haircut after-party

backing up a bit

for posterity's sake...

just before leaving for the hospital.

after being cleaned up. looking a lot like andy (for now).

when you can catch her awake she's very alert!

my first visit from the boys.
i love this picture because it is so indicative of the boys' reactions to lilia.
benny loves to either be holding the baby or have her in the same room. he's always wondering where she is.
andy just goes around doing his own thing (which includes, these days, more climbing) and occasionally stopping by to give the baby some kisses on her head.

Bon Voyage!

Today my parents reported to the MTC.

Right before leaving for the MTC

They will be serving in the Raleigh North Carolina Mission starting June 30th.

We are really excited for them.

i can't believe it's already been a week that we've had lilia. she's been a great baby already! since we've been home, she's only woken up once in the middle of the night each night. i really hope that continues!

we haven't really had to adjust to having three kids yet. my mom has been in town since last thursday night. she'll leave late this afternoon and we'll have to start figuring things out on our own. it's been really nice having spencer and my mom around to help so much! the deep freezer we got between one and two months ago is absolutely full! i think we'll have some freezer meals to last us into school starting this august - i'm really grateful for that.

not that i'm thinking about having another yet, but it's been interesting to think about different birthing experiences and which i prefer. i've now had a c-section, a "natural" delivery with an epidural, and a completely natural delivery. one of my first responses after lilia was born (on the phone to my mom (who delivered 7 of 8 with no drugs) at about 1a) was, "i'm never doing that again." at the time, i really felt that way. however, my recovery this time has been so much better than either of the others that i wonder if it would be worth it to do it again. definitely way to soon to think about it, but i'm grateful that things have been going so well.

some pictures:

story time for everyone!

benny was very excited to help with lilia's first bath. he has been such a great helper.

with bubbe.
our first lili and lilia picture.
unfortunately it will be a while before we're able to get lilly ann and lilia.

in her first sunday dress.
i know it's silly, but i have been looking forward to corn syrup-ing a little bow to our little girl's head for a while. it worked great and even lasted over night!
i'm surprised at how many people at church didn't know the corn syrup trick. i thought that was an old one.

Happy Father's Day!

Coming Home

Yesterday Faith and Lilia came home from the hospital.

The BYU onesie is tradition.  Benny and Andy both came home in it.

She looks great in Cougar Blue.

Our little girl lost in her car seat.

The boys meet Lilia

Andy is still working on being soft with his little sister.  I love how happy he looks here.

This was really cute.  Before the boys and I left for the hospital, Benny grabbed this diaper and wanted to take it to Lilia.

I like how Andy says "Baby."

She is Here!

We are happy to announce that Lilia Cotterell was born last night at 12:38 AM. She weighs 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and is 19 inches long.

Faith had been kept up all Saturday night/Sunday morning with contractions. The contractions were not super strong, just enough to keep her awake. She only dozed about 40 minutes the whole night. I am amazed she functioned as well as she did yesterday. We went to church and by that time she was consistently contracting every 10 minutes. After church we just waited for them to increase in frequency and intensity until we decided it was time to go to the hospital. We called Steve and he came right over to be home with the boys. We got to the hospital at about midnight, got checked in, and Faith's water broke as we were still signing forms in the L&D room. Unfortunately that was before she could get an epidural. The nurses had called the doctor and he got to the room and barely got suited up in time to catch the baby. Faith did a great job and all of the nurses afterward were all impressed with how well she handled the delivery with just local anesthesia.

Faith and Lilia are both doing very well. We will post more pictures along as we go.

39 1/2 weeks

but who's counting? believe it or not, i'm actually not counting down. i wouldn't know to when. i definitely don't want to count down to the 24th because i'm really hoping to avoid a c-section still. i'd love to be able to count down to the 17th (my due date), but i don't think i can plan on that two pregnancies in a row! i've been having contractions on and off for the past week so i'm pretty sure things will work out just fine. i will say that i'm definitely looking forward to this baby coming. and sometimes, in all honestly, not very patiently. spencer's been very good to put up with me.

i've also been getting really excited for the girl to join us. i've seen some really tiny babies at different places lately and i can't believe we're going to have another one of those!

in all my glory...

Another Benny Quote

Tonight Benny, Andy and I were driving to pick up the missionaries for dinner. Benny wanted to wear his backpack in the car.

Benny (to himself more than anyone else):

"Missionaries say, 'You have a backpack!'"

"Then I say, 'Yes I do!'"


We had a good dinner with the elders and Benny just talked their ears off. It is fun to see him comfortably interacting with people he has just met.

misc

one of these days i may get around to having spencer take a pregnant picture of me. i'm just about 39 weeks. it really has gone by fast, but all the same, i am ready for this baby to join us. a couple of weeks ago my mom suggested i make a list of things i wanted to get done before the baby came to keep me busy and to avoid sitting around just waiting. i'm really grateful for that suggestion and got a lot of things done. i finally cut andy's hair, got our "dining room" table (most often used as a catch-all) cleared off and usable, got caught up on laundry, got more done on the girl's stocking (if i wait until december it'll never get done!), scrubbed the kitchen floor (on hands and knees this afternoon with spencer's help), and got 7 casseroles in the freezer. i've got two things left on the list that could go either way, really. hopefully she comes within the next week, though. i'd rather not get close to the c-section date (scheduled for the 24th).

i've also kept up my walking. i actually lengthened my original walk and am going almost 2 miles every day. i'm really grateful for it but it's definitely getting harder. i think i'll keep going every day partly for the sake of my pride. not a good thing, i know, but motivating!

it's been great to have spencer home. he's been a huge help with so much! he's been working about 20 hrs/wk from home for his dad's office. it's really nice. we've been able to do some fun things with the boys. we got a membership to the aquarium here and are looking forward to enjoying that even more. benny loves the sting rays and sharks and always makes a point to find "marlin, dori, and finding nemo."

the boys are growing up so much these days. it's been really fun to watch. here are some pictures from a few weeks ago. we set up the oscillating sprinkler in the back and the boys had a great time running through it! when drying off, benny asked to be tucked in. and, of course, he wanted andy to be included as well.