A video of our Ethan

Just thought I'd share a little video of the cutest baby ever:

He's been rolling over since he was between 5 and 6 weeks old, and we have lots of videos of good rollovers on our video camera, from which we can't yet post videos. This rollover isn't one of his good ones, but I like the video because I just think he's so stinking cute. He's 8 weeks old here.

Welcome to the world, sweet baby boy.

Ethan Ryan Copeland was born July 11, 2011, on our two-year wedding anniversary. He was 9 1/2 pounds, 21 inches long. Labor was long. My water broke Saturday evening and he was born early Monday morning. We used the HypnoBirthing method and it was a rewarding experience that bonded Ryan and I in amazing ways. He was a champion throughout such a long and difficult labor. They told me I could begin pushing and Ryan leaned over and whispered, "Happy Anniversary," and kissed me. I looked at the clock and sure enough, it was midnight. After three hours of pushing, our sweet baby was here. The moment he arrived was intense - he was in some trouble. I was shoved backward, all the nurses in the room jumped on me, one of them pushing hard on my stomach, and I heard the midwife, who had been so encouraging and positive the whole time, say frantically, "Lola, push NOW." She had told me the last one was the final push and I thought I'd given everything I had, thought I had no more to give, but in the split second that everything was happening, all I knew was that tone in her voice. I knew I had to summon everything inside of me and give all the strength I didn't have. I'd tried so hard to keep labor peaceful and quiet so my baby could enter the world gently, but it was in that moment that I finally really cried out as I reached inside and gave everything. And then he was there. The next few moments were emotional and crazy, but when he eventually heard my voice, he stopped crying. They laid him on my chest and I knew that he knew me.

 We love this beautiful baby.

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Happy Anniversary!

Disclaimer: I wrote this a couple days before our anniversary. I just felt it strongly. Ha. Good thing I did it then, as my water broke two days before our anniversary and little man was born ON our anniversary.

Two Years...

It's been two years since we got married and I love my husband more than ever. I think he's wonderful and perfect for me. I still think he is the handsomest guy ever and I can still watch a movie with some A-list hottie in it and think that he doesn't hold a candle to my man.

In two years we've been through a lot more than I thought we had. A wedding, Ry finishing school and graduating, getting his first professional job, going on a cruise, moving to a new place, callings, job changes, insurance, experiencing the 9-10 months of pregnancy together, family hardships and health scares, and our first baby is due any minute. These experiences have brought us even closer. I mean, we even experienced trying escargot together:

Yes, these experiences have brought us closer. We are best friends in the truest sense.

I adore him.

Getting married was the most exciting thing. What a day. Walking into the temple together, and then walking out of the temple together, going "Ohmygosh, I can't believe we're married," as we stepped out the doors and greeted friends and family.

Looking at each other all evening, laughing, and thinking, "Did we really just get married? Is life really this good?"

And then waking up the next morning, looking into each other's eyes, and getting to do that every day since...bliss.

Marriage is work, but I welcome the work. People say marriage is hard, but I wonder if what they really mean is that marriage is work. I'm not sure those two words: "hard," and "work," have to be interchangeable. Maybe I am young and naive, but that is how I see it.

We may not get everything right every day, but I am proud of our marriage and some of the goals we have met. I'm proud of us that we have gone on a date every single week since our wedding. We've never missed a date night. I'm proud that we made a goal to go to the temple at least once a month and have met that goal for two years.

I'm glad we bought a car together, that we have learned about finances and budgeting together, that we cuddle in church, kiss after every prayer, and go to bed together every night.

I will miss being just us. I will. We love spending time together and being Ryan and Lola. But I know it's beautiful that we're building our family. And I am so thankful to be building a family with him.

Happy Two Year Anniversary to my best friend, the man of my dreams, and the love of my life.

  

I love you eternally.

Happy Father's Day

I'm thankful for my dad. He's taught me a lot. He taught me to be a skeptic. He taught me not to accept the first thing I hear about something. He taught me to be a critical thinker. He taught me the basics: throwing a ball, kicking a ball, riding a bike, how to do math. When I was younger, he taught me to see the good qualities in people when I was speaking disparagingly about others. He's set a great example of how to treat the elderly, and growing up I watched him serving the widows in our neighborhood. I have yet to meet a single person who loves babies as much as my dad does. He really loves my mom. He's always worked so hard, sometimes at the cost of his health and sanity, to provide for us. Even though he's a total workaholic and we all tease him about it, he's always shown up to all our things - no easy feat, I'm learning, with six kids. Yet he is always there at every school thing or whatever else we're involved in, standing in the back with this enormous proud grin and a video camera. When I turned sixteen, he set up a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood and at the end met me in a park and asked me on my first date. He took me to a really expensive restaurant (I'd never been anywhere like that) and then to my surprise sweet sixteen party. At the time I was kind of embarrassed about the scavenger hunt/date thing and how it ended up being my dad of all people, but now I can see how sweet an idea it was. I'm thankful for my dad.

