14 months with Cove

Cove is 14 months old now, and its flown by. Were so glad he is a part of our family and he has been such a blessing. He has been the easiest baby and kid so far. He is very friendly and very loving too. 

We made it 10 1/2 months nursing, and it was wonderful. It was so nice to have a good experience this time around. It did make him very clingy and a mama's boy, but I am not complaining one bit. With him being the last baby we are all soaking up every second we can. The good and the bad.

He is a pretty good eater, but definitely has his favorite things. He loves hot dogs, chicken nuggets, different kinds of beans, cheese, olives, raisins, scrambled eggs, and crackers. He loves his baby cheetos, and just recently started liking a few different candies. He does not like and fruit yet, other than apples. 

He still takes two naps a day, usually in the morning and later afternoon. He takes a bottle to go to sleep, and likes to be rocked. We may need to end that soon. He loves his binky and always has. He usually carrying around a binky or two.

He likes to play with balls, loves the bath, loves to be chased, and play with anything and everything in all the cabinets. He does not like his diaper changed, or his teeth brushed. He still doesnt love the car seat, but he has improved a lot since he was a new baby. He likes baby einstein movies, and thats about all for shows. He finally will sit and let you read a book to him, but not always. 

He loves to dance, and has the cutest little dance moves. He loves to kiss and hug little kids his size, it is so cute! We basically spend 3 hours in the halls at church, its kind of a nightmare. 

He is our tiniest kid by far, barely 20 lbs and wearing 12 month clothes for the most part, sometimes smaller. But he still has a huge personality, its darling.

He is not talking really at all. He just says uh all day. He tries to say a few things, like ball, dada, mama, hi, and no. But definitely not a talker. He has the cheesiest little smile he does when he wants something though, cracks me up.  He is such a funny boy and likes to be silly and have people laugh. 

Its been so fun to have him in our home and watch him grow and develop a personality. He loves his brother and sister so much, and rushes to get daddy when he comes home from work. I can't wait to see him grow and see who he becomes!

Cove's birth story

 Cove Montgomery Yates

November 9th,  2015

5 lbs 5 oz 18.5 in

1:29 am

Cove's birth story is definitely emotional for me, and I've been wanting to document it for a few months now so I don't forget it.  

We found out in March we were expecting a baby, and were so excited. The nerves set in pretty quick, and I was waiting everyday for the nausea to set in. Sure enough, at 7 weeks it came. It was just as bad as I remembered and lasted the whole pregnancy. I found a midwife, and loved that experience. She was supportive of my dream of having a natural birth, and I was looking forward to it. About 20 weeks it eased up a little, but was always there. We had to tell the kids when I was about 8 weeks, so they could understand why I was so sick. They both were so happy, and Ever started picking out names right away. Westbrook wanted a boy he said and Ever at first said a girl. She changed her tune as time passed and said she was fine either way. We didn't find out what we were having, and I would do it that way again and again. It was so fun hearing everyones guesses and not knowing. I loved every second and never once was tempted to find out. Everything was fine with the pregnancy, he moved a ton and at the 20 week ultrasound looked fine. At my 36 week check up I measured a week behind the last time I had went in, and my stomach never really grew the last 3.5 weeks. I remember thinking my tummy wasn't as big as it was with the other two, and I never felt like I couldnt breathe because the baby was so big.

A few days before Cove was born I noticed he wasn't moving as much. If I pushed my stomach sometimes he would give me a weak bump, but that is all. The night of the 8th I was talking to a friend and telling her about my nerves and how the baby wasn't moving so much. I wasn't in labor at all, and wasn't due until the 17th. She told me with her last baby she drank castor oil and had her baby the same night. I was taking a more natural approach, that had been the plan all along, but I couldn't get the thought out of my head that I needed to drink some. Later on she told me she had the feeling all day that she needed to tell me to drink it. Some things are meant to be. I ended up having Rhett stop on the way home and I bought some. I walked in the house and drank it instantly, not even thinking about it really. I honestly didn't think anything would happen. Well about an hour later I had the feeling I needed to use the restroom, and while doing that I had a contraction. This contraction was big, and lasted for almost 10 minutes. I also started to quiver when this happened, and was shaking uncontrollably. I started to get really nervous and was having contractions every 3 minutes. The shaking wouldn't stop and I had a really bad feeling something was wrong. I called the midwife on call and told her what was going on. She was so upset with me for drinking castor oil, and told me how bad it was to stress the baby out like that. I felt awful, and thought I had really hurt the baby. They told me to come in because of the contractions, the little bit of movement, and the shaking.



