Weekend Wrap-Up

The Smithson family had a semi-busy weekend.  After our whirlwind trip to meet Liam we relaxed at home.  We put Cooper to be early Saturday night but he woke up about 3 hours later with an extremely stuffy nose.  Poor baby had a hard time going back to sleep after that because he couldn't breath.  It amazes me how fast they can go from being fine to being sick.  When he woke up this morning he still had it but much worse with a little fever.  We gave him some Tylenol and headed to church. 

This afternoon we had to go to the funeral home for awhile.  My grandpa's wife (on my dad's side) passed away Thursday.  She had a brain tumor removed about two years ago and never made a full recovery.  Cooper was a hit with all the visitors even though he didn't feel too well. 

We had a 5th Sunday sing at church tonight and then an ice cream social.  It was the perfect excuse for Andy and me to eat junk food for dinner!  Everything on my plate was chocolate and after I cleaned it off I was shuttering from all the sugar!  Cooper sure did enjoy his ice cream though! 

We got home, played a little while, and then put him in bed.  He's still got a very runny nose and fever.  I'm not sure if it is just a cold or if he's teething.  It is so hard to tell!  I just hope it passes quickly because I hate it when he's sick and I don't want to make another trip to the doctor.

Oh, Liam and Paula got to go home today!  They are both doing well and we can't wait to see them again!

Welcome to the World Baby Liam!

The Smithson clan had a busy 24 hours!  As planned, we headed up to Knoxville as soon as Andy got off so we could be there for the arrival of our newest nephew, Liam Joshua Kerr.  We made it in time!  He was born Friday around 5pm.  He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 6 oz.  That seems huge compared to Cooper's 4 lbs 15 oz.  He looks just like his mommy! 

The big cousins waiting on Liam.

Big cousin!!!

Liam Joshua Kerr

Uncle Andy & Liam

Friday night we hung around the hospital and then went out to eat with all of Andy's immediate family.  We had a busy/fussy little boy on our hands because it was way past his bedtime!  Needless to say that didn't make for a very relaxing dinner.  For some reason if we don't get Cooper to bed when he's ready (around 8 to 8:30) he'll stay up a lot later even though he's exhausted.  Last night he didn't fall asleep until almost 12:30am.  He was up bright and early at 7:30am.  It's always a chore spending the night away from our house. 

We went and ate this morning and then headed to see baby Liam!  We got to hold him today and it was wonderful!  He was so sweet and has the prettiest little pouty lips I've ever seen!  We headed back home and have been dealing with a fussy boy since we got back!  He's so tired he can't stand it.  He's been crawling like crazy and his little knees look awful!  I don't know what to do for them.  He's going to bed early tonight and we're going to relax. 

Helping Daddy work on his motorcycle (that we're about to sell).

Beat up, crawling knees.

My two men!

Getting ready for bed!

Liam makes for our 6th nephew and we're so excited he's here!  Now if only they lived near us instead of in Knoxville it would be even better!

Friends Make Me Smile

This past week has been a bit discouraging.  I don't want to bog anyone down with all the details but I'm trying my best to "hang in there."  My husband, family, and friends have been wonderful and have listened to all my little complaints lately.  I really shouldn't complain about anything because I've got a wonderful life and healthy baby boy that God has blessed with.  Anyways a dear, sweet friend of mine knew I was having a rough week and tried to anonymously leave me a little gift on my front porch.  I wasn't home tonight but Andy and Cooper were.  I came in dumbfounded and Andy acted just as surprised as I was about my gift.  Well I couldn't let it go so I called around and finally got to the bottom of it!  Andy knew who it was all along!  Needless to say it put a smile on my face!

Cooper was really fussy today for some reason.  He had two pretty poor naps so we're hoping it was just exhaustion.  Tomorrow when Andy gets off work we're headed to Knoxville to meet our newest nephew!  Andy's sister was put in the hospital tonight to be induced so baby Liam will be here sometime tomorrow!  My sister-in-law just made Coop a "Big Cousin" shirt so we're ready to go!  Liam will be my 6th nephew!  It's all boys on both sides of our family so we're excited to add another one to the mix!

