Cabin Fever

This weekend the Daines clan made the semi-annual trip to the lake cabins for General Conference. We weren't sure how it would be for our little family with Cooper being so new, but it went very smoothly.

It sort of rain-snowed all weekend, which usually is less then pleasant, but with the view over the lake it was awesome to see.

Along with it being Cooper's first Conference weekend, this weekend also held a very special milestone..Cooper's first Shock game! All the girls and kids went to the Shock game while the guys went to the Priesthood session. We bashed Stockton 70-12, and Cooper slept through the entire game. We had so much fun together, and all of James' hard work totally paid off. The game was so fun and all the sponsor events went so smoothly. Way to go James!

Princess Victoria...Shock royalty!

Sunday morning session we had breakfast with Mom, Dad, Tim and the Javiers.

Sammy...


Dexter and Cooper

After conference we had a family dinner out at the cabins, which Kiley so graciously prepared..we are still eating the leftovers for dinner tonight, thanks Kiley!

After all the reverence of conference, some sort of craziness settled over the cabins...here is just a small sample...



Crazy Rori..

Crazy Canon..



Crazy cousins who switched all their clothing. (Anyone have any idea why?)

Unable to button the pants, so the blanket is for modesty's purpose.

We really enjoyed conference, and we felt very lucky to get to participate in the sustaining of our new prophet. We had many favorite moments of conference, but Steven and I agree that we both enjoyed President Monson's remarks just before he closed. We are so excited to learn from him.

Happy Conference Weekend!

Cooper's First Haircut and Some Other Moments...

Candy has worked her magic again, today Steven and I took Cooper for his very first haircut! He was such a good boy, and Steven handled everything surprisingly well. (Sammy dropped a boot on Cooper's head yesterday...not handled so well...) Anyway, we had so much fun with Candy. She'll kill me for posting pictures of her not ready, but I wanted everyone to see how beautiful she looks pregnant! Sickening....

We got to go to a tournament of Lizzie's this weekend here in Spokane. She was coaching instead of playing (BORING), but it was so awesome to see her!

We have been so blessed by others with things for Cooper, but this was one of my favorite gifts. Thanks to Eric and Heather Wilson for this fun John Deere blanket for Cooper! (He loves the blanket, but hates the flash on the camera, hence the face)

Thanks to everyone helping us adjust to our new life.

Happy Easter!

We had so much fun this Easter. We loved the egg decorating, Stake Conference, and Easter dinner. On Saturday we attended our ward's easter egg hunt. Steven got to give a quick devotional before the hunt that really made an impression on me that I wanted to share.

He likened the apostles running to the tomb to look for the Savior, to the children running looking for their eggs. He spoke of how when we are done with our treats and our eggs are empty we can remember that the tomb was empty, and how important that is. He went on to talk about other Easter similarities, but the image he presented will always stay with me. I was asked to play the piano for the devotional, so he gave his talk holding the baby, which was a really special thing for me too.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend, you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little baby obsessed.

Egg decorating...

This picture was taken moments before Tori started decorating her hands too...

Daddy and Coop taking a Sunday nap.

Thanks to Randi and Staci for convincing me to get a moses basket, it is my favorite!

Tori has been such a fun cousin for Cooper. She's always helping, talking to him and patting his tummy. Thanks Tori!

Here are the guys at Stake Conference, Cooper's first Sunday!


(These next pictures are a shout-out to Naki)

Sleeping like a normal person...

Sleeping like a Davis.

Things I've Learned From Tim

Recently, Steven and I were running errands with my younger brother Tim. At some point during the trip, Tim decided to tell us we were losers in very creative ways. I thought that they were way too creative to not share them, so here they are.

Here we have the classic well known "Loser" sign.

Here we have the "L7 Loser" sign. I think that this is from the movie Sandlot, but in the movie this sign turns from "L7" into a "W" which stands for "Weenie". I don't know if Tim knows this or if he was just told that word was inappropriate when he was little, and it's stayed with him.

Here we have the "Lieutenant Loser". Which starts with the Loser sign on his forehead and coming at you like a salute. (Memorable, believe me...)

Here we have the "Peace, loser" sign. (I don't know...)

By far my favorite...drum roll please....the "Bermuda Triangle" loser sign!

