A fun project

I made this cute banner for my friends baby shower last month.  I thought it turned out so cute.  It was a fun project!  I am thinking of doing one for Brooklyn's room  instead of plain vinyl letters on her wall.  This is a little more girly.

Cooper 4 months old!

My baby is already 4 months...

Cooper is still a great baby...a little fussy after dinner.  I think he is teething. 

A few things about Cooper at 4 months...

*He weighs 13lbs 4oz.  I love his little chunky fat legs.  He has a cute belly too.  He is just the perfect size...not skinny and not fat!

*He now can roll from his tummy to his back (that way he can get off his belly)  Both my other kids were belly kids...not Cooper.

*He is a great sleeper...wakes up at 7am. Can't complain one bit.

*He's a great eater...that is with a bottle.  I now pump and give him a bottle.  It works better for both of us..just adds a little more work for mommy.

*He has great eye-hand coordination.  If there is something in his reach...he grabs it.  And it goes straight to the mouth.  He also loves to crab blankets and put them on his head..kind of scary if you ask me.  He now has started to play with more toys. 

*He is very ticklish...I love his laugh.

*When he "talks" it sounds like he is saying "Hi"  It is cute. 

*He is one strong boy.  He prefers to stand over sitting.

*He has his first cold...which is sad. 

*He loves to suck on his hands...doesn't matter which fingers, a couple of them, all of them, his thumb...he loves any part.

Like mother like son...I use to suck my fingers just like this. I had to take a picture.

 Playing with his favorite toy.

 I got it!

 A new fun toy!

 One happy little boy!

 Enjoying some sunshine...it's about time. 

We had 2 weeks of rain!  We love the sunshine!

Can't you just get along...

The other day, Brooklyn and Easton were fighting (like they always do). 

 I said to Brooklyn, "Can't you guys just get along?" 

 And she replies, "That will never happen!" 

I couldn't help but laugh.  Kids!!!

Mother's Worst Nightmare...

There are moments in life as a mother that you just don't want to experience.  I have had two of these with my sweet Brooklyn.  Yesterday was another one. 

Eric was at Priesthood and I was feeding Cooper and talking to my mom on the phone.  Brooklyn walked in and then out.  I figured she went outside to play like she usually does.  A few minutes later, Easton asked where Brooklyn was.  I said, probably outside playing with the neighbor kids. (Like they do everyday in our yard).  Easton went into the backyard and couldn't find her anyone.  So I sent him downstairs and outside again to make sure.  I figured she had left with the kids and went to one of their houses to play.  (Which made me mad because we have a strict rule that they are not allowed to leave our yard without asking.)  So I got my shoes on and we walked through the neighborhood to all the houses to see where Brooklyn was.  We went to the house I figured she was playing at.  All the kids were there playing but no Brooklyn.  Now I was nervous.  We checked another house and then walked home. Looked again around the yard and house.  Still nothing.  We were yelling her name outside, inside and found nothing.  We got into the car and drove around looking...still nothing.  I tried to call Eric, but couldn't reach him.  At this point I was scared to death.  My heart was pounding. Easton and I said a prayer in the car.   I just imagined some creep grabbing her.  I couldn't think of anywhere else to look. It had been about a half hour at this point. We went back home and I told Easton to go into the back yard and yell again.  I was in the process of calling security and then the police.  Easton started to yell again and we heard a sleepy, "What?"  Oh what a relief!!! Brooklyn pops up from the front porch.  She fell asleep on the porch swing.  And she was so tired that she never heard us yelling for her.   Easton had been up on the front porch a couple of times  but never saw her.  I was SOOOO scared.  I hate having those moments where you don't know what to do or where to go.  And of course, Eric wasn't home...which made it more stressful.  It was a relief to find her save and sound.  Brooklyn walked into the house and crawled into her bed and she slept all night.  She was one tired girl.  

This experience brought back the horrible feelings and memories that I had with Brooklyn when she was 3 years old in Lake Powell.  And since I didn't blog back then, I thought I would share that story as well so I have it documented.  I was in Lake Powell with the kids alone.  Eric was working.  It was after dinner on the houseboat and the kids were playing hide and seek.  (Not a good idea on a houseboat)  Easton was sleeping in the far back bedroom.  Two of the kids come in the kitchen and said they couldn't find Brooklyn.  I had just seen Brooklyn run down the hall towards the back of the boat a minute earlier.  The kids know not to go through the back door without an adult but you never know if they actually listen.  We all started to yell her name and look for her. After a minute, we all started to panic.  We turned on all the lights, got flash lights searching the beach, water, upstairs, all the rooms, everywhere we could think.  Easton's door was locked so we thought maybe she went in there and locked the door.  We got the window opened and crawled through and no Brooklyn.  We even looked in the storage area under the boat.  We looked everywhere. At this point, I was crying and freaking out. I thought she fell into the water and drowned.  My brother, stopped me and told me to pray.  I did.  I think everyone was at this point.  It was so scary.  We were screaming her name.  We were searching every place again and again.  After 10 minutes of horror, I went into one of the bottom bedrooms and saw a pillow move.  I grabbed the pillows off the bed and there Brooklyn was hiding at the top of the bed behind the pillows.  I grabbed her and took her upstairs and just cried.  She got really scared because she thought she was playing hide and seek and didn't know why we were all so upset.  She was one great hider!  3 people had checked that room and even felt the pillows, she was just so quite and rolled into a ball.  It was probably the scariest moment of my life. 