Pounding the Pavement

Today was a very productive Tuesday in the Smithson household!  A young girl that I kept a few years ago volunteered her time to come and watch Cooper so I could do some things around the house.  It was so sweet of her to give up one of her summer vacation days to help us out!  Cooper loved it and I really loved it!  I cleaned the whole house in record time!  Cooper is going through a separation anxiety phase right now so it's not easy to get a lot done while he's awake.  We can leave him with family, we can leave him in the church nursery, but if we walk out of the room at home he cries until we come back.  I don't think it's so much that he wants Andy or me, he just doesn't want to be left alone.  I understand that.  So needless to say having her play with him and keep him entertained was wonderful!

Last night I had planned on exercising on my elliptical trainer but decided I needed some fresh air.  It was still close to 90* but I ran, without stopping, all the way to my sister's house!  She only lives about half a mile away but I was still very proud of myself.  That's the longest distance I've ran without stopping/walking since before I got pregnant.  She wasn't home so I ran to a friend's house, socialized, and then had her drive me home since it was dark.  I do more distance on my elliptical but it seems so much harder to get outside and run.  I also ran tonight to my sister's house, played with my nephews, and then she drove me back home.  I'm slowly working myself up to running there and back.  All in all we had a very successful day!

Pintrest Fun!

How come it took me so long to find Pintrest?  My sister is a member and never mentioned it to me.  Well I discovered it and now it's just something else that sucks up all my time!  If you've never looked at it you should.  I'll warn you though... it's addicting.  While Cooper napped today that's what I did... successful day if I do say so myself.

I'm finally feeling better so I'm going to get serious on the mud run training.  We're putting Cooper to bed right now so I'm going to use the elliptical tonight.   We had a storm blow through a little while ago so it should be nice and muggy while I exercise.  Perfect!

I sat down over the weekend and wrote the whole story of my pregnancy.  I started from the day we found out up until we left the hospital.  It actually took a lot longer than I thought to write it and turned out to be almost 9 pages in length.  I've posted it to my blog but I completely understand if nobody has the desire to read something that long... I mostly wrote it for me so I'd remember all the little details and have something to compare the next pregnancy to.

Weekend Wrap-up

Even though we still have some time left in our weekend I thought I'd go ahead and write about it.  We had a pretty low-key weekend.  I babysit for a friend of mine and we kept her little girl over night Friday night.  She was an angel and everything went smoothly!

When we got home Saturday we didn't do much of anything.  I haven't been feeling well since Friday.  I think it's some kind of virus.  I've just been really achy all over.  I'm glad it's me this time instead of Cooper.  Andy was a great help and took Cooper with him to get our groceries (a hard task)!  I just mostly laid around the house all night, fun I know. 

We got up this morning and went to church and I'm slowly starting to feel better.  Cooper is napping so I'm catching up on here.  We'll head to my parent's later so Cooper can play with his cousins!  Not much exciting news in the lives of the Smithsons but we got to spend time together this weekend and that's all that matters!

Photo Thursday

In the last few days Cooper has turned into a crawling machine!  It's still an army crawl but he's getting to where to wants to go.  I walked into the kitchen this morning to do something and when I came back he had crawled the whole length of the couch and was waiting for me at the door.  Needless to say it caught me off guard and about scared me to death!  We've had a busy last few days but we've kept up our mud run training.  Our youth group at church swims every Wednesday night & last night they swam about half a mile from our house.  Andy, Cooper, and I ran/walked there and back.  I know half a mile doesn't sound bad but it was all hills... not just little hills, big hills!  The humidity almost smothered us as well.  It was a great workout but I'm very sore today.  Cooper enjoyed it so much he fell asleep.  Here are some pictures of my little angel crawling... enjoy!

Guilty face... he loves to get under the table and flip my baskets over.  Needless to say he makes a mess now!  : )

I finished the table I was working on the other day & I must say I'm very happy with the way it looks in the living room.  Before Coop was born we had a lot more room in our living room.  It's now been taken over by baby toys.  I had pictures set up on dresser that now holds our TV.  I know a dresser sounds weird but it's very pretty.  Anyways I still wanted to have some pictures around our living room so my mom gave me this little table to use.  My dad made it.  It was originally just wood.  I was happy with that but my sweet husband starting putting his drinks on it without a coaster so it had water spots on it so I had to fix it!  All the furniture (tables & end tables) have all been refinished by my dad or me.  I've painted them all your conventional way with paint & a brush but this time I decided to try spray paint.  We had a can of black & about half of the wood furniture is black & the other half is cream.  Here are some pictures & I'll explain along the way.

The orginial table.

The water spots.

I did a base coat (very lightly) in white spray paint for a more rustic/worn finish.

