I Can Fly

Today we were at a two-story shopping complex, and the second story had a balcony. When Coop saw it he said, "Mom, we need to climb up there and jump off and fly." I said, "That would be fun. I wish we could fly, but we can't." To which he responded, "Oh, right. Because we left our super hero capes at home."
Love this kid.

Daddy's Voice

One other thing I wanted to record about the baby is about Nate. The other night I was laying on the couch watching the baby kick and punch furiously, so much that my belly was moving all over. It was pretty funny. Nate watched for a sec, then knelt down next to the couch and started talking to the baby, right at my belly. When he started talking, Cheese immediately stopped moving, as if to listen. The Nate would pause, and Cheese would kick again until Nate said something else. Them Nate decided to be silly and made a weird low sound like a hum, but like "Whommmmp." Hard to explain, but suddenly the baby kicked HARD right on the spot where he made the sound. That scenario repeated several times had me laughing so hard. It was fun and endearing to see baby and daddy interact, a very memorable moment.

28 Weeks--11 to Go

This pregnancy is flying by for me, probably because every day is so busy.  I fall into bed each night completely exhausted.  The two toughest things on me right now though are the sleepless nights (waking up and not being able to fall back asleep, or waking up so many times I feel like I haven't slept at all), and the heartburn.  Had the same heartburn problems when pregnant with Cooper at this stage, so I was totally expecting it, but hoping it would be better. There could be much worse things, so I am thankful these are the two worst for me at this point.

The best part about this stage of pregnancy is all the movement I can feel from the baby.  I feel him all hours of the day and all night.  I can tell when he's sleeping because those are the only times he seems to stop moving.  Cooper was the same in that regard as well.  Even though my attempts to get him to flip head down have been futile, he at least very seldom is "foot breech" with his foot dangling down kicking me rather uncomfortably.  For awhile he even seemed to be transverse breech (laying sideways).  Anything is better than foot breech, and I am thankful that his feet seem to be drawn up now most of the time.

Cooper is excited about Baby Cheese.  I try to talk to him about the baby often so that having him born won't be a bigger transition than it already will be.  A few days ago Cooper was playing with some dinosaur stickers while I sat in a chair taking a break from sweeping and mopping (activities that always give me false contractions).  So I was sitting there, and he came over and started talking to Cheese, and asked if he wanted some stickers too, and proceeded to decorate my belly with them...

He even got upset when I took them off awhile later, saying, "No, Mom! Those are Baby Cheese's stickers, not yours."

To also make the transition easier, I figured getting the crib set up a few months early would be good.  First, I know he's going to be curious and want to climb in/on it, and second, I don't want the baby and the crib to arrive in his room too close together, so that he doesn't feel a total infringement on his space.  His room is plenty big, so adding the crib didn't really change anything except that we had to put away his huge train set that usually sits in that corner.

Cooper got to help Daddy put the crib together, and as they were doing so, Nate discovered that we were missing a few of the screws and such.  I thought they had all been there when I had unpacked it earlier in the day, so we asked Cooper if he'd taken them.  He's usually pretty good about telling us, and so after questioning him and asking him to help us look for them, we finally gave up, figuring we somehow lost them in our move to this house, which was the last time the crib had been up, and we'd packed it away.

So the crib building was put on hold until Nate could go to the hardware store to see if they had anything that would work.  I had located the crib manufacturer info, and was all ready to order some replacement parts.  But Nate found some stuff at the store that might work, so he set to work putting the crib together again.  As he did, lo and behold, the missing screws and parts were found--stuck in other holes and places on the crib we hadn't thought to check.  Cooper had sequestered them after all, but I guess didn't think that putting them in holes and "helping" was taking them or doing anything wrong.  We laughed about it, and were so relieved that we had the right stuff.  When the crib was put together, Cooper climbed into it in about 2.5 seconds, and played in it for about a half hour.  I'm sure that won't be the last of it, but after that one time, I got right to work telling him that's the baby's bed, not his play place.  He didn't bother it again at all today, so we'll see how he does.

Here is a picture of "the boys' room."  With the crib up, it's getting very real that the baby will be here before we know it.  Eleven weeks until my c-section date.  Yikes!  I mean, woohoo!!!!  Can't wait.

