Pumpkin Patch!

Let’s pretend that it’s October, not December, for just a moment, mmmkay?  Better late than never, right?

Eight weeks ago we went to visit the pumpkin patch.  I wondered what Cooper would think, since last year he pretty much hated it.  Well, he LOVED it this year!  He had so much fun walking all over the place.  The one we went to covers a pretty big area of land, and all he wanted to do was play with the animals or walk around and around.  He could have cared less about the pumpkins!

Checking out the goats.  He touched the horns on this one and squealed and jumped up and down, haha!

I really can’t explain how much he loved the animals.  He is laughing and jumping here.

Climbing in the pumpkins

Take 3 of 398,502 attempts at a family shot

Cooper kept picking random things up off the ground and putting them in his mouth.  Wait…that’s really not different than any other day, actually.  But this was a corn cob, and he tried to eat it! 

This was behind everything in the very back of the patch.  He loved it back there for some reason and refused to leave.  So we sat a pumpkin next to him for a picture!

Take 4,938

This is how he gives “smooches”

Oh, so nice and gentle with the pumpkin…we all knew what was coming…

He tried to throw it with all his might! Lee’s face is priceless and I will keep this picture forever!

Cute boys!          

Cooper’s ENT Visit

Cooper has been getting ear infections.  A LOT of ear infections.  Since Sept 1, he has had 5-6.  Some of them have lasted for 2 weeks or more.  They’ve been a little resistant to antibiotics here and there.  I think we had to get a new antibiotic twice, because the first wasn’t working.  The last one, we had to take to an apothecary shop to get compounded because he has either already been on everything else too much, or the antibiotic didn’t work.  Oh, and he’s allergic to amoxicillin, so that doesn’t help.

After his last confirmed case, which was about 3 weeks ago, I asked his pediatrician when we should think about discussing tubes.  He said that usually they start thinking about tubes when a child has had 3-4 ear infections in a year.  Ha!  Clearly, we were well beyond that limit.

I asked around and got the name of a doctor that lots of friends and co-workers have all used and loved, and we had the appointment on Wednesday.

They did a hearing test first, and I literally had to look at the wall and cover my face because I found it so hilarious.  Lee and I both went, and Lee sat in a chair with C, and I sat in another chair kind of facing them.  He was really good when they put things in his ears.  And then, they did the test.  There was a speaker on his left and right, and the audiologist sat in another room and spoke through a microphone.  The funny part is that under each speaker, there was a clear box with a toy that the audiologist controlled.  When Cooper would look at the speaker he heard noise coming from, the toy would light up and move.  Additionally, there was a 3rd toy box directly in front of C, that would light up and play when nothing was coming from the speakers.  Omg, it was hilarious when those toys went off!  I didn’t want to be distracting by laughing, so I tried to hide it.  It was kind of creepy, like in a fun house where things keep going off and you don’t know why.  Luckily I think C was too confused to be freaked out.  Ha!  You should have seen his head going left, right, forward, right, left, etc.  And the look on his face was priceless!  He was like, what the heck is this?!

Picking out toys while waiting for the hearing test to begin

Anyway….After that, we saw the doctor.  There was fluid in both of his ears.  Even though he had been on an antibiotic for 15 days (first one didn’t work) right up until the day before his appointment.  Also, the doctor said that C wasn’t able to hear as well as he ideally could.  Not that his hearing was bad, necessarily, just that it could be better.  I did notice during the test, that when they played static through the speakers, he never turned his head.  He did for everything else, though.

Basically, just based on the number of ear infections he has had, we didn’t do too much small talk about whether or not to do the tubes.  The doctor said he suggested getting tubes, and taking his adenoids out.  The adenoids were suggested because of the horrible runny nose that C always has.  They actually just shave it down, they don’t really remove it, or won’t in Cooper’s case.

So.  Cooper is getting tubes put in and adenoids removed on Dec 12th.  The surgery should only take about 25 minutes.  Of course, a surgery is still a surgery, and he will be under anesthesia, so I am nervous about it.  But, all I have to do is remind myself of how bad Cooper has felt for essentially 3 months in a row.  There was a night a couple of weeks ago that C was having a particularly hard time, and I think at that moment, even Lee was like, we NEED to see about tubes.  Lee had been very adverse to even talking about tubes, so that was a big turn for him.  I’m thankful that we have the option of doing something that will help Coopie feel better!

Oh, I cannot leave without telling you all the best part.  We got this pamphlet about tonsils and adenoids:

Hahahaha!!!  Lee and I were giggling in the office about it.  And then when we left, I told him it was even funnier (more funny?) because of the doctor’s last name: Siemens!  Heehee

:)

Thanksgiving

 

We had a great thanksgiving this year.  We hosted it at our house, and Lee’s parents, sister, brother-in-law, and their daughter stayed with us.  My family lives here :)

Everyone helped with the side dishes, but we were in charge of the turkey, stuffing, and a couple of other things.  It didn’t dawn on me until less than a week before thanksgiving day that I’ve never actually made a turkey.  And I don’t have recipes for anything that goes with it!  Cue panic.  Luckily my friend Jenny saved the day and gave me some great recipes!  I followed her recipe for the turkey, and after watching hours of Food Network decided to brine it first.  I got SO many compliments on the turkey.  I think it was a combination of the brine, and they recipe that said to roast it breast side down for the first half of the cooking time.  Either way, I was so happy I didn’t screw it up!

It really was such a great day of getting to know family and just hanging out and relaxing.  Everyone said that they had a great time, and I’m glad.  I know I did.  It was so great to have so much family in one place.  And everyone got along :)

Okay, now for come pictures.

I’ve mentioned that we offered to host so that we would finally make a decision on a new table.  And here she is.  This is with 2 leaves (leafs? no.), so much longer than usual.  I know the rug is way too small.

Cooper and his cousin Cailee.  She is a year older than him.  Have I mentioned this is the first time Cooper and I have met my sister in law and her family?  Yep!  They lived in Alaska up until about a year ago, and then they lived a few states away.  They live in Lee’s hometown right now, which is about 3 hours from where we live.  They are a military family, and I don’t think they plan on staying close by for very long  :( 

Our little family :)

Cooper with my brother.  Cooper LOVES his uncle Tyler.  Seriously.  It’s so funny!  Cooper sat still in Tyler’s lap while he read the paper.  Cooper never sits still!

