12 Month Checkup!

At 12 months, Cooper weighs 19 lbs 6 oz and is 28 and 3/4 inches long, both of which are in the 50th percentile! At a year, Kendall weighed 24 lbs and was 30 inches long! Cooper is so little compared to her...or maybe Kendall was just that big! :)

She is walking all the time now - she rarely ever crawls. We love watching her walk because she's still a little wobbly and it's really cute how she stands up from sitting. She is always carrying some kind of little toy around the house. She plays really well with all the toys in the living room, with the girls' kitchen, and with her toys in her bedroom. She loves to read books and wants to turn the pages herself. She is all about the dishwasher - if I am doing dishes she is right at my feet trying to pull things out or get up on the door.

She talks and babbles all the time, but the only real words she is saying are Mama and Daddy. She says Ne-ne for Kendall, and Me-Me for Molly. Still no sign language! We sign more and please to her all the time, and sometimes we sign thank you, but she still hasn't picked up on any of it yet. She has her own sign for more where she waves one hand back and forth in front of her. Maybe she's close!

She is sleeping all night every night. We usually put her to bed around 8 and she wakes up around 8 in the morning. She takes 2 naps a day, about an hour or an hour and a half in the morning and about 2 hours in the afternoon. She still just has the two bottom teeth, but Dr. B said that her canine teeth on the top are just about to break through. She has had a runny nose all week and has been drooling a lot, so we are pretty sure we'll see them soon!

Coop is so happy all the time. She loves playing with her big sister and Kendall makes her laugh more than anyone else. We have seen a little temper come out lately though! When she is playing with her toys and I go to get her ready for bed, she squeals at me so loud! And she is never still on the changing table. She tries to roll over the whole time - it feels like a wrestling match every time I change her diaper!

Lately her favorite thing to do has been to put things in her little nesting boxes. She carries one of the smaller boxes around in one hand and then will find little things that fit inside it. Sometimes she puts her sass in there, sometimes it's another toy or a magnet. So cute!

We still have her in her infant carrier because she hasn't outgrown it yet. She is content to keep riding backwards....I think because she has Kendall to talk to and play with while she's back there. We are going to keep her in the carrier facing backwards as long as she fits!

Cooper, you bring us so much joy and we are so thankful that God has entrusted you to us to care for! We love watching you grow and learn and pray that we are faithful with the gift He has given us in you. Happy first birthday sweet girl!

Cooper's Birthday!

We had a full, fun day for Cooper's birthday today! It started off this morning with her 12 month checkup. I looked back at Kendall's birthday and I took her for her checkup on her birthday too...not the nicest thing to do since they get 3 shots! Randy was able to meet us there so I got a picture with both my girls!!
Sweet baby! She did so great for Dr. B. She cried when she got her shots, but stopped pretty quickly afterwards when Daddy picked her up and held her.

Dr. B said she looks perfect! I'm going to do a separate post for her 12 month update, but her appointment went great.

After that we had to run errands, and then we came home for lunch and naps. I had a meeting this evening, but after I got home we went out for dinner to none other than...Chick fil A!

Look at that big one year old! I can't believe how big she is getting.

Both of the girls had fun playing outside for a little while after we ate. We all shared an ice cream, and Cooper fussed at us when it was gone!

We had a great day celebrating Cooper and are looking forward to her party on Saturday! Happy Birthday Coop!

Happy First Birthday Cooper!

Cooper Elyse! We can't believe that you are one year old today! This year has flown by, but we have treasured every minute of it. When the doctor laid you on my chest one year ago today, I was so amazed at how much I could love someone I had just seen for the first time. Our love for you has grown and grown and we have so much fun just watching you and playing with you. We are so thankful that you are healthy and always happy and you are a joy to our whole family! Your big sister loves you so much and we love watching the two of you laugh and play together. You are beautiful, we love your big blue eyes, and we can't get enough of your smile that lights up your whole face. Our prayer for you is that as you grow you would delight yourself in the Lord. We want you to put your trust and your faith in Him first, knowing that he will give you the desires of your heart when you have delighted yourself in Him. We thank God for you every day, sweet girl, and look forward to watching you grow and learn more this next year. Happy birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Mom!

I had a great 29th birthday last week! When I was pregnant last summer with Cooper, people kept saying, "Oh, maybe she'll come on your birthday!" And I would say, "No, I think I want to keep that day for myself!" :) She did decide to wait a week, and we are very excited about celebrating her on Wednesday and this weekend.

Randy and the girls spoiled me for my birthday! Last weekend, we went to Pearland for a family date at Lupe Tortilla, Barnes and Noble, the party store, and Starbucks. On Saturday before my birthday on Wednesday I came home from taking my principal's exam in Beaumont to this:

a present for each day of the week leading up to my birthday! Randy had not only kept both girls by himself Friday night and Saturday, but he also took them shopping and planned out a fun birthday week for me! I got to open a present on Saturday and then every day leading up to Wednesday. They were all little, thoughtful gifts, and my favorite was the last one: a book called "29 Reasons We Love You For Your 29th Birthday!" Randy sat down with Kendall and asked her why she loved me, why Cooper loved me, and put reasons in there from him, too! It is so precious. Some of my favorites are:

4. You love that I am Cinderella - Kendall

7. You pack my food for dinner - Kendall

10. Cooper loves her momma best in the world - Cooper (from Kendall)

11. You put us first - Daddy

13. You hold babies - Kendall

15. You make me feel special - Cooper (from Daddy)

19. You make cookies and pudding with me - Kendall

23. We go to Wal-Mart - Kendall

25. You feed me a lot - Cooper (from Daddy)

26. You teach us about Jesus - Daddy

I love my book so much!! And I'm so thankful for how Randy made me feel special on my birthday.