All I can say is I better not have another one of these experiences...I can't handle them. 
I am glad Brooklyn was safe both times. 

Jog-A-Thon/Crazy Hair Days

The school had their annual Jog-A-Thon and the kids loved it.  They loved running.  Big smiles every time they came around again to me.  Both kids did around 15-20 laps I would say.  I had cute video..but it won't upload for some reason.  It was a fun, sunny, warm event!

Crazy hair day...Easton and Avery.  Brooklyn looked really cool too but I didn't get a picture..bad mommy.  

10 Years Ago Today....

Eric and I were engaged! 

I can't believe it has been that long...which also means we will celebrate our 10th anniversary this year!

Some might know our crazy engagement story but some might not. I thought it would be great day to share it. Eric and I became friends in the summer of 2000 and started to date in September.  In March, Eric had an idea for "April Fools."  He said we should "Pretend" to get engaged and prank our families.  We were young and thought it would be a fun April Fools joke.  So we came up with our plan to act out the engagement at the Provo Temple.  We even when to Fred Meyers and bought a $10 rock.  April Fools Day was on a Sunday, Eric picked me up and went to the Provo Temple where he "proposed" to me in front of the fountain.  It wasn't all romantic.. just fun...lots of laughs. I remember feeling happy though.

Now that we were "engaged"  it was time to tell the family.   We went to my parents house and sat them down in the living room and told them.  They were very surprised and my mom didn't believe us, she kept saying, "This is an April Fools Joke, Right?" We didn't want to blow our cover so we just kept pretending it wasn't a joke.  They finally believed us...and then it blew up in our face...we forgot one important thing about a proposal...I am the only girl in my family and this means Eric didn't "ask" my dad for my hand in marriage. Something my dad was looking forward to for a long time.  We never thought about that because it was a joke and he wasn't going to ask him with it being a joke.  Big Oops...my dad was hurt.  My dad pulled Eric out to the trampoline in the front yard and had a "talk." At this point I was thinking, "Oh boy what did we get ourselves into?"  This little fun prank was turning into a big mess.  At this point we kept going with it.  Eric called his parents and told them and they were surprised and happy.  They were happy to get him married off!  Eric even called and told his Grandma. 

We spent the day relaxing and being "engaged."  Later that day, Eric wanted to go for a walk. So we were walking outside and he told me that he felt like it was right and we should make it a real engagement.  It felt right to me too, so I agreed.  So...no one knew it was an prank.  We both worked at Costco and everyone was shocked.  No one really wanted to believe us...since we got engaged on April Fools.  Everyone thought it was a joke. Eric and I were the only ones who knew the truth.

We were happy!  We decided to get married on July 12th in the Manti Temple.  The planning began.

We did have to explain to people that the ring wasn't real...I wanted a REAL diamond.  We just said that I wanted to pick it out after we were engaged.  Which was fun and I liked picking out my ring. I still love it. 

The ring was custom made so it wasn't finished until the middle of June.  Eric picked it up secretly and surprised me one night with a "Real" Proposal.  He picked me up in a limo (thanks to his Brother who owned one), drove me to the Provo temple where he proposed to me again with the real ring.   I don't remember what he said but we were very happy and it was romantic. Eric also gave me red roses.  It was perfect.

I later told my mom about the joke and she wasn't very happy with me.  I never told my dad, but I believe Eric did apologize to him for not asking for my hand.  Eric would have asked for my hand before he really proposed if it wasn't an April fools prank for sure! 

I laugh just thinking about the whole story.  We were young, in love and foolish.  It will always be a story I will remember!  And to Eric's credit...he called me this morning and wished me a happy engagement anniversary.  And for him to remember a special date like our engagement date...that's pretty cool. 

To this day...we don't really do April Fools Jokes...they just might come true with our luck!

So there you have it...our Engagement Story!!!!

Happy 10th Anniversary of our Engagement Babe! 

Cooper's Room...Done!

I always wanted to decorate Cooper's room...but didn't know what do because Easton and Cooper were going to share. And what kind of a theme do you do for both a baby and a 6 year? Not easy. So I decided not to do anything while I pregnant. Then my friend, Jetta said I could have her cute animal crib set and it inspired me to do something fun. A few ideas swirled around my head and I got excited and went to work. And the fun began...it was a lot of work but it makes me happy when I walk into his room! So it was worth it! I love the results. I still have to order a few canvas and I will add those pictures later.

The plain wall... Even had a few helpers for a few minutes until they were "done"....that was ok with me!

I love the sky blue and grassy green. So cute!
I love chair rail...it adds so much to a room.


Can you find Cooper? He is even in the picture.

I think Cooper likes it too! One cute Happy Boy!
PS. We moved Easton into another room and I painted that too..pictures to come.