Cheese!!  This makes me laugh, I was following him around with the camera trying to get a good picture.

Lee’s side of the family

My side of the family

That evening, we decided to go walk around a local church/bible school that puts on a huge Christmas light display.  You can drive through it or walk.  I have lived here my whole life and never walked through it!  And only driven through once.  This was Cooper’s first time to really see Christmas lights, and he LOVED them!  He was so excited and kept pointing at them.

His arm is out because he was pointing :)

Such a great day!

Mish Mash

I feel like all I’m doing lately is playing catch up.  In life and on this blog!

Since I last posted, Cooper had another ear infection (shocking!), I had a mild stomach bug, Lee got the flu, then I got the flu.  Whew.

Somehow, Cooper managed to escape the flu.  I have no idea how, but I am SO SO grateful.  We all 3 got the flu shot also.  This was the first time I’d gotten it, and the first time since 8th grade (when I had to miss the Valentine’s Day dance) that I have had the flu.  Does that tell you anything about my decision to get the shot next year? 

Work is incredibly busy.  Between a typically busy year end, and a huge change my company is making, I have not been this busy since I started working here 3 years ago.  I don’t mind it though.  Makes the days go by faster.

I am sad that, because we are SO busy with work, (oh and that little thing called vacation days that no longer exist because of all the sickness since September) we aren’t going to get to start the annual tradition of having a little family Christmas getaway that I have been wanting to kickoff.  Maybe next year.

The good news about being sick so much lately?  I have lost as much as 10 lbs in the past 6 weeks.  I have managed to keep a steady 7 of it from coming back.  Yippee!  Haha.  My clothes don’t really fit any differently, but I’ll take anything :)

We have had 3 earthquakes in the past 3 days.  We live in Oklahoma.  Not normal for us!  What is normal is tornadoes, but not in November.  And yesterday?  Tornadoes AND an earthquake!  StopitrightnowMotherNature.

I am already in the holiday spirit and I am honestly fighting the urge to bring down the Christmas decorations!  Ridiculous!

Speaking of the holidays, we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year, as I have mentioned.  I guess this means that I have to cook the turkey?  How?!  Advice?!  I don’t even like to eat turkey.  I wish we had a turkey fryer, I actually will eat fried turkey.  Hmmm…Oh, Husband!!

I finally finished a photo book of Cooper’s first year!!  The one I made is actually for our parents, but I am still so happy about it!  I want to do a separate one for us.  The grandparents’ one only has pictures, but I want to include milestones, fun memories, etc. in ours.  I had to start with the easier one because I put so much pressure on myself and then stress so much I just don’t even start it.  Ridiculous.

Eggnog latte is back at Starbucks!!  I wait for it to come out like a lot of people wait for the pumpkin spice latte :)

16 Months

Cooper, you are 16 months old as of a few weeks ago, oops!!

You’re getting so big!  Here’s what you’ve been up to over the past couple of months.

You have been sick, sick, sick!  No fun at all!  You had your first ear infection, which you just couldn’t get rid of.  Along with that, you’ve had a myriad of other unknown bugs, not to mention cutting four molars at once!

You have become quite the picky eater, and you think it is hilarious to throw food behind your chair and ON your head!  You are just so, so funny :) You can eat A LOT.  Sometimes I wonder how we will afford to feed you when you’re a teenager.  You often eat even more than I could, and that’s saying something!  You love beans, pesto pasta, cheese, most fruits and vegetables, yogurt, and all carbs.  Your hands down favorites are bananas, club crackers, and sliced cheese.

You have a vocabulary of about 7 words: Dada, Dog, and Woof, which you have been saying for a while.  New ones over the past month are: Mama(!), Uh Oh, Up, and Truck.  Your favorite word is Uh Oh, and you say it all the time.  You love to do something you shouldn’t on purpose and say Uh Oh.  You are talking SO much gibberish over the past week.  It is non-stop and so funny!  Makes me think you might be on the verge of really beginning to talk.

You love to point at everything, and you love to clap!  You only started clapping a few months ago, and now you do it very often.  Particularly when you think you deserve praise.  Like, when you throw food on your head.  Stinker :)

You recently started blowing kisses.  I have no idea where this came from, as we never tried to teach you, but I am so glad you figured it out, because it is the cutest thing ever!

You are always up to give a kiss on the cheek.  But, you give big, wet, open mouth kisses.  Often with tongue, hahaha!

You started daycare this month!  You go 3 days a week.  I think you were a little shy the first several weeks, but now you seem to be more comfortable.  I can tell because we get reports saying that you have been grabbing faces and pulling hair.  Nice, buddy.

You have a new favorite toy.  The vacuum cleaner.  You are obsessed with the vacuum!  You even take us to the closet every day and make us take it out.  You would prefer that we run the vacuum each time also, but we don’t.  You like to play with the attachments and take the handheld part off.  You also love to drag the cord all over.  The other day you even took the plug-in part over to the electrical outlet and tried to plug it in!  Very smart boy :)  I will say that thanks to this newfound love of yours, the house is vacuumed way more than it would be normally!

You play rough.  I have always disliked it when people say “he’s all boy”, because, well, yes, you are all boy.  Um, because you are a boy.  Anyway, as much as I dislike the term, it’s appropriate.  You are all boy.  You can roughhouse and wrestle with the best of the middle school boys, I have no doubt.  You’re so rough that I often hesitate before laying down on the floor because I know that you will immediately run over and jump on me.  Quite literally.  I close my eyes and hold my breath, seriously!

You now refuse to drink milk before bed.  You used to down a full sippy, but now you shake your head no and push it away.    For some reason, this, to me, meant the end of babyhood L

We took you to the chiropractor for the first time this month.  You were having major issues with being sick all the time and you did not sleep more than 3 hours at a time for a month.  After endless trips to the doctor, we decided to try another route.  And I will tell you that your ear infections are gone and you have slept 11 hours straight since we went.  I’m not saying it was for sure the chiropractor, but SIX weeks of illness, and then it stopped after that adjustment.  We’re going back on a regular basis!

Speaking of sleep.  At night, you go down for bed about 7pm and get up about 6am.  When you are at home, you usually take 2 one-ish hour naps around 10 and 2.  When you’re at daycare, you take one nap at noon.

