Things are getting REAL!

It’s starting to set in that we will shortly be bringing a new baby home.  Good thing because I less than 5 weeks left!  My doctor keeps asking all sorts of silly questions like: “Are you registered at the hospital?” Um, not yet but I assure you I’m all over it!  “Do you have your carseat ready to go?”  Um, I HAVE a carseat.  In some way, shape or form I’m sure it is “ready to go”!

So much has changed since the first time around with Cooper when I had the nursery done with 10 weeks to go and at this point all of Cooper’s clothes had already been washed...twice.  So far, I have bedding and the nursery is getting painted next week.  Other than that, I really doubt she will care or notice if she has to wear dinosaur PJs from time to time!

Here's a picture of baby girl's bedding!

I guess this is how second children become so laid back.  Maybe this will all change when she’s here but right now I feel like my mantra to her would be: “Welcome to the world sis!  Your brother rules the roost.  Get used to it.  We have!”

Meanwhile the bump continues to grow.  I’m officially DONE buying maternity clothes.  I've moved on to buying bracelets because I know they will fit from one day to the next.   You can fully expect to see me in the same 5 outfits that fit from here on out!

"Baby sister is getting BIGGER and BIGGER!"  Get ready buddy boy!

Cooper sings the blues.

First, on Memorial Day, I wanted to say a sincere thank you to all of the men and women who have served and who are serving our country, especially those who have died for the cause and my freedom. I often think about the pride and terror I would feel if Cooper decided to join the military so I want to say a thank you to all of the military Mamas out there too!

.....

The boy has been singing up a storm lately. Yesterday he made up this little ditty called "Where's all the money?" This tickles me for so many reasons, one being the fact that he has no idea what money is. Given the choice between a penny and a twenty dollar bill he would hands down choose the penny, because it's shiny, naturally. I would really love to get in that little head of his! The other is that we've shelled out our fair share on cars and air conditioners lately. I wonder if he has picked up the sentiment from us?!

Hope you enjoy! Translation for those that don't speak "Cooper":

   "Where's all the money? Where'd it go? Where's all the money? Where'd it go?"

Click here:
Cooper sings the blues!

Happy Memorial Day!

The first last day of school!

Just like that the school year is over!  Sure there are still some tears at drop-off from time to time but I’m pretty certain they are for my “benefit”.  He’s always making sure I know how unhappy I make him when I leave.   I’m told I will miss this one day.  I’m not there yet.

Can you believe what a baby he was back in September?!  Here’s 17 months versus 28 months.  Same shirt, second verse, a little bit tighter and a little bit…worse? Don’t say it and crush my nostalgia and desire to keep him little as long as possible, even if it means putting him in a tiny shirt!

His teachers made us a little scrapbook of pictures throughout the year, so sweet.  They may have even shed a tear or two hugging him goodbye.  I imagine it’s the ones that you spend the most time with that get you that way if you’re a teacher.  Judging by the number of times they had to walk him around the school perimeter at the beginning of the year I’m thinking this holds true!

Maybe there were a few tears shed by his Mama as well.  We’ve come a long way from crying for 3 hours straight and getting so nervous when we walked in the front door that he would lose his breakfast.

I know it’s a small step compared to what’s ahead but I’m really proud of my big boy today.  When you can’t find the words, just quote Dr. Suess!


“And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Mischeif

It's so hard to get mad at this face. Maybe I'm being scammed but I can't NOT laugh at this devilish grin. He knows he's up to no good.

Here's how I paid for the 10 minutes I took to get ready for work one day last week:

Here's Cooper Boy "helping" us make dinner. Yes, that is the entire contents of my bottom pantry shelf.

Here's Cooper "growing so tall." "I not climbing!"

Last week on the phone with my Mom, he asked her "Where my Daddy?" to which she replied, "Daddy's at work." He told her "No Cita! My Daddy play golf!" Touche, Coop. Touche.

I'll get it for this one day...

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, the first day after a terrible 48 stomach bug and I blew off Cooper's haircut appointment. The kid has man hair. He needs a cut about every 4-5 weeks and if we get to 6 weeks he's somewhere between Will Ferrell and Jonah Hill.

Somewhere in the Tuesday morning get-to-school scramble the following week I realized it was picture day, YIKES! There was no way out, this happened:

One day I'm sure I will get it from Cooper for this, but for know I will sit back and enjoy this sweet lettuce!

Bein' Green

We LOVE going to the Farmer's Market, but there's only so much shopping going on when you have to chase the world's fastest two year old. We usually come home with a slab of bacon, random fruits and vegetables and something I was forced to buy to remedy Cooper's wandering hands that wreck shop on those poor display tables!

I recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, holy schmoley. That will make you think twice about where the food you are eating comes from! I'm not a huge stickler, the Coop can get down with some french fries with the best of them! BUT, we cook a lot and given the choice I like to choose local and organic food for all of the feel good reasons plus it tastes better when its fresh. Personally, I'd just rather eat something that has ripened on the vine than plucked green and shipped 1,800 miles to get to me! [Steps off soapbox.]

A friend recently pointed me to Greenling which is a local food delivery service. They basically deliver the Farmer's Market to your front door...free delivery! I've had friends that have done co-op deliveries in the past that ended up with weekly deliveries of 10 heads of lettuce and some fennel.  With Greenling, you can choose a weekly or bi-weekly delivery, OR you can preview the local box and decide if you want to buy it or not, no commitment! I think they serve Houston, DFW and central TX right now so check them out if this resonates with you!

I just got my first box yesterday, here are some of the yummy contents:

This week's box:

The Cooper boy's dinner tonight, Greenling veggies and some salmon!

Love this!

A Mother's Day serenade, by Cooper

Ahh, Mother's Day. I'm not too hard to please. All I want is a day spent with family (without changing a diaper), breakfast in bed and a couple of hours to myself to do a deep closet clean. Why is it that on Mother's Day all I want is to enjoy my family without acting like a Mom? Is this what Dads feel like everyday?! Just kidding honey...mostly.

The closet is done and I have three full bags to send to Goodwill. I even had time to organize the stuff I'm keeping! I went with two categories: stuff that fits and the other 95% of my clothes! 

Here's a shout out to all of you lovely Mamas out there from the Cooper boy.  I hope you like "Hey Jude" as much as he does. (Please excuse my singing in the background!) I found this little gem while going through the beach pics on my phone, hence the beach reference!

Cooper sings Hey Jude, kind of...

Happy Mother's Day! 

Life's a Beach

Take me back to Rosemary Beach!  Not that I don't love my home, but landing in H town with thunderstorms all around makes me want to hop back on the plane...

We spent the better part of this week at the beach, and by that I mean ON the beach! The kid wanted nothing to do with the pool and we had nice weather so it was fine with us! He spent his time smashing sand castles, chasing the waves, throwing sand into the water and going out into the ocean with his Dad to wait for the "big one", which of course was the "wave that turns white" in two year old language. He was FEARLESS!

I think Cooper finally realized that Daddy is much more fun than Mommy, at least when it comes to my level of energy right now and my willingness to go in freezing cold water!

Cooper's attempt to get us to go to the beach faster, bringing shoes downstairs.  Kyle got two boat shoes, I only got one lousy tennis shoe.

The daily walk to the beach.  So much for lugging the stroller!

I could NOT keep him full!

For documentation's sake, the big white bellies!  Shield your eyes!

I couldn't have asked for a better trip or a more well behaved kid. It was awesome pre-baby bonding time for all of us!

Road to recovery

I am very happy to report that Kyle went to the doctor today and his platelet count is up to 52,000! The doctor wanted him to be at least 35,000...such an overachiever! We are thrilled!

Keep 'em coming, babe!

My Dancing Harry

This week we've been battling a little health crisis on the homefront...

On Monday, Kyle noticed some weird bruising on his arm and spots on his hands.  Otherwise he felt fine and perfectly normal. When he was 12, he had a very rare immune disorder called Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) and the bruising looked similar to him...red flag!  As I understand it, ITP can be triggered by a virus and then your immune system malfunctions and begins attacking your platelets.  He went to the general practitioner on Tuesday to get some blood tests.  He got a call very early yesterday morning from her telling him him to go immediately to the emergency room.  When you get a call from your GP at 6:30am you know something is not normal.  His platelet count was 8,000 and the normal range is 150,000 to 400,000.  Basically, at that level, he could have spontaneous bleeding internally, brain included, and, well...you know.

We got to the hospital to try to figure out what was going on.  Unfortunately, ITP can not be diagnosed on its own, you have to rule out everything else and then by default it is ITP.  So we spent yesterday first ruling out the really bad stuff (thank GOD) and then coming up with a plan of action.  The doctor decided to go with a really aggressive steroid treatment to try to keep his immune system from attacking his platelets.  She said the steroids could make him extra hungry, prone to gaining weight, unable to sleep at night and super cranky. Just what we need, another "pregnant" person at the house!

He got to come home yesterday and we are going back to the hospital tomorrow to check his platelet count.  His doctor would like to see them at 35,000.  He is pretty much on house restriction at the moment until we know that the steroids are working. They work in most cases!