Show Us Your Life: Favorite Charities

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner for the first time for Show Us Your Life Friday, and today it is about favorite charities. I felt like this would be the perfect time to talk about a place very dear to my heart, the Big Oak Ranch in Gadsden, Alabama. 

The Big Oak Ranch was founded by Alabama football legend John Croyle in 1974, with the Boys' Ranch in Gadsden, and the Girls' Ranch in Springville, Alabama was added in 1988. I had the privelege as a teenager to go to the ranch three times for service trips with my church, Big Sandy Baptist Church. Our youth group, led at the time by the University of Alabama's Director of Athletic Photography Kent Gidley, spent a week there each summer, and while we were there we did the most physical labor any of us teenagers had ever done. We built a barn, tore down a building by hand (using sledge hammers), painted miles upon miles of fencing around the horse pastures, and various other types of work.

On our first trip to the Ranch, we took along a writer and a photographer from The Tuscaloosa News, who were friends with Kent Gidley, and they did a huge article about it for the paper. We thought we were celebrities!

This is one of the pictures from the article

 

But really, it was an amazing experience each time I got to go, where we were able to really put ourselves and our own needs aside and really focus on the needs of others. I would love a chance to go back and do more work.

 

 It's a working ranch, so there is always work to be done. If you would like more information, visit their website. It gives their amazing story and tells of all the opportunities to help.

Confessional Friday!

So I'm linking up over at Blonde Ambition for Confessional Friday!

1. I confess that today I ate leftover spaghettie for breakfast.... and then again for lunch.

2. I confess that I had no idea there was a presidential debate going on, until I saw something online about Big Bird.

3. I confess that I am trying to sew my own Halloween costume and it may (or may not) being going very well. We'll see.

4. I confess that I went to the Thrift store the other day just to kill time.


So there, my first Confessional Friday. I thought there would maybe be more to it but I guess not. I had a lot of moments this week, where I thought to myself, I should put this in a Confessional post. But then I forgot. Ha! So maybe I'll write down my confessional moments and have a better post for next week. Not bad for my first link up though, right? Right? Oh well.

Back from the dead!

Wow, talk about a hiatus. We are back from the dead. We actually moved, and had no internet for over 2 weeks. You would think that it drove me crazy and it did for the first few days, then it was almost peaceful.

Anywho, so we are in our new home and we love it! There is plenty of room for everyone, and for more when the time comes. Anywho, this is a short one til I figure out something else to write about, but we are here!

Cooper's Birth Story

I don't have this on my blog yet, so I want to go ahead and put it here. And yes, I'm giving it the label "Birth Stories" as in plural, because hopefully, I'll have a bunch more birth stories to tell you. But here's his.

I had a rather easy pregnancy with Cooper. I had zero morning sickness. I had a small battle with an ear infection, but other than that, just the minor aches and pains that everyone gets. Then my water broke at home when I was 37 weeks and 5 days. It was later in the evening, probably about 8:30 or so. It wasn't the big gush like you see in the movies, so at first, I really thought I had peed on myself. Then it happened again, and I just knew.

So I went to wake up Dixie, who had already gone to bed. I said, "Babe, I think my water just broke." And he replied, "Are you sure you didn't pee on yourself?" I said I was sure, and he told me to call the doctor. While I was on the phone with the doctor, I guess Dixie realized it was go time, and he was up out of the bed, running around the house. My dad had just woken up (he lived with us at the time, and works graveyard), so he was there to witness us freaking out a little. I started crying, because I was so scared. By the time I got a call back from my doctor and got off the phone with him, Dixie had already posted on Facebook what was going on. So we load up the car and head to the hospital.

When we got there, they put us in a triage room and checked me. I was only about one and a half centimeters. I wasn't having any contractions yet, and the nurse said they would put me in a room, and induce me in the morning if my contractions hadn't started by then. Not long after the nurse left, my contractions started and they started strong!. I made it through, oh maybe, three or four contractions before I was hitting my button and begging for pain medicine. So the nurse brought me a big fat shot of Demerol and a big fat shot of Phenergan. The Demerol was great, and I was sailing high til the Phenergan kicked in. Apparently, I'm allergic to it. The effect it had on me was like Restless Leg Syndrome, but all over your whole body, and times like, a hundred. I was beyond miserable. Shortly after that I went on and got an epidural, and while I wasn't in pain, I was still miserable from the effects of the other medicine. It was so bad that it took the nurse several tries to get the catheter in because I could be still. I also had several visitors come by the hospital that the nurse turned away because I was so bad. (There were some people that I didn't know had even shown up until after I was discharged.)

