12.31.2013

Newborn Pics

The blog posts for this month are completely out of order and driving my type A personality CRAZY!! I just had so many new and exciting things to post that I skipped over some events and then went back to post them later so sorry for all of the confusion. Here are some of our favorite newborn pics of Cooper when he was 2.4 weeks old.









One Month


I can't even believe that our little Cooper Keith is one month old (last Thursday). He is changing everyday and starting to get a little belly on him. At his check-up he weighed 8 lbs 13.5 oz (25%) and was 22 inches (50-75%).

Cooper is such an easygoing and happy baby and seems to enjoy just about everything! We are so lucky that he rarely cries except when he is hungry or getting his diaper changed. He loves taking baths and getting his hair washed and combed! His favorite place to sleep is against our bodies on his tummy. He is very alert and started lifting his head for brief moments when he was only a day or two old. He likes his pacifier, but isn't attached to it. He often does huge smiles and sad faces when he sleeps. His hands have to be close to his face, but sometimes he prefers them stretched out above his head, and fisted!

As for me, I definitely hold and snuggle him too much and could stare at him for hours. I've learned to let things go such as a clean house and getting my daily 15 minute shower (yes I still shower but it's shortened immensely)! He has brought me joy and helped me to notice the little things. I love our new little family!!







12.30.2013

Cooper's First Christmas

For Cooper's very first Christmas we got to celebrate it with his Gma & Gpa McDonald, Uncle Jason, and Uncle Ryan. (Aunt Rachel and Uncle James joined us a few days later). On Christmas Eve we chowed down on h'orderves and read the Christmas story in the scriptures. Then, on Christmas day we opened presents and watched the movies we got in our stockings. Cooper got some toys, clothes, and a few Christmas ornaments. Oh and Josh surprised me with an "iPad" (see pic below) but it really was a Kindle. I'm glad we were able to have Josh's family here to celebrate with us because otherwise I think it would've been pretty dull and uneventful!

His shirt says 'Santa's Little Helper'

Had to get this shot

My "iPad" from my jokester husband!





'O Holy Night'

Not only were we given the greatest Christmas gift, our beautiful son Cooper, but also the opportunity to be Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus in a live nativity scene for our ward. The event was called 'O Holy Night' and was held at our church.  The nativity scene was absolutely beautiful and there were even real animals (donkey, sheep, and a calf) roaming around with shepherds at their side. The costumes looked absolutely perfect and so did the stable. For the two hours, all we were asked to do was sit in the stable and interact with our beautiful baby as if we were Joseph and Mary. Luckily for us he slept the whole time and didn't fuss or even make a peep! It was such a wonderful feeling to be Mary and hold baby Jesus with Joseph by my side. It helped me to reflect on Christ's birth and the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas. I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity we had to portray the single most important event that changed the world, the birth of Christ- our Redeemer, and Savior of the world.



12.25.2013

Nursery Debut

I should've done this post several weeks ago, but oh well! For Cooper's nursery we (by 'we' I mean 'I') decided to do a nautical type thing with the colors red, navy blue, and white. I had a bunch of Pinterest-inspired ideas and when Josh's parents were here they helped put those ideas into action. They were so helpful and we were able to get it all set up in only a few days. I so appreciate their help and craftiness. I'm in love with his nursery, but the only thing I wish we could have added was the horizontal stripes on the wall the crib is against. The only reason we decided against painting is because we would have to paint over it if/when we move out of this apartment...so the painted wall will come in the near future.



We Love Visitors

It's been so fun having our families come in spurts to meet our little man. My mom and Charlie came out first followed by Mandee and my dad the next week and now Josh's parents and brothers (Jason and Ryan) are here visiting for Christmas, along with Rachel and James who will be here tomorrow. Cooper is surrounded by such wonderful family members who just love him to pieces! We hate to see them go and hope they will be back soon. We look forward for a visit from Aunt Megan, Great Grandma McDonald, and Great Grandma & Grandpa Grodeon in the next few months!!
Aunt Char...and Ozzie of course!

Grammy Irene
Aunt Mandee

Grandpa Roadie, isn't that precious?
Our first time leaving Cooper...we survived!

The Suns game


Tempe Lake Light Parade


Mill Avenue



Grandma & Grandpa McDonald

Rub a Dub Dub

Cooper has LOVED getting a bath ever since day one in the hospital. We gave him a sponge bath a few days later and he was so calm and just laid there quietly the whole time. After his umbilical cord fell off I was excited to finally give him his first real bath in his whale tub. He was so cute in the tub and just laid there not having a care in the world. His absolute favorite part is when we wash his hair and then brush it after he gets all dried off. You can tell he just loves it. There is something about snuggling our sweet baby boy after he is all clean and smells like yummy baby lotion that I can't get enough of!




12.22.2013

Cooper's REAL birth story (as told by Josh)

[<Disclaimer>  Joni has been nagging encouraging me for weeks to get on here and write this post.  Needless to say, I've been dragging my feet and in so doing have probably forgotten some details that I would have liked to include.  So this post probably won't be as accurate (Joni says I consistently over embellish stories,) or as eloquent as I would like it to be, but bear with me.]

