The Rambo/Johnston/Gourault Family

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was perhaps my best Mother's Day yet!  :)  Two wonderful sons - healthy, happy, handsome - I am SO blessed!  Last week the nursery director from our church contacted me and asked if we'd like to be a part of the baby dedication for today's service.  We were honored and so happy to present Cooper to our congregation!  Both sets of grandparents came to the service and it was a very nice presentation with a picture slideshow and affirmation from our pastor and the congregation.

 

 

 

After church, the Leese family and Tim and Lisa met us at our house for brunch and some family fun time.  Jake had a BLAST playing with his cousins and the adults had a blast watching Cooper and Rylan interact (the things adults to do get babies to smile!).  :)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

My sweet husband had cards from both boys and several nice gifts including a gift certificate the local spa.  :)  WOO!  I got to sleep in, see my family, enjoy an awesome church service and have a wonderful breakfast (that I didn't clean up after!)...and I'm not going to lie...I see a nap in my future too!  Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mothers in my life!  Hope your day was as special as mine!

Cooper is four months old!

It's really hard to believe that 4 months have flown by.  I think time is moving much faster with Cooper than it did with Jake.  Perhaps because we are so much busier with two kids than one!  :)  Here's what Cooper is up to these days...

• weighs 16 pounds and is 25 1/4 inches long
• loves to grab his toes and tries to use them to roll over (see pic of mr. monkey toes!)
• tries very hard to roll over - just can't seem to get over that arm  :)
• has started eating cereal...big boy!
• is a good sleeper at night, but only takes cat naps during the day
• loooooves his brother very much and laughs when Jake is being silly
• has started to belly laugh when you tickle him or make funny faces :)

We are still battling his breathing issues - have some good days and some bad days.  Cooper is still on breathing treatments on and off, but we are still hoping he will grow out of this.  Our latest medical news is that Cooper will most likely have to wear a Doc Band to help round out his head.  It is a little flat on the right side, so we'll be visiting Cranial Technologies in Austin soon.  More on that later...

Here are some pics of our big boy and a short video of him eating cereal for the first time.  :)

Happy Easter!!!

Our Easter began at home Saturday evening dyeing eggs that the Easter Bunny ineviteably forgot to hide.  :)  Sunday morning, we awoke to find that the Easter Bunny had made a BIG MESS, but thankfully left treats for the kids and eggs in the back yard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our egg hunt at home, we were off to church and then to GG and Papo's for a family Easter celebration.  (Still sad we didn't get to go to Gilmer to see my fam, but glad Guillaume is better!)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jake had a blast playing with his cousins, especially getting wet (I think my favorite pic is of him tinkling on the fence!).  The big kids rode 4 wheelers and played while Lisa and I hung out under the pergola with the babies.  Everyone found all of their eggs on the scavenger hunt and found their Easter baskets on the tractor.  :)  It was another wonderful Easter event with our growing family!!

 

Cooper in the Exersaucer!

We finally got in the attic and pulled down Jake's old exersaucer for Coop.  Cooper is one - active - baby and likes to move around and be independent.  He LOVED the exersaucer for the first time!!!  He was cooing and laughing and trying to grab everything.  It was adorable watching Jake check out his old toy and see how it was working for Cooper.  (I love the part where he bends down to see Cooper underneath!)  :)  I can't even believe how big BOTH of my boys are getting...it's happening right before our eyes!!!

Cooper's First School Easter Party!

It's crazy that this year I have TWO boys at the BISD CDC Easter party!  Jake definitely hammed it up to show his brother how this school party thing works.  We love Mrs. Miron from BHS who dresses up every year as the Easter Bunny for our babies.  I also love watching Jake and his BFF's (Collin and Andres) grow up and become the "big boys" of the school!  Miss Beth and Mrs. Wills spoil our kids each year with wonderful holiday activities and lots of fun for our kiddos.  We are so, so lucky to have this wonderful program!!!

Family Fun at Coon Creek Farm!

GG and Papo invited us all out to the farm last weekend to eat lunch and go out to Round Top to shop.  While everyone was out there, Ryan, Tim and Dave loaded up the 47 year old Jeep that GG's dad bought so Ryan can restore it.  Pretty coo!  While the boys and I opted out of Round Top, we sure did have fun hanging out with the fam.  Jake ESPECIALLY had fun playing trains and football with his cousins!!!  It was a really special trip, too, because it was Cooper's first visit to the farm!!!  Next weekend he'll get to visit Mimi and Papa's farm for the first time!!!

 

Daddy's big helper!

