I am a slacker.

Actually, I am the opposite of a slacker.


Somehow (by the grace of God, I am sure) I have managed to learn how to be a wife, teacher, home maker AND mother.


The difference between 3 months and 4 months is unbelievable. Looking back on the first 3 months of Cooper's life, I was just trying to survive. Just trying to be the best mom I could be and everything else sort of fell by the wayside. Definitely living day by day, sometimes hour by hour, especially with tracheomalacia flair ups and cold after cold, since Cooper catches EVERYTHING!


But now that I am getting the hang of it, I am able to refocus on my other roles. I must say, I am pretty proud. My house stays clean. The laundry gets done. And somehow through all the stress and worry, Rick and I have still managed to have some time alone as a couple and even some time alone from each other. And we are happy! :)


I put a lot of stress on myself to be a good parent. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT! I spend 40 hours a week, teaching kids and helping parents find ways to help their children. Some days I spend more time helping parents raise their kids, than the parents do. And that is okay. BOY  have I learned a lot.


But with that comes the pressure of making sure I am listening to all of my own advice. 


I must say (to toot my own horn), I am very proud of how far we have come. Cooper puts himself to sleep every night, usually in his crib but can go to sleep anywhere really. He is able to put himself to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night as well. He has been getting up between 2am-3am to eat, but again goes right back to sleep, all on his own.


And while we are on the subject of good parenting, I know I have said this before but Rick is an amazing teammate. He is such an active and involved father. I feel so blessed to have him!


So much has happened in the last 5-6 weeks.


We celebrated Cooper's Baptism on Christmas Eve which was wonderful. We baptized him at our church, Good Shepherd UMC where Rick and I have been attending for over a year and have been members since May 2010. We have built a wonderful church family, which has had a HUGE impact on our lives.


We celebrated Cooper's first Christmas! He was able to see all of Rick's family, many of whom he hadn't seen since he was a few days old and some that he was meeting for the first time.


We celebrated 2010 and welcomed 2011. 2010 will always be an incredible year in our family history. We bought our first house and had our first baby. I am so beyond excited for what 2011 will bring!


We celebrated LSU's Cotton Bowl Championship! LSU defeated Texas A&M last weekend in Dallas, Texas. It was no national championship but we will be there next year at the Sugar Bowl.


Next up on this busy Rice family's agenda is Key West! We are flying to Key West on Febrary 12th and staying through the 19th. My parents, brother, sister and her family will be meeting us there. I am definitely looking forward to taking Cooper to the beach, can't wait to put his toes in the sand with mine!


So I am not a slacker. I am carrying a very full plate and somehow managing to stay on top of everything (except maybe this blog!)


Life is good.

Here are some pictures from the last couple months.


My little fish! He loves swimming. He loves his Grandad. He loves his Delaney!

At All Fired Up making handprint coasters for Rick and the grandparents. They were a big hit :) I am definitely getting the hang of keeping secrets!

Merry Christmas Cooper James!

Cooper's first playdate... Louisa and her mommy Julia and Livi and her mommy Molly. Both mommies and I went to high school together. The best part is that we are going to try to do this once a month! It is sooo wonderful to have them.

New Year's Resolution

I'm feeling inspired.

I forgot how much I loooooved being crafty.

I use my creativity pretty regularly creating lesson plans but when you do it at your full-time, put-food-on-the-table-job, it just isn't the same.

As I worked on my crafts the weekend, even through the millions of hot glue gun burns and the frustrating crafting pot holes (burlap is a pain to sew) I loved every second of it.

Especially the feeling when I took a step back from my freshly painted bricks to admire my beautiful book page wreath (that only took 1 hour labor and $7).

Why haven't been crafting since I love it so? (Oh, that's right! I had a baby and bought a house!).

So here is my new year's resolution a month early.

I am going to open an etsy shop.

I will spend 2011 researching like crazy, gathering ideas and feedback, getting my crafting space organized and developing an inventory (of whatever I am going to sell) and MAYBE even creating a separate blog to go with it!

Ambitious much?

Isn't that what resolutions are all about?

Part of the pack.

Our K-9 son has been something of the jealous older brother type to say the least.

As soon as Cooper arrived, Fletch started chewing on everything (especially things found in the nursery), peeing in the house, back to his old general puppy ways... "acting out" is what we call it.

