Long Night

*****I started this post on 2/25, but have been having some computer problems. We are still getting them fixed, but I am finally able to get this posted.

Monday night was a long night for our family. I came home from work, was not feeling great, and I was exhausted. I told Cooper good night about 7:45, hopped in the shower, and headed to bed a little after 8. Boy, am I glad I did......

Cooper woke up at 1:11 am, coming up the stairs saying, "mommy-daddy" I got up to get him and he said something that caught my attention (can't remember now what it was--too tired). However, I flipped on the light and there it was......puke all over him. All over his face, hands, and jamms.

I told Joshua, "I may be needing your help." I took of his jamms, threw them in the laundry, went to the bathroom to clean him up, and went into his bedroom. It was EVERYWHERE. I had to change all the bedding, and clean the carpet (the dogs helped a little bit). I gave Cooper some new jamms and told him to take them to daddy to put them on (yeah, he stayed in bed.)

I put all the bedding in the wash (except the comforter wouldn't fit). Then called to Josh to come help put the new bedding on. It is hard for me to get in the bunk bed to do it. While he did the bedding, I was cleaning the carpet. During all if this Cooper seemed to be fine. He wanted me to make him some muffins and watch TV.

We got him back to bed, and about 30 min. later he came up saying, "Mommy, I dirty again"....yep, more puke!!! Not near as much this time, but we still had to change the bedding again. By this time the first load was done so I could add this new stuff. Cooper went back to bed. He did wake up again asking for some milk, and Joshua got him some. Then at 5:45 he was up and ready for the day.

He acted fine when he got up so we went ahead and sent him to daycare. It wasn't too much later that Josh left work to go and get him. He had a couple of really bad diapers. Josh spent the day with him. He got sick one other time and had a couple bad diapers. Cooper didn't have much of an appetite for about 3 days, but all the messy stuff was done after the first day. I am really surprise how well he handled the situation. It didn't seem to bother him or scare him like I expected it too.

Valentines

Cooper got really excited about Valentines Day this year. We were home together on Thursday afternoon (before Valentines Day) and I told him that when he got up from his nap, we could to WalMart and get him Valentines to take to daycare. He was thrilled and kept reminding me of the plan, "mommy, when I wake up we go to WalMart for my Balentines."

When he woke up we headed to town to get some stuff. I bought Valentine Cookies, bubbles, bouncy balls, and little cups to put them in. I made little gift tags so that everyone knew they were from Cooper. He was so excited. He kept saying, "these my balentines momma?"

Joshua and I had a very relaxing valentines day (kinda). Joshua had to referee in the morning, but then we just lounged around the whole day. About 6:30 we decided to go to dinner at our little bar & grill in Americus. We had a very nice dinner (with Cooper) and called it a night.

On Sunday we were up pretty early. We got around and headed to Wichita. We were at mom and dads around 9:30 that morning. When we got there Mom told Cooper to look around and he might find something that belonged to him. Cooper immediately went to mom's candy dish and opened it. "There nothing here gwama!" Grandma said, "keep looking." He looked around a little puzzled for a few minutes when Daddy grabbed him to "tell him a secret." When Josh started talking in his ear, he strategically placed him so that he was looking right at what he was supposed to find. Cooper's eyes lit up and he says, "Gwama, that my balentine?" Cooper opened it all up and wanted to play and eat.

Shortly after this, dad came home from church. Mom and I had some errands to run (I wanted to get stuff for Cori's bridal shower) and Joshua and dad went fishing. About 1 that afternoon, we meet Luke, Cori, Luke's mom and her husband in Derby for lunch and to help them move some of the "big stuff" out of their house. They got almost everything they wanted on the trailer or in the back of Luke's truck, and it only took about 2 hours.

Josh and I headed back to mom and dads to grab some of our stuff and headed home. We got home about 6:15 that night, and relaxed. Not much of an eventful weekend, but we kept pretty busy.

