Early Christmas Present

Sarah Noelle Cooper was born on Dec. 23 at 8:19pm in what was probably one of the best delivery experiences ever!!
I went into the hospital at 3pm on the 23rd because I thought my water had broken. It turns out my water hadn't broken but I was 4cm dilated and having contractions. So the doctor decided to keep me there and break my water for me.

I had driven to the hospital (St. Ann's) by myself since I thought they would probably just send me home. Instead, I called Erik and said "we're having the baby today! Yipee!!".

Erik packed up Jenna and took her to Erica Daily's house. Erica watched Jenna the rest of the day and the next morning while we were at the hospital. Jenna had a good time there :). Then my sister Amanda took over.
Thanks Erica and Amanda!!!

After dropping her off, Erik got to the hospital around 5pm. At 5:30pm the doctor broke my water with a knitting needle (well...that's what it looked like). At around 6:30 I got an epidural and contractions were pretty intense.

The doctor arrived at 8:10pm after two contractions of pushing and 9 minutes, Sarah was born!! She cried immediately and had a very purple face. It turns out that if labor is that fast and you push that hard, the babies get pretty bruised. Oops.

Compared to my last delivery, this was wonderful. I'd have babies all the time if the delivery could be like this (maybe I should consult Erik first....). Praise God!! I feel like all my prayers were answered with little Sarah. She is such a joy and has a full head of dark brown hair. Sarah was able to be with us the entire time (unlike the last time when they whisked Jenna off to the NICU and I didn't see her for a few hours).

I've already eaten the following forbidden foods:

1. donuts from Tim Hortons
2. donut holes
3. Reeces cups
4. Kit kats
5. Fast break bar
6. M&Ms
7. Apple, orange, and cranberry juice
8. potatos
9. bread
10. pudding

All things I couldn't eat before!!

We were able to leave the hospital today (Christmas) and we even opened our stocking gifts. It has been a wonderful experience. One thing we do need to check tomorrow is her bilirubin levels in case she has jaundice. Babies who are that bruised often have jaundice. We will be praying she does not have it. Our wonderful pediatrician Dr. Franks, prayed for her today in the hospital too. How awesome!!

Psalm 127: 3 says "Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,The fruit of the womb is a reward." I have been so richly blessed with my 2 beautiful girls!!

Still Cooking....

Since Jenna was born on my Father-in-law's birthday, I thought it would be cool if this baby was born on my Mother-in-law's birthday (the 17th). Well that came and went and no baby. So I thought it would be cool if the baby was born on my parent's anniversary (the 18th). No baby. Then I went to the doctor and he thinks the baby won't come early. NO!!! I'm so huge!! I'm ready to pop.

Today we went to Tuttle Mall to ride the Santa train. Jenna loved it! It was a cute little three car train and she wanted to ride in the caboose. So much fun.

After dinner we made a gingerbread house. It actually turned out pretty good (we didn't eat it, just constructed it). You can see from the box what it is supposed to look like. Jenna and I had a great time decorating it.


Jenna might have had more fun eating the icing but that's life :).

In other news:

1. Erik has been obsessed with Airborne. It is fancy vitamins (very $$$) that are supposed to boost your immune system. I think he takes a tablet of this stuff a couple of times a day. We might have to take out a second mortgage to pay for his Airborne addiction.
2. I'm reading the Mallorean now. It is the sequel to the Belgariad and I like it a lot. It is a similar tale, but I like the characters and it is a fun read.
3. Tomorrow is the last day of the semester at Devry. If I make it through tomorrow and turn in my grades then I'm set to have this little one!!
4. BNT moves a LOT and has a lot of hiccups. I can't wait to meet this little one.
5. I got 83 on Quiddler today with 2 5 letter words. I was allowed the word "wizen" which I wasn't allowed on Scrabulous (facebook).
6. My friend Jen Wahl had her baby Allison Ruth on Monday. How exciting!! She was due Christmas Eve but scheduled a C-section a week early. Allison Ruth is a pretty name.
7. If we have the baby sometime in the next few days we'll go with Sarah Noelle. It is so close to Christmas and that is a pretty fitting name. No boys names are very Christmasy (not going with Rudolph!!).

That's all for now. Hopefully next time I update we will have had this baby!

