Memphis Christmas December 19. 2010

After Christmas in Florence, we headed to Memphis that same afternoon. We got to my parents house right in time for Cooper's bed time. The next day was Sunday, so we headed to my parents and sister's church. Mom was so excited to have her whole family with her at church. She loves to show off her grandbabies!

Lolly and Coop before church
Trying to get a good picture of all 4 grandbabies at church.

Remle and Daily had a Christmas party after church.

Daily looks so happy to be getting her picture taken. That girl is a mess!

Mom holding Frankie during the party.

Remle watching Santa walk through the door

Remle was mesmerized by Santa.

Frankie and Santa. Daily is scared of Santa so she wouldn't sit in his lap.

Cooper after church ready for Christmas dinner.

Coop opening presents!

Coop got SO MANY presents! He got tons of books to go with his new bookcase Lolly and Poppy got him. Brandy got him a activity table that he LOVES! He also got some clothes, a riding toy, and so many other things.

Matt always has to wrestle with is nieces. They just love their Uncle Matt!

Matt got Lowe's gift cards, dress shirts, and the i-pod that my sister and I split. I got several Vera Bradley items. I turned one into my new diaper bag and wallet. Mom also got me several new outfits which I'm so glad to have! We also got money which will come in handy I'm sure!

While we were at my parents' house, Cooper started to get sick. He had a runny nose and a little cold. Matt also started to feel bad. I thought surely they would get over it or at least it wouldn't get worse. Well, it definitely got worse. Cooper started coughing very badly by the time we got to Nashville. So on Christmas Eve, we decided that we needed to get him to the doctor. He didn't sound good at all. He had thrown up twice since we had been there and was not eating baby food without throwing it up. He was very cranky, and we were afraid that if we waited then there really wouldn't be any offices open on Christmas. So Matt, Coop, and I set out on Christmas Eve to try to find a doctor's office open. There were several things running through my mind. First, please let there be someone open to take him. Second, we are out of state and our insurance does not pay for out of state. Third, please let there be something wrong with him since we are paying out of pocket!!! I know that sounds crazy, but I didn't want to be stuck with a huge doctor's bill if nothing was wrong with him. We first headed to Walgreen's because we heard the had a walk-in clinic in the store. The wait there was 5 hours!!! So we signed the list just in case and headed to the next and only doctor's office that we knew would be open. We got to the place and it literally looked closed. There were only two cars in the whole parking lot. When we found out it was opened, we were so excited! No wait! But no, it can't be that easy. We get into the office and they tell us that they do not see anyone under the age of 2. We also learned that the Walgreen's would not accept any babies either. So, now we were stuck. Well, thank goodness for kind people because the office staff at the doctor's office immediately got on the phone to see if there were any offices open that would accept us - especially since we were out of state. About 30 minutes later, the receptionist got us an appointment at an office further into Nashville. We rushed over to see the doctor hoping that we would find some answers. So what was wrong with our baby? Double ear infections! He also had a virus that was causing all the snot and coughing. The snot was pooling up in his ears which caused his ear infections. I'm so glad we decided to go to the doctor! If we had waited, we wouldn't have been able to get in to see anyone until Monday! That would have been awful. That's not saying that Cooper is 100% better. Actually he still sounds bad. The snot has moved to his chest so his breathing sounds horrible! But since I have some antibiotics, I can breathe a little easier!

Now if that story was not bad enough, there is more! On Christmas Eve (the same day we went to the dr. for Coop), Matt gets sick! Stomach bug sick!!! Ugh! He kept saying he didn't feel good all day. I thought maybe he was coming down with whatever Cooper had, but no. A totally new sickness that hopefully Cooper won't get. But because Matt was SO SICK, I was on my own taking care of Coop. I was up the majority of the night with a coughing baby. And Matt is still not completely better. I'm trying to keep him away from Cooper as much as possible, but it is just so hard without Matt. Matt here is proof that I need you!! :)

We hopefully will head home tomorrow. Maybe Coop will sleep better in his own bed! But since it has been snowing here, the roads may be iced over in the morning. We'll see!