I was in labor for nearly 20 hours and stalled at 8.5 centimeters because Cooper was face up and just big. So Dr Reed decided we needed to do a C-section. By the time he said that I was ready to throw in the towel anyway, so I didn't care one way or the other. We went into surgery and Cooper was born at 7:43pm on December 23rd, 2011 with no complications. We stayed a few days and then went right home.

Next time, I will know to go straight to the epidural and skip the narcotics, and maybe it will be a more pleasant experience.

Crossing Off a Few Things

So I revisited my 101 list (which still doesn't have 101 things) and there are actually a few things I need to cross of the list. So here goes.

# 3 - Get a promotion at work - well, since I quit my job, this one is off the list.

# 11 - Get a Kindle Fire - Actually, I got a Nook Tablet a while back, and I loved it, but I hardly ever used it so I sold it to a friend whose daughter is loving it even more.

# 20 - Make over the blog - I already did that, as you can see, but I am actually about to do it again for fall.

# 42 - Start Cooper on solids - He's 8 months old, so this happened a couple months ago. He loves to eat!

#43 - Make Cooper's baby food - I was really going to do this at first, but then I figured, Gerber has been around for a gajillion years, so I will let them stick to what they are good at.

# 44 - Get involved with Adopt-a-School - This is crossed off for lack of being able to. Since I'm at home now, I don't have a business to get involved with.

#58 - Learn to drive a stick shift - Dixie's sister taught me the basics of driving a stick a while back. I'm no pro at it, but if we ever owned a stick and got stranded, I could drive it.

# 87 - Get a house plant - We actually have two houseplants. We got them before we moved back to Tuscaloosa from Gordo, and they are still alive!

# 88 - Go to a wedding - See below, my sister got married and had a beautiful wedding at her in-laws home.

So there we go, crossed a few things off. I still need some suggestions as to more things to actually get it to 101 things, but I doubt anyone even reads this so... Anywho....til next time!


Amy

Wordless Wednesday: Taking the Kids to Walmart

Going to the Chapel!

She did it! My sister is now Mrs Ashley Woods! I'm so happy for her and Kurt! She was absolutely stunning. There are really no words to really describe how happy I am for her. So I'm not really going to try. But here's the pictures!

Ashley and Lexi

Ashley and Grandma Frances

Ashley and Momma Sally

Ashley and her dad Tony

Ashley and Kurt

You may now kiss the bride!

The Woods Family

Lexi, right before she tried to eat Uncle Cody's flower

Happy Bride!

Mr. & Mrs. Woods

Me and the beautiful bride!

Lexi cheesing just like her mama!

The wedding party, Cody, Kami, Taylor, Ashley, Kurt, Lexi, Lisa, and Christopher

Ashley and Kurt with G'ma Frances and Pawpaw Bryant

Is she not the most beautiful bride you've ever seen?! It was such a great day and we narrowly avoided two different major rainstorms. And just like any wedding, it wasn't exactly drama free, but the day went almost exactly how Ashley wanted it to go. I am very happy for her and Kurt and I know they will be a very happy couple for years and years to come!

Growing Up...

My sister is getting married on Saturday! Ashley and Kurt have been together for what seems like forever, and they have a beautiful little girl, Brooklynn Alexis (whom we usually call Lexi), who just turn 6 months old a couple days ago. I have the great honor of taking pictures at their wedding, and I can't wait. (I am actually a little nervous about taking the pictures. I am scared TO DEATH they may not turn out great.)

(Kurt, Lexi and Ashley)

[Most people who know me know that Ashley isn't technically my sister. We really aren't blood related at all. We met in about the third grade when our parents all bowled on a league together. We became fast friends and quickly became "adopted" into each other's family. Most people know that whenever I refer to "my sister" I'm talking about Ashley.]

(Ashley and me a couple years ago.)