Oh my gosh, you LOVE to help cook!  Love love!  Every time I am making something, you ask to be picked up so you can watch and “help”.  Sometimes it is difficult, especially when I’m making something on the stove.  But, if I’m mixing something that is not hot, I will often let you help “stir” and you love it!  I think you will become a good little kitchen helper one day :)

love love love

Mama

Let’s catch up

Hi :)

Work is busy.  Life is busy.  I know you can all relate.  Here are some randoms for you.

Last weekend, Lee turned 30!  He is an old man. ;) I’m kidding.  I turn 30 next year.  Anyway, he refused to let me throw a party of any kind.  And I asked him every day for the longest time.  I even came up with “themes” to entice him.  I mean, all men love themed birthday parties, right?!  Anyway, we celebrated by going out to dinner with my parents.  It was very anti-climactic.  I will be having a party for myself!

Cooper turned 16 months over the weekend, also!  Birthday boys :)

Speaking of Cooper, last week, I was at my wit’s end with his illness(es?) and everything that went with them.  He had had an ear infection for a month and a half.  Had not slept in almost that long (meaning WE had not slept in almost that long).  Had taken 4 rounds of antibiotics.  Had woken up multiple times every single night, screaming and thrashing around in what was obviously some sort of pain, but we had no idea what.  He repeatedly banged his head on everything, on purpose.  He was never, ever happy.  He was having big problems at daycare, including biting two of the kids in his class (devastating for all of the parents involved). We went to his pediatrician’s office for the 5th time, where I completely lost it in the room with the doctor, because they were still not listening.  I was seriously almost sobbing.  They said he was fine.  He was having night terrors.  I know what night terrors are, he has had them off and on since he was about 5 months old, they are very, very sad.  This was not that.  Night terrors don’t cause my child to go completely rigid and them immediately limp in my arms and writhe around in pain for hours at a time.  She would.not listen to me.  This is my child.  I’m telling you this is not right, you need to listen to me.  I know that some of his behavior is typical of him just being a toddler, but my gut was telling me it was something more than that.  So, we went to a chiropractor the next day.  One that specializes in children under two.  She listened to every single thing I said.  Wrote every word down.  Sympathized with me.  Why can’t his ped’s office do that?  Anyway, she talked with me for about 20 minutes, all the while watching Cooper play around the room.  She would comment on things she noticed him doing, ask if it was normal or not.  She was very observant.  I felt so good about this.  Then she did a couple of adjustments on Cooper.  And I’m telling you that he slept for 11 hours every night after that.  The child who had not gone more than 3 hours in a row for over a month, has been sleeping 11 hours.  Just like that.  He wake up happy in the morning.  Not screaming.  He laughs, smiles, plays.  This is my child.  Don’t get me wrong, he is far, far from perfect, and still throws kicking and screaming meltdown tantrums, usually at the start of the word “no”.  But his happy disposition is back.  You can just tell that he feels better, whatever it was that was bothering him before.  I can’t tell you how grateful I am.  We’re going to continue to see the chiropractor in the future.  Not as a substitute for his pediatrician, I won’t get started on that road!  But I know that she helped him, and we will go back.

Is there a 12 step program for people who are addicted to collecting crafts projects?  I honestly have supplies for about 6 projects right now.  And I just finished 3 in the past week.  It is out of control.  I blame Pinterest.

We have decided to have Thanksgiving at our house this year.  Usually we go to my parents’ house.  Part of the reason I want to do it at our house is so that we are forced to buy a dining table, haha.  I’m not kidding.  We have the money saved, but we just can’t bite the bullet and go shop for one for some reason.  So I went ahead and confirmed Thanksgiving at our house so we would go get one!

That means my craft projects will have to find a new home, because they currently live on our existing (falling apart) dining table.  And I have gotten paint all over the place.  Oopsie.

There is a Starbucks drive thru on my way to my dad’s and to daycare.  Which means I pass it every morning.  And by “pass”, I mean, drive thru and buy something.  Not good for my hips or my wallet!

We have a long hallway that we want to turn into a gallery wall.  Maybe.  It’s kind of narrow.  I can’t decide whether we should do some ledges with pics sitting on them, or to hang them directly on the wall.  The narrowness is my concern, either way.  We also have the wall going upstairs that we could use for a gallery wall instead.  I hope to take some pictures and ask for advice on where to put it/what to do.

Enough randoms for now, I think.  Back to work for me!

Aye yi yi

Ummm, what happened to last week?  I was super busy at work and it went by so fast that I don’t even remember it.  I had several posts I wanted to write as well, but I clearly never found the time!  Hopefully I’ll get to them this week!

Guess who has another ear infection?  Yes, Cooper!!  Wtf?  Poor guy can’t catch a break.  3 days back at daycare and BAM!  I honestly have no idea if it is related to school.  I mean, it seems like it is, but I have to remember that the first time around, it had started before he even started daycare.  More likely, it is because of the teeth he is getting.  I read that the saliva that teething produces can get backed up in the ears while they are sleeping (aka, lying down) and can cause ear infections.  So, he’s been getting 4-5 teeth since September 1.  2 have popped through, and the others are still trying, so I think that may be the more likely culprit.  Either way, it sucks.  And the dr mentioned tubes.  Obviously it’s a little early in the game for that.  Not to mention he had never had an ear infection before last month.  But still.  I feel sad for the buddy :(

Both times he’s had the ear infection, we’ve taken him to an urgent care by our house, and I have been SO SO impressed with the doctors there!  Seriously, they are so great with Cooper.  Better than his pediatrician’s office even!  And I like his ped’s office.  They just spend more time with him at urgent care.  They make balloons out of those rubber gloves, and look in mommy and daddy’s ears before Cooper’s because he freaks out.  At the ped’s office, they make us hold him down and restrain him to look in his ears :(  Is that normal, by the way?  I understand that it might have to be done, but it seems like that shouldn’t be the first thing you try.  The looking in mommy and daddy’s ears thing works for Coop.  He doesn’t freak out when they do that first.  Just wondering…

We also almost took Cooper to the ER on Saturday night.  When I was giving him a bath, he started just shaking all over and his eyes got glazed over and he was just staring.  It was really scary.  Something was just not right.  He couldn’t move, or wouldn’t move, I’m not sure.  It wasn’t like he got chilled, it was something else.  I grabbed him out of the tub and called, well, screamed really,  for Lee.  I laid Cooper down to put a diaper on him and he just laid there limp, with glazed over eyes, and just staring.  Usually he freaks out when you change his diaper (these days he HATES it).  He was just acting so weird it was scaring me.  So we decided to go to the ER.  After a few minutes, he seemed to be doing okay.  And then in the car he just snapped out of it.  He was fine, just really tired.  I talked to him and asked him all of the questions I know he can answer.  Like where’s your hair, your nose, etc. And he answered them all for me and even started laughing.  So then we decided no to go to the ER.  I don’t know what was wrong.  He could have just been really  tired.  I mean, he had been tired for the past couple of hours because his naps are weird right now, but still.  It was freaky.  He went to sleep just fine, and even slept in until 7:30, instead of his normal 5am wake up.  Of course, he was also getting the ear infection, so maybe that had something to do with it?  Either way, I would like for that to never happen again.  I’m just glad that Lee hadn’t gone to the OU game.

