Arghh Matey

The consistently warm weather we’ve been having lately finally convinced us to bust out Cooper’s water table over the weekend.

He received a pirate water table for his first birthday, and I remember I was so excited for something that would hold his attention.  Umm, negative.  He didn’t give a flip about it.

So, when I dragged it out from under the cobwebs on Sunday, I though, meh, maybe he’ll stare at it for 5 minutes.  I was wrong again, he loved it! 

We poured some dish soap and water in it so that we could clean everything off.  It turns out, it wasn’t actually as dirty as I thought it was, and Cooper was having so much fun (and more importantly, Mama was getting some coveted peaceful moments), that I just let him play in it, dirty dish soap bubbles and all.

He played with this thing while Lee mowed the entire lawn.  I was even able to do a few of my own things, sanding down some furniture pieces in the garage, without having to look up every 3 seconds to make sure he didn’t run into the street.

 

It was awesome.

Cooper-ese

Cooper is so funny with his “language” that he has created.  You know, the toddler-ese that seems to be so different for every child?  The one that parents can totally understand, and you used to wonder how on earth even the parents could understand, but now you get it?  Haha, well, Cooper’s language isn’t that difficult to understand actually, but most of it is darn cute, and Lee and I often find ourselves getting him to say certain words because they make us smile so big :)

Here’s a run-down of some of his not-actually-what-they-are words:

HIIIII-LO! = hello (this is hands down our favorite)

neigh neigh = horse

appie = apple (appie saw = applesauce) (this is probably our second favorite :) )

ha = hot

mia mia = fruit snacks

sigh = outside, NOT the backyard, the FRONT yard

uboo = love you

heeww = help

owbie = owie

see see = sit down

pobby = potty

dowwwwwwwn = up if he’s down and, well, down if he’s up

mah mah = more

bubboo = bubbles

chee = cheese

eye = ice

paba = peanut butter (not to be confused with poppa, which is my dad)

pane = airplane

dapboo = thank you

a laugh like the Pillsbury dough boy after you ask him a question = yes

bye = bike

PAY!!! = play

Busy Weekend!

We had a full weekend.  Lee had planned to be in Norman on Saturday for some football thing (don’t ask me), and I had planned to have a fun day with Cooper, but the threat of severe weather and tornadoes kept Lee home, and put a damper on the fun plans I had for Cooper and me.

So instead of all that, we stayed home and hung curtains!  It’s always so stressful to hang curtain rods because you have to get them just the right height and all, so I am always nervous.  But, we got them all hung in a couple of hours, and they all look great!  I need to fix one curtain panel that is for some reason an inch longer than the others, but other than that, I am happy with how they turned out.  Here is a horrible picture of the playroom.  I’ll try to take better pictures once that last one is hemmed correctly.  So probably in about 6 months :)

The rest of the day was spent playing with Cooper, doing housework, and going to the grocery store. 

Can we talk for a minute about how my kid doesn’t need any real toys?  He would rather play with pots and pans, bowls, spoons, and anything in our bathroom than any toy you could buy him.  He kept himself busy for 30 minutes playing with my hot rollers!

Anyway, we all went to the grocery store, which rarely happens (usually I go alone) so it was a big outing.  Haha.  Cooper was very good while we were there.  The weather was pretty nice when we got home, so I took Cooper to the park.  It was super windy, but there was NO ONE at the park, so he got to run all over (it’s a huge park).  He also went down the HUGE slide and loved it.  I had a small heart attack the first time, but he thought it was the best thing ever!  After the park, it was dinner, bath, and bed time.

On Sunday, we went to Lee’s hometown because his aunt was going to be passing through.  It’s a 3 hour drive, and Lee didn’t want to go down on Saturday because his family can be a lot to handle :) so we had a long day on Sunday.  Cooper had never really been on a long drive, so Lee was concerned how he would handle it.  I wasn’t worried and figured he would sleep both ways. I mean, the child wakes up at 4:30am so he is usually tired by 9, which is when we were leaving.  Sure enough, he conked out after about 20 minutes.

