Coop is 1!

My sweet little boy turned 1 yesterday.  Very bittersweet day!  He is growing so fast and learning new things all the time.  He is still very stubborn and does things his way.  =)

Last night we celebrated his 1st birthday with the 3 of us.  I made chicken casserole and a cake.  We ate dinner and then let him eat his first piece of cake.  We sang to him and he pretty much thought we were nuts.  He did not quite get the concept of blowing out his candle, but he enjoyed watching us.  He, however, did understand the concept of cake!  Haha  He devoured his piece of cake.  I have also decided that he will never get cake at night again.  He turned into a crazy, crazy man.  I do have to admit he was quite hilarious on his sugar high though.  

We opened presents after we ate.  He opened his presents slowly, pulling little pieces of the paper back.  Once we got them all opened, Brett put his little bike together for him.  Cooper loved riding the tricycle.  

He loved his cake!

Eating his first piece of cake.

Helping daddy put his tricycle together.

All in all it was a pretty great 1st birthday for our sweet baby boy!

Coop's first time to a Corn Maze!

This past weekend we went to a Corn Maze/Pumpkin Patch with our Sunday School class.  We had a great time.  We went on a hayride, played in a pumpkin patch, and went through the corn maze.  Coop didn't get to pick out a pumpkin yet.  We are going to go to a pumpkin patch soon so he can pick out his very own pumpkin!  Here are a few pictures of our little adventure to Shuckle's Corn Maze.

Some of our Marathon Class and their families.

Not quite sure what to do here...

Going into the tunnel that leads to the maze!

Ten years!!

Ten years ago today, Brett and I went on our first date!  We went to a movie and then his best friends house after.  Crazy to think of all that we have been through.  We have a beautiful baby boy, a lovely home, and a strong marriage that is going on 3 years.  We are very blessed for sure.  I love my boys.  =)

Cinci 2011

This past weekend we went on our annual Labor Day weekend Cincinnati softball trip.  We had a great time with our friends and family.  Brett plays on our church softball team with his brother (usually his dad too, but he was on the other team this year) and the team goes to Cinci for the Annual Nazarene Tournament.  It's such a great weekend to spend time with family and our friends. 

We went up Friday afternoon and got to the hotel around 9:00.  Cooper had one of his awesome screamfests that night.  Around 3 am I drove him around to get him to sleep.  It worked until we walked back in the room.  Around 5 am Brett and I gave up and decided to go and get up and go get some sunscreen before the 9:00 game.  Of course our son conked out big time.  We looked like TERRIBLE parents dragging our son around a store at 5:30am.  He was out!  We went back to the hotel and he of course woke up when we walked back in the room.  He is a booger!  =)  Brett left us to go play some softball.  The guys played great all day and won 3 out of 4 games.  Between the 100 degree day and no sleep from the night before, Coop behaved pretty well.  He napped off and on in the car between games.  

Sunday, Brett stayed at the hotel to rest his knee from an injury the night before.  Cooper and I spent the day with Kim, Randy, Claire and their friends, John and Denise.  We went to IKEA and did a little shopping, love that place.  We ended the day by going out to dinner with some of the team and family for Jon's birthday dinner.  Cooper slept great that night!

Monday, Labor Day, we woke up to rainy, cold weather.  Brett's team won 3 out 4 games that day.  They ended up 4th place out of 65 teams.  They did great!!  We headed back home that afternoon.  We had a great time and look forward to the trip every year!

I am posting some pictures from the trip!  Enjoy!

By the way, you can click the picture to see it bigger.

Mommy and Coop snuggling in the cold!

Baby blues!

The team with their trophy!

Uncle Jon , Coop, and Daddy in their eye black and jerseys!

Jon, Claire, Me, Daddy and Coop, Randy and Kim

 

 

 

 

 

Coop with all the other little fans!

He can walk!

So last week Cooper started taking a few steps and did so for a few days.  Tuesday night he decided that he was ready to walk.  He has been walking since he realized that he can do it.  =)  I'll upload a video of it next week when we get back from our trip.  We are headed to Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday for our annual softball tournament trip.  We always have a great time going with Brett's side of the family and our friends from church.  Unfortunately for this mama, Coop has learned to walk just in time for the trip.  Awesome.  Looks like I will be spending my time at the ballpark chasing around a little toddler!  Haha

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend and I will post the walking video and some pictures of our trip next week!

