Yummy Chicken

I borrowed a recipe from Tracey today... and boy was it yummy. Click here for the recipe.
It was a the perfect combination of sweet & spicy.

You got questions, I've got answers

So I thought I would try something new on my blog. There hasn't been much going on lately so I thought I would try something new. I'm a curious, okay you can say nosey person, so I thought I would pass along the opportunity to you... my loyal blog readers... to be nosey as well. If you have any questions about me that you are just dying to find out, post them in the comments section and I will dedicate a blog post for answers. Once I have 5 questions I will post the answers, but I will take more than 5 so keep them coming.

ps- Keep it clean and nice, I have family that reads this blog :)

Date Night

Steve & I had a date night last night to celebrate his birthday, he is now the big 32... pushing his mid thirties. The plan was dinner & a movie and if you know me, I do not like to see movies. Call me cheap I know, but I just can't stand paying almost $10 for a movie that is either going to be overly violent, raunchy, vulgar, or the ones that aren't like are just recycled story lines. But it Steve's birthday and we both wanted to see Shutter Island, we are suckers for horror movies. That is about the only movie I like seeing in the theater. He picked Texas Roadhouse for dinner, it had been about 10 different options all week and that is what he finally decided on. After a 35 minute wait and what took FOREVER to get our food there was no way we were going to make the movie. We ended up being about 10 minutes late which would have been okay, but his favorite part are the previews so we picked the next starting show which was The Book of Eli. Let's say I was pleasantly surprised. Yes there was some violence and some bad language at times, but it movie is set in a post-apocalyptic world, so it's somewhat understandable. It's nice to see a movie with a big time actor like Denzel Washington to have such a true spiritual content to it. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it already, just be prepared to see some blood.
Also, thanks to Steve's parents for taking care of Cooper while we are out. It as a nice evening, we have small group every other week that we get a sitter for so it's hard sometimes for us to get away for date nights. It was greatly appreciated.

Spring Fever

Momma got some spring fever today and did some on-line shopping. Old Navy was having a sale plus free shipping on baby & maternity clothes.

I got some cute summer clothes for Cooper. I usually shop in off season sales but for some reason I didn't buy anything for this coming spring & summer. The only clothes he has are for whatever may still fit him from last summer. I'm so ready for cute plaid shorts and polos.

Then I did some clothes shopping for myself. Most of my maternity clothes from when I was pregnant with Cooper are for fall & winter. I started showing late with him and I was pregnant till November, don't think I can wear most of that stuff. I'm counting on being in the 90's up until delivery. There are some adorable summer maternity clothes out there. I also have a feeling I'm going to start showing a lot earlier than I did with him. I already broke out some of my "big" jeans. The ones I bought after having Cooper when I couldn't fit into my regular size but didn't want to keep wearing maternity. We had small group this week and there is always tons of food, it was either wear the "big" jeans or unbutton my top button... didn't think most people would appreciate that.

I'm also going to try and clean out my closet today, I can pretty much guarantee I won't be wearing my spring & summer clothes so I'm going to put them away and bring out what maternity clothes I think I can wear this year. I'm trying to keep myself busy so I don't take a nap. Once Cooper lays down I get so tired and want to sleep but always wake up feeling worse... let the nesting begin. Is it too early for that?

We've come a long way baby!

I know I have mentioned it many times in the blog but there was a time when we went through some extreme separation anxiety. It all started at the average 8/9 month mark and you couple that with the me quiting my job around that time.. it was ROUGH! I can remember getting called back to the church nursery every week. Of course then it turned into the days Cooper would be screaming and clinging on to my neck where I couldn't even walk out the door. We never gave up, no matter how hard it was to leave him or want to keep him with us in church we always took him back and left him. This is how things are today, I drop him off in the church nursery and he walks straight to the table to do his craft. I know can go to the women's Bible Study in the mornings and he plays back in the babysitting room for up to two hours. I can also go to some extra Jazzercise classes in the mornings and bring him with me. This is the real reason for this post. There are two morning babysitters, Ms Sue and Ms Mary. One day I took him in and Ms Mary walks in the exercise room, Cooper just walks on up to her and walks back to the babysitting room with her. Doesn't even say bye to me. Today we are there, Ms Sue walks in and he gets this biggest grin on his face and hollers out for her. My baby is all grown up!

Journey

We have been looking for months for a plaque to put above our front door and we finally have it:

JOURNEY
Trust in the Lord with all your heart... He will direct your path. Proverbs 3:5-6

Snow Day

For once this winter I did not mind the snow today. Steve got to stay home with us. Of course it scared me half to death. On Monday's he leaves for work around 6:45. I had trouble getting back to sleep this morning so I heard the garage door open and then a few minutes later close again. So I figured he had left, another couple of minutes goes by and my bedroom door opens. My heart about jumps out of my chest. I guess our roads weren't cleared off yet, there weren't even tire tracks from other cars so he decided to wait until daylight and try again. Long story short, he ended up just staying home which was awesome, but he does have to make it up on Saturday. That is a bummer, it also happens to be his birthday, but we did have a day of unexpected fun. Cooper & Steve played hard all morning. I managed to get some cupcakes made that I had originally wanted to make this weekend. Cooper sure enjoyed them.

