What a great Thankgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was great. It was nice to catch up and visit with everyone and Cooper has a BLAST with is cousins. I love seeing him play with other kids and especially his cousins. He was pooped by the end of the day. Each year at Thanksgiving each of us is asked to tell what we are thankful for. I thought about it for a long time and I realized that I am thankful for having so much to be thankful for. I have an AWESOME God, I have an amazing son who completes my life, I have a husband who loves me and he is exactly what I wanted as a daddy for my child, I have a family who continues to support me, I have in-laws that fill the void I have from missing my family, I have never been hungry, I have never needed clothes, I have never been cold. My life might not seem perfect or easy at times, but I have life and I have people that I love very much to spend my life with. While this year proved to be trying at times with Johnny's school, one income, a new child and other things it has been nothing compared to many others in the world. Johnny and I ventured out on Black Friday for some great deals and we took Cooper with us. It was lots of fun, but it was a long day and Cooper did great. Our church does Baby Dedications each year, so on Sunday we had Cooper dedicated. Dedication is different from being baptized. Have a baby dedicated says that we will raise Cooper in a Christan home and teach him the word of God and that the church is there to help us. Johnny and I both agree that it's Cooper decision on when he wants to be baptized. Nana and Pawpaw (Johnny's parents) and Auntie T, Uncle Greg, Dylan and Kamryn were all there. It was really special to me that they were there. It was a great weekend.

We have a walker

Cooper is walking! Last Wednesday was the first time he took several steps all by himself. He gets so excited. I love it. Walking places takes twice as long, but I would not have any other way. He is so funny. He has started dancing to music and clapping his hands to music. He has also started to become a very picky eater...he picks around the veggies. I think his daddy told him not to waste his time on veggies. This is going to be a great week. I work 2 1/2 days this week and then we get some quality family time. Looking forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday with Johnny's family; it's always an adventure. I hope everyone has a safe and blessed Thanksgiving.

scrapbook, bounce house and other fun

This weekend was super busy for us. I started Cooper's scrapbook on Friday night. I had lots of fun and got 4 pages finished. I just need to embellish them a bit. Saturday Cooper had swim lessons; he is swimming all on his own with just a hand under his belly so he won't try and turn over. It has been so much fun to watch him learn. We are going to take a break from swimming lessons for the winter. Saturday night was Kamryn's birthday party at a bounce house...Cooper love, love, loved it! He was pooped and so were we. Church was great on Sunday. Johnny and I both volunteer in Kids, Inc and we both really like it. This week one of the teachers was out so I had both classes. Lots of kids, lots of crying, but lots of fun. Sunday afternoon was another birthday party. We were partied out. Nana taught Cooper how to blow kisses on Friday night, of course I can't get him to do it. I guess I'll have to wait until Nana is around to see it. Here are a few pictures of Cooper at the bounce house.

busy weekend

We have a super busy weekend ahead of us. Tonight I have a scrapbooking night at our church and I am SOOOOO excited. I am going to start, yes, I said start on Cooper's scrapbook. We have taken tons of pictures so I have plenty of material to work with. I hope I get lots done. Tomorrow we have swim lessons, breakfast with my dear friend Dawn, Kamryn's birthday party at Jump It Up and Sunday we have church, Mason's birthday party and Rangers play day. Whew, I am already tired. Drop off this week has been weird with Cooper, I guess he is going through separation anxiety again- he cries when we leave him. I hate it! Besides that he is doing great. He is standing on his own and going from sitting to standing all on his own, he walked down the steps yesterday holding on the side. He is going to be walking soon. His first word is officially DOG! Every single thing is a dog, but if you ask him where is dogs are he looks for them. How fun. He loves Jack and Molly and they love him too. He has been sleeping so good. I think his new class wears him out. John seems to be getting better. He says he can't hear out of his ear, but it does not hurt anymore.

sickly cohoon boys

This weekend was a nice weekend. My parents were in town for Johnny's graduation. It is always nice to see them. Johnny's graduation was nice. He looked great, happy and so proud of himself. Cooper did awesome too. Although, Johnny still has a final to take and 5 weeks of clinicalsI think he is glad it's is almost over. Johnny's mom hosted a dinner at her house on Saturday night. It was so nice and yummy too! What a great family.
Johnny has not been feeling that great over the last week. Late Saturday night it got really bad... on Sunday morning Johnny was at the minute clinic and it turns out he has an ear infection. Yuck! Glad he got some meds. And poor Cooper Bear, his nose just runs and runs! It does not seem to have infection, just nasty. I guess it's just that time of the year. NASTY! He is still cute though. I can't believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This has been a really quick year.

