More pictures of Trace

Introducing Trace Curtis Cook

We welcomed our son into the world at 8:04 AM on Monday, January 19th. He weighed 8 lb 11 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He is such a blessing and I feel like our family is complete now that we have our little man. Since coming home we have had some "new" experiences. For example, we never experienced pee squirting up in the air in all directions with our girls. This morning, I experienced another phenomenon at 4:30 AM while changing Trace's diaper. I had just removed his diaper when he decided to poop. Not good, as you can imagine we are still in the very liquidy stool phase and it came out with some speed in my direction. Craziness!!!! Trace is a very content baby and a real joy! We love him so much already. Life is such a miracle and we feel so blessed to have him as a part of our family!

We had our first outing yesterday to the mall and it was kind of crazy. We are definitely outnumbered now and just getting all the kids in and out of the car is a task with my 10 lb weight restriction. That means I can't lift the girls (thankfully Kianna is old enough to climb into her car seat), lift Trace in his car seat, or lift the double stroller out of the car myself. Thankfully, I have help for 2.5 weeks while healing and adjusting to life with 3 kids.

Overall the girls are adjusting well to having a new baby brother despite some jealousy on Kaylee's behalf. Both girls enjoy holding him, kissing him, and lying next to him when he is playing on the floor. There have been a lot of changes this past month especially for Kaylee. For example: she now shares a room with Kianna, takes her naps in the basement vs her bedroom, had to move her car seat to the 3rd row of the minivan, & has a new baby brother. She seems to be coming around though as this morning she decided to give Trace her boy baby doll and name him Trace Curtis Cook. I thought that was really sweet of her. Kianna seems unaffected by Trace's birth. We just got her potty trained in the past month and I was praying she wouldn't regress after he was born. Actually the opposite has occurred, she has had fewer accidents since his birth. We are hoping this trend will continue! 

Lots of Changes with More to Come...

New Room

Life has been a little crazy for us lately, as we are trying to prepare for the arrival of our little guy. The changes began about 11 days ago when we began potty training Kianna. We use a method where she wears only a long dress with no diapers or panties for the first few days to get her used to the feeling of having it run down her legs. Then once she gets used to staying dry without panties, then panties are introduced. Being the clean freak that I am, I admit I never thought I would attempt this method but it worked amazingly with Kaylee years ago, so why not try it again, right?? Unfortunately, it was a bit easier with Kaylee who was completely potty trained in about 6 days. We are now on day 11 with Kianna and she seems to have gotten the hang of it, as she has had no accidents yesterday or yet today. Yea!!! 

The other major change was moving the girls into the same room to free up the nursery for Baby Cook #3. Bed time has gone extremely well, although I am now awakened promptly at 7:00 AM (when Kaylee knows she is allowed out of bed). Kianna who used to sleep until 8:00 or 8:30 AM is now right by Kaylee's side and flips on my bedroom light upon entering my room. Talk about waking up fast!!!! No more sleeping in for Mommy! On the other hand, nap time hasn't gone so well!! Miss Kianna has a bit of a stubborn streak in her and despite repeating the rules of no getting out of bed, no talking, and no climbing into Kaylee's bed; she cannot seem to stay in her own bed, nor leave her sister alone. Kaylee has been quite the trooper even dealing with Kianna peeing all over her pillow and bed earlier this week! Have I mentioned life has been a little crazy around here lately!?!? Today we finally decided the girls needed to be separated during nap time and so that was implemented and has gone splendidly thus far! Yea!!!

More changes to come...includes the expected arrival of our little guy on Jan 19th via c-section. We are all excited to meet him and to see what he looks like after all these months of anticipating his arrival. We can only imagine how much crazier life will get with 3 kids, 4 and under! Yikes!! Pray for us as we adjust to having a newborn around again and that Kianna will not regress in her potty training, as I've been warned that can happen as well.