Another Year Older

Yesterday was my birthday. Nate knows me well, and in the morning kissed me and said, "Happy 29th birthday, Babe." Birthdays in this house stop at 29, and from then on we celebrate only anniversaries of said day, making yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my 29th birthday.

A birthday present I purchased for myself.  Nothing says happy birthday like a new pot for cooking.  Actually, it's something I've wanted and needed for awhile since my last one imploded 2 years ago.

The delicious chocolate cake I bought myself, and put candles on myself.  There are 7 candles because 3+4=7.  

Coop sat on my lap to sing happy birthday, and he was actually singing.  So sweet.

Then he helped me make a wish...

...and blow out the candles.

My little birthday buddy.

It ended up with a fun evening, but the daytime of my bday was a rather hum-drum day as far as birthdays are concerned. Totally my own fault; I should have planned it better. Fridays are my normal cleaning/ shopping day, and I kinda forgot my birthday and grocery shopping would coincide. I got up in the morning and made myself waffles.  Then cleaned house a bit. I did decide to go out for lunch, but being last minute, and Nate in meetings, I had Coop as my bday company. We went to Panera Bread, one of my fav lunch spots. Then it was off to my least davorite place, Wal-Mart, then Aldi, and then because Wally World didn't have an ingredient I needed for dinner, I had to go to Harris Teeter as well. It was raining all the while, and as I dragged Coop to the 3rd grocery store in 2 hours, he was getting impatient and tired, as was I. I grabbed the one item quickly, but then realized I'd left my wallet in the car. Ugh. So We had to trapse back out in the rain to the car, retrieve wallet, go back in the store, buy the green onions, and we were finally on our way home.

After putting away groceries, I was having some braxton-hicks contractions, so I sat down for a bit, then realized I'd forgotten to pay bills two days earlier, and one was due today. So I schlepped out the stak. Of bills, and paid them all using my bank's bill-pay feature on my phone, which only took a few minutes. But the one bill due that day I couldn't pay that way, then had trouble logging onto their website, ended up having to call tech support, and an hour later the bills were finally paid. Not the way I'd exactly planned on apending that hour, but I was thankful for the technology to be able to do all that from my phone rather "quickly" while Coop played. He doesn't behave well when I have to get on the computer.

At this point I was feeling a little sad about my blah day, and lonely because my parents and all my siblings except Camyll were on a cruise, so I didn't get to talk to any of them. I was able to chat with Camyll the day before for 2 hours while getting things done, so that was a treat, but I was just a little lonely on my bday. Then my friends wished me happy bday on FB, and my bestie called me on the phone, which totally made my day and lifted my spirits.

At that point I still needed to sweep and mop the floor because my friend Stephanie and her husband and kids were coming over for dinner and bday dessert. I was exhausted and having more false contractions while sweeping. It was about 4 pm, and Nate surprised me by coming downstairs and announcing he was done working for the day. What a relief! He finished sweeping, and I did a quick Swiffer of the floor an called it good. Then Nate chopped all the food for dinner--he made Hawiian Haystacks--my FAVORITE, and a bit of a birthday tradition for me.  I sat and relaxed and opened the bday card my mom had sent before they left on their cruise (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!), and then treated myself to reading a book for a minute. Then all I had to do was make the chicken/gravy and rice. By then it was dinner time, and our friends came over and we had a really nice (crazy, loud, obnoxious) dinner battling our kids while trying to eat. One birthday gift I gave myself was to eat my dinner and not get up from my chair once. I let Nate handle all the Cooper dinner discipline. It was SO nice!! I had a great time with our friends, and the kids only cried/ got hurt once all evening. It was fun. We had cake and ice cream (I bought myself a chocolate cake, which I don't usually like, but had this weird craving for), and Coop helped me blow out the candles.

Nate wanted to watch a movie of my choice after our friends left and Coop was asleep, but I was nearly comatose, so we watched the season finale of "Gold Rish." I fell asleep on the couch before it was over, and missed the ending--so typical of me trying to watch tv after 9 pm. 

