getting to the good part.

We have passed 10 month's in Cooper's sweet, sweet life and nearing a year faster than I would like.

I can't believe how quickly things are going (will I ever?) Coop is getting cuter, funnier, LOUDER, busier and definitely smarter by the day.

And with all of these mostly adorable qualities comes some of the realizations that I had no idea what I was in for.

Like how I am currently typing while Coop is either banging on the keyboard (I have had to retype this at lease 5 times) or laughing as he figures out he can close the screen. Or how he has definitely learned the word NO but when I say it will look at me with this blank stare and bat his eyelashes, the look that I am sure he will use for the rest of his life and will work for at least half.

Or how he has figured out how to snuggle, like really snuggle, with me or Daddy or even Fletch and he looks so proud when he does. Or how he has figured out how to wave and does it pretty regularly and it just makes my heart melt. (How can a simple wave be so cute?)

But my favorite new thing has got to be the dancing. Oh my sweet little dancer. Usually its Jack Johnson that gets him going but most everything with a good beat will get his hips bouncing. Sometimes he will even dance and drum his hands at the same time.

Babies are nice and all and I am a little sad about Coop growing up (Did I mention I had a melt down when I ordered his first birthday invitations?) but we are starting to get to the good part. The really good stuff where we can explore and play and make messes and have a blast! I am so happy to be his momma.

Shelton Beach Week..filled with traditions.

Cooper's 6th postcard is a doozy.


My dad is 1 of 6 children. Each sibling is married and has between 1 and 4 children each and now 2 of the grandchildren have children of their own. 

We have been taking this annual vacation for 30 years. The stories range from stories of all 6 kids and their parents sleeping in one hotel room all the way to people having to sleep on balconies, in bathrooms, wherever they could find a place to rest their head.


I barely remember a time when we all fit in one beach house.


Today, there are 33 of us! My grandmother's brother and his wife usually attend every year as well which makes 35!

Within this week, there are a million traditions packed in, like getting the annual Brew Thru t-shirt and picking bushels of crabs for hours sitting around one two tables. Some traditions are newer like fishing in Oregon Inlet. There are other traditions that have died like shooting off fireworks Uncle Steven smuggled in from South Carolina and building fire-camps on the beach while the young cousins (we are actually the old cousins now) put on shows and sang "Roll the Old Chariot Along" but the memories have far from died. 


One thing remains the same. We have a wonderful time and we all eat WAY too much.


This was Cooper's very first beach week and he had a blast! If I was ever worried he wouldn't enjoy the beach as much as his daddy and I do, I will not worry again. He had a blast watching Delaney run around the surf and if he could walk on his own he would've learned to run trying to keep up with her. 


At one point, he was on all fours crawling into the waves, letting the waves crash on him.

 It was perfect. I am tearing up as I as I write, just now beginning to fully grasp the importance of this family vacation. The fellowship and quality time that is created. I am so thankful. I cannot wait for Cooper to grow up doing this every year, just like I did.

chitown... a best friend tribute.

So as you probably remember, my best friend, Shannon (who also happened to be my maid of honor and happens to be Cooper's godmother) moved to Chicago shortly before Cooper was born. In fact, I distinctly remember endlessly praying that she would have to cancel her going away party to spend the weekend in the hospital with her newborn godson. Not so lucky as you can see...

So my wonderful best friend flew back the following weekend to visit us and meet Cooper after his birthday. In fact, she even surprised us on Christmas Eve for Cooper's Baptism and has visited us every chance she has gotten. 


To say we owed her a visit in Chitown is an understatement! We made plans for Cooper and I to have a weekend in May only to realize a few months before that it was Mother's Day weekend. Whomp....


We scheduled for us to come Memorial Day weekend, but the prices were absurd. We waited and waited and then all of a sudden it was the week before and the prices still hadn't come down. I had conceded that maybe this just wasn't going to happen. I needed a break from Richmond so bad, but it just didn't seem feasible.


Then, on the Tuesday before Memorial Day weekend, Shannon sent a text saying there was a deal running on American for $69 each way. I called Rick immediately and before I was home from work that day. Coop and I were headed to Chicago!

Of course the weather was terrible while we were there, but it didn't matter. Turns out all I needed was some one-on-one time with my best friend. I didn't realize how much I missed her until we got to spend 3 days together. We drove around the city, walked around the shops, swam in her indoor pool and even ate at the BEST Nawlins restaurant. But by far the best part was laying in our jammies, watching old reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 and talking endlessly about anything and everything all over a bottle (or 2) of wine. 


It was a wonderful weekend. Cooper even knocked Illinois off his state list and added a 5th postcard to his travel box!


I hope everyone is lucky enough to have a friend like Shannon.

Shannon and Coop in Chicago

One of my most favorite pictures. 

Right before this, Shannon asked if she would be my maid of honor (This was at least a year before I met my husband!)

lazy saturday!

I owe a few blog posts. One on Coop's first trip to Chicago and one on how he has really started signing. I should probably write a post about how I started on Coop's year one photo book and I had to quit because I cried about the thought of my sweet baby coop turning a year old! Oh, and I can't leave out the first stare down that Coop and I had today over him banging on our DVD player and not liking the fact that I said no.