After the fun morning Cooper took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Those days are pretty much long gone. we are lucky if we hit two hours. So that was sweet.

After dinner Steve decided to be creative in the snow. He put some food coloring in a water bottle... I have no idea where he comes up with these ideas.

We also stayed in our pj's all day, I love days like this.

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is low key around our house. Besides dinner out, Steve & I have never really celebrated. Of course there was the one time three years ago in Walt Disney World when we went to Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but I don't want to get depressed so I will stop talking about that. We did sort of start a tradition last year by going out to breakfast so that was the plan Saturday morning. It also helped out that breakfast is really the only meal I can eat these days where I can pretty much guarantee I won't feel horrible afterwards. We headed to Panera Bread for a yummy breakfast, same as last year. Cooper ate almost an entire cinnamon roll to himself, have you guys seen those things? They are HUGE!

Afterwards we stopped by Steve's parent's house so Cooper could give them a Valentine card, his Aunt Marilyn and cousin Tina were there was well so we had Valentine's for them too. After lunch at home my mom stopped by and wanted me to come to Walmart with here to pick out Valentine's for all the grand kids. I have no idea what I was thinking because that place, and the entire Clarksville for that matter, was packed. I promise it looked like the day before Christmas. I did have a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I returned... beautiful flowers from my two favorite people.That evening I decided to make chili for dinner and for the first time Cooper wanted to eat dinner in the big chair. Poor guy is so short that I had to put his chili on a plate instead of a bowl. It was cute though. We are lucky he doesn't mind his booster and will still sit in a high chair if we are out. Sunday was spent going to church, taking naps, and having dinner at my mom's. She is an awesome cook but it is a good thing she doesn't cook often. Butter & salt are her two favorite ingredients.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day, I'm ready for spring.

Exciting Day!!!!

Today was a very exciting day in our house, but first I must share some news:

COOPER IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER!!!!!

Let me back up, right after New Years I thought there might be a chance so I took a pregnancy test and it was negative. At first I was a little disappointed because I am a planner, but I know it's all in God's hands. Well a week goes by and still nothing happens so I started wondering maybe I took it too early. We were out at Target that evening so I picked up another, this time with three in a pack, got home and although one was very faint there were in fact two lines. I ended up taking all three by the end of the weekend just make sure. Later that week I had my first doctor's appointment, mainly just to confirm the pregnancy and do all my lab work, I didn't actually meet with the doctor just the nurse practitioner. She gave me a due date of Sept 6 which I thought that was way too early, I was guessing more like Sept 16, so she agreed that at my next visit before I meet with the doctor I can get an early dating ultrasound to confirm. So here I have been the past four weeks waiting for confirmation on a due date. At first we only told close friends and family but slowly word did spread, it made me feel better the more people I told, I was so fearful something would happen and it eased my fears telling people.

So finally the day arrives, Steve met me at the doctor this morning and up first was the ultrasound.... yipee!!! Everything look great, I got to see the heartbeat which was so reassuring and the date was even later than expected, it put me at 8 weeks and 2 days with a due date of Sept 20. I'm still very early, but moving along. Next up was my first visit with Dr Riely, she delivered Cooper and I only have good things to say about her. For those that don't know, I had a c-section with Cooper. There were multiple factors that went into that and I am working on updating his birth story so I will let you know when that posts. I am about 99% sure I will have another c-section. Of course she did give me information on a VBAC and her policy is that if the patient hasn't made any progress towards labor past the 40 week mark she suggests a repeat c-section. However, up until then if labor starts on its own then we can tray for a VBAC. Or she will just schedule a c-section at 39 weeks. I may go ahead and wait the full 40, just to see if I go into labor, I haven't decided. I was 41 weeks and a day with Cooper wasn't showing any signs of labor, so if history repeats itself, I will probably be in there between 39 and 40 weeks.

So, how am I feeling? Not terrible, but not great either. Evenings are the worst, luckily the mornings and daytime are generally good. Nothing ever sounds good to eat which is funny because I got the H1N1 vaccine today. They only carry the preservative free for the OB patients so I went ahead and took it, that sucker hurt! Much more than any other flu shot did, my arm was still burning 20 minutes later. The nurse told Steve he should do something special for me and asked me what my favorite food was, well right now NOTHING!!! Any other day, he would be bringing me some Puerto Vallarta home. Come to think of it, that does sound pretty good.

So that is our exciting news, 2010 is going to be a good year. We are all excited and I'm sure once the warm weather hits this pregnancy is going to fly by.

