Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act

If you haven't had a chance to support this, I really hope you do. It only takes a few minutes of your time. I feel really strongly about putting money behind law enforcement to track, find, and hopefully give justice to innocent children out there - victims of horrific sexual abuse. Many of you supported the child protection safety act just passed a few months ago, this is another bill that desperately needs support. We have a responsibility to speak up. You can go to Oprah.com for further details on the subject.

It is very simple - copy their sample letter (or write your own), then click on their link senate.gov and go to your state. Then paste their sample letter into an email to your senator. Easy peasy. (That one goes out for my mom).

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act - Oprah.com

Baby Fat

I love my babies, but lets be honest here.

I hate losing 'baby weight.'

Brayden is 10 weeks old now. I don't know how that happened, because I haven't yet come out of the fog. Let's face it, I am tired, sluggish in my softish type body, and although Brayden is a champ at sleeping most nights, I have three OLDER children that like to come and pay me a visit regularly during the a.m. hours of the day. They like to take advantage of the empty space next to me in my king size bed that should be occupied by one 'daddy' who shall remain nameless. 2 days ago I woke up with all four children lined up next to me, and decided I had 'had enough of the insanity!'

So in typical "Jenny" fashion, I set out to get some order and control back on the Cook family home front. I have been a little bit in denial about my life the past year. I thought that surely misery of the sorts we had been enduring couldn't possibly be permanent. I have fought tooth and nail to try and change things. I am now starting to bitterly realize that things are not going to change in the near future, and 'this is as good as it is gonna get...' so .... I guess I have to deal.... sometimes tearfully deal...anyways back to what I was saying; In typical 'me' fashion, I got myself all pumped up to get it all back under control and make my own 'happy place' and set some goals for the next two months. I was really quite impressed with myself. I even set realistic goals. I then went further and wrote detailed information on how I was going to accomplish said goals. And yesterday, I was so impressed with myself on how well I followed my rules and expectations for myself on reaching my stated goals.... Then today rolled around. It wasn't so great... And once the afternoon rolled around the cookie dough in my freezer was beckoning and I gave in to one cookie dough ball.... Then another.... and as the day got worse I said to myself 'to hell with it!' and baked a whole dang dozen... and you can guess it... ate the whole dang thing myself. What can I say? I crashed and burned today. One more day of being stuck in this baby body that I am not so happy to be in. There is always tomorrow, right?!

And by the way, why didn't anyone tell me that having 4 kids would be like this?! What the crap?! Why do you all make it look so easy? Are you all just a bunch of liars putting on a show? Or am I really just a little weak and pathetic? I think I have figured out that the timing on them getting to our family is just a little painful! Between the nursing child, the wild two year old that cannot be tamed, the kindergartner that gets off the bus at lunchtime, the first grader that gets off the bus mid-afternoon, I am painfully counting down the days until I will have 2 kids in school all day, making it possible to get to any type of store for any amount of time over 15 minutes without having to rush back home again! And oh, the thought of getting through an actual workout without a crying baby or 'wild child' constantly finding trouble I have to get him out of makes me giddy at the thought. I am trapped, I tell you! Trapped! What I wouldn't give for a partner in crime home in the evenings so I could ESCAPE the madness once in a while!

Alright, enough complaining. I really do love em all, I just didn't know it would be so hard. Cuz it is, it is HARD for me, really it is really hard for me. Did I say it was hard? Cuz it is. I'm not holding back. Did ya notice?!

Addicted to LOST

So, I have always wanted to watch LOST. But, you can't really just jump in on those episodes, I mean, what the heck is happening? So Chris and I borrowed seasons 1 and 2 from a friend, and started watching them when we had a 1 week old baby.

Big mistake.

Just how stupid are we?

They are seriously addicting. All we have done every night for the past month is eat, drink, and breathe Lost. We have watched 3 seasons in 4 weeks, and the first 6 episodes of season 4. Now Chris is in Wyoming working for the week and we are DYING a little inside every day. However, the sleep I am finally getting is kinda nice. I mean, how stupid are we? As if we aren't up all night with a new baby, a 2 year old who won't go to bed for 3 hours every night, then likes to try and sneak into our bed 80 bazillion times a night, and a bed wetter to boot; You think we would be smart enough to ya know, go to sleep at night. But we're not. That dang bowl of M&M's and our boob-tube have been beckoning. Like I need M&M's and Television sucking up my time, adding more cushion to my jelly belly. Good news is, since I have had two nights off from Lost, I finally started working out and getting to bed by 10:30 at night. AND Brayden, bless his little heart, has slept through the last two nights. Now if I could just step away from the M&M's...