Johnny's Big Day tomorrow

Tomorrow is a day we have been waiting on for 2+ years...Johnny is graduating! YAY. I am so proud of him. It's has not always been easy and he wanted to quit school several times, but he did it- even with his nagging wife on his back pretty often. I have only known a few people in my life that made their career choices and are doing exactly what God meant for them to do. One is my cousin Tami, who is the BEST 5th grade teacher in the Moore, OK school district and Johnny. Johnny started back to school to be a nurse; however, one of his professors saw that he really liked cutting tissue and stuff like that and suggested he look at the Histology Program at Tarleton State University. It was exactly what he was looking for, the perfect fit. So, the day has come that he gets to walk across stage, hear his name and accept his diploma. Gosh, what a great feeling for him. I am so excited for him as he starts this new chapter in his life...I will post more about his job situation when Johnny gives me the approval to do so.
Happy Graduation Johnny! I am so proud of you and I love you very much.

Rough Week

This has been a rough week at the Cohoon house. We lost the World Series and we've had some daycare troubles. First, way to go Rangers! You had a great season and I am proud I get to be a part of it. Johnny is counting down the days until the players report back.

Now about the daycare troubles. Cooper was moved from the infant room to the toddler room last week. Last Friday was his first full day in his new room. When I picked him up on Friday afternoon his teachers said he was quiet and to himself most of the day and sucked his thumb most of the day. That seemed like odd behavior from him, but I thought it was just him getting used to his new room and taking it all in. On Monday morning when Johnny dropped Cooper off at school neither one of the teachers really greeted Cooper or Johnny, this was bothersome. Our daycare has cameras in each room and monitors in the lobby so you can watch your child. Johnny stopped at one of the monitors and watched for 10 minutes while the teachers had idle conversation- paying NO attention to the children. Johnny called me very upset, I told him to talk to the one of the directors. Just as we were hanging up one of them came around the corner and asked if things were okay. Johnny asked her to watch the monitor with him for a few minutes, she did and she was not happy with what she saw. She assured us she would take care of it. Later that morning Johnny called back to talk with the Asst. Director who he talked with that morning and she was on bus run so she talked to the Director. She too assured us she would take care of it and have a conversation with the teachers. Well, a few hours later I got a call that there had been an "incident" a little girl bit Cooper. I was originally told that the little girl was on a riding toy and the teachers weren't sure what really happened, but it resulted in Cooper being bitten. I am not naive to not think these things are going to happen, it just could not have been worse timing. Why weren't the teachers watching??? I sure would have been watching Cooper if I was the teacher that was talked to earlier that day. Then when I got home and read the incident report it said that Cooper hit the little girl. I have issues with this... when I was called I was told the teachers really did not know what happened and honestly, I am not sure Cooper developmentally knows how to hit and if he did hit we need to know so we can correct this behavior at home. So, on Tuesday we expected overkill at drop off...ummm, NOT SO MUCH. Johnny and Cooper received the same reception as Monday. Now, we are both pretty peeved about this. I send the director an email stating our concerns with the lack of interaction with Cooper in the mornings and the biting incident. She emailed me back to tell me that the two morning teachers are leaving and she is working to replace them, but it just takes time. Well, I don't have time to make changes so I feel warm and fuzzy about leaving my child there. I HATE dropping my child off at daycare each day, but I have not choice so I EXPECT you to make him feel warm and welcome. Never mind, that I pay you lots of money to do your job! So, we met with the director and she already had a plan in place for new teachers. Whew! A teacher that has been there for over a year is going to move back to Cooper's class, her name is Abby and she is super sweet and really good with the children. We are pleased about that. Drop off today went great. The teacher apologized and told Johnny that she wanted to get on the right foot. That makes us happy. We got a call today that a little boy wanted Cooper's breakfast and pushed Cooper, Cooper fell and hit the back of his head on the floor. When Johnny picked Cooper up he had to sign 2 accident reports, one for the head and one for a scratch Cooper got when a little boy was trying to climb over him. Ugg, I guess this is part of moving from the infant room to the toddler room. It's killing me!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny follows our blog and asked me last night why I had not posted lately...he also mentioned to me that I had a typo. I will apologize now for all the past and future typos. I get to typing so fast that it just happens from time to time and I do proof it before I post, but I rarely catch my own mistakes because I read the posts as I want them to read. So, I am sorry if I have any typos! :)

