WHEN IT WENT FROM BAD TO WORSE...

So Monday night we stayed with my mother in law which is never the most comfortable thing because while there I sleep on a love seat. Now I know what you're thinking "um isn't a love seat those little tiny couches that are like 2 feet long?" And yes, you would be correct on that but it's not really horrible because generally I curl up in a ball to sleep anyway. So normally I sleep on the love seat and Cooper sleeps in a portable crib beside me. Craig sleeps on the big couch because he's a whiner and always goes to bed first.


Well on Monday the portable crib wasn't there because someone needed it for her second SURPRISE illegitimate grandchild. (That's another story for another time).


So Joann's like "why don't you sleep on the couch with Cooper?" Ummmm yeah I don't know because maybe my butt is as friggin wide as the f-ing love seat to begin with so I fear there would be NO ROOM LEFT FOR COOPER. And by the way thanks for the heads up that the crib was no longer at your house BEFORE I left my house (which has both a bed AND a crib).


So me and Coop ended up on the floor because OH YEAH Craig had been asleep on the big couch, for I don't know, HOURS. Joann was kind enough to make us a "pallet" so I mean, what else could I ask for? So we lay down and it's all I don't know, 1000 degrees in her house so I turn two (2!) fans on in the hope that we don't spontaneously combust during the night. It was so hot at one point all I could think about was taking my pants off. And nothing says parenting at it's best than laying pantless on a pallet with your baby.

Maybe it was because we weren't at home, maybe it was because we weren't surrounded by cats and MAYBE it was because we were laying on a f-ing hard wood floor but whatever the case Cooper would not go to sleep. He was completely restless. He would thrash and kick and roll and this was completely unfortunate because every time he rolled he rolled into the wooden coffee table and every time he thrashed he managed to hit his head on the hard wood floor and every time he kicked he managed to freakin kick me.

I've always heard of people complaining about their kid moving around so much while sleeping and how they can't stand that and I've always been like I love it when Cooper moves, just one more indication that he's breathing and okay, well now I get it, NOW I FRIGGIN GET IT. It is not fun to be kicked in the head while trying to sleep.

So we made it through the night and I have never been so glad to get up early and go to the dentist because that just means that someone is probing in my mouth and causing me great pain and that indicates that the night is over and anything is better than laying pantless on hard wood while being kicked in the head.

COOPER, 13 MONTHS OLD!

one year, one month, thats how old you are! how amazing is that?! you are over a year old! we have known you for over a year! you have gotten to experience every single month, every single season and every single holiday, ONCE! you are awesome and i thank God for you, little one. we are blessed through you.

you have an attitude now. a very distinct attitude. and also you throw temper tantrums...horrid i know, but still i love it! because it's so...you!

you have a playful spirit and im pretty sure you're going to grow up to be a tease...last night you kept running toward your daddy and you'd hold your little arms up for him to get you. once he picked you up, you'd squirm to get down. then you'd do it all over again. after about the third time when you came running up to craig he said, "i bet he's going to want me to pick him up". well you got to him, you started to hold your arms up and then you said "NO!" and turned around and went to other way. you proceeded to do this until we were cracking up laughing hysterically!

we have so much fun, the six of us (you, me, your daddy, jay-jay, mercy and dudley). sometimes we all curl up together and watch a movie...these are my favorite nights.

you eat real food now. (hamburgers and spaghetti are among your favorites, i knew you were my kid)!

you drink from a straw now!

you say "please" which comes out "pes" when you really, really want something. (and i mean, seriously, who could say no to that)?!

you are full of energy, excited about everything and you have a zest for life. i love you my darling! my sweet, precious baby boy, everyday i count the hours until i get to be with you again, to hold you, to play with you and to just enjoy being your mama.

love you,
your mommy

HAPPY FIRST B-DAY COOPER!!!

So i have completely, utterly and without a doubt dropped the ball on blogging...BUT i must pick it back up because you, my baby, are growing, GROWING, GROWING too fast and if i dont try and write it down now i'll never ever remember it all!

You are no longer an infant. You have passed that stage in your life. You can now be considered a toddler!!! Im loving it, every minute of it! You are seriously more fun now than ever!

You walk. Seriously, like all by yourself. Sometimes it's just 2 or 3 steps but sometimes you really get going and you make it half way across the room, then you collapse and resort to hysterical laughter! It's the best!

You talk. And sing. Mostly it's in your own language but that's okay because it's beautiful anyway!

You have 5 baby teeth! wow! You are definitely making up for lost time on the teeth thing!

We had your 1st bday party and it was awesome! You wore your tux and we decorated your high chair with balloons and you had a crown and your very own cake and AUAHGHGHGHG too much fun! You had a TABLE FULL of presents! So many that we are getting them out one at a time so you aren't overwhelmed.

But you know what my very favorite part of the day was? After everyone had left we took your new things home, unloaded them and then went back to the fellowship hall to clean up. So it was just me, your daddy and you all alone at the fellowship hall. We vacuumed and you chased the vacuum cleaner! You loved the wide open space to walk, crawl, run and flail about. You were totally content to stay there and play with us and that vacuum cleaner all night! We had a ball, just the three of us! Then we went home and sat on the couch and played with your 3 kitty sisters, life just doesn't get much better than that!

This year has without a doubt been the most exhilarating, most trying, most learning and finally the absolute best year of our lives. God changed our hearts when He gave us you. I never ever knew I could love another person as much as I love you. I never thought it was possible to want to give another human being so much of yourself that it hurts. You complete us, you make us a family and we love you more than you'll ever begin to know...thank you for the best year ever and I can't wait to start the next chapter!

Love you my little Cooper Douper!

<><><><
your mommy

COOPER month 10...AND month 11...

Cooper-
So pretty much I have sucked lately at this blogging thing. I blame you and all of your cuteness and the fact that I want to spend every waking moment with you, not on the computer! But years from now when you're reading about your young life and you question why I combined month 10 and month 11 basically I'll have no good answer...

It's sad too because I don't even remember what all you were doing last month because this month you've totally mastered all these new skills and you've overwhelmed us with your abilities!

Now you can drink from a sippy cup. At first I thought you didn't understand how it worked. I tried it with juice...then water...then a different kind of juice and you just didn't act like you could get any so I gave up...then in good mommy fashion I tried it with coke...you guzzled it...then I tried tea and you gulped the whole thing down so BASICALLY you fooled your mommy...you knew exactly HOW to use the cup you were just waiting for something that you actually liked in it...

