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Today wraps up my last official day of Christmas break. It's so sad. Andy (and everyone else for that matter) has the day off Monday but I have to go back to work, unfortunately. Cooper and I had another lazy week together. Yesterday Cooper got a flu shot, we went to the hospital while my brother had shoulder surgery, where Cooper successfully busted his lip and chin, and Andy took me on a date! We went to eat at Red Lobster and then went to a movie. He took me to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I had read that series when I was pregnant with Coop and had been begging him to take me. He was afraid it would be a chick flick but it was anything but. We both liked it, thank goodness, or I would've never heard the end of it. It followed the book and kept you on the edge of your seat. It was extremely graphic and hard to watch in parts but that's exactly how the book was. I can't wait for the next two to come out!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We survived the Christmas weekend but I'm still trying to recover. We had a wonderful Christmas and all 3 of us received more than we deserve. Our weekend was filled with church services, get togethers, eating, and opening presents. Cooper got a lot of fun toys but was most interested in playing with my camera (I'll post pictures soon). I got a lot of money, which I've already spent on clothes, shoes, and a lot of sweet odds and ends from Andy.

Andy had the day off Monday do first thing we did when we woke up was take down all the Christmas stuff. No fun, I know. I was tired of fighting Cooper though. We went out to the mall with everyone else in Chattanooga and only ended up buying some shoes for Cooper. I went back last night with Summer and spent all my money though.

Cooper and I have been lazy this week. We've played with new toys, napped, and watched a lot of Criminal Minds. I'm already dreading going back to work next week and leaving him. I LOVE getting to spend all day with him and it will break my heart to leave him Monday morning. Not being on a schedule throws me for a loop though so maybe I won't be so tired and useless once I get back in a routine, we shall see!

One of his new Christmas presents.

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This week we have been LAZY! Well, Cooper and I have been lazy. Andy has been working a ton! I will be glad when peak season is over (tomorrow!). We've had very lazy days this week and busy nights filled with Christmas activities. Monday night we went to Rock City to see the lights, Wednesday night we had our Sunday school Christmas party at our house, Thursday we had Christmas with Andy's family, and tonight we're having Christmas dinner with my family. Our weekend is packed too. I'm hoping Cooper doesn't get sick for Christmas, he's been super fussy and clingy today. I'm not sure what's going on but I'm praying some ibuprofen, a full belly, and a good nap will cure him.

Pitching a little fit.

Rock City. Andy and I have got squinty eyes.

Helping with the laundry.

His newest trick.

Worn out!

Early morning snuggling with mommy.

Eating a paper towel.

I realized these had been in my oven over night from the Christmas party. Luckily the oven was off.

Another lazy day with mommy. If you'll notice he's been in pajamas in every picture... very lazy week.

Watching Elmo... he's discovered tv this week.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We've finally made it to Christmas break! Yay! I'm much in need of a break so I can't wait to spend it with Cooper and Andy (once FedEx calms down). Friday night I had to babysit. I took Cooper with me but Andy came and got him. I was grateful for that because it ended up being a late night. Saturday Andy had to work so Cooper and I ran some errands and I cleaned. For some reason Saturdays have turned into my unofficial cleaning day. I focused on the bathrooms. I always clean the showers with a bleach cleaner and it about made me sick. They're much cleaner though!

Saturday night when Andy got home we headed out to eat and do a little shopping. We went to the lesser crowded shopping area in Chattanooga, Hixson, and wound up buying a ping pong table. Andy's been on a kick for one lately so he bought one with Christmas money from my mom and dad. He had some family over to play Saturday night and I curled up to watch The Notebook. Cooper kept waking up crying hysterically, I honestly think he knew we had company and didn't want to sleep, but we finally got him to stay down around midnight. I went to be right after and I think Andy came to be around 1:30am.

Sunday we went to church, visited with family, and napped. I'm usually not a napper but when we got home I passed out. Once we woke up we headed up to my in-law's church for their annual Christmas play. Andy's mom always writes them and this one didn't disappoint. We had to keep Cooper entertained through it but he was pretty well behaved considering. Once we got home we played with Cooper some before hopping in bed. He's finally gained some more confidence and has started standing alone this weekend. We thought he was going to take a step but he chickened out. Once he realizes he's standing by himself he panics and goes to his bottom. He's definitely making progress though! He was 13 months old on Sunday so maybe he'll be walking before 14 months rolls around. He has also been talking about dogs all weekend. He woke up Sunday saying "didi" which is dog and kept saying that all day. I'm trying to talk his daddy into getting him one but am not having much luck.

