35 weeks and our first beach vacation!

This week we are at the beach!  We have made 2 prior trips to the beach, both of which were for a weekend so I don't really count them as Cooper's first beach trip!  :)  This trip we are here for the whole week!  Getting here wasn't easy either!  Boy, were we glad to finally make it!  I think my dad is going to start to expect that something will keep us from arriving at our family vacations on time! I'll get to that in just a moment though.....On Friday my sister came to stay with us and then ride down to the beach with us on Saturday.  Friday was also Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A and at the last minute, we decided to partake in the fun!  It started with Coop's Cow onesie and went form there....Nicole, Cooper and I dressed as cows from "head to hoof" which entitled us to a free meal each.  Since Coop doesn't really eat kids meals yet, the manager gave Carrington a free meal too!  Free dinner....I'll take it!  Check out our picture below!
ok, so now for the craziness of getting to our vacation.....Last year we were flying to Sanibel Island, FL for family vacation.  Since my dad works for Delta we fly cheap....and standby!  We made the first leg of the flight to Atlanta and then there was NO hope of us getting a flight out to FL that day and by then we were committed...we either had to figure out a way to get down there or back home...we couldn't just stay in the airport!  Keep in mind...I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time and we spent HOURS upon HOURS walking aroudn the airport from one gate to another with hopes of getting a seat on a flight....not fun!  We ended up renting a car and driving from Atlanta to Sanibel and arrived somewhere around 2 in the morning!  about 14 hours later than we had planned!
This trip followed suit!  We borrowed a vehicle from Carrington's parents so that we could put a bike rack on the back and fit all of the "required" items for a week at the beach with a baby.  Carrington spent a good part of the day on Friday getting it prepared to go (inspection, tags, tires, etc etc) and Saturday he spent a good part of the day cleaning it up and finagling the bike rack to fit (for some reason it wouldn't' fit into the hitch easily so he really had to work at it).  Around 1:00 or so we were on our way!  We stopped at Arby's right before getting on the highway and as we headed down the road I realized that Carrington had gotten an extra sandwich that we didn't order or pay for.  I told him it was his lucky day....and that's apparently as far as his luck would go!  Just past Raleigh I heard the most frightening sound ever and Carrington quickly, and safely, got us off the road only to take a gander at the SHREDDED rear tire....yep....we were now stranded with a blown tire on the side of the road with a baby, a car FULL of beach gear, and 3 bikes on the back.  Wonderful!  :)  We made a few phone calls, Carrington and Nicole dropped the spare tire, got the jack out and I assumed we would be on our way in half an hour, TOPS....wrong again.....the jack was broken!  We made a few more phone calls and couldn't get anyone close by that was in town at the moment so we got out our beach chairs and settled in to our "camp" on the side of I-40 to wait for his parents to come....a good 3 hour wait!  All the while, as we stood on the side of the highway with a baby (who was SUCH a trooper and was perfectly content and happy), no one stopped!  we never saw a highway patrol officer go by or anything!  Finally after about an hour and a half of sitting there, a kind soul stopped to help.  He had seen us his first time by and then saw that we were still there much later and felt compelled to stop.  Thank goodness he did because he had a jack and helped Carrington get the spare on!  We were then able to drive to the next exit and find a shady spot (near a McDonald's so that we could get frozen strawberry lemonades since it was nearly 100 degrees!) and wait for his parents to arrive.  One they arrived, they replaced a tire, we moved all of our stuff to their suburban, they took the land cruiser home and we continued on our way to the beach....5 hours later!  We finally made it around 9:30 and have enjoyed the relaxing week so far!  Yesterday we took the ferry over to Southport and walked around.  It was a neat little town!  We ate at a little hole in the wall where the locals eat and saw where they were filming the next Nicholas Sparks movie...Safe Haven.  Cooper thoroughly enjoyed the Ferry ride!  We have a couple more days here and plan to make the most of them!

at 35 weeks Cooper:

• is working on high fives.  We have been doing it non stop and he will slap your hand (not sure whether he really gets what he's doing yet or if he's just slapping it because it's up there) and we say "yay!!!" every time....he's very proud of himself when we do that!
• is getting a little more predictable with his naps.  I can almost plan on him taking a nap after he's been up for a couple hours (usually around 10:00) and then again sometime shortly after noon.  I still have to make him lay still until he falls asleep (I usually rock him our bounce him) and he does pretty well with the morning nap.  Afternoon naps are still a struggle.  If he goes to sleep it's not usually for long (sometimes 10 minutes) and he's often a fussy mess about it!  :)
• LOVES oatmeal and bananas!  We usually have that for breakfast; I'll fix him some oatmeal cereal and cut up some bananas into it and he gobbles it up!  This week he has been eating like a little piglet!  I don't know if it's because we're at the beach and he's so much more active and busy...thus hungrier, or is he's going through a growth spurt, or is I'm not producing enough milk for him and he's just feeling hungry often?!?!?!  
• is a master of grasping things (like his puffs or his banana pieces) but he just can't quite get the concept of getting it into his mouth.  He would rather I hold it and he  pull my hand to his mouth!  little rascal!
• is not too sure about the sand....he rolls it around in his fingers like he's not so sure what this gritty stuff is!  :)
• loves splashing and kicking the waves!  We sat at the edge of the water for a while and he enjoyed splashing the waves as they came up to his feet....until we got a big one that scared him!  He seemed to get over it quickly though and is definitely ok if we're holding him and dipping him down into the waves as they come up.  He likes when we make him kick the waves and it makes a splash!  :)
• likes watching the seagulls fly by.  I did have to inform him though that I will be the no-fun mommy who does not let him feed the gulls at the beach because we don't want to get pooped on!  He does enjoy watching others feed them from a distance though!  :)
• has tried carrots and likes them!  There's not much that this kid won't eat!
• is finally getting the hang of holding his own sippy cut AND tipping it up enough to get water out of it.  For a while he's been holding it and just gnawing on the spout, but now he's figured out that he has to tip it up to get anything
• has GOT to be close to cutting a tooth....he gnaws HARD on everything, especially if it's cold!  He's also started gnawing on his own fingers, which is new.  They are constantly in his mouth so I'm thinking it feels good on his gums and perhaps something is about to break through.
• is standing really well....and he can stand unassisted for a little bit (ok....it's a couple seconds but still!).  When he does stand and hold on it's often just barely holding on enough to balance himself....I think we might be standing independently soon...maybe (Dare I say) even walking?!?!?!  yikes, I don't think I'm ready for that!
• is slightly attached to mama!  not that I have a problem with that  ;)  but sometimes it would be nice if he would give me a break.  He's especially clingy if he's hungry or tired!
• knows what "no" and "uh-uh" mean.  When he's getting into something he's not supposed to be and we say one of those things, he stops and looks at us...and usually stops and moves on to something else.  we try not to say "no" to him too often because we certainly don't want a toddler that says "no" to everything...instead we will say "don't do such-and-such."  Who knows if it will keep him from saying "no" to us later on, but it's worth a shot!  :)
• loves to bang on ANYthing he can! He especially loves to bang on his high chair tray, and he really likes it when I say "bring the bacon!" while he's banging on it....he grins really big every time!  
• is definitely in his throwing/dropping things stage!  any and every thing he gets his hands on gets dropped from wherever he can!  He usually gets 3 drops and pick ups and then it's done!  :)

and now for some pictures....I apologize in advance....it's probably going to be a lot!

Cow appreciation day at Chick-fil-A  (my cow ears are drooping a little!  :))

Aunt Nicole dressed me in my clothes that a friend sent to me....she's silly and doesn't know what goes where!  :)

me and my poppy at the beach!

playing in the sand with mommy and daddy (by the way I love the middle picture and how they are looking at each other!)

reading Nemo with daddy on the beach in my tent!

Aunt Nicole and I playing in the waves!

The beach life is a rough life!  Daddy is trying to start me early on the Dew!

Family night at the boardwalk

My first ferry boat ride!

I have no idea what he was doing in this picture but it makes me laugh out loud every time I look at it!  :)

Nicole got bombed by a gull on the ferry ride!  A guy said it was because she was wearing that Georgia Bulldogs t-shirt and that if it had been a Tennessee Vols t-shirt she would have been safe....I kind of agree with him!  ;)

Thanks for stopping by!  Check back next week for the last couple days of our vacation and (I'm sure) more pictures!


**UPDATE**

My sister just pointed out that I never typed up the 34 week update....oops!  Got too busy planning and packing for the beach that I forgot to do it!  Here are the pictures anyway!

Getting IN the toy bucket makes it easier to get to my toy chest!  And yes, he climbed in there completely on his own....oh no!

My buddy, Arnold

My new swimming pool that I LOVE!!

my play date with Ronin!  Can't wait until they move back here so we can play more often!  :)

  

32-33 weeks!