 

BUT he only slept for an hour.  Luckily he kept himself occupied with snacks and a portable DVD player we took with us so that he could watch Elmo.  He was pretty antsy the last 45 minutes of the trip, but not too bad.

We had a good visit.  Lee’s aunt is so nice, and she loves the kids.  Cooper’s cousin Cailee was there, and they got to play a lot.  She is a year older than him.  They were so cute walking around and holding hands :)  Cooper charmed everyone by blowing kisses and generally being hilarious.  He also had to apologize a lot for being a bully, but that’s pretty much par for the course with him.  We also got to visit with Lee’s childhood friend and their family.  They have  a little boy Cooper’s age, so it was fun to all get together.  Lots of pictures were taken, but none by me.  Oops!  I was running around after Cooper the whole time.

We left around 5 and we were all exhausted, so I thought Cooper would sleep.  And he did.  For an hour.  And then he kept saying “down! down!” and I felt bad that he had to stay in his car seat.  I moved to the back with him and tried to distract him with books and movies, but he wasn’t having it.  He kept reaching his arms out to me :( I knew he was hungry, because he refused to eat lunch, so we pulled over to McDonalds (which I don’t like feeding him, but it was the only option) and got him a yogurt parfait, the only thing I knew he would eat.  And of course he wanted to feed himself, so there was yogurt everywhere.  It was mess and I almost started crying, haha.  So for the last hour and a half he alternated between whining and being occupied by watching Cars.  Whew.  I was completely exhausted and had a giant headache by the time we got home!  Luckily Cooper was tired and basically asking to go night night so bedtime was fast and easy.

We need a weekend from our weekend.  And I’m sure Lee will feel the same way next Monday, because we are going to Dallas on Friday to go to Ikea(eeeep   !) and then he is going to try and put the swing set together next weekend!

Thursday Randoms

We are getting out of work early today to go bowling.  There will be a tater tot bar and free beer. I can’t wait :)

My house is a complete mess disaster, and has been for the past month or so.  We just have not had the time to clean it, or we haven’t made the time. Either way, it’s driving me crazy.  I feel like I’m going to have to take a day off of work just so I can stay home and clean.

Yesterday, Cooper was riding his trike around the block (which is super cute, btw), and he got really distracted by our neighbor’s power wheels truck (that he is obsessed with) and he chose to ignore us and ran across the street and IN TO her garage to get on the power wheel.  Well, you can imagine it was complete meltdown city when we took him away, he was flailing and screaming at the top of his lungs, and ALL of the neighbor kids were out and they were staring like “WHAT the HECK?!”.  I felt like this was the greatest method of birth control ever, and had the sudden urge to yell at them all “THIS is what you get when you have sex, DON’T do it!!”  Haha. 

I started taking anti-anxiety meds again, which I hadn’t taken since I got pregnant.  Whoa.  I’m am a MUCH better person on them.  I wish I wouldn’t have waited so long to get back on them.  I didn’t think I needed them anymore, but I was wrong.

Cooper’s birthday is in 2 months, and I have just about everything for his party.  I am pretty impressed with myself.  I am trying to not do too much this year.  We’ll see how that works out.

I can’t believe it’s already mid-April.  I swear time goes by faster every year.

Every few months, I start feeling like I should be staying home with Cooper.  So I go through our finances and everything to see if it would work, and of course it wouldn’t, so then I start calculating what would happen if I worked part time, then I wonder if I could do my current job part time, etc.  It goes on for a couple of weeks.  There are just so many factors involved.  I would love to just work part time, but part of me is scared to do that, financially.  Hopefully we can get my student loans paid off and then seriously consider it.

I’ve been reading Heaven is for Real.  I’m about halfway through it, and I LOVE it.  The things this little boy saw, incredible.

I recently stumbled across this site, via Pinterest.  They have TONS of meal planning resources, including monthly meal plans that are freezer friendly, and several “specialty” plans for different types of eaters.  The menus are seasonal, so they utilize what you can find fresh in your grocery store.  You can even put in how many servings you want to make for each meal and it will calculate it accordingly!  I haven’t used it yet (I just found it yesterday) but I definitely plan to use it soon.  I really need to get back into pre-prepping meals once a month.