All in all it ended up being a good birthday; not the best ever, but good. Fhe best part was reading in bed before fallin back asleep, and then only waking up once at 6:30 am, and Coop letting us sleep until 8 am!! That NEVER happens. Good stuff.

Snow!

This past weekend Charlotte, NC got snow; 1-1/2" of snow at our house.  It started snowing Saturday morning, and Cooper ran outside and stood in it and let it fall on his face and tried to catch some on his tongue.  My phone camera didn't pick up the flakes in the picture, but rest assured, it was snowing in these pictures.

 I love this one of him just standing and letting the snow fall on him.

Later that night it started snowing again, and this time it stuck to the ground.  Although it was time to get ready for bed, we let Cooper run outside and touch the snow.  When he asked if he could go out in it, and we said yes, he exclaimed, "Oh! Yes, yes, yes!  That makes my feelings so excited!"
As we were putting on his coat and boots, he said, "It's snowing just like at Grammie's house, and now it's Christmas time, and we can build a snowman, and it makes my feelings SOOOOOO happy!"

The video is dark and kinda boring until near the end when Nate comes outside too, and Coop perks up a bit, but here it is for the record.

Having Fun

Cooper plays fireman nearly every day, but Monday he did something new; He "made" a firetruck out of the piano bench and some chairs, and every so often would play a note or two on the piano, which apparently were his sirens. Then he would crawl underneath the piano and drive the firetruck, and then get back up and sound the "sirens" and eventually climb out and fight an imaginary fire.  What will this kid think of next?  I love watching his imagination at work.

Last week we had a nice, sunny day, and went to the park one morning with Cooper's best friend, Ethan, and his sister, Adison.  Ethan's mom and I have become good friends, and so we'll often get the kids together to play at one of our houses, or the park, or something kinda spur of the moment.  It's so nice to have a friend I can just call up and say, "Hey, watcha doin?" without having to make scheduled plans days in advance.

Cooper and Ethan climbed this big boulder, and they were so proud of themselves.  This park has several playground sets for different ages.  They love to play on the 5-12 yr old equipment to climb, and to spin on the various spinning contraptions the park has.  They also love the merry-go-round and the dome jungle gym, which Coop loves to climb up to the top and then drop through one of the holes, hanging on to a bar (just like we used to as kids).  Gives me a heart attack just about every time, thinking he might bump his chin or break an arm, but I gotta let him be a kid and explore/play freely.

Cooper and Ethan also like to play on the 2-5 yr old equipment that is red and has a steering wheel and a telescope on the highest level, and some dials and such at ground level.  This apparently makes for the perfect fire truck.  Last time we were at this park, they made friends with two other little boys and a little girl, and they all played firetruck for probably 20 minutes or more before it was time for us to go.  The one other thing they LOVE to do is play/cross the monkey bars made for 2-5 yr olds.  I just have to give each of them a little boost to get them on, and then away they go.  Cooper can cross all 8 monkey bars, and drop off at the end.

 This was a few days later when it was raining, and we were out running errands.  Cooper saw some construction equipment across the street, and wanted to watch it working, so we went and got some lunch and came back and watched the construction equipment and all the cars and trucks driving by.  Having a "picnic in the car" is one of Cooper's favorite things to do on a rainy day, or even on a sunny one.  He loves to watch cars and trucks and such.

Rejected Valentines

For Valentine's Day I helped Cooper make valentines to mail to his grandparents, great grandparents, some great aunts and uncles, and his young cousins.  I traced hearts on the paper, and he cut out about six hearts all by himself, and then got bored of it.  The self-cut ones were a little lopsided, but so sweet and cute.  Wish I had taken a picture of the one he gave Nate!  What we made looked like this...

We put them in envelopes with some candy hearts and mailed them off 5 days before Valentine's Day, sure they would arrive to all recipients by the big day.  Apparently the US Postal system did not like the candy hearts in the envelopes, because yesterday I received this back in the mail...

So discouraging to see one of our little valentine's we worked so hard on returned to us in pieces with only a shred of the envelope.  At least the USPS had the courtesy to return it to us.  This one was for Cooper's cousin, Ellie, and the envelope had also contained one for his cousin, Kate.  Having this valentine returned made me wonder how many of the valentines we sent out actually made it to their recipients.  So if you didn't receive a valentine from Cooper, know that it was eaten by one of the USPS machines (apparently they wanted to keep the candy for themselves), but we had the greatest of intentions.  Next time we'll be more careful about our choice of packaging. :(

Lastly, here is a picture of Cooper with another valentine he received, which I forgot to upload to my Valentine's Day post.

