Through a Child's Eyes

Two things Cooper said today reminded me of his perspective on things, and also made me laugh.

First, Cooper has been learning lately why Daddy works all day, and what his (Cooper's) responsibilities are for our family (be a good boy; make good choices; help mommy with household chores, grocery shopping, and making meals, brush his teeth, etc.). Nate had to go to his uptown office today for work, so I took advantage of him being gone, and set to work deep cleaning his home office. My sidekick, Cooper, thought this an optimal time to play with the computer. He sat at Nate's desk and started pretend typing on the keyboard. I asked what he was doing, and he said, "Typing to make money like Daddy does." Then as if to dismiss me, he picked up the phone and said, "Now I have a meeting," had a little imaginary conversation, hung up, and started typing again. Pretty accurate impression of how he sees Daddy work every day for our family. It was cute and sweet.

Second thing that made me laugh: i'd just toted a basket of clean laundry upstairs and placed it on my bed to fold it later. Coop followed me upstairs, but when ai went back down a few minutes later to make dinner, he wanted to stay. A few minutes later I hear, "Mommy!!" I rushed to the stairs thinking something was wrong, but he replied, "Um, sorry I tipped over your clean clothes all over the floor. It was an accident." I said that was ok, but put them back in the basket, to which he replied, "I just can't Mom. There's too many." His understanding and reasoning skills are maturing, but thankfully remain comical. Love him!

Next Time Just Send Packing Peanuts

Yesterday Cooper recieved a postcard from his Great Nana and Grandpa Gunning, who are on their annual vacation in Florida. The postcard has all the Disney characters, and this morning Cooper woke me up and instantly asked, "Mom, what's Disney World, and when can we go there?" Well, me made it to nearly 3-1/2 before he found out about the magic kingdom of Disney. ;). Guess we'd better start saving.

Then today we received a fun package of fresh oranges and grapefruit and such from Nana and Grandpa in FL. Yummy!! Cooper was WAY more excited about the packing peanuts...clearly.

Thank you, Nana and Grandpa, for the fun mail and package! We love you!

30 Weeks - What's in a Name

Naming a child is one of the challenges of having a baby. You want the name to be something that will fit the child not only through childhood, but through adulthood as well. You want it to be a name that won't cause the child undue ridicule or stress, it has to fit in your family, and sound good with your last name. There are so many options!

Driving to Nate's dad's for Christmas, we spent part of the long night drive making a list of names. We narrowed it down to five that we both really liked, and had variations of middle names as well. After mulling over the list for three months, at long last we've arrived at a name for this baby besides "Baby Cheese." Of course, this is always subject to change until the child is born, but for now we've chosen the name of Hudson for this little guy. Nate's one reservation about it is the likelihood of him being called "Hud" at some point. I think there could be worse things.  We've decided to keep the middle name a surprise for when the baby is born.  So unlike Cooper, who was "Tater Tot" until he was born, we have started calling the baby by his name (although I think the nickname "Cheese" may just stick with him the rest of his life).  We thought it important to settle on a name so Cooper could get used to calling him Hudson instead of Baby Cheese all the time.

Here's a picture of the baby bump at 30 weeks (only 9 weeks until he's here!).  This shirt makes me look HUGE.  Well, I am, but this shirt makes me look bigger than others from the backside.  At least, that's what I think.  Although today my friend's mom saw me and said, "When are you due?  Tomorrow?", which is funny because her daughter is due three days after me, but looks a lot smaller.  I have three friends at church all due within a month of me, and we all look drastically different.  It's funny to see the differences.

The other night we were in the office, and Cooper found some headphones.  He instantly put them on, and then held the plug end up to my belly.  I asked what he was doing, and he said, "Shhhhhh! I'm listening to Baby Cheese."  With my phone handy, I asked Nate to snap a photo.  I asked what the baby was saying, and Cooper said Hudson said, "Hey big brother. I love you."  Awwwww.

Also, last night I was reading bedtime stories to Cooper and told him that very soon our new rocking chair would be ready, and I'd be able to rock him in it while we read stories and such.  Then he asked if I could rock the baby in the chair too after he's born, and I said yes.  Then he said so sweetly, "And Mom, can I hold Hudson and rock him in the chair too?"  I think this little guy is going to be one awesome big brother.

I've Totally Got This, Mom.

My baby is growing up. With him being nearly 3-1/2, I decided it was about time for his first visit to the dentist. I wanted it to be a positive experience for him because I HATED the dentist as a kid. Never once did I go without needing work of some kind or another.
To prepare him for the experience, having never been to a dentist's office before, the day of his visit I had him watch a few educational videos I found on YouTube. After we watched the videos I asked if he had any questions, and he said no. I asked if he was going to be a big boy, and he said, "Yep." To be prepared, I asked if he wanted to bring Teddy with him, and he did. Once we got to the dentist's office and were getting out of the car, I reminded him he could bring Teddy if he wanted, and he said, "No, Mom, I'm gonna leave Teddy in the car and just be a big boy." Ok, I thought, and told him he was very big.