You can stand alone now! You still haven't taken any steps (at least none that I know about, who knows, maybe you walk around at ms. karen's and your gran's) but in my presense you only stand there all balancing, all adorable and melt my heart!

You now say "hey" and throw your little hand up in greeting but because you're a little country boy it comes out sounding like "hiiaaaayyyy" your daddy called you his little nasal redneck. IT IS HILARIOUS!

You love to torment the cats by laying on the couch and then grabbing them as they walk by. You never tire of this game...thats more than I can say for the cats...

Your most used form of mobility is crawling...FAST. Grandma made the comment that you could crawl faster than she could walk!

You now open cabinets and shut them. Open and shut. Open and shut. Another game you love.

Your grandpa frosty and your daddy are still your favorite people on the whole planet...

Next month is your very first birthday and I am super excited about planning your party! I can't wait. But I'm also a little sad because you're growing soooo fast! This time last year you were still in your mommy's tummy! I can only say that for a few more days and then you'll officially be a big boy, no more infant! But good Lord how I love you, my little boy. I could never explain it...I could never portray it...I just have to hope and pray that I show you every single day how I couldn't live without you. You complete us...

Happy almost birthday my big boy Cooper!
love,
your mommy

the one where i die a little on the inside

Yeah so ummm....yeah...

Cooper last night you pretty much broke your mommy's heart and then took the pieces and then you just stomped on them with your tiny baby feet.

We went to karate with your daddy and ms. karen was there and so you reached for her. Okay no big deal, so you wanted to tell her hey. I didn't panick. I felt a twinge of jealousy but it passed.

So then when she was ready to leave she handed you back to me AND YOU CRIED. While she was placing you (MY BABY) into my arms (me, THE ONE WHO CARRIED YOU FOR ALL OF NINE MONTHS), you cried and you reached back for her and THEN, RIGHT THERE, you took my will to live and crushed it and pretty much kicked my soul.

I mean when you're reading this years down the road don't feel bad or anything...don't feel bad that I did my best to give you all the good things in life...yummy moo, nice toys and all the cats you could ever hope for...and what you did to thank me was crush me a little on the inside...

I love you anyway my little sweet potato!

love,
your (one and only) mommy

standing...

So now you can stand up! You STAND on your VERY OWN TWO LEGS. Standing Up.

On valentine's day you crawled (really crawled) for the first time. Then we took you home and I put you in a rubbermaid container (sounds cruel but you love it), and OBVIOUSLY I don't put the lid on it.

Anyway so I put you in this box and give you some toys and go about making dinner. I glance over and FRICKY FRICK, YOU'RE STANDING UP! I was like, "OH MY GOSH, COOPER YOU'RE STANDING UP." You gave me a look like, "yeah..." So I figure it's this freak thing (because who would guess that the same day that you crawled would also be the day you started all freakin walking around?) So anyway I set you back down and you're all like, "OH NO, YOU DIDN'T" So I turn around to look at supper again and as fast as I can turn around you're standing again! You pudgy little hands are curled around the top of the container and your chubby legs are ridgidly standing in triumph and you're peering over the side of the box, looking at the world below.

This happens like I don't know, FOURTEEN MILLION times and even though I am truly excited and gleeful I have a realization: you are no longer containable...there is no where that I can put you and then expect you to be when I come back.

Your very own journey has now began...

PACI'S, THUMBS AND DOOBIES

Okay so most parents try to discourage their babies from dependencies like thumb sucking and pacifiers and later on in life drug usage. Now I'm not saying that I would approve of him lighting up a doobie but I have to say that I am thrilled to see that maybe Cooper might be a thumb sucker. I mean as I watched him lay in his bed, his thumb in his mouth, his face a look of peaceful content I had thoughts of how very much I LOVE THIS KID and MY GOSH, HE IS THE CUTEST BABY EVER and OTHER SHOUTED THOUGHTS of this nature...

Who doesn't think a baby with a thumb is adorable? Possibly the most adorable sight ever...put a fluffy kitten in his lap and there would be no doubt.

Thumb sucking is not only marvelously cute but also very practical. I mean you always have your thumb. Even if there is no "moo" there is a thumb. Even if the paci has dropped in the floor there is thumb. ALL THROUGH YOUR LIFE THERE IS THUMB. And I can't chastise thumb suckers because I'm a nail bitter. And I don't apologize for that. It provides great comfort. When I'm upset I bite. When I'm nervous I bite. Also when I'm excited, bored and feeling pretty much in other emotion I bite. I don't smoke, I don't drink and of all the vices to have nail biting (or thumb sucking), is pretty mild.

So this morning Cooper was a little cranky having to be woken up and dragged out of bed and put into a cold carseat. I handed him a paci (something he hasn't had in months), not from lack of trying, he just doesn't seem all that interested. So this morning I give him the paci and he sucks for a minute, then takes it out of his mouth and examines it, chews on the side a little then proceeds to put it back in his mouth with his thumb stuck in the hole of the paci, essentially sucking his paci AND his thumb simultaneously...and then, at that very moment, my heart exploded into a million happy pieces from the sheer volume of ADORABLENESS...

COOPER-month 8!

Eight months old! Eight! It's hard to believe that in just four short months we'll start calculating your age in years...unreal...People told me it would fly by and they were right, it has. But at the same time I have enjoyed every single minute of it. Even the 3:00 am feedings!

You are still working on teeth...ugh baby teeth. I will be glad when this part of our life is over. I feel like baby teeth hate us both.

You are *almost* crawling! You do the whole getting up on your hands and knees thing but then you don't really go anywhere but BABY you are close! Everyone says I'll regret encouraging you so hard because once you become mobile there will be no stopping you!

Last week we lost one of the most important people in our lives, our nanny. I have contemplated and wrestled about what I could possibly write to you, what I could possibly try to pass on to you to tell you just how very much she loved you. I have decided that there are just simply no words. There is no way I can ever tell you, my only hope is that she instilled enough of it in me that I'll be able to pass that love on to you all the days of my life.

She was 69 years old which to you has to be ancient. Even by the time you can read this you'll think that she was the probably the oldest person to ever live but I promise you, by the time you're mommy's age you'll realize that 69 is just barely scrapping the surface of old age or the supposed golden years. For a while I struggled with this and I thought about all the people that had made it way past 69, some even into their 80's and 90's and it seemed so unfair. Like we had been robbed of precious time that was owed to us. More time for her to get to see you crawl...and walk...and talk...and grow up to be a magnificent little boy and young man. But my consolation is this: it was truly her time. She was asleep. She wasn't sick. It wasn't expected. It was sudden and it was fast and of all the ways to go it was a blessing. While she was sleeping God just whispered in her ear, "Come on home..." She didn't suffer and I can't even argue that her time was cut short because I can promise you, God always knows what he's doing.