I can't believe all you dummy's who have been watching this for the past 5 years. I would have poked my dang eyes out! I can't believe what they are doing to the viewers! I mean what the crap were they thinking ending season one with that dang hatch opening, and not letting you see what was inside?!!! And leaving you hanging with tidbits of information and not getting back to those important bits of info until like 3, 4 or 5 episodes later?! I think I would have died waiting for just what the heck is actually going on by now. When we finally get caught up, I don't know what I am going to do. How will I wait and entire week between episodes? And now that we have gotten rid of the love of my life (my DVR and Dish network) what's a girl to do? Life as I know it will have to stop again to watch a dang TV show. *sigh*

I think I need to get my priorities straight.

And don't even get me started on "The Bachelor"...

The newest Cook

Our baby arrived - Brayden Grant Cook - weighing in at 7lbs 80z, 20.5 inches. And who does he look like? It's like giving birth to the same baby over and over again, because they all come out looking like their dad. That's right, I do all of the work and get none of the credit. It's a darn good thing their dad is so good lookin'.

For anyone curious, and just for journaling sake - here is this round - summed up. I was supposed to be induced on Tues. Jan 27, but I went in for my appt. on the 26th to make sure everything was still on, and I hadn't been feeling to well. I gained 6 pounds in 2 weeks, my legs were so swollen I felt like I was flexing my leg muscles all the live long day, and I was seriously seeing spots. For reals. Come to find out I had protein in my urine, and high blood pressure also - which I guess means pre-eclampsia (never had any other problems with my other pregnancies). Oh, and I was also Dilated 5-6 cm. So they told me to get over to the hospital, we were going to have a baby TODAY instead. (the 26th). So I begged to let me go home and get my stuff and Chris first, and they made it sound like such a big deal to hurry up and get back up to the hospital. So we did - we got there at about 1, or 2ish, I think, and then, waited. And waited. And were seriously annoyed with all the waiting. We finally got word my doctor would be coming at 5 or so to break my water and get a move on getting baby here. At 6 I talked my nurse into getting the anesthesiologist over to get me my epidural, 'because I have babies 15 minutes after they break my water' I bragged. In fact, I had been telling my doctor all month I go really, really fast - so not to go anywhere once they break my water and start the pitocin. He finally showed up at 7 and broke my water, then informed me he would be back in an hour, he was getting some dinner. "WHAT?!" I protested, " you better not leave this hospital!" I threatened. He came back to check me in an hour and said, "you are still a solid 6". I shrugged my shoulders and could feel my ears turns bright red. I looked like such a big fat liar! I managed to throw out a 'sorry' as he left again. Then I realized they hadn't started the pitocin yet. So they did. and when he came back the next time an hour later, I was able to redeem myself. Got baby here. Chris even gowned up and got to deliver Brayden. Our OB in Washington always let the dad's help catch if they wanted to, so he got to help with the other three kids. This OB was alot of fun, and I let his student doctor come in for the delivery, so he and Chris were able to do the whole delivery while my OB 'coached.' Bring in the entourage. Brayden arrived at 9:38 pm, a sweet little piece of heaven placed in my arms. It is such a miracle. You go through so much for what seems like an endless amount of time, and in a fleeting moment, this sweet precious child is here. I feel so lucky to be a mom.

My mom came down from Seattle to stay for 2 weeks, and I would not have made it this time without her! Chris and I are so thankful she was able to come and be with us. She is so helpful, and such a good Grandma. Mom, I love you!!!

My friend Shelby came over to take pictures of Brayden. Shelby has her own photography business, and takes beautiful pictures. Here is the link to her photography site FizzieLime Photograpy. She does all sorts of different photo sessions, and we can't wait to do family pictures with her. Thanks so much Shelby!

I don't know why, but blogger won't let me re-arrange pictures on my posts lately, so I will post some pictures from the hospital separately down below.

Hospital pic's

I think he's a little disgruntled.

Chris helping with his first bath in the 'nursery'. I didn't even know hospitals still had nursery's. Chris followed after the nurse as she whisked away our new little guy just an hour old. He had to make sure they didn't switch him with some other baby.

Ah, more like it. Snug as a bug in a rug.