The weeks leading up the Nov 25th were full of nerves and anxiety.  It was either two or three weeks before Joni's due date that we were at a weekly check up and the Doctor notified us that Joni was dilated 1 cm and 80% effaced.  Being a first time father, I had no real idea what any of that meant, other than to say that some stuff started happening, and that stuff meant that our baby was on his way.  Knowing that there had been some movement it was triggered my nerves, it seemed like I was checking on Joni every time the wind changed direction to see if that subtle change in the environment expedited the pace of our son's decent.  I didn't like going in to work because I was worried she would go into labor while I was stuck in traffic.  I didn't like going to sleep, because quite frankly I didn't want to be in bed if and when her water broke.  And sometimes I didn't like being with her because of those unpredictable pregnancy hormones (kidding).  Ironically, the morning of the 25th, I wasn't so anxious anymore.  I had been on edge, for so long, that the reality that something incredible was about to happen had come and gone.

It was a normal Monday for awhile.  I went to work, tried to find things to do that would keep me busy while also being productive, and then started getting anxious again.  I wasn't anxious because I thought Joni might go into labor while I was at work, I knew she wouldn't.  I was anxious because we were going to the hospital later that night and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  Our lives were going to change and the course of that change would be completely out of my control for at least the next day or two.

When the work day was finally over I got back to our apartment and it was a bit of a strange feeling, almost awkward.  Joni and I knew that we had 3 or so hours to burn before we left our home for the last time as just the two of us.  When we ate dinner it was clear that she was nervous.  We had heard that being induced was not a pleasant experience, that it often times made things a lot harder on the mother.  She had been uncomfortable for a couple weeks and was having trouble sleeping, breathing, and so many things that her physical morph had made difficult.  After we ate dinner, she asked if I would give her a blessing.  It was one of my favorite experiences of our marriage.  There was just such a sense of calm and pure love of our Heavenly Father.  It was incredibly apparent that He was aware of all our fears and anxieties, that He loved us, and that He would make sure that everything was Okay.

When we got to the hospital (around 9:30) I dropped Joni off so that she could start checking in and I could go park the car and gather some of our bags (we did NOT pack light.)  We went through the process of giving out insurance information and signing our lives away and got settled in a room.  The hospital we were at was excellent and we really liked our nurses.  It seemed like our first 3 had some kind of connection to Logan and Utah State (I was wearing a USU t-shirt) so there was always something to talk about.  Right at about 11:00 they gave Joni Cervadil and a few other things so that she could get a good nights rest.  Cervadil essentially is supposed to soften her cervix and get her ready to be induced the next morning (the Cervadil has to be administered for 12 hours before they start Petocin.)

Things kind of settled down after Joni got her medicine and it was time to try to get some sleep.  Joni went out pretty quickly a little before midnight and I laid there on my little couch-bed thing at full anxiety level!  I was exhausted but didn't think there was any way I could fall asleep.  Between everything that was running through my head, and the nurses that were running in and out of our room, it seemed like the last night I had to get a good nights rest without interruption from a screaming baby was a dream rather than a reality.  I finally stopped starring at the clock around 1:45 and nodded off.  I heard a few things here and there, but tried my best to roll over, away from the distractions, and get some rest!

I woke up around 2:30 and could tell that something was wrong.  Not really that something was wrong, but that something had changed.  The nurse was moving a little bit more abruptly than she had been for the previous few hours and Joni was in some clear discomfort.  I finally came to the realization that she was crying and in a lot of pain as her contractions had started getting pretty severe.  They gave her some medicine to take the edge off while she waited for the epidural.  They also informed us that she was now 80% effaced and dilated 3 cm, so things were definitely moving.  We both fell back asleep and got up at 5 when the anesthesiologist came by to start her epidural.

For me, seeing Joni get the epidural was the worst part of the entire hospital visit.  I was sitting in front of her, facing each other, so I wasn't seeing exactly what was happening, but I did see the tools he was using and I could tell that while he was inserting everything it was hurting Joni a lot.  He was hitting some nerves in her back and just seeing the discomfort on her face starting making me feel sick.  I started getting the cold sweats, clammy hands, and light head.  It got to the point that I just put my head down to avoid falling off the stool I was sitting on, and luckily it was over after that!  In my defense, I hadn't really eaten or drank anything in quite a while, so let's chalk it up to dehydration or something like that ;)

At this point we finally saw our doctor for the first time that morning.  She came in some time between 6:30 and 7:00 and said that she really liked how Joni was progressing but she had a lot of other people who had been in labor a lot longer who needed their baby's delivered.  Even though we were not the doctor's top priority at this point, she did break Joni's water just after 7 o'clock.  Since we had some down time and Joni wasn't in pain anymore, we both went back to sleep.  I woke up at 9:00 to the news that things started progressing very quickly after the broke her water.  Joni was now 100%  effaced and dilated 8 cm.  By now in the pregnancy process, I knew that asking for a prediction on timing was more likely get the doctor to look at me like I had male genitalia growing out of my face than it was for me to get a straight answer.  But with those numbers, which I knew here high, I asked the nurse if what she thought.  She looked at me funny at first...but then said she would bet we would have our son in our arms in less than two hours.