Here are a couple of pictures of Cooper with his balentines from Gwama and Gwapa. The frog is actually from a lady mom works with, Linda. She was a frog collector like me for a long time, but has since told herself she can not buy any more. However, she knew that Cooper's room was frogs so when she finds one that is "just to cute not to buy" she buys them for someone else. Cooper got this cute cuddly one!!!

Dr. appointment

I had another Dr. appointment on Jan. 27th. I had to go to the lab first and do my diabetic testing. If you have never done this, the (short) procedure goes as follows. You check in at the lab. They give you a bottle of sugar solution to drink within the next 5 min. Then, you have your blood drawn exactly an hour from when you finish.

So, when I did this with Cooper the results came back a bit over the normal mark. Dr. Kemp had told me that he would probably not worry about it, but my weight gain at the time bothered him. Therefore, I had to take the test again, this time the long version. The long test is similar to the first, however, this time you drink the solution and they have to with drawl blood for the next 3 hours on the hour. You have to sit in the waiting room the whole time. ANYWAY.....I decided this time I was going to go in and do the test first thing in the morning so that I didn't have any food in my system to mess with the results. I also had been very cautious of what I had eaten the last month....I was not going to let weight gain be the "deciding factor". I had been so proud of myself. I only gained 3 lbs. during the month (I even told Joshua how glad I was about this with the test coming up).

I go to the lab, drink the solution and head down for my appointment. I get on the scale and.....WHAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? The scale says that I have gained 9 lbs. since my last appointment. I turn to my nurse, Susan, and I said, "that is not what I weight. I promise!" She chuckled at me.


We go into the room and visit for a while. Dr. Kemp walks in and first thing out of his mouth is, "what happened to your weight?" I simply said, "I have no idea, it must be all the water I drank last night." Of course he laughed at this. However, I was serious. I had had the worst case of cotton mouth the night before and could not drink enough water. Anyway, we listened to the heartbeat (142) and he measured me. Once again I got the, "you're measuring pretty big" and my normal reply was, "what's new?" We talked about the diabetic testing and he said we would just wait and see. They would call me if I needed to come back for the long test.


I finished there and went back up to the lab, had my blood drawn, and headed home. That afternoon, Cooper had a hair cut and afterwards we were stopping at Walmart to get a couple of items. I was on the phone with Joshua (who was in CA), when the Dr. office beeped in. I told Josh I needed to get it and would talk to him later. I clicked over and the nurse said, "Lea, this is Ann." I replied, "Darn it Ann I was really hopping not to hear from you today." She laughed and said, "actually your blood sugar came back very good. However, your hemoglobin is low and you need to start taking an iron pill." Yeah!!!! That was all. I worried for nothing!!!

Pregnancy is progressing well. From the sounds of it, I will just be having another big baby. We have about 11 weeks to go now and I am starting to get a little antsy. I want to know what this baby is, I want to find the "perfect" name, and I want to know if I am going to be able to make it to Cori's wedding. I am not necessarily ready for everything that comes with a new baby just yet, or have the room/house ready, but I am getting to that point.

AND.....just as a side note: My weight (on my scale at home) was back down to normal the next day. I can not say for sure that it was all the water I drank, but I really don't think that I am loosing any weight.

A long 2 weeks

The last couple weeks of January were LONG for Cooper and mommy!!!! On the 15th Joshua left for a last minute trip to Vegas. I was able to make arrangements to get Cooper to and from Megan's (daycare). I LOVE HAVING FAMILY SO CLOSE!!!! Cooper and I stayed home all weekend (17th and18th). Cori came down to visit on that Saturday, and we worked/talked about wedding stuff. Joshua came home on Monday afternoon. I had teacher inservice that day, and had already signed up to help keep score for some basketball games that evening, so I didn't get home until late that evening. Had I known ahead of time Josh would be gone, I probably wouldn't have signed up.