I’m going to lunch with an old co-worker today that I haven’t seen in forever!  Old as in we worked together a long time ago :)  I’m excited!

Okay, back to work and hopefully I’ll get around to posting more this week!  I know you can’t wait :)

Our Weekend

We had a really good, long weekend :)  Mostly just played with Cooper.  This post is really just an excuse for a weekend picture dump!

I had taken Friday off, since we were keeping Cooper home from daycare because of his sickies (I should note that he was fully recovered by Wednesday last week!  We still kept him home to be sure though)

Lee was unexpectedly home, also.  He came home on Wednesday from a work trip that was supposed to have been all week long.  He had flu-like symptoms, and drove home and straight to urgent care, which we know well by now :) Luckily, it was not the flu, just  a bad sinus infection.  But bad enough that he stayed home Thursday and Friday.

So.  Since Cooper was all better, I finally took him to get a MUCH needed haircut on Friday!  His appointment had been postponed since the beginning of September.

Fresh from the salon!

I know, he is not a baby anymore.  Sads :(

The rest of Friday we just hung around the house and played.  He had been carrying around an empty water bottle (This child does not need store bought toys.  He won’t play with them, and chooses water bottles and wooden spoons instead), and I was in the pantry and spotted a box of rice we never use.  I poured some rice in his water bottle, and viola!  A new favorite toy!

 

Saturday, we hung around the house and I finished a couple of projects I have been working on.  Nothing too exciting.  We did break out bubbles for the first time.  Cooper liked them :)

And I took Cooper on a walk around the neighborhood.  He loves “stroller rides”.  He talks the whole time :)

Sunday we did laundry and cleaned.  Because this is what the whole house looked like. Yikes.

Oh, I have to tell this story.  Because I was annoyed and felt stupid.  It will be kind of long.

I attempted to take the dogs to the groomer over the weekend.  Since we have moved, our regular groomers, who we LOVE, are not really convenient anymore.  So, someone had recommended to my dad a groomer that is only a few miles from our house.  On Friday morning, I loaded the dogs in the car and set off.  Well.  The highway right by our house, that would have led right to the groomer, is confusing.  I can’t explain it.  Basically there was no way to get to the part of the highway I needed from the direction I was going.  Which I didn’t know until I had already gotten on to the highway.  Which doesn’t have any exits after ours for a loooong time.  So once I realize I am an idiot, I’m basically cursing under my breath for a good 20 minutes until I can turn around and get to the exit I need.  Which should have taken 3 minutes, tops.  Shockingly the girls were being so good in the car.  Until they noticed that I was turning around on the highway, and maybe sensed my attitude.  Then the panting started.  Ugh.  I finally get to the exit I need, and am driving down the only street in the area.  Online, it said they are north of a grocery store.  Well, there is nothing north of the grocery store.  A wooded lot.  That’s it.  Finally I am able to put the address in my phone (the address was difficult to find, of course).  My phone keeps leading me into the middle of a trailer park?  I mean, more than once.  I swear to you that I drove up and down every single possible street.  It’s not a big area.  I could NOT find it.  They weren’t answering their phones either.  After 40 minutes of searching with panting/whining dogs in the car, I was like “This place canNOT be in a trailer, right?”  So I call my dad and after some explaining, he says, “Well, maybe it’s in a trailer…..”, to which I reply “We are probably not taking our dogs to a trailer park dog groomer”.  But this place came recommended, so surely they are not in a trailer, right?  I get home and we google the address.  The dot that shows you the location?  It was in the middle of nowhere!!  There were streets forming a triangle around it, but nothing leading to it!  I was dumbfounded.  Where in the hell is this place?!  Finally, the owner calls me back.  She acted like she was shocked I couldn’t find it.  Then she tells me they are next to a store.  One that I had plainly seen.  But they don’t have a sign!!  She said it is on the windows.  But, the street is ABOVE the the shopping strip, the land around the street is sunken, there is no way to see the windows from the street!  The store that I had seen, it had a huge sign on top  of the building.  And by “shopping strip”, I mean a little building that apparently has 2 stores in it, not one like I thought when I saw one sign.  I suggested that they invest in a sign.  And to tell google where they are located.  And then I made an appointment with our old groomer.  Haha.

Dinner Winners

I thought I’d share a recipe or two, since I’ve been cooking more lately.  Thanks, in part, to the freezer meals I’ve posted about before.

The first one is Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells from What’s Cookin Chicago?  I found Joelen’s site via what else?  Pinterest!  Check it out, because she has tons of freezer-friendly recipes, this one included!  At first, I was a little skeptical of the recipe, given that it has cream cheese in it.  I mean, I love cream cheese, don’t get me wrong (I may or may not be known to eat it with a spoon on occasion), but it seemed like it might be a little heavy for the shells.  I considered substituting ricotta cheese, but I decided to give it a try with the cream cheese.  And I’m so glad I did.  Y’all.  These are SO good!!  Seriously, Lee and I both loved them!  Here is the recipe if you don’t want to click through to her website:

Pesto Stuffed Chicken Shells

12-16 jumbo pasta shells
4oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese + 1/4 cup for topping
3 tablespoons prepared pesto (homemade or store bought)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over high heat, boil water and prepare pasta shells as directed on package. Cook pasta shells only until al dente. The pasta will finish cooking when the dish is baked. Drain the pasta shells and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients, except the 1/4 cup of cheese for the topping. Fill the pasta shells with the filling and place in a baking dish.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over filled shells.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake shells uncovered for 30 minutes or until shells are bubbling hot and cheese melts.

