Snug as a Bug

Kyle is still doing so well in his big boy bed. We tuck him in, along with various stuffed animals, read a book, and he goes to bed. I'm amazed that I haven't yet had to go and put him back in bed. A few times, he's stayed awake, talking and "reading" to his toys, but he eventually falls asleep and stays that way until it's time to get up. I'm so grateful when something new like this goes so easily.

I think that's why I'm avoiding starting potty training.



And, I have been told that once you begin to think you just might be a good parent, another kid comes along and proves you wrong. I guess we'll see soon enough...

Playgroup at the Pool

Our once large playgroup is slowly dwindling. People keep moving or growing up and going off to preschool. We're down to 2 regulars, Kyle and Carson.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and the pool felt wonderful. The boys seemed to have more fun picking leaves, chasing each other, and playing with the shower, but did hop in and out of the pool. Heidi and I had a great time talking about life and books and just enjoying another "autumn" day in South Florida!

It's Fall, Y'all......

......somewhere!

It's going to take a lot of pretending to do our lessons on fall this week. I have some ideas and tricks up my sleeve, but today we just learned that fall is the season that comes right after summer. We also made this cool fall headband. Kyle was making SO many funny faces while wearing it and being goofy. I'm so thankful that he can make me laugh!

Polo, Anyone?

Kyle's ready when you are. He has Polo from head to toe and is ready for church. Polo doesn't make diapers yet, or his ensemble would be complete!

We had a wonderful day at church, minus Stephen, who was attending a mandatory CRNA Board Review. Kyle actually made it through an entire sacrament meeting without having to be taken out for his behavior. He also seemed to have a great time in nursery with his new nursery leaders! (He did come home with a perfect, deep bite mark on his arm, but I'm sure he'll be the one returning the favor someday!)

I'm also very happy in my new calling, teaching Sunday School to the young, single adults. We had a great lesson today about "Faith in Every Footstep," the journey of the Mormon Pioneers out to the Salt Lake Valley and their trials and triumphs. I love how the lesson related the struggles of the early Saints to the challenges we face today and how our faith in Christ helps us in our own journey. How grateful I am to get to use my talents in teaching these young adults.

This was just one of those days when everything seemed to go well at church. A few months ago, I wrote a post asking "why even bother?" with going to church and feeling the frustrations of a two-year-old boy. I'm starting to see a little glimmer of the light at the end of the tunnel.....just in time to had another little one to the family, right?

Big Boy Bed

Since Kyle learned how to jump out of his crib, we were pretty much forced to make a change in his sleeping arrangements. The choices: 1) Trap him in his crib during bed time. 2)Turn the convertible crib into a toddler bed. 3) Buy Kyle a new bed. After much thought on the matter, the best option seemed to be to get Kyle a new bed, train him now how to sleep in it, and keep the crib open for our new 2010 addition. (Plus, we decided to purchase a full-sized mattress set, which can later be used on the converted crib-into-bed frame.) I think Kyle was happy with the choice:


I was a little unsure of how Kyle would react to the change and if he would stay in bed or be up at all hours of the night, but thanks to my "Super Nanny" education on bedtime consistency, I was prepared with a strategy. (It also helps that Kyle is pretty good about bed/nap times, anyway.) Amazingly, he stayed in bed, all smiles, tucked in with George and Nemo, and slept until 7:00 a.m. I know it was just the first night, but he seems to like the new bed!


Being the mom, I do have to get a little sentimental here. Last night, I went in and watched Kyle sleep, which I haven't done since the first few months of his life. He looked so small and precious in that big bed, reminding me of how he looked as a newborn, dwarfed by the size of his crib. I even got a little choked up and may have had a tear or two glistening my eyes. (Maybe it's just pregnancy hormones getting to me. I did cry watching Harry Potter yesterday, for goodness sakes!) How fun to see Kyle growing up and moving on to new stages of life. What a big boy!

Don't Fence Me In!

Kyle was supposed to be taking a nap yesterday and I kept hearing noises coming from his room. I didn't worry too much about it until I heard his door OPEN and SHUT! Either an intruder was upstairs taking my baby from me or Kyle was up to no good.

Assuming I might get something good for the blog, I took my camera along to investigate. I opened the door and found this.......