You would have thought Coop had visited the dentist 1000 times before. He sat right in the chair, chatted with the nurse and the hygenist like they were old friends, opened his mouth when asked, wasn't afraid of anything, and was totally chill, laid back, and cooperative, even with the flouride trays. To top it off, he had no cavities, and was SUPER excited to get his own floss and a prize. The whole team at the dentist's office couldn't believe how great he was, especially at only 3 years old. I was pleased myself. Clearly my baby is making another step toward growing up and being independent, in more ways than one.
Here's the cavity-free kid.

A Special Opportunity

Let me begin this post by not apologizing, but just saying that I do occasionally like to blog about my religion and spiritual feelings, and since this is my personal blog, that's what I'm gonna do.  That said, I know many of my readers are not of my same faith, so I hope that you don't mind.  My Mom recently shared some thoughts like this with our family, and in discussing that with her, I decided to go ahead and blog about this, since these are experiences, thoughts, and feelings I'd like to share with my family and friends as well.

The weekend of Feb 9th-10th was Stake Conference for our ward.  In Mormon lingo a "ward" is the local congregation of around 80-100 families, a "stake" is a group of wards geographically located close to one another, usually comprised of 5-8 wards.  The stake meets twice a year for a worship meeting where we get to hear from our Stake President and his counselors, as well as various leaders and members, male and female, of our stake.

Anyway, this Stake Conference was special for us because rather than having just the usual speakers, we had several prominent church leaders come to speak--Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and M. Keith Giddens our Area Authority Seventy.  If you're interested in knowing more about Russell M. Nelson, you can follow the link above.  Having an Apostle of the Lord come to speak in person to our stake is a unique thing because usually when we hear an Apostle speak, they broadcast a video conference from Salt Lake City, UT, or they come in person, and we have a multi-stake event.  But this time it was just our stake, approximately 2,000 individuals who got to hear and see an Apostle in person.  I can count on one hand the number of times in my lifetime that I've seen an apostle or prophet of the Lord in person, so I was excited and anticipating this for weeks.  It wasn't seeing these leaders in person, although there is a little bit of a celebrity status, I was excited to hear what they had to share with us

We couldn't find a babysitter for the Saturday night adult session, and so we took Cooper with us and sat in an overflow room where they had audio and video set up for the next day.  We were the only ones in that room, and Cooper was past bedtime and crazy, so it was hard to listen to the speakers that night.  The one thing I was able to take notes about was Elder Nelson talking about the pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect, as the scriptures say, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).  He explained this scripture using the Greek word for perfect "telios," which direct translationia to be perfected, or in the distance. Rayher than thinking we have to be perfect all at once, the Lord has asked us to work toward being perfected, "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little" just as the scriptures say. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is what provides us the means to be perfected over time, as we repent and strive to be a little better each day.

The Sunday session of the conference was uplifting.  There were many good speakers from male and female members of our stake, but with Cooper acting out during the 2-hour meeting, I didn't take notes except for the three most poignant speakers.  Our Stake President, Ladd Hall, spoke about establishing your own "personal righteous behavior."  He said that when obedience to God's laws no longer becomes an irritant, in that moment you are endowed with power from on high.  That really struck me, especially thinking about not major things, but the small things, like patience in parenting.  Parenting in a way pleasing to the Lord (i.e. not yelling at kids), is a hard thing for me as Cooper has gotten older.  But in those moments when I have more patience, and stop and occasionally pray for help, I do feel the inspiration and guidance from the Lord.  How many other aspects of my life could be improved in small increments like that?  Reminds me of that scripture that says that by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass.  President Hall also quoted Yoda from Star Wars, who said, "Do or do not; there is no try."  There is a lot of wisdom in those words.  President Hall also challenged us to be knowledgeable about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Keith Giddens of the Seventy spoke about two words: submit and surrender.  He said you can read thousands of self-help books and books on business and success, and not once will you find those two words. However, the scriptures are full of examples of how submitting and surrendering to the will of the Lord will bring blessings and successes far beyond what we could attain on our own.  These two words have to do with the sanctification process.  Paul said he was given a thorn in the flesh, and he asked the Lord to remove it three times.  The Lord responded, "My grace is sufficient for thee."  We should find strength in turning to the Lord for help in overcoming weaknesses.  We need to humble and submit ourselves to the Lord for weaknesses to become strengths.

Lastly, we were blessed to hear from Elder Russel M. Nelson again.  To begin his talk, he said he'd met with and heard from all members of the stake from all ages and auxiliaries, but hadn't heard from the Primary children yet (children ages 3-12).  He asked all the children to stand up on their chairs and sing "I am a Child of God."  I was SO disappointed that moments before Cooper had decided to throw a fit about something, and Nate had taken him out of the room.  I ran to the hall, since we were sitting right by the door, frantically looking for them, but couldn't find them.  Currently serving in the Primary presidency in my ward, I didn't want to miss it, so I went back in the meeting as the children started singing.  It was so sweet to hear their little voices singing:

I am a child of God, and He has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do to live with Him someday.

