My loves

My babies snuggling after bath

And a few of our first smiles from Ms. Brooklyn Louise! Happy Girl!

So sick

In an effort to rest up and get better soon, Brayden has been watching wayyyy more TV than he has ever seen in his life and snuggling up with some blankets. We have also been trying to keep his fluid intake up and letting him eat whatever he feels up to. The only things he wants to eat are smoothies (yogurt, raspberries, blueberries, some peanut butter for protein, ice, and a little milk) and pretzels and humus. Go figure, haha! Come on immune system grow strong and fight this bug!

VDAY 2013

Our Valentine's Day started off great! Strawberry milk, raspberries, raspberry yogurt, and some cinnamon raisin bread (not shown in picture). 

Then we opened a few gifts and had a few special sweet treats after breakfast - smarties and chocolate covered pretzels. :)

The afternoon is when things started to go down hill. Right after our Valentine's Day photo shoot, we discovered that Brayden had a 103 fever! Can you tell by his face in the last picture? Needless to say, the fun "heart-themed" dinner that I planned on making did not happen! 

On a better note, after Brayden's fever climbed to 104 that evening, he slowly is starting to get better. Three days of a high fever (102) has now turned into a low-grade fever, head congestion, cough, and no appetite. My poor baby! We are trying to teach Brayden to cover his mouth when he coughs and following him around with Lysol wipes in hopes of keeping the rest of us healthy! Fingers crossed.

Brooklyn - One Month Old

Brooklyn Louise Cooper is already one month old! At her doctor's appointment she weighed 10 pounds 3 ounces and was 21.75 inches long. Baby girl is healthy and growing quick!

3 Weeks Old

The past three weeks have been flying by! Brooklyn is doing great and getting bigger and more alert by the day. Brayden is also doing well and is now wearing big boy underwear 75 percent of the time. He even ran errands with Daddy yesterday and kept his big boy underwear dry! I think we may have bought our last box of diapers for him. We will make them last for nap and bed time, although he has been consistently waking up from nap time dry too.

Bundled up and headed out to walk Bailey

3 weeks

Listening to Barney!

Photo Shoot

So a few months ago, Dan and I splurged on a nice camera for taking pictures of the kids! Dan has really enjoyed learning about photography over the past few months and experimenting with the camera! Needless to say, we have had a few photo shoot attempts with Brayden and Brooklyn during the last few weeks. Some went well, others not so well....but in the end, we have gotten a few good photos! I think getting the "perfect" photo of both kids over the next few years is going to be a challenge! ;)

Bath Time

Brooklyn did not enjoy her first few baths at home. They were sponge baths because her umbilical cord had not fallen off yet and we think that she was just plain cold! Luckily here umbilical cord fell off after 10 days and baby girl now loves her warm baths!

First bath at home

2.5 weeks and sleeping through bath time. So relaxed

3 weeks - after bath

4 weeks - after bath

First Two Weeks

Our first two weeks at home went very smoothly! Of course we all had our moments, but all in all we couldn't have expected things to go any better. Brooklyn loves to sleep, eat, and poop, and Brayden is adjusting well to his new role as a big brother! Brayden has also decided to start potty training (on his own) and is doing great! He is pooping on the potty 99 percent of the time and is peeing on the potty 50 percent of the time. The boy pees a lot!

Few days old

Daddy and his girl

My loves. 

2 weeks old

Meeting the Family

Brooklyn is blessed to be surrounded by such loving family members who couldn't wait to meet her!

With Nana soon after birth

With MomMom and PopPop

Meeting Pa

With Uncle B - few days old

With Uncle Chris - 1 week

With Lauren - 2 weeks old

With Aunt Carol - 3 weeks old

With Cousin Heather - 3 weeks old

With Cousin Diana - 3 weeks old

3 weeks old

Brayden and Brooklyn

Sunday afternoon, once Mommy and Daddy rested a little bit, Nana and Pa brought Brayden over to the hospital to see us and meet Brooklyn for the first time. It was a very special moment and one that we will always cherish! Brayden loved admiring his baby sister, holding her for a little bit, snuggling with Mommy, roaming around with Daddy, and trying to take it all in! We have no doubt that he will be a great big brother!

Meeting Brooklyn and giving her a Pooh blanket that he picked out!

Our new family of four!

Home sweet home

Greeting Mommy and Brooklyn when we first got home!

Hospital Pictures

Christiana Hospital where Brooklyn (and Brayden) were born is partnered with Bella Baby Photography. A photographer from the company comes around to the maternity wings and take pictures of newborns and their family. We opted not to have pictures done when Brayden was born because we had already set something up with an outside photographer, but this time around we took our chances and had some pictures done of Brooklyn.