CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY!!!

CALI ROBIN COATES

HI EVERYONE! CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY. FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DON'T KNOW WE WENT I WENT INTO THE HOSPITAL ON THURSDAY THE 2OTH WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. BECAUSE THE BABY WAS ONLY MEASURING IN THE 3RD PERCENTILE FOR HER 36 WEEK GESTATIONAL AGE THEY WERE CONCERNED THAT THE BLOOD PRESSURE WAS CONTRIBUTING TO HER GROWTH RETARDATION. ON TOP OF THAT THEY WERE CONCERNED ABOUT MY HEALTH AND THE RISK OF SEIZURES OR STROKE WITH THE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. THIS WASN'T REALLY A SURPRISE. MY BLOOD PRESSURE HAS BEEN UP FOR THE PAST 4 WEEKS OR SO.

THEY DECIDED TO INDUCE ME, AND WE WERE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE HER FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21ST AT 3:45 PM (4 WEEKS EARLY)! SHE IS A LITTLE PEANUT. SHE WEIGHED IN AT 4 LBS 10 OZS AND IS 17 INCHES LONG. WE NAMED HERE CALI ROBIN COATES. AMAZINGLY SHE DIDN'T NEED TO BE IN THE NICU. SHE WAS DOING SO WELL THEY LET US GO HOME SUNDAY MORNING BEFORE THE NORMAL 48 HOUR MARK FOR A 36 WEEK OLD.

COBY AND KEENAN ARE IN LOVE WITH THERE LITTLE SISTER, AND COULDN'T BE MORE HELPFUL. IT'S BEEN REALLY FUN TO WATCH THEM WITH HER. KEENAN IS ALWAYS WANTING TO HELP WITH DIAPER CHANGES, BUT SAYS HE'LL HOLD HER "MARRIO" (TOMMORROW). THAT'S NOT A PROBLEM FOR COBY THOUGH, BECAUSE HE LOVES TO HOLD HER ANY CHANCE HE GETS. I JUST FEEL SO BLESSED AND HAPPY TO HAVE HER IN OUR FAMILY. THANK YOU TO THOSE THAT WERE CLUED IN, FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, CALLS AND PRAYERS. WE FEEL SO BLESSED THAT EVERYTHING WENT SO SMOOTHLY. WE HOPE YOU ALL HAD A MERRY CHRISTMAS...WE DID! LOVE TO ALL.

PROUD OLDER BROTHER

KEENAN AND CALI

THEY LOVE TO SNUGGLE HER

A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE ON HER SIZE! SHE IS SO SMALL!

Yes I know it's been 2 months!

Okay, so I've been a little out of it lately. Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, getting ready for Christmas, and that little peanut that is due here in about 5 weeks I've somehow managed to have no time to sit down and blog. I think getting my camera stolen at Disneyland had something to do with it as well!

We've had a little drama with our baby to be. Technically not her, but me. My blood pressure has been up for the past few weeks, and I've been going in for ultra sounds TWICE a week! I'm so sick of doctors appointments. I was really anxious about my blood pressure, thinking they were going to send me to the hospital, but they've been great about just asking me to take it easy. More than likely this little one will be here early, but for now she's still bakin'!

Christopher's Birthday is coming up on Monday! I'm surprising him with a weekend all to ourselves! I'd be lieing if I didn't admit that it's a bit for me too! We're going to a local resort not far from home. I'm planning on having us sleep in, see some movies and just hang out. It's good timing. Between the two of us, we've had some crazy health stuff this winter, and need a break before the new one arrives!

ANYWAY we are so exctied for this Christmas season, and have been so greatful for the prayers, thoughts and help from so many friends and family. I am eternally greatful to have good people in my life!

My crazy boys...Keenan has Christopher's PJ pants on. I think they fit rather nicely!

Ya gotta love that bumm!!

Our pretty tree, compliments to Mom Coates!

I love my kids!

Christopher's mom was so great and did our entire Christmas tree! I love it!! She thought it might help my blood pressure to have it taken care of. I love turning off all the lights and looking at it! The boys are big fans as well!