When we got there I still shaking and super nervous. They were prepped I was coming, and knew I was the lady who drank the castor oil. I could not believe it was that big of a deal, but they talked about it a lot. The nurse hooked me up and she could tell right away the babies heart rate almost stopped during contractions. She was nervous, I could tell.  She called the midwife on call, watched me for a bit longer, baby was not getting better though. The midwife showed up shortly after. She said "I know this was not your plan, but baby isn't handling this well and you are going to have a c-section". I couldn't believe it, but at the same time, I knew it needed to happen. I was only 3 centimeters dialated and there was no way I was going to get to a 10 fast enough. I asked Rhett to say a prayer, and in a few minutes we were headed to the operating room. The doctor came in that was performing the c-section and said that this was not the castor oil, or anything that I did. I was very relieved to hear that, and tried to let go of the guilt that this was all my fault. I know the strong feeling to take the castor oil was a prompting, and I am so glad I followed it. I know it saved his life and I never would have gone in as soon as I did without taking it, since I hadn't started to labor at all yet.

I couldn't believe how fast they had the baby out, I was waiting to hear a cry, which I don't remember hearing. I heard them say, the words tiny and boy. And before they were done closing me up, Rhett came to me and said he was fine and doing great. They had him all cleaned up and brought him to me while they were finishing up with my part. He was small, but I wasn't expecting him to be as small as he was. I was only 8 days early, so almost full term. When Rhett said he was only 5 lbs I couldn't believe it, and was actually confused. They told me the umbilical cord was very thin and if he was laying on it that no nutrients could get to him. I am sure that is what happened, and it breaks my heart. I hate to think of him in there and being hungry. I am so glad I listened to my feelings and went in fast, he for sure couldn't have made it through a hard labor. He was losing strength, and hadn't grown for a while. They also said the placenta wasn't good, almost unhealthy. Fluke thing they said, and probably would not ever happen again. We were so relieved he was here, safe and sound and with no complications. The only thing was he had a hard time keeping his temp right, and his blood sugars up. He took right to nursing, and that fixed that problem quickly.

I was so excited it was a boy, and instantly fell in love with him. We waited until the next morning to call the kids. They were in bed asleep when we left, so when they woke up and my mom was there they were a little confused. They came right up to the hospital and didn't find out what the baby was until they saw him. They were both thrilled and held him right away. Its always the best feeling to have the whole family together for the first time, and I loved having them there. Cove is the best addition to out family, and were trying to enjoy every single second with him. We slept chest to chest for about the first 4 months of his life, even at nap time. I've loved every second, and having a baby around again has been so much fun. He completes our family, and were so very blessed.

Westbrook at 5

This sweet boy seriously brings so much joy to our family. He makes us all laugh daily, and I am so glad he is ours. He has been in gymnastics for quite a while now, and has progressed so much. He was invited to be on the competition team, but we didnt do it this year. I think we need to get him used to kindergarten first before adding all those hours of gymnastics to his schedule.

I cant believe I have to send him to school in a few short weeks. I cant describe how much I am going to miss him. I love spending our days together, and Cove and I are both going to miss having him here. I am not quite sure how he will handle school, but as of right now he is excited to go. I hope he loves school, and learning Chinese as much as Ever does.

West is such a great brother, and he has adjusted to the baby better than I could have imagined. He makes him laugh like nobody else does and Cove just adores him. He is the snuggliest kid, and loves to snuggle up to Rhett or I with his blanket. He has been coming down and sleeping with Rhett pretty much every night.

He loves to dance and asks to take break dancing classes daily. He also wants to do karate. He and Ever are taking a parkour class together right now and they both are having the time of their lives. He is the youngest in the class by a couple years, but you would never know it. He keeps right up and is such a coordinated kid. It will be interesting to see what he ends up doing when he is older. He loves so many things.

A few more funny things about West, he eats all the dang time, and is never full. He loves watching shows, and movies. He loves panda express and cheeseburgers the most I think. He loves going to get treats at the gas station, and the other day I told him we couldn't go. So he told me he could not wait until he had his own car because he is going to go the gas station every day and get a pop and treat. He is easy to make happy and can have fun doing almost anything. He asks to play with his cousin Kort daily, and they have a great time together. He gets so tired around 730/8 every night, and can fall asleep just about anywhere.

We feel so lucky to have him in our family! He truly is an amazing little boy, and I can't wait to see him grown into an even more amazing man!