Today was the day.

Just yesterday I posted something like... "I dread the day when I can't leave him on the changing table for a minute while I get some things done..."

Today after getting Axl ready for the day, I needed to just curl my hair under before we left to run some errands. This takes, more or less, two minutes time. Axl was fully on the changing table when I left him. This is what I found when I got back. Close call. I think it was a combination of his incessant kicking, very soft outfit, and the vinyl changing table..which doesn't have the cover on it because he peed on it--as he does often. Needless to say, no one needs to worry about me leaving Axl unattended anymore, I think I made it today just in time.

Cooper Thanksgiving

Several years ago, my side of the family started having our Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday before Thanksgiving so that my brother and his wife could attend both his and her families' Thanksgiving celebrations. I was appreciative of this tradition when Tyler and I got married because we can do the same. :) However, this year we celebrated on Sunday because my cousin Chelsea got married this past weekend and my parents were in Utah! Congratulations Chelsea!

Last week was one of the most stressful weeks I've had in a long time. I am going to school part-time this semester because I had Axl in September. It has mostly been a breeze but my least favorite thing to do is write papers. All of the exams in my Appalachian Studies class are papers. This one was a 15 pager...my personal nightmare. The worst part of my hatred for papers is the dirty little habit of procrastination. But not only do I procrastinate, I stress about the paper for the entire 2 weeks before it is due--all the while NOT doing it. So anyway, as this weekend approached I had the 15 page paper due on Monday on my mind, 2 batches of homemade rolls, 2 pies, and green beans to make, Stake Conference to attend and of course my little Axl to tend to. I seemed to time everything wrong with the cooking, and come Saturday I still had half the paper to write. HOWEVER...it is now Monday and the rolls and pies turned out great, Tyler prepared the green beans for me, and I completed the ginormous paper! ...and took pretty good care of my son, if I do say so myself, ha.

I bought this outfit for Ax to wear this Thanksgiving--I think it's adorable, but Tyler kept saying, "Axl, I'm sorry mom put you in this mega sweater."

Here's the family. My mom and dad-Karen and James, My brother and his wife-David and Paula, their children-Madison and Tripp, and us, of course.

Axl and Dad after the Turkey kicked in.

Madison helping out the Axman.

By the way--this week Axl's eyelashes grew a WHOLE lot and started curling! Adorable. Also, the changing table is Axl's favorite seat in the house...he is always smiling there. I dread the day when he can roll over and I can't get a little bit done while he's so happy lying there kicking away!

11/21/2008 I went to see Twilight this week with a bunch of gals from church and Tyler babysat for the evening. This was the first time I've gone out and done something fun (besides class) and Tyler has watched him. A couple days later I found these pictures on the camera. Looks like they had a pretty good time

Axl is 2 months old today!

Well, it's hard to believe it has been two months since Axl was born...Some days it feels like it was yesterday and some days it feels like there was never a time when he wasn't with us! He is growing like a weed and shows us more of his personality every day. The second month was an exciting one...here are some of the highlights.

We went to Court Days actually the day before Axl was one month old. 10/18/08

It was very interesting traveling through the huge crowd of people with three strollers
Xanthan, Matthew, and Axl

Axl loves the tummy time toy I bought him this month...however he really only loves it for about 3 minutes at a time :)I saw Axl smile at me for the first time this month. 10/30/08
(this isn't an actual picture of the FIRST smile--wouldn't that be nice, ha)Axl spends a lot of time with his cousin, Elena...Cindy and I have too much fun dressing them alike and similar...he'll hold this against me later, I'm sure!Axl celebrated his first Halloween this month!
Here with all the cousins...Asha, Rockwell, Gabi, Elena, Axl and MinxTrunk or Treat 2008Sometime during this month, we found THE pacifier. We tried five before we found the ONE, and I am SO grateful!We had a birthday party for Aunt Naomi on November 8th. When she came into town she brought a blanket she had made for Axl. Here is a picture of both Tyler with his favorite blanket from childhood that Naomi made and Axl with the blanket she made for him. Grandma and Grandpa Hamilton left for their mission on 10/11/08--this picture was taken right before they left.Mom and Dad had their first date night since Axl was born this month. We went to Cincinnati to see the Wizard of Oz on broadway. Good friends John and Erin took care of the Axman for his first evening babysitting experience!
WOW, did someone switch my baby with a MUCH bigger one??
1 month old 10/19/08

2 months old 11/19/08

Time keeps flying by!!

