Busy Week...lots of pictures!

What a busy week and weekend we've had!! Tony has been back to school working on curriculum so Emma, Bradlee and I have been hanging out together at home. My blood pressure check last week was good, so I didn't have to go this week, which was nice! Emma also had her last gymnastics class of the summer last Wednesday. We will definitly be signing her up again for classes...as well as swimming classes! It's going to be a busy fall!! Here are pictures of her on the bars:

This was CRIM weekend in Flint, and Emma participated in the Teddy Bear Trot (1/4 mile) on Saturday. Friday night we picked up her registration packet and had some fun on the bounce slide and children's tent and Saturday afternoon, Emma and Tony ran in the race. She did really well and only had a hard time when she saw all of us (grandparents, Aunt Karyn and me!) towards the end...Tony carried her a little bit, and then she walked over the finish line. She did such a good job and then enjoyed a piece of pizza to get her "energy back". Bradlee slept through the whole thing...both days!! Emma talks about her race all the time now, and I think we've started a good thing here!!!

On Sunday, Tony's school secretaries hosted a "summer school" session for the teachers and their families...they had the pool open, open gym and bounce house and tons of food for us to enjoy, plus each other's company! It was a lot of fun and Emma had a blast playing with her friend, Katie, whom she used to go to school with (Katie's 2 years older than Emma, so she's going to be in Kindergarten, while Emma's only in pre-school!).

On Monday, Emma and I talked Tony into staying home from school and the four of us took a trip to the Detroit Zoo! What great weather we had...and it was a great day! We started by saying hello to Stosh and Sophie (two King penguins...if you want to know the story, let me know!) who were, of course, waiting for us when we got there!

You could tell it was a great day, because a ton of the animals were out moving around and such...Emma's favorite was the tigers, so she HAD to bring home a stuffed baby tiger...she named it Emily! LOL Bradlee was so good...slept the whole time, except when he woke up for lunch, which happened to be the same time we were enjoying our picnic lunch that we took! Tony and I have decided that this will be a yearly tradition...it's such a nice zoo and we had a great time!

Other than that, we've been just hanging around. I've notified my boss that I will be returning to work on September 17th and Tony and Emma start school on Monday...this weekend we will also be able to visit with Tony's friend, Steve, and his daughter, Kaiya, who live in Florida. It should be a nice closing weekend to the summer!

Here's the "Emma-ism" of the week....

We were at my parents' house this week and their cat, Basal, was sitting in the window in the living room. As Emma walked by, Basal started to jump out of the window and startled Emma. Emma ran around the couch to where my mom, sister, Karyn, Tony and I were sitting and said, "Guys, Basal 'fweaked' me out!" LOL

Weekly Update

Well, it's been a fairly uneventful week, thankfully!! I had Emma at home with Bradlee by myself for a few days (Tony has been going back to school to get things ready for the fall)...and I must say, things went pretty good! Emma is so helpful and wants to be right in there, except in diaper changing (can you blame her?!)!! She and I have even come up with our own system of her helping, in that I can tell her what I need from anywhere in the house (even if I'm in the basement and what I need is on the 2nd floor!) and she goes and gets it if I'm unable to....Bradlee and I "cheer" her on like in her Mickey Mouse movie..."Go Emma, Go!" She loves it and I really think it makes her feel involved. It makes me feel old....seeing her be so grown up!!

Emma is still in her "ganaxis" (gymnastics) classes for one more week in the summer session, then we go to the fall session. She's really good at it and really seems to enjoy it. We made sure we showed her the gymnastics on TV at the Olympics...her and Daddy cheered all the USA teams on (Daddy taught her the "U.S.A! U.S.A!" cheer! For a while it was "U.S.O", but we got it right now! She's been a little out of sorts the last few days, though, as she's gotten a small cold...but she's starting to feel better, and act better!!

Bradlee is doing SO well! He's getting so big and is such a good baby...he has been sleeping about 3-hour clips at night, making Tony and me get up only 2-3 times during the night to change and feed him. It's so amazing to look at him...he's so cute and definitely looks like a boy...Tony says he's got the "Coggins hair-line"!! LOL

Although we've said we're about 98% sure we're done having kids, I was in Babies R Us today and there were 3 pregnant women in line ahead of me and I was looking at them thinking, "Man, I loved being pregnant!" LOL If I could skip the 4 months of morning sickness, that 98% would probably be somewhere around a 60%...HA! Actually, Tony and I have both said that we would rather have 2 kids and be able to adequately provide for them and do things like go on vacations and such than have more kids and really struggle financially...it's a hard thing to decide, and only God knows what the future holds...but if he's listening and is planning on us having more kids...I hope he's also planning on us winning the lottery!!!