She's growing up, y'all! I mean, duh, we are the same age, we both have a child, and I'm already married. We are pretty much at the same stage of life, but it's still like, holy crap, we're adults! I don't know about her, but I feel old sometimes when I think back. I mean, It's been like, 17 or 18 years since she and I were getting in trouble running around Leland Lanes. There have been times over the years where we lived in different states and it was hard for us to stay in touch. And there have been times where one of us did something hurtful to the other and we didn't talk for days at a time. But like family, we always end up together again and pick up like nothing ever happened.

Now that we have families of our own, it's a different sort of friendship. When we were little, it was about sleepovers and getting to ride home on the bus with each other. Then we were teenagers, and it was about who was dating who. Now, our conversations are about baby milestones and car trouble. And I think we are going to be those friends that are crying together as we send our kids off to kindergarten, and crying again when they graduate high school together. Then, God willing, we'll be going to weddings and visiting each other's grandchildren.

(Cooper and Lexi on a playdate.)

I can't wait for the wedding! It is going to be such a special day for Ashley and Kurt. I am so glad to be a part of it and honored that she would trust me to document it for her. 

See you next time with pictures!!!

Mrs Faulkner

# 71 - Partial Check

So # 71 on my 101 list is to read ten biographies, and I've read two so far.

The first is Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall.

It was pretty good, but it seemed to drag on and on and on. And some of the writing and dialogue was just weird the way it was worded, as if to be too perfect. I've read similar stories by other 'escapees' from the FLDS and they are just written much better. It was good though.

Then I read Love Times Three by the Darger Family.

Notice a trend? Ha! No, I am not becoming a polygamist or anything like that. It is just a very interesting lifestyle. This book was much much better, and it showed the complete opposite side of polygamy than the other book. This one is written by a husband and his three wives. They are in a loving, trusting, consenting relationship where they are committed to each other and their 20+ children. It's great. I love it. I've read it multiple times since getting it about a month ago. And now I follow them on Twitter. LOL.

30 Day Photo Challenge - Day 1

So some people on Facebook are doing a 30 Day Photo Challenge. I'm posting this stuff there, but I'm doing it all out of order. For the sake of some kind of order, I'm going to do it chronologically here.

So Day 1 - Post a picture of yourself with 10 Facts.

28 weeks preggo with Cooper

1. My favorite cereal is Lucky Charms, and when I eat it, I always eat all the cereal pieces first then the marshmallows. 
2. I love to take my shoes off at work and sit with my feet in my chair. Sometimes, I've "lost" my shoes because I took them off at one desk and then moved to another desk and forgot where I left them.
3. I have a sister that I'm not actually related to, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
4. I think whoever paid $20.5 million for a Jackson Pollock painting needs to find something else to do with their money.
5. I have never been out of the Southeast. The furthest north I've been is Gatlinburg, and the furthest west I've been is Longview, Texas. 
6. I can't stand it when someone messes up verb conjugation in writing. For example, it drives me crazy if someone writes, "She like to dance," when it should be "She likes to dance."
7. I work at an answering service, and I will have stories for years to come of the craziness and stupidity that I and my co-workers have encountered.
8. I never really understood the difference between cheap wine and good wine until I had a glass of Castello del Poggio Moscato at Olive Garden, and I'm hooked.
9. I really like stand up comedy, my favorites being Gabriel Iglesias and Jeff Dunham.
10. My husband and my son are the absolute materialization of my dreams.

So there we go! Day 1 complete. I'm pretty sure I won't finish this whole thing in 30 days, but I'm at least going to try to finish it. There may just be better things to blog about. 

Anywhoozle....later my friends!

Cooper is 6 Months Old!

My little boy turned six months old today! I've been telling people all day and it still hasn't really kicked in that my boy, my little baby, is six months old. It's hard to believe. I totally forgot to take his picture, so here he is asleep. Haha! It's easier to take a good pic this way since he's not wiggling all over the place. 

Weight:  

I'm really not sure honestly. I figure around 19 lbs. He was 17.5 pounds at around 4 and a half months old, so maybe around 19. I could be way wrong though. He will be 7 months at his 6 month doctor appointment so we'll see for sure then. 

