Cooper's Last Day

I feel like my baby has graduated. It was actually a little sad picking him up from his last day at daycare. Every morning when I would drop him off he would get a big smile on his face ready to go play. The teachers were great, there was nothing I could complain about except the fact that I wanted to be home with him. I left my camera with him on his last day so that they could get a few pictures. Here is one with the whole class. It's funny, they took this picture 8 times to try and get it right. Must be kind of hard getting 8 kids under the age of 1 to look at the camera.

We have a Tooth!

Every time Cooper has a fever or seems out of sorts we always think, I wonder if he is teething? He has been chewing on everything drooling like crazy for a few months now. Last Sunday he had a fever and I was looking in his mouth and thought I saw something white under the surface. Steve just thought I was crazy. Well, yesterday Steve was playing with him and looked inside his mouth and then felt his gums, sure enough there is a white sharp object peeking through. I was surprised at how non-cranky he has been this week. Of course the minute I think that, he is up all hours. We just got him sleeping throughout he night about 3 weeks ago. I think last night he was up every hour from 10-2. Then he got some Motrin and slept till 6:45, so not too bad. I just can't believe it, he finally has a tooth. My baby is getting so big.

The Countdown Is On!

Just one more week of work! I am getting super excited. There have been times these past couple of weeks when I question whether I made the right decision or not. I like my job, I like the people, can we afford this... questions like that would run through my mind. However it has never been more evident this past week that I am making the right choice. Cooper has changed his bedtime in in the past couple of weeks. He cut out is late afternoon/early evening nap and starting going to be around 7:30, sometimes early. He also started sleeping all night long, so I'm not going to change anything. So here is our typical day. Wake him up at 6:40, change his clothes, out the door by 7. Pick him up at daycare between 5:15-5:30. Get home, feed him dinner, eat dinner ourselves. Clean up the kitchen, give Cooper a bath, play for 15-30 minutes, give him a bottle and put him to bed. So on any given day I see my son for about 1 1/2 hours and spend maybe 45 minutes of quality time with him that doesn't involve us trying to cook or clean or bathe. I'm a little scared he isn't going to enjoy the arrangement at first, Steve and I have just become these people that pick him up in the evening, take him to some place so he can sleep, and bring him back to the people that really take care of him. Since that is pretty much all he does at home is sleep. I try to not to do things during the week that takes away from him. There is a load of laundry still in my dryer from Tuesday. I've haven't worked out in almost three months, I just can't justify going to Jazzericse or the gym when I could get home and Cooper may already be in bed and the only time I've seen him was on the ride to daycare. We've also given up doing other things with friends as well in the past 7 months. When I take all this into account, I know I'm ready. After next week I can have more Cooper time, more Mommy time, and more Mommy & Daddy time.
Speaking of my last week, I already have two lunches planned with some co-workers and I think we are having cake as well my last day. I casually mentioned if I could leave early of if I really need to "work" my last day. My supervisor made the comment "Oh we are going to get all we can out of you." You know, I did give them a 7 weeks notice, you would think they could give me a half day?
Well I guess I should get to work, don't worry I actually still have 18 minutes before my day should start. Although I do get here anywhere between 30-45 minutes early every day and rarely take a lunch, so actually they kind of owe me a whole week, maybe I should just leave today!