Right after you were born your gran told me something that to this day still makes me cry. She said that right before you were born she could just picture Jesus leading you through the streets of Heaven letting you say goodbye to all the loved ones you already had up there. We talked about how you saw your papa mincey and your grampy jones and your grandpa gilleland and how they probably told you to be a good boy and that they'd "see ya after while". That image still gives me chills and no doubt, you, little one, have been in the presence of the God.

At the funeral home I thought of something else. Nanny is no longer here to hold you but she is Heaven, holding your little brother or sister. And I'm not sure when they're coming here to earth, but it's weird, it's like I know they ARE coming...one day.

Right now we're enjoying you and all of your quirks and all of your personality and all of your bubblyness. You are the happiest baby ever.

You now say "dadada" and FINALLY "mama" and "hey" and "hi" and most recently "na-na" which is close to "ma-ma" but if you listen real close you can tell the difference. And I have to believe that it's you own little way of giving a shout out to our beloved nanny.

In other news Gretchen and Joshy got engaged and are planning a wedding at the beach which will probably be your very first beach trip so that will be exciting! Getting to feel sand for the first time and wade into the ocean and pick up sea shells, I CAN HARDLY WAIT! (Which is weird because normally I hate the beach but getting to do anything with you for the very first time is SPECTACULAR and I love nothing more than to watch you explore and learn and experience).

Tomorrow is your grandpa frosty's birthday so we'll gather at grandma mincey's for food and no doubt she will have not forgotten about you and she'll most likely have sweet potatoes or peas or some other mushy food for you! You'll get all the lovin you can stand on friday night and then your mema joann is supposed to come up on saturday SO...you are going to have one awesome weekend surrounded by people that you love.

It will be fun and exciting and busy but you know what? On Sunday night when everything is over and everyone has gone home me, your daddy, your kitties and you are going to curl up on the couch and watch tv...or not...and just be together...just enjoy each other...even if the kitties are wild or your fussy or your daddy is cold or im hot, it's not going to matter because we'll be together in our own comfy home, with our own little family and we'll just be...

I love you more than I ever thought possible,
mommy

THE ONE in which you find us all in snotty heap...dead.

So Cooper has RSV...sucks majorly. He also has an ear infection in BOTH count em BOTH ears! (According to my grandma, this is all my fault because I let him run around naked, ie: fully clothed minus the socks...) And I want to be all like, "grandma I don't think I'm the problem, the infection is in his ears NOT HIS FEET." If he had contracted gan-green then SURE I might take the fall for that one...but this, I'm not going down for.


Anyway so he's pretty miserable but THANK THE GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN much, much better than at the first of the week. He gets a breathing treatment three times a day and an antibiotic twice a day and we suction his nose as often as we feel like taking our lives in our own hands because seriously have you ever tried to stick something up the nose of a very strong octopus? Have you?

So I am thrilled and thankful that he is on the road to recovery and I have to give a shout out to Craig (my house husband as of this week), who has taken care of Cooper the majority of the time. Him and my mom took him to the doctor. Craig picked up the meds. Craig has given him all the breathing treatments and the antibiotic too for that matter. And he's also been the chief bottle maker (and dish washer), HOW LUCKY AM I?!

The reason Craig has taken so much responsibility is that my job has required me to be here this week. We have a new sheriff and administration taking over and the chaos is imminent and frowned upon if missed by any employee. Yay me, barrel full of fun...

So about that snot. I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick. I guess I have the adult version (aka: much milder) of RSV. I'm sniffing, coughing, wheezing, all cold symptoms apply. Granted I would much rather be sick than Cooper and if I could take this illness from him I would, however nature had a different approach in mind. Nature feels that if one in your herd gets sick that the whole herd is condemned and then it does it's best to weed out the weak ones from the pack. Currently nature is trying to wipe the Sexton's off the map...


As of now Craig is not sick....I'm holding my breath but...Craig has the immune system of a half dead donkey...seriously, he usually catches whatever is going around. I attribute him not getting sick thus far as nothing but the Sovernity of God since I really couldn't miss work and Cooper really needed one sober parent (not doped up on Robitussin), to take care of him. But it's probably coming. Change is coming and I fear that, that change for Craig is his health. I mean seriously can you live with two sicklings and not catch it yourself? I think not. Especially when one of them does things like COUGH IN YOUR MOUTH. (I was informed by Becca that today while visiting Cooper she leaned down and opened her mouth and he went AUGHHCK right in her face. So yeah, she's going to get it too...

So Monday (if we're not dead by then), Craig is supposed to write down when he wants to use all of his vacation/sick days...Yeah he's expected to KNOW when he's going to be sick for twelve months...is this realistic? Not in the least. Vacation I could understand (it would still be annoying to try and figure out when you're going to need that work reprieve most so you don't go postal, so far in advance but I still get it for vacation). But when your days double as vacation/sick it's pretty much impossible to utilize any of them as sick days...ughghgh. Just one more thing to look forward to, you can count on at least a couple of days when you are sick and have to take an unpaid day...Did I mention "ughghghghgh"...

So to recap we're all either sick or getting sick and we're destined to die in a snotty heap while NOT GETTING PAID for it!

The One Where Noone Gets Any Sleep...

Last night was rough. To put it mildly, it SUCKED.


Cooper is sick. Sniffly, congested, can't breath, SICK. But last night we added another element to the mix. Uncontrollable crying and withering around. I knew he was hurting but I was having a hard time figuring out where and what (if anything) I could do about it. We tried tylenol. We tried a bottle. We tried a flashlight...(which sounds weird but Craig has this flashlight and is just Cooper size and when it's dark sometimes you can hand it to Coop and he flails it around and watches the light and chews on the end...). Anyway we tried all that we knew to try. Craig walked around with him. I cradled him. NOTHING. WAS. WORKING.


He would take his bottle for like 30 seconds and then stop and start to cry again. I thought maybe he was having trouble with the milk (because of all the freakin congestion) so we tried pedialyte. He would still only eat for like half a minute.