To Freeze - Prepare as directed but place filled shells in an oven- and freezer-proof baking dish. Top with remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over filled shells, cover and freeze. When ready to prepare, defrost. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake shells uncovered for 35-40 minutes or until shells are bubbling hot and cheese melts.

I doubled this recipe, and baked half that same night, and froze the other half.  They were just as good from frozen as they were freshly made!  We did add tomato sauce to ours, and they were a little dry without it.  Overall, this is something that is now on regular rotation at our house!

This next recipe isn’t dinner, but it is definitely a winner.  Another Pinterest lovely.  Although fall is just around the corner, and you might not really have use for a frozen drink recipe, you should still go ahead and bookmark this just in case we get one of those “surprise it’s not fall yet!” days that we usually have around here.

Frozen Strawberry Mojito

1 can frozen limeade

1/2 of the limeade can of rum

2 cups frozen strawberries

a muddled mixture of a few leaves of fresh mint and the pulp of two limes

Throw everything in the blender and give it a whirl.

This was amazingly delicious!  It could have used a touch of sugar, but I didn’t add any and still consumed most (okay, basically all) of this on my own, over 2 nights.

Enjoy!

Our Weekend

Was spent doing this:

Cooper is still sick.  For 4 weeks now :(

It started out as a runny nose the Monday of the week he started daycare.  We thought it was allergies and gave him benadryl, which really did nothing.

One weekend, he refused to sleep unless we were holding him, so we rook him to urgent care, where we saw seriously the best doctor ever.  I loved her.  She said it was an ear infection.  A “bad” one.  Yikes.  They gave him amoxicillin.

A week later, he was not any better, so we went to see our pediatrician.  That was the day he started getting the rash from the amoxicillin.  The ped said his ear infections was not gone, so he gave us a different antibiotic.  We have since learned that the rash may NOT be because he was/is allergic.  That rash apparently happens in 5-10% of those who take amoxicillin, and it’s just a reaction, and not allergic.  Weird.  So maybe he is not allergic.  We will probably steer clear of it in the future though, because it got pretty bad.

5 days after that, which was this Saturday, Cooper was so lethargic, and all he wanted was for me to hold him.  He even slept on me.  As you can probably imagine, that never happens these days!  And although I did enjoy cuddles, it was so sad :(  And his fever was 103-104.  His terrible runny nose was back again, and he was acting like he had been when we went to urgent care.  He wasn’t sleeping at night, and he wasn’t eating at all.  Mini club crackers is all we could get him to occasionally eat.

We decided to call the pediatrician, who prescribed a third antibiotic!  A baby Z-Pak, for those of you familiar with the amazingness of a Z-Pak.  They always kick whatever you’ve got, for me at least.  It’s only a 3 day dose, so he should have been feeling better today.  Which, his runny nose was WAY better, non-existent really.  But, his fever!  I don’t understand why he would have a constant 103-104 fever.  It was sooo hard to get it down, too.  We have to give him Motrin every 4 hours, instead of 6 like it says (on the doctor’s advice) and even then, we really never could get it all the way down. 

In addition to this constant sickness, he is getting 4-5 teeth.  We think 5 but aren’t sure.  Poor guy!  So when his fever wasn’t better today, I called and they said to bring him in just to check.  Because I wasn’t sure if maybe it’s just his teeth?  That is such a high fever for teething though.  And his sleeping is still horrible.  And he still wouldn’t eat.

After a really sad appointment where they took blood and swabbed his throat, everything came back normal.  And the doctor said his ears look great.  So.  He doesn’t have anything.  Good news.  Hopefully he is at the end of this business.  I feel so so badly for him being sick for a month!  He did eat some lunch and dinner today, though.  And he played for a little bit, so that is promising.  I just feel so bad when I can’t help, you know?

I wonder if, since he started getting sick before he started daycare, if maybe his little immune system couldn’t shake the ear infection with all the little germies from all the kids at school.  Just to be safe, we are keeping him at home for the week to see if that helps.  I hope so, because I miss my happy, playful buddy!

Some thoughts this Tuesday

A plague has taken over my house.  Lee is sick.  Cooper is sick.  I am sick.  We have all been sick for over 2 weeks now.  Lee and I have some kind of upper respiratory horribleness.  Cooper has an ear infection.  His first one.  The ONLY symptom of which was a runny nose.  How am I supposed to know that means an ear infection?!  Mom fail.  And to top it off, on day 9 of amoxicillin (yesterday), he broke out in a head to toe rash.  So I guess he is allergic.  Luckily we were already back at the dr office when I noticed it.

My phone is dying.   I have an iPhone, not the 4 but whatever was before that.  The battery barely lasts until 9pm.  If I use it a lot during the day, to do important things like check twitter 3203573 times, then it will barely last until 5pm.  This morning, I unplugged it at 6:15am, did not use it, and when I looked at it when I got to work, at 7:30, it was already down to 88%.  And I hadn’t even looked at it!  The screen freezes for a few seconds before it will do anything.  I’ve had it for 2 years, and I don’t feel like it should be dying already.  I guess I’m just going to have to get the 5 whenever that comes out :)

Today, it will be 98 outside, and Thursday, it will be 66.  No wonder everyone is sick. 

I can’t decide what Cooper should be for Halloween.  I feel like nothing will ever be as cute as his scarecrow costume last year.  He was freaking adorable.  Also, are we supposed to take him trick-or-treating this year?  He’s only 15 months, so probably not, but how fun would that be?  Not for him, but for me because I would get so much candy ;)  Ohhh, that makes me think, we will actually HAVE trick-or-treaters this year because of our new neighborhood!  Yay fun!

I have pinned SO many things on Pinterest for fall/Halloween décor.  I really want to do some of them (most are DIY) but I don’t have the time to do many, if any at all. I have a bunch of DIY craft stuff I’m already doing for various things!  This is a giant dilemma in my life right now.  Seriously, I think about it daily.  Specifically a wreath, and milk carton ghosts.  I need to get a life.

I can’t believe I just wrote a paragraph on my Pinterest dilemma. 

I am super excited for fall tv.  I just started listing my DVR list of definites and maybes.  Then it got long and I got embarrassed and though about reconsidering the amount of tv I watch.  So I will just say that the one new show I’m hoping is good is Up All Night with Christina Applegate about being new parents.  It looks really finny!   What is YOUR favorite fall show?

School!