SOCCER SATURDAY!

I know it's been a while, but it seems like I havn't had any time to sit down at the computer and blog. Things have been really busy with the kids school, scouts, and soccer just started for both the boys. The weeks just fly by! We are looking forward to a break though. We're starting Coby's fall break a week early and taking they boys to Disneyland. They don't know so it should be a fun surprise. We'll have 2 1/2 weeks off after that so, the second week in October we're heading on up to Oregon to visit the family! I can't believe it's been a year since my kids have been there! I've been really homesick, and it will be nice to get out of the heat!

We spent our entire Saturday at the soccer fields in 105 degree weather....it is September right?! Christopher has been taking the boys to the park everyday after work to play, so they we're both pretty siked for their first games. This was Keenan's first time doing soccer, and it was really cute to watch. His practice/game started at 8:30 am, and it was already 100 degrees by then. UGG! Coby's game was at noon, and it was even hotter by then! He is becoming and old pro now, he did so good in his first game. I don't know how he survived the heat. We will definately be bringing some shade and lots of ice for next week!

READY FOR SOME SOCCER.
KEENAN SHOWIN' SOME SKILLS.
TRYING TO DEAL WITH THE HEAT...I NEED SOME SHORTS THAT FIT!
MR. COOL.

CHRISTOPHER & THE BOYOS, MY FAVORITE PEOPLE!
OUR LITTLE NUMBER 6!
COBY TAKING A BREAK WITH A SMILE.
THE BEST PART OF THE GAME. FROZEN ORANGES FOR A 1/2 TIME SNACK!
KEENAN ENTERTAINING HIMSELF DURING COBY'S GAME.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

We went in for our ultra sound today....it's a girl! We are so excited. Christopher was right once again! I've guessed wrong on every one of my babies. The boys are so thrilled that they will have a little sister. We asked them for some name suggestions. Keenan suggested "Baby", and Coby said, "Bob" or "Cody"...kind of random! We feel so lucky and blessed to have another bambino!

This is her bum. I thought the way they could tell it was a girl was that it just didn't have a penis, but as you can clearly see her parts are all there!

Keenan Is Starting Preschool!

So I was totally going to hold off on the preschool thing, but Keenan and I have been such hermits this summer, I thought it was high time the kid have some social time...not to mention he will start Kindersteps next year, and he needs some experience with the whole social thing. There are 4 boys and 3 girls in the class. His favorite new friend is a boy named Cody. His teachers name is Niclole Pickles, "Ms. Niclole". The cutest thing...one of the boys in the class calls the teacher "Mr. Pickles"...it cracks me up. He'll go Mondays and Wednesdays for a couple of hours. The best part is that now that he is on a bit of a schedule, I can help out in Coby's classroom more often!

So excited for his first day of preschool...I promise, he's just my serious boy!
Gotta love the backpack...he felt so official!

Coby's Last Game

Coby had his last basketball game over the last weekend. It was so fun to watch him play. He was a super defensive player....even when he was on offense. The best part was watching him run full speed down the court while looking over at us to make sure we were paying attention! He was able to play on a team with some buddies from church, so that was really cool for him. Tons of fun. He and Keenan will be starting soccer next month!

Coby and His Papa.
Dad giving Coby some basketball tips! Coby got best defensive player for his team. He thought it was really cool that his coach gave him a "Crunch" bar for that!

Last Week

Okay, so I don't have any fun picutures to share this time. But here's a quick update on last week.

I was dealing with being sleep deprived early in the week, because Keenan was waking up with growing pains his legs, and a head cold. Poor kid. We did a lot of leg massages.

