Happy 1st Birthday Cooper!

I really can't believe my little angel is 1 today! It seems like just yesterday Jamey and I were going to the hospital to have this precious little boy! I remember being so worried about Carter and how he would handle sharing the attention - if you know us at all, you know the answer to that one! Carter does not like to share his parents or his things with anyone, but is fortunately coming around slowly to Cooper. Cooper really thinks Carter is the greatest thing on Earth and loves it when Carter pays him any attention. Carter has really been a trooper this past year and has had a lot happen in his little world. He started preschool right before Cooper was born, discovered what it's like to be a big brother, and (yahoo!) is totally potty trained and doing a great job with it. Cooper has turned from a precious little baby to a little walking boy right before our eyes and the time has gone way too quickly. I think with Cooper we've been a lot more laid back (as I'd imagine most people are with their 2nd, etc.) and really tried to enjoy him for whatever he's doing right then because all too soon he's on to the next milestone. I feel so lucky to have such an awesome family. We are truly blessed with these little guys and I love every second with them. Happy Birthday sweet little Cooper - I love you more than you will ever know!

Today has been busy thus far as Carter had school this am and I tried to clean and ice a giraffe birthday cake for tomorrow while Cooper took his morning nap. I took them to get pictures taken together for the first time after we picked Carter up from school. Interesting is an understatement in describing our experience! I know I should be more assertive and tell the photographer what I like and don't like, but I guess I just worry too much about hurting his feelings. I did tell him I didn't really like any props and that I'd prefer the white, plain background. You can look at the pictures and see how well he listened! Carter wasn't on his best behavior and Cooper cried every time the man looked at him so it was a stressful time to say the least! We managed to get a couple good ones, though, so here you go!

Almost One...

I am really having a hard time believing that my tiny little baby turns one tomorrow! This has been such a fast year but he is such an awesome little boy and we've had so much fun watching him grow. I've fortunately been off work since Tuesday night so we've just all hung out together and enjoyed each other's company. Carter and Cooper have been so so so good lately and are really playing together well. I hope I'm not jinxing us by saying this! We are just planning to have a low key day tomorrow for Coop and celebrate together but then celebrate Carter and Cooper's birthdays with friends and family at the park on Saturday. We are praying for no rain!

Here are a few pics from the week - Cooper LOVES the park and just laughs and plays the whole time! The video is him saying "bye bye" in the sweetest voice I've ever heard and waving! Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom so you can hear him:)

Fun Times in The Brown House

I think the definition of an addict should involve me at this point. I just handed Jamey a crying Cooper so that I could come up to the computer and put a new post about our trip on this! He was happy to let me do it so I guess I shouldn't beat myself up over it, but I still feel the need to rush through it and post some pictures! (So for those of you that have your own blogs, please tell me how to organize your pics in the order you want them, add captions, and put your text above them - I've been trying for way too long so I've obviously given up and just submitted my post! I tried cutting and pasting but that just wasn't getting it done!)

I can't begin to explain how much fun we had in the mountains! We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law in their new "brown" house, as Carter likes to call it. We couldn't have asked for better weather as it was low 60s during the day and upper 40s at night, perfect for a little jacket and fire but not cold enough to have to stay inside. Brian and Lawson built a fire pit (which was awesome by the way!) so we had indoor and outdoor fires! We had great food and great times with family and I'll definitely be adding a few pictures to prove it. Unfortunately we are realizing that we have to "break Brian and Sarah's house in" so to speak, as both football teams (App and Carolina) lost games they should've won. It's always nice after a loss to have kids running around that don't know the difference between a win and a loss because it definitely makes it easier to take. You don't have time to sit and sulk because they just keep going like nothing has happened!

Carter was so cute on the way to Brian and Sarah's as he kept asking us inquisitively where the mountains were and when we were going to be there. I guess it's hard to grasp as a 3 year old but he was definitely persistent in his questioning! I think once we were close to Grandfather, he was able to see what we were talking about and he kept telling us he was going to be excited when we got to the mountains. We went to the top of Grandfather thanks to some passes from Sarah's dad (shout out to Mr. Hugh) and saw all the animals, but Carter has decided the "stinky" otters were his favorite. He kept asking us why they were so stinky as we stood and watched them play. We saw 4 bears begging for food, a bald eagle, 2 cougars, and some deer (which we learned each poop about 22 times a day, by the way!) as well as the otters. After we had some lunch and saw all of the animals, we went to the very top to check out the swinging bridge and hopefully get some good pictures. My mom is petrified of heights but we were all so proud of her as she kept it together and let us all check out the bridge, even with the kids! She decided to stay back but was so good to not "freak out" about everyone else going across. It was definitely a milestone if you know my mom at all. She was such a trooper to come out on the rocks for the family photo courtesy of Lawson!

