Life on the top bunk

When Cooper moved into his big boy room we bought him a bunk bed and hid the ladder to the top bunk. I was thinking he could start using it when he was bigger, you know, like 9 or 10. Apparently his Daddy was thinking more like 3, gulp.

For the past 3 weeks or so, the boy has been sleeping on the top bunk and I am a nervous wreck.

 

When I put him down I tell him, "BE CAREFUL UP HERE! DON'T LEAN OVER THE SIDE! YOU MAKE MOMMY SO NERVOUS!" To which he calmly replies, "You see this right here? [Taps the rail.] That's a rail. You don't fall out with a rail."

So grown up, that one.

The other night, to my relief, he decided that he was going to sleep in the "down bed" as he calls it. I put him down as usual at 8pm. At 9pm I hear him call me. MOM! MOMMMMMMMM! I went running in to find him halfway up the ladder, holding a pillow.

Cooper: Mom, can you help me put this pillow on the "up bed"?

I glance up to realize that he had moved all of his "stuff" (stuffed animals, 9 different items to be exact) to the top bunk.

Me: Buddy, did you climb the ladder and put all of your stuff up here.

Cooper: Mom, I climbed that ladder many, many, many times. I'm a big boy. I'm going to sleep in the "up bed" now.

...

I didn't know whether to burst out laughing thinking of him working so hard all by himself to transfer all of his stuff to the top or to reprimand him for making all of those ladder trips in the dark. Luckily, Cooper was the first to break the silence!

Cooper: Mom! My pillow?

Who took my 3-year old and replaced him with a 10-year old? I swear this kid grew up overnight!

Mistah Snake

Cooper's most recently elected partner in crime is none other than: Mistah Snake. He is quickly climbing the ranks in the group of stuffed animals lovingly referred to as "my stuff".

The other day I heard this conversation (or lack thereof) between the two of them after I put Cooper down for a nap.

Cooper: OK Mistah Snake, we're going to call mom back in.

              OK?

              OK.

              Mom. MOMMMMMMMMMM!

              Mistah Snake, why aren't you talking?

              UGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH! Mistah Snake's not talking.

If only I were technically savvy enough to rig up "Big Brother: Cooper Edition". I would love to see what actually goes on in there...

Coop and Mistah Snake!

My Dallas Visit

The strange thing about being in Dallas for my grandmother's funeral was that I had already planned to be there that week. I was going up to visit family and meet new babies…I just ended up doing it in reverse order! It was nice to mix in some fun on the trip, too.

In a truly "life comes full circle moment", the little girls young women that I used to babysit growing up kept my kids for me while I was at the memorial service. This was Cooper's first real babysitting experience because in the past he had either been asleep by the time the sitter came for the night or had been kept by family or our nanny. I decided to  explain the process to him beforehand...kid likes to know what's going on! Also, he is very literal.

Cooper: Are they good babysitters?

Me: Oh yes! Very good!

Cooper: OK! Are they good at standing, too?

I can only imagine that he thought they would literally be sitting on his baby sister! That boy...

I also got to meet this little nugget...Miss Ava! She felt light as a feather compared to Miss Carrington. And I couldn't believe how still and unwiggley she was...how fast we forget! 

 

After spending time with my family, we headed over to visit my friend Chelsea for a couple of days. As Chelsea put it, it was "the most wonderful kind of chaos and crazy" with a 3 year old, a two year old an (almost) one year old and a two month old. Not to mention two dogs and two husbands who couldn't seem to put down their golf clubs! 

We watched Frozen about 100 times, went to a splash park and stayed up late playing cards.

Frozen has officially taken over my life. Chelsea's too!

Our friends Natalie and David stopped by to see us!

Cooper, Grace and Logan

Our hosts, Chelsea and Nick.

Rook Champions!

Hostess with the mostess...personalized coffee cups awaited our arrival!

Baby Everett and Carrington

Cooper LOVED the splash park!

 

 

Checking out the locals...

You know you're loved when the person's whose refrigerator looks like this...

Chelsea's fridge. Clearly Nick loaded those water bottles. LABELS OUT DUDE!

...let's her house look like this for the simple reason that her friends are in town and there was too much laughing and talking going on. I had to take pictures because nobody else would have believed me otherwise!

Chelsea's counter after Hurricane Charles came to town.

Breakfast and card game remnants!

 We had such a great time catching up!

And, to leave you with a chuckle, here's Cooper singing "Let it Go" on the car ride home!

Remembering my Mimi

A week ago last Friday, I received a phone call that my Mimi, Elizabeth Swift Brown, had passed away.

She had been very sick for a very long time so the phone call brought a mixed bag of emotions. Sadness and relief. Shock and peace. A wish that I could have had more time with her and comfort that her time and pain was finally over.

My Mimi was a character. A force to be reckoned with. Feisty. Spirited. When she would ask you how you were doing, "I'm fine" or "I'm good" were never an acceptable answer. She let Kyle know this the first time they met. He made it a point never to mention "doing well" again! She was always "marvelous, darling" (in the most delicious East Texas accent you've ever heard), even when she wasn't.

At the young age of 82, she came down to College Station for my Kappa initiation and stood through the hours long ceremony. When one of my friends noticed that Mimi had lost an earring, she simply replied "Oh heavens, I guess I'm a gypsy!" and just rolled with it.

Mimi was not the typical "bake cookies with you" kind of grandmother. She was more the take you to Neimans at Christmas type! Always fashionable, she loved the color yellow. I never pass by a yellow rose without thinking of her.

In my adult years I have really enjoyed hearing others tell me stories about her, how she was a woman ahead of her time. At a time when most women did not work outside the home, Mimi did. She was passionate about her work in the wood flooring business she founded with my grandfather. I was tickled to hear the story about how she added ceramic tile to the product line. When samples of the tiles started coming in for display, my grandfather said that they weren't in the ceramic tile business to which she replied, "Now we are."

At  95 years old, the time spent I spent with my family and her memorial service truly felt like a "celebration of life". It was good to see all of my aunts, uncles and cousins and share stories about our time with her. Unsurprisingly, we clung to many of the same stories. She was the matriarch of our family and will truly be missed!

And, since no post would truly be complete without an "out of the mouths of babes" moment, I wanted to share Cooper's reaction to the news.

Since Kyle's mom is also a Mimi, Cooper has always known my grandmother as "Mimi Elizabeth". The last time he saw her was in February when we went up to celebrate her birthday. At the time, she had a broken hip. Cooper went on and on about Mimi Elizabeth's "broken weg" and how he was going to fix it.

After I got the call, Cooper noticed I was crying and asked what was wrong. I told him that Mimi Elizabeth had died and that it made me sad. He said "Oh Mom, I'm sorry. I'll get Mimi Elizabeth a new bandaid. Did she fall off her scooter?" I'm sure Mimi got a good chuckle about that one from Heaven. Although,  she most definitely would have chosen a souped up Cadillac over a scooter!