Halloween and Game 3 of The World Series

We had a fun and busy weekend. It was Halloween and Cooper was an adorable little duck, but he refused to wear the hat so he looked like a fuzzy yellow dot. Friday night we went to the Fall Festival at Cooper's school. It was close to bedtime when we went so he was not really interested in being there. We were there for 30 minutes, we could feel the meltdown coming on so we went home. Saturday was a big day for us. Cooper has swim lessons every Saturday morning; however, our Saturday afternoon and evening were going to be big. We were headed to Game 3 of The World Series. We got to Rangers Stadium around 2pm, parked and found a nice shade tree. We took Subway with us and enjoyed a picnic lunch and the awesome weather. There was not a cloud in the sky on Saturday. We made our way to the Stadium...which was packed. A sold out standing room only crowd. We walked around and waited in line for merchandise, ugg that was a mistake. I told Johnny that we could go to our seats and I would wait until after the 1st inning started to go get back in line. I did just that, but I did not return to our seats until the bottom of the 4th inning and I returned to a very fussy 1 year old who was hungry and tired. Anyway, the game was great and I am so glad we go to go. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

First game of the World Series

As you know Johnny is a HUGE Texas Rangers fan and last night was the first game of the World Series...the Rangers struggled and lost that game. Needless to say it was a little sad in our home after the game.
Today was Rocker day at Cooper's school. He is lucky that his daddy loves to dress up and do costumes. 'Cause Cooper has the ripped jeans that Johnny used sandpaper to make the jeans look worn, he wore his guitar shirt and has a Mohawk. He looks so cute. Johnny took a picture with his phone, but it did not turn out very good. I hope the daycare takes a cute picture of him and sends it to me.
Last night was an OK sleeping night. Cooper woke up at 11:37pm, he was only up for a few mins because I was back in my bed at 11:46pm. So, all was well. I think he might be struggling with a little cold, his eyes have looked a little puffy and they were slightly matted shut when he woke up. We are going to watch it for a bit to make sure it does not turn into anything bad. I hope it's not pink eye.
Cooper's Fall Festival is tomorrow night at his school and I can't wait. He is going to be a duck for Halloween. I am not a big Halloween person. I do not like the scary and gross stuff. I dread the day Cooper asks to be something like that. I just don't like it!

Pictures

A week or so ago we had Cooper's 1 year pictures taken and our annual family picture taken. I got a sneak peek of a few and I LOVE them! I can't wait to get the CD and see them all.

I am not a Dallas Cowboys fan at all, but man they can't get it together. The game was on at our house last night and I caught a few minutes of the game.

Cooper is doing much better at bedtime. I have started just rocking to right before he falls asleep and then I put him in his bed. He usually sits right up and starts to cry. So, I put him back down and tell him night night and that I love him. He will cry for just a bit, I think long enough to know that we are not going to come in and get him. I love to be in his room when he wakes up, he is usually all smiles and he rrrruuuuubbbbbsssss his eyes to wake up. He is so silly.

We're going to the World Series!

Yay for the Rangers! I watched every single minute of the Rangers game on Friday night. It was awesome and we have tickets to game 3 of the World Series! We are going to have so much fun.
I am really looking forward to going.
My Nana fell late Friday night and hit the back of her head. She was at the lake with my aunt and uncle and fell in their trailer. She was taken by ambulance to the Sulphur, OK hospital. Then taken via Careflight to Baptist Hospital in Oklahoma City. We made a very quick trip to OKC on Saturday. The doctors have ruled out a stroke or aneurysm- good news. She just rang her bell really good. She had spells of remembering things and then not remembering things. I guess that is to be expected. Pending a CT scan today she was going to be moved from ICU.
This week at Cooper's school they are having fun stuff each day. Today was crazy sock day, he wore some purple and black socks with a Halloween cat on them. Cute stuff. He slept through the night, I did put him to bed not fully asleep and he cried for just a few minutes. It is getting easier.

1 more to go and more about us!

