Top 12 Things You Have Missed Since My Last Post (September..oops!)

1. October: Courtney turned 28 years old and Cooper celebrated his very first Halloween as a cute monster.
2. November: Cooper had his first taste of "real" food for Thanksgiving...he ate his entire plate full!
3. December: We celebrated Cooper's first Christmas. Cody, my brother who lives in CA, came home for over a week. He taught Cooper many bad tricks and fed him everything from cookie dough to powdered sugar.
4. January: Cooper turned 1!!!! We had a great monster birthday party with many friends and family there.
5. January: John bought out another dentist in Martinsville. He has doubled his practice and is loving every minute of it. He is working longer hours and some Fridays but has had tremendous responses to taking such a risk.
6. February: Courtney had to have her gallbladder removed. Who knew having a baby would continue to mess me up? (He was totally worth it!)
7. March: Cooper had his first surgery! He had his adenoids removed and tongue clipped. He was moderately tongue tied.
8. March: The day after his Cooper's surgery he decided to walk, who knew adenoids and your frenulum controlled walking...haha.
9. April: Winston (our beloved Pug) turned three!
10. May: Cooper is learning to talk but seems to only communicate in Japanese.
11. May: Courtney is finished with working for the summer!
12. June: John and I celebrate 3 years of marriage. My whole family is going on vacation together to see Cooper's first trip to the beach. My parents and grandparents are driving, John, Coop, and I are flying and Cody is meeting us in Florida from California. Winston will be boarded for the very first time and away from any family for a week. Who need more thinking of , Winston or everyone on the trip? Should be interesting.
Hopefully I can get back on track and continue to blog.

Are You Ready for Some Football...

We have been away for sometime now but are back just in time for Football Season! John had the great idea (somewhat copied from John Michael Vincent from 1260 am The Drive and Channel 13 Sports) to have Cooper predict the outcome of each NFL football game by pulling out a ping pong ball with each team written on them. So I went a step further, with my creativity, and drew the names and logos of each team on a ping pong ball. It was quite tedious but turned out awesome. So we are now on Week #2. Cooper loves the ping pong balls and from a preschool developmental employee it is working on his fine motor skills! So far here are the outcomes: (the teams in ALL CAPS are the ones he picks)

Week #1

COLTS vs Jaguars

PATRIOTS vs Bills

Raiders vs CHARGERS

PACKERS vs Bears

STEELERS vs Titans

FALCONS vs Dolphins

Broncos vs BENGALS

VIKINGS vs Browns

SAINTS vs Lions

COWBOYS vs Buccaneers

RAVENS vs Chiefs

EAGLES vs Panthers

GIANTS vs Redskins

TEXANS vs Jets

SEAHAWKS vs Rams

CARDINALS vs 49ers

Cooper did pretty well his first week. He went 13 wins and 3 losses. I wonder how this weeks picks will hold up? Here are his predictions:

Week #2

Panthers vs FALCONS

VIKINGS vs Lions

Bengals vs PACKERS

TEXANS vs Titans

RAIDERS vs Chiefs

PATRIOTS vs Jets

SAINTS vs Eagles
Rams vs REDSKINS

CARDINALS vs Jaguars

Buccaneers vs BILLS

SEAHAWKS vs 49ers

STEELERS vs Bears

Browns vs BRONCOS

Ravens vs CHARGERS

GIANTS vs Cowboys

Colts vs DOLPHINS

Long Time, No Hear...

It has been quite sometime since I have blogged last. I really enjoy this blog but somehow it has managed to creep its way to the bottom of my list of priorities but definitely above cleaning house...haha. Things are definitely going much better since I last blogged. Cooper is now 5 months old! I don't know what is more shocking--Cooper being 5 months or the fact that I have not worked in 5 months! He continues to amaze me everyday. He is smiling all the time, reaching and grabbing everything, and is eating baby food! I've decided to take him to day care one day a week this summer to get all 3 of us (including sitter) used to the idea. Yesterday was his first day. It was totally awesome to sleep in for as long as I wanted! I had a massage that John bought for me some time ago. I really wasn't worried at all about him! He did fantastic and of course so did I!

