A Blessed Day

Parks was given a name and a beautiful blessing by Carleton.  It was a day to celebrate.




















Here are some random pics.

 

 

 Happy Birthday Carleton.  Annie and Apollo helped make Carleton's cake.  We had our first date night out that night...Parks chaperoned.  I'm thankful to be married to my best friend and love.

 Carleton still gets out to bike, rock climb, work out, and play racquet ball-usually before the rest of us are awake.

You is Smart.  You is Kind.  You is Important. 
 -The Help


 I wonder with each child if I'm doing the right thing.  My sister sent me some flowers with this quote (above).  I guess when it really comes down to it, as long as my children know that I love them, everything will turn out okay.  Being sleep deprived and adjusting to a bigger family is a big change.  I am very thankful for prayer.  Sometimes I pray just to know what to do next, and my prayers have been answered.  I am very thankful for my sister, who has helped me to put things into perspective.  I've had family here for 7 weeks.  I don't know what I would have done without all the help that our family has received.

My friend, Suzana, took these newborn pictures.  She is so talented!!!!  It was a crazy time with Parks pooping and peeing a million times on everything as we were trying to take the pictures.  He changes from day to day.  He is a peaceful and happy baby and he is very very adored by Apollo and Annie.

We took Apollo's training wheels off and he did awesome.  He declared "I never want to put my training wheels back on again."  Annie is her sweet self and has been telling us stories about "about a little girl named Annie and a boy named Apollo" and names the rest of the family.

Heaven is Here-Welcome Parks!!!!!

 Our big boy Parks Joshua Copa came January 17th at 5:50 in the morning weighing 10 pounds 3 oz.  I had been at the hospital from 11:30-4:30 the day before with consistent 4-5 min. contractions but since I came in dilated to a 2 and didn't progress, I had to go home where I continued to have contractions.  We went back in to the hospital at 3:30 am.  I was dilated to a 5 or 6 so they let me stay.  I felt like I needed to push before getting the epidural.  They didn't have a chance to run my epidural fluids, just gave me the test shot in the back.  I was supposed to have antibiotics pumped before too but...NO TIME!!  They were rushing to find a doctor because he came so so fast.  The anesthesiologist said he didn't know if the epidural would work because Parks was too low.  It was very painful.  He came out with a blue face, swelling, and some marks, but we are so glad he came here healthy.  When I held him on my chest for the first time he cocked his head to look up at me when I spoke to him.  He looked over at Carleton when he spoke to him.

 Apollo and Annie made little bean bags a couple months ago and gave them to Parks when they met him.  Parks "gave" Apollo and Annie each a Lego set so they could have some attention too.

 


When Parks was in my tummy he was pretty chill during the day but every time I woke up in the night, I could feel him moving.  During his first day he was super sleepy but he came alive...awake at 9:30 that night.  Carleton talked about holding him and he would just look around.  At 7:00 that morning, he was back to being sleepy.

 We didn't know if he would fit the outfit we picked for him to come home because it looked big, but it did.

 Home at last.

 We spent the night at the hospital after the kids' visit.  Annie thought Parks would be home.  My parents heard Annie and Apollo waking up that morning in their bunk beds and in Annie's cute little voice, she said "Let's go see Parks" and ran into our room.  They were sooooo excited when we arrived home that night and couldn't stop touching their little brother.  Mom and Dad had some balloons and the sign on the door.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for being here and taking care of the kids.

That night the kids wanted to rock Parks to sleep.  They filled his cradle with animals and blankets and sang to him.  Apollo even gave him his "Chugnut" (bed-time buddy) to sleep with.

 So cute.  Parks will look at the kids when they talk to him.  He has stopped crying when Apollo and Annie sing to him.  Parks is a very chill baby.  He loves to be close to us at night.  He's a sleepy gus and doesn't cry much. 

 First bath. 

 He calmed right down when we ran warm water over his head.  Apollo and Annie always liked water too.

Piper meet Parks.