Then on Thursday night while Christopher and I were watching a movie, I stood up to go pee, and stepped on a baby scorpian. It hurt so dang bad. It was the exact same color as our carpet! I was looking at the carpet trying to figure out what the heck I stepped on, and I couldn't see anything. I was about to put my hand down and run it through the carpet to see if there was a needle or something when I spotted it! Christopher killed it right away! It's funny because niether of us knew what to do. We endded up heading to the hospital, but called poison control on the way at the suggestion of Christophers mom. Luckily, we learned before we got to the hospital that scorpians are 100% harmless, and 200% painful! She told us to turn around and go home and prepare for things to start hurting really bad for the next 6 hours...they didn't. I don't think I got a full sting because I stepped right on top of it. My foot endded up going numb for the night, and felt like it was asleep the next day, but that was it! Needless to say, I called the bug guy out for the next day.

On Friday, we went to see the new 'Bourne' movie. Way good!

Saturday, I woke up with a sore throat, and I was sick for the rest of the weekend.

Other than the movie, it was a pretty depressing week, and now you get to read about it! FUN, FUN, FUN!

Back To School

Coby is back to school this week. I can't believe he's a first grader! Getting back on a routine has been a bit of a challenge, but I think we've got it down. Keenan and I have been super lonely with him gone all day. With year-round school the summer went by way too fast!

We're at a different school this year than last, it's brand new and a lot closer to drive to. His teachers name is Mrs. Bostaph. She's really sweet. This is her first year teaching. She did some home schooling of her own kids and then went back to school to get her teaching degree. They have some pet hermit crabs in their class, Coby was pretty excited about that. We had to get a boundary acception for this school so we were pleasantly surprised when we found out that Coby was in the same class as his good friend Shay from Kindergarten. So far, so good!

My Little Helper Coby

This week I have been sick on and off. Coby has been my little helper by keeping Keenan entertained on my bad days. He is so creative. I'm so thankful to have such sensitive boys. Hopefully only a couple more weeks of sickness. I hit week 13 yesterday, so anytime now would be great!

Here are some pictures of the things Coby does to entertain Keenan. Usually he makes some sort of weapons with his tinker toys and they play 'Battle Zone', (it's really funny to watch; Keenan totally plays dead when Coby blasts him), but here are some other fun things Coby has thought up for them to do.

Coby has a great imagination when it comes to tinker toys. In this picture he made a drum set, gutiar, and a microphone so he and Keenan could play rock band. He even thought to make it so the microphone could come off the stand. He is so funny to me.
This is Coby in creative mode. He decided to make some hats and a cake out of paper so that he could throw Keenan a 'Thomas Party'.
Here they are in the very creative hats coby made. Keenan loved his so much he wore it for the rest of the day. He called it his 'Thomas party hat'!
The final result. Again with the tinker toys...he wanted his cake to be 3D. The triangles on top are candles. Such a creative boy. Keenan adores him (so do I).

FAMILY VACATION

We got back Monday from a 6 day trip to San Diego.....I miss the ocean already. We've been lucky enough to go with the Coates Family the past few years. I did not miss the 110 degree plus weather here in Arizona!! The boys had so much fun!! Coby and Keenan could not get enough of the ocean. We watched the fireworks, swam in the ocean, built a sand transformer, went to the aquarium, had a few BBQ's on the beach, launched water balloons, and we even got to see my brother Adam and his wife Jamie.

The Boyo's at Scripps Aquarium. Coby's favorite was the Nurse Sharks; Keenan liked the 'Nemo' fish.
Doing a little shopping at the surf shop by our hotel. La Holla is a really fun area.
Tough Guys!!
Coby and Keenan checkin' out the cove.
Our little family of four... I mean five.

Keenan and Mamma chillin at the beach!
Daddy and Keenan taken on some waves...Coby is that little dot in the middle. He had no fear!
Coby and Chris with the sand transformer...still in progress.
The final result. The lifeguard truck even came by and sang the transformers song over they're loud speaker...a definate highlight for Coby.
Keenan was chaseing this bird like crazy!

Joining The Crowd

Okay, so I've enjoyed very much you all sharing your thoughts and pictures, and I've decided I've got to join in! Living down here in Arizona it seems only appropriate that I start sharing a little of what's been going on here....especially with a new bambino on the way! Thanks for the idea girls.

I won't say that I'll be as fabulous as you at keeping it up, but it seems like a fun way to share pictures!