2 days in a row

Can you believe it, I am posting two days in a row! Steve volunteered to work a few hours this morning and I was supposed to go shopping with my mom. My mom didn't get out of bed until 10:00, by this time I had already gotten up, fed Cooper breakfast, took a shower, played with Cooper, put him down for a nap, got ready, made brownies and pasta salad for a cook-out later, started some laundry, got Cooper out of bed, and was ready to go. I didn't want to be gone all day so I scratched those plans and decided to run some other errands that needed taken care of. Steve's parents were already excited they got to keep Cooper for a few hours so he is there now, Steve is still at work, and I'm at home by myself. Doesn't happen often. I forgot what quite sounded like! When Steve gets home we need to go get a high chair, the we will pick up Cooper. I registered for the Fisher Price Space Saver high chair when I was pregnant. I think Steve's mom bought it for us. We got it out and put it together but didn't bother to attach it our chair. Needless to say, it is kind of awkward with our chair and table. I guess it's a combination of our chair being too high and the table being too low, it's a weird fit. So we are going to get a different one and try to sell the one we have. I think it goes for $40-50 in stores, I'm willing to sell for $25 if anyone knows anyone who needs one. It's never been used. Once Upon a Child tried to give me $8 for it, that wasn't happening.
I am down to 3 weeks left at work. I'm getting excited, but scared at the same time. I am super excited to be home and spend more time with Cooper, but it's scary going down to one income. I know we will be fine, I ran the numbers a hundred times and a hundred different ways, this will be the first time in 13 years I haven't had a job. There was a brief 2 months my last semester of college I didn't work, I was in between and internship and graduation that I didn't work. But I was also living at home with no real responsibility outside of trying to get good grades. Weren't those the days? A new intern started at work this week, I just want to scream "Stay in school as long as you can". Picture Adam Sandler in Billy Madison. I don't want to scare the poor girl but lets face it, the real world isn't all it's cracked up to be. I guess that is why I have decided to stay at home an engage in child's play for the next few years.

6 months

We went to Portrait Innovations yesterday for Cooper's 6 month pictures. They did a fantastic job. The pictures are great, as you can see :) We got a black and white one of the one with the black background, it is adorable. I was worried going in there, they were already behind half an hour and by the time they started he had been up from a nap for about 2 hours. Lucky us he put on a happy face and waited until the pictures to get cranky and take a nap. Steve took him walking in the stroller in the parking lot while I picked out he pictures. They said 20-25 minutes to get them back, it was only about 15. Well worth the money and drive.

My Weekend

I have some extra vacation to use before I leave Mercer so I took a vacation day on Friday. I wanted to get some shopping done for the summer, since it has been two years that I got to shop for spring clothes. Maternity doesn’t count J Anyway, I kept Cooper home for breakfast and took him to daycare a later in the morning. I went to the mall and Old Navy then met my mom and some of her co-workers for lunch then later I had a hair appt. It was pretty much an uneventful day. I did try to take a nap, you would think that would be easy since I have an empty house and no chance of a baby waking up, but I just couldn’t sleep.

Saturday started off great. After breakfast I took Cooper walking, well he was actually asleep, I did the walking. It was a great morning. Perfect weather the whole day I might add. We then stopped by Steve’s brother’s house to check out how he was doing at the yard sale, and then we hit the grocery store. I got back home and Steve was outside doing yard work, about 15 minutes later he comes in with a strange look on his face, turns out he had cut his finger on the hedge trimmers. Turns out it was fairly deep and would probably need stitches. Not that I want Steve to be hurt or anything, but better him than me. I don’t think he could have grabbed the baby, diaper bag, and remember to get the new insurance cards (our insurance just changed) and anything else he may need in such a rush. We try the Urgent Care Center; they are an hour and a half behind schedule, so we decide on the ER. Turns out that was a big mistake. We ended up waiting for 5 hours, just to get 4 stitches. I ended up leaving after 3 hours. I only packed one bottle; I didn’t think we would be there long enough to feed Cooper twice! Then again if it was Steve, he would have forgotten even the one bottle. I was supposed to go to a birthday party for Melissa’s daughter, so once again, Melissa if you are reading this, I’m sorry I missed it. Hopefully we can get together this summer. Steve did feel bad for “ruining” everyone’s Saturday, so I got my Mother’s Day gift early. I got a mother/child necklace/pendant. He‘s so good to me.

Sunday- Has anyone ever seen the weather do a complete 180? Seriously, how miserable can it get? Weather aside, Sunday was pretty good. We went to church and out to lunch with Steve’s family and my mom. We even got a short nap in at home. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend. On to next Saturday- yard sale day!

I don't have much time, so just a quick update. I wanted to post and updated picture of Cooper. He is 5 months, can you believe it? He is rolling over, trying to sit up on his own, and love to play all the time.

One other note, June 13th will be my last day working. We have decided I should stay home and take some time to see if I can find a part time job. I am looking forward to this. I miss Cooper so much during the day. He spends 10 hours a day at Daycare, so this is going to be great. I'm a little scared not to have that extra income, but I know we will do fine. It's something we have prayed about for a long time now. I know it's the right decision.