I thought I'd post some comparison pictures of me pregnant with Jenna and pregnant with BNT. The first picture (with the black pants) was taken when I was 33 1/2 weeks and the second picture was taken when I was 28 weeks pregnant with Jenna. I look a whole lot bigger this time :). Same shirt though!
Jen mast hosted a sprinkle for me Nov. 18 and here is a picture. It was at her new house which is absolutely beautiful! Joy, Erica, Me, Nicole, Christine, Jen, and Heather are pictured. Jill had to leave early so she wasn't in the picture. It was a great time and she even made a diabetic menu for me!

I also had to include a picture of Thanksgiving. We hosted it at our house with my family and Erik's family here. It was an excellent time! We had great food and I ate enough to send my sugar through the roof *smile*. Jenna had a wonderful time too. I had to include a picture of her dressed up as a princess. She is so cute.

In other news:

1. I got 66 on Quiddler today. Quiddler lets me play a lot more 2 letter words than Scrabulous online
2. I started having contractions Monday night (Dec. 4). I spent 2 hours at the doctor's office and was hooked up to a machine. He put me on medication to stop the labor. Keeping my fingers crossed!
3. OSU is playing LSU in the National Championship. Go Bucks!!!
4. Today it snowed about 4 inches. While it took Erik over an hour to get to work (should take 20min) Jenna and I had fun playing in the snow.

Ye Olde Renaissance Faire

We headed to the Renaissance Fair last month and had a wonderful time. This fair is about an hour southwest of Columbus and is an entire little village. There are shows, jousting, and yummy medieval food. I got soup in a bread bowl - yum!
Here are some pics of those that went with us. I didn't dress up this year as my dress wouldn't fit. But Erik and Jenna dressed up (notice the cute hat on her head!). Aaron and Michell also dressed up. It was celtic weekend and Aaron and Michelle made their own costumes. Jon, Michelle, Jen, and Mike also came dressed in their medieval attire, and Missy and Dan came along as well (not dressed up though).


In other news:

1. Tim and Jen moved into their new house in Plain City. It is sad they are farther away from us but I'm happy for them to have a new house.
2. Erik and I have finally decided on new plates for our kitchen. Our current plates (pfaltzgraff amalfi classic) got completely scratched from our silverware. When we called them to complain, they said some silverware was too hard. So we got these plates from amazon (hopefully our silverware won't scratch them).
3. I was told today I need to find a new OB. My doctor is on a leave of absence and not delivering babies for awhile (she is going through a divorce). I wish this would have been communicated to me prior to 32 weeks!!!
4. My little sister turned 30. Wow.
5. Now that I can't have too many sweets, I've fallen in love with dark chocolate.
6. Jen is hosting a sprinkle for me on Sunday. I can't wait!!! She's even making low carb food!
7. Thanksgiving is next week. I love the holidays! Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time. I should make a list of my favorite holidays. Thanksgiving would be high on the list. National fast food day (that is today) would not be.
8. Tomorrow Ohio State plays Michigan. Go Bucks!! I hope we win. Jenna will be cheering!
9. I got 69 on Quiddler today. I was able to make the word cinder but they wouldn't let me make the word jon. Isn't that a slang term for potty?

I'm back - fat and sassy!

This picture is why I love fall and why I love our backyard. How gorgeous! I love to look out on this every day. Unfortunately it doesn't last long. Jenna loves it too and we often will walk around and pick leaves (especially the pretty ones).

Well I'm back after a month long leave of blogging. I've turned in my dissertation so now I have some free time. Hopefully it will be acceptable to my advisor and I can graduate soon. It has been a long 6 years.

Since I have a month to catch up on, I'll be posting pictures often. At the beginning of October we went to my friend's parent's farm. We got to see pigs, donkeys, a combine, and got to experience farm life. Here is a picture of a baby pig with Jenna and Rachel looking on. The kids also posed for a picture in front of the pigs. They are: Rachel, Jenna, Aiden, and Grace. We had a great time at farm day!



In other news:

1. I found out a few weeks ago that I have gestational diabetes. Now I have to prick my finger 4 times a day and take my blood sugar. I also have to limit sweets. Since I have a MAJOR sweet tooth this has been hard.
2. Our new semester started and I'm only teaching Tuesday and Thursday nights. yea!! This is a great schedule. I'm also teaching courses I love so I'm happy with this semester :).
3. The Buckeyes have had an incredible year. We need to teach Jenna "OH" "IO" to be a proper cheerleader.
   