Tim is such an awesome guy. I'm so glad that we get to be close to him, and that he teaches us new things every time we're together. Love you Tim!

Adjusting

Okay! We've been doing great. Cooper is the EASIEST guy. He only wakes up once each night, and only cries if he needs to burp. He hates the bathtub, but we are working on that one. Steven had his first pee mishap this morning, Cooper peed through his diaper and clothes onto our bed. It was awesome because he was on the phone and trying to get me to help by making wild hand gestures that I did not understand. (He is making wild hand gestures half the time, how was I supposed to know anything was different?)

Here are a few of pictures from the last couple of days.

Grandma Davis has been a huge help. It has been so awesome to be able to ask her virtually any question and get a straight forward, logical answer. We had so much fun having her with us the last few days.

I took this picture because I wanted to show what an awesome job Steven is doing. He has been so helpful and attentive. Even though in this picture he is actually doing dishes at Candy's house...

My new favorite activity. All these years I have loved sleeping with the different neices and nephews, but it is a completely different feeling to get to sleep with your own. We are having such an awesome time. Thanks to everyone that is helping or has sent your support our way. We feel so grateful to have so many friends and family who love us.

Sorry We Haven't Written, We Fell In Love...

We had our boy! Cooper B Daines arrived on Tuesday, March 18th, at 4:27 pm. The delivery was astoundingly easy after we got the epidural. (Why would anyone not?!) Overall labor and delivery was about 9 hours, and a really fun experience. Cooper weighed 9 lbs, and is 22 inches long. He passed all his tests with flying colors, and we were able to come about 24 hours after labor started. We are so grateful he's healthy, happy, and not kicking me anymore.

The evening before...so excited!

Some of the support group. It was actually very reassuring to have Mom tending to business and Tim playing away. He made the time pass with lots of fun moments, but that might be a later blog.

I was so glad that Marsha was able to come be part of the experience. She'll never look at me the same way!

This is Tim passed out, right after telling me he hoped he never had to be woman..

Cooper's first bath with Grandma Davis...for anyone who wasn't at the shower, the blue shirt Cooper has on is the same shirt that Steven came home from the hospital in.

Not strangling him...

Tori hanging around with all the adults..decimating strawberries.

My favorite picture by far! I didn't realize that I managed to get his eyes open for the picture. You can begin to tell in this picture that he looks EXACTLY like his Daddy. He is so sweet and tries so hard. We love him and can't wait for him to meet everyone!

Nothing Yet...

Yesterday Candy and I had the opportunity to go to "Time Out For Women". It was a great expereince to be able to go and spend some special time with Candy. When I say special I mean giggle and eat contraband treats in the Spokane Opera House. We enjoyed getting to hear from Mary Ellen Edmunds and a few other amazing presenters. For sure the most memorable moment for me was when Hillary Weeks sang a song that made me bawl. I really mean bawl. It's been awhile since I've cried that hard. The song isn't recorded yet, so I will watch for it, and when it is available I want everyone to hear it. We had a wonderful day and I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to go.

Still pregnant! Since my previous post Steven and I have anxiously been experiencing each normal day. I have to say that waiting to go into labor is very exhausting. I don't think that I have ever been so aware of every little movement or moments of uncomfortableness. I had thought I decided months ago that when we got closer to the delivery I wasn't going to have the doctor check to see how things were progressing because I knew that I would not be patient enough to not think about it every waking moment. So, of course, I let them check and now I am dissapointed every new morning I wake up.

If I wasn't so closely involved I might think that this whole experience was very entertaining. It's almost turned into a never-ending "Christmas Eve" sort of feeling where every night we go to bed excited and hoping that something very exciting is going to happen that night. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights we did experience some contractions, but nothing ever consistant enough to go in. One of my favorite side effects is that the waiting has made Steven so excited. I love that he is calling from work to ask if we should go to the hospital, and especially that he wakes up everytime I have to go to the bathroom at night hoping that the moment has come. (Some small amount of revenge for all the times I would wake up and be mad that he was still sleeping so well) So, tomorrow we are going to the doctor to hopefully put an expiration date on the waiting.

In the meantime, we have been walking, and walking. We found a very cool park here in Post Falls called Falls Park. It has lookouts over the waterfalls, and a very cute playground. Here are a few pictures of our last walk.

Wish us luck for tomorrow!