Height:

Again, not sure. He was 26.5 inches at his last appointment so maybe what, 28? IDK

Clothing:

He is certainly wearing 6-9 month stuff, and even some 9-12 month things. For sleepers, he has to have 9-12 because the 6-9 month ones are too short for his long legs. 

Diapers:

We are in a size 3, and I think he'll stay there for a little while. He's in a stage where he is constantly trying to get away from me during diaper changes. 

Feeding:

Boy loves food! He has a bottle every 3-4 hours, eating 8 ounces at a time (I know right!). He has been eating baby food consistently for about a month now. We had been offering it to him sporadically, just to introduce it, but it has been full time for a while. For breakfast he gets cereal and a fruit (we've had peaches, apples, pears, and bananas.). Around lunch he gets a vegetable and dinner a vegetable. For vegetables, he loves carrots, squash and sweet potatoes (all the orange ones). He isn't really into the green beans or peas, but he will eat them if you mix it with something else, like carrots. He is trying to hold his own bottle, but he'd rather someone hold it for him, and I'm always happy to do it.

Hair/Eyes:

I still can't tell what color his hair is/is going to be. It's kinda blonde, with a red tint in the sun, which he gets from his daddy. But sometimes it looks dark. He has a little cradle cap, but we are working on it. He has a bald spot on the back of his head from scooting on his back so much. His eyes are still beautifully blue, and I hope they don't change. 

Sleep:

He was doing so well before we moved, but this move has thrown him off. Pre-move, he was going to bed around 8 or so and sleeping until 6 or 7am. When I started back on day shift, I had to get up earlier to take him to my mom's in the morning, so he started going to bed earlier, usually around 7, and he sleeps until I wake him up at 5:30 or so. Now that we have moved, he is pretty much on the same schedule, but he has started waking up at night. He's not hungry, he just wants to be cuddled and he goes right back to sleep. I know I know, I have to break him of that and quit picking him up but it's hard because I know this is a new environment and he has to get used to it. 

Fun Stuff:

He is rolling over like a pro! Both ways too! He loves his walker and his activity center. And he can't get enough of Tec the Tractor (Baby First TV). He has started reaching for people ever so slightly, and that has tickled his PawPaw to death! Cooper loves his PawPaw Wayne (Dixie's dad). We go to his house and Cooper just lights up and giggles. Cooper likes everyone. I've taken him by my office and he just laughs and laughs with my two boss ladies. He is such a charmer. 

Fun moment:

 At the Thrift Store the other day, I was walking around, with Cooper in the buggy in his car seat, and an older, gray haired lady stopped to see him. She started talking to him and he was smiling back and squealing like it was his job, and the lady turned to me and said, "He knows a grandma when he sees one." Love it!

Sleeping through the Night....Part Deaux

(Ignore the fact that it's been so long...) So Cooper has been sleeping through the night since he was a little over two months old. It started out as sleeping from about 9pm to about 5am ish, maybe a tad longer some days. It has gradually grown to where he would go to bed between 7 and 8p and wake up around 6-6:30. Then when I started back working, I have to be in at 7am, so I would get up and get myself ready then wake him up around 5:30am to get him ready right quick and off to my mother's house. Since he was up so early, he had been going to bed a little earlier, but still sleeping through the night.

 Well, that got thrown out of whack when we moved. We recently bought a new place, and since moving in, Cooper hasn't slept well. I know that the new environment is throwing him off, plus he is teething something fierce so that has a lot to do with it. But wow, this mama was thrown for an even bigger loop! I got really used to sleeping again! The last week or so has seen Cooper getting up every 2 hours at night. He doesn't want to eat or anything, he wants to snuggle and be rocked. And of course, bad mommy, I don't have the heart to let him cry it out and go back to sleep on his own. So I get him up, rock him to sleep, and put him back in bed. Which takes about 30 minutes each time he does it. That means I've been losing about two hours of the sleep I usually get, plus the time it takes me to fall back asleep. So maybe its three hours. Either way, I'm exhausted.

 Last night, he managed to sleep all the way through, but he was up for the day at 5am this morning, therefore, so was I. I'm so not sure what's going on. I know I just probably have to give him time and let him get used to his new surroundings. So I guess that's what we are doing. Giving it some time.

