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!

7 months old

Cooper turned 7 months old on Saturday! He is getting SO big. Every day I look at him, and I'm just amazed that he is my child. I love him so much and can't wait to see what is going to happen the next 7 months.

Here are some things about our 7 month old:

• He is wearing 6 to 9 month clothes, but he is fixing to go up to 12 months for onesies and sleepers. He is just SO long!
• He is probably over 19 pounds now. Big Boy!
• He is eating baby food 2 times a day. Once at lunch, and once at dinner. He is trying to take a sippy cup, but has not mastered that. He just started trying finger foods. So far he hasn't gotten them into his mouth, but he is trying!
• He still LOVES to nurse. If he is upset, I know that is one thing that will calm him down!
• His sleep schedule is not consistent. When he turned 6 months old, he went through a period of separation anxiety. He had been falling asleep on his own and sleeping 10 to 12 hours at night. Well, once 6 months rolled around, he screamed going to bed and had to be rocked to sleep. He was/is also waking up several times at night wanting us. It has been VERY hard. Especially since we have been out of town a lot! Anyways, last night he slept through the night, so we are hoping he has turned a corner! We'll see how this night goes!
• He is very close to crawling. While sitting up, he will lean forward and get on his hands and knees. He will sometimes rock back and forth, but never gets that leg going with him. Sometimes he will even face plant! I know that it won't be long though until he can figure it all out!
• He likes to shake his head "No". I don't think he is doing it on purpose. I think he just likes the way it feels.
• He has just started waving his hand. He turns it towards himself and waves. So cute!
• He is liking books more and more. He definitely has his favorites, and loves to read them over and over.

Check out my post below!

It's Been Way Too Long

Hello blogging world! I realize it has been way too long since my last post. I really don't have any good excuses, except that I really didn't feel like doing it. I was in a blogging funk. I still enjoyed reading all my fellow bloggers, but was not wanting to participate. Well today I decided to start up again. Unfortunately, I had SOOOO much to blog about that it has taken me forever to put this post together. And I also feel like I didn't give enough to each post. I left out pictures and videos because I was tired of waiting for them to upload. But I figured that some were better than none. So here is how this post works. For some reason I posted the events backwards. When you start reading, the first event just happened this past weekend and works backwards. Make sure you scroll all the way down because there is a lot to read. Also, if there are some parts that don't make sense, I blame it on Cooper! :) So pop some popcorn and put up your feet and take a ride through the last couple of weeks of my life! Enjoy!

Remle and Daily's Birthday Party

Remle and Daily celebrated their birthdays this past weekend. They had a dinosaur party! There was a huge blow up slide for all the kids to play on and lots of food! What a great party Brandy!

my cousin Bethany who is expecting a little one of her own next year!
Aunt Susan

Coop being carried away by the dinosaur!

Memphis Zoo

I got to stay in Memphis for about a week. We had a lot of fun hanging out with our family. It was crazy, but always fun. On Monday we went to the Memphis zoo. It was so much fun! The girls had a blast, and there were times Cooper was really noticing the animals.

Remle's cool glasses

The group. Don't you love Daily's jacket?! She was cold, so Brandy gave her a jacket to wear. So funny!

Ok, this is very random. This is supposed to go with the next post, so just imagine it being down there. This is my friend Michelle. I was in her wedding. Isn't she beautiful?

Watching bears

Beautiful boy!

checking out the panda

up close and personal with the panda

The group in front of the waterfall!

