Mater Dog!

Okay so I have to post a tribute to our dog that we just got rid of. I will start the story from the beginning so you all don't think I am a heartless dog owner. This goes way back so brace yourselves for a long story. So when Ethan was just a baby I thought that it would be a good idea to get a dog for Brian for Father's day. I went and picked out a brand new lab puppy and brought her home to surprise Brian. She was such a cute little thing and so playful. We kept her for a couple years and decided that we would like to breed her. She was finally out of the puppy stage, you know the chewing, digging, etc. So we decided that we would get a male lab so that we could breed them. Well he was a puppy so we were going to have to wait a while before they could breed. To make a long story short we couldn't handle having another puppy. We had taken on too much. And we also thought that the dogs needed somewhere to run since I wasn't a faithful owner to make sure they got their exercise. (I had 2 kids by this point) So we arranged for Brian's aunt and uncle to take them out on the farm. Well to make a long story short they had puppies and that is where Mater came from. Brian's grandparents had originally taken Mater because their dog was getting old, but Grandma didn't like the actions of a puppy. So Brian felt bad and brought him home. What better are we going to do for this dog? I think he had good intentions of training him and taking him for runs, but let me remind you Brian won't even hardly pick up dog doo. Oh well so we made a house dog out of him which I enjoyed until I had a baby that was on the floor all the time. Then the hair really irritated me and I thought it was disgusting all of the sudden. Oh I also didn't like all the tootsie rolls in my yard because my kids love to be in the yard. YUMMM! So I told Brian we needed to get rid of him or put him out in a kennel. Brian said the kennel wasn't an option so we needed to find a new home for him. So I put an add in the paper and a nice family from here in Ephrata said that they would take him. I was happy and sad at the same time. He was such a good dog but I will admit I am not a "city" dog owner. I would rather have a dog that can do whatever they want out in the country. So Saturday the new owners came by and picked up Mater. He was so excited to ride in the front seat of the pickup, he just climbed right in. Ethan and Cody waved bye to him while we were outside and everything seemed to be okay. Well it was okay until we came inside and Ethan broke down crying. I felt so bad for him. He was so sad. I explained to him all about Mater's new home and even told him that we could go visit him in a couple of months. He seemed better but we still have moments in the day when Ethan will get really quite and say he misses Mater. We told him when we move in the country he can get another dog and that seemed to help. But for now we are glad that Mater has a new home and new doggie friends to play with.

The boys with Mater after we first got him

We love you Mater!

Cruisin' Cooper

It has finally happened. Cooper is full out walking and it happened all in about 1 weeks time. It was crazy. He went from just standing and maybe taking 1-2 steps to walking everywhere. I got this picture of him but it is kind of hard to capture walking with a camera. I don't have a camera that takes video so this will have to do for now.

My baby is growing up and now getting into everything. He is a fearless little man. He now does the stairs both up and down. And the worst one is he loves my cupboards. AHHHH! I think I spend all day cleaning up what he has pulled out of them. Brian probably doesn't think that I do anything all day but that is a job in itself. He has to be the most fearless boy I have had so far. If the big boys can do it so can he.

He loves to climb up on our kitchen stool and see what is going on. My parents were over the other day and my mom was so worried because he was up on this stool. She says, "Oh Alain he is on the stool in the bathroom." My response, "He is fine. This is a normal occasion and he has figured out how to get on and off of it." She didn't think that he was old enough to be doing this. Trust me neither do I but he obviously does.

Violated!

