Ava Faith Cooley - 15 days old

Mama and Dada love Ava Faith

Heidi with Dad and Ava with GrandDad

Our Trip to London

It was a long day, but lots of fun. We drove halfway and took the train the second half. The London Tube looks daunting and scary at first, but after a little bit of time studying the maps, it's pretty easy to get around by underground train and bus.

The four - Dad, Mom, Me, and Gregg - of us in front of Buckingham Palace!


Heidi and her family in front of Buckingham Palace. This was only our second time in London as we live about two hours from it. Going to the Hard Rock Cafe was fun. The food was good and the people were really friendly.

A Newborn's Conversation with God

(The following came in an email message today)

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"

God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy."

God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the small child asked, "And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?"

God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"

God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"

God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name."

God said, You will simply call her, "Mom".

Picture Contest

Ava's daddy and papa entered a friendly photo contest to see which of the two would have the honor of creating the photo to be used for Ava's birth announcement. Each man entered two images to give the ladies - mommy and nanny - a total of four photos to select from. Below are the four - the first two were created by Ava's dad, the second two by Ava's papa. The fourth and last photo shown, with a white cap and light pink flower, was selected by the ladies and papa won the contest and bragging rights. So Autumn, I will be sending you the winning image and let us know what magic you can do.

PICTURE #1

PICTURE #2

PICTURE #3

PICTURE #4 AND WINNER!

Mommy and Ava - VIDEO

CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO....

Pure Sweetness

My dad, my husband and I set up and took these pictures. There is a lady here in England who I wanted to take Ava's pictures but she never got back with me so I went to her site and we tried to mimic her pictures.



I set her up in these poses and the guys took her pictures. We were going to take more but she eventually woke up and was not very happy so we have to take the rest tomorrow when there is more natural light. Aren't they cute?!

Pretty Little Girl in a Tutu

Nanny and Ava

Nanny and Ava are spending a lot of time together. Nanny is thinking of ways to sneak Ava through the airport to bring her to Minnesota. Ha.

Many Faces of Ava Faith Cooley

Ava Faith Cooley - Happy Baby with Papa

Heidi or Gregg (LtoR): Who does Ava favor in looks?

Heidi's and Greg's newborn pics are shown. Look through the blog at Ava photos and tell us who you think she looks most like, mom or dad.

Yay! Clean Diaper!

Nanny and Ava

Daddy Rocks!

Collage Fun

Sweet Girl

Yesterday I had her in her swing and after hearing her fuss a little I went over to see what was wrong. Her little hat had fallen down all the way over her chin. Poor thing. I didn't take the time to snap a picture then but here is a picture of her in her swing, all warm and cozy.

Daddy's Little Girl

I have to drink water?

Hello everyone:) The last couple of days I have been getting used to and figuring out the job of being a mother. It has been interesting and fun at the same time. I felt like I was going a bit crazy the other night because I was literally up all night with Ava screaming like she was about to die. I was so worried about her because I had tried everything and nothing was working. I knew we had an appointment with the pediatrician in the morning but I was still worried. She acted STARVING and I was trying everything to get her to eat. She would just get extremely frustrated and cry hysterically. Well at about 2:30 in the morning my mom asked me if I had been drinking water or when the last time was that I had drank anything. I thought about it and realized I had drank almost nothing that day. Once we figured out this was the problem, I started to drink like crazy and everything seemed to work out. Poor little girl WAS starving!

Little Ava Faith is Hungry

SOMEBODY PLEASE FEED ME!


AVA'S BEDROOM

Nanny Meets Ava

This is my mom, Hazel, who with my dad just arrived in England for a visit.

Our precious baby girl is here...

Ava Faith came into the world Jan 14th at 3:20 A.M weighing 7 lbs 12 oz. She measured 21 inches long and she is absolutely beautiful.

I got to the hospital and 5 1/2 hours later she was born.

She is so sweet and even though I can already tell she is a bit on the dramatic side (dont know where that comes from), she is a good baby.

We were blessed by God with a healthy little girl and we could not be happier:) Thank you everyone for your prayers throughout my pregnancy. Your prayers were answered.

I will be posting again quite soon since I have a little one who will be fun to write about but for now I must go and attend to her. Bye!

Am I in labor?

Seriously...am I in labor? How in the world do you know if you are in labor or not? Okay so I understand that giving birth is going to be painful and being in labor apparently is painful as well but how do you know when you should go to the hospital? This is the question I asked my lovely, helpful mother. Her ever so helpful response scared me more than not knowing. She had no idea she was in labor ever except with one of her five children and when she did finally know, she went to the hospital and had him fifteen minutes later. Not helpful. Very scary. She didn't even know when she was having contractions either. They had to tell her she was having contractions. Well the other day I went because I had a false alarm and thought my water broke. It turned out to be something else but as I was being checked they had me hooked up to the contraction machine. I don't know what the numbers mean but I went from 17 (resting and no contraction) to 77 and had no idea. Gregg was like, "Heidi do you feel that"? I calmly replied that no I did not feel anything and then after sitting and thinking about it I realized I did feel something but I would have never even noticed it had he not pointed it out. I AM MY MOTHER. So basically I guess I am never going to know when it is time to be at the hospital until it is too late. My husband is going to be the person delivering my baby. Wow that's just lovely. Lol seriously this is nuts. I guess I will be having my baby in my home. Yay!

Thank you!!!!

Hello:) I recently received a shower for my baby in the mail. My home congregation in Minnesota was very kind and generous in making sure my baby has all of her needs taken care of. I want to thank everyone for everything you have done for Gregg, Ava and I. We appreciate your kindness and generosity more than you know. We really are not lacking anything that we need for the baby. Thank you! It was so exciting getting the packages in the mail. Its hard being away from home but receiving packages from your loved ones back home sure does make it easier. We want to thank you all again for your kindness. Thank you Mom and dad, Tom and Sarina, Dawn and Jerrod, Jim and Susan, Dan and Linda, Mark and Mandy, Jim and Mary, Jennifer and Jason and Lindsay and Andy. Also, there are not pictures for these gifts but thank you Bill and Barb and Tom and Vicki for the gift cards. We are so thankful for everything! Thank you!!!!!!!

P.S. The first pic is just me pregnant at 37 weeks. I am very very ready.