Happy birthday, Mason!

From this.......

To this....

I can hardly believe Mason is already 2 years old! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the NICU!! It has been a fun two years and Mason has grown into a beautiful, sweet, and VERY ACTIVE little guy!! He is our monkey and spends most of his day getting into things, climbing up the bar top, jumping off bathroom counter tops, scaling the furniture, and attempting to eat pretty much anything that he shouldn't (toothpaste, deoderant, shampoo, hand soap, paper, etc.). He definitely keeps me busy and I love him to pieces!!! He has a smile that melts my heart and I love to hear him say "hello mommy!!" while waving his chubby little hand. He may not be *the* baby anymore....but he will always be *my* baby!!

I love you, sweet boy!!

So sweet...

More sleeping baby pictures! I just love them!!

Sweet baby face

I LOVE baby feet!!!

Brotherly Love

Mason loves his baby brother. Having said that, he is also having a hard time adjusting to his new place in the family. I'm sure part of it is that he is almost 2 years old (gotta love those 2 year old tantrums!!) and he hasn't been getting enough sleep (he's been climbing out of the crib - so getting him to sleep takes us on average of 2 hours every night....NOT FUN!!!!). He loves to be near the baby and always wants to touch him (usually his face...preferably, his eye!). He is always really sweet with Micah.....he even likes to *share* with him. The other day, I fished a honeycomb (cereal) out of the Micah's mouth. Mason was trying to share his snack with the baby!!

This is too funny!! The other day I found Mason sitting in the infant carseat, bundled up under a blanket. Sometimes I think he wishes he was the baby again!!

Sleeping Baby

There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby!! I love how peaceful they look when they sleep. Here are some pictures I took on those rare occasions when Micah is asleep - and not in my arms! I love his sweet chubby cheeks! He really is a good baby and we are loving every minute of having him in our family. I can't believe he will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. The time is already going by way too fast. He is such a joy and I can't imagine our lives without him.

one week old

8 days old

12 days old

15 days old

~ 6 days old ~

Here is Micah at 6 days old. Where does the time go?? I know he is still REALLY little, but I find myself feeling sad when I think about how "this is the last time I will be snuggling a 6 day old baby (or just fill in the blank - 3 day old baby, 5 day old baby, etc.). At night when I get him to sleep, Kyle will suggest that I try and lay him down. I just can't do it!!! I love snuggling him and I know all too well just how fast this time will fly by.

At 6 days old, we took Micah to the doctor for a check up. He surprised us all when he was weighed. Not only has he already met his birth weight....but he surpassed it!!! He weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz!!! The nurses were joking about how I must have cream for milk!

*Little Mommy*

All of my kids love to hold baby Micah. They are all so good with him and so gentle (well, Mason is most of the time!!). But there is just something so sweet about the way Mia holds and loves on him. Not that the boys aren't sweet when they hold him, but it is just amazing how *maternal* Mia is. She is such a *little mommy*. I love to watch her as she snuggles him, tries to reposition him when he starts to fuss, and just the overall way she talks and acts with him. I know some of it she gets from watching me but the rest is just her! Maybe the novelty of a new baby brother will wear off, but for now I am loving just how much she wants to hold and snuggle our baby.

And here are some cute pictures from the last few days.

I love the way Micah is laying in this picture. He has that "here we go again" look! :)

I just can't get enough of him!!!!!

First day of school!

Here are the kids on the first day of school. Since I missed open house (Kyle took the kids because I was still in the hospital), I got to take them and walk them in for their first day. They were both pretty excited....well, at least Mia was! Colton didn't want me to walk him to his class but Mia insisted on it. It was hard for me to leave her....of course, I'm sure my postpartum hormones didn't help any. They had a good first day. Mia seems to like her new teacher. Colton has a new teacher that unfortunately isn't here yet (she just moved here and is still getting settled) so they have a sub for the first week. This was a sudden change (he found out that he was being switched to the new teacher on the first day - I was not a happy camper), and we are anxious to meet his actual teacher - hopefully next week.

Colton and Mia

Mia - First Grade

Colton - Fifth Grade

Coming Home!!

Here are some pictures taken before we came home from the hospital. The kids were all SO excited that baby Micah was coming home!

Sweet baby face

All bundled up to come home!

Oh, so sweet. I could just eat him up!!

Caden finally decided that maybe the new baby was as neat as Lexy's dog!

Mia just adores Micah. And I just have to add....she fixed her own hair! :)

I love this picture! Look at those profiles!!

He's here!!

Introducing....