Well...I made it 31 weeks with a perfect record of posting each week (some were a little late, but they still got posted!).  The last 8 days have been rough!  We have been sick in our house!  It started last Thursday, when I should have posted Cooper's 32 week update.  That morning I could tell he wasn't feeling well at all!  We got his pictures for the week and it all went down hill from there!  He was a snotty mess! By the end of the day it was green and his eyes were oozing yellow/green gunk by Friday.  I called the Dr. Friday (of course we were in Winston and couldn't get into the Dr. but i was hoping they would tell me something over the counter that I could get him).  They wanted to see him but said that if it was still be on Sunday, when we got back into town, to call and bring him in (one of the offices is open for a few hours on Sunday).  Sunday I called and we got him in there at 2.  I thought it was just an icky cold because his only real symptoms were runny nose, oozy eyes, and a fever (101.3) on Saturday that didn't last long.  It didn't take the Dr long to determine that BOTH ears were infected!?!?!  I would have NEVER guessed it had anything to do with his ears!  I had been mindful of watching to see if he seemed to be bothered by his ears but he never so much as touched them, pulled at them, or anything!  Such a little trooper!  He was prescribed Augmentin and we started it that evening!  within 24 hours he was significantly better!  The snotty-ness had cleared and he just seemed to be bothered by ear/throat pain.  It got a little rough in the evenings...he did not want to be laid down in his bed (I presume that lying down hurt with the pressure in his ears) and we had a few rough nights!  Thankfully he seems to be almost completely back to normal now!
As if Cooper being sick wasn't already enough, i ended up getting sick on Monday myself!  I felt like I had the flu and Cooper and I just lounged all day Monday.  By Tuesday, I still felt horrible and couldn't really swallow (my throat and glands felt like they were swelling shut!) so i called the Dr and went in the afternoon SURE that it would be strep.  Both the rapid and the longer throat culture came back negative for strep, so it's still a mystery.  I was prescribed a z-pack though and it helped tremendously....immediately!  on Wednesday, while not completely 100%, I could at least swallow again!  We were able to celebrate the 4th of July that evening and I was able to go back to work at the Y on Thursday morning.  We returned to our house Thursday evening and Cooper and i are spending today here at home!
It's definitely hard having a sick baby, but even harder when you feel awful yourself!  I guess it was inevitable that I would get it because he was slobbering and snotting all over me, hazard of the "job" I guess!  :)

ok....this is a lot since it's 2 weeks worth!
at 32/33 weeks Cooper:

