More Firetrucks!!

As if Coop didn't get to explore enough firetrucks last week, this week at school was about fire safety. They read books, colored/painted pictures, and played fireman/firetrucks ALL WEEK. Today took the cake as a real fire truck and firemen came to visit Coop's school.

He explored with his friend Luke.

Look Ms. Tina, a nee-nah!!!

I'm so glad Coop's school takes pictures like this so we can share in the fun.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

We were able to visit MeMaw and Poppy for Labor Day weekend. The weekend started off with a nice night out to dinner. Good food, and even better company. Coop was happy just to be hanging out with Poppy. LOVE this picture of the two of them together.

He was sure to get all his wiggles out before dinner (well most anyway), running up and down the deck.

I think he ran a little too much. He looks wasted!
Coop wanted MeMaw to blow on his booboo.

We all enjoyed the beautiful evening. Perfect night!

Coop enjoyed the rocking chairs too.

Just love this picture...

Saturday we spent the morning at the beach. Poppy and Daddy were sure to help Coop dig a big hole for the water to run into, and Coop was eager to get the water.

The kid LOVES the water! He sure keeps us running at the beach, trying to keep him from diving into waves too big for him to handle. He was go-go-go all morning.

There's a fire station really close to Poppy's house, and Coop was begging to go see the "nee-nahs" as he calls them (because of the sound the sirens make in his firetruck book). Poppy took him several times to see the fire trucks, and Nate and I took him too. You can barely see his head peeking above the steering wheel in this picture.

Knobs and buttons--Cooper's dream!

Gotta try driving it.

He was insistent that Dad go sit in the passenger seat, and that we close the doors. Then he said, "We driving!"

Thrilled!!!

Poppy took us out on the boat, and Coop got to help drive the boat too.Poppy, how do you start this thing?

We drove out to an old island that is now under water, just shallow enough for Coop to traipse around in on his own. Hi Mom!

More driving...

This was my only picture with Coop all weekend. We were both tired from having so much fun.

Thank you Poppy and MeMaw for an incredibly fun and relaxing weekend!!! We love you!

P.S. Coop calls Poppy "Grammie," his name for all his grandparents, male or female. LOL

Running, Running

Coop has been singing this song for a few weeks. One he learned at school.

[to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?"]
Marching, marching, marching, marching.
Hop, hop, hop.
Hop, hop, hop.
Running, running, running.
Running, running, running.
Now we stop. Now we stop.

Finally caught it on video, except he skips the hopping this time (taken with my phone, so quality is not great).



Also, of note on the subject of running, we had some friends over Sunday afternoon for a get together. They had kids near Cooper's age, and the kids wandered upstairs to play with the toys. Coop had never had friends play in his room before. When I went to check on them a few minutes later, Coop was running around the room with a big grin saying over and over again, "Friends over! Friends over!" What a joy he is.

My Thoughts on Being a Mom

Lately things at work have been going really well. Tonight at dinner, Nate and I were talking about my career and how it seems to be on the verge of a major breakthrough. I'm just steps away from some kind of promotion or something. It's not been without effort, lots of stress, and lots of hours. I've always thrown myself in to my work with full dedication. I've not ever had a job that I've thought of as "just a paycheck." I attribute this work ethic to my parents, and to growing up working for my Dad. It's been a blessing in my career, and always pays off.
I love my job. LOVE it. Sure, there are frustrating, stressful things about it, but I enjoy going to work every day. How many people get to say that, especially about an office job? I sit and analyze reports and numbers every day, telling people when I see a project about to lose money, or where we can make more money, and managing the financials for all kinds of engineering/planning projects. I love that I get to use my mind every day. Most days my work is like number mysteries that I get to research and resolve, both things bring me satisfaction--the research and finding solutions. The only aspect of my current job I don't particularly enjoy is managing people. Employee personal drama is not something I enjoy dealing with. Even the corporate politics, while sometimes annoying, don't really bother me. It's like a game sometimes, and knowing the right players and the right steps makes it fun. The other aspect I enjoy is teaching/training others how to do a job. I enjoy teaching someone a skill, and then seeing them do well. All these things give me a sense of fulfilment, as far as work is concerned.
All this is well and good, but tonight as Nathan and I discussed some things that are going really well with my career, it may seem tempting to some to stick with it and gain a great career out of it. There are many opportunities just around the corner if I continue down this path. BUT...
As I was home with my sick child this last Monday, having to take the full day off work, even though he was sick, I really enjoyed it. While somethings were not as fulfilling as they can be in the office setting, and my child doesn't give me recognition for the things I do in the same way I get recognition at work, I found that day to be one of the best I've had in a long time. So while my career is at the cusp of something great (for me anyway), I can actually say I'm ready to quit and be a full-time mom.
Now I know staying home full-time is not as romantic as it sounds. I know that it's tiring work, without a nice hour-long lunch break to myself every day, and that it's also round the clock. I know that there will be days that I'll wonder to myself, "Why did I choose this?" But feel deep down that there is no greater purpose in life, no greater thing I can accomplish, than to mother and raise my own kids. I find such joy and fulfillment in being a mother.
So soon I'll put my career on the back burner, knowing full well that it means that I'll probably be 45 or 50 before I'm back where I am currently on the career ladder, and may never achieve in my career what I could if I stayed working full-time. But I choose my son. I can't wait to quit. Not something I'll probably ever say about anything else in my life. I've never been a quitter, but this is the one thing I'll quit. A million times I'd choose him. Whole-heartedly.
So future self, remember this on those days when you ask, "Why did I choose this?".