Be Mine, Valentine

Valentine's Day is a special day for Nathan and I because it marks the anniversary of our first date. This year marked our 15th anniversary of being together. It was a crazy day, but we eked a little romance out of it here and there.

In addition to celebrating our relationship, Cooper had quite the day.  First, he received several valentines in the mail from Grandmas/Grandpas, Aunts/Uncles.

 Additionally, he attended his first real Valentine's Day party.  We had his regular playschool group, but then also invited a few other children from church, so there were a total of 9 kids at the party.  It was a good number for children 4 and under in a small house for 2 hours.  Cooper was very excited to receive valentines in his box.

 He was even more excited to receive some lollipops, one of his favorite treats, and even MORE excited that despite it being about 11 am, when he asked if he could have one, I said YES.

 Thanks to an awesome sugar cookie recipe from my friend Mel, the sugar cookies the kids decorated were a big hit.  We had a few leftovers here at home too--yummy!

(Friends at the party with Cooper: L to R--Zach, Charlotte, Amelia, Cooper)

 More party friends: Julia, Veronika, Max, Ethan

 Cooper had been asking for weeks to make "Christmas cookies" as he calls sugar cookies, and we was super excited to get to decorate AND EAT some. 

 That night Cooper has his final swimming lesson for this session, so we got home a bit late.  Despite that, I made a nice dinner, Nate grilled some steaks for us and made one of Bobby Flay's delicious sauces to go with them.  Cooper helped me decorate the table a little with our special table cloth, the roses Nate had surprised me with that morning, and some candles and crystal candlesticks we received from Nana as a wedding present.  Cooper and I had also made some giant heart-shaped sugar cookies for Nathan, and Cooper made him a valentine, having cut the heart out of construction paper all by himself.  I was rather surprised he could nearly cut curves and stay on the lines.

 All in all it was a crazy busy day, and a rather quiet evening, but it was good.

26 Weeks--Flip Baby, Flip!

Last week I welcomed my third trimester with open arms.  I am getting to the point of feeling ready for this pregnancy to be over, and to have our little Baby Cheese already.  Today marks 26 weeks--only 13 weeks left until C-section date--woohoo!

Every week I think about having Nate take a picture of my belly, and I either forget or don't feel picture worthy.  Yesterday I finally remembered, only to have Nate gone for the night.  So, I recruited Cooper as my photographer.  After about 30 takes, this was the best shot, even though it's a little blurry.  After that he was done trying to please me, even though my standards were relatively low (head and belly must be seen, and not blurry).  Pretty funny trying to get a 3-yr old to take a picture--ha!  He did pretty good, I'd say.

 I thought I'd take one myself in the mirror, so it's not so blurry.  Coop wanted to be included.

Last week we had a rainy day, and so I dug out the baby clothes and stuff and went through some of it to see what we have.  And what do we have?  A LOT of baby stuff!!!  I mean, sheesh!  For the newborn to 3 months size, we have 26 onesies...26!  Granted 6 of those Coop was never able to wear because they are newborn size--a size which he skipped over completely.  With this baby being delivered at 39 weeks, I'm hopeful that we may have a not so ginormous newborn, and may get to use those brand new onesies.

For those of you wondering, we have just about everything we need for this little guy up to 6-9 months, which is when it'll be Nov-Jan.  Those clothes from Coop are his summer clothes, and so we'll be buying Cheese his own winter clothes for those few months.  But I think everything else we have up to a year will work--yay!  We really don't need much of anything, which is such a blessing.  There are a few large item wants that I have, but they are by no means a need, so we are really set for this kid already.

