So Tired...

I've been exremely tired lately, and haven't felt much like blogging! I'll post our Easter pics, though there are not many. Easter turned out great, and the kids really seemed to enjoy what the Easter Bunny brought them....especially the candy!

Natalie has made it to another milestone. Yesterday, I took the front rail off of her crib to make it a toddler bed. She slept there all night without falling or getting out of bed. This morning I heard her making her normal wake up sounds and waited a while to see if she would crawl out of bed herself and come downstairs...but she didn't. So I went up to get her, but allowed her to climb out of her bed by herself hoping that she would realize she could do it without help. Next we'll have to buy her an actual bed, cause we'll be needing her crib later!

Nolan with his Frisbee.

Natalie with her pink bunny.

Nathan walking around with an M&M filled egg.

Easter Eggs

I got the camera working again...thank goodness....though it looks rather beat up now. The kids and I colored some eggs yesterday and again today with Matt. It did feel a bit weird coloring eggs while it's snowing outside, but oh well, that's what an early Easter brings. Here are pics of our eggs and a few of Natalie the other day when she was being quite the "girl".

Cute eggs.

Nolan hard at work putting some paint on his egg.

So pretty....check out her lipstick!

Hey look! She's actually trying a smile for the camera!

OOPS!!!

First of all, Nolan dropped our camera yesterday, and we cannot get it working, so it may be a little while before I have new pics! Second of all...OOPS! We did it again. I was a couple days late and took a home pregnancy test....and of course it was positive! I seriously don't know how it happened (I know how....but not really). Matt and I were not planning on this again, but we are trying to remain positive about the whole situation. I know it is extremely early to be announcing this, but if it is meant to be, it will happen. I don't have a doctor here, so that will be my first task. I'm not really saying too much to the kids at this point....just in case. According to pregnancy calculators, I should be due around November 19th. So that is our big news.....another baby, and hopefully only one!

Nathan's First Haircut

Matt took the boys to get haircuts yesterday. This is Nathan's first official haircut....and Matt said he was excellent. Matt said both the boys were very good even after having to wait for over an hour. Nolan kept trying to look in the mirror so he could see what was going on....guess he wanted to make sure he still looked good! We think Nathan's haircut makes him look even more like Pops!

Great Birthday!

Today started off with Matt feeling sick enough to call into work and take a vacation day. But after he slept for a few hours, he was feeling a bit better. He then offered for me to go shopping while Natalie was napping and Nathan was approaching his nap time....so I did, with Nolan of course. We went to the mall, and I looked around, but unfortunately couldn't bring myself to buy anything (this is why I do not like to shop). The mall has a great play area for kids, so Nolan got to play for a while, and we also saw the Easter Bunny. When we came back home, I told Matt that I'd really like to go out for dinner instead of staying in. So we decided to head back to the mall for dinner and to let all the kids see the Easter Bunny.

We ate dinner at Garfield's, and it was really good...I especially enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to clean up afterwards! When we sat at our table, Matt told our waiter that it was "mommy's birthday". So after our main course, the gang from Garfield's sang a birthday song to "mommy"! Natalie however didn't care for the singing, and burst out crying about halfway through the song....I'm sure this did a number on their egos!


After dinner, we headed to see the Easter Bunny. There was one family in front of us posing their newborn baby with the Easter Bunny. The photographer must have taken at least 6 shots trying to get that perfect photo...which is what you do with just one little baby. Then came the Cook kids. We had them all situated around the Easter Bunny, but the photographer wasn't quite ready for us, as she was still checking out the people ahead of us. Natalie was busy telling the Easter Bunny about her shoes and her shirt and making sure that he knew who he was.....just saying "Natalie shoes, Natalie shirt, Easter Bunny". I was surprised that neither Natalie or Nathan were afraid. Nathan sat beside the Easter Bunny, and kept reaching up and touching his shirt, then cracking up laughing about it. Nolan was just ready to get this pic over with because he was ready to go play in the play area. The first pic was not very good at all, so we opted to take another photo. While the photographer was trying to get the kids' attention, Nathan rolled right off the bench, but thankfully I was in time to catch him. After the second shot, the photographer was trying to talk us into taking another one....but Matt and I knew that this would probably be the best we would get, and knew the kids were growing restless (probably the Easter Bunny too). And besides, these candid, unposed pictures are great....these are OUR kids in these pics....not models! Natalie doesn't get how to "smile" for the camera, Nolan puts on a fake smile (gets that from me!), and Nathan is hooked on his thumb! So this pic saves the true moment for us!

Feeling Better?

Good news....I am feeling great now, and Nathan is doing better except for a runny nose still. Nolan and Natalie were only sick for one day, so they must have avoided the flu somehow. Matt is a little sick now....but it may just be sinuses, and it appears that Natalie is starting something again as she has started to have a runny nose today as well. The thing that bothers me is that Natalie's cough is sounding the way Nathan's did last week. So I thought we were in the clear, but now I'm not completely sure. But for the time being, everyone is seemingly okay....so I'm going to hold out hope that no one else gets the flu!

As you can imagine with all of our sickness, we have done NOTHING the past week. Matt did go fishing this weekend, but the kids and I have just been hanging out. I'm hoping that we are all well because I'm supposed to meet up with an old friend from college next week. We're going to have lunch with our kids and catch up! I'm really looking forward to having an old friend to talk to!

That's all the news for now! I'll try and get some pics for my next post...I know it's been a little while!

FLU!!!

Despite my best efforts, we have the flu. Monday evening, Nathan, Natalie, and myself became sick. Low grade fevers, sore throats....just thought it was a cold. Natalie rebounded quickly....totally acting normal today with no signs of sickness. But Nathan and myself are still sick, and on top of that, Nolan started feeling sick this morning. I decided to call the doctor and have Nathan checked out since his cough sounded deep, and he was just not acting quite like himself. The doctor said his ears looked great and his throat was a little red. I told her about the rest of us getting sick -except for Matt- and she thought we should go ahead and swab him for the flu. And, of course, it was positive. So she wrote the whole family prescriptions for Tamiflu....this will be the first time that we've had a prescription filled for any of the kids. The other bad part of this is the doctor said an ear infection will typically follow the flu....

So it's probably going to be a LONG week here....just hope I can keep some sort of energy going as I feel achy all over and cloudy in my head. Wish us luck and a speedy recovery!