I Have Arrived!!

Cooper Schlenker Wilcock
Now that I am over a week old, I thought I would officially introduce myself. I was born on February 18, 2014 at 6:33am. I was 20 1/4 inches long and 7 pounds, 1 ounce. Though I didn't make labor too bad for mommy, it was different than what she was used to with my brothers. Houston was born 3 weeks early and Damon was born 2 weeks early so thought I would keep up the trend and come exactly 1 week early. Mom had been anxious for a while and was thus going on walks everyday trying to induce something. The day the contractions started was a pretty normal Monday. Mom, trying to recover from a busy and tiring weekend was in cleaning mode and oddly enough got a huge burst of energy to complete everything she needed to. Because she was so busy, we weren't able to go on our typical afternoon walk so mom took my brothers out for a night walk. They played eye-spy in the dark and made light shows with flashlights; a great memory for the final hours of having only having her 2 boys. After we got back and went to bed, mom got busy again and that's when the contractions started. At about 8:30 they were about 10 minutes apart and pretty mild. By 10pm they were 5 minutes apart and becoming more painful. From mom's experience, her water should have broken by now but nothing happened. This made the decision to go to the hospital hard to make. But as the pain grew more intense, mom and dad made a call to a friend's husband to come spend the night so they could leave. The stress of dealing with labor pains is nothing compared to mom's stress about leaving her boys behind and in a confusing situation. We are so grateful for the help we received from some great friends throughout the whole experience of my arrival.
When we got into the hospital room around 12:30 mom was dilated 4cm so the nurses let her stay even though now relaxed, the contractions were over 5 minutes apart. They encouraged her and dad to walk around to move things along and after an hour mom was dilated to a 6 and happy to be making progress. By this point, mom and dad were both exsausted so mom encouraged dad to sleep while she watched youtube videos and tried to silently endure the relentless labor pains. The following 3 hours were long, lonely and very painful. As the morning drew near, another girl who had mom's same OBGYN was starting to push. So mom's nurse threw out the idea of getting my epidural and having the doctor break my water while he was there and available. Mom was all for moving things along so at 5am she got the epidural... SWEET RELIEF and at 5:30 her water was broken by the doctor. By about 6:15 she was dilated to a 9 and the doctor figured, with it being her 3rd child, she could start pushing. After 8 minutes of pushing, I took my first breath at 6:33. While she was pushing mom felt like she was hosting a party. Along with daddy, mom's nurse, my nurse and the doctor, there were nursing students accompanying each nurse as well as a resident doctor performing the actual delivery. Everyone had big smiles as soon as they heard my cries. I was put directly on mommy to be cleaned up and warmed up and was immediately calmed. As mom and dad admired me, they noticed my nice round head not crushed from hours of pushing. They noticed my cute little round nose, turned up just slightly like daddy's. My eyes are big and slim sort of like Houston's and my cheeks are full and so soft. My hair seemed to be the biggest hit. All the nurses kept commenting on the nice auburn color it was. It must have been the neon lights because after being home, the red tinge is less noticeable. After some sweet, memorable snuggling, mom tried to feed me for the first time and I latched on like a pro. Not once have I had problems eating which is a huge blessing!



Mom can't believe that all three of her children's labors have started in the middle of the night thus starting her off on NO sleep and no chance to catch up because of frequent feedings. Mom did her best to rest up while in the hospital. She looked forward to my brothers seeing me for the first time. It was a pretty precious experience though Damon was more "hands on" than we all expected so some boundaries will have to be set.


Damon trying to catch up on sleep after a crazy, confusing day.


Though the hospital stay was nice and mom wanted to stay longer, we all knew we had to get me home. Daddy was scheduled to leave on a baseball road trip on Feb 20 so we needed to make sure mom and I got settled before he left.
Houston and Damon sharing a room for the first time.

