Saturday, July 11, 2015

One month

Our little Coop has been on the outside for one whole month :)

Here are the stats
- weighs 8lbs 3 oz
- is 20 1/5 inches long
- nurses every 2-3 hours
- wakes 3-4 hours to eat
- is overall a sweet and happy baby
- started wearing size one diapers and 3m clothes at the end of the month
- loves staring at the ceiling fan
- has super strong legs and neck

Its been a big adjustment but we feel so complete having brother in our family <3








xoxo
Ashlea

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Cooper Robert Sukhwani

Cooper Robert Sukhwani was born at 9:59am on June, 11 2015. And we couldnt be more in love <3

I had pre labor for 2 days prior, contractions 5-15 min apart but mild in terms of pain so Charlotte and I continued on as normal. Then Thursday morning at 4:30 I woke up to a very strong contraction. They were painful and about 5 minutes apart, they stayed that way for an hour so I woke up Tony and called our friend who was going to take Char. The contractions kept getting stronger and by 8:00 am I decided to go to the hospital. I got there and was 9 cm dilated and they took me right back, my doctor rushed over, my water broke at 9 am and I was ready to push at 9:30, and he was born at 9:59. It was a fast but very intense birth :)











We are settling into our new normal with the help of family and friends and are loving every second of being a family of four :)

xoxo
Ashlea

Saturday, June 6, 2015

the party and actual birthday

     We chose to have Sister's birthday party a couple weekends early for a few reasons (one being that I was afraid that I would have Brother early and not be able to do it) and it clashing with some friends dates for vacation for Memorial Day.

  We stuck to the same format that worked so well for her 1st birthday - friends, lots of toys, snacks and cake at the house. I planned on having it be indoor/outdoor but the weather decided having a dozen 2 year olds and their parents all in the playroom was a better idea :)

   The theme this year was one of her favorite books The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It was super fun and easy to put together and came together great. Even more amazing was that all the kids were so well behaved!



















  Another awesome birthday memory to tuck away :)

On her actually birthday which fell in the middle of the week we kept it low key and just us. I got to take my favorite girl out for a special birthday breakfast - blueberry muffin, fruit and "bubble drink" aka carbonated flavored water. And she got to sit in a big girl chair instead of a highchair :)




We had a play date with friends at the play ground and then hung out at home until Dad got home. We headed over to the town center to do the only thing she requested for her birthday - "panda bear carousel" There was of course a huge storm brewing so we had to haul booty to make it before the rain started! We made it and she was on cloud  9, birthday success! Then we went and had pizza and at the end she asked in the sweetest voice she could muster, which happens to be pretty darn sweet, "maybe just a liiiiiitle fro yo pleeeease????" And so of course we said yes :) It was a pretty great 2nd birthday and I still cant believe that my tiny 6 lbs nugget is a little girl now, its such a mix of sad and excited, sad that she isnt a snuggling squishy baby anymore but exciting to see the awesome little person she is becoming. I have a feeling that this will be the case for many more years to come.







 Happy Birthday little girl <3

xoxo
Ashlea


Thursday, May 28, 2015

wise words

I have a handful of people I know who have kids graduating high school right now. There have been lots of cap and gown pictures filling my facebook newsfeed for the past week. One of the Mom's posted alongside the pictures the advice that the speaker gave at the graduation ceremony.


1) Be a contribution in whatever you choose to do in life.

2) Be a GIVER and RECEIVER of kindness.  When life gets tough, focus on helping someone else.

3) Love something bigger than yourself.

Wise words.

xoxo
Ashlea

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Charlotte turns 2

 Im so behind, so very behind but thats what having a feisty toddler and being 9 months pregnant will do to ya.

 I have a couple of house things, recipes and fun stuff to post for now Ill stick to the big stuff - my little turns 2 today. How this happened so fast I dont know, ask any parent and they all tell you the same - it goes by so fast. Cliche but true. So what is my big 2 year old up to these days? Ill tell you but be warned its going to be long (ill mix in some pictures for your enjoyment)........

when we asked her to show us how big she is :)

washing her car "so clean!"

trying on her new headband from Gan "Charlotte ladybug, so funny"


Talking - Sister loves to talk, all the time, about everything, over and over. Her vocabulary impresses me everyday. She is talking in 3-5 word sentences on the regular and definitely putting together her own thoughts and not just repeating. Some gems from the past few weeks are
- "Maaaammmmaaaaa, I smell it! I smell Pellie's (her name for Penelope) stinky toot" while covering her nose
- "Dada's arm is soft fur like Bailey"
- I asked her to come to the table for lunch "first cut baby doll's toes then lunch, okay?" she then went over and pretended to cut her baby doll's toenails with a knife from her kitchen set
-

craft after story time at the library

climbing up the bog kid playground


She has also started "reading" books to us. I absolutely love it and Im so impressed by her memeory. Her favorites to read are "Tip, tip, dig, dig" a book about building a playground and The Very Busy Spider.

Skills - Shes gottem ;) She can walk, run, jump, forward flip, eat with a fork and spoon, drink from a small open cup, do chunky puzzles, turn pages in a book, help make meals, throw her own trash away, clean up, go get her own shoes from the closet, take her shoes off and put them away, go up and down stairs while holding the railing, navigate simple Ipad games, sleep in a big girl bed, climb up and ladder and go down a slide by herself, hang on a bar, use a glue stick, hold a crayon and color, walk on a thick beam, wipe off her area after eating, and many other things that Im sure I am forgetting.One of her favorite things to do right now is help me cook, she is usually in charge of dumping dry ingredients, pouring wet ones and stirring. We make muffins, pizza dough (she also loves putting her own toppings on), pancakes and she got a cool fruit slicer so she now cuts her own fruit for meals too.

cooking in her apron

play-dough!

she told me "bear b hungry, eat taco"
 Knowledge - As most 2 year olds are, she is a little sponge and picks up on soooo much. Some stuff I do "teach" her but a lot of it she picks up through our play. She knows how to count to 10, all her colors, about 100 animals and their sounds, half of the ABC song (she starts at round M), that Charlotte starts with C, her first and last name, all of her friends and families names, different weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy), tons of body parts, most shapes, and how to match things of the same shape or color.
filling up her bucket to come dump on my feet - my hilarious game ever if you ask Charlotte

showing me how fast she can be


Play - playing with her has gotten so fun! She is developing an awesome imagination. She loves doing things "like Mama" or "like Dada" and pretending to be animals. She also recently acquired a doctor's set for her birthday and has been practicing her M.D skills, mostly on Bailey who is too lazy to protest ;)  She has also started playing with her friends not just along side them. They are repeating each other, sharing and trading toys with out adults facilitating, and starting to play games like throw and catch and building things together. It is so adorable but Little Brother be warned, she can be a bit bossy!

I could not be more proud of the super smart, super funny, super busy little girl she is becoming. Dont get me wrong she is most definitely 2 and working her way through big feelings and decision making (like the night I had to sit and wait her out to clean up her bath toys for 45 minutes while she sang, laughed, cried, stomped her feet, gave me the stink eye and just about every other tactic in the 2 year old play book). But every time I see her do something new independently and how proud she is of herself or show concern for a friend and how kind her heart is becoming, its worth a million bathtub stand offs.

her "friends" as we call them

making muffins

love that she still likes to be worn <3

coloring

water and sand table with her bff

girlfriend shopping trip to Target


Stay tuned for Part 2 - the birthday festivities in the next couple of days :)