4. The Red Sox won the World Series. Yea! My husband might turn me into a Red Sox fan. The last time they won we were pregnant with Jenna. I guess they only win when we are going to have a baby. More babies for us!!!
5. 54 points on Quiddler today. Not bad considering I lost the Q at the end.

Take my poll please!

Our Baby! If our baby is a girl, what should her name be? Sarah May Sarah Noelle view results

Question Everything

Jenna asks approximately 33,882 questions in one day. This is an example of a typical conversation (J = Jenna, M = Mommy):
J: Mommy what do you have on your foot?
M: I have a booboo.
J: Why?
M: I dropped an ironing board on my toe
J: Why?
M: I have butterfingers
J: Why?
M: My fingers are slippery
J: Why?
M: My hands were wet
J: Why?
M: I was in a hurry and didn't dry them enough
J: Why?
etc etc etc

When will it ever end!
At least I got to make the word saloon on Quiddler - 61 points!

Problem Solving

Last week we had another fun Dungeons and Dragons gaming time. I really enjoy playing my cleric. She is definitely a happy character. I never realized how much D&D is like problem solving. You get into a room and then have to determine the best way across it or to another room depending on the obstacles. Well, I must not be very good at problem solving because much of the time, I just thought - I don't know, run away? But Erik is a halfling rogue who had good ideas about lowering himself in a room with a rope, etc. Once I get more experience I should be able to problem solve better. It's fun to think about though. You can see Jon as the DM sitting at the front of the table guiding us all!

We are all going to the Renaissance Festival October 6. I won't be dressing up because I currently look like a balloon. But Erik and Jenna will be dressing up. The Renaissance Festival is so fun - hopefully it will be a nice day and no rain!

Jenna is doing so well at swimming lessons. Here is a picture of her with her class swimming across the pool as an alligator. They are supposed to swim across the pool as an alligator and each time increase the difficulty. For example, one time they are supposed to blow bubbles, and the next time they are supposed to put their heads under water. Jenna just swims across as an alligator each time.

Today I got 74 points with a maximum score of 67. I was excited because I got to make the word talent. It made me feel talented!

Caramel Cupcakes Crash

In all my culinary skill, I was unable to create a delicious caramel cupcake. I made a regular cake mix (yellow cake) and thought it would be a great idea to put a caramel in the middle. So I peeled the caramel and put it in the middle of the batter. I assumed that baking the cupcake for 15-18 minutes would be enough to melt the caramel so it would no longer be hard to chew. I assumed wrong. My cupcakes were not good. ERIK WOULD NOT EVEN EAT THEM! He said they were the wrong consistency. You have soft cake then a really hard caramel piece in the middle. I tried to take a picture so you could view my cooking failure, but I think I've even failed at the picture.

So I took a picture of my cute daughter as well. Look at those dimples!

In other news:

1. Potty training has been unsuccessful. Even the pull of Strawberry Shortcake underwear is lost on her.
2. I finished "The King in the Window" and absolutely loved the book! I recommend it to anyone who is a kid at heart
3. I am now reading "God is Closer than you Think" by John Ortberg and love it!! God has been speaking to me so much through it lately. And he's been bringing that story of Mary and Martha to me. Yes -I'm Martha!!! Worried and distracted by many things.
4. Today is National Punctuation Day. This is actually a day that should be recognized. In the world of IM, punctuation is lost - poor commas :(. Don't get me started on grammar though - its, it's, your, you're, lose, and loose, to, two, too... AAAAH! My students think butchering the English language is a grand idea.
5. I've been going to cycling class lately at the gym and am really enjoying it. Especially since I bought a fancy gel pad. Now my bottom can handle the rigor of cycling :).
6. I got 55 points on Quiddler today because apparently nyl is not a word. I know nil is a word, it's just a spelling variation right?
   
   

My Weekend

Wow. I'm home all alone. I dropped Jenna off at Erik's work at 4:30 and then left for home. When I got home I wasn't sure what to do. I'm rarely ALL alone and for an entire weekend....what do I do?? Yes - I should be working and doing research nonstop. But I wasn't sure where to start. Ahhh... that's it. Starbucks. I quickly drove to Starbucks and got a decaf raspberry mocha and a pumpkin cream cheese muffin. Now I can work on my research. Or at least think about it.

Jenna has started swimming lessons again. These swimming lessons are for bigger kids and the parents aren't supposed to be in the water. We'll see how she does with them.

I'm also working out more. I"m not sure why I've decided to start working out at 5 months pregnant but for some reason I have. I may even work out tomorrow on my free weekend. I can't believe I have all this time to myself. And that I miss Erik and Jenna so much *sniff*.