It's been a happy time at the Cohoon house, the Texas Rangers need to win one more game to go to the World Series. It will be the first time in Rangers history to go to the World Series and we have tickets to game 3! Cooper has been wearing his Rangers shirts this week to send good mojo!
Cooper did not wake up at all last night...YAY! He did wake up on Monday to play, but we let him cry it out and it took less than 5 minutes and he was back to sleep. Starting next week Cooper will transition to his new class at school...I have mixed emotions about this. I am excited, yet sad that he is going to leave all of this teachers in his current class. I think the transition will be uneventful for him, he gets to move up with his buddy James. The teachers say they are the best of buddies at school and I think that is super cute. His first friend. I wonder if they will grow up together??? Wouldn't it be awesome if they did? In about a month Johnny will be finished with school and prepping for his state board test; I know he is ready to be finished with this degree and so am I. Almost 2 years ago we made the decision for Johnny to go back to school, he decided he wanted to be a nurse. While in one of his Science classes a professor noticed how much he liked cells, tissue and all of that fun stuff and suggested he look at the Histotechnology program at Tarleton State University. He did. He applied. He got accepted. His class is the first class that had more applicants than available spots. He is one of the lucky few that found the exact right field of study, he loves it. Last semester he did his clinical at UT Southwestern in Dallas and was offered a part-time position in one of their labs. As some of you know after Cooper was born we made the decision for Johnny to quit his job and be a part-time stay at home daddy. It worked out really well, he got to spend most of the early days with Cooper and we were not stressed about childcare.. Cooper is now is full-time daycare and he is doing really well. Anyway, he took the job at UT Southwestern and he loves it. It's funny because Johnny is a Ft Worth boy through and through and I have considered Ft Worth my home for many years and we both end up working Dallas. We have been asked several times if we are going to move closer to Dallas and the answer is NO! It has been a struggle working out the logistics of getting Cooper to school and getting him picked up, but so far it has worked. There are many reasons why we won't leave the Haslet area...we just found our church home and we are making great friends and connections, we are very happy with Cooper's school, we are close to family, once Cooper starts school we want him to stay in the same district, the market is not good for selling our home right now and when we do move it is going to be very hard, I am so emotionally attached to our home. It's where we started our family and where we brought Cooper home. So, while it's a VERY long drive/train ride for us to and from work it's worth it when we get to the place we call home each evening. It's been a long time since I have had a place that I called home. When Johnny and I moved into this house his mom said "Johnny has had lots of houses, but this will be the place he calls home." What a compliment. Haslet is Home Sweet Home for us.

Fast Weekend

Where did the weekend go? They just go by so fast. We stayed close to home this weekend. We had our family pictures taken on Saturday evening in the Ft. Worth Stockyards and I can't wait to see them. Cooper did great, I think Shannon (the photographer) got some really good pictures of Cooper and us. She should have a sneak peek ready for us in a few days. Cooper and Johnny were up most of the night not feeling well so we stayed home from church on Sunday morning for some much needed rest. Cooper got a Step 2 climbing gym for his birthday that we are going to use inside since winter is coming soon. He LOVES that thing, he has learned to climb up the ladder part all on his own and slides down the slide on his belly head first. He has the most awesome smile on his face when he is doing it. Last night Cooper went to bed at his normal time, but woke up a few hours later and wanted to play. I don't want to get in the habit of letting him so this, so we had to let him cry it out for a little bit last night. I cried and he cried. Well, he really screamed. It was awful, but I know it will get better in a few days. He has always been a good sleeper. He is really starting to get his own personality, he is a strong-willed child that is for sure. Johnny and I both have strong personalities, Cooper doesn't stand a chance to not have one of his own. I hope tonight is not as bad as last night...we'll see.

1 Year Check-up

Today Cooper had his 1 year check-up. He is getting tall, 30 inches and he weighs 22 pounds. He has grown 3 inches in 3 months. He is between the 50-75 percentile for height and between 25-50 percentile in weight. He is growing up and not out... which was not the case in his doctors appointments before. He had to get 3 shots today which he was not happy about. He gave the nurse a very dirty look when she was finished, of course after he stopped crying. I was afraid this would be the appointment I would have to start bribing him, but I didn't. He did great. We are getting his 1 year pictures and our annual family picture taken tomorrow in the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Cooper got boots, Wranglers, a pearl snap shirt and a belt for his birthday so he is going to wear that and we will coordinate with his outfit. I can't wait. I hope they turn out great. We have done good about getting his first year milestone pictures taken and I have promised myself that we would do our annual family pictures around his birthday each year so we can get one of just him too. I am a scrapbooker who has yet to make one scrapbook page for Cooper's first year. I am horrible, I have not had time, but I want to do it, I really, really do. Soon. Hope you all have a great Friday and even better weekend. I will post on how our pictures go tomorrow.

Giving this a try

I am going to give this blogging thing a try. I thought it might be a good way to keep people updated on what is going on with us.

A year ago today Johnny and I brought home the most amazing gift that we have ever received; our baby boy Cooper who was born on October 12th, 2009. It's hard to believe a year has gone by. We had his Petting Zoo birthday party on Sunday and his offical 1st birthday was on Tuesday. The party was a blast, he won't remember it of course, but I will and I am so glad we did it. There were lots of loved ones there and Cooper was a great sport. His birthday started out with Johnny and I singing Happy Birthday to him while he was still trying to wake up, annoying for him I am sure. He had donuts and milk for breakfast. He did not get a very good nap so he was a bit grumpy when he got home from school, but we ordered pizza and he got another chance of putting his hands in his little cake- this time he squished it in is hands and waved his hands all over the place. I will be finding red icing for many years. What an AWESOME year we have had, I have loved every single minute of it. God blessed us with Cooper at the exact right time and he has filled our life with so much joy.