Why I've been M.I.A

Hiiii! I cannot believe that it has been almost a MONTH since I've posted. I hate neglecting the blog :( But, we have been busy, busy, busy getting our house ready for this:

Yep, as of one week ago, our house is officially on the market! Yay! This is a time that we have been looking forward to for so long, and it's a little surreal that we are finally doing it.

Over the past month, Lee and I have been busting our butts to get our house in perfect shape for selling. As you probably know, I'm so type A that the house had to be in "show mode" before I wanted to list it. And, I'm so happy to say that it is (at least it I think so :) )

Amongst other little things, we have: installed new kitchen cabinet doors, cleaned out the garage, did some looong overdue decorating (those damn built ins!), had the tub and bathroom sink re-glazed, power washed the house, built a step for the 2 foot drop out of our french doors, and decluttered, decluttered, decluttered!

We seriously worked every weekend and every single evening after work. We were SO exhausted, every day. I know that we did so much, but at the same time, I look around and think, Okay, what did we really do that took so long? Haha :) It's so weird to not have anything to do after work this week! It's so nice :)

So of course, after all of that hard work, I'm going to show you all what the house looks like now. I wish I had before pictures of the rooms to show you (um, and me) everything that we did.

Entryway

Cooper's Room

Half Bath

Living Room (dogs may or may not come with the house depending on their behavior ;) )

In all their glory

Kitchen

Breakfast nook

Main Bath

Master

Guest Room

Whew! Now we just have to keep it clean :)

Nine Months

Dear Cooper,

You are NINE months old today! Nine?! Where is my little squishy baby? I certainly haven’t seen him lately. All I’ve seen is a big boy who is on the move and getting bigger every day.

This month you’ve been doing big things. For one, you have “officially” learned to army crawl. I think you’ve known how to do this for a while, but you just never were that interested in it. Boy has that changed! One day a couple of weeks ago, I got a series of texts from Poppa. It went something like this:

“Cooper is on the move”

“Going to need the baby gates”

“He just tipped over Maggie’s water bowl, all wet and no extra clothes”

He sent all of that in about 3 minutes. Haha, I think he was a little overwhelmed at your newest milestone. The second you are set on the floor, you tip yourself forward and off you go! Your favorite things to go for are: the dogs’ food and water bowls, any of the dogs’ toys (especially Zoe’s beloved yellow ball), and power cords. Ahh yes, you are certainly keeping us on our toes, Buddy.

Just this week, you have really started taking off walking when we hold your hands. I mean, you take.off! You love it! I'm curious to see how soon you will be confident enough to try it on your own.

You also said your first word; “dada”. And of course you said it the ONE Saturday that your dad and I were out of town! And of course we did not hear it from you for about a week afterwards! You did say it a couple of times last night. Clearly, you have no idea who Dada is, but it’s still so fun to hear you say it!

Another activity you love to do is huff and puff and flap your arms up and down like a bird while sitting. It is hilarious! Poppa calls it your “sitting jumping jacks” and you do this all the time.

You learned how to play peek-a-boo in about 5 minutes, and you LOVE it! You even put the blanket over your own face and laugh and squeal while we say “where’s Cooper?” and then you pull it off, it’s probably my favorite thing to do with you, you just laugh SO much!

{okay, I never warn you about my mom voice, but it is SO bad in this video, so fair warning :) }

One thing that you do NOT love to do it lay on your changing table. Good grief. This used to be your favorite place ever, what happened?! It’s nearly impossible to change your diaper without an assistant. Your clothes? Forget about it! I dress you on your floor, because that struggle is just not worth it. The second we lay you down you whine and flip over, then try to shimmy off the table! I’ve learned a couple of things that sometimes work to keep you occupied. I’m going to need to learn some more soon!

I also think that it’s about time for your first haircut. It is getting so long over your ears, and the little mullet in back that I have trimmed before has come back with a venagnce! Your hair is also getting thicker, not as fuzzy and fluffy as it was when you were born.

You are still sleeping from 5:30/6 pm to 5/6 am. Lately you’ve been staying up until 6 a little more, and we love that extra little time with you! I’m curious to see what you do when we jump forward an hour this weekend. That would be so nice if you went to bed at 7 and woke up at 6! Haha, I never thought that I would consider 6 am sleeping in. You’ve woken up crying during the night several times a week the past couple of weeks, and every time, I swearthat you’re getting a tooth, but still nothing! I’m just going to give up on blaming things on teething with you, I know your Daddy would appreciate that J I think you’re starting to phase out your noon nap. You skip it several times a week and just take a morning and an afternoon nap. I would love to get rid of that noon nap, just so that we can run errands a little more during the day. We’ll see what you decide this month.