There was no intruder. It was just Kyle, who had learned how to escape from the solitary confinement of his crib. Who knows how long he's been planning this prison break, but it was truly successful. Not only had he climbed out of his crib, but he was keeping himself busy going through his closet, pulling out clothes from the drawers, climbing up on the bathroom counter, and pulling out everything from the medicine cabinet. (Just check out the baby gum-brusher on his finger. That's what he chose to get? Random!)


I'm guessing he escaped from his own little prison by piling up all of his blankets into the corner and making a ramp to flip out from. Then, I'm guessing he landed on his toy basket and hopped down from there.



We were hoping to be able to make it until Christmas before we had to worry about buying a big boy bed, but Kyle had different plans. We have our answer in his actions.

This is Fall?

Stephen took the morning off from studying and we headed out to enjoy the nice "fall" weather at the beach.

It was truly a perfect day at the ocean. (The drive there wasn't so great with wrecks and traffic, but once our feet hit the sand, it was amazing!)


Kyle had a fabulous time throwing sand and seaweed back into the water.


He loved running around and chasing birds and watching the waves crash on the shore.



We forgot to bring the pails and shovels, but still had a great time digging in the sand.


THIS is why I live in South Florida!


P.S. Just as Stephen and Kyle were heading in to end the day, a huge wave knocked them down. Then, another one crashed into them, two seconds later, causing a major wipe-out. Stephen had to decide between saving Kyle and saving his Oakleys. Kyle is still with us; the Oakleys, may they rest in peace, are somewhere at the bottom of the sea.

First Day of Fall

Ah, Fall......


The leaves are......still green.



The weather is.........not getting cooler. (Yep. It's still in the 90's here.)


We finally get to start wearing.......nope. Still wearing shorts.


The first day of fall sure feels an awful lot like every other day of summer in South Florida. We're still sweating in September, but it sure beats scraping ice in January!

In the Buff

Apparently Kyle likes to sleep in the nude.

(That's great and all, son, but you still wear a diaper for a reason.)

I went to wake him up from a nap yesterday and found him completely naked, clothes and diaper thrown out on the floor, smiling from ear-to-ear, standing in a puddle of his own urine. (Thank GOODNESS there was nothing else in there.)

I got him cleaned up and clothed and he happily helped me change the sheets. All was fine until his beloved blankets had to go into the washer. You would have thought I broke his heart. Poor thing.

Soon enough the blankets were clean and dry and ready for bedtime. Luckily, he hasn't quite figured out how to take his pajama pants off yet. I'm sure the time will come soon!

Vtech

Kyle still doesn't say much. He's more of the strong crazy and silent type. He does, however, still LOVE to read and is getting pretty talented at the alphabet. It cracks us up that he says fewer than 20 words, but can name and identify just about all 26 letters.

He has also really started to enjoy his V-tech laptop for more than just pushing buttons. He can answer questions, find missing letters, identify most numbers, and do most of the activities that don't involve using the mouse. My favorite activity to watch Kyle do is the typing practice, where he has to type the letters that come on the screen as fast as he can, before the bubbles containing them pop. I think this is one of his favorite activities, too, because he gets SO excited when he passes!

He's been playing this thing off-and-on for a few weeks, pretty frequently. I've been trying to get a good video of him playing, and every time I pull out the camera, he loses interest or wants to play something else....go figure, right? So, this is the best I could do. He doesn't really finish the entire "level," but you can get a little of an idea of what the game's about. (He also pushes the activity button, which he does whenever a game comes up that he's not in the mood for. I guess that means he didn't want to play Mommy's favorite game.)

Senses

Kyle and I learned about the sense of touch yesterday. For part of the lesson's activity, he got to do some touchy-feely painting, mixing shaving cream, food coloring, and sand to create a mixed-media work of art. He LOVED getting the feel of the shaving cream all over his hands and kept telling me to add more and more color, even pointing to the places on the tray where he wanted the color to go.


Today's sense-of-the-day is the sense of smell. Little did Stephen know....when he sent me flowers "just because," they went along perfectly with the theme of the day. I just love the smell of fresh roses, especially unexpected ones!