I had him propped in my lap on a pillow and all of a sudden IT ALL CAME UP. Like possibly everything he had ever eaten in his whole life, possibly everything anyone had ever eaten in their whole life...since the beginning of time...all PROJECTILE VOMIT style. We were soaked and covered and so was the bed.

I changed and changed the Coop, who had miraculously stopped screaming and was down to a whimper. Poor little baby, I knew he must be miserable. Anyway so we relocated to the couch and I tried just holding him against me which was actually working so me and him propped against the couch to try and get some much needed sleep. (By this time it was 3:00 am).

Craig comes and flops on the other couch, apple in hand...I'm like, "what are you doing, are you not going back to bed?" He was like "no, pretty much I have to get up in three hours I'll just stay up!" (See when I get delirious I get funny when Craig gets delirious he gets cranky and unreasonable).

So me and Coop are sitting there trying to sleep while Craig sits 3 feet away and munches on an apple...have you ever heard anyone eat an apple at 3:00 in the morning? Pretty much the most annoying sound ever...it's dead silence then CRUUUUNNNNCH...chew chew chew...CRUUUUNNNNCH...chew chew chew.

I cannot describe to you the absolute torture this caused my ears. It was worse than nails on a blackboard, it was worse than nails on jeans (bec!) and I'm pretty sure it was worse than if fifteen cows had been in my house, all mooing, all dying.

Finally the apple was gone. Then *then* he decided to go back into the bedroom...finally I think we'll get some rest. Now I'm trying not to move at all because I don't want to risk waking him up and starting this whole process over again.

Mercy cat jumps up on the coffee table and swipes the bag of cat treats that are lying there. CRAP! Now if a normal cat encountered a bag of treats it wouldn't be that bad. They might bat it around a little, play with it for a few seconds but then they would loose interest because, well they're a cat and a cat has the attention span of like, 2.8 seconds. But not Mercy cat, she is like a freakin ninja...with tools. She grabs the bag with her teeth and carries it to the floor. All the while I'm whispering "mercy...mercy...no...NO..." She ignores me and proceeds to use her teeth and front paws to rip into the bag...an effective, albeit SLOW, TORTUROUS way to open them. So I keep hearing *crinkle* rip rip rip *crinkle* rip rip rip until I almost entitled this post "the one where the cat gets the boot".

Then the crying starts again. AUGHGHTHTHGHGH. I try a nifty little hold called the collick carry that my brilliant mom showed me. This calmed him and as long as I had pressure on his tummy he was fine. The minute I layed him down he screamed but if I was holding him pressing on his tummy he seemed okay. So this is what we did. We pressed and we whimpered and we slept.

Poor little guy, I hope and pray that he feels better today. (Craig and my mom have him at the doctor right now).

And as for Craig and Mercy, no more cat treats and SO HELP ME IF I EVER BUY ANOTHER APPLE AGAIN.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cooper-month 7

Cooper...where do I even begin? This last month you have done more, learned more and tried more than in your whole life time combined! You seem to develop new skills and "do new tricks" each and every day! Every time I come home is extremely exciting because I just never know what to expect! All the time you are trying new things.

You can now roll over from side to side, although you generally stop in between rolls and flop your head down on the floor and then look up at us like "why am I in the floor and you're up there watching me?! PICK. ME. UP."

You say "dadada" constantly and it's so appropriate because he IS your very favorite person! Last night I got to your gran and grandpa frosty's first and you were *mildly excited* to see me. Enough to give me a small smile and then go back to playing. But when your daddy walked in the room anyone would have thought that you hadn't seen that man in a year because you lifted up your arms and you excitedly started clasping your fists together and you smiled and laughed and squealed and absolutely could not wait for him to pick you up! It was a "melt your heart" kind of moment. Even if you didn't do it for me...

You now say "hey" and "hi". When we walk in we say HEY and more often than not you mimic us in your adorable little voice HEYYY. I love to hear you talk. I could listen to your chatter all day, every day.

You are trying to crawl. Last night you were on the floor on your tummy and you were moving your arms and legs the right way but your belly was in the way. You looked like you were swimming, IT WAS HILARIOUS! I think very very soon you'll start to at least army crawl (you came so close last night) and after that there really will be no stopping you!

I have to do some MAJOR baby proofing very soon...

Oh you do this one thing where you grab both sides of our face and kind of give us a kiss. Except it's more like you try to eat our nose or chin or cheek...and I'm not entirely sure that it's out of affection...it's more like a war strategy...like maybe we're your prisoner and you're trying to make us talk...but all the same I LOVE IT! I'm a sucker for any kind of attention you pay us.

You can now sit up by yourself which is adorable and pretty handy too. You're still pretty unsteady and you do topple over but we can sit you up between us (me and your daddy) and you love it!

This past weekend we had Christmas with mema, grandma gilleland, brad, donna, crystal, brandy and dillon. You loved it! You would open a present, play with it, get cranky and then open another gift. You did seem a little over whelmed at times...and baby, you ain't seen nothing yet!

Tomorrow is Christmas eve and we'll go to grandma mincey's to open presents then to dipper dan's. Then on Christmas day we'll have santa presents, then presents from mommy and daddy then we'll have Christmas with nanny and poppop THEN we'll have Christmas with gran, frosty and aunt bec! WHAT A DAY!!!

The reason we celebrate Christmas is because God gave us Jesus. God sent Jesus to earth, to live and teach and finally to die. Jesus gave us the ultimate gift...he gave his life because that was the only way me and you and daddy and ANYONE could go to heaven. God gave us his Son, knowing that he had to make this sacrifice. And Jesus knew, even thousands of years ago that he was dying for us. For you, Cooper. He looked through time and saw your face and he said your name and I know that one day when you're old enough you'll ask him to live inside your heart. That's the reason that we celebrate Christmas. God gave us the gift of Jesus and Jesus gave us the gift of Salvation. We commemorate this by giving each other gifts. That's how tradition starts. This is the serious side of Christmas and it's the most important. Christmas is all about giving.

Santa Claus is part of the spirit of giving. Anyone who spends all year selflessly making thousands and thousands of toys and training reindeer surely deserves a shout-out! Santa spends all Christmas eve delivering toys to little boys and girls all around the world! What a wonderful feeling to be little and wake up Christmas morning and know that all around the world there is celebration and fun and OH MY GOSH AT THE PRESENTS! Santa is a part of Christmas, not the most important part but still a part!

Remember these things when you get older. Listen to your mommy, she is very wise...

