Blessed

Last night I got to spend some one on one time with Cooper during his bath.  Andy was, very kindly, washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen from our messy dinner so I had all of Cooper's attention.  That's a hard task to achieve when his daddy is home.  Bath time is one of my favorite times of the day with Cooper.  I have him contained to an area where he can't run away and we get to play.  I've found this is also one of the best times to read to him since he doesn't try to rip the book out of my hands.  Last night we were reading, listening to Disney music, and making funny faces at each other when it hit me... I'm so blessed to be the mother of this beautiful, sweet, loving, and funny child.  As I made funny noises at him he smiled and laughed like I hung the moon.  I'm so undeserving of his love and affection, yet all I have to do to get it is be his mommy.  All I have to do is ask for a kiss and I get one... sometimes I'm even lucky enough to get one without asking.  When I come home from work he lights up like it's the best part of his day (at least until Daddy walks through the door).  It's amazing how overwhelming and sometimes handicapping the love for your child can be.  It's also amazing that Cooper feels that way about Andy and me.  I don't know why God chose me to be Cooper's mommy but I'm am unbelievably thankful that he did.

I'm also extremely thankful that God has chosen me to be the mother of another sweet baby boy.  I'm getting twice the blessings in my life through this child.  I went to the doctor today and had a checkup on my little sweet pea.  He's doing great.  I heard his little heartbeat going strong, and he even kicked me during the visit to let me know that he was good!  I only gained half a pound so I'm up to 2 pounds total.  I'm thrilled with my progress so far... I think I was about 2 or 3 pounds ahead of that at this point with Cooper.  I know it'll catch up with me soon but chasing around Cooper and being busy has helped me so far.  My blood pressure is great, minimal swelling in the mornings, and besides some headache issues (that we hopefully have taken care of at this visit with some new medicine) the pregnancy is great.  Hopefully it will stay that way.  I discussed where I wanted to deliver today with Dr. Emberson.  The hospital we delivered Cooper at was great and they took really good care of him in the NICU and of me in the ICU.  It's a fairly small hospital in comparison to some we have in Chattanooga though.  If we have all the same issues this time around I think I would feel more comforable at a larger hospital.  Erlanger Hospital downtown has a huge NICU, more nurses, more doctors, and I would say is better equipped for emergencies than most.  Dr. Emberson said he would be very comfortable delivering there if all this happened again so I think we may go there for baby #2.  I also love the downtown area, bad excuse I know, but why not have a good view of the river if I can?  I go back in 3 weeks to get an ultrasound to check all of the baby's anatomy and have a check up with doctor.  Until then I'll just enjoy his sweet little movements until I can see him!

Easter Wreath

I don't know about anyone else but I'm very ready for spring. So much so that this weekend I cleared out the last remaining winter decorations from our home and replaced them with spring things. I know it's not even March yet but this warm weather we've had the last few weeks has me in the mood to pull out my T-shirts and flip flops. Easter is earlier this year than it was last year so I went ahead and made an Easter wreath for our front door. I found a ton that I liked on Pintrest and decided to go with the one that looked the cheapest (to make) and least messy... a lot of them involved Peeps and I thought that may get sticky and draw bugs to my door.

Instead of buying a wreath form I went to the Ace Hardware and bought foam pipe insulation and made a form from that. We cut it in half and duct taped it together. It started to pull apart a little bit, therefore not staying in a traditional circle, so I've got to figure out a solution for that.





I bought several bags of $1 eggs from Dollar General and started gluing them on in random places, much like I did my Christmas ornament wreath. I only had two sizes of eggs to work with, large and regular, which made for more gaps than I like. I used all of the large eggs around the outer and inner most sides so I wouldn't have so much filling in to do. I then placed the normal sized eggs along the "flatter" front part of the wreath. From there I just started placing eggs to fill in gaps. I tried to make sure the side that connected the two halves of the egg together was always to the back so you wouldn't see the "ugly" side. When I finished I got some Easter basket grass and filled in some holes with that. As long as I had a ton of hot glue in the holes it stayed pretty well and looked cuter than I thought it would. I was pretty happy with the final product and am glad I have something colorful on my door for the next month or so.

InstaFriday... A Few Days Late

I was lazy all weekend and didn't even bother to get my iPad out of the car. Here are my pictures from the past week, enjoy!