The finished product in the living room.  I sanded the edges and lightly sanded the top & sides so it looked worn.  It also helped hide any mistakes I made with my spray paint strokes.

I'm very happy with it!

Swim Day with my Sweetie

Today Cooper and I went swimming with some of my family.  It was so hot the pool wasn't much of a relief but we had fun.  Once we got home he slept for two hours so he was worn out!  He hit another milestone today, he's learned how to clap!  Andy noticed it and then we finally realized what he was doing.  He's so proud of himself!

On the insurance front we got approved for the new plan & we're going to save about $150 a month so we're thrilled!  I still won't have maternity coverage but hopefully something will work out soon!

My 8 Month Old Angel

Well Cooper is 8 months old today!  I honestly can't believe how fast the past 8 months have gone.  Each month milestone always makes me a little sad because he's growing up so quickly.  One trick he mastered on his birthday is learning how to give kisses.  He can now officially do it and he really knows what he's doing!  It is SO sweet!  If we pucker our lips he leans in with his little mouth in the shape of an "O" and goes in for the kill.  After he gives us a kiss he smiles like it's the best thing in the world, which it is!  I moved him up to stage 3 baby food for dinner tonight & that was a small disaster.  We tried lasagna & meat sauce.  He did pretty well at first and then he started getting choked so we stopped there.  It was very thick, even after I watered it down some, so maybe we'll give it another try in a few days. 

Coop took three naps today so that gave me some time to catch up some house work.  I've started refinishing a little table in our living room that I'll post pictures of when I get done.  Cooper and I also made a little craft for his birthday that turned out pretty cute!

Our craft, it has Psalms 134:2 quoted on it.

On the mud run front I walked a mile today with my dear friend Whitney!  It was nice to catch up while getting my workout in!  Cooper enjoyed it too!

Lazy Days

The Smithson weekend has been pretty uneventful.  We focused most of our time on hanging out/playing with Cooper.  Friday night we took him swimming, Saturday afternoon we took him to the playground.  We've also spent a lot of time with my family.  Andy and my dad went bike riding while Coop and I went to Walmart with my mom.  Today we celebrated Summer's birthday up at my parent's house and then we went out to eat with my family after night church.  It's always fun to have 5 little boys together, especially now that they are all mobile!  Cooper's crawling, or scooting, seems to improve daily so now he feels like he can get down and play with the big boys!  I also got to spend some time with my girlfriends which was great!

Cooepr & Andy swinging.  Coop never cried but he didn't smile either so we don't think he was really impressed by it.  

 On the mud run front I didn't do so well on my training this week... I only got in two days worth.  : (  It's about a month away so I've got to get serious!  I told myself I wasn't going to get on the computer tonight until I did my elliptical so Andy & I just finished a workout!  It's so much easier to do it when he's out there with me!  Someone just gave us an old-school Schwinn stationary bike so he rode that.  Our garage is turning into the family gym.  My goal this week is to get my exercise in while Cooper is napping because it's always harder to do when I leave it for night time.  Wish me luck!  : )

Discouraging News

Anyone who knows me at all knows I'm a worrier.  If I had to choose one of my biggest flaws it would be my worrying.  I can't seem to make it through a single day without worrying about something.  I also have a very obsessive compulsive personality so once I find something to worry about I tend to focus on it WAY TOO MUCH.  It seems to be all I can think about and often times feel like I shut down from the stress.  I put it all on myself though.  My husband isn't a worrier at all which is great for me.  If he does worry he doesn't let me see it because he knows it'll stress me out that much more.  Most of the time my worries are pointless.  When I was little I worried about something happening to my parents, when I was in college I worried about not finding someone to marry, once I was married I worried I couldn't have children, now that I'm a mommy I worry about Cooper all the time, and now that I'm a college graduate I worry that I'll never find a job. 

Yesterday I wrote about the great insurance company we found that was going to save us a ton of money.  We are still going to use them but unfortunately they turned me down for the maternity coverage due to all the issues I had with Cooper.  They were the only private insurance company I could find that would cover pregnancy period so needless to say I've freaked out a little.  So to make a long story short I won't have insurance coverage if I get pregnant without a job that provides it.  And like I wrote yesterday I'm having no luck whatsoever in the job department.  I've cried and cried since I found out we were in this situation again (I didn't have pregnancy coverage when I got pregnant with Cooper).  Andy and I aren't planning on having another baby anytime soon but I hate feeling like we can't if we decided we wanted to.  Also, Cooper wasn't planned at all so I know my "plans" really hold no value.  I'm a problem solver and when I can't find a good solution to an issue I go into worry overdrive. 

