Saturday, February 28, 2015

Cope Life Update!

So the last few months have been kinda crazy for us. Being a parent is HARD! It's like one day you are out and about doing your own thing at your own pace on your own time, then the next BAM! Now your number one priority is all about someone else. Is she changed, is she bathed, is she warm, is she fed, is her diaper bag packed, does she have a hundred Pacifiers on hand just in case, ok great lets put her in her carseat and go. Oh whoops just kidding, she just threw up all over my clean shirt, gotta change. Oh great, she just did an explosive poop, now she needs a change of diaper AND clothes. Ok, now she is fussy, quick feed to top her off then off we finally go. Having a baby adds at least an hour to any activity you want to do. Then you finally get out and you're all rush rush rush just to get everything done before she is due for a feed or change again. I haven't done my hair properly in weeks. Just sayin. But she is so worth it. She really is, I'm not just saying that.
She is going to be 3 months in just a few days. 3 MONTHS! Where has that time gone? Already she is huge and learning so much. Everyday she seems to have mastered a new trick. Right now we are enjoying her little coos and baby babble. Its pretty much the best thing ever. Her eyes go all big and bright and she smiles so big when you have a little conversation with her. Every second is awesome, even the rough ones.
Its funny, every day I find something new about her that I love even more. One day its her little tiny pinky toe, the next its her tiny ankle bone. Not to mention her little shoulders, her triple chin, her stubby little fingers, the rolls on her thighs, her swirl-shaped belly button.. the list goes on. Forever. I'm just trying so hard to enjoy every second like everyone says to. Time really does just fly by in a whole new way when you watch someone else growing up.
 
I'm still trying to lose all the baby weight. I have like 15 more pounds to go (I put on 37) and it just wont leave me alone! What no one tells you is that you will lose your tummy, only to find that the weight has relocated to your boobs. I was all excited to finally fit into my clothes again, but oh hey just kidding, you're going to stretch them all in a different place now! Someone just needs to anonymously donate $1000 so I can update my wardrobe with clothes that actually fit. Please? Anyone? But seriously, I thought after 3 months I'd surely have lost it all. I tried taking running up again but its impossible to run with a stroller! I have no idea how people do it! So instead I have taken up walking for a couple hours a day. The only thing it seems to help with though is Allira's nap time. Ok, enough complaining about that, I'll complain about something else. Texas!! Now we moved from Utah to Texas to get away from the snow. And what have we had everyday this week? Yeah, snow. And Texans do not know how to drive in it! Crashes everywhere! But the road does go really icy and pretty much all the businesses shut down, so unless you're in desperate need of milk or bread or medical attention you just stay home.
 
But on the plus side Alex got two days off in a row so we spent it together camping out in our lounge room watching movies. It was awesome.
 
 
My parents also came to visit but had to cut their visits short because of the storm and flights and everything. But they did get time with Allira which is the main thing! We also drove out to Louisiana to stay with some family friends overnight together. The weather was miserable there too which was kinda sad but it was a fun little road trip to somewhere new.
 
 
 
Allira had fun with both Alex and I riding with her in the back to entertain her
 
 
 I had to work on Valentines day but I came home to a huge love heart note on the door and heaps of hearts dangling from the roof with notes and lindt chocolate attached to it.
 

 
 There was even some from Allira!
Alex hid them all over the house and I've been finding them randomly ever since in places like my breadmaker or in a cupboard or a toilet paper roll haha its awesome, he is the best and never ceases to make me feel more loved than ever. Best husband in the world.
 
 
 We also bought a house this week! Well kinda.. Its not official yet but we did get the inspection done today and everything looks ok, so hopefully by Monday we will have our finances approved and it will become official! We have been looking for months for a home in Plano close to Alex's work but Plano homes are hot property right now, everyone wants in so we had to start looking other places. We have been looking in Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Sachse, Wylie, Carrolton, until we finally found one in Garland. It's going to need some TLC to make it shine but we are really excited to fix it up together! Here are some photos of it:
 
 
 
 
 
Its pretty cool, it has a loft and vaulted ceilings, 3 bed 2 bath,  almost 2000 sq ft which is huge compared to other places we were looking at. So fingers crossed it all goes well!
 
This is our first selfie ever together :)
Don't think Allira enjoyed it too much
 
I also started working again a couple weeks ago. Just at night time so one of us is always there for Allira. Its been rough being away from her but we have a goal to pay one of our cars off this year as well as our hospital bill from the baby so its been good too.
Other than that we are just enjoying our time we get together as a family! I cant wait until it warms up so we can get out and do fun things outdoors. But until then Netflix it is!!
 