It's a Boy!!!

We went to the doctor yesterday for an ultrasound and the baby was much more cooperative this time around. Almost immediately we saw the tell-tale signs that it is a boy! He was very proud of himself (much like his big brother was) and showed us many different angles that left us with no doubt of his gender.

I told the tech that I thought I saw something and she agreed with me. My first reaction was laughter. Andy started laughing too and then Cooper joined in with one of his fake laughs. He went with us and wore his "Big Brother" shirt. It was a quick trip since he was happy to show himself off.

We left and started making all the phone calls. Everyone was surprised and thrilled. This is the 6th boy on my side and 4th on Andy's with no girls anywhere. I felt like it was a boy the whole time but was still surprised because you'd think there would be a girl somewhere in there... just based on odds.

Now that I know it's not a girl I can admit that I really wanted a boy. It's all I've ever known and I LOVE all the little boys in our life... especially my sweet, loving, and funny Cooper. I'm thrilled he's going to have a brother that close in age to play with, fight with, and confide in. I also already had a nursery design in my head for a boy... I had no clue what to do for a girl.

We've got a name picked out that I think we'll stick with but Andy won't let it be "set in stone" just yet. When I tell people the name he always says "I'm not 100% sure of that yet" but when people ask him the baby's name he always says that name... go figure. I think he's just trying to make me mad. That's not hard to do right now with all these pregnancy hormones raging. Once we're set on it though I'll let everyone know... I hate just calling him "he."

All in Search of a KFC Buffet

We had a 3 day weekend this past weekend and we really tried to take advantage of it.  I even stayed up until 10:30 one night to watch TV with Andy.

Saturday when Andy got home from work we took Cooper to the local "duck pond."  It was Andy's first visit too.  About a mile from where I teach there is a historic landmark known as the John Ross House.  It is the house where the famous Cherokee Indian chief once lived.  Right outside of the house there is a pond (it looks manmade to me but I'm not 100% sure) that there are always ducks and geese at.  I was afraid they had migrated South for the winter but I guess North Georgia is far enough south for them.  They were there in all their glory.  We brought bread which was ignored by the ducks because the people beside us had popcorn.  They were kind and let us share.  As soon as we got there one goose that was about double the size of all the others hoped up right by the fence and headed our way... the rest stayed in the water.  Cooper was fascinated.  It was pretty aggressive, I guess that's why it was so big, and eventually hissed in Cooper's face.  Coop just laughed but Andy jerked him back really fast incase the goose had other ideas.  We watched them swim around for awhile until Cooper lost interest.  I'll definitely be taking him back there often... we'll just take popcorn next time.

Monday morning Andy worked for about an hour and was home by the time Cooper and I were up and functioning.  I had been craving a KFC Buffet all weekend, not just a normal KFC.  We have several Kentucky Fried Chickens close to use but none of them are a buffet.  Andy is a big fan of any kind of buffet so he gave in to my craving and we headed to Ft. Payne, Alabama.  Yes, all the way to Ft. Payne for my crazy pregnancy cravings.  We made many stops on the way though that added to success of our trip.  It was a solid hour drive even without all our pit stops.  We took the FedEx pickup truck Andy had been working out of and Cooper loved it.  He sat in the back and was facing forward.  He was practically sitting right between us and was thrilled that he could see us and the road.  We still haven't turned his car seat around because he's so small.

The first stop on our trip was to Desoto Falls in Alabama.  I had been there once before but with all the rain we've had the falls were huge and beautiful.  It was still a little chilly out so we didn't stay too long.  Cooper liked looking at everything from the safety of his daddy's arms.

Our next stop was at Little River Falls a few miles down the road.  These falls were going strong too and had a great walkway that Cooper loved.  Once we took his shoes off of him (he doesn't like to walk in his tennis shoes) he took off walking and never looked back.  We got some really cute pictures of him while doing and even a rare video of him walking.

Our next few stops were along the Little River Canyon.  I had never seen it before and must say, I was rather impressed.  It is the largest canyon east of the Mississippi River.  Andy I and are big Man Vs. Wild fans and Bear Grylls has even filmed an episode of his show in the Little River Canyon.  You could see a lot since the leaves were off the tress but I'm sure it's so much prettier in the summer and fall when the tress are colorful.