 In other news, the boy loves food! We have started him on baby food full time, which he gets twice a day right now. He usually gets a fruit for breakfast, usually bananas, and then a veggie sometime around lunch-ish. He loves bananas, and has had peaches also. As for veggies, I haven't found one that he wouldn't eat. He likes squash, peas, sweet potatoes, but his favorite so far is carrots. I can't get them in fast enough. With the other foods, when he sees the next bite coming, he opens his mouth, but with carrots, he has his mouth wide open before I even get the next bite ready! He loves it! I'm so glad, because my eyesight sucks bad, so maybe the carrots will help. Or maybe it won't have anything to do with it, but hey, a mama can hope.

 Now that I've been up over an hour, it's time to get ready for work. I love our new place because it's 4 miles from my job instead of 24, and it's less than 2 miles from Dixie's work. Awesome I know! Maybe I'll get around to posting some pics of the babe, but you know, they are all still on my camera, which I think is still packed somewhere....I think....it better be...

 Anywhoozle.... off to work. Maybe I'll have a good story or something later...

# 15 - Check!

So number 15 on my 101 list was to let someone watch Cooper overnight.

Last night, my mother kept Cooper overnight while Dixie and I went out to Scooter's to celebrate his birthday. We had such a good time being out with our friends and knowing that Cooper was being well taken care of.  We didn't close the bar down like I thought we would. We left Scooters before 1am. I know! Lightweights! LOL I think we were more interested in a full night's sleep.

I left Dixie in the bed this morning and went to pick Cooper up around 9:30. Here he is at MawMaw's.

It's bad quality, I know. Blame the crappy cell phone camera. He did so good at his MawMaw's house, even though he didn't really sleep through the night. We expected that though, being his first night away from home without Mommy and Daddy. He went to bed around 11, and woke at 4am and again at 7am. Not too bad.

So yay for my first check off my list! I have a few more things to add to it, but I'm still about 3-4 things short. I'll update the list soon.

Sleeping Through the Night!

I am the proud mom of a good sleeper! Finally! Now if only I could be a good sleeper. :-) For the last 4 nights straight, cooper has slept 7+ hours at a time! Usually he goes down between 10-11p after his last bottle and gets up around 5:30-6am, then he'll eat and go right back down for a couple more hours. It has been wonderful! He is in a much better mood in the mornings since he is sleeping better. I just love love love getting him up around 8am and he just smiles and coos at me.

And this is all thanks to my wonderful husband. He has got Cooper on such a good schedule. I had a bad habit at night and early morning feedings of letting him fall back to sleep without eating much. But Dixie has him on a good schedule where he eats better, and I got better at making sure he eats enough, and he sleeps so much better and longer. It's awesome.

The only problem is....Cooper no longer wakes up at 2am, but I do! Every night I wake up when he usually woke up and I have to go to his crib, which is like, 2 feet away, and poke him to make sure he's breathing. And every time I hear, "He's fine, you better not wake him up," from the other side of the bed. Haha! I never wake him up, I just have to make sure.

Oh, and Cooper has become a mover lately while in his crib. His crib has a changing table attached to the right side of it, and instead of slats on that side it's a solid panel. Well the first night he slept all the way through, I think he would have slept longer but he had scooted himself all the way up to where his head was up against that solid panel. And he likes to sleep with his hands up above his head, and every time he would go to throw his arms back, he would hit the panel and it would wake him up. At first I couldn't figure out what the noise he kept making was until I finally got up to look and saw it. I scooted him back down and he slept a little while longer.

So after that we started putting his head at the other end of the crib and this morning, he had turned sideways and his head was up against the slats on the front side of the bed. I wish I had thought to take a picture but the camera was in the car. I think if he hadn't gotten up against the slats he would have slept a little while longer. I guess we are going to have to get him some bumpers. We never actually got him a bedding set because A) they are unnaturally expensive, and B) half the stuff that comes in a bedding set, including bumpers, aren't supposed to be in the bed with the baby. So what's the point, right? Well, we are going to be looking into those breathable bumpers. It makes me feel bad when he gets his little head up against the rails.