Cooper's First Trip to Utah

Cooper and I went away for the weekend to see my family last week. I was excited to show off my cute baby boy! Daddy with the help of some great friends took care of everything at home so I could go and relax with Cooper!

Cooper's first airplane ride. He did great. He ate, then slept, woke up for a few minutes and then slept again. What a great baby!

Amanda picked us up at the airport and took us down to Orem. My mom didn't know we were coming...I love to surprise her! So we put Cooper in Amanda's living room and asked my mom to come over. She walked in and asked Amanda "Who's baby is that." She said, "Who do you think it is?" Mom, "Kind of looks like Cooper." And then I walked out and she was surprised. Cooper then started to cry because of the loud noise from the excitement. Poor Boy got scared.

Cooper and Grady..they are only 5 months apart...babies grow up so fast!

Cooper, Mommy and Grandmommy. Cooper was busy looking at his cousins!
The trip was great...too great...that I didn't get my camera out much.
Friday Night we had a girls Sleepover at Jamie's (well almost unless you can count Michael and Alex as girls...they crashed our party). We went out for pizza, visited, ate some yummy treats and then started a movie at midnight- we wanted a chick flic..ended up with a depressing, sad movie. We were all crying...well Michael and Alex were laughing..at us girls. The movie was horrible...too sad to watch...the movie was "Dandelion Dust."

Saturday we had a great breakfast at Jamie's and then went to Kenzie's gymnastics meet. She did great. Then Saturday night I went to Dakota's new boutique in SF and did some shopping and cut out the vinyl for Coopers room. That took awhile..but it was so worth it. So cute!

Sunday I slept in! Which was so nice. Relaxed and got ready for church. I went to my dad's singles ward with my mom. Cooper slept... thank goodness...that was one quite sacrament meeting. I am sure it would have been weird if he started to cry. After church we had everyone over for mom's big Sunday Dinner. It was a lot of fun just visiting with the fam.

Monday was spent shopping!!!!! I went shopping with Brittney. It was soo much fun. I bought way too much. I payed for it the next day trying to manage all of it in the airport with a baby. Monday night I spent down with the Redford's just hanging out.

Mom got sick Tuesday morning so she couldn't take me to the airport...so Shawna was so nice to drop all her morning plans for me. It was a great weekend trip..went by too fast though.


Cooper on the way home...all he did was sleep again...great baby!
Our View....

Coopers 3rd Month of Life...

COOPER....

He's very Healthy...look at that tummy!

Valentines bear from Grandma Jo.
Brooklyn being a great big sister...she layed with him until he fell asleep!

Cooper is such a JOY to have! The time is just flying by!

Cooper 2 Months Old!

This little baby boy has brought SO much JOY and LOVE into our home! We are SOOO in LOVE with him! I think he is just sooo stinkin cute! He makes us SMILE everyday! Cooper has a SWEET spirit. I LOVE this baby stage...he smiles, talks, laughs, & looks at you with LOVE!

*****

He is one GREAT baby! I can't complain at all. He sleeps from 10pm-till about 6am. He doesn't really cry unless he is hungry or wants to be held and loved. He still loves his binky! And I do too. If I am working and almost done..that binky keep him happy until we get home.

*****

At 2 months Cooper:

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*Weighs 11 lbs...just perfect.

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He's legs are getting a little chunky...so cute!

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*He smiles all the time!

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*He is ticklish...Daddy likes to tickle him!

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*He "snorts" when he is hungry..Eric calls him a little piggy.

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*He loves to "talk"...well baby talk. Sometimes it sounds like "hi!"

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*He loves his hands...especially in his mouth.

They also scratch him often...his poor face. Luckily he heals fast!

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*He is in his 3 months clothes..no more newborn...

they just weren't comfortable anymore!

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*He had his first bottle while I working..and he LOVED it!

Probably too much. No problems...he just guzzled it...he didn't have to "work" for it.

He won't get them too often...I don't want him to quite nursing.

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*He takes great naps in his car seat...I think he likes being warm!

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*He is getting a little better at nursing. Not ideal...but I can deal with that.

*****

One of my favorite moments so far...

Eric and I were watching a movie and I had just fed Cooper and gave him to Eric to burp. Eric sat Cooper next to him looking towards him. Cooper just smiles, laughed and talked to him for about 10 minutes. It was SOOO cute! We totally ignored the movie for that time...it was a precious moment. You could really see the love in Coopers eyes for his Daddy! It was just too sweet!

*****

I was so nervous to have another baby-"starting over". But it has been great. All the motherly instincts came back naturally. And it has felt right...I can't imagine our family without Cooper! My kids are my world. I am busy doing a million other things but they come first...so that is probably why my "To Do List" is getting longer and longer! (Like painting Cooper's room...I should be doing that right now instead of updating the blog while Cooper is taking his nap!)

Brooklyn and Easton are great helpers. Brooklyn loves to change his diapers (if I let her), hold him, read stories to him. Easton loves to hug him, kiss him, etc...he gets lots of love...maybe a little too much at times!

*****

Can you tell we are in love with Cooper! I hope so...because WE ARE!