Andy and the rest of my family always tells me it'll all work out but I want to force it to work out right now.  Everything with Cooper fell into place and I know the situation we're in now will as well.  God always seems to answer our prayers when we least expect them & I know I need to have more faith in Him.  In the last month we've had two huge medical bills (that I worried about like crazy) taken down to very affordable prices.  I know that was God's doing, not mine.  If for some reason I still don't have a job with benefits in a year or so this isn't going to keep us from having more children.  We were originally going to pay for Cooper out of pocket but luckily didn't have to with all that went wrong.  If I have a normally pregnancy with my next child it isn't just through the roof if you have to pay for it.  Eventually I'll settle down and find something else to worry about.  Right now though this has got me all torn up and I'm trying to be optimistic about it.

On a happy note Cooper seems to be feeling better & I would like to wish my big sister a happy birthday! 

Worn-Out Wednesday

Well surprisingly enough Cooper and I wound up back at the doctor today.  : (  His diarrhea wasn't slowing down and he started running a fever.  He also had an increased amount of spit-up so Andy & I decided it was time to take him in.  As we all expected the diagnosis was a new virus.  Last week he had a respiratory virus and this week it's a GI virus.  Once again, there was nothing they could do for him.  They gave me some soy based formula to use for the next few days to help his tummy and told me to keep lots of fluids in him.  The poor baby is pitiful.  He feels awful and is super clingy.  I don't mind him being clingy because it gives us cuddle time!  I'm not sick but I feel like these two viruses in one week have taken their toll on me too!  I'm tired & have an awful headache!  Oh well, hopefully we'll be over this one soon.

I was getting worried that Cooper gets sick a lot more often than other babies because it seems like we're at the doctor almost weekly.  The doctor told me today that it was normal & not to worry.  Since he's over 6 months old the antibodies he had from being in the womb (passed to him from me) are all gone now.  He also said that since I'm not breastfeeding anymore (Coop weaned himself about a month ago) that his immunity is down.  Ahh... hopefully he'll toughen up soon!  : )  He also told me that Coop has a tooth that is about to break through so that can contribute to the fussiness.  Crawling and a tooth... I don't know if I can handle all this growing up!  He's napping now, thank goodness!  I had to let him "cry it out" which I hate doing.  I rocked him for about 30 minutes and he just wouldn't get comfy and fall asleep.  I knew he was tired so I finally just put him in his crib, gave him his blankie, turned on the noise machine, and walked out.  After about 15 minutes of crying he finally gave it up! 

On another note we got our new health insurance quote today and because I've been added back on to the plan the premium has gone through the roof!  I was so upset!  Even though this policy won't cover pregnancy they decided to add on to the original cost because of my medical history due to my last pregnancy.  I think that's pretty crazy.  I went into panic mode and called around & found an insurance company that is A LOT cheaper for the whole family & will cover pregnancy.  Even with maternity added on it's still going to be cheaper than what we're paying now!  We're waiting on some more info but hopefully we'll get switched soon and save a ton! 

Even though I don't want to give up my stay at home mommy status I've been looking for a teaching job so we can have insurance.  Educational jobs are far and few between so I'm not having much luck.  I'm trying to keep my head up but it's very frustrating!

Creepy, Crawlin', Cooper!

Watch out world, here comes Cooper!  We officially have a crawler!  We knew he was getting close because he pulls up on his knees and rocks back and forth.  He had been doing a combination of rolling, scooting, and rolling again to get around his play mat the last few days.  Well tonight we pulled him off his play mat & on to the hardwood floor & he took off!  Well, he did a very impressive army crawl!  He wouldn't pull up on his knees I think because the floor was harder than his mat.  He did make his way around the living room while Andy & I cheered, clapped, and yelled like crazy!  I'm surprised we didn't scare him.  I made phone calls because I was so proud & then he was over it and ready to go to sleep!  He may not be going like crazy yet but it's a start!  Now I need to get serious about baby proofing the house!