The first time they had Joni push was at 9:15.  Three pushes for 10 seconds, per contraction.  The nurse said that she could easily feel the baby's head and could even see that he would have to hair (much to Joni's delight!)  The doctor came back in after Joni gave three rounds of pushes.  She was very much in a rush and very much overwhelmed.  She had already delivered 3 or 4 babies and had another woman who didn't have an epidural and "isn't smiling right now."  (As you can imagine, Joni looked gorgeous and was her happy, positive self despite being hours away from having a baby.)  So we had to wait.  The crown of the baby's head was visible at this point but we couldn't do anything but wait until the doctor was available to deliver.

We finally got the doctor all to ourselves a little bit after 10.  At this point the baby had been sitting so low for so long that there was a lot of pressure on both him and Joni.  Luckily since she had an epidural it didn't feel like anything more than pressure to her, I'm sure it would have been incredibly painful otherwise!  With the doctor and her crew all set up and ready to go, at 10:30 it was time for Joni to start pushing again.

I remember watching the birth video in my 9th grade Biology class.  I remember describing the scene as a "disgusting purple football."  Needless to say, seeing that video at 15 ensured that I was certain I didn't want to be starring down the valley during the birthing process.  There are just certain things involving my wife that I don't want to see.  All that being said, I grabbed a spot of prime real estate in that delivery room on her left side at about shoulder level.  I was able to observe the process of the gift of life without seeing all the gore that goes along with it.  But I digress...

Joni did such a great job during the labor process.  I really was blown away.  I was fully expecting her to be a bit of a drama queen and thought even though it would undoubtedly be an incredible experience, it would also be like getting my fingernails plucked off in the process.  I was completely wrong.  She took everything like a champ.  She pushed every time she was asked to push and seemed to smile through all of it.  She is a machine built to have babies.  I first saw the baby's head from my post about 10-15 minutes before he was actually born.  I knew that she was so close but really didn't know what that meant time-wise.  With one last, strong push, our son was born.

As soon as he was born I was overcome with emotion.  I broke down the moment I saw him.  I was finally able to see the miracle that had taken 9 months to happen.  I couldn't hold back my tears and almost felt frozen.  I felt like I was a distant observer, stuck knee deep in cement while a whirlwind of activity swarmed around me.  It was such a surreal experience.  I cut the chord and watched them take care of him.  They cleaned him off, weighed him, measured him, took his prints, wrapped him up, and handed him to his mother.





I don't even know who it was who said it, I think it was the doctor, but it may have been a nurse who said, "don't be afraid to touch him dad, he's all yours."  I reached out, and through tear soaked eyes, saw my finger touch his tiny foot.  I can't articulate what I felt.  A great consummation of the joy I had been feeling since the day I found out Joni was pregnant, the emotion of the last 24 hours, and the great and eternal love of our Father in Heaven who's presence shown down more brightly upon me that day than it ever has.  I've had a lot of great days in my life, but I can't think of any experience I've ever had that could top this one.  I looked at Joni holding out son and my heart melted.  One of the things that I really admired about her from the day we met was the great maternal potential she always had.  There was never any doubt that she was going to be a great mother, there is no doubt that she IS going to be a great mother, it's a quality that I've loved about her since day 1.






After a few hours of changing rooms, allowing the dust to settle, and just enjoying the first sacred moments of being a family of three, we started talking about his name.  We had already decided that his first name would be Cooper.  He was born on my grandpa's 80th birthday.  My grandpa has three daughters and I'm his first grandson.  My middle name was given to me in honor of him, I'm the only one who carries on his name, and there was little doubt that on this day, Cooper would be named after his great grandpa Keith.

Cooper Keith McDonald has allowed me to love like I never imagined possible.  I love him and his mother more than I can describe and hope that I will be able to be the father and husband that they deserve.  I have so much that I want to teach Cooper.  There are so many things he needs to know.  Of all the things I hope he learns, perhaps the most important is to know that no matter what life throws our way, I will ALWAYS love him.





12.04.2013

Newest Christmas Tradition

As we have officially became a family of 3 just in time for Cooper's first Christmas we wanted to start our first Christmas tradition. At the beginning of the Christmas season Josh and I pick out a Christmas book and wrap it up to be opened and read on the first Monday of December. Each book has a lesson or theme to the story that we plan to remember throughout the 'hustle and bustle' of the holiday season. I hope as the years pass our children will look forward to going back and reading all of the Christmas books that have been collected over the years. The book we chose this year is titled 'Christmas From Heaven' the story of the Berlin candy bomber. It was so fun to read it with Cooper (even though he was asleep). The message of this story is, "From little things come big things." No matter how small the gift, give whatever you have. I love those simple words especially for us at this time in our lives.

No words...just pictures