Easter Weekend!

Saturday morning, I got my hair cut and colored.  4 inches gone, and we finally found my natural hair color.  This matched my roots perfectly.  Third time’s a charm, I guess :)

 

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Jenny’s house so the boys could do an Easter egg hunt together (there is a group of about 5 of us that only have boys :) ).  I left my camera over there (bad, blurry iPhone pics from here on out), but the boys were so funny “finding” their eggs that were all hidden in plain sight.  This was the first time Cooper learned that sometimes, candy is inside of those eggs.  He kept trying to eat the wrapped candy.  The boys all had fun playing and I got some sweet baby snuggles with the two newborns that were there :)

On Sunday morning, the Easter bunny came.

“ELMO!!!” Just a few weeks ago, we turned on Sesame Street for the first time, and Cooper started yelling “ELMO! ELMO!”.  What on earth?  We asked my dad, and they have never watched Sesame Street or anything Elmo.  He must have learned about him at school?  I have no idea, but it was hilarious, and now he is obsessed.  When we go over his letters in the bathtub, he now says “ELMO!” for pretty much every letter. Probably because I laugh every time.  He says it in a super cute way, too.  Kind of like “emooooo!”, and always with the exclaimation point :)

 

After church, we headed over to my parents’ house for lunch.  Cooper got to hold “Belle Belle”, and he loved it.

Easter egg hunt on the back porch!

My parents had put 2 M&M’s in each egg, and Cooper was so excited when he realized that.  He insisted that when he found an egg, he had to immediately open it and shove the candy into his mouth.  It was hilarious!  He was shoving those things in there so fast.

He kept saying “more more” and “yummy” and rubbing his belly.

You never would have known that Lee and I had to run over and sit down fast while Cooper was being still so we could try and get a picture.  Yay for a family pic!

Someone had a fun day :)

Hope you all had a great Easter!

Potty Talk

If you’re not a parent, you might not care to read this :)

Last night, Cooper was taking a bath.  I had finished getting him all clean, and we were just playing around and talking.  Lee was sitting on the toilet (just sitting there!) and Cooper suddenly pointed to the toilet and said “potty”.  We said “yes!  that’s the potty”, and Cooper said “poo poo!”.

This was so surprising.  We have never even said anything to him about the potty or what you do on it.

He kept saying these things over and over, so we asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty, and he said yes.  So, we got him out of the tub and dried off, and Lee held him on the toilet.  I kind of thought he’d freak out, but he loved it.  He was grinning from ear to ear.  We asked him what you do on the potty and he said “poo poo! pee pee!”

He didn’t actually do anything, but I was still surprised by the whole thing.  I thought it was early for him to start this (at least based on his own development timeline so far).  I know that at least one of the boys in his class sometimes asks to go to the potty, so maybe that has a lot to do with it.

Then, this morning, he asked to sit on the potty again, while we weren’t even in the bathroom.

I guess this is how it starts.  I, by no means, think that he will be potty trained anytime soon.  Not at all.  He is not even 2.  And I don’t plan on pushing it.  But I do like that he is putting things together on his own, without us prompting him.  He has never, ever been bothered in the least by wet or dirty diapers, so I have wondered if he would ever care to sit on the potty.

I have mixed feelings about potty training. Every time he wants to go, I feel like I need to let him, so that will be lots of trips to the bathroom for no reason!  And, call me lazy, but diapers are so easy when you’re out running errands, at a restaurant, driving in the car.  Toddler Time on the potty is a lost slower than mommy changing a diaper :)  But, I know it will be a while before we get to that point.