Jake is approaching the point where Daddy is more fun to hang out with than Mommy.  I knew this day would come and I'm ok with it because these two guys are too cute together.  :)  Pretty much whatever Daddy is doing - Jake wants to be doing - and these days it's a lot of yard work.  I watched Jake out the window waiting patiently for Daddy to come get him to help mow.  It was adorable - Jake had his hands on his hips like, "Come on, Dad...whenever you're ready!"  Dave finally came over and got him and off they went in their usual mowing arrangement.  :)  

Cooper is three months old!

I was so much better at this with Jake...  Isn't that what always happens with the second child!?  Here are Cooper's first three month pics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here's what Cooper is doing these days...

• He's sleeping through the night like a champ...usually from 8-4 (goes right back to sleep after eating) or 9-5.  On weekends we can stretch him to 6:00...sometimes 7:00!
• He's obviously eating well, weighing in at nearly 15 pounds!
• The kid is a talker!  He's chatty, chatty, chatty and loves to coo and smile.  When he starts making noise, Jake says "Hey!  Cooper's talking to me!"
• We think he's doing things a little faster than Jake did, like grabbing toys, pulling the lion on his bouncer to make him sing, and holding his bottle.
• He's still a generally laid back little guy and pretty easy, thankfully!  :)

We are, however, having to go back to Texas Children's Hospital on Tuesday to see a pulmonary specialist.  Cooper is still having a little trouble and our pediatrician wants to get to the bottom of it.  We suspect asthma (although this has been diagnosed and "undiagnosed" over the last few weeks) and just want the final word from someone who really knows.  Will let you all know what we find out!

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Our new neighborhood is awesome!  There are tons of young families with kids the same age as Jake and we are always meeting up in the hood.  The other night on our evening walk, we stopped to talk to 17 different neighbors!  On any given night we will join up with our neighborhood buddies and enjoy a walk together.  It's fun for us and TONS of fun for Jake.  Oh, and I can't forget to mention our favorite neighborhood dogs, Moses and Miss Tina Turner.  :)

Tonight, our friends, the Sadlers, hosted a BBQ and Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Despite the fact that Dave left me to brave this alone (thank you to those of you who helped me parent!), we all had a wonderful time and made it home in one piece!  :)  It's great that we just walked around the corner to the Sadlers house to eat dinner and then across the street to an empty lot for our egg hunt.  All of the kids had a blast and I just so enjoyed watching Jake running around with his friends!

Thank you, Lori, for an awesome night!!  Looking forward to neighborhood girls night out soon!!

Jake's first vacation without us... :(

For almost 20 years, every year (with a few exceptions), my family has gone to Port Aransas for either Easter or Spring Break.  I was 15 the first year we went and I took my friend, Kelly Tiedt.  We drove the beach, scouted for cute boys, and even went to our first beach bonfire.  :)  The next year my parents (bravely!) took 15 of my friends back to Port Royal, the resort we fell in love with.  Since then, it has been a wonderful family tradition - one that we were thrilled to share with Jake the last two years and couldn't wait to share with Cooper this year!

Unfortunately, Cooper had plans of his own.  Dave told him, "Buddy, if you didn't want to go to the beach, you just had to say so!"  We were transported to Texas Children's Hospital on Wednesday because Cooper was in respiratory distress.  He was immediately put on IV fluids for dehydration and high flow oxygen to try and get his breathing under control.  We spent a very long night in the Pediatric ICU while the doctors ran test after test to try and determine what the problem was.  After three more days in the Progressive Care Unit, Cooper was finally able to come off of the oxygen and breathe without assistance.  The final diagnosis was a series of viral infections that just hit him fast and hard.  We are finally home and trying to get back to normal - hard to do with one child far, far away.  :(

Thankfully, my mom was in town when Coop and I drove off in the ambulance, so she was able to get Jake and keep him for the rest of the week.  We decided it would be best for Jake to go on to the beach with my family - no reason for him to suffer while we took care of Cooper.  They all stopped by to see Cooper for a few minutes and let us spend a little while with Jake.  I cried when the elevator doors closed - I felt like Jake would forget me and it broke my heart.

My fam has been great about sending updates and pics...  Here's one from Kanon...

"We had a blast today with Jake.  We took him to the beach to feed the sea gulls and he loved it.  He would chase the birds all over the place.  I thought he might be afraid of them because they were all over his head but he thought it was funny!  He did have a bit of a tumble in the ocean but it all worked out.  He was running from the waves and fell down and yelled "Tata help me!!" just as a wave got his jeans wet :)  It was too cute but I promise we got him straight upstairs and dried off.  Jake went to the hot tub with us too and then came back up and played until he passed out on the bed with Dad.  It was too cute.  I miss you guys and wish that you were here."