We had so much fun and can't wait for our next mountain trip. We are just excited that Nunu and Pop will be coming to see us in a few weeks and then Brian will be here for another Carolina football game!

Slacker

My brother tells me that I'm already becoming slack with this blog so he has pressured me into a post! It's not like I have anything else to do - I only have to work tonight, pack a family of 4 for a trip to the mountains for the weekend, and make sure a 3 year old doesn't hurt an almost 1 year old as he tries to pick him up by his head. I've told Carter over and over and over it's fine to help pick Cooper up (he loves to do this when Cooper is getting close to his train table because Cooper is more than likely about to dissassemble his elaborate track system in a matter of seconds:)) but that he needs to put his arms under Cooper's rather than around his neck before he lifts him up! That part is pretty key but he doesn't seem to be grasping it quite yet. Poor Cooper in the meantime but he seems to be handling it pretty well - fortunately they are always around me or Jamey when this happens so it's at least supervised lifting!

I can't begin to express in words how excited we are to be going to the mountains this weekend. We are going to my brother's NEW house for the first time and we haven't been up to visit in way too long. Carter has talked and talked about the brown house and has told everyone he knows that tomorrow is a "big day" for him because he is going to see Brian and Sarah in the mountains and because he has "water day" at school! Now if I can just get through my shift at work tonight, I can really look forward to this trip:)

Today a good girlfriend of mine had a bit of a hair dilemna and needed someone to watch her kiddos at the last minute while she had her hair appt. I was happy to help her as we weren't really doing anything but cleaning and packing this am AND because she has two of the cutest, sweetest little ones I've ever seen. Her daughter, Lucy, is almost 3 and she and Carter played really well together. They caught butterflies with Elefun, vacuumed with the corn popper, and ate probably a few too many snacks, but they were happy! It was actually nice to have a girl around for a change. She is just so much calmer than Carter and says such sweet things! She discovered Carter's treat bag of candy that he gets after he eats lunch and dinner and she said, "Oh, wow, this is wonderful!" It was about the cutest thing I'd ever heard - don't worry, Amy, she was not allowed to sample any candy! I didn't think you'd ever let her come back:) Her son Trigg is 9 months and is like a breath of fresh air. He is so laid back and was just content to watch the big kids and play with a few toys here and there. He honestly didn't make a peep (in a bad way) until his mommy got there and then he decided he'd show off for her. I don't know why they do this but I couldn't have asked for better behaved kids this morning! Cooper was taking his nap for most of their visit but he did get up for about 30 minutes while they were here and was pretty taken aback by all the action going on with more people in the house! He is feeling much better now and finally seems to be all better!

After Amy and her kids left, we ran to our second home of Chick-Fil-A to pick up some lunch. On the way home, Carter asked me why lemonade has limbs in it! I was obviously a little shocked by his question because he drinks sugar free lemonade at home like water so he has been exposed to it a lot but has never thought to ask this. I tried to explain to him that lemonade has lemon juice, sugar, and water in it but not actually "limbs"! I also tried to talk about how it's spelled like lemon rather than limb but I think I was way over his head! Another funny Carter story happened the other day when he was supposed to be taking a nap. Supposed to be is the key phrase there! He was kicking his door about as loud as he possibly could after only about 30 minutes into his nap time, which obviously made me super happy! I tried to ignore it for a few minutes as I became more furious every second because Cooper sleeps right across the hall and I was thinking he was going to wake him up! I couldn't take it anymore and went into his room and told him lots of things about staying in his room, but I did say something like, "I've got news for you, Carter if you don't stay in your room and be quiet during naptime...". I don't really know where that came from because it doesn't sound like me but I said it and left him to hopefully nap, which didn't happen but he was at least quiet! Later that night he was eating dinner and Jamey and I were standing in the kitchen talking. He turned right to me and said, "Mommy, what kind of news do you have for me?" It was one of those things you probably had to be there for but pretty cute - I just had to laugh!