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Cooper has been asleep for 3.5 hours now and I don't know what to do with myself. I should be cleaning or doing laundry but I just can't find the motivation. I'm officially on Christmas break now so why work? Instead I'm watching Criminal Minds and being lazy. Hopefully we'll get to be lazy all weekend.

My beautiful baby boy who takes my breath away!

The beautiful sunset we watched while walking the other night.

My sweet baby when I was trying to get him to look at the sunset.

My handsome boy who needs a hair trim.

Hanging out on the back porch.

My adorable cake stand I bought at the MOPS craft fair to hold my kitchen sink soaps. Too bad Instagram cuts the bottom of my pictures off.

My sweetie's foot from last year. He wasn't quite a month old when we made this.

Our Christmas countdown. It's in an 8x10 frame and we're using a dry erase marker. It's in a really pretty plate holder but once again my picture was cut off.

Back Porch Sitting

Right now Cooper and I are sitting on the back porch enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. The last 2 days it's been around 70* here which I guess isn't too unheard of in Georgia. We enjoyed a 1.5 mile walk yesterday with a good friend who lives in our neighborhood and it felt wonderful! I wish it were colder though since we're only a week and a half away from Christmas. We keep hearing dogs bark out here and Coop is loving that! Every time he hears one he barks back!

We've been pretty lazy this week. Work has been a complete wash for me because of all the Christmas activities going on. The last 3 days I haven't been able to meet with any of my students at their normal times. That's ok though because they are having fun and I don't want to spoil it for them. Tomorrow is my last day for 2 weeks! Woohoo! I can't wait to spend that time with my beautiful baby boy. Say a little prayer for me that I can make it through my last day before break!

Christmas Laziness

I think Christmas break laziness is kicking in in all areas of my life. I've been bad about blogging this week. I didn't do a weekend wrap-up because our weekend was pretty uneventful. Andy worked a lot, Cooper's MMR shot kicked in so he didn't feel too well, we went to church, and did some Christmas shopping. All in all a pretty good weekend.

Like I mentioned we've been busy trying to get Christmas shopping done. Tonight when Andy got home from work my mom and I went out to the mall for me to pick out some stuff for Christmas. It seems like all I picked out where shoes. I love shoes and already have a ton of them but you can never have too many in my opinion! We saw a robbery/chase happening in the Khol's parking lot which provided for some entertainment! It's so nice to have some uninterrupted time with my mom. Most of the time when we're together we're trying to keep Cooper for destroying something.

Over the weekend we bought a tv for our bedroom. We haven't had a tv in our bedroom in a long time but we broke down and bought one is weekend. When I got home Andy had it mounted up on out wall and it looks great! Whenever Andy gets home he thinks the tv is his for the night and I can only stand sports for so long. It'll be nice to have when the 3rd football game of the night is on.

I think I've completed all of my Christmas shopping! I can't say the same for Andy but at least I can relax for the next week and a half. I'm about to catch up on my relaxing in bed, watching the news!

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I've never been more thankful for the weekend! This week at work absolutely exhausted me! Thank goodness we've only got a week left before Christmas break. Cooper hasn't been in the best of spirits today. I think his MMR shot is kicking in (it takes 7 days for symptoms to show up). He's finally sleeping though and I'm trying to rest up myself. Andy is working late tonight, boo! We had planned on doing some Christmas shopping tonight but it looks like those plans have been postponed. I'm looking forward to tomorrow though. Our MOPS groups is having a huge craft fair with over 40 vendors and I can't wait to do some shopping! Enjoy my pictures and your weekend!

My sweetness playing in his playroom with saggy bottoms.

Coop and Daddy building with his blocks.

Andy's special Pinterest gift! I'm so excited about it!

My awesome centerpieces! My BFF Jessica made the beautiful cake stands and I won the ornament vase at our MOPS Christmas party.

This is how I found my husband last night when I got home.

When I got home today I notice an essential piece of my nativity scene missing. I've got to hunt down baby Jesus. Coop can spot a nativity scene a mile away!

Cassidy Homemaker

When Cooper and I got home today we went on a fabulous 1 mile walk through our very hilly neighborhood. Today those hills were intensified about 10 times because of our huge jogging stroller! We walked a mile though and had a lovely time. It was a bit chilly and being the worrisome mommy I am I slapped a toboggan on Cooper's head. That sneaky little boy would pull it of every time I turned my head though. I guess that will be a fight all winter, should be fun!

As soon as we walked in I put Coop down for a nap and he's been sleeping ever since. He's turned into an awesome little napper here in the last few weeks. He naps great for my mom and recently I've had to wake him up from his afternoon naps so he'll sleep at night. I do miss that time with him though. I thought I'd take advantage of his napping a cook a home cooked meal tonight. My plan is potato soup and sausage balls. That may sound like an odd combination but they are really good together. I thought I'd relax and catch up on some TV but I'm doing a lot more TV watching than cooking. I'm taking a lot of breaks but we will have a homemade meal... even if it takes me 3 DVR episodes to make it!