I love you more than I will ever be able to tell you or communicate to you. It would be impossible to let you know just how much you have completed me and your daddy. We finally have our family. You, little one, you make everything happier, better and I absolutely don't know what we did without you! I am having more fun watching you grow, helping you learn and just showing you more love than I've ever felt in my entire life...

Cooper, Merry Christmas, baby!

Love,
mommy

BABY STEPS...

So my grandma (whom I truly do love, although you might not believe it after this), decided that my Cooper needed shoes THIS weekend. She called on Saturday morning and asked what I was doing. The truth was I had planned on running to Gainesville to go shopping because I desperately needed to finish some Christmas shopping but I was on a pretty tight schedule because we had our Christmas Church supper that night (where Craig played santa claus and did an AWESOME job and handed out marshmallow guns to all the kids-woo hoo go craig!)

Anyway so it was going to be kind of a rush trip but then again any shopping trip with my grandma is a rush trip, just ask anyone who's ever been...Becca...Gretchen...mom...Trudy...you know it...you know it is. The woman is almost...73? I'm pretty sure that's how old but she can RUN like no one's business. She RUNS and gets exactly what she is looking for and then she's all like, "okay are you ready to go" and we're all like "ummmm we've only been here for fifteen minutes and the only store we've been to is Belk's so...noooooo we're not ready quite yet..."

So we loaded up, (me, grandma, Cooper and Bec, who let us know that she didn't even want to go but she didn't have a whole lot of choices...gee thanks...).

My grandma has this obsessive thing with Cooper's feet. She thinks they are in a constant state of icyness. She's always like "his feet are freezing", "cover his feet up" and "MY LORD, WHERE ARE HIS SOCKS?!" And I always say things like "he loves NAKIE FEET...let his toes breath" and then she just gives me a look like she wants me to die.

I just don't see the point in baby shoes. Sure they're cute but they serve no purpose. Does he walk? No. Therefore he doesn't need shoes! But I thought okay, what the heck, she wants to buy shoes, if it makes her happy, we'll buy shoes, how hard could that be...(famous last words)...


Okay this is the problem with my kid's feet: they are extremely FAT. And I kind of thought that they were long too, that is until I actually started trying to fit him for shoes. But they're not, they are actually just really fat and short...so kind of ball like...picture a really round foot shaped ball with long toes sticking out...

We tried shoes at target. We found nothing that fit however we did get a really good picture of Becca trying huge ladies pink fuzzy slippers on him. Grandma was not amused.


Next we went to the mall. We went to J.C. Penny's-no fat baby feet shoes. We went to Sears-nothing but long skinny toddler shoes. We had an interesting conversation:

-grandma: are you going to let him watch sesame street?

-me: sure, yeah, he loves t.v.

-grandma: (leaning closer): well let me tell you what I heard...

-me: (looking nervously at bec because WELL you just never know...)

-grandma: somebody at work told me that they called their daughter and said YOU BETTER NOT BE LETTING MY GRANDKIDS WATCH THAT SESAME STREET! because I heard that bert and ernie...well ya know...

-me: what?

-grandma: you know, bert and ernie...they're playin a different kind of family...

-me: WHAT?

-grandma (whispering): gay!

-me: grandma, I thing they're brothers.

-becca: yeah I'm pretty sure they're brothers.

-grandma: well...I don't know...I just wanted to tell you in case you don't want him watching that

-me: I'm almost positive they're brothers so yes, sesame street is fine...

-bec: (eyes rolling all over the place)

Back to the horrible shoe shopping...so it wasn't just that they weren't fitting every single shoe was a battle. Becca would hold Cooper suspended in air trying to keep his arms down. Grandma would hand me shoes and I would try to wrestle it onto his flailing foot not convinced in that moment that he wasn't spawned from an octopus...the kid hates shoes! He is apparently very ticklish on his feet and everytime I touched him it was like his.feet.were.on.fire.and.he.hated.his.mommy. So there was flailing and screaming and gnashing of teeth...wait maybe that's something else I'm thinking of...

ANYWAY so we find nothing! We hit every store imaginable that might have shoes that would fit him. I was soaked in sweet, this was hard work! Grandma was getting desperate, she even pointed out a shoe store who's name was oddly enough: SHOES, SHOES, SHOES! Grandma got really excited until Becca pointed out that it looked like all they had were high heeled shoes and other hooker apparel...

We finally made it to Belk's, grandma's mecca and the one place where she was positive they would surely have the right baby shoes for Cooper's feet. By this time mom and dad, who were doing some shopping of their own had joined us. We tried on more and more shoes. NOTHING. Finally she see's a rack off in the distance. "Look!" Her excitement was almost *almost* contagious. The last rack...off in the horizon...our last chance for our baby not to catch frostbite and end up like a three-toed angry old man...


They have a pair that GLORY HALLELUJAH, fits! They were actually pretty cute too! Augh, sweet relief, life is good again, I can stop tormenting my child and his toes! Grandma is elated. I flip the shoe over...$30.00...thirty...THIRTY LOUSY DOLLARS for a pair of shoes that he DOESN'T need and that he will only be able to wear for MAYBE a month..."grandma, $30.00 dollars is a lot of money...why don't we just wait..." She looks horrified...she looks defeated...she looks at my dad. He says, "$30.00 is extremely unreasonable for a pair of baby shoes." She put the shoes back. She consoled herself by buying two huge packs of baby socks and I promised that if it was really cold I would dress him in two pairs...This was Saturday afternoon.

Sunday morning: I get a wake up call. Grandma wants to know if we're up and tell us that she's coming down, she has something for Cooper. She gets there with an adorable pair of sneakers. They actually fit! She said she couldn't sleep at all on Saturday night so she got up super early and went to walmart. She said if she hadn't found any there she was going to get my dad to take her to Atlanta...

Grandma was so happy I didn't even have the heart to tell her that the characters on the side of the shoe were from Sesame Street...

Baby Teeth make me want to DIE...

ughghghgh. the teething. ughghghghgh. It makes me shutter to think of it.

Yesterday kind of sucked. Cooper threw up twice, (once all over the church pew...) then he refused to eat anything. He fell asleep right after church and slept for...wait...wait for it...3 1/2 HOURS! Most parents would be like "SCORE!" But not me, I just kept starring at him wondering what was wrong and why he was still asleep.