Our next stop was the KFC Buffet and it didn't disappoint.  We all ate a ton!  Cooper had a drumstick, a huge side of mashed potatoes, a biscuit, and an adult size helping of banana pudding.  We had to loosen his car set to get his fat little belly in when we left.  Andy ate so much he didn't eat anything the rest of the day.  I didn't eat until almost 9pm so the hour drive was well worth it.  After lunch we took Cooper to a park made in honor of Alabama, the country group, to swing.  He loved it!  It's been awhile since he's got to swing and he screamed when we got him out.

I couldn't have asked for a better long weekend with my family.  Even though I've been battling a nasty cold it didn't stop us from having a ton of fun!

InstaFriday

This week has been full of ups and downs. Cooper has been sick but finally seems to be recovering. That poor baby seems to be sick all the time! I don’t’ know if it’s his preemie immune system that still gets the best of him or if Andy and I just bring home one sickness after another (that doesn’t develop in us) and pass it along to him. Here lately is seems to be viruses that he’s contracting… the one thing he can’t really be treated for. If he’s going to be sick I wish it was a bacterial infection that we could treat with antibiotics. His inhaler and cough medicine have been helping him sleep at night though so that’s good. He’s learned how to say “thank you” this week and melts our hearts with that little line. He is also showing us his teeth all the time, which is adorable. I discovered that he’s cutting on of his back molars the other night. I wasn’t expecting that to happen at 15 months but sure enough it’s making its way through his gums. He’s going to look funny with a big molar but no teeth in front.

I’m 15 weeks pregnant today. The pregnancy seems to have been moving quickly but after the week I’ve had I find myself thinking “Uh… I’ve still got 25 weeks to go…” Headaches got the best of me this week. Like I mentioned before, my headaches went away with Cooper and I’m hoping these will go away soon. When I get headaches they are tension headaches in the back of my head. I’ve only had 3 migraines in my life and am thankful that’s not what these are. I do feel like migraines go away faster than these do though. I seem to get them in spurts where that last a week or so. I feel like they are a lot worse now that I’m pregnant than before but that may just be my imagination. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I can’t take any medicine that I want to. The medicine they’ve prescribed me does help but they come back. I have horrible posture, which I’m sure attributes to them, and I reread the whole Hunger Games series this week which didn’t help. When I read a lot, like I did this week, my headaches usually start back up. I didn’t wear my glasses, I read from my iPad which is hard on your eyes after a few hours, and I read with my head slumped down. I’m sure all of that added to the severity of the headaches. I love those books and just had to reread them before the movie comes out! On a happy note the baby can hear this week! I’m going to try to talk to him or her more and I’m sure he/she is already familiar with Cooper and Andy’s voice. We go on Wednesday to hopefully find out the gender, maybe he/she will cooperate this time!

One of my dear friends had her baby yesterday, on my mom’s birthday. I got to go and love on her last night. She weighed 8lbs and 9oz and was sweet as could be! She had little fat rolls everywhere that were as cute as could be. I’m envious of chunky babies since Cooper still doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him. I’m hoping this baby will come out like a little butterball. I’m not used to girls but she was precious. I backed away when it was diaper changing time because girls are out of my comfort zone. Her mommy looked wonderful too, another thing I was envious of! If I have to I’m going to make my sister do my hair and makeup before the birth of this next baby. Holding her made me ready for this baby… after Cooper’s early delivery I’m going to be very patient and let this baby bake as long as he/she wants to though!





My thugs.





My beautiful flowers from Andy.





Sleepy little fish.

Love is in the Air

Our Valentine's Day wasn't full of romance but we had a good day considering.  Cooper woke up sick, I woke up with a horrible headache that lasted all day, and it was freezing outside.  Luckily, we had a 2 hour delay at school due to a winter slush that never arrived.  That gave me a little more time to nurse the horrible pregnancy headache I was experiencing.  It also gave me some time to love on my sick little boy.

Right after school I took Cooper to the doctor.  His runny nose lead to a nasty cough and low fever.  He was diagnosed with a respiratory infection, put back on his inhaler, and given some strong cough medicine for bedtime.  After that we headed to Walgreens with everyone else in Chattanooga to do some Valentine's Day shopping.  Cooper got a puppy and we bought Andy a lot of chocolate.  I made him a lot of baked good for his present and he seemed genuinely pleased.