Last night I was at Enrichment night at church and recieved a call from Brian at home. I ignored the first couple but than he kept calling so I decided I better answer it. My first thought was something wrong with the boys but then I was surprised with what I heard. Brian asked me if I had my Sears credit card in my wallet. This kind of caught me off guard. So I checked and yes it was there, but WHY? He said that the credit card company had called and needed me to call them back about some charges that had been made on my account. I felt kind of scared and violated all at the same time. So when I got home I called the company and found out that someone had somehow gotten my credit card number and had charged over $150 on the card at 3 different locations. The 4 charges made on my account were all within 8 hours and in 3 different states. Crazy huh! I had never had this happen before so it really scared me. How did they get my numbers? What other info do they have? How far will this go? I didn't like that feeling of not having complete control over my own information or credit for that matter. Needless to say we closed that account and opened up a different one. Sears was very good to work with and I was so glad that they caught it early and it is acutally something that they see quite a bit so they know what to look for. This also created a lot more work for me too. Last night Brian and I sat down and changed every user name and password on all of our online accounts and logins. Let me tell you how much fun that wasn't. If any of you are like me most of our passwords and user names are very similar, but not anymore. They aren't even close so I had to write everything down and now make sure I don't lose that because I would be in trouble if I did. And that wasn't the only thing I had to do. Today I had to call the credit agency- Transunion and place a fraud alert on my credit report, so now anytime I apply for something that requires my credit they have to call me and verify that it is me before it can go through. UGH!!! How annoying is that going to be but I guess it is safe right? So advice to everyone check your information and credit card/debit statements frequently. Yikes!

Where's the Lego?

The night of Cooper's party was more than just a birthday. Towards the end of the night Ethan and his cousins were sitting at the table and playing with the legos. Our rule with Ethan and Cody is that the legos have to stay at the table so that Cooper can't get to them. So here they were all 4 boys-Ethan, Cody, Trent & Kyler (cousins) playing legos at the table like they were suppose to. My sister-in-law walked into the room and noticed Ethan picking his nose. She asked him if he needed a tissue and he said no. She then noticed that he had a bloody nose. I came in and also saw it and asked Ethan what was wrong. Ethan than told us that he has put a lego up his nose. WHAT??? Yep you heard it right a lego up his nose. We have never experienced something like this before so it was nice to have Richard and Jen (Brian's brother and wife) there because their kids have put stuff up their noses before. So asked Ethan what it looked like and he showed us one that was similar. We had him blow his nose to no avail. It wasn't working. So Richard got some tweezers and tried to get it out.

(Richard & Brian peforming "surgery")

After a few tries Ethan freaked out and started crying. After I got him calmed down I told him we would try again and that he needed to be tough. I even promised him to buy a new lego set if we didn't have to make it trip to the Dr. This time I tried and luckily we got it out. I couldn't believe it. We were all glad when we finally got it out.

After I had got it out-what a sad face and bloody nose

Funny thing is that I haven't had any problems with Cooper and the legos. Just Ethan. He has swallowed one and now he puts one up his nose. I think that Ethan has learned his lesson or at least I hope he has.

The lego. And yes I did wash it.

My baby is ONE!!!

This last year has went by way to fast. I can't believe that Cooper is already one. We celebrated his birthday this last week even though we were a little bit late (since his birthday was the 18th). Cooper was my first child to experience a homemade birthday cake. I have really wanted to make my kids' cakes but have always procrastinated to long so I just ended up going to the store. So I tried it this time and it turned out okay. It wasn't fantastic but I didn't think it was bad for my first one without any previous experience or help from anyone experienced. So here it is.

I know it is a little crooked but it still tasted good. Cooper really enjoyed his piece of it. He couldn't get enough of it and got made when it was all gone. It was too cute.
Sorry about the blurry pictures. He was waving and eating at the same time. He really enjoyed the cake and the party. He couldn't seem to get enough of the candle and fire on the cake. He kept trying to grab the candle while we were singing happy birthday to him. I think I have a Pyro on my hands. It must run in the family.
I am so excited and sad at the same time that he is one. My baby is getting too big. He has started doing so much in just the last few weeks. He waves bye-bye. He know says daddy, hello, uh-oh and mimmicks the sounds of lots of other words. He is starting to walk. He took about 6 steps to me the other day. I totally wasn't expecting it. He loves to follow his brothers around and get into trouble with them.
He discovered Mater (our dog) this last week and absolutely loves playing with him. It was pretty funny. He never really has paid any attention to the dog but just realized this last week that he really likes him.
Well I guess that there is only more growing from here. There is no stopping him now. Sometimes I wish that I could just keep them little forever and never have them grow up but I know I can't. How sad huh. Only more happy moments and memories to come. Happy Birthday Cooper we love you!

Here are a couple more pics from the party.
Cody helping Cooper open presents. I think Cody was more excited about the presents than anyone else. He didn't even want cake he just wanted to open the presents.

This is a picture of Cooper trying to grab the flame. Brian kept having to grab his hand back.

