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.