The Downside to being an Adult

Well the last few days have kind of been blahh... excuse my lack of creative words there but that's kind of how I've been feeling.  Yesterday Cooper and I went swimming with my sister and two nephews but that turned out to be a complete flop.  I thought Coop was just being fussy for no reason at the pool because as soon as we got out and left he seemed to be happy.  I quickly had to take back my bad attitude because he wound up being sickly again.  The poor baby had diarrhea all day and I'm sure felt pretty puny from that.  We ended up calling the after hours nurse to see what to do & she said to get him pedialyte.  I ran and got some and by the time I got home he was asleep.  He's still not himself today & won't drink the pedialyte.  He's also got a runny nose so I'm sure we'll end up back at the doctor if this keeps up.  On a happy note by dear friend Annaliese came by to visit last night & it was wonderful to catch up with her!  : )

Well  I did receive some semi-good news today (if you want to look at it that way).  I've got health insurance again.  Let me back up and explain the whole story...

Andy has a wonderful job at FedEx Ground that keeps him busy & working steadily.  We're very thankful for his job and the opportunity it gives me to be a stay at home mom.  The only downside to it is that he has no benefits because he is considered an independent contractor (kind of like a small business owner).  So that puts us with no insurance.  Of course we pay for it because there is NO WAY I would ever let us go uninsured.  When we got married we bought a private insurance plan for the two of us with an extremely high deductible so we could afford it.  It was pretty much just security in case we were ever in car accident or had some kind of emergency.  It did its job until I got pregnant... as stupid as it sounds pregnancy is a "pre-existing" condition & wasn't covered in my policy unless I had an emergency C-section (little did we know that would end up happening).  We scrambled around forever to find someone who would cover me and the pregnancy and thankfully since I was a student UTC would cover me. 

I had a wonderful and easy pregnancy up until week 33.  I had some swelling but nothing that my doctor was too concerned about.  Well when week 33 rolled around things took a drastic change for the worse very quickly.  To make a very long story short I got extremely sick very fast.  After a whirl-wind trip to the hospital and several tests later the specialist discovered that I had severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome.  That pretty much means that I had extremely high blood pressure, high risk for secures, extreme swelling, and all my major organs were shutting down due to my pregnancy.  I had complete and acute respiratory and pulmonary failure and my liver and kidneys weren't really working.  SO the only way to cure me was to do any emergency C-section.  Andy and I knew this had to be done but we were still very scared because I was only 34 weeks and 1 day along.  Cooper was going to be born 6 weeks early and we were terrified.  Even though all of this was going on with me Cooper was perfectly fine.  That's what made it so hard to do this because I didn't want to put him in danger.  One emergency C-section later Cooper was out, whisked to the NICU,  and I was whisked to the ICU.  Poor Andy had to split his time between us but was WONDERFUL through the whole scary experience.  We both made it out fine in the end but with a ton of medical bills.  Needless to say we were very thankful I found some insurance (even though we're still paying a fortune for the bills).

This all happened in November.  When January rolled around I went back on my dad's work insurance since it had just been passed that married children could be placed back on your parent's insurance til you're 26.  I was thrilled because this was going to save us a fortune and I didn't have to fill out a ton of paper work answering a million questions about everything that happened to me.  Well everything was going great with this whole plan until a few weeks ago when my dad was unexpectedly laid off from his job.  My whole family was so shocked and absolutely heartbroken that I wasn't thinking about what this meant about my insurance situation.  Reality hit and I had be a responsible adult and figure out what to do about insurance.  This best solution was to just get back on the plan that Andy and Cooper have (our original plan).  Well if any of you know the way private insurance companies pick through your life and medical history with a fine toothed comb you'll understand why I was a little stressed out about this.  If you have anything they consider to be a pre-existing condition they'll turn you down.  Go back to November and all the things that I happened I was terrified.  Since they were covering me at the time they had all my medical records but I still had to answer a million questions.  Thankfully they didn't turn me down & I'm now and insured gal again.  Too bad it's going to cost us a small fortune though!

Being an adult and parent can be very stressful at times and I seem to realize that more everyday.  On that note, please keep my Dad and Mom in your prayers as he continues to look for a new job.  We're hoping something comes along quickly.

Wedding Weekend

We had a busy & fast weekend trip so I'll start from the beginning...

Early Friday afternoon the Smithson clan headed out to Columbia, South Carolina for my brother-in-law's wedding.  We had about a five hour drive ahead of us that in all honesty I was dreading because of my little love bug.  The past few trips we've taken he's cried & cried if he's awake.  At the beginning of the summer he started hating his car seat which as any parent knows can make traveling miserable!  Most of the time Andy or I have to sit in the back with him to keep him from crying.  We were VERY pleasantly surprised though by the way he handled the trip!  He slept some, played some, babbled some, but didn't cry at all!  It was wonderful!  That pretty much describes how he was the whole weekend.  He was great!  He's established a routine for himself at home and we weren't able to follow it at all on the trip so considering that he was an angel. 