Micah William Koepp

August 19, 2009 10:35am

8lb. 8oz. 20 1/4 inches long

We are all so glad that Micah is finally here! The labor and delivery (which has since been titled *Fast and Furious*!!) went well. It was VERY fast and VERY intense - and I'm so glad that I won't be doing that again!! :) I had cervadil the night before and that was left in for 12 hours. It did soften my cervix, but didn't put me into labor, like we were hoping. So, Wednesday morning at 7:30am, they started me on pitocin. I don't know if it was because of the cervadil or just the way my body responded, but the contractions started almost immediately - and they got intense really fast. My doctor checked me at 8:15am and I was dilated to 3cm. She broke my water at that time as well. The contractions picked up even more and that was probably as close as I've ever come to REALLY wanting an epidural!! A little after 9am, I was between 4 and 5cm. The next time they checked me, I was 7cm. They were just getting ready to give me some IV pain meds (stadol) and I told them I needed to push. They checked me and the nurse said "Yep, we're going to be having a baby!" Within minutes, he was born! I literally went from 7 cm to delivery in 10 minutes. He came so fast, that it caused facial bruising on him. His sweet little face was pretty much blue! He had quite a set of lungs, but it was wonderful to hear him cry. He is healthy and is doing great. He caught on to nursing real quick and LOVES to eat! He is just precious (I know, I'm a little biased!).

Here are some pictures of the kids when they came up that evening to meet their new baby brother. I don't have any pictures of Mason. I think he was more interested in what he could get in to in my hospital room than the baby! We couldn't get him to stand still long enough for a picture!


Proud big brother, Colton

Proud big sister, Mia

They just ADORE the baby!!



This picture cracks me up! Caden and Mason had spent the previous night at our friends house, Lexy and Bill. Well, they have lots of pets, including a dog that Caden became very attached to. When Lexy brought the little boys up to the hospital, Caden was NOT happy to be leaving her house....more importantly, leaving her dog. So, as soon as he walked in to the hospital room to see me and the baby, he starts crying because he wants to go back to Lexy's house to see the dog. The WHOLE time he was at the hospital, he pretty much stayed curled up in a ball on my bed, crying his eyes out. I kept asking him if he wanted to hold the baby, touch the baby, etc....and he would just cry about how all he wanted to do was go to Lexy's house and see her dog. It was pretty funny!!

Still Preggo!!

37 weeks pregnant

My babies, loving on my belly!

Just a little update on us...

Yep, I'm still preggo. I technically have 6 days before my due date, but the little man is measuring pretty big and I am beyond ready to not be pregnant anymore. I don't think I was ever this miserable with my other pregnancies...but maybe I have just blocked it out!! I am hoping he comes on his own sometime within the next 6 days, otherwise we will most likely be inducing sometime the middle of next week. I hate the thought of being induced (pitocin + no epidural = NOT a good combination), but I went a week overdue with Caden and that was not an easy delivery and he ended up being over 9 pounds. So, we'll see!! We are all so anxious to meet our littlest little man!!

Other than that, we have just been trying to enjoy what is left of summer vacation. I can't believe school starts in less than 2 weeks. I am not ready for my kids to go back. I have loved having them home!! They are JUST NOW starting to sleep in a little - and it's pretty much time to start setting the alarms again. Caden and Mia have become somewhat inseparable this summer. They play together for hours and hours every day. I don't know what Caden is going to do when Mia goes back to school.

We finally moved Mason out of our room. I was joking with Kyle, telling him that we might actually be able to enjoy a whole week of NOT having a child in our room....for the first time in 6 years!!! Seriously!!! It is so weird to not have the crib in our room right now. I have the pack and play set up for the baby (although, he will most likely be snuggled between Kyle and I!!), but we are going to leave Mason in the crib at least until he turns 2. But I'm not complaining! I know all too well just how fast this time goes by.

Fishing

My dad took Kyle and Colton on a little weekend fishing trip down in Rockport. They used a fishing guide and did a split fishing day - they fished for 4 or 5 hours in the morning, came in and took a break and then went back out for another 4 or 5 hours at night. They caught more during the night fishing, but of all they caught, only 4 or 5 fish were keepers. I know they would have liked to catch more, but they still had a great time!! Colton LOVED it and can't wait to go back. I wasn't quite sure how he would do, but Kyle said he was such a trooper and was baiting his own hook and casting all on his own in no time. I have a feeling there will be a lot of fishing gear requests on his birthday and Christmas list!!

Grandpa's fish!! He had the first catch of the day - and what would turn out to be the biggest!

Colton's first catch!

Mason's First Haircut!!

Well, I finally broke down and took Mason for his first haircut. It's not that he had a lot of hair, but he had some hair that grew long in the middle of his forehead and it was getting kind of long in the back. I took him to a kids hair cut place so he could sit and watch Elmo during the haircut. Well, it didn't seem to matter because he just screamed the whole time!! He absolutely hated it! I got him to settle down ONE time during the haircut and was able to snap a quick picture. I'm sure it will be a while before we do that again!!

BEFORE

DURING (the one time he stopped screaming)

AFTER

Oh, I could just eat up that sweet little face!!