Oh before I forget. Brian took Cooper to the Dr. last week and here are his stats.

Cooper is:

21 lbs 13 oz -30% (my smallest yet)

30 1/2 " tall- 70%

18 7/8 " head circumfrence -90% I know big noggin.

Daredevil!

My baby boy is starting to scare me with the things he is doing. He isn't walking yet but he sure can climb and he seems to have no fear with it. Last week Brian and I were trying to move some furniture in the basement and before I knew it Cooper had climbed to the top of the stairs. So I figured it was time to teach him how to come down. He does a pretty good job but every once and a while he turns to sit down on the step and tumbles down a few stairs. No harm done. But then earlier this week I was alarmed when Ethan came running out yelling that Cooper was up on his bed. This is what I found.
Cooper was standing up on the bed leaning over the edge. Oh by the way this is a loft bed that is about 5 feet in the air. I asked Ethan if he put him up there and he said no. Then I wondered,"well how did he get up there then?" So what do I do? I took him down on the floor and watched how he got up there and this was how.

He walks up the slide backwards, just like his brothers always do. He is so quick at it that I could barely get some pictures of him. It was too funny because once he got to the top he was scramble across the bed as fast as he could laughing. He just thought that he was so funny. So needless to say I really have to watch him in the boys' room now. I have found that he can't do it if he has pants and socks on so I try to keep him fully dressed at all times.

He just loves to climb though. He is also a peeping Tom. He did this earlier this week when Brian and I were trying to set up a new bed in our room. He really wanted to see what was going on over at the neighbors house.

He was peeking out the window. Sorry about the blurry hand he was so excited. It was too funny though because he just used Brian as a step and was determined to get up and see. He has gotten so big and is doing so many things. It won't be long and he will be walking.

He turned one yesterday but we haven't had a party yet so as soon as we do I will post some pictures. I have a funny to tell about a conversation that Ethan had yesterday with his dad about Cooper turning one.

Dad: Ethan did you know that today is Cooper's birthday and he is one?

Ethan: No is isn't we didn't have a party.

Dad: We haven't had a party but he is still one today.

Ethan: He can't be one yet dad because he isn't walking yet.

So according to Ethan all 1 year olds have to be walking. So today when Cooper took 2-3 steps to me, Ethan concluded that he can now be 1 because he is "walking." It was way cute. He got all excited and started running around the house yelling "Cooper is 1 now, he can walk." To funny. So I guess he can be one now.

Haircuts All Around!

This has been the week of haircuts. One unexpected and one that was long needed. The first one was the unexpected one. Last Sunday I woke up to Cody saying he had something in his hair. I ignored it for a while because I was still tired. So I let it go. When I finally came to I realized that he had gum in his hair. Nice huh! I was gone the night before at a basketball game and Brian said that Cody fell asleep in the car so he just put him in bed. Well he obviously had gum in his mouth when he fell asleep and when he woke up it wasn't in his mouth anymore. But it seemed to be everywhere else. It was in 4 different spots in his hair, a string of it was stuck across his forehead, he had it stuck to the top of both eyelids and it was stuck to his pillow and bed. HOW MANY PIECES DID HE HAVE IN HIS MOUTH? I don't know but it seemed like it was everywhere. Needless to say this is when I am happy that I have boys because I can trim the gum out and you don't even notice the spots of hair gone. We tried the peanut butter trick but I didn't have the patience for it and Cody was tired of me pulling his hair. So it resulted in a cut.

This is with the peanut butter in his hair. If you look carefully you can see the string of gum across his forehead.

Onto the next haircut. This one has been in the makings for quite a while. I just didn't have enough mommy power to do it. I don't know what got into me today but I proceeded to do it by myself without anyone to entertain him and it ended up being alright. (candy works miracles-even on babies) So Cooper got his first haircut today and he looks so big already. I hate doing the first haircut because it seems like it instantly makes them look older. So I did a little trim and got it out of his eyes and off of his ears. It looks shorter then it really is because his hair is curly. He did really well even though it was naptime. I miss my baby already. He has become a little man.

Here is the before. What a happy little guy huh? He is even saying "cheese."

Here is the after with a little candy residue. Oh and a not so happy little guy!