For my gift Andy cooked us a huge dinner.  I couldn't have asked for anything more, especially with the headache I was having.  I'm prone to headaches anyways but when I was pregnant with Cooper they went away for the most part.  With this baby they are almost unbearable.  They aren't migraines.  They are in the back of my head and radiate to the sides.  They've given me a prescription but it only helps for a few hours.  Hopefully they will pass soon... it's becoming an everyday occurrence.

Andy cooked steaks, baked potatoes, and fried shrimp.  If you know me you know I'm not a seafood eater.  Early in my pregnancy I had a dream about seafood and have been craving it ever since.  Very odd, I know.  I ate the steak and baked potato first and only had enough room for 4 shrimp.  They were good though.

We gave Cooper a breathing treatment and his new medicine and put him to bed. We finished out our Valentine's Day by folding laundry, at least we did it together. The medicine that was supposed to "knock" Cooper out did just the opposite... he was up all night talking and crying. We pretty much just leave him alone if he's happy but I can't sleep knowing he's awake. Therefore I was up all night too. I'm hoping we'll both get a full night of sleep tonight.

InstaFriday

We've made it through another week! I'm not looking forward to the cold forecast this weekend but I am looking forward to my time off. Andy has some "guy" things planned so I think Coop and I may bundle up and go shopping. I didn't take a lot of pictures this week but enjoy!





"Spike" with his new haircut last week.




Playing in the tub, right before he pooped in it.




Sleepy head.




A few of Cooper's Valentine's we made for his nursery friends. We've got lots more to hand out.

Cooper Update

I feel like I haven't given any recent updates on my little sweetness and he deserves some loving too!  He's had so many accomplishments recently I don't know where to begin.  He took his first steps about 3 weeks ago and is improving every day.  He still prefers to bear crawl around the house but this week he's been branching out and a few times he's taken 7-8 steps across the living room like it's nothing.  I'm hoping he'll get the hang of it soon and start walking everywhere.  His vocabulary is growing as well.  He says dada, sometimes daddy, bite-bite, bye-bye, uh-oh, shoe, and this week he's added Coop-Coop and two to his list of words.  We're very impressed!  He's started blowing kisses as well and that will melt your heart.  When he wants more food he holds his hand out and opens/closes it really fast until we give him more.  He has also started pooping in the tub quite regularly this week.  That's about to kill us trying to get him out and clean everything but he thinks it's funny.

Physically he's had some changes too.  He's got 4 teeth now, 3 on bottom and 1 on top, and has 3 more that could break through any minute.  He's getting taller but as of his last doctors appointment (2 weeks ago) he still hasn't hit the 20 pound mark.  He's still a little guy but is eating like crazy.  He's off of his night time bottle (bottle free completely!) and eating more "big boy" foods with us.  He's growing so fast and I'm trying to cherish this time with him before his brother or sister makes an appearance this summer.

Another big accomplishment he made today has made me so proud!  I wrote a few weeks ago about him throwing his pacis at nap time.  Well he did that today and I let him "cry it out" and after about 15 minutes he fell asleep without a pacifier!  Woohoo!  That's an accomplishment for both of us.  I was so tempted to go in and rescue him but he proved me wrong and is still sleeping soundly.  What a big boy!  He's growing up too fast!

Baby Update

Today was the big day for our ultrasound to determine the gender of baby #2. I was anxious all day and Andy got off work early to go with me. I drank a ton of caffeine to make sure he or she was ready and we headed in for our scan.

We were "prepared" to not see anything since it's still early but I was still disappointed that we didn't.  All we saw was the cord. Every different angle Andy would yell "I see something!" and she would say it was just the cord. Considering the baby's legs are only about 2cm long it's understandable that they wouldn't "spread." The heart rate was 153 beats per minute and everything else looked beautiful. The doctor was happy with my progress and I had only gained half a pound!  That puts me in at a total weight gain of 1.5 lbs at 13.5 weeks... I'm very happy with that!

I'm going back in in a couple of weeks for a scan and hopefully we'll have a definite gender then!

