Kids Adventures with Dad...

Dad has been able to stay home with us since Costco has a paternity leave policy. It has been so nice because he and the kids have adventures almost everyday! There favorite thing to do is go find geocaches. They hike all over the mountains south of our house looking for treasures other people have placed and find them using the GPS. Ben is the best at spotting them. Usually they are put in old bullet cases or small rubber boxes, but this last time someone actually used a really old flashlight and took out all the metal components and made it a geocache. The kids like to put things inside to say they have been there, like little Lightning McQueen cards or pencils. 

Another thing they did was sleep out in the backyard. I had fallen asleep early (when the baby sleeps, moms sleeps, right??) and I woke up to the sounds of the kids giggling. I looked at the clock and it was after 10, so I go up to see why my kids were playing and not sleeping and none of them were in bed, except for Ephraim. Here they are the morning after. Annie, our Aussie, slept right on Dewey but Tic, the hound, would get up and lick everyone and play around and then settle back down. They all had fun counting stars and telling each other stories and trying to get Annie to lay by them. 

Two nights ago there was a Lunar Eclipse really early in the morning. We had told the kids we would wake them up to watch it. So, since I had just fed Ruby, we decided to wake the kids and take them outside to watch the eclipse. It was really early, and there were clouds. We waited until it got dark and then went back in to bed. The kids loved it. We snuggled in sleeping bags on the lawn and talked.

Another night this week we decided to go up the mountain and cook hotdogs and roast marshmallows. We found a nice little place right by a creek and there were some trails. We had so much fun getting dirty and playing in the creek.

Last night we wanted to go swimming. We thought that the resevoir close by would be good, so we made some sandwiches and got in the car. Two hours and 75 miles later we still hadn't found a beach and decided to come home. The kids were so sad. Dewey took some tarps and made a little slip 'n slide in the backyard to make up for it. Our hose water is SO cold, and really shocked Ben the first time he went down. The other kids only went once, but they were happy!!

Ruby Lynn Cook Arrives

On Monday, June 14th I went to the hospital to be induced. I have never gone into labor myself, so this was pretty routine for me. With Ben, at 42 weeks, they broke my water and started me on the pit four hours later, and then another four hours I had him. With the twins, I delivered them c-sec at 37 weeks. And Ephraim was almost identical to Ben but two days before his due date. This time they decided to start me on the pit first and wait for awhile before breaking my water. Everything was pretty normal, so finally the doctor came in and said we could break my water and up the pit. I opted for the epidural as well, but when they put it in they only had it connected to a syringe instead of a drip line... It took about four hours to progress to pushing. The nurse checked me and told me I was about 5 cm. It started to feel like a lot of pain (I am a wuss) so I asked her for more pain meds. She paged the anesthesiologist and checked me again and I was 10 cm. (IN TWO MINUTES) She then paged my doctor who marathon sprinted from his office. Literally, he walked in, suited up and I delivered Ruby. I was in so much pain (the anesthesiologist didn't make it in time, go figure).

Ruby was born at 4:17 pm, weighing 8 lbs 3 oz. She was 21 inches long. She has beautiful long fingers and feet. Cook traits, as my feet are like boxes! She has a headfull of dark brown hair.

Here are some pics...