Today I got 79 on Quiddler. Who knew cookings was a word?

10 years of bliss!

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary yesterday! It's hard to believe that 10 years ago we exchanged vows and started our life together. Marriage has just gotten better over time. Erik and I are closer and better friends than ever and I thank God for the wonderful gift he has given me of a husband like Erik. For our anniversary, I got him a sword (see previous post) and he got me a 5 star chef's knife. So we exchanged weapons for our anniversary. The knife is so awesome. It cuts everything (and I mean everything!) like butter. Anyone can look like a fancy iron chef using this knife.

I've also included a picture of Jenna and her friend Kate in the wagon together. We took a walk and got a picture of the two girls because they both had their hands in their mouths. It was rather funny. This was at 8:30, past both of their bedtimes.

Today I got 90 points on quiddler. And Quiddler wouldn't let me make the word prion. That stinks as prion is a word!! Biologists would be mad to know that quiddler doesn't allow the word prion!

Our Church Festival

Our new church had a festival potluck with music, games and a fire truck! Jenna met another girl named Jenna born Dec. 2004 so only a month older than my Jenna. Here is a picture of the Jenna's dancing. My Jenna doesn't look all that happy. I also uploaded a picture of Jenna in the fire truck. Even though she doesn't look happy in any of these pictures, I think she had a great time!

Yesterday Jenna wanted to play with her potty. I left her alone for a few minutes and noticed that all the toilet paper was gone from the roll and it was all in her potty. Well at least she knows what to do with it (sort of).

In other news:

1. The Frontiers in Education conference at which I'll be presenting my Bioinformatics paper is Oct. 10-13 and I'm all registered! Yea!!
2. Mom is taking Jenna for three days so Erik and I can go out on a date for our anniversary. We are even talking about seeing a movie!
3. Erik bought me a fancy 5 star chef's knife for our anniversary (and I bought him a sword). We bought each other sharp implements!
4. Erik is no longer working from home so I'm not going to see him much - considering I work nights!
5. I am currently reading the King in the Window by Adam Gopnik and I really like it! David said I would but I ignored him :) (who doesn't?)
6. We saw Pan's Labryinth and that is going to be very high on my movie list (if I ever reorder it). That was an excellent movie!
7. I got 79 on Quiddler today - that was just the minimum. At least I wasn't negative.
8. The previous list item was the only one without an exclamation point!
   
   

D&D fun!

This weekend we spent Saturday creating dungeons and dragons characters. I've never played before and as my first experience, it was a lot of fun. Jon, the dungeon master had notebooks and snacks for everyone. He and his wife Michelle made bags with cheese wheels, beef jerky, homemade loaves of bread and apples. Just what you need on a trek through the wilderness. Hello!!! Where's the chocolate :).
We made characters and I made a Cleric named Christabel. I took the name from the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and I liked it. A cleric is a healer. So I'll be helping people instead of hurting them - I guess. Here are all the characters (hopefully spelled correctly!):

• Erik = Rogue named Caed
• Gina = Cleric named Christabel
• Michelle C. = Monk named Kieryn
• Mike = Ranger named Tiraxyss (an extra s for emphasis!)
• Jen = Druid named Erith (I think!)
• Aaron = Wizard named Kesal
• Michelle H. = Barbarian named Drusan
• Matt = Cleric named Bogg (the extra g is also for emphasis)

So this should be a good group. We only had one combat but I can tell it's going to be fun. We scheduled another meeting and a trip to the Renaissance Fair. I can't wait! During all of this (and this was all day), Jenna was very good. In fact, she plastered herself with stickers. I am not sure why she loves stickers so much but she does. I have included a picture of her plastered with stickers. She is so cute.

Today as I turned my back to make no bake cookies I noticed all my kitchen towels were gone. I found Jenna on the floor with the kitchen towels. They had become beds for her aminals (no I did not spell it wrong, that's how she says it). Share bear, Tenderheart bear and tigger were all taking naps. How nice!

I got 71 points today at quiddler and was stuck with the letter W, but I got to make the word gyp. I didn't even know that was a word!

Scrabble for me too

Since everyone else was doing it..

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 22. What is your score? Get it here.

My scrabble score is really low! Erik's is 33. Jenna's score is 30. Sarah's name is 26 and Matthew's is 43. So I have the lowest score in our family. We need to have a third child with a really short name. Sounds like a great idea!!