We got to the hotel around 4:30 on Friday.  All of my husband's siblings and extended family stayed at the same hotel so we got in the pool & socialized some before the rehearsal.  We don't get to see his sisters & their families that often so it was great to have a weekend with them!  The rehearsal & rehearsal dinner were a whirlwind & by the time we got back to the hotel we were exhausted!  We put Coop to bed & then went to sleep ourselves to get rested for wedding day.

Cooper slept pretty well considering he was in his pack-n-play.  Andy and I were up bright and early though despite the fact Coop slept well.  We had a bridesmaids breakfast and then began getting ready for the day.  A sweet girl from our church came to the wedding & we hired her out for the day to help with Cooper.  She was wonderful!  The day ran so much smoother with her help! 

The ceremony was short and sweet and we had fun at the reception.  Cooper was exhausted and scared of the loud music but was a trooper.  I also discovered that he likes to dance (a lot more than his daddy does) so he was my dancing partner for the night!  By the time we got back to the hotel and let Cooper play with our nephew Jake we were all exhausted and slept well!

We got up this morning and had breaksfast with Andy's family, swam, and then headed back home.  Coop was great on the way back & was very happy to be back home... so were we! 

Busy Bees

The Smithson household has a busy weekend ahead of us.  Tomorrow we head out for my brother-in-law's wedding.  It's Andy's younger brother that is getting married and we're headed to Columbia, SC for a weekend full of wedding festivities.  I'll take plenty of pictures (Coop has a tie that is precious!) to document our fun weekend.  My biggest concern is that Cooper will spit up all over my bridesmaid dress... hopefully we can make it through the ceremony before that happens!  He seems to be feeling a little better (no fever at least) but still fussy and not napping at all!  On a good day he'll nap between 3.5-5 hours combine and today he napped maybe a total of 45 minutes.  The poor thing is exhausted but just can't seem to settle down.  Luckily it hasn't been throwing his sleep off during the night (knock on wood).  Hopefully tomorrow the virus will be on it's way out and our happy little boy will be back!

On the mud run front I've successfully used my elliptical trainer two nights in a row now!  Our goal was to exercise/train 4 nights a week and I've reached that!!  I really like the elliptical and I feel like I'm getting a much better workout.  The only downside is that it's in our garage so the heat will about make you sick... it makes me sweat more which is good for losing weight though!  Our team is nailed down and registered so there is no turning back!  We're made up of Andy, my sister Summer, my brother-in-law David, my best friend Kaitlin, and myself!  Watch out fellow mud runners, you're going to be in for a surprise!  : )

My Little Virus Victim

Cooper and I woke up bright and early this morning & he was fever free (yay!). We're getting ready to go out of town for a few days and he was still fussy so I decided to call the doctor.  As the day went on his fever slowly started to rise so I was glad I called.  We got there and the first thing the doctor checked was his ears & surprisingly enough they looked good!  After we ruled that out he had to get his first throat swab and his finger pricked.  He was pitiful during the time spent in the lab but he was fascinated by his Band-Aid!  The results came in and he has a virus.  : (  We're not sure what kind but since there is nothing to treat it we're on our own.  I'm keeping him full of Tylenol and giving him lots of hugs and kisses!  Hopefully he will start feeling better soon.  I broke down and purchased a fancy thermometer & justified it by the train wreck we had last night/this morning of trying to get an accurate read from our bad one.  I always take Coop's temp the "official" way which he doesn't seem to mind.  He's become a lot more mobile now so that is getting much harder, especially when you have a bad thermometer.  The one I bought today is the kind where you roll it across their forehead & I'm in love with it already.  I've taken his temp, my temp, and when Andy walks in I'm going to take his!  : )  My little angel is napping right now & hopefully getting some good rest.  This virus has thrown his napping off so I hope it's over soon!  On a positive note Andy will be home with my new (new to me at least) elliptical trainer soon so I plan on getting some good mud run training in tonight!

Oh, Coop weighed 16.5 lbs... he's a whopper!

Tiresome Tuesday...

