doctor said that there is no infection just the baby finding a nice new resting position. So we go in to see our nurse on Thursday to hear the heart beat again, and 2 weeks from Monday we will know officially whether we will be having ourselves a Helena James or a Greyson Reid. I know BJ and I are so excited to know, it feels like forever and we can not believe that we are almost half way through this process.

March 11th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:16:00.001-08:00

The BUMP!!!!

March 11th, 2008

I know everyone is dying for pics of the bump.... I have bad news.... it is still hiding. As soon as you can really see it, believe me I will be taking pics all the time!!! We have started the 20 day count down until we find out whether or not cookie is a boy or girl. We can not wait!!!

February 22, 2008

2008-12-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

Baby's Heart Beat

February 22, 2008

So BJ and I went and met our OBGYN, Dr O'Hara. Very nice man and funny! I have been told BJ needs back rubs everyday and that I am not to act pregnant over the next 3 months. Resume my old life:) So I have been back to kickboxing, yoga, and this weekend spinning. Just trying to stay healthy so I can try to do a natural labor. WE WILL SEE ABOUT THIS... I am deathly afraid of needles and from what I understand the epideral needle is mighty large. So the baby sounds great heartbeat is 140. So we have our blood screening done next week for all of the testing to see if anything could be wrong so wish us luck. We are almost in to our 15th week. We cannot wait... I am still waiting for the baby bump, I am gaining weight however I just feel very pudgy:( Nothing sticking out of my clothes yet they are just to tight to fit properly. So as soon as I see something I will put up some pics I promise.

Febuary 17th, 2008

2008-12-29T13:14:00.003-08:00

Time Flies when your Having Fun!!!!!

Febuary 17th, 2008

So we are in our 13th week, just on the cusp of our 2nd trimester. We cannot believe how quickly the time flies. We have been back from Mexico for a little over a week and are still getting settled in. It was Valentines this last week, so BJ brought me to a cute romantic comedy "Defiantly Maybe” however before we even got to leave I realized that I could not button my jeans anymore. So I just had to tuck them under and wear a long shirt! So there is an official bump. I am actually starting to look pregnant instead of just feeling pudgy. We are so excited we have another appointment on Friday to meet our OBGYN. So wish us luck and more updates next week!

2008-12-29T13:14:00.001-08:00

It's Growing!

Shrimp on the Barbie

So the little guy/gal is like 3 inches and the size of a shrimp. If you really don't know what a shrimp looks like I inserted the wikipedia entry for you

2008-12-29T13:11:00.001-08:00

Offical Pregnancy Announcement

January 27th, 2008

So December 13th I woke up and I truly was amazed.... I just had the weirdest dream. I had taken a pregnancy test and it was positive. I thought to myself, well I have a few more days till Aunt Flo visits so we will have to wait and see. That same night I was visiting with my San Diego Grandma and she says " Sarah you are glowing.... there is just something about you." I started laughing and I just know that tomorrow, Friday morning I needed to pee on the stick. So Friday morning at 5:30am I woke to get ready for work... got the stick out and well I was brushing my teeth, thank you Sonic Care for being 2 minutes, it is the perfect timer for this sort of occasion. I looked down and there was one very pink line and that one for all the other girls that have peed on sticks know is there, but not as defined. I run in to the bedroom and BJ smiles and says.... I think you are only half pregnant!!! HA HA so 4 tests later we decided ok we are preggers. That was the best Christmas gift I have ever received. And now 2 Dr. appts. later, we have the craziest pictures. I never thought staring at an ultrasound machine could be so joyous and watching a baby the size of worm dance around has been the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. So this being my 10th week the count down begins only 30 more weeks to go. We will be putting pics up after our amazing trip to Mexico to renew our vows and celebrate our one year anniversary. And on March 31st we will announce whether Baby Cookie is a little girl or little boy... Most of all I just hope that we stay healthy.

The Cook Family Adventures

75 baths and counting...

84 Baths!!!

3 Cookies to 5 Cookies in 2 days!!!

Wow.... 35 weeks Preggos with Twins....

August!!!

JULY

The rest of June

17 week Doctors Appointment

BIG SISTER HELENA JAMES

GUESS WHAT TWINS!!!

18 Months

Dadpreneurship - Balancing Family, Business and BJ

Merry Christmas

NO MORE BOOB!!!

Lots of New Stuff.... Helena is 15 months!

13 Months

It is SEPTEMBER???? REALLY? COME ON!

LONG TIME NO WRITE

CHANGES CHANGES CHANGES

July is already here???

Crazy Weekend!

A terror on the loose! Mr Jones WATCH OUT!

We have a mover and a shaker people!

Walking..... OH MY!

The Month of May

The Busy Cooks!

Swimming Disaster!

More Videos.....

Videos

What A Week!

8 months

Teething yet again!

Growing....

Is it really April!!!

Helena is finding her voice!!!

SWIM LESSONS!

32 Weeks! TIME IS FLYING!!

AIR CHEEKY BACCA!

Happy St Patricks Day!

7 Months Old! Where is the time going???

29 weeks and TALKING!!!!

Too Funny!

February 23rd, 2009

Happy 6 Months Helena James!

Saturday Morning Snuggles

February 5th, 2009

January 24, 2008 23 weeks....

TWO Teeth

Cookies N Cats N Fish!

Happy 5 Months Helena!

Week 21!

Some More New Things...

Week 20!

To 2009.... May it bring good things to all!!!

December 2008

Minnesota Bound December 2 , 2008

The Month Of November!!! November 22, 2008

Happy Halloween October 31st, 2008

Spoke to soon October 17th, 2008

2 Months Old!!! October 11th, 2008

October 5th, 2008

Puma's Helena's First Shoes

I lost my umbilical cord and found my LUNGS!!! August 23rd, 2008

Week One August 18th, 2008

The Hospital Stay!! August 11th-14th

Birth Announcement HELENA JAMES COOK

August 10th, 2008

August 9th, 2008

August 4th, 2008

July 28th, 2008

July 27th, 2008

July 24th, 2008

July 21st, 2008

July 17th, 2008

July 16, 2008

July 11th, 2008

July 6th, 2008

July 5th, 2008

June 22nd, 2008