But right now, I am enjoying the fact that we had a lazy saturday. One that had absolutely no plans or commitments, something that we haven't had in a long time. And I am celebrating the fact that Coop slept 8+ hours the last 3 nights and has eaten mostly table food this whole weekend.

So the blogs will come, all those moments will be memorialized. But for right now, I am enjoying the last few moments of this lazy saturday with the most wonderful boys a girl could ask for!

Ps. Happy Father's Day (tomorrow) to the Most Wonderful Father I know.

still my little squeak toy!

We went to the ENT back in March to get a clearer picture (literally) of Cooper's noisy breathing a.k.a. his stridor. Today was our follow up visit and definitely didn't go as well as hoped.


The doctor had hoped we would notice significant improvements over the last 3 months and that he wouldn't even have to re-scope him. Sadly, that was not the case. 


In fact, during this second scope, they also discovered yet another reason why his breathing is so noisy. He also has a mild case of subglottic stenosis a.k.a. narrowing of the airway. So not only is his voicebox's cartilage weak and floppy but his vocal cords are narrower than average, both of which contribute to the stridor.


What does this mean? Well, it means we will be going to the ENT every 3 months until there is some significant change. It means we have to be extra careful about food allergies because the reactions could be life threatening for Cooper. It means Cooper is going to remain our human squeak toy until about 3 or 4 and will probably have to sit out of quiet games like sardines and hide-n-seek. (Thankfully surgery doesn't seem to be a concern unless it starts to worsen or interferes with his development.)


So hopes of Coop not remembering all of this are sort of evaporating. In fact, when we walked into the dimly lit procedure room where they do the scope, Cooper flipped out, like he knew or remembered something bad was going to happen.


But it could be worse. He could be refusing food, having difficulty swallowing and this could interfere with his ability to thrive. And it's not. He is definitely a healthy, growing, strong boy, with more perseverance than I have seen in a baby.


I am confident his thriving will continue and that one day he will be able to play hide-n-seek with his friends! :)

I said I'd save the world...

My class and the other teacher in my classroom are pretty much rockin'. And just when the excitement surrounding the class starts to die out, it booms. And when I say boom, we are talking like slam-in-your-face-this-is-waaay-bigger-than-we-ever-expected kinda boom.

Let me explain...

Rainbow Station was asked to present a 13 minute presentation as one of the leading innovative business as the Richmond Chamber of Commerce (alongside business like BioTaxi and The Martin Agency). The presentation is to be on the inspiration of the innovation, what kind of innovations come from that inspiration and what impact the innovations make.

Well as you read before about being exactly where I am meant to be, our innovation is obviously the 7 Habits of Happy Kids. They are life lessons, teaching children (basically from the first moment that can speak) to be leaders in their own right. In some cases, such as the Diaper Drive (or another class at a different school organized and raised money through a Trike-a-thon for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital) they are teaching children about the world around them, learning compassion and understanding that generally aren't usually considered age appropriate emotions.

What makes this innovation even more amazing, is that it isn't just the kids that are impacted. The children are impacting their TEACHERS, parents, siblings, extended families, too. They are impacting their local communities and even other communities around the country which lends itself to economic impacts as well.

This is a small seed that is blossoming in ways that can't ever be measured, in some cases no one will ever even realize.

These children will have these habits or paradigms or tapes playing in their minds about how to approach people and conflicts and life in general. They will be better people because of it and with this amazing wildfire catching on, they will start changing the world. 

Three teachers from all of the Rainbow Station schools were selected to assist our 8 preschoolers and 8 school-agers prepare and help Gayle, the brains behind all this innovation, deliver this 13 minute presentation to over 200 people. Oh, did I mention we have 2 weeks, which is apparently A LOT of time for things like this! (Ironically enough, we are presenting on our graduation day, June 23. Details to follow because it will be streamed online live!)

I said when I was about the same age as these kids, that I wanted to save the world. This might not save the world but it is the step in the right direction and I am so excited to be a part of it.

[This is me with my amazing teacher at our Diaper Drive Bake Sale. She is the best teammate I have EVER had. This school year, would've only been half as successful if it weren't for her! :)]

Best Brothers!

I think maybe my two "sons" have graduated from best friends to best brothers. I am not sure if it is the amount of time the two have spend together or if it that Cooper can interact with Fletch more (probably a little bit of both) but I am unsure of who is having more of an impact on the other.


I used to call Fletch my K-9 son, but now I think it is appropriate to actually refer to Cooper as our human pet. Coop spends most of his time at home crawling behind Fletch on all fours. I swear he even shakes his behind as if he has a tail. And more recently his incessant tongue thing has graduated to a full fledged tongue hanging. We are talking all the way down to his chin. Our bold human pet has even gathered enough confidence (and motor skills) to play tug-o-war with Fletch and his chicken aka Fletch's Sophie giraffe (This is actually Chicken II much like Sophie II.) 

As if it could get any more obvious the love the two of them share... Cooper will now choose the chicken OVER Sophie and I am embarrassed to admit, we have even caught Cooper trying to eat Fletch's dog food. He may or may not have slipped one in his mouth, but that is a whole 'nother post.


I guess if I have to go through a dog-food-in-baby's-mouth-scare once in a while to have a dog and child that get along so well, than it is worth it because they truly are the best of friends brothers and I am sure there will be more stories were these came from!