Drew's 34th bday
Fishing at Lake Mary with Aunt Bailey, Gabe, and Gma 9-2012
Trip to Wilmington NC. The beach and aquarium. 9-2012
Coop and I are trying to adjust to it being just us in the
house again. Sometimes it is so quiet. Mckenzie left 2 weeks ago and the same day she left Andrew’s mom came for a week and a half over Easter. We all headed down to
Charleston for Easter weekend and it was wonderful! Debby booked rooms at the
Francis Marion hotel right in the heart of down town so we were able to just
walk out of our door and be right in the middle of it all. We spent a day at Boone Hall
plantation, which was so neat to see. Then other days we spent wandering around
and looking at all the beautiful houses. We took a carriage tour which was really neat. And man oh man did we eat, eat, eat some amazing food. I don’t know if I
have ever eaten so much delicious food in one weekend. We found a sea food
place called R.B.’s in Mount Pleasant that was to die for. We ate there one
evening for dinner and then went back the very next day for lunch. Cooper was great
the whole time. He loved all of the restaurants and inhaled a lot of grits. He is
truly a southern boy. He also loved being carried around the whole time and being out on the
town all day. It was definitely his kind of trip. 
Now we are back home and just doing our thang. Coop is scoot/crawling
all over the place. He loves playing with his toys and mama. And he takes a
great nap every morning while I do hair. We couldn’t ask for a better baby. 
We (Andrew, Cooper and I) all just got back from Cooper’s
first camping trip. He Absolutely loved it! I will admit I was a little bit
nervous just due to the fact that Cooper has only been sleeping through the
night (11 hrs straight) for about a month and a half now. But he did great. We
went to a place called Bandits Roost in Wilkesboro NC with a few families from
our ward. (Evans and Theodosis’) We had a great little secluded loop with
everyone and just ate and talked around the fire. As far as Coop’s sleeping
arrangements, I set up his pack-n-play crib in the back of our x-Terra, closed
it up, cracked the windows a tad, and turned on the sound machine on my phone
and he was good to go. It worked awesome! When he woke up the next day he was
so happy to see that he was still outside. The boy loves loves loves being
outdoors. We then had breakfast and went on a great hike with him in a pack on
Andrew’s back. It went so well and he loved it so much that I can’t wait to
take him again. I would bet he becomes a life long lover of camping. Some other
developments lately are that he is on the very verge of walking. Could be any
day now. He just cruises all along the furniture. He spends most of his play
time playing with trucks right now. He can’t get enough of them. He pushes them
all over the place while doing very good truck and car sounds. I knew that boys
a lot of the time just came with built in sound effects and a natural love of
cars and balls but wow! I haven’t had to teach him at all, he is just a natural
driver. He is starting to say a few words. I would have to say that mama was
his first! Yay! Then Dada followed in a close second. He also does monkey, dog
and kitty noises. And waves and says bye bye. Oh he also says ball, bird and
for any vehicle does a good purring raspberry. He is such a smart little guy.
Very determined but oh soooo sweet. He loves to snuggle. It makes me so happy.
He presses his face against yours and does this soft cooing while he is
snuggling . It is so cute. I can’t believe how much joy a little person can
bring. I love him more than I could ever explain. I jut look at his cute little
chubby face and my heart melts. I can’t imagine how heavenly father feels with
billions and billions of children. He must be one happy guy. 
Well our little man is finally mobile. He started scooting a
few days ago and hasn’t stopped for a second since. I knew that once he could
move on his own he would be a lot happier entertaining himself for longer and I
was right. Any time he is in motion he has such a pleased look on his little
face. He is such a happy little guy these days. I swear this whole parent thing
just keeps getting more and more fun! We still have Aunt McKenzie staying with
us and she has been watching our friend’s baby, Carter Adamson. Coop likes
having another baby around. Not sure how much longer Kenz will be staying with
us though. she broke up with her boyfriend who is away on a mission and now
wants to head home to start a fun summer with her girlfriends. We get Nana
(Grandma Debby) in a week though so we won’t be alone for long! We are all
going to head down to Charleston S.C. for Easter. I can’t wait. Andrew and I
have been to Charleston twice before and loved it both times. It is just so
charming and neat. And wow what good food.
Both times we went with our friends the Berlins who really know their
way around so this time will be a bit different on our own. The weather this
winter and spring have been totally awesome so hopefully the beach will be
nice. It has only snowed once and has been warm enough for shorts since
February! Kenz, Coop and I have been loving it. We love doing stuff in the yard
while soaking up the sun. Oh another totally awesome Coop “trick” I forgot to
mention is that he is waving bye bye and says it. You can’t quite understand it
but he says it every other time. So his first words are mama, which he says
when he is upset. Dada when he is playing with Andrew. And now buh buh for bye
bye. I know everyone thinks this about their first kid but I totally think that
he is a baby genius.
And he really has the sweetest most fun personality. It is
impossible not to fall completely in love with that little guy when he looks at
you and grins. That is excepting when it is bed time and then he tends to turn
into a little monster these days. Especially when I am at Young Women and it’s past bed timze. Boy howdy it can be
tricky to get that boy settled without a human pacifier, if you know what I
mean. ;) But really even then he is crazy lovable even pitching and screaming.
Hee…Hee…
Well little Coop man is now 7 months. We can’t believe just
how fast 7 months have gone by. Cooper is such an awesome baby. He is such a
joy. Things he is doing these days are sitting, rolling, and laughing laughing.
He is a really social little guy and loves people. He also loves bath time like
no body’s business. He splashes like crazy, and if he topples over in the water
or gets it in his face it doesn’t even faze him he just gets right back to work
splashing away. Andrew and I are loving being parents and are just trying to
find a rhythm to juggling life. Andrew
really enjoys his job at the law firm Allman Spry doing mainly
commercial real-estate law. And I am doing Cooper wrangling and hair at home in
the kitchen when I can just to fill in our budget gaps. People come for hair
when Cooper goes down for a nap in the morning or on Saturdays. It’s so nice to
be able to be a completely stay at home mom with him and to be able to have an
income. We have been really blessed with my work over the years.
Oh and something kind of funny and exciting, Cooper goes on
the potty! I know it sounds really weird to be toilet training your 7 month old
but it has been extremely easy. I had just noticed that he let me know every
time he was doing number two. So one day I just took his diaper off and stuck
him on the pot and whalah… It’s been about three weeks now and in that time I
have only changed one poopy diaper! I just put him on every time he wakes up or
in between if he lets me know and he now recognizes what it is and what he is
supposed to do on it. He is even starting to pee on there. And it’s not like we
spend forever in the bathroom just waiting for something to happen, I put him
on and he makes himself go. Smart little guy. I hope our other kiddos are this
easy to potty train. And I hope this lasts, fingers crossed. Now if we can just get him to sleep better at night we’ll
be good. Can’t complain though. 