The spirit was so strong as they sang, and by the time they were done with that little verse, tears were streaming down my face.  I felt the magnitude of the responsibility I have as a parent and a Primary leader to teach these children about their Savior and God's plan of happiness for us.  Elder Nelson admonished parents to teach the children the significance of being a literal spirit child of God, and the significance of Sacrament ordinances we partake of each week at church, and how that is part of the blessings of the Atonement.

Elder Nelson spoke about some other things, but it was my turn to entertain/wrestle our restless son, and so I didn't get to take notes on those.  The last thing I took notes about was the special apostolic blessing he left upon our stake.  He said to feast upon the words of Christ, and those of your friends and family not of our faith will be attracted to you.  He promised that if we read and study the scriptures daily, the church membership in the Charlotte area would grow in an unprecedented way. He promised there will be many stakes in Charlotte yet to come, and temples will be made available closer to us.  He left a special blessing upon those in the stake who are sick.  He blessed us with joy in service and joy in our homes.  He admonished our husbands to be kind to their wives and children, and that it would bless generations to come.

It was quite an incredible meeting, and the spirit was so strong that I didn't want it to end.  It felt like I was in the temple, and I could feel my spirit being fed and uplifted by the spirit of the Lord.  I was so thankful to have this special opportunity to listen in person to a living apostle of the Lord.

Shopping and Nesting

Saturday morning was the morning of all the big consignment sales in our area, something I look forward to twice a year because I get to go SHOPPING for my kids (that is weird to say that in a plural form!), get a lot of needed stuff, and not spend much money.  It's fun to me to search to find good deals, and this time was no disappointment.

On top of finding a nearly new bike for Cooper (the ball bearings on his rusted through and seized up a few weeks ago, so we thought we'd find him a "new" one.  But more on that later when I get a picture of him on it.), I found enough clothes to finish outfitting the boys for the summer, found a Bumbo seat with a tray for $8.50, and a painting that fits perfectly with the boys room decor for $5.  For all pictured here, I only spent $60.  I LOVE these consignment sales where you can find good stuff in great condition for super cheap.

The spoils: 4 newborn size sleeper pjs for the baby to wear in the hospital and that first week or two home (I have a TON of 0-3 month, but wanted some special stuff for the hospital and such), 2 little 0-3 outfits for the baby for the summer, a shirt/shorts/hat outfit for 3-6 months, and a lined denim jacket for 3-6 months.  For Cooper: 5 shirts and 5 shorts, giving him another complete 5 summer outfits. Unfortunately it was all red, white, and blue, but at least it'll be easy to swap tops and bottoms to form other outfits.  I was excited about the Bumbo chair with tray (about a $50 new retail value) for only $8.50, since our "Bumbo" chair was a knock-off brand from a neighbor in Atlanta, and I could never find a tray to fit it, and it didn't hold Cooper like a Bumbo would.  This was on my list of "hopeful" items.  The painting for their room was a complete stroke of luck.

 This is my favorite outfit for the baby, and probably the one I'll bring him home from the hospital in.  Another of the sleepers has a matching hat.  Any bets that these hats will be too small for our little slugger?  But a girl can always hope.

 This was my second favorite find for the baby.  I'm a sucker for seer suckers and plaid.  The little cap was icing on top.

 My favorite outfit for Cooper--seer sucker again (little crabs!).  I can just see him wearing this on the 4th of July.

Shopping is something I really don't do much of any more, and this was so much fun!  I am so ready to get all the baby clothes washed and put in the room, the bedding washed and on, and baby stuff out, but I'm totally making myself wait until April is here.  Only another 3 weeks...I can do it.

Cooper's New "Dirt" Bike with a Flag

A few weeks ago the pedals on Cooper's bike seized up.  The ball bearings are rusted through, and completely shot.  With a big consignment sale coming up, I knew we'd find a replacement.  On the way to the sale, Cooper was excited, but very specific about the bike he wanted: a dirt bike with an American flag. I have no idea where he got this from, but he was ridiculously specific and insistent. We got to the sale, and Nate instantly spotted a bike his size for a great deal that looks nearly new, but Cooper was NOT happy. It didn't help that they had a John Deere kid size Gator (kinda like a mule or jeep) on sale right next to the bikes, bit WAY out of our budget. Coop had no interest in the non-American flag, non-dirt bike. I think he thought we were getting him a real motorcycle or something. Kinda funny. So we bought the bike Nate picked out.

Coop wasn't very happy about it until I pointed out the fenders like a real dirt bike has, and asked Nate if we could attach a flag to the back. Then it was like a light went on in his head, and Coop excitedly helped Dad tune up his new bike. The "American-ish" flag we attached is a tiny neon orange marking flag Nate had in his dog training stuff. Add a little duct tape, and voila: a dirt bike with a flag!

Cooper LOVES the fenders and riding his bike through mud and puddles (which we have an abundance of lately). I take him for a ride aroun the neighborhood nearly every day while I get a good walk. He loves his new bike. Here he is in a puddle on our ride this afternoon.