I think we all know that Cooper started school last week.  Thank you all for your words of encouragement!  I was a nervous wreck, and of course I woke up late.  Cooper also had  a cold complete with runny nose.  But he did GREAT!!  I was so surprised, and so was his teacher, since I had warned her that he had never been to daycare before! 

Since we were running late, I was in a hurry, but we rushed around and hurriedly took a few pictures before heading out the door.

Dragging his backpack around:

A quick pic with mama, not the best (Oh, p.s. he also had a busted lip from running around in his crib one naptime the weekend before, poor kid):

We got to school, found his room, and met his teacher.  His regular teachers were not there this week for various reasons, which made me even more nervous, but the girl taking their place was super nice and I really like her.

The kids are able to eat breakfast when the arrive if you bring something, which we did, so we got him all situated in those freaking adorable tables that have all those bucket-like seats in them.

Mr Cutie Patootie in his seat with his waffle.  This is his WTF face.  He had this face pretty much the entire time I was with him.  He didn’t freak out, just kept looking around like “what is going on here?”  You can tell he was tired and didn’t feel 100% in the pictures, which added even more concern for me.  Yes, I am always this neurotic.  My poor husband and child.

The teacher offered to take our picture :) I told you I liked her.  Look at his cute little feet dangling :)

I didn’t want to linger and/or get upset in front of Cooper, so I talked to the teacher for about a minute after this, warned her that I would probably call a million times to check on him, and I left.  But, then I had to go back in because I had forgotten his enrollment form that was in his backpack.  Crap.  I ran in real fast and grabbed it.  Cooper was crying a little.  More whining, but the teacher was taking care of him and I ran out.  He did see me but barely.

After I got everything settled with the office, I left and was on my way to work when I realized that in all of my nervousness I had taken his waffle with me!  Oh no.  I had to take it back because he needed to eat.  So I turned around, not a big deal because I hadn’t made it far at all.  But by the time I got back to his room, there were lots more babies and mamas there, so I was able to run in and out without him even seeing me.  And he wasn’t crying or anything.  Probably just had his WTF face on :)

I did not cry.  I teared up a lot of times, but I did not cry.  Until everyone at work asked me how it went.  After the 3rd person, I did start crying. I was grateful though, that everyone cared.  And understood and I got hugs and felt better.  I called several times during the day, and I was surprised to hear that he was doing great!  They said that he cried for a minute when they went on the playground (weird, he loves outside) and also for a minute when they went to the gym.  But other than that, he was having a “great” day :) I was soooooo relieved to hear that!  He even ate most of his lunch AND napped on a cot! 

Lee had something after work that day and I could have picked him up, but it would have been pretty late, so my dad insisted on picking him up.  He missed him and had been texting me all day about how Cooper was doing :)  My dad said when he went to the room, Cooper was playing at a table, heard my dad’s voice, and went running to him, haha.  So cute.

Cooper’s little report card thing for the day said “Cooper had a GREAT day! :)”

On Friday when I dropped him off, he did cry a lot, but his teacher had him and I left pretty quickly.  I ran into a girl I went to college with in the hall. Turns out her son and Cooper are in the same class.  She has really helped me to feel even more at ease with everything.  They love the daycare.  And she told me that as soon as they walked into the classroom on Friday, Cooper stopped crying and was fine.  I called only ONE time to check on him that day.  He was doing great again :)

Oh, funny story, Lee got off work early on Friday, and was going to pick up Cooper, but it was during their nap time, so I called to see if he was napping.  All I said was “My husband was going to pick up our son early, but I wanted to make sure he wasn’t napping”, and the girl on the phone said “Okay, is this Cooper’s mom?”  I was a little embarrassed, laughed and said yes.  I really don’t think I’m the crazy mom that calls all the time, but it was funny.

Now, the question is…am I still allowed to call every day to check on him?!  Do people just not call during the day?  This will take some getting used to!

Bits and Pieces - A truly random post

Hi lovers and friends.  How are ya?  I have about a bajillion posts in my head that I’d love to get out there.  I just need about 2 more hours in the day.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask for, right?  I kinda want to do that accent vlog.  I love hearing everyone’s voices/accents.  So fun.  I, however, cringe at my voice on camera, so I’m not too sure about it…

I did 4 things today that made me want to barf.  3 of those things were scheduling meetings with people at work.  Kind of important people.  I have never done these things before and I didn’t know what to say, how to schedule conference rooms, etc. and I felt like a dumbass asking.  But I asked and all was fine.  The fourth was drop $400 on 25 digital images of Cooper from the photographer we have used since he was born.  My parents paid for half (or honestly we wouldn’t have paid that), but makes my stomach drop just thinking about it.  I don’t care who you are, that’s a lot of money for some images.  I will not go into my schpeel about this subject.  I will not. I will not.

I realized today that I haven’t told a single person at this awesome outfit I saw.  Y’all, it was epic.  Cooper and I were leaving Lowe’s a few weeks ago, and this woman was walking over to her big ‘ol truck.  She was wearing acid-washed jeans.  And a matching acid-washed denim halter top.  With a corseted back!!!!!!!!!  A corseted, acid-washed, denim halter top!!  And a baseball cap, clearly, because what else would you wear with that ensemble?  I wish I had taken a photo.

Cooper starts daycare tomorrow.  We call it school.  Because it makes me feel better.  I have never been sad about being a working mom (for the most part), but I have been crying like every day at work for the past couple of weeks!  I don’t know who I am.  I know it is good for him, he will make friends and learn stuff.  But it still makes me sad.  Mostly I’d like to skip over the first few days or weeks that it takes him to get used to it and skip to the time when he is used to it.  And likes it.  Hopefully.  Also, I want to take pictures of him on his first day in his room at school and stuff, but I also don’t want to linger, so I’m not sure what I’ll do…  I will say that Sunday when we left him in the nursery at church, he went right to the worker and walked off to play without a second look back at us, and he didn’t cry the whole time, just had a few almost-crying episodes, so that made me feel a little better.

I went clothes shopping this weekend.  For a few specific pieces.  What did I come home with?  Nothing I intended on getting or even remotely close to it!!  This always happens to me!!  I think that I am officially going to be a strictly online shopper.  It’s easier to keep myself in line.  If only every store/site had free shipping and returns!  Also, if anyone knows where I can get black skinny JEANS, please tell me.  I want actual jeans.  Not jeggings.  Even Gap’s Always Skinny black jeans are more jeggings than jeans.  It’s not a good look on me and not what I’m going for.  Can we get off the jegging obsession?  It would be great if jeggings were available in addition to regular skinny jeans, but it seems like every skinny jean is actually jeggings now and I don’t like it.  If you love jeggings, rock on sister, but my big ass thighs don’t look good in that much spandex!  Whew.  Clearly I feel strongly about this.

