My, Oh My

Before I begin, I just want to warn you that this might be picture overload! We've had such a busy but wonderful April that I haven't had a chance to really share the pics with you from all that we've been doing. I am going to try to go chronologically but must show you this first. Today Cooper discovered his push toy and when I say "discovered" I really mean, won't stop pushing it, cries when he falls, zooming around the house, MUST be pushing at all times, discovered it. This is the first time that he has been "walking" on his own. Couldn't be more proud!

Now onto the rest of April...his birthday was the day before Easter (April 11th) so we made the trek up to the mountains to celebrate with family. In my family when you say celebrate with family you don't just mean the grandparents - you mean EVERYBODY. We had a BBQ lunch, egg hunt for the kiddos, and of course presents and cake. He is only one once! You will see in the pictures a little pre-party haircut (his first!) from Cooper's Papaw (my dad) at his barber shop. Papaw had to get the first haircut!

The next day was Easter and we had a great time celebrating back here in Winston at our own church on Easter Sunday and with our friends for an Easter dinner. Between his birthday and Easter Baskets (from parents, and aunts, and uncles, and grandparents), Cooper won't need any more toys for a long while!

Then last week, we spent the week at Atlantic Beach because Sean had a Nurse Practitioner conference that he had to attend Sunday-Thursday. Cooper and I tagged along to hang out at the beach while Sean was in his conference. I was a little nervous to take Cooper to a different place pretty much by myself for the week. We were just in a hotel room so I wasn't sure if he would sleep and eat ok (not having access to a kitchen) but it really turned out well. He slept great - we put his pack-n-play halfway in the closet to allow for more darkness and I called ahead and got permission to use the employee microwave since there wasn't one in the room so that we could heat up those Gerber Graduate meals. He's not really a sandwich kid yet unless you count grilled cheeses and again, no kitchen, so the Gerber meals worked great. I was very pleased with the trip. Sean skipped some sessions that he didn't need credits for and joined us for a couple of excursions including the North Carolina Aquarium. Cooper LOVED the aquarium. This was the first outing that he has really showed interest in. The exhibits were all set up so that he could see the fish from stroller level and the fish were extremely active when we went so Cooper was very interested in watching them and leaning toward them. We were there first thing in the morning so I guess the fish were all ready to wake up and exercise too! It was very fun!

We ended that week with a trip to see our friends Keller and Nicole in Charleston on Thursday-Saturday. It was at their wedding amost 8 years ago that Sean and I both felt that something had changed in our "just friends with one another" relationship. Anyway, they live on Kiawah Island and we spent a lot of time outside their lush island walking and looking at the wildlife. You will see lots of pictures of alligators that I got to take. Also, Keller was in charge of a car show on the island this weekend so there are some pictures of that as well. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to get pictures of Keller and Nicole...sad! The trip reminded us of how much fun we have with them and how much we miss seeing them.

I think that just about wraps up our April if you count Cooper learning how to climb stairs - first in the pool then on our friend's stairs. All in all, it has been a very busy but very blessed and fun month.

Whole Heaps of Great Events

I am about a week late with this wonderful post. Sorry - I just fell off the blogging bandwagon this week. What a big weekend that we had last weekend. First of all, Cooper turned 1!! Amazing how fast this year has flown. We went for his check-up this week and he is only in the 42nd percentile for height, the 7th percentile for weight and the 3rd percentile for head circumference. It seems that he's getting smaller and smaller. His pediatrician said that was not unordinary once they become mobile. I swear that he eats a ton (like half of our adult sized portions, easy)!

He is not walking yet but is crawling like a maniac and is so fast! They keep telling me in the church nursery that, "He sure is busy," I think it's really their way of saying, "My gosh he wore us out today!" We had a party for him last week at home with all of our family and I will share those pictures with you at a later date as my magic cord and I are not in the same place right now for me to download them to the computer. After we got finished singing happy birthday to him he chimed in with his own singsong melody and continued singing. It was beyond cute and ensured another round of Happy Birthday. Amazingly, he was more interested in the song than the cake.

Things that Cooper can do at 1:

1. Say mama, dada, ah da (all done - with baby sign), bore (more - with baby sign), hey, "buh" (ball), uh-oh, yea (with a clap)

2. Crawl like a mad man and can walk when you hold his hands

3. Puts things in and out of drawers, containers, shelves

4. Reads books while pointing at pictures and babbles like he's really telling the story

5. Has a pretty good throw for a 1 year old - we practice this often, as balls are by far the favorite right now

6. Eats and drinks anything and everything that is put in front of him (including tiny pieces off of the floor!?) with the sole exception being milk - we're working on that one

7. Wave

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Easter Sunday was great. We celebrated at home since Sean had to work on Easter. That's what happens when you're the newest person on the job therefore the low man on the totem pole. Sean went to sunrise service and Cooper and I went to the 9:00 service to hear all about the miracle of Jesus on the third day! We had easter dinner with our Bible Study friends that evening as has become tradition. The Easter Bunny did come and both Sean and Cooper have enjoyed their Easter baskets. Sean and I did dye eggs but honestly, with all of the birthday fun didn't really do anything with them except the initial dye and decorate.

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Lastly, in not such a great event, my sister had surgery on her ankle on Friday which was broken worse than originally thought. It went well and she got 9 screws to help repair it. Please pray for her healing. Also, her husband (Josh/Spunky) announced his call into the ministry a few weeks ago. He preached his first sermon tonight and I hear that it went very well. Please pray for guidance as to their next steps in this new adventure as well.

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Whew! That was a lot of catching up to do! I promise party pics soon...

Broken Ankle...

Hi everyone - please say a quick prayer for my sister. She fell at work today and broke her ankle. She's on her way home with a cast and is in some pain. It was not a bad break but an inconvenience and just "one more thing." They haven't had the best luck healthwise in the past few years (miscarriage, Spunky's fall off the roof, car accident, etc.) so please pray for God's provision on their health as well as her healing. Thanks!

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today was the date that Cooper was due to be born. I was looking back and reminiscing today about what I was feeling this time last year and all that has transpired over the past year.

Last year at this time I was very anxious about giving birth and actually having a baby of my own. What would the baby be like? Was it a boy or a girl? How would this new creation change our current lives? Well, I can't put into words how great the past year has been but it has definitely been a HUGE change. Cooper is a very even tempered, mild mannered child (we're SO thankful for that!). We continue to learn more about him as he grows and changes but it is comforting to have a schedule and know what his little faces and noises mean. Although sleeping until 8:00 now on Saturday mornings is a luxury and we try to aim for a date night once a month rather than once a week!

It has been so neat to watch Cooper grow into such a cute little person over the past year. Now that he's almost a year old, we can do things with him such as take him to the zoo, which we did yesterday on Sean's day off this week. He loved the monkeys but wasn't especially interested in the other animals. He did love the day outside riding around in the stroller - and Sean and I had fun!



Also one year ago today is when Sean defended his thesis. It is great to look back and see the progression of our somewhat unknown future to his acceptance and satisfaction with his new job.

...and I can't resist mentioning that my husband is on cloud 9 today with the Tarheels as National Champions. A vast difference from his disappointment - all wrapped up in One Year Ago Today.