Cooper 23 Months

Today Cooper turned 23 months. It's hard to remember life without this little guy in our lives. Milestones of the last month:

• Talking, talking, and talking! Coop can say just about anything now, and talks in complete 3-5 word sentences. The other day when I took him to the doctor, the doctor asked why we were there, and Coop matter of factly said, "My ear hurts." My favorite, though, is that he calls himself, "Pootah." I gotta get it on video before he outgrows it!!!


• Counting: Coop has learned to count. Usually it's "One, two, one, two..." but the other day he totally surprised me when he pulled the big spoons out of the drawer, and counted them back in, one through eight, without any mistakes. I didn't even know he knew how to count past 5! Thank you preschool. Here's a picture of Coop last week, sent to me by Coop's school. He was sick, so he looks a little out of it, but since I have time tonight to blog, and who knows how long it'll be before I can get back on here, this is the picture of him we get to use. :o)


• Coop has also learned to identify letters, not particular letters yet, but when he sees letters he's sure to shout, "ABCs!" He can sometimes identify A and O, but that's about it.


• Coop loves to sing in the car, and sings to himself often. He most often sings "Are You Sleeping, " either the English or French version. Not sure why this is his song of choice, but he loves it. He can also sing several other songs from beginning to end by himself: ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, etc.


• Cooper has developed fears. He's suddenly very afraid of some things, the worst being thunder. We've had so many thunder storms this summer that now when it starts to get dark every night, Cooper thinks a storm is coming and runs to my side shouting, "Thunda! Thunda!" and sticks to my side until it's time to go to bed. He also does this when he hears any kind of rumble, like Dad walking around upstairs. He'll even wake in the middle of the night crying because he thinks he hears thunder. This has been going on for several weeks now. Poor kiddo.


• Coop loves to play with his cars and trucks. They are his favorite toys right now.


• Daddy has taught Cooper to play catch, and kick a ball. He also has a pretty good throw!


• Gone are the chubby baby days; Coop is growing a little taller, and is losing his baby fat. He's a trim and slim, muscular little guy. He's got arm definition I envy, and is getting so slim that many of his pants and shorts fall off. His chest is wide and full, so some shirts are too small while corresponding pants/shorts are too big.


• He can drink well from a cup without spilling. Spills are usually intentional dumps on the floor or spitting of water, which he thinks is great fun, even if Mom gets upset.


• Lastly, he's got a full set of teeth, having all four 2-year molars come in within the last two months.

We love The Coop!

Lazy 5 Ranch

Two weeks ago we went to a petting zoo not far away, called the Lazy 5 Ranch. Cooper LOVED it. First off were the camels, goats and cows. He was fascinated with the camels and just stared at them in silence.You could feed the animals, and the camels put their mouths around the fence holes like this, waiting for people to dump feed in. It was hilarious.
This place was full of spectacular landscaping for different animal habitats. I was amazed with all the exotic plants, and admiring the landscaping. Nate said, "Only a landscape architect's daughter." :o) I couldn't resist one picture of these giant lily pads in the pond. The flowers were as tall as me!

I loved this Weeping Willow tree, but love the two guys underneath it even more!

While Daddy got us lunch, Cooper had fun with these balloons.

And he LOVED the swings!

After lunch we went for a drive through the zoo. At this zoo you get to either drive your own car through, or go on a wagon ride pulled by huge horses. We opted to drive our own car, and for much of the time Coop was more interested in "driving" than the animals coming up to the car for food. Here's a llama, and Cooper looking not at the llama, but at the dashboard and all the BUTTONS.We got to feed and pet llamas, emus, ostriches, deer, elk, and pot bellied pigs from the comfort of our own car. They'd come right up to the windows and wait for the bucket of feed. The emus and ostriches freaked me out. Their beady little eyes make them look a little psycho and unpredictable. Most of the pot bellied pigs were either pregnant or just had babies so there were lots of tiny little piglets running around, some barely bigger than my hand. Coop thought they were "tute."

There were also other animals we got to view close up, but not feed: zebras, water buffalo, bison, yaks, and I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting.

They had a baby giraffe just born in May. Cooper said, "baby gaff!"

The most fun we had was Cooper and I standing up through the sun roof to see the giraffes, while Daddy reached up to feed one. This place is definitely worth future visits!

[We didn't buy any souvenirs, but Coop brought home a free one--pink eye. Guess the animals shared their germs and mom didn't wash Coop's hands fast/thoroughly enough. The pink eye turned into a sinus infection, which turned into a 102.5 fever a week later, and double ear infections. Thank you petting zoo.] But we still had fun!!!