For our 10th anniversary I got Erik an Erik the Red Viking Sword. Here is a picture of him. He really likes it and even woke me up from my nap by putting the sword to my throat (very nice way to wake up!).

I got 51 on Quiddler today - miserable!!

A Lifetime of Fitness

On Monday Erik and I finally decided to join a Health club. We joined Lifetime Fitness which is just down the road. It is outrageously priced but we've talked about ways to offset the cost and health is important. I went to water aerobics on Tuesday and Wednesday. I thought - it's in the water, it can't be that hard. Yea right. Now my arms can't move and I'm barely able to type this post.

Erik's parents have now moved to Morgantown. yea!! They are much closer to us now and we are excited to leave Jenna with them for a few days....I mean we are excited to visit them. We are planning a trip later in August.

Anyway, because I LOVE lists, I've made a list of my favorite worship songs (in order):
1. Before the Throne of God Above
2. Arms of Love
3. Your Beloved
4. I love you, Lord
5. Did you Feel the Mountains Tremble
6. Hold me Jesus
7. Indescribable
8. Be thou my vision
9. Hungry
10. God of Wonders
11. If we are the body
12. Lord, reign in me
13. Here I am to worship
14. Better is one day
15. Awesome God
16. Blessed be your name
17. What if His people prayed
18. We will dance
19. Shout to the Lord
20. Sometimes by step

Today I got only 50 points on Quiddler but I couldn't make a word out of the Q. I did get a 6 letter word - loader. yea!

hot hot hot

It has been very hot lately! So hot we all are afraid we will melt. I pulled out the sprinkler to see what Jenna would think of it. She walked up to it and put her fingers in it, then decided that she didn't want the water to be on her head. You can see the before and after pictures here :).

I'm not sure when I should teach Jenna not to play with her food. Every day the spoon from her cereal becomes Cinderella and starts dancing with her sippy cup (the prince). She wants me to fashion dresses out of napkins for the spoon - just so it can look spiffy for the ball. While this is incredibly cute, I'm thinking it's not good manners and maybe I should be teaching manners, right? Here's a picture of Jenna with half a banana in her milk. The banana was taking swimming lessons. Obviously!!!

On that note, Jenna has been taking swimming lessons every Monday. She absolutely loves them and when I mention swimming lessons she is very cooperative (lets me change her diaper and remove bananas from her milk without protest). We have 3 more weeks of swimming lessons and I expect her to be a champion swimmer by the end.

I gave a test tonight in class and since giving a test is a little boring. I decided to come up with a list of my favorite nuts. Nuts are so yummy and full of vitamins and minerals. I feel like I should eat them all the time. here is my ordered list:

1. Cashews
2. Pecans
3. Pistachios
4. Peanuts
5. Hazelnuts
6. Almonds
7. Walnuts
8. Macadamia nuts
9. Pine nuts
10. Brazil nuts

If I've forgotten any nuts let me know. I can rank them. Although if I've forgotten them they probably won't be very high.

Later I should rank the Harry Potter books. #7 is my favorite!!!

Today I got 79 points on Quiddler today. Rather rotten!

Twinkle Star

Jenna has become quite the entertainer. She can sing many songs such as:

• Twinkle Twinkle, Little star


• Itsy Bitsy Spider


• Two little bluebirds


• Two little dickybirds


• ABC's (sort of)


• I'm a little teapot


• Row Row Row your boat


• Happy Birthday to you


• The wheels on the bus

Here is a video of her singing Twinkle Star. Very cute!

I've also finally decided to post a picture from our Daytona trip. This is Jenna all decked out in her Arial bathing suit complete with sunglasses and hat. She is adorable.

I've also included a picture of Erik and I at NASA when we toured the Kennedy Space Center. It was so awesome it made me want to be an astronaut. I even teared up during the video of the first moon walk. How inspiring! It's always been my dream to go to Mars and help terraform it. Maybe I should stop reading sci-fi....

In goofier news, I've added a picture of the premarital couple we have been working with. Erik and I are marriage mentors at our church and we have been meeting with Ben and Anne to prepare them for marriage and pass on some of our wisdom (however limited that may be). They remind us of ourselves not too long ago. 22, in school, and getting married in September. How cool!

Today I got 68 points on Quiddler and got to make the word nth. Now that's a cool word. Only 6 more days until Harry Potter 7. I can't wait!!!