Treasure

I just heard of a baby in our same town, minutes away from our home, who arrived into this world with a terrible skin condition http://patriceandmattwilliams.blogspot.com/ . There are no certainties for his little life. Sean got a call from a friend just last night asking about what this condition might be - they knew the family. Stories like these break my heart right to the core. Knowing how precious our Cooper is, knowing how much we love him, I just feel so blessed - so humbled and so undeserving to have a healthy, happy child in the next room. I hope and pray that I don't miss those moments. I pray that I don't take for granted the moments when I just can't make one more block tower for Cooper to knock over. I pray that I don't get preoccupied with checking my e-mail and blogs and miss talking to him and watching him crawl/scoot around the floor. I pray that I treasure - truly treasure each moment that I have with him - and that I don't miss a thing. There are not promises for life. There are no promises for health. There are no promises for tomorrow. There are only promises of restoration, of redemption, and of a Heaven where there is no more pain, sorrow, or heartbreak.

Lord,

I pray that you help me to treasure all of the precious moments with our son. Let me not take for granted the gift that you have given us and the little life that breathes quietly in the next room. Let me take each moment and rejoice in the miracle of our son, his health, and his life.

Amen.

A Night at the Children's Museum (In Pictures)

Army Crawl Fetch

So, Cooper is 10 months now and we've been itching for him to crawl. I hear the disbelieving gasp from parents of mobile children everywhere at that declaration. I had (and still might) almost resigned myself to believing that he's just going to be one of those kids who skips crawling all together in favor of walking....but he's been doing this lately. He can get almost everywhere he wants to go with this little maneuver. The favored use is to throw a toy out in front of him, watch it roll away, then chase after it. Kindof reminds me of a game that we play with our furry four legged child... Fetch anyone??

Is this even considered crawling?

Superbowl

I am a little behind in blog posts but wanted to include this one. For Superbowl Sunday, we had Sean's 8th grade boys small group over to watch the game. You've never really lived until you've watched the Superbowl with a bunch of eighth grade boys! So LOUD! Cooper managed to go to bed in the middle of it all and fell asleep just fine - amazingly!

They kindof abandoned the game about halfway through and started shooting baskets into Cooper's baby basketball goal from across the room. They continued to invent new and different games, ate tons of food, and seemed like everyone had a good time. We enjoyed having them over. They definitely added a some life to our quiet little house :).

Feelin' the LOVE

Things I LOVE = Quality Time together. With this in mind, Sean planned a great day for us to spend together.

I don't know how the weather was where you are on Valentine's Day but ours was just perfect. After the forecast said "rainy and cold" we woke up to a glorious morning. We enjoyed a fun family day in Tarheel Country - yes, Chapel Hill. There were lots of fun (and free!) things to do. Cooper got to ride around all day on Sean's back and had a blast looking around and smiling at strangers. He really enjoyed the different scenery and we planned around his eating/naps so he was in a fabulous mood!

We started out at the Planetarium. We decided not to see a show because we didn't think Cooper would sit through it but had fun looking and playing with all of the exhibits. The first picture is in the Rotunda and the Second picture is of the outside of the building. Also, not pictured but part of our fun day was a visit to Ackland Art Museum and browsing all of the fun stores on Franklin Street - such a neat little street.

There is definite LOVE between Cooper and his Puffs baby cereal so that was part of his Valentine gift. Sean and I had a baby-sitter for dinner that night and we enjoyed a night out alone at Village Tavern - yummy!

Last weekend Cooper and I visited Waynesville. Addison had fun dressing up in her Valentine from Cooper. Gotta love Target Dollar Spot. She loved dressing up with her necklace, bracelet, dress-up skirt, and of course her princess shoes!

We hope that you and yours had a wonderful day celebrating your love for one another! Let us not forget the greatest love story ever during this time:

For God so loved the World that he gave his one and only son. So that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Who knew Jesus Loves Me was so funny?

Month 9 Fun

I keep thinking that I love the stage that Cooper is in but another one comes along and I think I love it so much more than the last. They say it only gets more and more fun from here! Enjoy the pictures!

This happened today. He can't move yet but he's just chillin' on his hands and knees. Must baby proof soon!!

Yes, Yes, our little snaggletooth. Cooper is obviously missing one of his front teeth and has been for a few weeks. Thankfully, it popped through yesterday so he won't be snaggletoothed for much longer! He has two bottom teeth and 3 other top teeth.

I propped Cooper on the bathroom counter so I could cut his toenails (looking at himself in the mirror keeps him occupied so he doesn't keep trying to grab the clippers) and he kept scooting closer and closer trying to grab the faucet. Eventually, he scooted himself in the sink. Don't ask me why I had the camera in the bathroom with us while I was cutting his toenails but you never know when a photo opportunity is going to occur, I guess!

Prior to getting on his hands and knees like in the picture above, any time Cooper tried to get his bottom off of the floor he would scoot backwards. This resulted in getting stuck in some awkward places, such as under his crib.

Last Saturday we got to attend Mia Clair's 2nd birthday party. It was at a Fun Zone and they had these cool airplanes that Cooper loved. He kept leaning over the edge as we went up and down and screaming "Ahhhh." It was adorable and SO much fun! We rode them several times.

He also enjoyed this duck game. He was a champ at mashing the button while Sean held him up.

Riding this car was scary at first...

But then he decided it was fun!