Not so "super"bowl

So we didn't quite have the Super Bowl we did three years go, but it was exciting to watch our team play. Steve even wore his one and only Colts shirt. He only has one because he needed something to wear to the game earlier this year. For those that don't know, Steve is a Bears fan, made for an interesting Super Bowl last time around. Anyway, trying not to be bitter... congrats to the Saints, you deserve it. How do you beat the Colts? You keep Peyton Manning and his offense off the field for as long as possible and you guys did just that.

Home Videos

We were a little bored this weekend so we broke out some home videos taken of Cooper. We watched one that was taken last spring/summer, he was about 17-19 months old. Let me tell you.... PRECIOUS!!!!! Talk about a fun age... not that every age isn't fun, but there is something special about the 18 month stage. He was just starting to communicate more, curious about everything and the best part... no attitude or defiance. Steve told me that when he gets old and loses his mind and is in a nursing home, I am to make sure he watched that video everyday. So, just in case I lose my mind too then you guys have to remember this... we want to watch the 18 month old videos. Of course in about a year I will probably say, I want to watch the two year old videos, but right now I want the 18 month.

Uncle Scott

I thought I would make a post as a tribute to Uncle Scott. Cooper loves his Uncle Scott and Uncle Scott loves his little Cooper. This was the man who at one time thought a baby would change everything and yes Steve only goes to Bloomington now about 7 times a year instead of the usual 12 or more... I did have to draw the line somewhere. Just about every time Scott comes over he brings something new for Cooper. This weekend was no different. First he walks in with some monkey wash cloths and hooded towel. He then goes back out to the car in and brings in a shower curtain and trash can. Then he comes back later with a rug and some accessories. In one day we were able to transform our entire bathroom. I know it's a little cheesy, but Cooper is the primary user of this bathroom and you have to admit it is adorable. Here are some pics...

a monkey shower curtain a monkey rug

a monkey trash can and a monkey hand towel, night light, and tumbler (also used as a toothbrush holder in our house)

Of course there a few more odds & ends we may need to get, I don't think this picture goes so well with the monkeys.

Snowman

We haven't been able to get out and enjoy the snow much this year. Cooper was sick almost the whole month of January and of course he woke up again this weekend with a runny nose and watery eyes. I'm pretty sure it was just allergies but after the RSV I wasn't taking any chances. So, being the good daddy he is, Steve got outside and built a cute little snowman outside our backdoor. Besides a missing nose it is still standing today. I think he is one cute little guy.

Another Past Time

We have another past time in our house that I had forgotten about. In addition to the DVD's, Cooper also likes to play with all the cd's. We bought a storage ottoman for the sole purpose of getting them out of the way and in hiding so he couldn't get to them. We see how long that lasted.

Where do I rank?

Today we had to drive both our cars to church since Steve serves communion every other month during second service. A few minutes before it was time to go I asked Steve if he minded starting our cars. When it was time to walk out the door I asked Cooper who he wanted to ride with, which Steve replied "Oh yeah, I forgot, sorry I never started your car". No big deal, Cooper & I can freeze on the way.

Then we get to church and they were passing out the attendance books. Since our church keeps growing they started these attendance books a few years ago to keep track of member's attendance and visitors. So it comes down the aisle and Steve usually signs our name, well he hands it me and all I see on the line is- Steve Lee. Once again... where do I rank in this family?

Take a Picture

I just had to post these pictures. We were about to leave the house on Sunday and Steve told me to take a mental picture of our living room so when we got home I would know we weren't robbed, it was really that messy. So of course I took real pictures.

I love the randomness of the books, dvd, and socks in this one.
These last two are fun. Once again a random dvd laying by the chair in the second one. But you just gotta love it.

Really???? #2

A couple of weeks ago I noticed Cooper licking our kitchen table after eating dinner. It seemed a little strange so of course I asked him to stop. Steve then informs me that he was licking chocolate (from a pudding cup) off the table. My response? Well, if it's chocolate I guess it's okay.

Welcome February!!!!

I think I am not alone on saying HELLO FEBRUARY, GOODBYE JANUARY!!! I don't want to wish away a whole month, but after ear drops, eye drops, and breathing treatments..... I am so ready for a fresh start. Can you imagine if Jan & Feb were one of our two back to back 31 day months? December doesn't really count, because in all honesty we could use a few extra days then. February always goes quickly for us, we celebrate Steve's birthday and of course there is that football game next week :)

So, in just four weeks it will be one of my favorite days of the whole year.... March 1st! Why you ask? Because Spring will officially be on it's way!

Really?

I have been going to a women's Bible Study on Monday mornings for a couple of weeks now. Luckily we have a fantastic volunteer staff who provide childcare. I like to consider myself organized so I always have Cooper's bag packed with plenty of diapers, snacks and a drink. Today was no exception. However I noticed when I got home that they had changed his diaper and used one of the extras at church. Not a big deal to me, he can wear any brand it doesn't give him a rash or anything. Then I went to change it after lunch again, the diaper they put on him was a size 2! I mean I know my guy is little, he does still wear a size 4 at almost 2 1/2... but it's been a long time since he has worn a size that small.