I did buy some slim cropped black work pants at Gap (as a substitute for the jeans) and I freaking LOVEEEE them!!  They are awesome.  I want to wear them every day.

In case you didn’t know, I like Gap.  Obvs.

I want a new name for my blog.  I have never liked this one, but I changed it quickly for some personal reasons and nothing I did like was available.  I am not creative enough to come up with something witty.  I need help.  I also want it to be 2 column instead of 3.  There’s too much wasted space on the left and it makes all of my posts seem super long. 

And on that note, I’ll wrap it up so this doesn’t seem super long.  Maybe I’ll post something of substance instead of rambling on about nothing.  Like how I’m doing on freezing meals, or perhaps, some recipes we’ve tried with that!  Oh the anticipation!

A New Way of Cooking Dinner?

If you follow me on Pinterest, then you probably know my little secret.

No, I don’t mean the secret that I love junk food.

No, not the secret that I am (apparently) obsessed with Halloween décor.

No, not the one where I can’t decide how I want to decorate any room in my house.

Clearly, Pinterest gives away a lot of dirty little secrets.

I’m talking about my current obsession with freezer meals.

You see, with my current 8-5 schedule at work (I used to work 7-4 which was amazing), and the commute home, I don’t get home until around 5:45 these days.  I used to get home at 4:30 at the latest.  And that one hour + some?  That is a precious hour to lose!  An hour that I could have spent with Cooper.  So, now that I get even less time with him before his 6:45 bedtime, I refuse to spend it rushing around the kitchen cooking a full dinner (and yes, I do want to cook dinner every night).  I had a hard adjustment to all of this when we moved and I started my new job.  Which I know may sound ridiculous, because it’s only an hour less and most working parents face this every single day.  But, it was new to me and I was trying desperately to figure out a solution that would enable to me to get dinner on the table AND spend some quality time with my baby. (Cooper doesn’t eat what we eat for dinner, mostly because he eats so early and goes to bed often before dinner is even fished.)

Pinterest to the rescue!! I started seeing pins of freezer meals.  Some with pictures of freezers stocked full of pre-made, ready to bake, dinners.  I couldn’t pin those fast enough!  Once I pinned, and eventually followed the link (is it just me, or do y’all obsessively pin but never get around to clicking through to the link?), I was hooked.  This was totally do-able!  I decided that I would cook several meals once a week, or a couple times a month, on a weekend.  That way, we would have dinner mostly made and I could just pop it in the oven, on the stove, or (nest of all!) in the crock pot and then I could enjoy my precious time with Cooper.

I actually ordered a book, Don’t Panic Dinners in the Freezer, which has some great information on how-to’s and some really great husband-approved recipes!  For us, it’s not really sensible to make a TON of freezer meals, just because we simply don’t have the freezer space(although in unrelated discussions, we do want to eventually get a second fridge or freezer only for the garage, so maybe in the future that would be a possibility).  I also do worry about keeping things in there for too long, one of my main concerns with this whole idea is that the frozen meals won’t taste very good, but we’ll just have to wait and see on that.  Anyway, I decided to start small and just make one weeks-worth of meals last weekend.  But, I made two of each meal, to save for another time.  I got the idea from the book.  Genious!! 

So last Sunday, I made 2 casseroles, enough meatballs for 3 meals, enough marinated chicken for 3 meals, and enough pork chops for 4 meals.  All of that, in less than an hour and a half!  Seriously!  And, because we don’t usually eat an entire recipe, some of the recipes, as you can see, made 3 or 4 separate meals for us.  And?  I did it all while Cooper was napping :)  I had told Lee my idea, and he didn’t understand how it would really save time, but once I told him everything I’d made in that amount of time, he took back his negative comments!  And this way, Lee can even cook his own dinner sometimes, because it’s pretty easy (even for him) to pull something out of the freezer and put it in the oven. (The poor man can’t cook)

I have to be honest and say that we have yet to eat a frozen meal because our schedule has been a little weird this week, but I’ll be sure to let you know how they all turned out!

The end. For now.

So, remember when I talked about how Cooper is on a waiting list for daycare?  I have been waiting patiently to call and ask very nicely if they can possible give me some kind of tentative maybe possible date/month that he would get in.  It’s only been about 3-4 weeks, but I am impatient, we all know.  And, my dad has been asking :/

Then yesterday happened and I read KLaw’s post in which she was elated that her son finally got into their daycare of choice.  Almost a year and a half after he was put on the waiting list.  Immediately I thought “Yay!” Then, “Oh…shit…it can take over a year.  Must call daycare.” 

I know.  It can take over a year.  This is an obvious statement to anyone with a child.  WHY was I not thinking clearly about this?  I am fully aware of the ridiculous lists that daycares have and I know how hard it can be to get in.  I just was hoping for the best I guess.  I don’t know what I was doing.  Honestly, I don’t have half the brain that I had pre-Cooper.

Anyway, I called to ask if they could give me any kind of remotely approximate month that he would be able to get in.  I’m not asking for a specific date and time here.  It’s annoying that they won’t give me at least an idea.  She gives me the whole dance about how she really just can’t tell how long anyone will be on the wait list, blah, blah.  I mean, come on lady, I just want to know if it would be in the next couple of months.  Then she tells me there are 20 one year olds waiting on the class.  A class that holds like 10ish kids.  Yes, I knew the 20 kids thing, but for some unknown idiotic reason, I didn’t think it was 20 kids waiting on HIS class.  I thought overall, 20 kids.  I know, I am dumb.  FINALLY, that’s when I started to have a moment of clarity.  Then she tells me how they are going to have an expansion, and she would definitely be able to tell me more in JANUARY.  I think that’s when I blacked out.  January?  HOW could I have been thinking so stupidly?!  Duh!!  It’s not just some little list and he’s going to get in in September (when we were hoping for).  Clearly, we need to find something to do in the meantime.  I silently freaked out for the remainder of Wednesday afternoon, going over our limited options.