Finally I willed him awake with my non stop starring and I figured okay he's going to be starved because he's only had 1 1/2 bottles and by this time normally he's had 3 and sometimes 4! So I fix a bottle and he drinks *maybe* an ounce...then he's like "okay I'm done". THE KID WOULD NOT EAT ANYTHING! I tried formula. I tried juice. I tried applesauce. Nope, he wanted NOTHING. I have never experienced this before because Cooper loves to eat! It's his very favorite activity. He's all like, "oh food, yeah I'll eat that...oh milk, yum give it to me, wait-juice? you want to give me juice? Juice is incredible, of course I want it...random piece of something he picked up off the floor-heck yeah it goes IN my mouth!" But yesterday he was all like "hmmm yeah ummmmm I'm not going to be eating that...uuummmm I might open my mouth to trick you but that's all...yeah...it's just how I roll today..." And I was like "OH MY GOSH EAT THE FOOD! EAT THE FOOD TINA! EAT THE FOOD!"

So mom came down and did manage to get him to take a few tiny bites of applesauce. I stopped panicking. Applesauce is good. People can live off of applesauce. Babies don't die as long as they eat applesauce, right?

Then came the non-stop crying. For hours it seemed. Crying and crying and then he would mix it up with a little screaming and then a screech then good old fashioned crying. I tried orajel. He looked at me like he hated me. I tried a bottle. He was like "seriously, are you kidding, I'll puke all over you to prove my point-I. DON'T. WANT. THAT." I tried tylenol. He tried to use his baby powers to project just how very much he wanted me to die.

I knew he must be hurting but I can't be convinced that it was excruciating pain because if I stood up and walked around and went to the door and let him look outside he stopped crying...then we walked back to the living room and he was like "AAAGGGHHH I HATE MY LIFE". So from this I concluded he COULD stop crying. It was POSSIBLE. So whatever was hurting (I'm betting on the demon teeth), apparently wasn't hurting to the point that he was going to die, only the point where I thought I was.

Then I tried what my mom always says to try. The bath. The magical, glorious bath. And he was like "hhhmmmm warm water? check. splashing? check. naked? check! And he actually stopped crying...while he was in the water. Now here in wherein our dilemma lies. He's not crying but seriously how long can we keep up this charade? You can only stay wet and naked for a limited amount of time when you're 6 months old. So carefully I lift him out and wrap him in a towel...hoping, praying, that the bath did the trick. That he would have forgotten about what was hurting and he was relaxed enough to not care...I carried him to the bedroom...so far, so good. I layed him down to put his clothes on and he was like "WHAT, WHAT THE CRAP, WOMAN?! HOW DARE YOU LAY ME DOWN AND DEMAND THAT I PUT THAT SHIRT ON?!" And the screaming started again...

Finally after he was dry and dressed and all riled up again I tried the bottle one more time and it worked! He was still mad, he was scowling but...he was also closing his eyes. A little at a time. Yep...finally, finally he went back to sleep.

It just hurts me that I can't seem to help him at all when he gets like that. If I knew what to do I would.

If I could grow those #%&* teeth for him I would.

COOPER-MONTH 6!!!

Cooper, don't be too mad at your mommy for being three days late in writing this blog for you because for the past three days I have spent the majority of my time holding you, rocking you and praying to the Almighty that you stop crying.

We had a rough weekend. On Friday night you, my marvelous beautiful baby boy who has slept through the night from the very beginning of your life decided to wake up and cry every two hours...I dutifully got up with you. I rocked you, I fed you and sometimes I even held you on my lap and we both slept in the big bed.

On Saturday I could tell something was wrong. You didn't want to take a nap. You didn't want to play. You didn't want to eat. You wanted to cry. And cry. And then, in case we didn't get it, you wanted to cry some more. Saturday night you didn't sleep, only cried. The most frustrating part in all of this was the fact that I didn't know what was wrong. Were you hurting? Were you hungry? Were you on some kind of baby crack that had opened a whole new realm of emotions for you? Did you finally hear who our new president was?

Finally around 8:30 Sunday morning, I told your daddy that he HAD to take you for a little while because I HAD to sleep at least an hour. I was exhausted. He took over Cooper-duty while I slept on the couch. I still woke up every little bit when I would hear you and ask how you were and remind your daddy of things like "um did you feed him" and "try changing his diaper" and other relatively easy baby things it would seem but for some reason when your daddy is the sole provider for you these things fall out of his head.

Things went from bad to worse. When word got around that you were sick your family CONVERGED into our house. Your grandma Mincey tends to freak out in all situations concerning you and it didn't help my mood or the fact that I was running on very little sleep by insisting that I go lay down while she folded clothes and did dishes. Even if you actually are exhausted if someone keeps insisting that you are, IT BECOMES MADDENING.

Luckily by Sunday night we had a system I sat up in bed with pillows behind me and crossed my legs indian style. I put a pillow on my legs and propped you up, facing me. It worked. You slept. I slept. I still woke up a lot but not to you screaming, I woke up just to touch your face or chest to make sure you were breathing. We made it through the night.

Yesterday you were a completely different baby. Thank God you finally started feeling better and you were back to being MY MOST PRECIOUS, SWEET, LOVING TINY HUMAN BEING THAT I REMEMBERED!

You completely amaze me with your new skills. You roll, you "sing", you play and you definitely have your very own personality. Last night I was letting you play with a new toy that is actually supposed to strap to your car seat to give you something to do while riding but since it wasn't on your seat yet I decided to let you try it out. It is a long hard plastic bar with toys that spin and light up in the middle. It velcro's onto the car seat. After I had given you this baby death toy to play with I realized just how dangerous it was. It would be fine if it had indeed been fastened securely onto your seat but since I handed it to you loose you gripped it in your chubby fists and waved it furiously around hitting several things including your own face and head...after seeing this several times (if I was a good mom, one time would have been enough, but I swear it was so entertaining...) anyway I finally took it away which sent you into a tantrum! I know realistically that I should discourage such behavior but I just looked at you in awe and wonder and rejoiced in the fact that you're YOU! You may only be 6 months old but you know what you want. You wanted that toy and you were extremely aggravated that I took it away and you let me know! You communicated your feelings! I don't why this amazes me but for some reason it just reiterates the fact that YOU'RE REAL. You are a real human being and you're developing normally and you are reaching all your milestones and MY GOSH AT THE PERSONALITY YOU ALREADY HAVE!

Sometimes I'll hold you standing up in my lap so our faces our even and I'll say "COOPER. COOPER. COOPER" over and over again trying to get you to look at me. You deliberately turn your head to look past my shoulder and then I see you smile. YOU'RE ALREADY IGNORING ME, oh what a great relationship we're going to have when you're a teenager!