Speaking of his little head, despite the fact that he already doesn't have a lot of hair, he's getting a little bald spot on the back of his head. LOL

And speaking of hair, I think a lot more of mine is falling out. Like, it scared me this morning. I know that's "normal" or whatever but my hair is a big deal. I mean, yes, I hardly ever actually do my hair because there's just so much of it and it takes forever, but I really do like it. I don't want to be bald. Which shouldn't be a problem. According to my stylist sister, I have the perfect kind of hair. It's not thick, as in each strand, there's just a whole lot of it on my head.

How did this go from my son's sleep habits to my hair? I'm not sure either. Oh well...

until next time....

Yay for TV!

So TV isn't all that important. Honestly, we hardly ever watch TV at our house. We are internet people. When we do watch TV it's usually the DIY Network. For some reason, we really enjoy watching other people get their homes madeover. I guess we are gathering ideas or something. We just love "Bath Crashers," "Kitchen Crashers," and "Yard Crashers."

I used to watch a lot of TV. When "Grey's Anatomy" first came out, I was obsessed! Like, don't make plans on Thursday because my show was coming on. But it only lasted a couple of seasons. Well a few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to get caught up on it, all EIGHT SEASONS! So I downloaded every episode. Yep, every one of them. It's probably over a hundred of them.

I started watching them about a month ago, and I just finished. Like last week. I am completely caught up, and there is apparently a season finale next week or something, so I will DVR it. (If I can figure out how to work my DVR.)

I spent all my spare time watching TV on my laptop for the last month, that now that I have no "Greys" I was a little bored. So you know what I did? I picked another show!

I am in the process of acquiring every episode of "Royal Pains." I watched the first couple seasons of it on On Demand and stayed pretty caught up but I haven't seen much of the 3rd season. So, that's my new project. Should take up a sufficient amount of time. This time though, my goal is to not eat potato chips the entire time I'm in front of my laptop. I've got to find a healthier alternative. I was thinking popcorn but I don't know. Popcorn makes me think "light and airy," which it is, but not so much when you factor in the "movie theater butter" part. We'll see though.

I'm trying to diet. Maybe not diet but just eat healthier and tackle this baby weight. I told Dixie to help me by letting me know when I'm not making good food choices. This morning, when I was craving salt, I was totally about to pop some popcorn and have it for breakfast. And I hear, "You need to eat a real breakfast. There's poptarts, cereal, or grits or something." 

Love him! So I made myself some grits and put bacon bits in it for my salt craving. Good idea right? I think so too. But now that I'm about to start watching some "Royal Pains" I feel a really strong urge to make popcorn again. Maybe, maybe not. IDK. I'll let you know.

until next time....

Deja Vu

I blog stalk some pretty random people that I don't know from Adam. Most live in my area but a few don't. I was blog stalking this morning as my little one slept off his first bottle of the day and came across this:

A Blue Eyed Boy Met a Brown Eyed Girl

This girl Stephanie, has a baby boy, and she's a hoot! I love reading her blog. She's so funny. But this morning, her blog brought me to tears, and brought back some memories that I can't bury deep enough.

I live in Tuscaloosa, and almost a year ago, our town experienced a natural disaster unlike we ever had before. A massive tornado tore through the heart of our town during rush hour. So many people lost their lives, and almost everyone in the city limits had some sort of damage to their homes and businesses. We are still recovering.

And it just happened to a town in Eastern Kentucky on March 2nd. Tornados across the country that day did severe damage in several states. I didn't watch the news about it specifically because I didn't want to dig up those awful memories.

I don't even know if anyone reads my blog except my husband. Go and look at Stephanies blog, and help if you can. If you can't help with donations, help with prayer. Man, they need it. I would encourage a donation to the Red Cross. The Red Cross used a massive amount of funds helping our town, and I know I'd like to be able to pay it forward. So check it out. (And read the rest of her blog too....her son is adorable and she will have you laughing like a crazy person!)

until next time...

Ohhhh.....Ahhhh....

So Cooper has always been mesmerized with our TV. Maybe because it's huge (55 inches) and it dominates the room so it's the easiest thing for him to look at. He has also been turning his head toward sounds since he had the tiniest bit of control over his head. But he never seemed interested in smaller objects, like toys. He has a mobile over his swing that he sometimes looked at intently, but it only lasted a few seconds. He has a short attention span. Here the last few days though, he is noticing and checking out things.