Maternity Photos

I tend to think that people who hate and make fun of maternity shots are anti-feminist and stuck in a different era. There's my little disclaimer before I post these. :-)

VERY last-minute, our friend Sarah Michelle did some maternity photos for us! I had gone back and forth forever about it, but her offer was too great to pass up. This is only her second maternity shoot - she picked up photography as a hobby in the last year, and man does she have some skills! I probably did mine later than most people do - I'm just about 9 months pregnant. But it was fun to see our friend Sarah and document this important part of our lives. We've been taking weekly shots of me standing sideways since I got pregnant, but I really wanted to capture what a great dad Ryan already is and how loving and great he's been through this whole pregnancy. We took them this morning and she already had a few up on Facebook for us a few hours later! Thank you, Sarah Michelle!

We love this baby. He was wiggling and making us giggle throughout the entire photo shoot. Even though I was originally very against getting photos done, I'm glad we did because it's good to have some nice family photos at this stage of our baby's life. :-)

Mother

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."

"As in all things, the Savior set the perfect example in the love He showed for His earthly mother. In the final, most pivotal moment of His mortal life—after the anguish of Gethsemane, the mock trial, the crown of thorns, the heavy cross to which He was brutally nailed—Jesus looked down from the cross and saw His mother, Mary, who had come to be with her Son. His final act of love before He died was to ensure that His mother would be cared for, saying to His disciple, “Behold thy mother!” And from that point on the disciple took her unto his home. As the scriptures say, then Jesus knew that “all things were now accomplished,” and He bowed His head and died." -Bradley D. Foster

"When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. The women of God know this." - Neal A. Maxwell

"When we understand the magnitude of motherhood, it becomes clear why prophets have been so protective of woman's most sacred role. While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord's language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve "the mother of all living" - and they did so before she ever bore a child...Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature..." - Sheri Dew, "Are We Not All Mothers?" (I love this quote because Sheri Dew does not have children.)

I'm thankful to my mother for showing me what it means to truly sacrifice everything for your children. I'm thankful she taught me to be intolerant of intolerance. I'm thankful that she has always expected me, since I was very little, to be the person who stands up for others and never to be unkind. I'm thankful that even though she is incredibly busy and tired, she picks up the phone when I call 6 times a day. I'm thankful she taught me by example to be honest. I'm thankful for her thoughtful care packages. I'm thankful that because of her I always know I have support and I am never alone. I hope everyone has a mother like mine and I hope I can be at least half the mother she is.

I love this man

I have more fun with this guy than anyone else. Just a Costco run (pictured here) or cooking dinner side by side, or a quick walk around the neighborhood is too much fun. I love being married to my best friend. I honestly can't imagine that better husbands exist. I know I don't have the monopoly on awesome husbands and the world would be a terrible place if I got the only good one, but he is pretty dang amazing. I think I make a list of reasons I love him like once a week, and find all different reasons each time than the last.

I love him because I NEVER wonder or worry whether he's telling the truth or hiding something. I love him because he reads to me at night to help me fall asleep. I love him because he senses when I wake up in the middle of the night and then he can't sleep until I fall back asleep. He'll get out a book and a book light and read to me until I'm out again. I love him because he never makes comments about me getting back into shape after the baby is born, and he makes me feel like being pregnant is the most beautiful thing in the world. I love him because he'll make me breakfast, pack my lunch, and take me to work just so I can have a better day - not to mention he goes ahead of me to warm up the car, and always gets my door. I love him because he's skeptical without being cynical. I love him because he's more concerned with doing right than with being right. I love him because he always listens to me, even when I talk too much, over share, and worry. I love him because sometimes I'll be sitting in church and hearing about traits we should develop, and usually I can't help but think of people I know who already have those traits, and more often than not, it's Ryan who pops into my head. I love him because he has amazing self-control. I love him because he loves the gospel. I love him because he informs the baby boy in my belly that if he disrespects women, he will be grounded. I love him because he is sensitive to others and thinks about how his words will affect them. I love him because he is sweet and kind but without being a sissy - he's firm when he needs to be and doesn't let people walk all over him. I love him because no man looks better in a suit.

In summation: I love and adore Ryan Copeland. I can't imagine marriage to anyone else.