You Give Me the Creeps

Living in the South is ruining me. I used to love being outdoors, love gardening, love camping. In the South, maybe not so much. It's the creepy-crawly things here that are getting to me; the ones with six legs or more. Just can't stand them.
I am not humane when I find one. I'll kill a spider so fast you can't even blink first. Well, that is if my husband is not around to enlist in the job for me. And I also have a squish limit. If the bug/spider is so big that it's going to feel squishy when smashed, then I have a REALLY hard time being the assassin.
Growing up in Utah in a well-landscaped yard next to a river and a bunch of foresty trees and bushes, I'm not unaccustomed to spiders and bugs. Don't get me wrong, I have encountered some pretty big spiders in my parents' house. The very worst was the occasional black widow, which I either killed with a flathead shovel, or got my dad to do it. Other bugs were there but nothing more than squishable annoyances.
But the spiders and insects in the South are an entirely new experience. Even after living here for 4 years, I still am not used to it. Our first apartment in Atlanta was well treated with pest control at least monthly. I loved living there for that reason. We lived on the 2nd floor, and so didn't have many pests. We did get a lot of ants when the ground water drove them up through the drains. The worst I encountered there were centipedes, or whatever those million-legged things are that move so fast they must be related to the roach family. Gosh, I hate those things, and we did have a lot of them.
By the time we moved to the Atlanta burbs, I was used to the centipedes. But moving to a house with a backyard next to a ravine, my true Southern bug experience had only begun. Enter spiders. Our yard in Smyrna had spiders with bodies as big as my thumb from mid-knuckle to tip. Those things were HUGE. Along with huge spiders come huge webs. We had a few webs 3-4 FEET in diameter in our front yard once. They were so big, I think they put "Charlotte's Web" to shame. The front of our house was covered with cobwebs in the fall and spring. I couldn't keep them cleared. After first seeing those big spiders, it was really hard for me to be outside in our yard without being totally freaked out.
That house in Smyrna also brought my first encounter with cockroaches. Even in the dumps I lived in in Boston, I never had roaches. Maybe it's too cold there. Roaches in Utah are something that only really old or really dirty houses have, as far as my experience goes. But in the South, even the cleanest of houses can have roaches. I HATE a cockroach more than I hate a spider. At least you can usually catch/kill spiders. Roaches are indestructable and run so fast that you're not likely to be able to attempt a kill, nor do they respond to household pesticides. That house in Smyrna was riddled with roaches. We had a few 1-1/2 to 2 inches long. Big suckers. I was so glad to move.
Our town house in Charlotte was much better. For awhile. One night in October when Nate was about to go to bed, he saw something scurrying across the floor. He thought it was a mouse. But NOOOOOOO...
I can hardly look at that picture. He woke me up to show me the spider he'd caught. He admits that he was a little freaked out too. That spider, as you can see, was the size of a quarter. And all those little brown spots near it are teeny tiny baby spiders that ran off the body of the big one when Nate put the glass over it. Nate vacuumed it up. I made him put the vacuum outside, and didn't use it for 2 weeks. I could hardly step foot in the room for days afterward, didn't play on the floor for weeks, and didn't drink out of that glass for nearly six months. That glass was dubbed "the spider glass" by me and my sister.
That house also introduced me fire ants. I don't know the real reason they're called that, but I say it's because they bite the fire out of you. I got caught in some a few weeks ago standing at the ATM. Didn't notice until it was too late. Hate those things.
Also discovered in Charlotte that there is a kind of hornet/bee that digs holes in the ground. Yup. Nate didn't believe me and my sister when we told him the backyard was swarming with bees that lived in the ground. He thought they were eating the ants. Turned out it wasn't ant hills after all, but bee holes all over the lawn. Thank goodness they only lasted about a month in the spring and then were gone.
That bring us to our current house. I should have known that living in the country with a backyard next to a forest would bring bugs with it. Yet again I have a hard time enjoying being outside. A few weeks ago I was watering the flowers in the front yard when Cooper came running, "Mommy! Bug! BIG Bug!!! and ran toward the garage. He was right. This is the bug he'd found.
I'd only ever seen beetles that size before in museums. Ugh. It had started again.
This house is FULL of spiders all day long. I'm so used to killing spiders that I'll even kill the tiny ones with my bare fingers. But nothing prepared me for the suprise invaders I found in my coat closet today. I was happily sweeping the floor in prep for mopping, and decided the walk-in closet in the kitchen/dining area needed to be included in the cleaning. Coop had just eaten raisins, and I'd swept up a few. But I wondered how raisins had gotten in the back of the closet. Then I thought, "Oh, it's dog food." Then...it moved... and moved so fast it could only be one thing....
My only recourse is going to be arming myself with rubber gloves and the vacuum. But where there is one, there are many.
I think it's time to move...
far, far away from the South and these bugs.
And I'm certainly never moving to Texas.
P.S. Thought this blog would help me feel better. It didn't.