Curious George

Kyle has a new favorite toy. This monkey goes with Kyle everywhere: the store, the pool, to the dinner table, to bed. He's even introduced George to his little game of "wipeout," which they were playing right before I got this picture.


P.S. Gramps was watching a few minutes of the Curious George cartoon last week and said, "That's Kyle!" I guess he thought of Kyle because Kyle is very curious and always into things and has his own language and just looks at you and smiles when he's right in the middle of a mess. I guess it's a pretty close match!

Another "Perfect" Day

I just got back from the doctor for another regular OB check-up. He said I'm "11 weeks along," but I don't know how that could be since I had an ultrasound last Monday and was 9 weeks. Either this was a REALLY long week, or someone was NOT a math major. Let's just split the difference and call it 10, ok?

The check-up was normal. We went through all the regular stuff: weigh-in, blood pressure, urine sample, questions, etc. Then, the doctor looked at the chart to review my ultrasound and confirmed my due date. "Oh, yeah," he said. Your pap smear (which was taken last month) came back and you have a yeast infection. You need to get some Monistat. (I've had a yeast infection for A MONTH???? Could no one have called me and just told me to run down to the pharmacy to pick up something for that? Thanks. I already had my doubts about the quality of health care I'll be receiving during this pregnancy. You just confirmed those doubts. *By the way, I Googled the symptoms of a yeast infection and I haven't had any other than some discharge (which I thought could be "normal" during pregnancy), so who knows if I REALLY have one or not.)

Then, came that moment of listening for the heartbeat. It always scares me a little, having been through several miscarriages. The doctor is listening, listening, listening....moving the monitor every which way......can't find anything......maybe we'll get you on the bigger machine. Good news: I got to have another ultrasound, and the heart rate was "perfect." Again. Our little guy (or girl) was moving around like crazy!!!! Kyle never moved like that. The tech said that it's hard to hear the heart when a baby is moving like that.

Even though I didn't get to hear the heart, it was nice to see it and to put my heart at peace that, at least for now, all is "perfect."

Abstract Art

Today during "school" Kyle and I learned about the sense of hearing. Our art project involved listening to music and interpreting the sounds into art.

Here is Kyle's finished project:

"Human--The Killers"

He's like a young Jackson Pollock, don't you think?

A Throw-Away Party

Some of our very good friends are leaving South Florida. They've been here just as long as we have and live down the street. They have a two-year-old boy who is one of Kyle's best buddies (and partners in crime.) She worked with me in the Young Women organization. We went to play group together. We're both pregnant. Our husbands have become golf buddies.

And now they're leaving us!!!! They found out last week about a job opportunity in Minnesota and are moving on Wednesday. (Talk about having no notice!) We are very sad and will miss them greatly, but are glad they have this opportunity for their family.

She couldn't just leave without doing something beforehand, so a few friends (and one new one) got together for a "throw away" party this morning/afternoon. (Instead of saying "we'll throw you a going-away party" one friend accidentally shortened it to "we'll have a throw away party." It stuck.) We swam a little, ate a little, chatted, let the boys run around, and had a great time.

I totally had my camera in my purse the entire time, planning on taking pictures, but had too much fun to remember to get it out. Instead, I'll just throw in a picture from today's lesson about the sense of sight. (We tried putting on blindfolds to see what it was like to NOT have sight, but Kyle kept pulling his off. He wants to see everything, all the time!)


Scott, Tiffany, and Camden: we will miss you. Don't freeze in Minnesota. Maybe we'll just have to rendezvous in Texas someday! See you later.

Happy Grandparents Day

Kyle is one of the luckiest grandchildren out there and has some wonderful grandparents.

Dear Grandpa, Grandma, Granna, & Gramps, (and great-grandparents)
We LoVe YoU!
Thanks for all you do for this little man!
(Maybe someday he'll actually be able to tell you himself.)

Gig 'em, Aggies!

It's that time again: College Football Season!!! (This is really our only sign that fall is on its way. From the weather in Miami, I could swear it's still July.)

We love football around our house and still continue to support our Aggies, even if we'll be lucky to be able to watch even one game this year. (Sniff, sniff.)

Chin up~There are plenty of other good games on t.v. and we can always have our own, private yell practice, right here in Miami.

