Scared Cooper

Early this morning at 3:30 am, Cooper woke up crying. He always sleeps through the night, so I was sort of shocked. I went in and got him out of bed and sat with him for awhile, then put him back in bed. About half and hour later, he woke up crying again. Jim went in this time and just held him for a minute and put him back down. Another 5 minutes later, he woke up screaming and Jim said he went in and he was standing in one corner of his crib staring at the opposite corner mumbling something about being scared. Jim said it was sort of weird because he kept looking at the corner and trying to stay as far away from it as he could. Cooper then said something about the night light in the room and wanted Jim to throw it in the garbage. So, Jim did and then brought him into our bed to sleep with us.

Well, I woke up at 6:30 to get Kenedy out of bed and ready for school and Cooper came out of my room a few minutes later. Haden was already up and Cooper started telling him one whopper of a story. He said, "Haden, there were cows and they were climbing in my bed. They climbed in my bed and they tried to scare me. They just kept climbing and climbing and climbing and trying to scare me." Haden just sort of listened and I was so tired, I was laying on the couch listening as well. I really wish I had grabbed the video camera and taped the conversation. Anyway, Cooper all the sudden said, "I hate cows! I hate them!" I almost burst out laughing because it sounded so funny. And then he said, "But Daddy threw them in the garbage." He must have had a bad dream about cows or something because we don't have a stuffed cow anywhere in our house. So, all day we heard about how he is scared of cows, they climb in his bed and try to scare him and he DOES NOT like them.

Train trip to Portland

October 10, the kids had the day off of school and Jim didn't work, so we decided to take the train to Portland. Jim's parents drove over and rode with us. It was scheduled to leave on Friday morning at 5:35 a.m. Well, with our travel luck these days, when we got to the train station, the train was running 2 hours late. So, we went to a little bakery in Pasco and got some pastries, then went to Jim's office to wait out the time until the train left at about 8:15. It was actually really nice to have his office to go to so we didn't have to go all the way back home. The kids just watched TV downstairs and Jim's parents and I took a little nap in the chairs upstairs.


So, we got to Portland at about 1 p.m., got our 2 rental cars, got some lunch and then went to OMSI. We love OMSI. The kids always have a good time there. Haden, Lexie and Cooper especially had a good time. Cooper loved the space shuttle replica and wouldn't get out of it. From there, we headed to the hotel to check in and freshen up. We ate dinner at Izzy's--a pizza buffet restaurant--which was one of our favorite places to eat when we lived in Portland. The kids always love it and we got right in and didn't have to wait like at all the other places on a Friday night.


Saturday morning, we got up and ate breakfast. The kids were thrilled because the Embassy Suites Hotel has a buffet breakfast and they could get as much bacon, eggs and pancakes as they wanted. After breakfast, Jim took the kids swimming for about an hour and then we cleaned up and got ready to check out. After we checked out, Jim and his dad took Haden, Lexie and Cooper to the zoo while Jim's mom, Kenedy, Hallie and I went to the mall to shop. It was a really beautiful day--sun shining and about 60 degrees.


















We ended our weekend in Portland by meeting at Enterprise to take the cars back and headed to the train station for the ride home. The train was on time and we were allowed to board first and find 9 seats together. It was great because we were able to sit in the passenger car right by the lounge car. The kids loved going into the lounge car and looking out the windows or playing games at the tables. All in all, we had a great time on our trip to Portland. Cooper is a little bit loud for a long train ride, but we made it and we had a good time.

Cooper's birthday, my sweet husband and funny Haden

Cooper had a good birthday complete with dinner at the Mongolian Grill, presents to open and birthday cake and ice cream. We made the mistake of letting him open his Star Wars presents first, so then he didn't want to have anything to do with the clothes that both sets of grandparents got him or the books he received. You could not get him to pay attention to other presents once he saw R2D2. I'm glad he liked them so much!


Cooper getting ready to put R2D2 on the cake because there just weren't enough characters on it! They don't make Star Wars cakes anymore, so I just had them do the background for the Yoda cake they used to make and I put some characters we already had on it. He loved it!


As you all may know, Jim thinks that buying flowers in a waste of money. He bought them for me all the time when we were dating and most of the time there was no special occasion that corresponded. It was really nice. Then, we got married and he decided it was a waste of money to buy flowers because they just die. I think the first time he bought me flowers after we got married was for Mother's Day 2 months before I had Kenedy. That was not quite 18 months into our marriage. I have learned to accept this because he buys flowers when I have a baby and he buys me other things like clothes, shoes or purses quite often. I did, however tell him about a month ago that I really do like it when he gets me flowers and it would be nice every once in awhile. I thought that might get him to buy me flowers for my birthday, but it did not. So, I teased him quite a bit about my hints not quite getting through.

So, yesterday, he came home from work a little late which isn't too unusual, but when he walked in he had some beautiful red roses in his hand--just for the heck of it. My teasing about missing flowers for my birthday must have done the trick! :)


Aren't they gorgeous! I was very excited!

A little later, I was getting ready to go to book group and he asked me if I had read the card. I said yes. He said there was another part to my present. He said, "You know me. I can't just get flowers because they will just die. I had to get you something else as well." Hallie went out to his car and brought in a bag from Gart Sports. I opened the bad and it contained a volleyball. I was very excited. He knows I have been wanting a "real" volleyball for awhile now. It is the same as the ones that I played with in High School and just better quality than a lot of volleyballs--not so hard on your arms when you hit it. We realized, however that he bought the training volleyball for kids 12 & under, so he is searching today for the one for adults. Nice going, honey. You can get me fun presents anytime!

So, I got home from Book Group last night and went into the boy's room to say goodnight to Haden. I kissed him on the cheek and he was still awake. Then I noticed he wasn't wearing his pajamas. I said "Haden, why are you sleeping without your pajamas on?" He said, "That's what men do." I swear I don't ever know what that boy is going to say. So, I went in there later to take a picture of him after he went to sleep.

I asked him about it again this morning and he said that Anakin doesn't sleep with pajamas on, so he thought he'd try it out. I love Star Wars, but maybe he's been watching it a little too much! What a funny boy!

My baby turned 3 today!

For some reason, I couldn't find any of his newborn pictures on my computer, so here is one of Cooper when he was about 8 or 9 months old.

Three years ago today, October 3, 2005, my sweet baby boy, Cooper, was born. It hardly seems like it has been that long. He has been a pure joy since the day he was born. He has always slept well, been very loving and is just as cute as can be. It's amazing to look back at pictures, because he has changed so much. A few things of note about Cooper:

1. For a couple of weeks straight just recently, he wouldn't let us call him Cooper, he was Yoda. And then, if he was feeling the dark side of the force, he would have us call him Darth Vader. Star Wars is a new fascination for both he and Haden.

2. His favorite phrase of late is "What are you talking 'bout?"

3. I'm starting to potty train him, so soon there will be NO MORE DIAPERS in our house!

We really love you Cooper! Happy Birthday!

I had to put one on here of him sucking those 2 favorite fingers of his.

Last year, the girls decided to dress him up like Ariel. What's a 2 year old boy to do? Jim's going to love that I posted this picture! I just won't tell him! :)