Survival Mode

The closer it gets to Christmas the busier Andy gets at work. Hence the tittle of today's post... the Smithson clan is hunkering down and just trying to survive until Andy is ours again after Christmas. Cooper and I have taken advantage of Andy's late nights though and we've finished up all the shopping for him. I've got one gift I'm still working on that I found on Pinterest. I'm so excited about it! Andy periodically reads my blog so I won't post it on here but he's clueless about Pinterest so I'm safe there. On the work front for me... I'm as bad as my students at school when it comes to my work ethic right before Christmas break. I've been getting pretty decent work from them this week but I'm anxious to see what kinds of tricks I'll have to pull out of my sleeve next week just to get them to focus. I can't blame them though, I'm very excited to have two weeks off with Cooper!

I got out in our neighborhood tonight in the 40* weather and walked. It was freezing and dark but it felt good to get some exercise. I didn't attempt running... our subdivision is very hilly so walking was enough for me. When I run I usually burn out on exercise a lot quicker so I'm just going to keep it to walking. I've been absolutely exhausted here recently so I'm hoping it'll give me a boost of energy. Tonight makes 2 nights in a row that I've gotten in bed before 10pm so I'm hoping that will help too! Night!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Well I'm posting the weekend wrap-up a day late from the comfort of my bed. We had a pretty lazy weekend and it was so nice! Cooper did ok with his shots after the initial screaming and it seemed like he slept the majority of the weekend. Friday night we went out to eat with Andy's family and then came home and got in bed.

Saturday Andy ended up not having to work (he went in and set up trucks) so when he got home he worked on the outside of the house while I worked on the inside. I got the whole place clean during one of Cooper's long naps! Yay! We are LOVING the new house. We are pretty much completely settled and it feels like home. Saturday night it was our turn to play Mary and Joseph in the Living Christmas Cards at church. It wasn't too cold and I really enjoyed myself. Once we got home we got in bed early again.

Sunday we went to church and then went to Wendy's with my mom and dad. I love Wendy's and am usually never disappointed but the service was unbelievably slow. Once we finally got our food it was cold. I was disappointed. After that I went with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousins to our annual Christmas Tour of Homes. Every year 3 homes in our area are on the tour. They are always decorated beautifully and it's so neat to get ideas from. Once I got home it was about time to head to church. After church we came home and watched Amazing Race. Our favorite team got eliminated and we were so upset! The Walking Dead wasn't on but I still didn't get in bed as early as I wanted to. I'm exhausted now and am going to try and fall asleep before 10:00. Ready, set, go! Good night!

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Well we made it through Cooper's first major sickness. He finally started feeling better and was completely fever free on Tuesday. Since he couldn't get his shots last Friday I'm taking him in for those today. Today is the big shot... the MMR. I'm not one to worry about autism, especially since that theory was totally disproved, and I trust my doctor when he says it's completely safe. All shots make me a little nervous anyways since I never really know what kind of reaction Cooper is going to have to them. He usually doesn't respond well to shots. We always seem to have a lot of crying, a low fever, and general fussiness for a few days. It should make for a good weekend! I'm still not feeling 100% myself. My ENT doctor doesn't think I have a sinus infection, even though he didn't see me for this, so he's treating my symptoms with steroids. I'm not convinced they're working... I'm still extremely congested and my face still hurts some. To make matters worse, Andy has it now too. Hopefully we'll all be healthy for Christmas. On a positive note I got a ton off Christmas shopping done this week! I just have a few people left and I'll be done! Now that it's December our schedule seems to be getting busier. This weekend our church is having Living Christmas Cards. It's kind of like a live nativity. It is several scenes set up in the parking lot that you drive through to view. It's very neat and free! It is running Friday & Saturday night from 7:00 - 8:30 pm at Flintstone Baptist Church right below Chattanooga. If you're in the area you should definitely come! Saturday night Andy and I will be in scene 4 as Mary and Joseph! Cooper will not be playing baby Jesus... I believe he'd whip us all if we tried to put him in a manger.

My pimped out wreath!

My busy bee going to work while I was getting ready for school.

My first "fan mail" letter.

Coop and mommy being silly.

He didn't like my headband... Daddy made him wear it.

iPad learning fun!

The photo wall in the new house... one of my favorite things in our home.

Some presents already under the tree!

Our electric fireplace... I love it! Andy isn't as big of a fan though.