As you can see, Baby Cheese is growing.  The kid has developed some muscles, and can pack a punch (or kick)!!  The little stinker is still breech, and some of those kicks are getting mighty personal and PAINFUL.  The other night I was sitting on the couch with Nate, and Cheese kicked me so hard in the basement that it made me jump up off the couch, yell "OUCH!" and nearly cry.  He did the same thing three more times within as many minutes, and so I said, "That's it, kid!"  I immediately researched what to do to get a breech baby to flip.  There are some pretty crazy suggestions out there, but a few that I could try here at home immediately.

Picture this:  closed ironing board leaning against couch with me laying upside down on said ironing board.  Talk about a weird feeling having all that baby weight shift so suddenly.  As soon as I was upside down, Cheese started kicking and squirming like mad.  He was clearly not happy about my revenge plan to get his kicks in my ribs and not my basement.  In addition to just laying on the ironing board, several websites suggested either playing soothing music or having your spouse talk to the baby at their feet to coax them to flip around, since supposedly the baby would want to move toward the sound.

So add to the already comical picture of me lying on a reclining ironing board upside down, Nathan talking to the baby at the place where the baby's feet are, if you catch my drift.  Nate thought I had totally gone crazy, but I told him we have to try anything to get this kid to flip, so he was a good sport.

The problem was, Nate being Nate, he was saying things that were not helping me relax.  i.e. "Hey Cheese, your mom has asked me to talk to you man to man.  You need to move on down here.  I know it's a little weird to move to this end, but you gotta do it sometime...I don't know what else to say as I sit here talking to your mom's -----...How's the weather in there?  Whatcha been doin'?"  And so went the 5 minute monologue.

By that time, I was laughing so hard that nearly all the blood had rushed to my head.  Then I started a coughing fit, and I scrambled down to right side up before my head exploded from the pressure.  It was pretty funny, but apparently not to Cheese, who just kicked me harder the rest of the night as if to spite me, and refused to flip.  Little does he know that we'll be making this a nightly routine--ha!

Coop continues to ask me just about every day if Baby Cheese can come out yet.  The other day he asked, and when I said it's going to be a few more months, Coop said, "But I want him to come out and play RIGHT NOW!"  Me too kiddo, me too.

Coop also asked the other day if my belly would get flat again after I had the baby.  I said yes, and then he said, "But will there be a big hole in your belly where the baby was?  How will the hole go away?"  I assured him there would be no hole, and that I would have plenty of lap and be able to bend over again a little while after the baby is born.  He was very happy to hear that.

Valentine Snow

It snowed here today--at least in my kitchen.  We had a dusting of white, and a visit from the Abominable Snowman!

Cooper and I made sugar cookies today for him and his friends to decorate at their Valentine's Day party tomorrow.  There was not a lack of flour involved in the process, thanks to Cooper.  He managed to cover himself (look closely at the right side of his face; he has flour on his cheek and eyelashes), the dog, the floor, his step stool, the dishwasher, several cupboards, and me with flour.  This picture was taken after we'd just gotten started.  By the end, the Patriot's logo on his shirt wasn't even visible, his pants looked gray, and his black/gray cammo slippers were white!!  I used the vacuum to get some of the flour off him before taking his clothes off.  He was scared at first, but then said it tickled and was giggling.  I was not giggling so much, being very sleep deprived the last few days.  My sense of humor at the moment was overpowered by feeling fatigued and an aching back from standing so long, so it wasn't as cute and funny then as it seems now.  It took me nearly an hour to clean up the messy fun, but the kid at least had a good time on a rainy afternoon.

 Even poor Brody didn't escape being dusted white.

 This was the rear view as things got under way.  Wish I would have snapped a pic at the end, but I was too covered myself to pick up my camera!  Good times.

Snuggle Bug Forever

Yesterday I put Coop in time out for disobeying. Time outs always end with talking about it, and then hugs. This particular time he asked me to pick him up and hold him for a hug. Then he sweetly said, "Mom, can I be your Snuggle Bug forever?" My heart melted.

This kid is growing up fast, and is always doing "tricks" for me to see. Yesterday e was showing me these tricks on the couch. Ta da!

The other night we were out to dinner, and Nate and I were talking. Cooper kept commenting on a mural on the wall, and wantes us to look, which we did several times, but then he'd persist again. Finally in frustration, he put on hand on the back of Nate's head, one hand on the side, and physically turned his head, saying, "Daddy, look!" It made us both laugh