Aww, my baby, holding my baby.

I think Jake felt a little out of place.

That's better. I think he's warming up.

What a good big sister! And Holy crap is my face nice and swollen!

Chris looks a little tired.

But he CAN'T be as tired as I am. Wait, he did have to sleep in a recliner for two nights in a row. Maybe he is. At any rate, we were glad to get out of the hospital.

I just love his dang little mits.

Happy Birthday Bailey!

My little Rag Doll

My Baby is 7 today. Which is kindof amazing actually, because I just brought her home from the hospital.

It was a cold, blustery Seattle night, and I was cranky and uncomfortable as I sat, beached on my couch, counting the minutes and timing my annoying 'cramps.' I was getting more and more cranky and uncomfortable as the hours passed, and Chris was headed off for his 2nd job - night shift, stocking shelves at Home Depot. He kissed me goodbye, and told me to call him if I thought it was time to go to the Hospital. I said goodbye at about 9:30 pm and tossed a 'yeah, right' after him as he closed the front door. Time to go to the hospital? Yeah right. I'm not in labor.

About an hour and a half later, I called up the labor and delivery at my hospital and told them of my worsening symptoms. They instructed me to get in a hot bath, and either my contractions would stop altogether, or they would pick up and I would need to come in. 'Come in?!' I thought to myself. No way. 'What to expect while you are expecting' tells me what labor is supposed to be like. Contractions are supposed to last 45-60 seconds and get closer and closer together. Plus, they are supposed to hurt really, really bad, right?

So, I took a bath, and about 5 minutes into my not so relaxing bath, I started to do that stupid breathing thing because I thought I was going to DIE. I quickly called Chris and told him it was TIME to go to the hospital and to hurry up and get home. He was a 30 minute drive away, and my hospital was another 45 minute drive away. Thank goodness he was a first time Dad, fulfilling the scene he had created in his own mind that wasn't that much different than the one in the movies - Wife is all of a sudden in labor at midnight and you get to fly to the hospital. He was there in about 10-15 minutes, thank goodness, because I was doing that hard core hee-hee-hoo breathing that I swore I would never do at birthing classes. I had about five contractions just making it from our little condo to the car in the parking lot. Superdad then of course drove like a maniac to the hospital probably doing at least 90 mph, because, of course, he was only doing what first time Dad's are supposed to do. All I remember of that exhilarating drive was Chris in crisis mode hollering "Those contractions are NOT 3-5 minutes apart! We were supposed to go to the hospital when they were 3-5 minutes apart!" Duh. I would have done that if they actually did what the dang book told me they were going to do.

Long story short, My labor was quick, the anesthesiologist was my hero and the man of the hour, aside from my OBGYN, and in the early hours of the day they placed the tiniest, softest, sweetest, most breathtakingly beautiful bundle of instant love in my arms. It still brings tears to my eyes. She was everything I had ever dreamt of, everything I had ever hoped for, but not in a million years could have ever been prepared for in my life. No one can ever tell you how instantly life changing it is to hold your first baby in your arms. No one can ever put into words the instantly overwhelming feeling of unconditional love that it is to hold your child for the first time. I am so lucky to be a mom. And now all of a sudden, she is 7. Where did 7 years go? I was talking to Chris the other day, and wondered aloud if the next 7 years were going to go as fast as the last. He said he thought they would probably go even faster. And I told him he better call the WAAAAAaaaaaambulance, because I think I am going to crumble at the thought.

Bailey Anne, you are such a joy. I am so thankful you came to our family. I am so blessed and lucky to be your Mom. You are amazing in so many ways. I love your sweet spirit, your gentleness and kindness; your infectious laugh, your innocence, your compassionate heart; your forgiving nature, your desire to serve others, your ability to make new friends so quickly. You are such a good big sister, such a great example, so much fun to be with, and I love you!!! Now, stop growing up! Happy Birthday my love.

Love, Mom

Plugging the pipes

Should I be concerned that my 2 year old just ate up 6 pieces of bubblegum? Or should I be glad I know where they are and not chewed and strewn about...

Just to make sure his plumbing wasn't already good and stopped up he dove into a brick of good old fashioned cheese.

That's right, I ate Cheese mom. Now I am peacefully playing with my cars. What? I didn't do anything.

It is safe to say someone may be getting a diet of raisins, prune juice, and milk of magnesia; while someone else will be on poo-watching duty for the hunk of bubblegum to make it on through.