---- I do have lots of pictures from Nashville Christmas, but since they take so long to upload, I thought I would fill you in on what is going on, and then put the pictures up when I get home!

Don't miss the post below!!

Carpenter Christmas December 18, 2010

The day after our family Christmas we headed to Florence, AL for our Carpenter Family Christmas. The party started at noon and we barely made it in time! We were going to leave as soon as Cooper woke up, but he decided to sleep in that day! I love how he always chooses the worst days to sleep in. It all worked out ok in the end, but we were definitely pushing the speed limit. Cooper got to meet several cousins and aunts and uncles he had never met. We have a huge family so it is always crazy at our Christmas. This year it was held in Florence Blvd. COC to give us more room to spread out. Coop got several books (yay for books!), stuffed animals, and a bath toy. I think he just enjoyed watching all the new people more than anything else. He definitely got loved on so much!

Matt with his newest niece Frankie
My dad's brother Ray, my dad's uncle Frank (his namesake), and my dad
My Aunt Libby and Coop - he loved playing with her necklace

Jon and Emily holding Frankie - They are expecting a little girl next year!

Some of the fam

Coop starting to open presents.

He loves tissue paper

Daily and Cooper

Our Aunt Nancy made us all aprons. Me, my sister, and mom are modeling ours.

The women with their aprons

Don't forget to check out the post below!!!

Family Christmas December 17, 2010

This was Cooper's first Christmas! I was so excited to see how he would react to opening presents and he didn't disappoint! Matt and I decided to start a tradition of opening presents the day/night before we leave for our Christmas vacation. It just turned out that all of our Christmas travels were early this year. So to celebrate our family Christmas, we had to get started on Friday December 17th. Since Cooper is so little, I didn't do anything Santa related. I decided to save that for next year when he would understand more. We just got him a couple of items since he is already blessed with SO MUCH! We got him some wooden puzzles, a new lovie (to replace the old one he sleeps with), and a blow-up toy. He really enjoyed the paper more than the toys, but I kind of figured that! :)

I didn't get any pictures of me and Matt opening presents, but I did have the video camera set up for our own documentation. Matt got me an early Christmas present of a Blackberry Curve which I love! I can send quick pictures and videos of Cooper to my family to keep them up to date. He also got me some picture frames for our house. We don't have any pictures up of Cooper and that really needs to change! :) I guess I am just used to seeing him and I just don't get around to hanging any.

I got Matt some jeans and pajama pants. Those were the only gifts he had to open at our house, but his BIG present was waiting at my parents house. My sister and I went in together to get Matt a video i-pod. It is really neat. It holds 4,000 songs, videos, and pictures. It also has radio and wifi. Matt definitely has fun playing around with it.

We enjoyed our small family Christmas and know that next year will be even crazier!

Where did the last 8 months go?

These last 8 months have FLOWN by. I know that people always tell you that when you have children, your life will speed up. It is so true! Cooper is growing way too fast for my liking. I just wish I could slow down life and keep him a baby forever. Oh well, I guess it's is just a good excuse to have another baby soon?!?! Yeah right. :) That's probably not going to happen for a while! Anyways, here are some things that Cooper is doing at 8 months:

• He is back to falling asleep on his own! Yay! We worked very hard after Thanksgiving to get him comfortable with putting himself to sleep. I definitely do not think he was ready for sleep training before, because this time went MUCH better. We would make sure he was good and sleepy before putting him in his bed. Then we would go and pat him and rub him every 5 minutes. The first time it took about 30 minutes of crying before he went to sleep. Each night his crying got shorter and shorter. So now, while it may take him 30 minutes to fall to sleep, at least he isn't crying or putting up a fuss.


• He is also back to sleeping through the night (I should say the majority of the time. He still wakes up sometimes, and I have to go pat him back to sleep). He sleeps about 10 hours and then sometimes goes back to sleep for a little while.