Usher

On Sundays, Jamey and Carter typically go to church while Cooper and I stay home because he naps from 10 to 12 or so. As much as I'd love to be able to go to church, it's nice to have a morning home where I can clean without little ones to help me do it! Yesterday Jamey had to usher at the 11:15 service and Carter went to the nursery, which is what he usually does until Communion. As an usher, Jamey has to walk from pew to pew and tell the congregation when it's their turn to go up to the Communion rail so he hasn't been able to get Carter and just leaves him in the nursery until the service is over. One of the other ushers talked Jamey into getting Carter after the Offering and said that he could just stay in the back while Jamey did his little job! Carter had other plans, though, and definitely wanted to be in on the action. The lead usher gave Carter his own personal usher badge and let him go with Jamey to help. I wish I could've seen him but Jamey said he couldn't have been prouder to have his badge and to be helping with such a big job! He just held Jamey's hand and stood still WITHOUT TALKING! for the entire time. As much of a pain as he can be for us, I'm glad he can be good when it counts!

Carter went to school today and picked out his outfit completely by himself. I think he's going to like to dress preppy as he picked out a pair of red Gap shorts that "kinda look like Daddy's" and a navy and white striped Vineyard Vines polo. To complete the look, he chose his spiffy new tan socks (they came in a set from Old Navy and I tried to hide them, obviously to no avail!) and his topsiders. He proceeded to go show Daddy his trendy look and tried to say but didn't quite get it right that he was "styling"! I wish I had a picture because I'm sure words don't do this outfit justice!

The Sweetest Sick Child Ever

Poor little Cooper is still under the weather with a stomach bug and fever. His temp has consistently been 102-103 until yesterday. I didn't even take it as he isn't much of a fan of the ear one, but especially not the rectal one, so I just went off of how he felt and he seemed much cooler than the days prior! We did keep giving him motrin so we felt like we were doing something, though. I took him to the MD Friday and they drew some blood to check his white count, which was fine, and sent us home with nothing as they think it's a viral thing that will just have to run its course. He looks so scrawny (sp?) when I change his diaper - Carter always had a pot belly and Cooper is pretty flat-bellied but now it's concave. He only weighed 18lbs on Friday so once he feels better I'm really hoping his appetite will come back and he can put on some weight before he goes for his 12 month check up in 2 weeks (so hard to believe!). He has been such a trooper through it all and has been very low key. He's perfectly content to just be held by me or Jamey and rest his head on our shoulder. It's so sweet but pretty pitiful, too, as we know he must feel pretty horrible because he NEVER sits still or wants to be held like this for any length of time. I'm just hoping it will go away soon and he will be back to his sweet, happy self and that no one else gets it- one family member has been enough to handle!

Power of Persuasion

Our family is super excited about the Carolina football game tonight so we are all ready to go with our game gear on. Jamey wore his Carolina tie to work today and Carter and Cooper are sporting their cute jerseys. Cooper doesn't have much input into what he wears these days so it wasn't too hard to get him dressed but Carter wasn't really feeling the need or desire to wear his jersey. I told him if he wore it ALL day he could have some Smarties and he quickly conceded! Now if the Tarheels can win tonight it will be a happy day in our house!

Poor Cooper wasn't his usual self this morning. He slept later than he normally does and was crying to get up at 7:40. He felt a little warm but I didn't think much of it as he'd just gotten out of his warm crib and we went on about our morning. He was really clingy and happier to be held than down playing with Carter, but he does this sometimes. I tried to give him his normal banana and waffle breakfast, which he picked at, and then he just layed his head on my shoulder for the rest of the morning. His temp in his ear was 101.8 so I gave him some Advil in hopes that it will go away. Advil usually makes him sleep like a champ and I layed him down at 10:05 and he's still sleeping now at 11:56! I just hope he feels better because it's no fun for anyone to be sick, especially when you can't tell anyone what hurts, what you need, or how you feel!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple days. The one of Super Cooper is a favorite of mine - my friend Amy gave the cape to Carter for his birthday but he likes to share it with Cooper. The picture of Carter's feet wearing his Rainbows is for Pop. He bought them for Carter almost 2 months ago and we are just now getting him to put them on. For those of you who don't know, Carter is so sensitive about his feet - I joke that he needs sedation podiatry so we can actually clean them thoroughly and clip his toenails. For the video you need to pause the playlist at the bottom of the page so you can hear our little tarheel boy!