The Fray

If you have never heard to the band The Fray it's a shame.  They are my favorite band of all time.  I remember the first time I ever heard them.  I was in the shower my freshman year of college, on Thanksgiving break, and their first single, Over My Head, came on the radio.  I had one of those nifty shower radios that was waterproof and I remember thinking "this is a really good song, I wonder who it is?"  Over the next few weeks that song blew up and they were all over the radio.  They were scheduled to come play a show at a tiny place in Chattanooga and the tickets were only going to be $5.  My friend Geoff and I were all over that and were set to buy the tickets when they went on sale.  Well, all of the sudden The Fray really blew up and got way too big way too fast to come Chattanooga.  They cancelled the show and I was bummed out.  They had hit after hit off their first CD and I immediately fell in love with them.  Best of all, they are an extremely clean band that doesn't use bad language in their songs.  They are all self-proclaimed Christians and even have a few songs that are played on Christian radio stations.

Fast forward 6 years and two CDs later (they have 3 all together) and I still have yet to see them in concert.  Every time they've been remotely close something has come up and I haven't been able to go see them.  I knew they had a CD coming out this winter and I told Andy right after we found out about baby #2 that "even if I'm 9 months pregnant and it's 2 days before my due date I WILL go see them if they go on tour."  He wasn't too fond of the idea but I was sticking to my guns.  Low and behold they just announced their tour dates last week and they are coming to Atlanta!  Even better it's in late April so I won't have to worry about being too close to my due date to miss out once again!  Andy likes them but said he didn't want to go to a concert so I talked my mom into going with me.  I bought our tickets Friday, the minute they went on sale, and we're all set to go!  It's on a Wednesday night at 8:00 in downtown Atlanta but I can't wait!  It's at a smaller venue so I know it'll be well worth the exhaustion the next day at work.  Six years later I'm finally getting my opportunity to see them and I'm sure baby #2 will know all the words by the time we go.  He or she will be singing along in my belly!

InstaFriday

This week we had rainy weather and beautiful weather. It was almost 70 yesterday so Cooper and played outside for awhile. This weather has got me itching for spring. I know since it's only the first week of February we're bound to have a cold snap. I'd like a couple of snow days but I'm enjoying the warm weather as long as it lasts.

Cooper is finally over his virus (he ran a fever for 5 days) but now we're fighting off the "end of virus" rash. It seems to be bothering me more than him though. His whole torso and neck are covered with red, raised, spots. He doesn't even seem to notice them so at least he isn't miserable.

Playing guitar with daddy.

One of my students gave me this and said it was me. I'm sure I do look like this on some days!

Hugh Hefner.

Curious George saves the day.

Enjoying the sunshine and dirt.

He's super sensitive about his knees but yet he wouldn't let me put pants on him.

Our "new" house.

13 weeks & counting.

Prayer Request

Most of you who read my blog are friends with me on Facebook and we share several mutual friends on there so I'm sure most of you have heard this news.  A woman I grew up with in church and always looked up to has been diagnosed with cervical cancer.  She has three young children.  To make matters worse she is also pregnant with her 4th child.  She's about 4 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy and I absolutely can't imagine what she is going through.  Doctors wanted her to terminate the pregnancy and begin treatments immediately so she could have the best chance of survival.  As a mother the first thing you're worried about is the well being of your child, not yourself.  I never have had to face anything nearly this difficult but know from experience you want to protect your child over yourself.  I begged the doctors to keep Cooper in longer when I got so sick in my pregnancy, I really didn't care what was happening to me.  Because of this she and her husband got several opinions, going against the urgency of treatment, to find the best hope they could for their unborn baby.  God lead them to a doctor that has been able to give them the hope they so desperately needed.  She is having surgery as I type this to remove the tumor in her cervix without terminating her pregnancy.  It's still very risky and they can't be certain the baby will make it but it's their best chance at protecting them both.  If all goes as planned (from what I've read on her blog) they want to deliver the baby at 34 weeks (same time I delivered Coop) and then begin treatments on her.

Our church has been opened up this morning for prayer over her.  I wanted to go but wasn't able to because of a sleeping baby and work but Andy was able to make it this morning.  This has weighed heavy on my heart the last few weeks and I know other people in our community feel the same way.  She and her family are in my prayers and I know they would be honored if you prayed for them as well. I believe that God answers prayers and has done a great work so far for this family.  I also believe that His miracle isn't over, whatever the outcome may be.

*I'm sure not all of my information is 100% correct from above so I've copied the address from Meg's blog.  You can find out a lot more about this situation by reading it directly from her.

http://meganstecharris.blogspot.com/