I think that's all the updates for now...I have to go see my doctor again tomorrow for another blood pressure check....if it's fine, then she said she'll leave me alone for a few weeks!! If anyone is in the Flint area and wants to come visit us, just give me a call and let me know! We'll be there!! Have a GREAT week!!

Bradlee's already 2 weeks old!

What a crazy two weeks it's been! The same day I posted the last blog (August 1st), Bradlee was admitted to the pediatric unit at Hurley for jaundice. His "number" was 17...which is NOT good, obviously. After about 12 hours under the bili-lights, he dropped to a 10.8 and we were sent home after about 24 hours in the hospital. I was concerned, but not scared, since we had done this with Emma as well...however, since Bradlee is much bigger than Emma was and was a full-term baby, his numbers dropped so much quicker and he's finally starting to look like a "normal-colored" baby! The corner of his eyes are a tad b8it yellow, and that's about it! Other than that, he's been so wonderful! He's sleeping about 3 hours at a time at night, making me get up only twice between the time I go to bed and the time I would wake up (or Emma wakes me up!)! He's eating good, sleeping good, pooping and peeing good...and Emma's been really good too!! She asks a TON of questions, and I try to give her the best possible, TRUTHFUL answer...but usually not more than she asks for! She's been doing really well and has been really helpful. It's amazing what a big girl she's turning into, and she's only 3!!

Here's one of my favorite "Emma-isms" that happened this past week:

Bradlee was fussing a bit, and my sister, Karyn, said, "Awe....Bradlee's not a happy camper!"
Emma: "What did you say Aunt Karyn?"
Karyn: "I said that Bradlee's not a happy camper. Are you a happy camper?"
Emma: "No, I not."
Karyn: "Why not?"
Emma: "Because I've never been camping!"

What a cutie! I hope Bradlee can handle her! :)

Welcome Bradlee!

I started to post this blog yesterday, then I hit something on the mouse and lost the whole thing...so sorry it's a day later than even I intended!

We had a few change of plans since my last blog...here's the update!

After a very uneventful weekend, I headed to work nice and early Monday morning and called my doctor to schedule an induction to have Bradlee. There were only two available times...that evening at 8pm or Saturday. According to my doctor, "We ain't waitin' until Saturday!" So I left work about an hour early and headed home to get ready for the busy night! Tony and I spent the afternoon putting laundry away, cleaning up the house and gathering trash (for trash night!) and then we went over to Tony's parents' house for dinner. Emma and Tony even got in the pool and swam for a bit before we left. I kept telling Emma that she was going to be a big sister that night, but I don't really think she understood what I meant. We left their house after dinner and headed to the hospital. The nice thing was that it was 7:30pm and so we had no problem checking in or getting to our first (of three!) rooms. After all the medical questions and answering, I was hooked up to the monitors and found out I was already having contractions and around 4-5cm dialated. I told Tony that if we were sitting at home, I wouldn't have even known that I was having contractions....and that they were 4 minutes apart!! So, I guess that even Bradlee knew it was time to make his appearance!

They started the Pitocin around 10pm and it took effect almost immediately, so they wheeled me into my second room (the labor and delivery room) to get ready. I labored for about 2 hours and around 12:30am, my doctor told them to break my water...that's when things really got a-movin'!! I was having really really hard contractions at about a minute apart and could barely even breathe between them, so I finally asked for an epidural. I gave birth to Emma naturally, like NOTHING for the pain, but this pain was so bad, I just needed something to take the edge off, and it was too late for anything through the IV, so around 1:3oam they hooked up the epidural and I was much more comfortable. My doctor arrived to check me and I was 8cm dialated, but my cervix was slightly swollen, and Bradlee was pressed up against the right side of my pelvix, so it explained why I was in so much pain with each contraction, and why my back hurt so bad. After a few more contractions, I was finally ready to push, but was apparently not doing it well enough for my doctor, because she ordered them to turn off the epidural...here comes the pain (again!)!!! So after she did that I only gave about 15 pushes and "poof!" Bradlee was out!!! Bradlee Patrick Coggins was born at July 29, 2008 at 3:28am weighing in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 inches long!

Tony was absolutely wonderful, of course! I didn't even put him in a headlock this time! LOL He and the nurses and Dr. Scott were taking bets on how much our little chunker weighed! Dr. Scott kept talking about how big his feet were!

Emma is loving her baby brother and she is so fascinated by everything he does...she was a little apprehensive at first, but now loves to hold him and look at him and asks a million questions...it's awesome! She seems so much bigger compared to him and I know that she is bigger (duh!) it doesn't seem like she should be THIS big!!! She's going to be a great big sister!!

Have to get some breakfast and get ready for Bradlee's first doctor's appointment! Happy Friday and have a great weekend!