Sorry for slacking.

(Here is a video of Coop pushing his new toy.  During the last few seconds you can hear Bethany in the background trying to talk to Cooper, and that is why he turns around with his hand out.)  


We have been quite busy the past couple of weeks so I have not been able to keep up this blog.  I will try and do better about it!

Cooper has been keeping us pretty busy.  The boy never ever stops.  He just goes and goes until he passes out!  Haha  He wears himself out big time.  After we do bath time, bottle, book, prayer, and start to rock him, he tries to dive in his crib.  He wants us just to lay him in there with his lovey bunny and cover him up and get out!  I am amazed every night with this new stage.  It was only a couple of months ago that I was out on the couch crying while he cried in his room after we would put him to bed.  He sure is growing so fast!

He has started eating more of our food for dinner.  He loves mashed potatoes and rice.  He also enjoys pancakes and turkey sausage.  Not sure about all the rules of feeding 9 1/2 month olds that stuff, but you try telling him he can't have it!  Haha  He has quite the temper.  

Coop loves to push his new walker toy around the house.  He really likes when someone holds on to it with him.  He does the sweet little fake "ha ha ha" as you walk with him.  We are really ready for him to start talking because he has started this terrible screeching sound when he is trying to communicate.  We have started really trying to teach him sign language, but it is a hard commitment to make.  We have had to learn a little bit so we can teach him.  He can sign more, but only if he is in the mood to.  

The past 2 weekends we have had cookouts with friends and family and Coop has been great at both.  At the one tonight with our close friends, he put on a show for sure.  He loves attention but only after he has felt out the people and place.  He is on his own time and you can not rush him.  Once he is aware of his surroundings and has figured out the people he does whatever he can to make sure someone is always watching.  He is such a cute little booger, yes I am biased.  =)  

I'm going to leave you all with some recent pics of our adventures these past few weeks!

Playing...

 What Mom?!  I'm watching Mickey!

The new stickers on the wall drive him CrAzY.

He thinks he is helping me cook in there.

9 month check up!

We had Coop's 9 month check up on Wednesday the 3rd.  He is perfect!  He weighs 21 lbs and 6 oz and his height is 30 inches.  She said he his weight is in the 50-75% and height is 90%.  He looks like a butterball and has a roly poly tummy but he is perfect.  =)  I already knew that he was.  

He is really close to walking.  Yesterday I let go of his hand and he attempted a step.  He loves to push tables, baskets, a cooler and chairs around the house.  He can walk around furniture (like the coffee table) really fast.  He loves to hold your hand and walk beside you.  As soon as he realizes that he can do it by himself he will be all over even more.

He loves to eat.  Right now some of his faves are grilled chicken, grilled cheese, toast with apricot jelly, sweet potato fries, scrambled egg yolk, anything with garlic, and pretty much whatever is on mom and dad's plate.  We still are doing a little baby food.  I did stop making baby food for him.  I made it for a few months but I just kept getting so busy that I never had time to replenish it in the freezer.  He doesn't seem to mind.

He babbles a lot.  Apparently he talks like his mother...all the time.  Poor Brett!  Haha  He can say dada, baba, and mama- but only when he is whining or crying.  

We are working on some sign language so he will stop throwing fits and can try and communicate with us better. He has quite the little temper!!  That he gets from his daddy!  =)  He understands when we tell him NO but he loves to test us already.  He says, "Hmmm?" with his big blue eyes like mommy I have no clue what you are talking about. He can also wave bye-bye (if he feels like it- haha) and can clap and squeal the yay sound!  So proud he finally picked that one up.

He is quite the handful!  We have baby-proofed the house, but I feel like it will never be baby-proofed for that destructo baby!  He does not like to be confined to a space or room.  He always finds a way out.  He is such a joy to us and we can not imagine life without him.  We look forward to watching him grow and learn something new each and every day!  Very blessed to be a part of his life!!