Basically we have two options.  Either put him on the other, shorter list for our 2^nd choice daycare.  Or, find someone to come to our house and watch him 3 days a week.  I (well, we) prefer the structure of an actual daycare, not to mention the possible risks and what-ifs and logistics of finding a person to come to our house and watch him. There are lots of unknowns there, even though I know it CAN work out great (I found a mutually awesome (meaning I was awesome and so was the family :) ) nanny job through the newspaper when I was in college), but I didn’t want to go through that process if I didn’t have to.

This morning I called 2^nd choice daycare, praying that no one else had been added to the list since we toured in July.  I cringed as I asked if she could possibly tell me what the chances are of getting him enrolled in September.  You know what?  Not only had no one been added to the list, but there was NOT a list!  She said she could enroll him over the phone!  For September!!  Yay!!! 

This is a huge weight lifted.  I’m not totally thrilled with having an interim daycare, since it’s just one more routine he will get in to only to have that disrupted as well, because we still ultimately want Cooper to go to the 1^st choice, and he is still on the list, but for now, this is what we have to do. 

And, let me say that this 2^nd daycare is very highly recommended (I’m surprised they have an opening) and we do love it.  To be completely honest, it’s only our 2^nd choice because it is about 30% more expensive than the 1^st choice, and we didn’t like it 30% more.

Once again, the chapter is only temporarily closed on daycare.  But at least now I won’t be constantly stressed out that we are wearing my dad out and overwhelmed with guilt that we are taking advantage of him.  I’m interested to see how Cooper does in daycare, with other kids.  He gets so excited to see other kids his age when we are out (it’s kind of embarrassing when he stares at them or goes up to strangers and pats them on the back, haha), so I think he will be excited about having friends to play with :)

14 Months

Dear Cooper,

Today you turned 14 months old.  I was going to cut back on these posts after your birthday, and only write every three months, but you are just doing so much these days that I just had to write it all down.

Let’s see…I guess we should start where we left off, at 12 months.

About a week after your birthday, you started walking!  I stood you on the ground and you walked all the way across Poppa and Grandma’s living room!  We were in shock!  And you haven’t slowed down since.  You now love to run, well, your version of running!  You love to be chased by daddy or me, and you especially love to chase the dogs.  They aren’t fans, surprisingly :)

You also love when your dad lets you sit on his back while he crawls on the floor.  This gets HUGE belly laughs from you.  You just think it is hilarious!  We started brushing your teeth about a month ago, and although we were unsure as to how you would like it, we were pleasantly surprised that you LOVE brushing your teeth.  You smile the whole time.  I think you mostly love the flavored toothpaste.

Recently, you have really started picking up on everything.  It’s amazing to realize that you suddenly know something.  You know where your toes, ears, and mouth are.  When we ask you if you want to brush your teeth, you point to your tongue.  When we get ready to go somewhere, I’ll say “Okay Buddy, let’s go bye bye”, and you will stop anything you’re doing, and walk to the garage door!  If we ask if you’re ready for a bathtub or night night, you will walk over to the stairs and pull on the gate.  If we say “shoes”, you point to your feet!  You are so smart! :)

You have been sleeping in much later than you used to!  We are LOVING this!  You now go to bed around 7pm (although I do think you would stay up later if we let you) and sleep until anywhere from 7:30-8:30 the next morning!  Soooo much better than the old days of 5 am wake ups every morning!  I do feel badly that we have to wake you up at 6:30 on weekdays though.  And, I have to admit, weekends are not nearly as productive, haha.

You are still quite the picky eater.  One day you will love something, and the next day you will hate it.  You still throw your food on the floor all the time, whether you like it or not.  Luckily you love pretty much all fruits and veggies.  I believe strawberries are your favorite right now, you could eat your weight in them!  You also love “smoothies” which is really just milk+yogurt.  You get one of those most mornings on the way to Poppa’s house.  I can’t believe I let you have it in the car.  But so far, no issues so we’ll continue that.

You drank out of a straw for the first time a few weeks ago, and you thought that was so fun, haha :) You also love to drink straight out of cups like we do.  We also went out to eat a few weeks ago, which is something that we very rarely do.  You were not in the best mood, and you aren’t used to eating out, so we were prepared to have to leave, but you did so well!  You loved the attention from everyone in the restaurant, and you hammed it up, showing your big cheesy grin to anyone who talked to you.  It was a relief to know that if we wanted to go out to eat with you more often, we could.  We just don’t eat out much in general.

You still aren’t really talking yet.  You say “Dah” for dog, and when asked “What does the dog say?”, you will usually say “woof”, which is pretty much the most adorable thing.  And actually it sounds more like “woosh”, but you know what you’re saying :)  You say Dada (sometimes said “ahda”), and I thinkyou know who that is.  You are just now starting to sort of, sometimes, say Mama.  Usually you will say it, then I will say “Mama?” and you will say “ahda!”, which is Dada, so that’s awesome.  Poor Mama. ;)

You are very opinionated.  You don’t like to be told no, but who does?  We had a couple of rough weeks/months adjusting to this new side of your personality, because before, you were so easy going, and really never threw a fit.  But now we are pretty used to you having an opinion about what you want to do.  You are still pretty easy going, most of the time.  But, you are also learning to throw a pretty good temper tantrum.  Honestly, I can’t help but laugh when you get so mad that you throw yourself on the ground and cry.  It’s a pretty dramatic reaction to being told “no” to eating dog food or touching the hot stove.  But, it’s also a pretty good sign that you’ve inherited some of your Mama’s personality :)

You were a little sick a week or so ago, so we took you to the doctor.  When they weighed you, you were almost 2 pounds heavier than you were at your 12 month appointment!  I wasn’t really surprised, you had seemed like you were heavier to pick up.  You are wearing 12-18 month clothes, a size 4 diaper, and a size 5 shoe.  Your hair is getting thick and it grows so fast!  You had it cut 2 months ago, and you are already overdue for another trim.  It’s also getting very wavy on top and curly in the back.  We have to wet it down every morning and comb it.

You have 6 full teeth right now.  Two on top, and 4 on bottom.  Your other top two, on either side of the middle, are poking through, and I think that you are starting to get your one year molars.  I thought I’d be sad for you to lose your gummy smile, but I love seeing those little teeth when you smile or laugh, they are adorable!

Basically, you’re the best little boy ever.  Your daddy and I love you to piece and we can’t imagine what we ever did without you.  Happy 14 months, Coopie!