What Little Boys are Made Of

Yesterday afternoon Cooper rushed in the house from the backyard, shouting, "Mom, look, look!"  I looked up to see him grinning from ear to ear, holding a lizard he'd caught on the grass.  It took nearly all the self control I had (because I do not like to touch creepy crawlies of any sort, and was terrified it would get loose in the house) to calmly tell him how cool that was, but that lizards need to stay outside, not in the house.

He was so proud of his catch, and excited to have his picture taken with the lizard.  These little buggers are quick; I'm impressed he was able to catch one.  He held it for probably 10 minutes, before relenting to put it in his bug box so we could show Dad later.  I went back in the house, but just a few minutes later, I heard, "Mawwwwwwm!!!"  I rush back out to Coop in tears because the lizard got away.  He said he just wanted to take him for a ride in his toy dump truck, but the lizard only stayed in the truck for a second and then ran away.  Explaining why lizards don't like dump truck rides wasn't going so well, so I finally said the lizard missed his family and just wanted to go home.  That seemed a sufficient reason to Cooper for the lizard to dash off so quickly.

Busy, Busy

Today I was texting my Mom, and she asked me what I was up to today. I just about said, "Nothing, really," but then that wouldn't have been entirely accurate. As with all mothers, whether her children are young or old, my days are packed full with a rare occasion to sit and relax or do something I WANT to do. I'm doing this post not at all to complain or boast or anything like that. It's more for my own personal history so as a mother/woman I can look back and see how my day-to-day life has changed.
I was joking with my Mom about how stay-at-home mothers get a bad rap for just sitting around watching tv all day and eating bon bons. Hardly!
Today I: woke at 6:40 am, but have to admit I laid in bed until 7:15 dreading getting up for several reasons, one being that it's been MONTHS since I had a good night's sleep, and last night was pretty routine. Woke 3 times due to pregnancy-related issues (bathroom breaks, baby kicking, repositioning to get comfortabe), but unlike many nights, I was thankfully able to fall back asleep rather quickly. But I digress.
So out of bed at 7:15. Coop had climbed in our bed just before 7, and I got him up with me. I turned on an episode of Caillou for him and hopped in the shower, then made him breakfast and got us both ready for the day. Did a few morning dishes, then dashed out the door at 8:30 to go to baby doc appt. Had been fasting for my glucose test today, so I was hungry and not feeling well from drinking that awful sugary drink they make you drink on an empty stomach. Got stuck in school traffic, few minutes late to doc's office, rush to draw blood in time. After doc we headed to the store to purchase supplies for preschool, which I'm hosting/ teaching the next two days. Then to the grocery store for a few items. Then it was home for a bit, and I was feeling nearly comatose due to the drop in blood sugar from my morning test, despite the breakfast I'd packed and eaten at their office as soon as my blood was drawn. So once home after getting a snack for Cooper, folding a load of laundry and starting some more, putting away groceries, and picking up some toys, I let Coop finish his morning cartoon episode we'd stopped to get ready earlier (which had resulted in him crying and throwing a fit the rest of the time while getting ready to go), and I laid down on the couch to rest a minute. My pregnant self had been asleep 15 minutes and the doorbell rang. The furnacd repairman showed up unannounced to finish what they'd atarted a few days ago. So that was the end of my little break.
Made lunch for Coop and myself and we sat at the table to eat it--something I try to do most days. While eating I made a few phone calls for my church calling, sent a few emails, and confirmed a viaiting teaching appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Checked my email, did lunch dishes, another load of laundry and kitcen cleaning. Then realized I forgot to put a birthday card in the mail for one of the kids at church (part of my calling), so wrote the card, and then had to run it to a blue postbox a few streets over because I'd already missed the mailman (insert lugging 3 yr old in and out of car again. He was not too happy about it.). Back home did a little more house cleaning, then spent some time preparing a lesson and such for preschool tomorrow. By time Coop needed some attention, so I took 30 minutes and played with him, devoting my attention to him. We played bear hunting, t-rex, monster trucks, and tickling time. That was one of the highlights of my day.
Then we rushed to the public library to fet some story books for preschool this week, and then went straight to the recreatiok center where I dropped Coop at the childcare/ playroom while I rushed to my water aerobics class for an hour, which I was 5 minutes late for. That was my own hour, and also for the sake of my unborn child. Rushed home to make dinner, wgih I had prepped earlier, and Nate being the sweet husband he is, had seen in the fridge and had nearly ready when we walked in the door.
Family dinner at the table, then dishes, laundry, Cooper bath, Cooper stories and such, Cooper in bed. Me...crash on couch at 8 pm and finally have a minute to check emails and then blog from my phone. Once this is done, scripture study, watch some tv to unwind, and crash into bed at 10. That is my day. Makes me tired to repeat all this.
Everyone has busy days. When I was a working mother they were just as busy and exhausting. It's good to be busy and have a full life. I am so blessed to be able to do all this. I am so happy and content, but usually tired. Always so much to do, but I always say that if you're bored, it's your own fault. Me? Certainly NOT bored. I know when the baby is born things will be hard and different, but I look forward to slowing down a bit, being forced to, and just enjoying my children and family for awhile. Until then...go, go, go! :D
This picture was me and Coop playing today.

Swimming Lessons

Cooper has taken swimming lessons on and off all winter. He just graduated to the next class level "Preschool III" which is comprised of 3-1/2 to 5 yr olds. He's the youngest in his class, as he has been since he started swim lessons last fall, but the peer pressure from kids a little older seems to help him. Right now he is learning back float, front float with head above water, front float with head below water, how to kick and keep his feet in the water, how to use arm strokes to swim, and how to retrieve diving objects a few feet down.
He's not progressed yet on having his head totally submerged, but will quickly dip his face in and blow bubbles from his nose/mouth. He is very enthusiastic about swimming to the side by himself, as long as it's only a few feet distance. He absolutely refuses to try to retrieve diving toys, but is more interested if he can wear goggles.
I'm proud of Cooper's progress in learning to swim, since I am not a good swimmer myself. It's a skill I want all my children to have and be comfortable with.
Yesterday my Mom asked me to take a few pictures of Coop at swim lessons to share with her, so I thought I'd share here too.

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.