• He is taking 3 naps. Usually the first one is an hour. The second one is the longest from an hour and a half to two hours. Then he takes another one around 5:00.


• He is now eating baby food 3 times a day. He also eats lots of table food. Usually I can find something to give him to eat during our dinner time. He is also doing a great job at eating Puffs. And I don't know if many of you out there have ever heard of Mum-Mums, but he LOVES those!


• He has not crawled yet, but he is SO CLOSE! He launches himself from and sitting position to get toys that are out of his reach. He is also doing lots of rocking (getting up on all fours and rocking his body). And he can get to stuff as long as he can go backwards! :) His arms are strong, but he hasn't figured out how to go forward.
  
• He is waving bye and is sometimes saying "Bye Bye" while waving. He also says "Momma" A LOT! Especially when he is upset!
  
  

We are so blessed to have Cooper in our lives. He is the sweetest boy! I love being his Mom and I know Matt is enjoying fatherhood as well.

Holiday Season

For Thanksgiving, we headed to Lebanon, TN (just outside Nashville) to Matt's family. We hadn't been there in 2 years for Thanksgiving, so it was good to go back. We left as soon as Cooper woke up on Wednesday morning and managed to make it to Cullman, AL before we had to stop. Since Cooper does better when we take long breaks, we decided to have a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Cooper seems to draw a lot of attention whenever we go places. People stop us to talk to him and to ask how old he is. They comment on his good looks (he gets that from me :) ) and his good natured personality (he gets that from his Dad). We are definitely proud of him, but it was really getting ridiculous how many people came up to him at Cracker Barrel. I guess I'm going to have to lock him away when he becomes a teenager! Anyways, we ate our breakfast and decided to get back on the road. We should have had only 2 more hours to go, but go stuck on the interstate in a wreck. Thankfully Matt was driving and drove across the median to back-track on the interstate. It took us an additional hour to get around the wreck, but at least we were moving. We arrived at Matt's parent's house early afternoon. Matt's brother and sister-in-law were already there! We sure do miss getting to see them since they live so far away. That night, we headed to church for some food and Thanksgiving fellowship. When we got home from church, I started feeling bad. Cooper had been sick with croup, and I think he passed it along to me (don't know how that happened!). I did not have a very good night!



Thursday, Matt let me sleep in till 9:00 which was wonderful! But I woke up feeling worse than ever. I definitely was not in the mood to visit, much less take pictures. Therefore I do not have many pictures from the holiday. I hate that I didn't get more, but surviving was basically first on my list. Anyways, Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Cooper had some baby food and a little table food. He tried mashed potatoes, but made an awful face! I think it was the texture mainly. He definitely cannot be our child if he doesn't like mashed potatoes. :) He also tried a little corn pudding. Once again, not a fan. Oh well!

Friday, once again I slept in trying to fight off the sickness. Thankfully we didn't have a whole lot on our agenda, so I took it easy in the morning. That afternoon Matt and I along with Daniel and Julie went to see Harry Potter. I was so excited to see the movie! I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. And this movie did not let me down. I can't wait to see the last one. It will be sad though when they are all over!

Saturday, we headed back to Auburn. It was a relatively calm trip. We took our time and stopped twice. Our last stop was for dinner in Montgomery. He ate at McAlister's where Cooper had some more table food. He had a little of my spud which he seemed to tolerate. He also tried lemons and pickles. He LOVES both! I wish I had my camera with me. He did not make awful faces with either. He takes after me with the love of pickles and I guess he takes after his Lolly on the lemons.

Uncle Daniel and Aunt Julie

Before we left for Thanksgiving, we decided to put up our tree. We will only be able to enjoy our tree for about 3 weeks, so we decided to get it up before we left. Normally our house is covered with Christmas decorations, but this year I just felt so overwhelmed with trying to decorate and get everything else done, we decided just to do a tree. Our tree looks really bare with just a few ornaments, but it will be great if Cooper decides to crawl in the next couple of weeks! :)

Before church!