Have yourself a ‘Mery’ little Christmas!
We wish you all joy this holiday season.
Seriously !?!
I cannot believe how big my belly already is!
This picture was taken of us in Jamaica when I was about 14 weeks pregnant with Cooper.
Here I am at 14 weeks with #2:
Need I say more?
By the way, I am now 16 weeks and even bigger. People keep asking me if I’m having twins, I’m so big. Guess this is just going to be one long pregnancy.
Thirty Six Months!
My apologies for this being so late. Right after Cooper’s party, we left for Houston for Thanksgiving and I’ve been extremely busy with the Christmas rush for work. Things have finally calmed down a bit, so here you go:
Dear Cooper,
On November 20th, you turned three years old! Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!
I can’t believe you have been on this earth for three whole years. It feels like just yesterday that we were bringing you home from the hospital.
This month, Mommy and Daddy announced that you are going to be a big brother! You got to go to my 11 week appointment with me and got to hear the baby’s heartbeat, saying it sounded like a choo-choo train chugging. You hug on my ever-growing belly and give ‘your’ baby kisses. You are already very protective and sweet. You tell me that you are going to teach the baby how to play with your trains and share your toys with him. I can’t wait!
Halloween marks the beginning of the fall holidays. We had fun trick-or-treating with you and Ava’s family.
Next was Noah’s birthday party at the park. You have known Noah your entire life.
Then we traveled to San Antonio to watch Daddy run in the San Antonio half marathon. Unfortunately, Mommy forgot to pack the camera. You got to meet our friends, the Colvins, and their sweet kids, Cannon and Bryn. You and Cannon are close in age and had fun playing together, especially feeding the ducks! While we were in San Antonio, we visited with Uncle Paul and Aunt Irene. You had so much fun playing with Aunt Irene. She let you play with the pool net in the pool (a new summer job perhaps) and my-oh-my, the rocks. It didn’t take long for you to get filthy dirty, but that’s what boys are supposed to do, right?
Next was Phoenix’s birthday play-date. You have known Phoenix your entire life as well.
Finally, it was Cooper’s birthday! Your Mama and Papa Choo-Choo came in town and you had a Handy Manny themed party at Hoppin’ Hippo with all your friends. You had so much fun jumping and sliding and running around with everyone. It was a great party!
I hope this next year is as good as the last three have been!
Love,
Mommy
Chugga Chugga
This past Monday was my 11 week doctors appointment. Since my doctor didn’t have any openings on Tuesday or Thursday, while Cooper was in school, he got to go to my appointment with me. We hadn’t mentioned anything about the baby to him since I wasn’t really showing and he probably wouldn’t understand anyways. He was having trouble understanding why I had to go to the doctor, so I just told him that I was getting a check up. We waited and waited and waited some more and finally it was our turn and then we had to wait in the exam room for a while. The waiting and trying to keep Cooper entertained is the stressful part. (Just so you know, this won’t be happening again if I can help it, except for my 20 week sono). The doctor finally comes in and is so sweet to Cooper. She asks him if he went trick or treating and what he was for Halloween. I think you know where this is headed. The subject of choo-choo trains comes up, and of course he is wearing a shirt with a choo-choo on it.
So they continue to talk trains while I get up on the table and the doctor starts to listen to the baby’s heartbeat with the doppler. The heartbeat is strong and steady, up in the 160s. Cooper is intrigued by the sound and I ask him what he thinks it sounds like. In true Cooper fashion, he says it sounds like a choo-choo train. The doctor and I laugh and I tell him that Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy and that sound is the baby’s heart beating. His first response is: “the baby is riding on a choo-choo train! Chugga chugga chugga.”
Luckily, he no longer thinks the baby is riding on a choo-choo train. I’m already starting to show a bit and he sees my belly and talks about the baby. It is so cute. He hugs and kisses my belly and tells me he loves ‘his’ baby. He even gets upset when I lay on my side next to him, because he thinks I’m going to hurt the baby and he doesn’t want the baby to cry. I can’t wait to take him to my 20 week sonogram, so he can actually see the baby.
When I ask him if he wants a baby brother or sister, he usually answers that he wants a baby sister and then a few minutes later he’ll say he wants a baby brother. He even told his teacher at school that he was going to have a baby brother.
I just know Cooper is going to be an awesome big brother. I can’t wait!
Tricks and Treats
So I was a little anxious about taking Cooper Trick or Treating this year. I wasn’t quite sure how he would react to potentially seeing scary costumes, decorations and the whole going up to strangers houses asking for candy thing. A lot of the cartoons that he watches had Halloween episodes, so he started asking about Halloween and Trick or Treating. I told him that he had to dress up in a costume or he wouldn’t get any candy. I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween and he said he wanted to be a pumpkin. So, off pumpkin costume hunting we went. Cooper has become extremely picky about his clothes and didn’t want to have anything to do with any of the costumes we looked at. I reminded him that he couldn’t go Trick or Treating without a costume and he said that was ok and he would wait until he got bigger. (It’s amazing how his just shy of three-year old brain works.)