Today when I came home from work, he was laying in his portacrib in the living room staring at a little toy. My mother bought this little toy a couple weeks ago that is meant to hang from the handle of a car seat. Well, in the car seat, it seems to hang too close to his face and he didn't like it. But Dixie had it hanging on the side of the crib, and Cooper was just staring at it so hard! I said to Dixie, "Look how hard his checking that thing out." And Dixie says, "Yeah, he's been doing that for about 15 minutes now."

He liked it so much! Later this evening, after we all ate and played a little bit, I layed him back in the portacrib, and he started staring at it again, then he reached out for it! That's a milestone I have been sorta waiting for him to hit, reaching out for objects. He didn't grab it, but he reached out and hit it. The toy has three parts: the plastic clippy piece at the top that attaches it to something, a middle round piece that jingles, and a little stuffed lion on the bottom. I think Cooper figured out that if he touched it, that it would jingle. He still isn't that coordinated with it, but he reached out several times and made it jingle. The rest of the time he sat and talked to it. Well, of course he didn't make conversation, but he cooed and squealed at it. I think he likes it.

Cooper has a lot more control over his head than most babies do at this age (according to Baby Center). As soon as he gets a little bit more steady with it, we are going to get him some sort of exersaucer play thing. Since he's noticing things now, we are going to start buying toys and things. We didn't get any toys as gifts, and we didn't buy any because, well, he wouldn't need them for a while. (We bought clothes and diapers instead.) I am excited to see him notice things and start to sorta play.

He has been smiling up a storm lately, and he coos all the time. He loves his daddy! Dixie will lay him on a blanket on the floor and just talk to him and Cooper loves it! Half the time Dixie isn't making much sense but it's his voice I guess. Cooper will just smile so big and kick his legs so hard. He hasn't really laughed yet. He smiles and makes a funny sound like he might be trying to laugh, but it isn't quite there yet. I can't wait til he does.

Right now, he's laying in his portacrib, talking to his other friend, the ceiling fan. They have a good relationship. When the fan is off, the air conditioner blows it just hard enough to make it turn really slowly, and Cooper seems to be able to actually track it, so he stays occupied with that a good bit.

So enough random rambling about my son...I have a pile of laundry from several days ago that just won't fold itself. I probably won't fold it tonight either. In the morning. Hopefully. Oh how I hate to fold clothes! That's a lie, it's not the folding that I hate, it's putting it away. I love to finish folding and see neat stacks of t-shirts, jeans, baby blankets, and onsies. Then I have to put it away. Ugh. Hopefully I can motivate myself to do it tomorrow. Maybe. I'll let y'all know how that goes. LOL.

until next time.....

Flash...Bang!

We had some crazy storms last night in our area. Everyone was silently (and some not so silently) freaking out thinking it was going to be as bad at April 27, 2011. Of course, it didn't help that James Spann, our beloved meteorologist, said that if 4/27/11 was a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, yesterday's storms had the potential to be an 8. Yeah. He said that. And of course, since anything out of James Spann's mouth is like gospel, people started freaking out.


Thank goodness it didn't happen again. Although, I did have my freak out moment while I was driving home from work last night. I work in Tuscaloosa and live in Pickens County. So I'm driving down Hwy 82 headed home. I keep the radio tuned to 98.1, because I know that as long as they are playing music or commercials, we are fine. (Continuous weather coverage means something bad is about to happen somewhere.) I heard the announcer mention something about the worst section of the storm coming through Aliceville, which is the other side of Pickens County from me (or where I was going).

Then all of a sudden, the wind got so strong and the rain was falling so hard that it looked like buckets of water being dropped on my windshield one after the other. Then the lightening was flashing so bright I was nearly blinded. I put my flashers on and slowed to a crawl, mostly because I couldn't see the shoulder to pull over. Then the radio guy says something about Echola and Elrod were taking the worst hit from the storm right then. That's exactly where I was! I was about a half mile from the Texaco in Elrod for those that know the area. Talk about scary.

