Remember Me?

I guess I got out of the blog mode for a while.  But I'm back.

We've had a busy couple of months.  Cooper, now 3-1/2, is changing and growing every day.  Not only are his clothes getting too small, toys are being outgrown, and Mom and Dad are having to adjust to new attitudes and situations, deciding where to extend new freedoms to him and where to hold our ground while being constantly challenged.

We've had a fun springtime, getting outside once again and enjoying the sunshine.

And the mud.

Don's work schedule has been an adjustment for our family, mainly having him work every other weekend.  It was hard for me when I realized he had to work on Easter, but we got through it.  Hospitals don't stop for weekends or holidays.

We ordered a butterfly kit, receiving 5 live caterpillars, watching them turn into chrysalides and then into butterflies before letting them go.  This was an interesting project for all of us, and Cooper still talks about it.

I've been spending a lot of time working in my garden.  I have enlarged it once again and have it mostly planted now.  We got TONS of strawberries, which I planted last year and really didn't have to do anything to this year except cover them to keep the birds out, and pick them.  Now we're getting a few blueberries for the first time.  I planted them several years ago and just this year figured out that I needed to cover them too.  Apparently we've been providing quite a feast for the birds over the past few years.

Our Community Bible Study class ended for the year last month, and they had their usual end-of-the-year children's program.  As usual, it was more cute than anything else, except maybe chaotic.  Still, I'm thankful we can both be a part of this program.  Cooper has learned many Bible stories and songs, and it's an opportunity for him to be with other children from Christian families, and for me to study the Bible and fellowship with other adults.

Cooper went to his first baseball game recently, the Nashville Sounds.  It was kind of sentimental for me, as my dad used to take my brother and me when they first started playing in the 80's.  This is their last year to play in their old stadium, so I was glad Cooper got to see them there, and I got to see them one more time.  I'm not a big sports fan, but I do like going to games every now and then.

And now it's summer (well, not officially, but school is out, Memorial Day is past, and it's HOT, so I consider it to be summer).  We have joined the Y, and Cooper is taking swimming lessons this week and next.  He loves the water, and I enjoy it too.

We're looking forward to some visits from out-of-town family members and more.  Hopefully I'll stay in the blog mode and be better about writing more faithfully.

Thirty-Nine Months Old

I'm still here!  I've just been grossly neglecting my blog lately,  I've been caught up in doing my family tree on Ancestry.com, which has been sucking up most of my computer time, but now I have cancelled my subscription, at least temporarily, so I can get on with the rest of my life.

Don's new job is going fairly well, though it's hard work.  He comes home exhausted in the afternoons, but he's thankful to have a job.  His new schedule has been a bit of an adjustment for all of us; I'm trying to get up with him at 5:00 a.m., which involves going to bed earlier, which involves getting Cooper to bed earlier, which involves starting earlier to get him ready for bed . . .  Plus, Don has to work every other weekend, which has been kind of hard.  Hopefully at some point this will change so that at least he can be off on Sundays.  It does make us all really cherish the Sundays when we get to go to church together as a family, though.

It's been a pretty rough winter, weather-wise, at least by Nashville standards.  We had some of the coldest temperatures we've had in several years (and a really expensive electric bill) and very little relief from the cold, dreary days.  We had ONE nice, sunny day recently, last Saturday.  Thankfully, it was Don's Saturday off of work, and we all went to the park together.

Cooper got a little guitar with some of his Christmas money and has been "playing" it all the time:

He's playing it right-handed here, but most of the time he has it upside down and plays it with his left hand.  We think he's left-handed.

He's finally mostly potty trained!  Well, at least during the day.  That has been quite a journey, involving a lot of frustration, bribery, dramatic celebrations, and more, but I'm thankful we seem to have made it.

He got his first "real" haircut a couple of weeks ago (I'd been cutting it myself).  He did great, and afterward we went to Cici's next door for lunch.

We went to "Discovery Center" one day with my mom, a local museum sort-of-thing for young children.  Cooper had a great time!

We're still doing Community Bible Study (this picture was taken by his teacher)

and MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers).  I met another 47-year-old mom there!  She has a 4-year-old boy.  We've gotten together a couple of times for play dates, and Cooper and her little boy have hit it off as friends.  I'm so thankful to have someone that I feel like I can relate to.

Thankfully, other than at Christmastime, we've all stayed fairly healthy this winter.  I'm believing that spring is just around the corner (at least I hope it is!), and I'm starting to think about what I'm going to plant in my garden this year.  I can't wait to get to go outside without bundling up, and to feel the warm sunshine on my face!

Thirty-Five Months Old

Wow -- I can't believe the big 0-3 is just around the corner!

We've been enjoying the waning days of summer.  We've had a little cooler weather, but still mostly warm, and we've been getting in all the water play we can, which is especially nice when Cooper gets filthy "working" in the garden.

Speaking of my garden, it is still doing well.  We've got quite a few things still coming in, including my experiment for the year, loofah.  Yes, just like the sponge you may have used for your bath.  This is what they look like, growing on a vine.  If all goes well, I'll soon pick them, peel them, and wash them, and we'll have lots of loofah sponges . . . probably more than we'll be able to use for the rest of our lives.  Oh well.

We had a visit this month from my Aunt Gene, my mom's oldest sister, and her husband, who live in Richmond, Virginia.  They are both in their mid- to late-eighties but are doing remarkably well.  This is my mom on the left and Aunt Gene on the right, at McNamara's, the Irish restaurant where we ate with them, one of our favorites.