Kyle is getting pretty good at Gig 'em.


If this doesn't look like a face Stephen pulled in his youth, I don't know what else does!


Let it be known that we do not, I repeat: DO NOT, encourage the getting up of guns in our home. However, for the sake of fair and balanced blogging and as a tribute to all our Red Raider Readers, here's a little bone Kyle decided to throw you.

September 11th

"America was targeted for attack because we are the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world, and no one will keep that light from shining."--George W. Bush


(Well, let's hope that's true. Someone I know is all about changing the nation.)

I still believe there are plenty of patriots around, and "a patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."--Edward Abbey


We celebrated our freedom today by playing at the park. How grateful I am for this country and that there are plenty of people out there who still believe in keeping it great!

That's Miami For You!

Kyle and I ran to the grocery store this morning for 3 things. The sky was perfectly clear when we went inside. I had the fleeting thought to bring an umbrella, but why? We're just running in for a few items and will be right back. What could happen in that short amount of time?

In that short amount of time, the skies opened up and started spilling buckets and buckets of water. I, of course, didn't take an umbrella. But, instead of waiting at the doorway like everyone else-for who knows how long-we made a run for it! We got soaked through, but it sure was fun!!!

We got home and Kyle was still "talking" all about it-I think-I don't really speak his language, but he kept pointing to his wet clothes and then up to the sky.

Tour of the Universe

Around our house, we believe in making birthdays last as long as possible. Stephen's was clear back in April, but we went out last Saturday night to celebrate. A little late? Possibly. Perfectly normal? Of course.....Depeche Mode was in town!!!!! Here we are before heading out for our big night on the town. (Chico 19 really wanted to come, so Stephen gave in. Kyle tried to tag along, but we told him, "maybe when you're older.)


We had an AWESOME TIME!!!! I even got a t-shirt to remember the night.

Here we are, right before heading in to find our seats, which were pretty good...front row on the side, seats 1 and 2.


We had an amazing time and completely enjoyed the setlist. When comparing the songs they played at our concert with other variations, I was grateful we got as many songs as we did (20.) Some places only heard 17! I was only jealous of other places getting to hear "Master and Servant" and "Somebody," but overall, this was still one of my favorite concerts of all I've been to!

Here's the songs we heard and a few videos. My camera is getting to be a dinosaur, so bright lights cause it to wrinkle up and it's not the best sound quality. In some videos, you hear the singing of the crowd better than the band themselves, but that just adds to the atmosphere of a concert, right?

In Chains
Wrong
Hold to Feed
Walking in My Shoes
(The big eye kind of reminded me of Sauron from Lord of the Rings!)








It's No Good





A Question of Time
Precious
Fly on the Windscreen
Little Soul
A Question of Lust
Miles Away/The Truth Is
Policy of Truth
In Your Room







I Feel You
Enjoy the Silence
Never Let Me Down Again
Shake the Disease
Stripped
Behind the Wheel
Personal Jesus

Mini Cooper 2010 Model

"Technically," according to "the rules," you really shouldn't announce a pregnancy until you're past the first trimester. Rules, schmules! I can't wait any longer! I'M PREGNANT!!! (9 weeks along, to be exact.) Plus, there are too many good stories to share related to this pregnancy, since it includes a little social experiment in Obamacare I'm doing. (More to come....)


I had an ultrasound this morning to check everything out: heartbeat, measurements, to name an accurate due date, make sure things are going well, etc. The heartbeat was 178 and "perfect." The little jumping bean seemed to be moving around just right. I'm measuring exactly where I should be. My due date is April 9, 2010. I'm relieved.


I was so nervous about this day and just hoping and praying that things would go well. No matter how many years ago it was, I can't help but remember another ultrasound, one without a heart beat, which led to an emergency D&C. The memory of that day makes me hold my breath and want to keep my eyes closed until I hear that things with this baby are normal, which they were. I can continue to breath and go on planning and counting down the days and having faith that it's all in God's hands.

One with Nature

Kyle didn't take a nap yesterday although he was in his crib for over an hour. I really wanted him to fall asleep so I could catch-up on my shut-eye, too. However, every time I was just about to doze off, I would be awakened by shouts and screams coming from Kyle's room. He wasn't crying; it was more like excitement. I figured he was just having an exuberant "conversation" with himself. It sounded like great fun, if only I wasn't exhausted.