Then as sudden as it came, it just went away. Right as I was pulling into the Texaco to let it pass, the rain suddenly became barely a drizzle. I was shaking when I got out of the car at home. Severe weather doesn't bother me. I guess I've never really been directly affected by it. But last night, I was scared! I was glad to get home. I had to fight myself to not wake up my sleeping child just to cuddle.

So there's my "severe weather story." The weather is supposed to be clearing up now, so I hopefully I'll have a sunny day off.

til next time.....

101 in 1,001...The List

Alright here is my list. I'm still a few things short of 101 but I'll add to it when I come up with a few more things.

 (And these are in no particular order.)

1.       Donate blood.

2.       Get a tattoo.

3.       Get a promotion at work.

4.       Take Cooper camping.

5.       Take Cooper to the zoo.

6.       Take Copper to an aquarium.

7.       Take Cooper to the Circus.

8.       Take a road trip.

9.       Go to a concert at the Amphitheater.

10.   Volunteer for a day.

11.   Get a Kindle Fire.

12.   Get Cooper’s baby book up to date.

13.   Lose baby weight.

14.   Go on vacation to a new place.

       15.   Let someone babysit Cooper overnight.

16.   Plan Cooper an amazing 1^st birthday party.

17.   Take Cooper to his cousin Brooklynn’s 1^st birthday party.

18.   Move Cooper into his own room.

19.   Run a 5k.

20.   Makeover my blog.

21.   Makeover my hair.

22.   Crochet a whole blanket.

23.   Go to a museum I’ve never been to.

24.   Visit New Orleans.

25.   Decorate our bathroom.

26.   Buy a good cooking set.

27.   Build a fire pit outside.

28.   Put up a clothes line.

29.   Keep up with a workout routine for 2 weeks.

30.   Go horseback riding.

31.   Get a dog.

32.   Get family pictures made.

33.   Start learning Spanish.

34.   Take a Zumba class.

35.   Start a play date group.

36.   Go on a double date.

37.   Do something great for Dixie’s birthday (0/2)

38.   Save up for a pair of Frye boots.

39.   Get Cooper in a preschool.

40.   Get Coopers first steps on video.

41.   Teach Cooper to say “Mama”

42.   Start Cooper on solids.

43.   Make Cooper’s baby food.

44.   Get involved in the Adopt-a-School program.

45.   Go to Sips n’ Strokes.

46.   Go to All Fired Up

47.   Buy a good fitting bathing suit.

48.   Get fitted for a good bra.

49.   Buy 10 casual dresses (0/10)

50.   Shave legs every day for a month.

51.   Wear a dress every day for a week.

52.   Host a game night.

53.   Climb a tree.

54.   Get a real Christmas tree.

55.   Meet James Spann.

56.   Participate in an eating contest.

57.   Get tested for the breast cancer gene.

58.   Learn to drive a stick shift.

59.   Find a home church.

60.   Go to an Alabama Game.

61.   Go tailgaiting.

62.   Go to an Alabama Gymnastics meet.

63.   Make a cast of Cooper’s hand and foot prints.

64.   Go to Gulf Shores.

65.   Bake a cake from scratch.

66.   Make a 3 course dinner for my family.

67.   Try a new type of food.

68.   Learn to make gravy.

69.   Get $1000 into savings.

70.   Start using coupons.

71.   Read 10 biographies (0/10)

72.   Wear my hair down for an entire week.

73.   Organize the pictures and videos on my computer.

74.   Buy an external hard drive.

75.   Start Cooper on the “Your Baby Can Read” program.

76.   Take a pole dancing class.

77.   Join a gym.

78.   Go to a spa.

79.   Rearrange my bedroom.

80.   See a play.

81.   Sew Brooklynn an outfit by hand.

82.   Make myself a dress by hand.

83.   Send out Christmas cards (0/2).

84.   Take Cooper to CHOM.

85.   Start potty training.

86.   Fix up our flowerbeds.

87.   Get a houseplant.

88.   Go to a wedding.

89.   Go to Six Flags.

90.   Take Cooper to see Santa.

91.   Take Cooper to see the Easter Bunny.

92.   Buy a kitchen table.

So, I need 8 things. # 101 will be to make a new list, so I need 7 things.  If I add anything, I'll make a post about it.

So that's my list. Again, in no particular order.

Start date: March 3, 2012.

End date: November 28, 2014.