Busy, busy, busy

Now that it has been nearly three weeks since my last post … where have we been???

Oh my, life flies these days. We made it through the first week of me being back at work and Tess in daycare. She did really well and is getting more acclimated to the daycare surroundings… noise and other people. I made it back to work and survived.

Last week was a little more interesting as Cooper developed a 104.0 fever that Sunday evening and he needed to stay home. Steve came down with a cold and wasn’t feeling great, so the two of them stayed home together. With H1N1 being a concern, I got Cooper an appointment and they thought the same thing. He was swabbed and started on Tamiflu (more so that he wouldn’t pass it onto Tess). Thankfully it came back negative and we stopped the Tamiflu. We sent him back to daycare on Wednesday, but he started to act clingy and vomited that evening and then broke out into a rash… so back to the doc he went. She diagnosed it as Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. Coopy had blisters in his mouth, but not on his hands or feet. He was cleared to go back to daycare and I had hoped we were in the clear until I got a call on Friday afternoon that Miss Tess had a temp of 102.5. Ugh. Thankfully, she didn’t get hit as hard as her brother and her fever broke Saturday morning and the rash was here and gone within a few days. I then was hit with something that left me lying on the couch with the worst headache I have ever had… chills, fever, and sore throat. Once again, thankfully it was fairly short lived and I was back at work on Wednesday. We are all healthy and doing great now.

Not feeling great...


Life continues to be interesting! I am in absolute LOVE!!! Have you heard me say that before??? It’s so true. My heart just melts.

Cooper continues to amaze me as he changes all the time. About a week ago I was giving him a bath and he saw a duck in his bath toy bag. He pointed and said ducky. I got it out and he pointed and said ducky, again, so I grabbed the other duck out of the bag. He then proceeded to try to count them. The only problem is Cooper only knows how to say “two”. So it was… ”Two, two” as he touched each one.

We are starting to hear more and more words from him, but he is still a “man of few words”. I was showing him pictures last week and when I asked him where Papa was he said, “Papooh”. A very sweet term of endearment, I think.

When I go to pick the kids up from daycare at night I usually stop to get Tess first as I figure it is easier to take her into Cooper’s room rather than taking Cooper into her room. They often have little ones lying or crawling on the floor and I don’t want him to accidentally trample one. When Cooper’s little friends see a baby they get excited and come over to her. Being a big brother he has already discovered his duty to protect her. He will stretch his arm across her carrier and say, “Mine!”

Playing with blocks...

Linus


Miss Tess is changing faster than I can keep up with or imagine. She is not a newborn anymore. I haven’t found a childhood stage (up to age 21 months) that I haven’t enjoyed. It has been fun to experience it again with Tess. Holding her as a newborn was just precious. Watching her smile for the first time was incredible, and now watching her track us around the room and giggle and holding her head up when sitting and… wow, she is special. She has learned to scream. Not a cry scream, but I’ve- found-my-voice scream. She loves to watch her friends dance… the mobile above the crib. She scoots on her back in her crib. She sat in the Bumbo seat at daycare. This little one is growing up too fast!!!

Miss Cierra… oh my. The chewing continues…
• Boppy
• Burp cloth
• High chair pad
• The kitchen wall… some more
• A fleece blanket
• My driver’s license renewal reminder
• The kitchen wall
• The kitchen wall

Oh well. We love her.

Our friends, the Gatzke’s, came over a couple of weeks ago and here are the kids dancing on the coffee table. We’ve discussed doing an arranged marriage, but for now maybe this is a pre-pre-prom photo.



Take care... more to come!

Back to work...

Yesterday was my first day back at work after 12 weeks and Tess’ first day at daycare. We survived. Sunday night was hard anticipating Monday morning. We had only been apart for about six hours total up until yesterday. It’s hard to go “cold turkey”. Kids grow up to fast and it is hard to think of someone else spending nine hours of the day with them when I only get about three to four waking hours with them. But… this is the choice we have made.

I had dropped off her stuff and they got her locker ready last Thursday, so we didn’t have too much to take in yesterday. I thought Steve could use a little extra help and I wanted to make sure she was settled so I went yesterday to drop off the kids, too. We got Cooper dropped off first and then Miss Tess. I was glad to see two of Cooper’s old teachers were in her room yesterday and one of her primary teachers that was there yesterday seems wonderful. She is the grandmotherly type. After a quick hug and kiss goodbye we had to head off to work. I’ve been through this before with Cooper, but it was a bit different. When I first went back to work, Steve was home with him. When Steve went back to work Cooper was five months old… a little older. It was still very hard to leave him.

Tess did great! She slept, pooped… had a blow-out, drank more than Mommy expected, cuddled, and smiled at her teachers. Overall she had a really good day. Mommy only called once to check on her. I was so busy that the day flew by. I was a bit nervous about picking them and wondering how I was going to manage two kids. I was planning to get Tess first and then Cooper, but Cooper was in the great room when I got there. We have an incredible daycare. Tess’ primary teacher offered to help me get both kids to the van. She even went to Cooper’s room to get his jacket and daily sheet. It was nice not having to carry two kids to the van.

Today… I am surviving, but it has been a bit more difficult as I have had a bit more time to think about it. But we’ll (I’ll) get through it. More cuddle time tonight.

Here are a few pictures to enjoy...

Happy Boolated Halloween!

I am so far behind, but..

We had a fun time with Cooper and his class during their Halloween party on Friday. They had had a black and orange day. Since Tess wasn’t officially a NH kid we hung out in Cooper’s room. They dressed in their costumes and had orange frosted cookies. They then had games set-up in the room. They had a bean-bag toss, find-the-object-under-the-cup, and witch’s brew (water table). I got Cooper to do the cup game twice and he found the hidden object twice. We tried to get him to do the bean-bag toss, but forget it… he wanted to do the witch’s brew. It was a water table with plastic sea creatures. When they picked up an animal they got a treat. Cooper didn’t care about the treats. He wanted to splash in the water. I was amazed at how much water his costume sucked up. After the class party they had a magician, but Cooper lost interest after a few minutes. He is still a bit young to be entertained by a magician. Now if he had done balloon animals like he does at area restaurants it might have been a different story as Cooper LOVES balloons!

Tess and Daddy

Our puppy

Playing in the Witch's Brew

Finding the "hidden object"

On Saturday we cleaned out pumpkins and Daddy carved them. Saturday evening we got the kids dressed in their costumes and head out for the neighbors… but just our corner of the block. We made it to four houses before Cooper had had enough. We stopped at one more house on our way to Jackie’s. She spoiled Cooper. I think he had a fun evening. He still is too young to get trick-or-treating, but he liked getting candy. Mom had fun catching up with the neighbors.

Eeeewwww gross!

Is it clean enough???

Mommy found some more

Got candy???

All carved

Our bug

A puppy and a bug

Until next year… Scare you later!