After waiting and attempting to sleep for over an hour, I decided to give up and go get the little chatter-box out so Stephen could actually sleep. It soon became apparent what all the "conversation" had been about. Sometime in that last hour, Kyle had taken off his shorts and diaper and started running around his crib, half-naked, loving ever minute of it. Between laughter and excitement, he also managed to get across another activity: "Pee....Pee....Pee....Pee....Pee....Pee," as he's running around, pointing to all of his blankets. What a boy!!!

One of Life's Winners

I finally got the necklace I won from Shannan's contest! How fun to have something new to wear to church today. I think my accessory is much better than Kyle's, but maybe I'm the only one who would choose the Meadow Necklace from lia sophia over that stunning butterfly-bandage and Sesame Street Character band-aid combo.

Buc-ee's and Band-aids

It's hard to drive by Buc-ee's and not stop in for some snacks, a t-shirt, something. Although Kyle wasn't in a Buc-ee's neighborhood, he did get a t-shirt in the mail from someone who was! Sadly, it's hard to notice the cute shirt when you can't take your eyes off that big "X-marks-the-spot" band-aid right in the middle of his forehead. (Even he's standing here now, looking at this picture on the screen, and pointing out the bandage and then to the real one on his head, making sure I still remember just how he bonked his head.)



P.S. In case you're wondering what's going on in the picture....it was part of yesterday's lesson about moons. We were simulating the making of moon craters.

Wipeout!

Father-son bonding time over watching Wipeout is now over!

Kyle tried to recreate the Big Red Balls (don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about) last night while I was working out, jumping on the downstairs bed. Unfortunately, the bed (balls) ended in a wipe-out. Plus, as much as Kyle may have pretended that it did exist, there was not a pool of water below to break his fall. Nor did his forehead simply smash into a big, red ball, but made contact with the metal of my elliptical. There were no funny sound effects to add to the hilarity of Kyle's crash-landing. Nope. In real life, this wipe-out was not funny at all.....

There was just lots of blood and a cut in the middle of his forehead that probably could use a stitch. Not wanting to spend the rest of the night in the E.R. just to be told he might need a stitch, we just cleaned him up, stopped the bleeding, and slapped a band-aid on him. (Scars help tell life's stories, right?)


Kyle really is too tough for his own good, though. He cried a little, initially, but was then just interested in the medical supplies. Through the whole thing, he was just "chattering" away, trying to recreate the wipe-out by telling (and showing) us how he "bonk-a" his head, slapping his forehead to demonstrate the action.


It makes me a little worried how tolerant of pain he is.....I'm sure there are many, many more wipe-outs in his future.

*He must have had a major headache last night/early morning. He woke up crying and wouldn't go back to sleep, so we were up watching movies and reading books from 2:45 until 5:15 because I didn't want Stephen to got woken up any earlier that he had to be (he's started clinicals at a new hospital-one MUCH further away.) Of course, last night was the night I decided to start watching Top Chef, which ended at 11:15 and put me getting to bed around midnight. Thank goodness for being able to go back to sleep after Stephen got up!

And You Want to be my Health Care Provider?

Dear Government,

Kindly send me a list of references for programs you have been able to run well.

Let's be honest. Education is going down the tubes.

Welfare is being sucked dry.

Social Security and Medicare have been on the fritz for years, now.

You have been unsuccessful at balancing the budget, and the economic forecast for the near future looks stormy.

I doubt you are going to shine at running the car business, either.

Lately you've been unable to accomplish even a simple task, like mailing a letter, which was clearly marked with the correct address. Was someone in your postal department unable to deduce that "Grandpa & Grandma Cooper" is an acceptable substitute for "Steve & Timee?" I want my 44 cents back!


Then, to add insult to injury, you broke my birthday present, which, coincidentally, came from the VERY SAME ADDRESS which you previously found "not deliverable."


Your resume is weak, government. Very weak, indeed.

And you really think you are going to be able to run the health care industry?

Sincerely,

Your Boss~a Legal American Citizen