We have celebrated many events lately. John and I both had our first mother's/father's days, our 2nd anniversary and John's birthday. John and I went to Siesta Key, FL for our anniversary. It was our first trip without the Coopster. We had a great time and didn't stress too much being away from him.

Things to look forward to: more weddings this summer, Beth's bachelorette party that I am planning and am so pumped for, a few concerts, the 4th of July, my weight slowly coming off, and my acne getting amazingly better (with the help of drugs)!

The Things I Miss...

I wouldn't say I am depressed but I have been thinking about how much my life has changed! Having Cooper was the greatest thing to have ever happened to me but nothing anyone told me could ever have prepared me for this! John continues to tell me I need to be medicated because I tend to get really stressed out about things and when Cooper cries, which I am lucky because it is not that often. I have been replacing pictures of my life BC (before Cooper or Chaos) with pictures of now. As I stare at the old ones my BC life flashes before me and I am reminded of all the things I miss dearly....

I love being on a schedule but my life consists of the exact same thing everyday ..Feeding/changing/bathing/rocking/pleasing in anyway a baby. I run the dishwasher and do laundry at least 2 times a day. When I was working I wanted to be home so bad to do things for myself now I want to do things for myself so bad again. If he sleeps I feel lucky to be able to shower and brush my teeth. I miss working and interacting with other adults (if nothing else just to have someone to bitch to)!

I miss sleeping in! I loved sleeping in BC. John is wonderful to do Cooper duty on the weekends so I can sleep in but it is nothing like really sleeping in...I still wake up to every little sound he makes wondering if he is ok or if I need to get up to do something.

I miss what I used to look like. In June we will be married 2 years and this week 3 years ago I went on vacation with John and his family. His family is on the annual vacation without us so I reminisce through old pictures. I look nothing like I did 3 years ago or even when we were married. I never thought that appearances would bother me but it haunts me everyday. My body will never look the same no matter what I try. I have stretched marks everywhere you can imagine! I don't think I can ever wear a normal bathing suit again that will not show them! I once had nice looking legs now they are covered in a million little scars from the PUPPS I had when I was pregnant, I thought that they would fade away??!! I have pretty bad acne, which I have never had even a little zit in my life! My back is covered with zits and scars from pregnancy acne. I am losing the baby weight slowly everyday but I still cannot fit in a lot of the things that I used to be able to that I love and refuse to get rid of. Will I ever be able to wear them again or will they ever fit right again?

I miss just doing what we want....we cannot go to a movie like we used to or anywhere without our little man. John and I had a lot of fun when it was just the two of us but did we not do enough of the things we loved BC? Everything we do now we have to center it around Cooper. Make sure he is changed, eats before, and is sleeping. Or if we go somewhere and he gets fussy then our trip is cut short.

I am a lot older than my mom was when she had me and even my brother but I really have a new found respect for her. How did she work full time, take care of a 2 year old and newborn, and do everything around the house when she was only 22? She is the most amazing woman and mother I have ever met! There is no way I will ever be able to live up to that!

Now that I have let out all my sorrow (thank god for a blog so I have some type of release) I can get on with my day. As I sit here typing and looking at my sweet baby boy sleeping I cannot imagine my life without him. He is amazing and the greatest, hardest gift I could ever receive. It will be so hard for me to return to work without him during the day.

Just like everyone says your life will never be the same but my life has so much more meaning and joy in it! No one said it would be easy or that I would not miss the little things.

My First Easter

Cooper had his very first Easter! I cannot believe how big he is getting. Has it really been 3 months already??!!? He has moved onto size 1 diapers now instead of newborn! Coop is starting to really smile when you talk to him. He weighs 12 pounds! Not only did he shit on his Nana but now he has shit on my Mamaw too! Only she didn't have me around to take her picture. What a pooper that cooper is!