You still take 3 7oz. bottles and have 3 meals per day. You are still eating purees, but I think that we are, perhaps, going to venture into finger foods sometime soon. I know that you can have them, but I do get a little nervous, so we’ll discuss it with your pediatrician tomorrow. You tried pureed blueberries for the first time last night and you loved them! You kept opening your mouth for more J I also gave you a bite of my banana, and you did notlike that, even though you love the pureed banana.

At your nine month check up, your stats were:

Length: 29.25 inches (81%)

Weight: 20lb 8oz (51%)

Head: 45 cm (42%)

You are wearing 6-12 month clothes, but many of your 6-12 month pants are very short on you! You’re still wearing a size 3 shoe. You wear a size 3 diaper, but we just started putting you in a 4 overnight.

I am so thankful that you are still such a little love bug. You always give me the tightest hugs whenever I pick you up. You squeeze your arms around my neck so tight! That is one of my favorite things you do!

I can’t believe how fast you are growing up, Buddy! I hate to lose my little baby, but I do love watching you learn new things. Right now, I'm just trying to savor every second of your little baby self. I never want to forget how much I love your sweet-smelling hair, your chubby cheeks, your tiny little fingers, and those chubby little feet of yours!

Love Love Love

Mama

Things I learned this weekend

Last week, I was sick (still am), and this weekend we went to Dallas for a wedding.  Here are a few things I learned:

-          When you feel like crap (and are never sick) and your doctor says “I’m sorry you’re sick, but there’s nothing I can do.  If it’s not better in a week, call and we’ll give you an antibiotic”, just go ahead and demand an antibiotic right then.  Especially if you have to attend wedding festivities over the coming weekend.

-          I could totally live in Dallas.  For sure.

-          It is, in fact, impossible to tire of talking about your child.  Impossible.

-          Weddings do not have to be super expensive to be fun.  Or expensive at all.

-          Just because Target carries super cute knock offs of many of your favorite expensive pairs of shoes, doesn’t mean that you’re getting a bargain.  In fact, the heel might break on those Target shoes within 2 hours of wearing them and ruin your evening, causing you to not mingle with fun people and leave too early.

-          When you leave your 8 month old for 2.5 days, they will look like a full blown toddler by the time you see them again.  And you might almost cry when you first see them, because they just look so darn big.

-          Twitter friends are awesome, especially when you’re getting ready for an event alone J They helped me decide what to wear!

-          If you expect people to drink a lot, and go out afterwards to continue drinking, then you should probably offer an actual dinner at the rehearsal dinner. Heavy hors de oeuvres don’t count.

-          9 times out of 10, your instincts are better than Google maps.  I am a navigational rockstar.

-          All mamas have an immediate bond.  New mamas especially.

-          When only one spouse is drunk, the other will most certainly be annoyed at the drunken antics of the other.

-          If you chat with a friend who has a baby, you should ask about the baby and/or gush over how cute the baby is.  Or the mama might be bitter and wonder why didn’t you ask about my baby?! J

-          You Tube is a helpful hair styling teacher.

-          It is quite possibly part of the divine plan for me to be this size/weight right now.  Otherwise, I would be thousands of dollars in debt after shopping this weekend.

-          Your child WILL reach a milestone if you leave them for the weekend.  They will probably start saying DaDa the day you leave.

-          And then they will not say DaDa at all when you come home, just to spite you.

-          There is no better pairing than 70 degree weather and outdoor shopping.  Unless you add mimosas.

It's all good

Today I got in my car after work and it said the outside temperature was 75! I think the low one week ago was -12 or something, crazy. I have to admit that I was a little giddy this afternoon due to the sunshine :)

And, Survivor is starting tonight, which for some reason always reminds me of springtime :)

I started working out again this week, and I think has been a big factor in the ridiculously good mood I've been in. I forgot how much I love to work out. It's been kind of hard to work it out with Lee, so that he can be with Cooper, but this week's going well so far, yay! And I've stayed on my diet too, so that always helps :)

And to go along with my ridiculously good mood, we got some...I will say interesting, news at work today. I personally think it's good news, and I'm excited to see what unfolds this year. Work has actually been going well the past week or so. And instead of dreading the next several months (lots of projects to be done), I'm actually looking forward to them. Yes, I'm so bi-polar about work. Whatever.

Um, a man is wearing briefs (aka, man panties) on Survivor. It gets better, they're reddish/pink! Wth? Bahaha! Sorry, I got distracted by them...