A few days go by and he starts talking about how he wants to go Trick or Treating again. I remind him that no one will give him candy unless he is dressed up. A friend of mine gave me a bag of hand-me-down clothes for him and there happened to be a pair of Osh Kosh overalls, so I suggested he wear those along with one of his two conductor hats and be a train conductor. He agreed and I was so thankful that I did not have to pay for a costume that he probably would not wear.
We were invited to hang out with some friends to Trick or Treat and hand out candy. Oh my gosh, he had soooo much fun! He totally blew my expectations out of the water. After seeing Ava go up to the first house, say “Pick or Peat’, and come back with candy, he was hooked! He pretty much ran up to the porch of every house and wanted to be the first to say Trick or Treat.
When the kids were done Trick or Treating, we hung out on the porch to hand out candy. I allowed him to eat two small packages of candy (fruit snacks and skittles) and it was almost like he ate everything in his bucket. He was so hyper-active it was not even funny. He was running around playing with the girls, trying to scare the girls, handing out candy, rearranging the pumpkins, rolling the pumpkins down the stairs, running up and down the front walk…he should have been dressed like the energizer bunny!
All in all, we had a great night hanging out with Dan, Lauren, Ava and their friends. Cooper even fell asleep in the car on the way home, which never happens. Today all he talks about is wanting to go Trick or Treating again. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until next year. Here are some pics of our super fun Halloween. Make sure you check out the descriptions under the pics.
Jaxon
Here are some cute new pics of Cooper’s cousin, Jaxon:
Who says he doesn’t look like his Daddy?
and my personal favorite…
Thirty Five Months
Dear Cooper,
Last Tuesday, you turned thirty five months old. I can’t believe that my little baby will be three years old in one short month!
You are growing up more and more every day. You have even started using the potty like a big boy. I think I can thank peer pressure for that, though, as several of your classmates at school are potty trained. After about two weeks at school, I picked you up one day and Ms. Emily said you asked to go on the potty and were successful. A month later and you have only had two accidents. You still can’t stay dry overnight, but that will come in time.
As a reward for being such a big boy, we took you to see Thomas the Train. I actually had the tickets for quite a while, but the timing couldn’t have been any better. We decided to keep it a surprise and boy were you surprised. It was so much fun seeing the joy in your face.
You have also learned how to pedal your tricycle. It seems like your brain is in overdrive these days. You ask questions continuously. Why? Why? Why? It is the most annoying thing in the world. Your Daddy likes to think it is an inadvertent reaction (or tic) to anything we say. “Hey Cooper, do you need to go potty?” “Why?” “Hey Cooper, do you want to go to the park?” “Why?”
Daddy has started his marathon training and you love to go watch Daddy run. On Saturday mornings we get up and eat breakfast in the car on the way to watch Daddy run at Old Settlers Park. There is a playground and you like to play while he listens to the training sessions. You enjoyed cheering Daddy on as he ran the Silicon Labs Austin Marathon Relay. “Go, Daddy, Go!”
I know I say this all the time, but you are such a good boy. We’ve got some more fun things planned and I can’t wait to see the joy in your face for years to come. You are the light of my life!
Love,
Mommy
Day Out with Thomas
So, last weekend we told Cooper we had a surprise for him. He kept asking what it was, but we told him that he needed to be a good boy and he would see soon enough. We went out to eat for lunch on Saturday like we always do and then we told him that we were going to be in the car for a while, so it would be ok if he wanted to take a quick nap. Luckily, he fell asleep and woke up just as we were pulling in to the parking lot. He could tell there was something going on, but couldn’t quite figure it out. We walked in to the Burnet Community Center and it was full of Thomas toys and souvenirs. He enjoyed walking around and playing with all the trains, but he kept asking for his surprise, so we finally told him: he was going to ride on Thomas! I don’t think he quite understood until we walked outside and he saw the train tracks. A short while later, there was an announcement that Thomas was about to pull in to the station. Jeff put Cooper up on his shoulders so he could see Thomas. The look on his face when he finally saw was absolutely priceless!
He had such a great time riding on Thomas with all of his friends. He had a huge smile on his face the entire time, even when getting his picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt. On the way home he kept asking if we were going to ride Thomas again tomorrow. I told him that Thomas could only be here for a short time and that he had to go back to the Island of Sodor to help all of his engine friends.
I think I had just as much fun as Cooper did, but my fun was all in seeing the joy in Cooper’s face. Click here for more fun pics of our Day Out with Thomas!
Cooper’s 20 Questions
1) huh?
2) why?
3) what?
4) why?
5) what’s that?
6) where we goin’?
7) why?
8 ) what are you doin’?
9) huh?
10) why?
11) what?
12) what’s that?
13) huh?
14) why?
15) what we got?
16) what?
17) why?
18) where is it?
19) huh?
20) why?
Does it ever end?
Tricycle Motor
Finally, after almost a year, our little tricycle motor is working properly!
He go so excited that he could use the pedals that he would stomp is feet and laugh like a crazy person.
Cooper, your Mommy and Daddy are super proud of you!