We figured eventually things would settle and eventually Fletch and Coop would become best buddies. In the meantime, we had to expose them to each other without over exposing them...

Every evening before Coop's last bottle, he gets his last turn on his playmat and usually can stay occupied for an hour some nights! This is usually when we try to give Fletch lots of attention.

Tonight, Fletch went and found his giant tennis bone that he loves so dearly. Instead of bringing it to one of us, he dropped it right next to Coop and sat down, patiently waiting for Coop to throw it and play with him.

I guess it is official. Cooper is a part of the pack! :)

Momma called the doctor...

And the doctor said... Sounds like an ear infection, bring him on in.
So back to the doctor for Cooper's 5th sick visit (no one is counting!) in his short 3 month life (I can't believe he is almost 3 months!)
The doctor concluded that he might be teething but he probably is still feeling pretty crummy from the respiratory infection he had which was just 2 weeks ago.
He did however say that baby tylenol would be appropriate for helping with his cold symptoms in addition to teething symptoms, so whatever is going on should be helped.
Here's hoping this isn't a prelude to a lifetime of sicknesses! Or he might just need to live in a bubble like his accident-prone mom and K-9 brother!

So soon?!

Could my sweet baby Cooper be teething already?

It would explain so much...

After our agonizing stint in the hospital... Cooper stopped sleeping through the night (which he had been doing since he was about 7 weeks old).


At first, we thought it was leftover from his respiratory infection. He was still pretty congested and in the hospital he was getting up at really random times during the night.


But then his middle of the night feeding would be at 2:30am on the dot every, single night. We began to think that he was going through a growth spurt. But then during the day he wouldn't finish his bottles. Everything seemed to be a little awry.


Then all of a sudden, out of no where he started drooling like crazy. We are talking puddles and puddles of drool. Shortly after, lots of hand in the mouth, chewing on his paci, clothes, my finger, basically whatever he could get his mouth on. Then tonight the irritability... waking up from a deep sleep screaming only to stop as quickly as it started and passing back out.


Then it hit me. My baby is teething.


Which of course would make sense. This is the baby that could hold his head up on his birth day and was pushing all of his weight on his little chicken legs when he was 5 days old. It would only make sense for him to start teething before even hitting the 3 month mark.


Then I started thinking about his sweet gummy smile... and I imagined his smile with little baby teeth and of course started crying.


Are we already here? Is my sweet baby really almost 3 months? Really?


So, next to a laid back personality, we are going to have to add a little asterisk that reads "except when teething."


Oh boy, I was not expecting this so soon.

from the rice cache.

Found this while going through my photos on my phone. I think Coop was 4 or 5 days old. Look at that squished up face!

can't sleep,,,

Cooper is in his crib asleep. I am in my bed awake. 


Its is our first night home, Coop is breathing easier but apparently I'm still a little uneasy.
I have a confession to make. We swore up and down we wouldn't let Coop sleep in the bed with us. We haven't but...


One of us has slept on the couch with him almost every night. Might as well sleep with us right?


We tried over a weekend to force the bassinet but then he was said to have the tracheomalacia and the doctor explained he wouldn't be comfortable sleeping flat on his back so we went back to taking turns on the couch.

Night one in the hospital all I wanted was for him to be comfortable so our nurse Jessi kind of looked the other way when I held him all night.

Night two, our second night nurse Shannon got creative. She cranked the mattress up at a 45 degree angle and created a U shape out of blankets which she covered with more blankets to create a little nest. Coop's bottom rested on the U so he wouldn't slide down. Coop's trachea didn't have to fight gravity, he had better drainage and mommy didn't have to hold him all night. He didn't even sleep with his paci!

Night three, I was confident and didn't need any assistance getting coop situated in his nest and when Jessi came on shift in the middle of the night, she was not only surprised to see we were still there but that Coop was in his crib! (Shannon was very proud!)

I thanked Shannon for taking care of us but more importantly helping me figure this crib thing out.
So here I am awake in my bed while my sweet baby Coop is asleep in his big boy crib. Rick fixed it so it is at a 45 degree angle and we, too, made a U shape to keep him from sliding down. He has only slept in the crib for 4 hours at a time but as long as we are consistent he will get it. I think this crib thing will aid in maintaining a bedtime routine as well as his ability to self soothe and go to sleep on his own.

Just one more thing to add to our list of positives.