We started back to Community Bible Study a few weeks ago.  Cooper, who had been really looking forward to going, decided when we got there that he was going to be shy and laid down in the doorway of his classroom, refusing to go in.

In the end though, with a little coaxing from Mommy, he went in, and had a wonderful time.  I am loving watch him grow and develop a heart for Jesus.

He also loves music and goes about the house singing and playing his keyboard or whatever other instrument he can find.  Don and I are glad of this too and look forward to seeing what musical talent he will hopefully end up developing.

For Labor Day, we had a church picnic at Long Hunter State Park.  We went on a 2-mile walk around the lake with a few friends from church and saw lots of cool wildlife, including several deer.

My friend Debby decided to do an art class for preschoolers at her house.  We have just been one time so far, and Cooper really enjoyed it.  We will probably do that twice a month.

  

Whew!  It's been a busy month, but a fun one, for the most part.  Don still doesn't have a job, though he has a few possibilities in the works.  This has definitely become a lesson in relying on God.  Hopefully he'll have something soon.  Meanwhile, we're making the most of his time at home and enjoying the extra time we are getting to spend with him.

Thirty-Four Months Old

Summer has been in full swing, and we have been making this most of it.  We've spent time with friends, going to water parks and other fun places.  Cooper is shown here with my friend Laurie, at the Bicentennial Mall.

Don's parents came for a visit, and we spent a nice weekend with "Mimi and Granddad."

Cooper and I went to Memphis with my mom to visit her college roommate and longtime-friend, Alice.  While there, we went to an orchard and picked peaches, which Cooper loved!  We are still enjoying them.

My garden is giving us lots of goodies, and  Cooper's sunflowers opened up.  We have since cut them down and are drying them so we can hopefully eat some of the seeds.  We've gotten some potatoes too, squash and LOTS of tomatoes.  We've had so many cherry tomatoes that I am just having to let some of them rot because we can't eat them or even give them away fast enough.

Cooper is so inquisitive, learning new things every day.  He is going through a very sweet stage that we are enjoying (almost) every minute of.

Still no news for Don on the job front.  Prayers are appreciated as he continues to search and fill out applications, waiting for a phone call or e-mail.  He gets very frustrated and discouraged some days.

We are looking forward to starting back to Community Bible in a couple of weeks.  I am so thankful that Cooper loves learning about the word of God.  He goes around the house singing Bible songs and loves our Bible story time each morning.  We pray daily that he will grow to know and love Jesus and live for Him, and we are blessed to see that happening.

Thirty-One Months Old

Spring seems to finally have sprung!  I have a bigger garden this year than I've had since Cooper was born, and I have Cooper "in training" to be my helper.  Actually he planted some sunflower seeds himself, which are doing very well.  I can't wait until they start to get really big!  Hopefully he'll get bitten by the gardening bug too.

We had a brief visit from Cooper's Uncle Doug, Don's brother, who was passing through town from Pennsylvania.

We have finished Community Bible Study for the year.  They had a children's program on the second-to-last day, which Cooper participated in.  He didn't sing too much, but he sure did look cute up there (at least in my possibly biased opinion).   ( :

Someone gave Cooper a secondhand bike, and we recently got it fixed up so he can ride it (with training wheels).  He's getting pretty good at pedaling, though he's still got some work to do in the steering and stopping departments.  We've got to get him a helmet pretty soon too.

We've had a lot of nice weather this month, so we've played outside a lot, at home, at the park, or whatever other creative places we can come up with.

And, we like to eat popsicles.  Life is good.

Twenty-Six Months Old

Wow, long time/no blog!  It's been a busy month.

We went to Michigan to visit with Don's family for Thanksgiving.  Cooper had a good time hanging out with his cousins.

While there we had a belated celebration of Don's parents' 50th anniversary.

Cooper sang in the children's program at Community Bible Study.  His teacher had to hold on to him the whole time so he wouldn't run away.

We put up our Christmas tree and began getting ready for Christmas.

We went to a birthday party for Jesus.

We went Christmas caroling in our neighborhood.  Cooper and I are on the far left (he's in a stroller).

So, as you can see, we've been doing a lot of celebrating various things.  It's been a fun month.  I am looking forward to Christmas more this year than I have in the past because Cooper is excited.  We are trying to play down the materialistic aspect of it, but still . . .

This month also brought a brief stay in the hospital for Don after he passed out twice last week.  Hopefully that problem has been resolved though.  It hasn't happened again this week, which is a good sign.

Merry Christmas to all of my blog readers!

Twenty-Three Months Old

Wow, what a month it's been!  Cooper is growing up so fast, learning so many new things!  His talking has increased dramatically.  He can say almost anything now, though still just one word at a time usually.

He loves to work puzzles and can keep himself entertained for longer periods of time than ever before, which is nice for me.

We have had lots of nice weather lately, so we have been spending as much time outside as we can.

Don and I celebrated our 7th anniversary in August (which was also Don's birthday).  We went to dinner at Hermitage Steak House to mark the occasion.  Yes, Cooper went with us. ( :

We had our first day back at Community Bible Study in late August.  Cooper is in the 2-year-old class this year, which means he is taught Bible stories, and gets to sing, do crafts, etc., which I am very excited about.  He loves to go.  Here he is on the first day, with his "pack." 

I can't believe he will soon be two.  Time is passing quickly, but we are enjoying every day of it!