No matter what your face always lights up when your daddy or your grandpa frosty walks in the room...I pretend like it annoys me but it's actually pretty cute, you are definitely a "man's man"!

You sing to me by looking at me and screeching in different tones and I can only imagine that you feel like I'm doing the same thing when I try to sing to you.

You love prunes and bananas and sweet potatoes but most of all you love coke! When you reach for my cup I usually give you a sip and your eyes get big and you get VERY excited and then afterwards you make this growly noise and flap your arms to show everyone who very much you love sugar!

This week is your very first Thanksgiving. Oh Cooper, you have not known the definition of "fiasco" until you live through a holiday season with our family! I have many stories to share with you when you're older and only if you promise to not repeat the words I'll have to use to describe the happenings...but most of all this Thanksgiving and Christmas you're going to experience the most love and joy and warmness that you've ever felt! No matter how many times we change the location of Thanksgiving with grandma Joann or how "late" we happen to be to grandma Mincey's (even though it's not really fair to say "we'll eat between 12-:00 and 12:30" and then call at 11:55 and ask why we're not there yet. If you want to eat at 11:55, FINE, but just say so to begin with...) anyway DESPITE all of those things holidays rock with our families! They are second to none and you are going to love it! You will be passed around and hugged more than you have in your entire life. And the presents, OH THE PRESENTS! You will be surrounded by shinny paper and curly ribbons and bags and bags that will CRINKLE in your submissive little hands! And nap time is completely unheard of on holidays. You will be encouraged to stay up and play until you finally have to lay down in the floor amongst piles of discarded gift wrap and boxes and catch a short rest. Then we'll get you back up because it will be time to try new foods and anything and everything sugar coated! That is a holiday with our family.

And as for the "warm fuzzy" feeling, well that comes from grandma Mincey's house. It will be the hottest feeling you've ever had. (She even bought a brand new heater last month...) Luckily for you you're still young enough that it would be acceptable for you to strip down naked and roll around on the floor cool yourself off...

hugs and kisses and love,
your mommy
<><><><

COOPER-5 MONTHS OLD!!!

Cooper,


You reached a milestone yesterday...while I was at work...you rolled over! Yay for mobility! Your Gran was afraid to tell me, afraid that I would be upset because I wasn't there but who could be upset about something as wonderful as motor skills?! I mean I only work at the dipper's one night a week so from now on if it's not too much trouble maybe you could save the really cute stuff for me, okay? But if you must manifest your new found knowledge somewhere else Gran and Grandpa Frosty's house is a good place! (I must admit though if you dare say "Aunt Bec" as your first words, pretty much, you'll be disowned...)


Wow. Five months old. Amazing. You still take my breath away. Every single morning when I look at you waking up in your crib and smiling at me and looking so happy to be alive I hate myself because I didn't get up thirty minutes earlier just so I could hold you and talk to you and be with you. Dropping you off at Ms. Karen's is hard because I miss you but I know that she loves you and you love her...and that helps.

Next week is halloween and you are going to be...A DINOSAUR!!! You have this absolutely adorable costume and you make the prettiest dinosaur ever! We're going to a halloween party this Saturday and you'll get to meet your great aunt glenda and great uncle phillip. Most of daddy's family will be there so we'll have a great time. You, of course will be the star! A green dinosaur star!

I love you so much. I just can't say it enough. I am SO thankful to God that He gave us you. I couldn't imagine our life without you. It would be so boring and drab and wouldn't contain any kind of "jungle themed" toys...you bring us laughter...you bring us life...

All day long I count down the hours until I get to be with you again. Right now there's seven...which is a lot...but we'll make it. One more day until the weekend then we get two whole days off together, yay!

I can't wait until Christmas, I have so many things swirling around in my mind that I want to get you. This time next year you'll be walking...and talking...and such a little man...I wish we could live in slow motion so that I could savour every single minute...except the occasional 2:30 feeding (to which I can't complain, there haven't been too many) but those I could fast forward through...no, not really...even at 2:30 am I love you unconditionally and I still love to wrap my arms around you. I'd not trade a minute for anything...

I don't know why I'm so sentimental today. I guess a combination of things. So I better wrap this up before I start crying at my desk, because it's one of those days that I'm going to cry at random things...commercials, songs, your smile, and under NO circumstances will I let your daddy watch Extreme Home Makeover because that will send me right over the edge...

I love you and in just a few short hours I'll be there to hold you again.

Love,
mama

Do you want to be raised by Wolves? (scratch that) CATS?!

Cooper-

You're my sweet little boy except in the morning time and then you're mommy's little terror...you wake up in an awesome mood, cooing, talking, kicking your legs, then we change your diaper and you're smiling and basically melting my heart. Then comes the really traumatic part...the part where I can't hold you or give you my absolute undivided attention because I must get ready myself...this baffles you and you feel that the only reasonable thing to do is SCREAM. AND SCREAM. AND YELL. And then scream a little more for good measure just in case I didn't hear you right.

So I'm running back and forth from the bathroom to the living room half naked, dangling toys in front of you, handing you paci's, all the while keeping an eye on our GLASS DOOR to make sure no meter readers or door to door salesmen or neighbors stop by because, um, did I mention that I'm naked? And you're all like "I. Hate. This. Toy. I want it to die!" And I'm like Cooper, look it's your penguin, yay for penguins, you LOVE your penguin!" And you're like "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRTGGGGGGGGGGGGGGJHJHJHJHJHJHJHH"

I bought you a JUMPEROO!!! in hopes that it would occupy you long enough in the morning time so that I could get ready without the chaos. Your JUMPEROO!!! that you love in the afternoon you HATE in the morning! You hate that JUMPEROO!!! You angrily slam the toys and scream to drown out the jungle sounds and you ultimately refuse to jump.

It's not as if I require a lot of time getting ready. Have you seen me lately? I take my showers at night (when I'm lucky) and when I don't I usually go without because, well that's just my lot in life. To be stinky... Anyway I'm not into hair and makeup. My face is naked and my hair I usually just pull up so basically we're talking bare minimum, I just need time to brush my teeth, put contacts in and cloth my body. And even if that only takes ten minutes it's too long when someone is SCREAMING until he's choking and then I have to take time to run out NAKED! and see about you and make sure that you keep breathing even though I feel that sometimes you just want to stop because your life is so very horrible.