Babywise

So, I think several of you all out there have read this book and practice PDF...I don't know your e-mail addresses so I'm just going to hope that you read this and have some advice/answers for me. I have read the book twice now and have been trying for several days. The nights are definitely going well--he is sleeping through the night or only waking up once. However, the days are driving me so insane I'm thinking about throwing in the towel...I have Axl on a 2 1/2 hour schedule. When I lie him down for a nap, he cries of course as they say will happen in the book. Usually he will calm himself down and drift to sleep but no longer than 15 minutes later he will wake up. I am checking on him periodically during the times that he is crying, patting him, giving him his pacifier and sometimes picking him up until he is calm and lying him back down. But never in these couple days has he actually napped the full hour or so. I am leaving him in the room for the time allotted for sleep and, like I said, checking/soothing him about every 10 minutes during the times he's crying. Axl did not cry much before this, so now I'm thinking I was better off just not having a schedule like before. It's killing me! Am I doing something wrong, or can I do anything differently? Thanks so much for any advice!

...and baby makes three!

Now that I have recapped our lives since marriage, it is now time to introduce our little one!

Axl James Hamilton was born on September 19th, 2008 at 10:36 pm. He weighed 7 pounds 3.8 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long.

My water broke in the middle of the night and we got to the hospital about an hour and a half later. I didn't go into labor naturally so they started pumping me with pitosin right away. I labored until about 2:30 on my own and then requested the epidural. He took his time, but everything went quite smoothly. I only pushed for about 20-25 minutes and he was here :)

We were anxious to get him home, but also a little scared. This have gone very well and he is now almost 2 months old! Here are some of my favorite pictures of Axl's first month of life.

Not sure if we're ready to go home

First time in the carseat
One of our first family photosFirst sponge bath at home

First real bathFirst time meeting the cousins

QT with Dad

Axl's first bottle 10/05/2008

Axl is one month old! 10/19/2008

Axl's Blessing day. Tyler Hamilton, James Cooper, Tom Hamilton, Bill Cooper, Jay Hamilton, Felipe Diaz, Lucas Darby, Lyman Darby, Trent Hicks, and Ian Mogenhan all stood in.

We love Axl so much and seriously can't get enough of him. Tyler loves to see him smile and I'm so enamored that everything he does makes me melt! I can't wait for every new day with him!

Pregnancy...so glad it's over!

Most of you know that I often say that every part of my body rejected the idea of being pregnant, but now that I have a little man to show for it, I feel slightly obligated to look at it in a more positive light. So after I force myself to think of ten things I liked/loved about being pregnant, I'll share the many, many things I hated :)

Things I loved about being pregnant:
1. Feeling Axl move was a wonderful experience for me; it was so great to be reassured of his existence everyday--although there will be several items in the next list that will look at this a different way...
2. The cure to my sickness at about 18-20 weeks was to constantly eat. I like to eat.
3. Cravings for Fuzzy Navel Sno Cones.
4. Tons and tons of Sierra Mist.
5. Pop-ice.
6. A justified nap.
7. Buying the entire bear line at Gymboree.
8. Hearing the heartbeat at the doctors' office.
9. Tyler deciding my belly button looked like a grumpy old man and talking to it as such.
10. The anticipation of having my own child after a lifetime of babysitting.

Things I hated about being pregnant:
1. Being fat.
2. Being sick.
3. Not being able to sleep on my stomach.
4. Having NO clothes that fit.
5. Maternity clothes.
6. Crotch ache.
7. Not feeling Axl move--several mornings I cried for two hours because he hadn't moved yet and I thought he died in the night.
8. Axl moving in my ribs.
9. Constant rib ache.
10. Heartburn.
11. Gas.
12. Our full-size bed.
13. Waking up every 20 minutes to pee, hurt, or worry.
14. Triage visit.
15. The new taste of pepperoni- Body Odor.
16. Nasty water break.
17. Pitosin.
18. 17th degree tear, ha.

I could go on, but I'm tired of thinking about it. :) Because I hated it so much, I didn't take many pictures, but here are the ones I did.

21 weeks

29 weeks

32 weeks

37 weeks