 
 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

2 Months Old!

 
Baby Allira
2 Months Old
 



A Few Of Your Favourite Things:
Sleeping in Mum and Dad's Bed
Going on Walks
Wiping snot on Mummy's Chest
Music Music Music!
Blowing Bubbles
Pulling Mummy's Hair
Having your diaper changed! You will just sit there and smile the whole time!
Your light up music mobile
Crying EVERY time Mum is trying to make dinner
Baths! You love baths so much!
Being Nude
Smiling


A Few Of Your Not-So-Favourite Things:
Sleeping in your crib
Getting dressed
Sirens and loud motorbikes
Being put down
Having your nails clipped
Having your ears cleaned out


New Tricks:
Standing By yourself, but holding hands
Cooing! Its adorable!!
Sleeping for 5 hours straight at night (sometimes, but hey, we count it!)
Blowing Bubbles
You've discovered how to move and kick your legs and you wont stop!
Can hold onto a toy for quite a while
You actually take your pacifier now instead of just spitting it out straight away
 
 


Friday, January 9, 2015

Utah 2014/2015

For Christmas we decided to head on up to Utah for a couple weeks! It was freezing! But on the plus side it did snow on Christmas day which made it all worth it..
We decided to drive the 19 hours one way, mainly so we could have access to a car and because I was nervous to take a two-week-old on a plane anyway.
Allira was a trooper in the car! She slept pretty much the whole way, only waking up if we went more than 3 hours without stopping to feed her (most the time I had to feed her in the back seat parked at a gas station) She was the best road trip buddy ever!
 
She just loves her car seat! Falls asleep as soon as we put her in
 
On the way there, with only 2 hours left until we reached Provo we got stuck in the canyon in a huge blizzard. It was backed up for miles and traffic was travelling at like 4 miles per hour. Im not kidding. There were cars that had slid off the road and it hadnt been plowed yet and the snow was really coming down... But after an hour delay we were out of the canyon!
We stopped by Alex's parents house to introduce Allira to her other grandparents. She was just adored!
Then we headed to Saratoga Springs to my parent's place where we would be staying for the next two weeks.
 
These are some photos from Allira's first Christmas:
 Big Yawns!
 Patrick had his hands full haha
 
 
 
 
 
 
So Mariah was holding Allira when she spilt MnM's everywhere.. And one melted to Allira's head..
 
 Santa's favourite Baby
 
 Allira is just counting down the days till she has a cousin... Any day now...
 
 
 
Allira was blessed on the 28th of December 2014
Afterwards we all went back to Alex's parents for brunch
 
 
 
 
 
 
4 Generations photo
 Daddy and Grandpa with their Christmas presents from Allira
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Love..
 
 
 
 
Richard and Ann's Surprise 50th Anniversary Party
 
Another huge reason we went to Utah for Christmas is because all the Cope siblings had been planning a surprise 50th anniversary party for their parents for a whole year and decided to throw it on the 29th so everyone could be there!
So much work and effort went into it and it was such a beautiful and emotional party.
Each sibling put together a centerpiece for a table representing their childhood.
This was Alex's:
 
 Setting up
 
 
 
All the Cope cousins. Allira is #35!
 
 
 
 The view from the JSB room
 
 
 
 
It was the first time in over a decade that Alex's family have all been in the same place at once. With 12 siblings spread out over the states thats easy to understand! He had the best time just hanging out with everyone. The Copes are such an awesome family, I'm so glad I get to be part of it. They always have the best times together!
 
For New Years Eve we left Allira with her grandparents and went to the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. They had all these different activity rooms to kill time before the midnight ball drop.
 
In one room they had 2015 beach balls of all sizes that were being thrown and kicked all around the place. You cant really see much from my phone pictures but they were awesome!!
 
 
A Lego room, one to create and one to display huge creations that were made by pros
 
And a bouncy house room!! We spent the most time here haha well until Alex whacked his knee on the cement floor then we decided to give it a rest
 They had tonnes of other rooms I didnt take photos of, like a glow-in-the-dark hula hoop room where they had a huge wall you could sign your name on with glow-in-the-dark neon markers.
 
A live band room
 
A food room
 
A latino music room
 
And a DJ that was playing music outside underneath the huge mirror ball
 
 
After it dropped at midnight we headed home to see our baby. It's amazing how much you can miss someone!
 
We headed back to Texas on the 2nd, and got stuck in yet ANOTHER blizzard! This one was in New Mexico and hit at night time. The roads were so bad we were going to cut the night short and get a hotel but they were booked out for miles! We ended up finding one an hour away which sucked.. But we made it. The next day we thought the roads would be better- we were wrong. In an hour we saw 18 cars and 2 semi trucks all run off the road, one truck was even tipped over, it was so scary.
We were unfortunately number 17 of the cars- and yes it was me that was driving but in my defense the two cars in front of us started sliding on the icy roads and I swerved off the road to avoid hitting them coz the brakes weren't working! After Alex dug us out of the snow he pulled some crazy good moves and sonehow got the car out of the medium and back onto the freeway. My hero forever.
 
We made it home safely, 6 hours later than we had planned. Feels weird being home now..