I also recently found out that one of my best friends will be moving closer to me very soon! I'm so excited, I don't see her nearly enough and I've been waiting for her to move back this way! She will be within driving distance :) Most of my close friends from college live far away from us, so it will be so nice to have her closer!

We have also been able to start making some progress on fixing up the house. We have had some issues due to the weather for a couple of weeks, and I'm SO happy that we're finally getting the ball rolling on major projects.

AND, we have found some Mother's Day Out programs for Cooper! I never thought it would be so hard to find something that met our criteria. He will be going to one place twice a week over the summer, and then 3 times a week somewhere else during the school year. My dad will still be watching him the rest of the time, including before and after "school". I think he will really enjoy some time to himself during his retirement, haha. Although, when I told him Coop was going 3 days next year, my dad said "THREE?!" because he had only requested 2 days, lol. I thought he'd be happy with an extra day to himself, but apparently not :)

And if anything belongs in a post entitled "it's all good", it's Cooper's new laugh. It started out as a fake cough, but has evolved into this ridiculous (and yes, sometimes annoying) laugh. Please enjoy :)

Our Weekend

Finally some sunshine and temperatures above freezing! The 20 inches of snow that we'd gotten over the past couple of weeks seems to finally be melting. I am so ready to return to normal life; although I am slightly bummed that I will have to work 5 days in a row without a snow day :) Slightly.

We spent most of the weekend in house selling/hunting mode.

We painted the bathroom, including the ceiling. Unfortunately the ceiling was peeling and chipping badly (I have to say that the word "badly" now reminds me of the Bachelor "I've missed you...badly -said to cray-cray Michelle when she sneaked over to his room; You're scaring me...badly - said to sweet Emily after she said she sabotages relationships; sorry for the sidenote) in some places, so we (Lee) had to sand it down in some spots, which of course turned into whole pieces of the ceiling coming down. We were able to patch it though, and after a new coat of paint, it looks okay. Who looks at the ceiling anyway when house hunting? Lee did the majority of the ceiling work, since it was much easier for him to just reach up and paint, as opposed to my ladder-climbing, then being too close and bending backwards to try and paint.

I painted the walls, entirely with a paintbrush instead of using a roller, because of how choppy the walls are. That was fun. My hand is still cramped! I'm so glad that is finished though; it's been on the back burner for over a year, as you could tell by the four different paint colors that had been up in there for that long. We are having the tub and sink re-glazed in a couple of weeks, I'm really excited for that, it should make a big difference :)

We also drove around today in some neighborhoods that we've found some houses in online. That turned out to be productive because we scratched about 3 of the 7ish neighborhoods off the list. Disappointing yes, especially because we had become obsessed with a house in one of those neighborhoods, but better to do it now than later.

Cooper developed a new fake cough on Saturday. He has been cracking himself up with it all weekend! I caught some video of it today that I might try to post this week. And, his walker that I ordered last week came today! He had fun trying it out, and is already a pro at going backwards :)

And now Lee and I are watching the Grammy's, trying to figure out what the hey Lady Gaga is wearing.....

8 Months

Dear Cooper,


You're 8 months old today! Usually, when you turn another month older, I think "okay, yeah, it seems like he should be 5 months old." But this month? How are you eight months old?! I think that what gets me the most is that you just LOOK like you've grown so much this month. You're starting to look more like a little boy and less like my baby boy.

This month has been full of smiles, big belly laughs, and squealing (by you, not us :) ). Although we have found that our old tricks to get you to smile no longer work, we've found more ways to make you laugh even more. You most love anything that involves being in the air; you often fly like an airplane from room to room :)

You are sitting up perfectly now, and when we encourage you to crawl, you end up going backwards! You also do this thing that I call swimming, but your dad calls skydiving. You flail your arms and legs in, I assume, an effort to move. So funny :)

But, we know that you can go forward because you have done it a couple of times, when no one was looking of course! Poppa caught you in action one morning. You scooted from your playmat to the newspaper. You must really enjoy keeping up with current events.

You still love to stand with our help. I ordered a walker for you last week, and I can't wait for it to come in, I think you'll love it. You also love to play with cell phones and remote controls. We got you your own remote because you kept changing the channel with ours :)

This month you graduated from the infant bathtub on top of the counter to the yellow ducky in the tub! You have so much fun splashing around in there!

You also started "knocking" this month, and that is hilarious :) You knock on everything, including your dad and me. Whenever you do it, I say "knock knock" and you burst into giggles.