So this is our routine. You keep on screaming while I pack the diaper bag. Even if I pick you up at this point you don't care, nothing can console you, NOTHING. Then we walk outside. Instant silence. You look around, you smile, you're all like "the world is good again! I want to live, I want to be part of this magnificent place where the air smells good and the sun is shinning and we live amongst hundreds of those kitty cat things..."

It's like magic. It's incredible. At first I'm always like, "wait, have I gone deaf", but no NO, you're actually happy! You're in the great outdoors and this is wonderful and amazing and you're back to mommy's sweet boy giving me smiles and "talking" and letting me know that you forgive me and you love me again...

So tomorrow's routine is going to involve me setting you outside in your carseat while I get ready. I could still keep an eye on you through the glass door...basically I think that the cats would do a really good job raising you...

I love you!
love,
mommy
<><><><

Part Train Wreck, Part Pure Brilliant

David Blaine. I feel like that's what he is. Part of what he does is so completely stupid, horrifically pointless and so entirely parallel to a train wreck that I feel I must spend hours of my life that I'll never again get back watching him do things like live under water or hang upside down for days BUT then there's a tiny part of me that says, "dang, he's a genius!" I mean he comes up with outrageous stunts and then convinces millions of people including a major network to watch him. And I'm not sure who exactly pays him to do these things but I'm guessing someone does because you never hear about him missing work or using up all his sick days doing things like...hanging upside down for a week.

As we were watching the beginning of his newest adventure I kept having to walk over to Cooper and say "no, don't put the blanket over your head" as he was yet again trying to drive me insane and Craig was like, "hey, we have another David Blaine in the making! Look at him over there with his death defying breathing through the blanket stunt". So now, David Blaine's mom, I know how you feel!

Cooper 4 Months!

My sweet baby is turning into a sweet little boy!

Oh my gosh, at the changes I've noticed in just the last few weeks! You've always been good at holding your head up but now it's official, you need no help! We can for the most part carry you on our hip now which just makes you seem even more grownie!

You can hold on to toys and you reach for things now. You love books and you've started to show interest in a stuffed penguin! You reach for it and then grab it with both hands and then try to eat it's beak! You are completely adorable!

You used to have a cute little cry but as of late you've replaced that with sheer screaming...it's still pretty amusing...you're not crying at all, just mad and letting us know it!

Lately you've really been noticing your kitty cats...mostly to grab their fur and hold on tight. Poor little Dudley just keeps coming back for more. He wants to lay right beside you all the time and even when you reach over and grab handfuls of fur or when you take your tiny feet and kick as hard as you can, well, he just purs and keeps on laying there snuggled up against his tiny Coop!

We love you so much. At times it's almost overwhelming...

You love bath time! You get this excited look on your face and you just smile and smile when we put you in the water. It's really going to be great when you can sit up so that I can teach you to splash and play with your rubber ducky and all kinds of bath toys! Your gran and grandpa frosty and aunt bec bought you a huge rubber ducky blow up bath tub! You love it! Just think, in a few summers you'll be old enough to swimming in aunt trudy and uncle ricky's pool! How fun that will be!

It's hard to remember those first few days and even weeks now. They seem like an eternity away...And even though people say "they grow up too fast" I'm loving watching you grow! You are so much more fun now than even a month ago! I love it when you learn new things or make new noises or just anything that you do!

Your gran reminded me that 2 days ago was a year to the day that we found out about you...a whole year ago we had just found out about your existence! And now look at you! You laugh and play and babble and smile and coo and are completely amazing! This time last year your daddy and me were still in shock to hear that you were on your way but now we couldn't live without you! It's as if you've been a part of our lives forever...we were always meant to be a family! God used you to complete us!

Your mommy loves you, your daddy loves you and God loves you!

love you Cooper Man!
<><><><
your mommy

Cooper, seriously, are you trying to kill your mommy?

Well are you? You know your mama is a little neurotic and crazy and physco and she is constantly worried that you'll some how smother and stop breathing? I mean seriously it is her biggest fear. You know that, right?


Believe me, I'm all excited for you that you discovered your hands and now you've learned that you can take those tiny pinchers and put the death grip on something and there is no way it's ever getting away...I mean it's not that much fun when it's my arm that you've trapped with your fists of fury and then you proceed to try and make mommy bleed with your dagger claws that we call baby fingernails.

But anyway, I now know that you are perfectly capable of grabbing your blanket and pulling it all the way over your head. Yep, I saw you do it. And again. And again. And again until i finally threatened you that I would put those awful mittens on your hands and take away your new found freedom of "grasping".

You would look at daddy, look at me, grab the blanket and proceed to cover your head with it and sometimes even start stuffing it in your mouth. Daddy would laugh, you would giggle and I would freak the crap out! "No, you can not put the blanket over your head" I would say in my most stern mommy voice. You would then look at daddy again, smile and start all over...


If you want to grab something how about your feet. Other babies do that and it's super cute! And basically I don't think I'd worry that you could suffocate on your feet...so seriously you could stuff those suckers in your mouth all day long and I'd be like "hey look, Cooper's all suckin his toes again!" and I wouldn't have to shriek hysterically and say things like "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS CHILD, THAT HE'S TRYING TO KILL HIMSELF AND TAKE ME DOWN WITH HIM?!"

Your daddy already makes fun of me and said you look like you're in a straight jacket when I get you ready for bed because I swaddle you in a blanket to prevent "accidental suffocation". This was before I knew you were suicidal. Now i have to look up "how to prevent baby from eating own blanket in sleep" on the internet and find new ways to probably make you even more uncomfortable at bedtime.

When I mentioned this new found fetish of your's to Ms. Karen (your fabulous baby sitter), she non-chalantly said "oh yeah he does that over here all the time, he really likes to sleep with something over his head, i guess it makes him feel secure". WHAT?! He sleeps with stuff over his head?! Not cool! I was like "oh my gosh what about him suffocating?!" She laughed at me too. Then she proceeded to take your thin blankie and cover her mouth and nose with it and demonstrate how she could still breath...however she got distracted and said "wow that smells good, what kind of laundry detergent are you using?"

So we may have gotten a little off track and you may think I'm distracted and I'm not paying attention to your wiley ways but know this: come tonight if you so much as grab the edge of that blankie with your chubby little paws I'll crank up the heat until we feel like we're at grandma mincey's house and I'll strip you down to your diaper and see how you like being a "nakkie baby"! And while you're laying there all bored with nothing to gnaw on think about discovering your feet because...well...basically they're very munchable and not at all a choking hazard!