The following Saturday (24th) Joshua had to leave again. This time for Anaheim, CA. I decided this time I was not going to stay home with Cooper and we headed to Wichita to see mom and dad for the weekend. This really helps the time pass when Joshua is gone. I had a little more difficulty getting Cooper to and from Megan's this week. I had all the days covered except for Tues. and I finally found a friend that was willing to help us out (THANKS NATALIE!!!) Well, just as I did that my Dr. office called and had to cancel my apt. (which I was taking the day off for b/c I had to do my diabetic testing and other stuff). That just happened to work out great. I rescheduled for that Tuesday and took that day off instead. My day on Tues. was jammed pack. I started by taking Cooper to Megan's, Brodie to the vet, then getting myself to the Dr. (more on the apt. later), and then back to get Cooper for a hair cut at 3 that afternoon. We made it through the day and had a good evening at home. The next morning I wake up about 5:30 to get ready and get Cooper to Aunt Lacie's by 6:30. I was ready to go, had the car started, Cooper's bag packed, and I went in to wake him up. My motherly instinct told me right away something was not right. We went to the bathroom to take his temp, and of course it was 100.8. He couldn't have gotten sick yesterday when I already had the day off!!!! I gave him some Motrin, called for a sub, ran to Lacie's to email some lesson plans to the secretary, and headed back home with Cooper. By 9 or 10 that morning, the fever was gone and it never came back. Just a bad cold I guess. Joshua came home on Thurs. the 29th. He had been gone 11 of the last 16 days in January. Poor Cooper was shuffled from person to person, his routine was all messed up, and all he would keep saying is, "mommy, I want my daddy." Talk about breaking a mommas heart!!!

Cooper was feeling better the next day, and I was able to get him to Aunt Lacie's in the morning. Lacie sent me this picture via Blackberry of the kids eating breakfast (Claire 5th grade, and Oliva 1st). Can you tell they are all 3 Hamlin's?

That Friday was a tough day at our house. We woke up knowing that Cooper (and us) had to say good-bye to "Miss Megan". Cooper has been one of "Megan's Munchkins" since he was 6 months old. She is WONDERFUL, and we love her. Megan has had some issues come up in her family that she needed to get taken care of, and couldn't do daycare along with it. Megan is one of the most patient, kind, and understand people I have ever met. I even learned a few things from her along the way that I felt have made me a better mom. It has only been a week, but Cooper still asks for her (and her daughters) every morning and night. We know that he is very young, but we hope that he never forgets Megan. She has had such a huge impact on his life and we owe her so much for all she has done!!!!!

****I had hoped to get a picture of Cooper and Megan, but I forgot to give Joshua the camera that day when he went to pick him up. SORRY!!!

On Fri. the 30th we had to make a trip to Manhattan so that I could get some stuff from my Aunt. We got to Uncle Carl and Aunt Debi's house about 6:15 that night. They had ordered Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner. We all ate, and then while Aunt Debi and I worked on some things for a crop I was working the next day, Joshua and Cooper went into town to visit some friends. Cooper and Donavan played together for a couple hours and then they came back to get me. I started to feel a bit of a cold coming on while we were there, but thought maybe it was allergies.

I worked my crop on Saturday (9:30 - 9:30) while battling a cold. Joshua and Cooper got to spend some much needed father - son time together.

On Sunday, we didn't do much of anything. I think that it was 3 in the afternoon before I even got in the shower. I was still fighting my cold and thought it might actually make me feel better. We grilled some hamburgers and had fried potatoes for lunch. You can see how wiped out Cooper was from the whole weekend!!!! Poor boy was too tired to even eat his oranges....his favorite.

We watched the supperbowl and headed to bed. It had been a crazy couple of weeks, and we were ready for our normal routine to start again.

Updates Coming

I have a few things to blog about. Not many pictures, but a couple. The last two weeks have been so crazy for us that I have not had time to stay after work, or come in early to update the blog. An update WILL get done this week!!!!