We are very lucky to have great friends that helped take care of mommy and my brothers while daddy was gone. We had meals brought and the boys were taken to play at friend's houses so mommy could take care of me and continue to rest.

Papa and Grandma Schlenker thankfully came to visit 2 days after daddy left which was a life saver. Especially because Damon got a little flu bug.





Daddy happy to be home

Waiting Game

Houston
While we are patiently waiting for my little brother to arrive, we are having a fun time enjoying the winter Olympics. Mom and Dad got us pretty pumped up for them. This was on mom's birthday when we ate pizza and watched the opening ceremonies.
My parents can hardly get me to have a snack or take a bath because I don't want to miss any action. I often end the night like this because I am so dedicated. I think my favorites sports to watch so far are snowboarding and speed skating but I'm sure I will get pretty into the hockey too.

I have been showing quite a bit of interest in learning the piano so mom and I have been starting some "lessons". She is teaching me all sorts of fun songs and this was a recital I put on for Family Home Evening last Monday.

More Snow

Damon

Mommy is now officially full term (37 weeks along) which means our baby brother could arrive anytime! Houston arrived when mommy was 37 weeks and I came when mom was 38 weeks so we really have no idea when this little guy will make his appearance. Though mommy, being spoiled with us, would prefer he comes sooner than later. His official due date is still February 25.



Well if it is going to be cold, there should at least be snow!
The morning it snowed, Houston and I went out to help daddy shovel the drive way. Dad challenged Houston to work on the single car side of the driveway while daddy worked on the double car side. Little did dad know that Houston would completely shovel ALL of the snow from the single car side by himself!! That is pretty impressive work from a 4 year old. We made sure to let Papa know (he loves that kind of work) and he was extremely proud. As a reward, daddy bought Houston his very own shovel so that he can help every time it snows :)
I was also a big help with my dust pan. I made sure to tell daddy each time I filled it with snow and then would dump it somewhere 2 feet away.


The last time it snowed we never got to make snowmen and we were all pretty bummed about that. This time nothing was going to stop us.


Grandma Cari sent us a package in the mail and these cool shirts were included. But I think we got them mixed up.


Like most brothers, Houston and I have our differences and can get into fights but for the most part we like each other a whole lot.

I know the this video is poor quality but mom had to document this. To burn energy we like to put dance music on and just go crazy with our sweet dance moves. Houston prefers the lights off so it feels like a "real party" and so he feels like a "real dancer".

Not Wasting Any Time

Damon
Here are a couple of shots from the airplane ride. For having a rough night and waking up at 4:30am, I was a pretty good boy!

Since we got home just after lunch and had nothing to do, mom decided to waste no time and take advantage of the time we would have together. That's when she whipped out the Big Boy Bed!
Overall I have taken quite a liking to it and have only fallen out a few times. This transition needed to happen sooner than later because when the baby is ready to sleep in my room, I will be moving in with Bubba and will sleep on the bottom bunk. Can't wait!

If you know my mom, you know she can be, at times, sort of a control freak. So according to her, another development that needed to occur was potty training.
Helping dad organize the garage.
Me placing stickers on my baby brother while mom kept in close proximity to me to catch potty-time.
I was a very different child than my brother to potty train. My mom used the same 3-day method as she did with Houston but I would say it took more like 4-5 days at least. I was great from the very start about telling mom I had to go potty and than keeping my undies dry. But as soon as she put me on the toilet, I would let fear get the best of me and I wouldn't go, not even for a sucker. It only took a few days to get over this fear but they were long days of mom worrying and asking me to tell her when I had to go. Once we figured out #1, we had to figure out #2. I am having similar problems and it is taking more time to figure out because I typically only go once a day, but we are getting there. I love my big boy undies much better than diapers, plus I look so darn cute in them!
Yay for me my abilities to learn and grow so fast. I will be so ready for this baby to arrive! Mom is currently 35 weeks along so in (probably) less than a month I could have a new baby brother to help look after (or terrorize).