You still love to try new foods, and there's nothing that you won't eat. You eat a breakfast of fruit and oatmeal, lunch of a veggie and rice, and usually something with meat for dinner. You also get 3 bottles a day. Sometimes you try to hold your bottle, but that usually ends up in a mess. Sometimes I make food for you, and other times I don't. It just depends. I make regular stuff like apples and pears often. Mostly I like buying it because you get much more of a variety than you would if I made it. I love all of the concoctions like "hawaiian smoothie" and chicken noodles that I really don't have time to create at home :) You're a pro at eating puffs now, which is so funny. You used to drop them all the time, so now any time you get in your highchair, the dogs circle the whole time you're in there, just hoping you'll start dropping food again! You're also learning to learn how to drink from a sippy cup. You LOVE to attempt it :) For the most part, you just chew on the spout.

You've been babbling for a couple of months. This months you've really been saying "dah dah dah dah", so I've been trying to get you to say Dada. Never in a million years did I think I'd be trying to get you to say that before Mama! You also say "ah dooo" and something that sounds like" hiiieeeee" a lot. We have lots of conversations :)

I'm not sure if you're teething or not. Of course, I've thought that you were teething since you were about 4 months old, so what do I know. But, you drool like crazy, and you always have to have something to chew on.

You still go to bed around 5:30-6, and you have been waking up around FOUR AM!! Why?! I am not a fan, but you are always so bright eyed and bushy tailed when I come to tell you to go back to sleep. (uh, yeah, that never works, by the way) You let us know you're awake by taking your pacifier and knocking it on the crib, haha. And you talk, or sometimes squeal..loudly! You've been waking up several times a night again for your pacifier, but it's usually between your bedtime and ours thankfully. You still take 3 naps a day for a total of about 3 hours. You usually sleep on your tummy, but lately, I've found you sleeping on your side more often. We briefly attempted to push back your bedtime, but that just wasn't working, so we gave up on that.

Best of all, you love to get kisses and you still let me cuddle with you pretty often :) You are so sweet and I just love it!

I love you with ALL my heart!

Mama

Snowed In!

We have 14 inches of snow on the ground here! That's the official number, but there is more than that in our yard, and I've seen drifts of at least 5 feet on some friends' FB pages. Totally UNheard of around here. In fact, it's a record high amount of snow. You know what else we set a record for this week? On Saturday, we had a record HIGH that was in the mid-seventies! Mother nature likes to keep us on our toes.

The whole city basically shut down on Monday evening, a good 6 hours before we even saw one snowflake! What can I say, we are nothing if not dramatic here in OK! I saw a picture on the news of some grocery store shelves, and they were completely empty! Not one thing on them! All of the schools were closed before the 10 o clock news was on last night! I thought it would have been really funny if nothing ended up happening, and then kids would have gotten a free day :) Don't worry, my work sent out a notice saying that our office never closes and they will be open during the blizzard. So nice of them!

But, we woke up to several inches of snow, and it just kept coming all day. Our poor dogs do not like to go potty in the snow, so Lee had to shovel several times today. Shockingly, they didn't have one accident in the house. Which I will admit, happens fairly regularly. (Yorkies are not known for their ease of housebreaking, but they're cuddly enough that they're worth it :) )

This was how much he had shoveled about 2/3 of the way through the total snowfall. I don't know if you can really see how high the snow is, but that was about 12 inches
Front yard from the garage:
This is the hood of Lee's truck!

That police car is a neighbor that actually lives several houses to the left out of the picture. He had gotten stuck coming home! The car is still in the middle of the street, haha!

I should have made Lee go out and stand in the snow so that you could really see how high it was, it was unbelievable.

This is a little video of how high it was in our backyard. This was after Lee had shoveled it twice right outside the door for the girls to go potty, and it was already back up this high! We put these doors in, and don't have steps yet, so normally it's about an 18 inch dropoff (the girls, quite literally, usually soar through the air out this door, haha), but you can see that Zoe just hops right out there because the snow was so high. Isabelle is not as adventurous as Zoe, and she wouldn't even go out there :)

Luckily, I secured the only company "loaner" laptop and I was able to work from home today. I fully intend to do the same tomorrow. Maybe by Thursday we will be able to get out? The temps are so low the rest of the week, I'm not sure what will happen. It's a really bad week, work-wise, for this blizzard. Lee has a big truck and could try to take me, but it's only 2-wheel drive and I'm not going to risk getting stuck in sub-freezing temps with Cooper in the car.

Speaking of Cooper, this is how he feels about having snow days in the middle of the week

Tell me he will always be this happy to spend an extra day during the week with mom and dad!