Coop received his first Easter baskets from his Mamaw and Papaw and his Nana and Papaw. Am I a horrible mother because I didn't get him a basket? I figured everyone else did and he wouldn't remember anyway! Plus I get him stuff almost everyday. Cooper made his debut in Church as well, only to sleep the entire time.

As a family we went to get our first pictures taken along with his 3 month ones. They turned out great. I will post the link to see them once I receive the email.

We found out over Easter weekend that my mom has to have surgery on her back/neck. She has 2 herniated discs and a spiny growth pushing on her spinal cord causing nerve damage/pressure. So right now, since I have ample time to update the blog, I am stilling in the waiting room of the hospital. Cooper is enjoying a fun filled day with his Auntie Em and mommy is enjoying some time to herself! Cody, the awesome little bro, surprised everyone with a visit! They figured it out before we could really surprise them!

I will send updates and pictures (of course I took some) from Cody's visit and my mom's hospital adventures!

The Life & Times of Cooper...

It has been a long time since I blogged last (over a month ago!). I didn't realize how little time you have to yourself when you have a little guy around but I definitely wouldn't trade it for the world. Here are all the latest and greatest about what had been happening in our lives.



Courtney: I have been off all steroids for about a month now, I feel much better and slowly am starting to look like myself again. I am being tapered off of all the blood pressure medicine that I was taking! Things are looking great for me, finally since it has already been 8 weeks! I guess I keep forgetting how very sick I was when he was born! Now I am starting the weight loss journey and hopefully can get rid of my acne! Purdue won the Big Ten Tournament, Awesome!!

John: says there is nothing new about him! He is still very distraught over IUs basketball season. (He's just upset because my alma mater (Purdue) is so much better!). He is excited now for the NCAA Tournament and for Baseball to start up again.



Cooper: Saving the best for last! He is growing like a weed. When he came home he was 5 lbs 15oz. 7 weeks later, 10 lbs 10 oz.! What a chunk! He is now 21 inches long! I have to use size 1 Pampers instead of Newborn and he has outgrown many of his newborn outfits. It really does sneak up on you how fast they grow. Yesterday was his first round of shots. He had all 5 of them done at once, 3 in one leg and 2 in the other. I had to hold him down on the table, it was very hard to do. I can definitely see why moms cry when they have to do that! I held it together though. My mother-in-law came up to stay with us in case he had a bad night or reacted bad to the shots. He was excellent. Just like nothing ever happened to him. He is quite the little fighter! I finally let him off of house arrest. We are now going out and about! He highly enjoys his car seat and car rides. He had made many Wal-Mart trips now. I did take our first Wal-Mart trip picture, after all it is historic...haha. I am going to close this entry with a great story from last night. Bev, my mother-in-law, was changing his diaper at 11 o'clock last night, before his bedtime feeding. He had been straining very hard to poop. When she went to change him there was a little hard pebble. Then out of nowhere he shot out a cannon of poop right at Bev. She has covered in poop! It was all over the floor, on his blanket, clothes and couch. It was hysterical! Of course I had to take a picture, so enjoy it!

I love my Uncle Cody!

Cooper had a great 1st Valentine's Day weekend. He finally got to meet his Uncle Cody. My family came up to our house to stay the whole weekend with us. It was quite something to have all of us together! John and I had our first "date" since Cooper was born. We had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory where I enjoyed my first glass of wine only to be followed by a pomegranate mimosa later that night.

Uncle Cody was hilarious to watch. When asked what he thought of Cooper his only comment was he is so little and soft. He was totally awestruck with him. Cody and I have never been around newborn babies before, so all of it is a new experience for the both of us. For the first few days he would only sit by him and rub his hands. Finally his last day here he fed him and held him. It was so neat to see my brother with my little man. I just wish he lived closer!