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.