Today Matt and I celebrated our 8th anniversary...wow...what a wonderful 8 years it has been!
We enjoyed a "lunch date" because as Matt said we are already paying for a babysitter at lunch time...we cannot afford a babysitter all day and then again at night.
After work we headed to Sam's and enjoyed a hot dog for dinner and got Cooper some diapers and formula. On the way home, we just busted out laughing...8 years ago, who would have ever thought we would be driving a mini van, eating a hot dog, and buying diapers and formula on our anniversary? And because we can laugh about this is all the more reason I love this special man in my life. We for sure always have a good time no matter what is going on in our lives!
Looking forward to many more years together!
Our little man will be 11 months old tomorrow! He still continues to smile all the time, sleep good, eat all table food at school (breakfast, lunch, snack), drink a good bit of whole milk but still a few bottles, one top tooth finally broke through but no signs of any others so still just 3 teeth, happy just pulling up on everything and crawling...no signs of walking yet, riding in a big boy car seat, and prefers to hold onto something...we are thinking he is going to find an attachment, but we are not sure what yet.
Getting a smile is not a problem but getting him to sit in his chair is for sure a problem so the older he gets the fewer pictures we get of him each month. And Anna Lauren and I are in "planning" mode for his 1st birthday so we took a few pictures of him in his new "party" hat that we bought him today.
Daddy can for sure get some big smiles out of the little man...he lights up when Daddy walks into the room and especially when he plays with him...of course, Daddy is the "fun" parent!
This morning I was feeding Cooper breakfast and Anna Lauren was playing with the pack of balloons she got as a treat from Dollar Tree yesterday. I noticed she was organizing them by color and I thought to myself...she is so my child. Then a few minutes later she asked me if she could use some bags, and I of course said yes because I knew exactly what she was going to do next. Now...if you know me very well, you will also say...yep, she is Mandi's child! Of course Matt came in from his bike ride / run and rolled his eyes...he then said he and Cooper don't stand a chance! However, my organizational skills have been very helpful to me throughout my life, and I can only hope Anna Lauren picks up on some of them!
Yesterday we celebrated Ashton's 9th birthday...he had a swimming party at his house...it was a fun afternoon of family time for all of us! The cousins always have a great time when they are together for any reason.
Anna Lauren and Aunt Paulie (Paula)...
All I can say is the past two weeks have been a complete blur, and we are "starting over" come Monday. This is what has taken place:
Tuesday ~ Cooper throws up in the middle of the night
Wednesday ~ Cooper seems fine and goes to school. Daycare calls at 8:30 to report he is throwing up so Matt goes to get him. He doesn't throw up again...
Thursday ~ Cooper to school. Daycare calls at 4:00 to report Cooper is throwing up so I go get him. Never throws up again
Thursday ~ MeMe, Kate, James, and Mary Martin arrive
Thursday night ~ Anna Lauren throws up around 2:30 AM
Friday morning ~ Anna Lauren throws up several more times...acts as if she feels fine. She throws up and keeps on going
Saturday ~ Take Kate and kids to meet her in-laws, James throws up when they get to Memphis, everyone at our house feeling fine
Sunday night ~ Mandi throws up
Monday ~ Mandi home sick, Anna Lauren and Cooper 1st day with new teacher. Mom in bed sick...no pictures to document the day. We will attempt to take these 1st day pictures one week late...like I said, we are starting over this Monday.
Monday night ~ Cooper to after hours clinic...serious staff infection...no school for at least 3 days. We call Nanna begging her to come help so we can work some...and thankfully she comes for the week.
Tuesday ~ 3:00 PM Anna Lauren throws up at school...I go get her...she is FINE but no school for 24 hours
Wednesday ~ Anna Lauren and Cooper home with Nanna
Thursday ~ Anna Lauren back to school and Cooper to doctor. Staff so much better!
Friday ~ Nanna calls me at 1 PM...she is now sick...I leave work to take care of Cooper who ended up being out of school all week.
Saturday ~ Nanna feeling good enough to go home. Hopefully everyone is better
Now...like I said, a blur! I am such a "control" freak and these two weeks have thrown me for a loop. All I can say is thank goodness for Nanna who came to our rescue...one of the hardest things is juggling sick children / work. And not to mention, you just don't want your children sick...we are very fortunate to have healthy children but from time to time, everyone gets something, and we got it all at the same time and for way too long!
And we will "start over" Monday!
For some things, we follow the rule...when you are old enough to "ask" then Daddy and Mommy will consider. Right before Anna Lauren's 4th birthday, she decided she wanted earrings, and we discussed and told her she could have them when she turned "4". Well, she turned "4" and still wanted earrings...BUT...she was scared to have her ears pierced. We went to Claire's once and talked about going to Claire's many many more times, but she never got brave enough to follow all the way through.
All I can say is something happened at school Thursday...when I picked her up she asked if she could go get earrings. I told her if she still wanted to go after supper that I would take her and sure enough she wanted to go. Nanna was at our house helping with Cooper so Anna Lauren, Nanna, and I headed to Claire's. I was still thinking she would chicken out, but I was so wrong...she had made up her mind and she did it!
All smiles as I was filling out the paperwork to have her ears pierced...I was a nervous wreck...the paperwork was so intimidating! Surely it was not that "serious" when we were little!
Ok...in Mommy's lap ready to have her ears pierced...and yes, I could have thrown up right about then, but I would have never let her known I was nervous. Thank goodness I only have 1 girl...love her, but they are high maintenance for sure!
Marking her ears...and oh my gracious...this girl was so SLOW! I just kept thinking if she did not hurry up that Anna Lauren was going to change her mind. And then she said to Anna Lauren, are you nervous? How about you, mom? Really...someone tell her she just needs to do it when she has a "brave" child sitting there! No need for chit chat!
Here goes the 1st one...she did not budge and was all smiles when she looked in the mirror and saw her new earring!
And the 2nd one...it hurt for some reason...
Oh wait...that really did hurt! Poor baby!
But it didn't hurt for long and then she was all smiles and so proud of her new "diamond" earrings! And whew...went so much better than mom ever expected...I was prepared for them to get the 1st one in and me to have to hold her down to get the 2nd one.