• weighs right at 18 pounds even...such a little peanut!
• wears 6 month and 6-9 month clothes comfortably
• sticks out his tongue and blows "raspberries" all the time!  He especially does it when he thinks something is funny....it's the new laugh  :)
• LOVES when we make a tent out of his blanket!  I think he's going to be a little boy who needs daddy to build forts in the living room with him!  When my brother and I were little we used to take the couch cushions off of the couches at my grandmas and pretend that we were animals at the zoo in our cages, or that the couches were our forts....I foresee lots of couches with no cushions on them in our future too!  :)
• loves to play peek-a-boo!  I think he just loves to play!
• has a slight vain streak....this kid absolutely LOVES to look at himself in the mirror, or anything that reflects his image!
• has gotten a little out of whack with his bedtime schedule due to being sick for the last week (and probably due to how much time we spend elsewhere and not at our own home) but he seems to be getting back on track the last few days, thankfully!  I was afraid we had undone all the hard work of getting him to sleep so well through the night in his own bed!
• LOVES his sippy cup!  we have tried a few different ones but so far the ones that he does the best with are his nuby and nuk cups.  Both of these he is able to drink water from really well with very little dribbling now!  And if he sees it....he wants it!  :)
• is a typical boy when it comes to making noise!  if something will bang against something and make a good noise, you can be sure he's going to keep doing it!  The other night he crawled into the kitchen while my mom was cooking and she gave him a few metal measuring cups and spoons and he was making the MOST racket in there!  I finally asked if she was looking for a particular pot or something because I thought it was her banging around.  She replied that it wasn't her at all.....he was going to town banging things!
• along with the banging, he loves to go straight for the dog bowls!  and if it's filled with water...that's even better!  If the bowls are empty, he just proceeds to bang them against each other and on the floor! :)
• loved his first fireworks!  I was a little concerned, with his ear infections, that the loud booms would hurt his ears and/or scare him but he was mesmerized by them!  I watched them with a big 'ol grin behind that paci in his mouth; it was the cutest thing ever!  I'm so glad he enjoyed it and didn't cry the entire half hour while they were going off!
• has ventured to climb the stairs!  yikes!  we're in for it now!  Not only does this little booger crawl around EVERYWHERE and pull up on EVERYTHING....now he's climbing!  I started to see him with a climbing tendency at bath time....he stands at the edge of the tub while I'm filling his bath with water and he gets so excited to get in there that he's been lifting one foot as if to try to climb up the side of the bath tub.  The last couple days at my mom's house, however, he has actually climbed a few of her stairs!  Her steps have 2 steps then a landing that turns slightly, then another step that turns slightly, then the full flight up.  At the bottom of the full flight of stairs she keeps a baby gate up to keep the dogs from going upstairs and getting into things.  Cooper has made his way all the way up to the gate and then stood up and held onto the gate!  wait until he figures out that coming down is a lot more difficult (and quicker!) than going up!  Good thing we don't have any steps in our current house to worry about!
• is obsessed with the computer!  It is very hard for me to get anything done on the computer when he's nearby...he helps himself to pushing buttons, pulling the cord out of the computer, and grabbing the screen  :)
• definitely understand cause and effect!  He has a couple of books that when you turn the pages, they read aloud.  He has clearly figured out whats makes them talk, stop, and talk again!  He has one that starts "peek-a-boo..." and we hear it over and over and over and over again!  :)  open close, open close, open close!  :)  We also build towers with his wooden blocks and he definitely understand that when he grabs one the tower falls down....and he thinks it's hilarious!
• gives the sweetest kisses!  He's especially generous with his kisses for mommy!  they are so slobbery but he just grins when he gives then (and so do it!)  I love it!  Check out the pictures from 4th of July below where he's trying to give grandma a kiss!  :)
• has learned, from his daddy...who deliberately taught him one night and then left the room, how to splash in the tub!  now as soon as he get into the water those hands go to town splashing!  At my mom's we bathe him in the sink and he literally splashes water all over us, the floor, the cabinets, and any dog that might be nearby!  He thinks he's so funny (as does his daddy who taught him the trick!)
• seems to be quite the nursing acrobat...especially when nursing in the side laying position!  One minute he's nursing normally, the next he's flipped himself over onto his tummy (still latched on!) and is pushing up onto his legs, all but standing up!
• can stand holding onto one thing and move to something else nearby....I don't think we are too far from independent standing!
• seems to be starting to understand the word "no."  As he's gotten more mobile and adventurous he's started getting into things he's not supposed to (like the fake rocks in the fireplace).  Sometimes he'll work his way over there and then look back at me like "is it ok this time mom?"  I think he's heard "no no" to that so many times he's starting to know that it's not something he's supposed to be doing!  :)  but in true boy fashion....he's going to see how far he can push it!  :)  little stinker!
• is starting to get on somewhat of a nap schedule.  typically he's tired in the morning after being up for a couple hours and then again in the afternoon around 1 or 2 o'clock.  I usually have to force him to be still enough to fall asleep though.  Sometimes he'll nap for about 45min-an hour in the morning and it can be up to 2 hours in the afternoon.  we're getting there with that routine!  :)
• is the SWEETEST baby I know!  I love how he fits perfectly into my arms, curled up, when I'm rocking him to sleep.  I love how he holds my arm or finger while he's falling asleep or nursing.  I love how his mouth drops open when he's totally relaxed and his paci drops out.  I love how he looks up at me and gets the biggest grin when I make a blanket tent over the two of us.  I love how he finds the simplest things funny, like knocking down a block tower.  I love how he loves dogs and just grins at them.  I love how he puts his arms up to me when he wants me to hold him.  I love how he gets excited to see daddy come home.  I love how he relaxes when I sing to him even though I'm aware that I probably don't have the best singing voice....but he thinks I do.  I love how he enjoys watching other babies and children.  I love when he tries something new, and succeeds, and looks back to us like he's so proud of himself.  I could go on and on about all the little things I LOVE about this sweet baby but most of all I love that I get to spend the next 18+ years raising him and guiding him and, hopefully, helping him grow to be a loving, compassionate, responsible, respectful, god-fearing, generous, kind, and giving man.  What an honor to be his mother and get that opportunity!  How did I get to be so lucky?!?!  :)

and now for some pictures!  I tried to compile these so there wouldn't be a TON of images! :)

such a busy boy!

the "Tucker lick" hair style....kinda like a cow lick!  :)

baby bird loves his fresh, homemade food!

Even the cutest babies take a less than perfect picture from time to time!  :)  (He's gonna kill me for this one day!)

My first Fourth of July!

look at that sweet face!  Excited about the Independence Day festivities!  :)

Splish Splash, I LOVE taking a bath!

climbing the stairs at grandma's house....yikes!

digging for toys in my toy box at grandma's house! 

Thanks for stopping by!