What We’ve Been Up To

Our curtain fabric came in a few weeks ago!  I was anxiously awaiting it, and when it arrived, I laughed out loud, because it came on a bolt!  I have ordered fabric online many times, but I guess never this much (about 18 yards), so usually it just comes folded.  Seeing it on a huge bolt cracked me up!  I was a little intimidated to actually start cutting it, for fear that I would mess it up, so it sat in our office for about a week or so.  I finally cut it into 6 panels, and I’ve been busy hemming them so we can hang them (don’t be fooled, hemming doesn’t always = sewing, sometimes, it = iron on hem tape+iron :) ).  I have one more left!  Hope to get this project completed and hung next weekend.  I am dreading installing the curtain rods.  Dreading.  I don’t know if there is a bigger test of a marriage than hanging curtain rods.

Moving along with more home decor stuff, we bit the bullet and bought rugs.  We are facing a lot of fears here, people.  Cutting fabric and ordering rugs.  Um, hello, rugs are expensive!  Who knew?  We had never purchased “real” rugs before.  only Target rugs.  Which yes, are real, but you know, right?  We need(ed) 3 rugs.  Entry, dining, and kitchen.  I was set on getting all woven rugs this time, not sure why.  We found a white and navy rug for the kitchen, but it’s on backorder until May. 

I am obsessed with chevron.  Who isn’t?  But, the fact that everyone else is too, made me hesitant to use it in our house.  I found this gray and white chevron rug at Urban Outfitters, and I just couldn’t pass it up.  It also passed the Husband Test.  Turns out, he loves chevron, too!  And rug on top?  That, my friends is for our dining area.  And I am IN LOVE with it.  A little obsessed, really. 

We needed something light-ish for that area, because it’s just kind of a dark corner, but it is under a table, so obviously couldn’t be too light.  I had searched forever.  And do you know how much 8x10 rugs cost?!  Let’s just say, a lot.  Or maybe I was just uneducated?  Anywho, we were set to put this one on hold, until I randomly went to Z.Gallerie.  I had never been to their website, but I randomly ended up there, and saw this beauty on sale for about half the price of anything that we had found at that point.  I sent it to Lee for the Husband Test, and it passed!  When it arrived, I was unsure at first.  It was a little different than I had expected.  Not bad, just different.  After leaving it half-unrolled for a day, I decided that actually loved it more than I thought I would.  It’s woven gray suede, with bits of silver and bronze leather running through it.  Really different than anything I’ve seen. 

Let’s look at just one more picture of it, okay? I love how the silver shimmers in the light :)  I’m not sure about keeping it clean though?  Probably something I should have given more consideration before buying it, but too late now!  I love it and it’s not going back!  (not that it could, since it was a non-returnable sale price, haha)

I have also been finishing up some little silhouette projects that I’ve been meaning to do for a while.  I made this alphabet print for Cooper’s room.  No, it’s not perfect, the “y” got cut off, and I wish the “b” and “d” had more wiggle room up top.  I am fighting my perfectionist tendencies and trying to let that go.  Almost finished with his room!  I need to make a growth chart (already have everything, just need to do it), and figure out a way to hang his letters above his crib without them falling on him in his sleep.  Yes, that happened.  Oopsie, sorry kid!

Lee and I have the exact same computer.  And we always get them mixed up, so I got to use vinyl for the first time!

So, we had been going back and forth about what to get Cooper for his birthday.  We originally thought Power Wheels because he is obsessed with the neighbor girl’s truck.  But I wasn’t sold on it.  We had also wondered about a swing set for the backyard, but didn’t want to get something for him now, that he might grow out of later.  We had finally decided on a swing set that we thought he could grow with for a while, when we saw this one was on sale at Toys R Us. 

It was a really good price, and we couldn’t pass it up.  The sale ended last Saturday, so we made the trip to get it.  (Cooper now refuses to be carried anywhere.  He insists on walking.  It takes forever to get from the car to the store, which will be fun this summer! #itsalreadybeen90degreesout)

     

See that rectangular box on the ground there?  That is what that huge swingset came in. Lee is really excited to put that baby together :)

Who else is obsessed with Cadbury Mini Eggs? I know there a lot of you!  So am I.  It’s a sickness, really. I thought this almost-2-pound bag was a combination of hilarious+genious!  I (shockingly) didn’t buy it, but Easter is not here just yet!