Ashlen Events

Ashlen and I had a surprise visit from Auntie Christy! Matthew gave her a pass to come for the weekend!
On Saturday Rosie hosted a very nice baby shower for us! Meadow helped open the presents.

Even Helen and Jenn took part by making a DVD about life with 4 kids. Thanks you guys! It was good to hear from you! I'm glad you could join us from afar!

Ashlen enjoyed all the holding by the ladies!

Then on Sunday we dedicated her to God, showing that we put her in God's hands and will teach her to know and honor Him. Of course she will have to choose to follow him when she is old enough. (In case someone reading this doesn't know what this dedication means.) Grandpa Cooke was glad to do the dedication for the first time with one of his grandchildren!

Sisters & Brothers

Meadow is a very good big sister! She wants me to have 20 babies!

Another attempt at a picture of all 4 kids. Oh well, maybe we'll manage to get one by the time they're in high school!..Or will someone still be fussing?

The family

Here are some family pictures. Sisters!

Grandma and Grandpa Cooke

Grandma and Grandpa John

Our attempt at a family photo. Brennen just wanted out of there!

The kids are all warming up to their new sister now, but at first they wouldn't go near her. Logan shows the most interest, and likes giving her kisses. They still like to call her Cookie Doh! Tonight is our first night with all the kids home. The grandparents have had them for the last few days so I could recover in peace and quiet! Matthew will be off work for 2 more days. It has been very relaxing. She's a pretty good baby, but likes to be held all the time, and wants to feed about every hour! She sleeps for 2-3 hours at a time at night. I know that will get better soon!

The Arrival of Cookie Doh

Amazing! Beautiful Ashlen Rain was born naturally (not induced like all the others!) on her due date, April 10th, which was Matthew's birthday! She weighed 7# 9oz and was 20" long. I couldn't ask for anything more perfect, except I should have known better when to leave for the hospital! After having regular contractions all day, I spent the evening at my parents house which is closer to the hospital in case I needed to go in. Fortunately the kids spent the night there. Around midnight my contractions were 8-12 minutes apart, but didn't seem all that strong, so I called the hospital to see if I should come in, and the nurse told me to wait till they were 5-2 minutes apart! (Very bad advice for a 4th baby on someone with fast labors!) So we went home to sleep, which I didn't much. At around 5:10 AM I got up to use the bathroom and suddenly my 10 minute not so bad contractions got very strong and came every 3 minutes! By the time I got back to bed, I was feeling the need to push! We got out the door as fast as we could, and Matthew sped to the hospital. It was scary thinking the baby might really be born in the car, and then in the elevator as Matthew pushed me in a wheelchair up to OB. It still makes me shudder to think about it! We made it to the room, and that same nurse kept telling me not to push because the midwife wasn't there yet. "Just breathe through it." I hate that! I'd been "breathing through it" for the last half hour! Then a nurse with many years of experience came in and told me to go ahead. After 1 big push Ashlen was born at 5:46 AM less than 10 minutes after arriving to the hospital! The midwife arrived a few minutes later. Oops!

Anyway, enough of the details... here she is about a half hour old! We were very happy to have another girl!

First bath. She hated it!

One of the few times she opened her eyes.

Good daddy changing the first diapers.

Ashlen Rain

Here she is!

Logan is 3 ...almost!

Today we celebrated Logan's Birthday! His real B-day is April 20, but we decided to celebrate early because the grandparents are leaving on his birthday, and Cookie Doh could come any day! His three best buddies came- Benaiah, Gavin, and Kegan, with sisters and mommies. Also grandparents, of course! I'm glad everyone could come at such short notice, runny noses and all! Matthew made a new friend! Kegan helped him play the Happy Birthday song.

Having lunch

Logan had a blue cake with Lego's on top, because he always makes cakes out of his Lego's and cooks them in his kitchen. I couldn't get his candles to light, so he just had to blow out the lighter!

He enjoyed his blue cake with blue frosting and blue ice cream! Everyone had blue faces and teeth afterward!

It was a fun party. He's been excited about his birthday for the last 4 months! He has been asking almost every day for a blue balloon (which lasted about 5 minutes before getting popped) and blue cake.