Well today was a tiring day for Cooper & me.  We were recovering from the long weekend & Coop was very fussy today.  We tried to have a play date with two of my nephews in their play pool but he had a breakdown and we had to leave.  When Andy gets home he usually cheers up if he's unhappy but daddy didn't do the trick today.  We put him to bed early & Andy suggested we check his temperature.  Well we have a HORRIBLE thermometer & best we can figure his little temperature was between 101.5 & 102.  Needless to say I felt awful for not checking it sooner!  He never feels warm so it didn't even enter my mind.  He's got an issue with ear infections so that's what I'm afraid he's got.  I'm going to call our wonderful doctor in the morning to see what's going on!  Hopefully it won't be a long night.

On the mud run front we trained today.  I rode my bike... I know that's a lot different from running but I look at it this way;
1.  It's cardio.
2.  I can do a lot longer time on my bike.
3.  It's still a great workout for my legs.
The training so take an upswing tomorrow because I'm getting an elliptical trainer!  Yay!  Andy got a road bike (gently used) yesterday so I'm getting an (gently used) elliptical trainer!  I think this will help because I can exercise while Cooper is napping.  Oh, I think we've finally nailed down our team too so it's getting serious!  Now we're relaxing watching one of my favorite guilty pleasures, Reno 911!  : )

Operation Mud Run & Fourth of July Fun

Operation Mud Run is in full swing in the Smithson house.  Last night Andy & I started our training.  We ran about a mile in the sweltering heat.  We've decided to use a trainer to push us to our limits & his name is Cooper.  : )  He's very intense.  He did give us the motivation to get up and going though because he was very fussy in the house & he loves to be outside.  He rode along in his stroller with us and had a good time watching Mommy & Daddy about pass out from the 97 degree heat.  It was hard but knowing that Andy was doing it with me made it a little bit easier.  As a celebration for our first night of training we had two big milkshakes (kind of defeated the whole purpose I know) and watched a movie!  A successful night for the Smithsons!

For the Fourth we went down to Andy's sister's house toward Atlanta.  Our nephew turned two this past week so we celebrated his birthday today.  It was a pretty low key day but we had fun.  We were in and out because it was SO hot!  Cooper got in the pool with Andy for a little while but we were afraid of him getting sunburned so that didn't last too long.  There were a ton of kids running around so there wasn't a dull moment.  Our good friend, Deana Crocker, took some beautiful pictures of Cooper & I'm going to share a few!  Happy 4th of July, God Bless!

Hiking in the Heat

Today we took Cooper on his first hike!  Andy works a lot of Saturdays so we took advantage of his time off and took Coop to one of our favorite hiking spots, Lula Lake.  We went with my sister & her family and some of their friends.  All together we had four little boys under the age of 3.

Since it's the beginning of July in the South it was rather hot.  I think the temperature was around 93 the majority of our hike.  Most of the trails are in the shade so it wasn't too unbearable.  We had a nice picnic lunch before we took off on our adventure so nobody was cranky from hunger. 

Once we hiked to the lake we played around there for awhile and went to take a look at the main falls.  It was very pretty but no one wanted to venture down with all the little boys.  By the time we were done with that some mini-meltdowns began to take place so we headed back to the cars.  Cooper handles the heat a lot better than his mommy does so all in all his first hiking experience was a success!

Not the best picture of me but Cooper sure does look cute!

Daddy dunking Cooper into the lake.

Coop & Daddy singing.

Mud Run Mayhem

I'm not sure how this happened but my husband has talked me into, or more like recruited me, running the 2011 Chattanooga Mud Run.  It is a 5K race with an obstacle course (hills, ropes, walls, tunnels) that a team of 5 must complete.  Did I mention the whole 5K course is covered in mud?  It is for a good cause though.  The entry money is used to help out the Chattanooga area Habitat for Humanity.  This will also give me something interesting to blog about!

I haven't ran, really ran, since high school.  I haven't exercised all that seriously since before I had Cooper.  We like to walk or ride bikes as a family in the evenings but I don't think that will contribute much to my 5K training.  I'm not sure who our team is going to be made up of yet but I've recruited my sister to join in the fun (or maybe misery).  She has two very energetic boys so she's even more pressed for "training" time than me.  The good thing about it is that Andy, Summer, and I won't take it too seriously and plan on having fun in the process.  Now we've just got to recruit two more people to join us that won't care too much if we slow them down!  : )

Maybe Coop & I will go for a jog when he wakes up from his nap!  : )