Michelle's Wedding

I had the honor of being in one of my best friend's wedding. We were suitemates in college and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding. I was super excited about the wedding, because I had not seen any of my friends since Christmas. They also had not met Cooper yet, so I was pretty excited about that as well. The wedding was in Northwest Arkansas which is a good little haul from Auburn. If we had driven non-stop, it probably would have taken around 12 hours. Since that is just way too long to be in a car with a 6 month old, we decided to split it in half. Memphis is almost half-way, so it worked perfectly for us to stop at my parents house and spend the night before making the next leg of the journey. We left Auburn on Wednesday, made it to Memphis that night, and then left for Arkansas on Thursday morning. On our way to Bentonville, we made a pit stop at Matt's brother and sister-in-law's house. They live in Fort Smith, AR which is also very far from Auburn. We had never been able to visit them, so this was the perfect opportunity to stop by. I don't have any pictures from the visit, but it was wonderful! We got to enjoy a couple of hours with them. Cooper doesn't get to see them a lot, and I know he enjoyed playing with his aunt and uncle. After the short visit, we headed on to Caroline's house in Farmington, AR. She was gracious enough to host us for the night. When we arrived at Caroline's house, Caroline and I quickly got ready for Michelle's shower. We had to make a cake, eat dinner, and then leave for the shower which was close to an hour away! Talk about a busy day! The shower was SO much fun. It was great to hang out with my friends and be silly girls!

On Friday, we headed to the church to help decorate. Once again Matt was in charge of Cooper. He did a great job of keeping him entertained. That afternoon, my Mom showed up to help with the babysitting. (Thanks Mom!) Matt was able to get away and come to rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. So much fun to be with all of our friends again! We decided we will definitely have to take vacations together. We just have too much fun!

Anyways, Saturday was the day of the wedding. The wedding wasn't until 4, so Matt and Mom had Cooper to themselves for the majority of the day. I don't know what I would have done without them. I seriously did not get to see much of my child that weekend! But it was well worth it. The wedding was beautiful. Chris and Michelle are an awesome couple, and I'm so glad God put them together!

We ended up spending the night and didn't head back to Memphis until Sunday morning. Talk about tired of driving!

Me and my bestie! We were roommates through college. I can tell this girl anything!
Family picture! Thanks to Matt and Mom for watching Cooper all weekend. I really enjoyed all the girl time I got!

LOVE these girls! Trish can always make me laugh. She is the best storyteller and can make anything fun! Caroline is my sister from another mother. At Harding there were people who only knew us as "Lydia and Caroline". We were always together, so some just never took the time to distinguish between us.

Our classic pose. I think Trish squatted a little too much and I'm a little too tall, but oh well!

This is the funniest picture. Michelle pulled us aside right before it was time for her to leave. We were having a private moment, just the four of us, and mom took this picture. I'm so glad she did. Reminds me of all those many nights we stayed up talking in the West Marrieds Apartments at Harding.

Chris was very excited to go after the garter. So cute!
This is another funny picture. Caroline looks way too excited. Basically she saw Luke holding Cooper and wanted me to capture the moment to prove that Luke was holding him!

Leaving for their honeymoon! Such a cute couple!

They were so excited!

Syrup Sopping


This was October 30th. Every year, on the last Saturday in October, Loachapoka (a tiny town just right up the road from Auburn) holds the Syrup Sopping festival. They make their own syrup and people come out to buy some. There are also tons of other vendors selling their homemade stuff. We had never been before, so we thought we would give it a try. Also my friend Katie sold some of her items.

Mom in front of the sign

Matt and Cooper watching the boiled peanuts

Father-son shot

Dad checking out the sorghum and syrup he bought.

The men getting the sugar cane off the truck. It was very interesting to watch them make syrup.




Trunk-or-Treat 2010


I was so excited for our church's trunk-or-treat. Matt and I went last year when I was just a couple months pregnant. I remember thinking how neat it was going to be to have a child to share this with. Of course Cooper didn't really go trunk-or-treating, but it was fun being there with all the other kids!

Dad and his little dragon.
Mommy and her dragon

My mommy friends with our little boys.
L to R

Katie and Maddox

Amy and Walker

April and Van
Me and Coop

Cooper and Maddox. This is such a funny picture. Cooper looks very upset! Maddox is just adorable in his lion outfit! I hope Maddox gets to stay around for a long time so that they can grow up best buds!

Trying to capture a cute picture, but just not happening. His costume kept coming unzipped showing his blue onesie! Ugh!

Cooper Meeting Frankie

This is an old video, but I had to include it! This is the day we went to see Frankie for the first time in the hospital. We got some footage of Cooper trying to get Frankie. They are going to have so much fun being cousins!