Cereal Time!

Cooper had his 4-month check-up a couple of weeks ago. He (at that time) was weighing in at about 16 lbs. (a whopping 5 pounds less than Connor weighed at his age!) He is about 90th percentile for weight and only 25th for height. So basically he is short and fat! His doctor was also very impressed with his gross motor skills and kept calling him a 6-month-old (probably also did not help that he was weighing in at typical 6-month-old standards!) Anyway, we got the go ahead to start giving him cereal. So, as you can see from the following video....he loves it!

After multiple gagging sessions, I finally decided to stop torturing the poor child and proceed on to veggies as that is "supposed" to be the next step after mastering cereal. We found a winner on our first try...drum roll please...carrots! He LOVES carrots. As a matter-of-fact, he ate an entire little jar of carrots yesterday and half of one this morning. Only this morning, Mommy got tricky and mixed the carrots with cereal...guess what? He liked it! So tomorrow....butternut squash...yummy...making you hungry aren't I?

Is this picture not hilarious?!

Can you say, "Surprise"?!

I honestly did not know that my husband had this in him...here is the story:

This past week was our anniversary. As many anniversaries go, we usually get a sitter and go out to dinner, nothing too special, but we always try to do something. This year was playing up just like all the others. Sara said she could come out and watch the kids and Brad had been quizzing me about where I wanted to go eat. I thought we had settled on Flemings until I got home from the gym...while en route home he called saying to check the front porch when I got home. I pretty much guessed that he had sent me flowers...3 dozen roses to be exact (all the while thinking, "wow, I must have really been a good wife this past year to get 3 dozen as opposed to the standard 1!" The card was the first "clue" in revealing my anniversary surprise. Feeling a little giddy as I have ruined about every surprise that anyone has every had planned for me; I followed the instructions that lead me to opening up a file on the computer. In opening the file I am instructed to get the boys packed ASAP...Midwest climate to be exact and NOT to ask any questions. Mind you this was at around 11:30 a.m. and he was not due home until 4:00ish...if you can imagine the anguish I was going through, after all, NO ONE surprises me! Of course I immediately call my mom, sister, and Angie...two out of the three of them knew about it and of course they were revelling at the fact that I did not know what was going on.

Meanwhile, Brad gets home and we rush out the door taking the kids to what I think is going to be his parents house...after driving past their exit I realize that I have no idea what is going on. After about 1.5 hours in the car we stop at a McDonalds somewhere between here and KC. I have in the meantime figured out that we are meeting my Mom to drop the kids off with her...still not knowing exactly what is going on.

After driving back home, he proceeds to pack and directs me in what to pack as well, we watch the olympics and go to bed. The next morning at 4:30 to be exact his alarm clock goes off and I am thinking, "great he is going to work this morning", only to be woken up by him telling me not to ask any questions and to get in the shower. About an hour later his mom shows up and whisks us off to the airport. After checking our bags I am informed that we are flying to Washington D.C.

It was not until we were about 30 min. away from our destination did he tell me where we were going. He had reserved a room at Kingsmill Resort and Spa for 4 days/3 nights in Williamsburg, VA. Kingsmill is owned by AB and had come highly recommended to him by several different people.

Anyway, after two days of total suspense and shock we had the best mini-vacation that we have ever had together. It was incredibly relaxing and rejuvenating and I am ready to face the world of being a SAHM again! I am and probably always will be surprised as his ability to pull all of that together without me finding out a single thing. What a great husband I have!

As for Williamsburg, what an awesome area! Colonial Williamsburg was great with fabulous boutiques and restaurants not to mention what a wonderful job they have done preserving history. The lay of the land with it's tree-lined roads and highways were incredible and the James River is just beautiful! We did however, find it humorous that there was a pancake and waffle house on every street corner...literally!

Oh Connor, My Connor -- Take 2

Do you ever remember getting laughed at as a kid for misinterpreting something that seemed to make sense to you? For example the fact that I (Brandon--my brother, is guilty of this too) used to think that my Aunt Elaine's name was Aunt Auntie-Lain, or that my Aunt Sharon was good friends with Elton John because my Mom once told me that she was a huge fan, so somewhere in my young and innocent mind I conjured that they had to be friends...I still cannot hardly think of Elton John without thinking of my Aunt Sharon! Or do you remember the song "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes? I used to call this the "horsey song" because I thought that a certain part of the instrumental sounded like a horse and I was certain that it was! I remember thinking how cool (probably not cool, it was probably something more like neat or silly) it was that they would let a horse be on the radio. If you don't remember the song clickhere and either let this 80's ballad take you back or fast forward to about the half-way mark and listen for yourself...you can kind of see why a 3-year-old might think this...or maybe these thoughts from my youth are still haunting my adult mind! Either of which, it is fun to look back at those things and laugh about them.

Now that Connor is getting older it is so funny to see and hear these types of things coming from him:

Apologize by One Republic is one of his favorite songs. He was dancing around this morning singing it like this...

Connor: It's too late for Papa John...It's too late

Me: What did you say Connor?

Connor (singing): It's too late for Papa John

Me: It's too late for Papa John?

Connor: Yeah, you know, like the Pizza

Me (after laughing of course!): The line is actually "it's too late to apologize"

Connor (laughing): Oh, I thought it was like the pizza!

-----

Connor: Daddy, I am feeding Cooper

Brad: Oh yeah, what are you feeding him?

Connor: Breast milk hot dogs and breast milk apple juice

----

Brad and I went out for dinner the other night and Brad's brother Chad and his girlfriend Chelsea came over to watch the boys for us...

Connor: Chad, why are you giving Cooper that bottle, he needs to drink breast milk

Chad: Well your mommy is not here and Cooper is hungry

Connor: Ok....

Chelsea: Connor do you want to feed Cooper?

Connor: No, I only have chocolate breast milk in my boobies!

Look-a-likes

I am always telling my family that I think Cooper looks a lot like my cousin Michael did when he was a baby. They usually laugh at me and say ok...just to humor me I am pretty sure. So when I was at my parents house this last time I dug around and found the picture that I was talking about of Michael. So, here is a picture of Cooper and a picture of Michael...now tell me Cooper does not look like him!

Also, here is a picture of me when I was a baby and a picture of Cooper. Finally, a child of mine that actually looks like he could be related to me!

I guess the moral of this story...Michael and I look alike!

A Few of Cooper's Favorite Things

Cooper has become pretty particular with his preferences. If his surroundings are not to his exact specifications he is sure to let everyone around him know exactly how he feels about it!

1) His big brother. He has become quite attached to Mr. Connor, always watching him and laughing at him...which is not always a good thing...ornery kid!

2) His toes. He LOVES his toes...luckily we never leave home without them! When we lay him on his back his feet automatically go straight in the air and he is reaching for his toes. Lately when he is sitting up he will lean all the way over just to play with his toes!

3) His exersaucer. He loves this for the fact that there are so many things that he can try to put in his mouth.

4) His highchair. One of his favorite things to do is sit in his highchair when we are eating lunch or dinner. He feels so big, you can just tell!

P.S. I think I must really like this outfit because these three pictures were not taken on the same day!

5) His fingers. He loves to suck on his middle two fingers. If there is not a binky to be found, these fingers work just as well! Brad says this means that he is going to be a rocker when he gets older...yikes!

6) Just because I love this picture!