Kendall and Cooper - someday when you are big and you are looking for a husband, you need to find someone that treats you just like your daddy treats me! He makes me feel so special and loved and he does so much to help take care of both of you! Don't settle for anything less!

On Wednesday Randy watched the girls while I went to have lunch with Jan, we ate dinner at home, and then he surprised me again by having arranged a sitter so we could go get coffee and dessert at a new coffee shop in town! Fun! The girls were dressed so cute that day, so I tried to take their pictures...but you know how that goes....

Oh the faces...

Then, on Thursday night after my birthday, we had the Johnsons, Erskines, Sanders, and Mitterlings over for dinner, cake, and ice cream. We cooked roast (my favorite) and Randy and Kendall made a wonderful strawberry cake with strawberry icing. Randy decorated it with real strawberries on top and it was so pretty, but I never got a picture!

After dinner the kids were a little wound up, and I got some pictures of them playing Ring Around The Rosie. :)

I had a great long week of birthday celebrations! It for sure did not get lost in the shuffle of Cooper's birthday!! We have been working hard getting ready for that though and I can't wait to post pictures of her party this weekend!

Walking Videos!

Cooper rarely crawls these days - she is walking so much!! She's so cute...she leads with her belly and falls a lot, but we love watching her get up and down. Here are some videos!

Beach Days!

We went to the beach one day last week all by ourselves! I usually meet the girls and their kids out there with Kendall and Cooper during the week, but everyone's plans fell through on Thursday, so it ended up just being me and Kendall and Cooper. I had already told Kendall we were going and she was so excited, so I didn't want to back out. I was a little nervous though about going with both girls and all our stuff but it went really well! The girls had so much fun playing by themselves and together and were fine with not having friends there. :)

Cooper was so much easier now that she can walk! Before this trip, every time we would go she would pretty much just sit in my lap and eat or crawl all over me the whole time, but today she sat in her chair to eat and then played on the sand and crawled around and walked in the waves! She is just getting so big!

These pictures were actually not taken on Thursday when I was by myself (except for the first one). Sunday night we had beach baptism and took the girls to play for awhile. I brought my camera then when Randy was with me, but I for sure wasn't bringing it when I was by myself! I just love these pictures of them playing independently though!!

She has a lot of work to do in the sand and she does it very well. :)

We love going to the beach!

Here's Hoping

Hoping

for
rain!

And enjoying playing inside with this cute baby in the meantime!

Preschool Carnival!

Saturday morning our children's ministry team put on a Preschool Extravaganza at the church! The whole morning was geared towards preschoolers and their families and was so much fun. Kendall was very excited about it, but was a little overwhelmed at first when we got there. Cooper rode in her stroller and seemed to love it!

There was a special area just for babies Cooper's age with ball pits and tunnels to crawl through. When we were leaving, Mrs. Erin said that Cooper was their inspiration for that because "we had to have something for Cooper to do too!!" So sweet! Love our children's ministry staff!
She is very into handing stuff back and forth lately. Here she was trying to hand me the ball as I took her picture. :)

Kendall played lots of fun carnival games, like this fishing game, and won fun prizes!

Cooper carried her ball around even after we left the ball pit.

Cooper and Katie Jade in their matching strollers!

The event was a success! Lots of families came and everyone had a blast!

When Tyne was holding Cooper, she got ahold of a sucker Randy was holding. She loved it!

Tyne is Noelle's sister and she has been one of our student ministry interns this summer! We are going to miss her when she leaves this week, but she's an Aggie too, so we'll be seeing her soon at the games! She says Cooper is her favorite baby because she's always happy. :)

Loving the sucker. I had to keep it up when Tyne passed her back to me! Ha!

Back to the balls! Such a happy girl!

We had such a fun morning! So thankful for our church and how they take care of my whole family.

Our little reader

Another post without pictures....stink.
Cooper is loving her books these days! It has just started really over the past 5 or 6 days, but she brings us books all the time and when we go to bed she leans over to her bookshelf when we're rocking in the rocking chair and reaches for her books. The other night when I put her in bed, I put one of her "First Words" books in bed with her and she was playing with it when I walked. The next morning I heard her awake and talking and waited a few minutes before I went in there. When I went in her room, she was sitting up in her crib, turning the pages of her book. I went to pick her up, and she leaned back into her bed to get her book! Love that!!

She's Walking!

Cooper started taking steps on her own about a week ago...August 7th to be exact. :) I have been waiting to post until I had pictures or video, but I keep forgetting to take some! And, it's not easy to catch her. She still prefers crawling most of the time, but she is standing up one her own a ton and taking 4-5 steps at a time. When I get the camera out and try to get a good distance away from her, she gives up walking and plops down to crawl over to me real quick. She's so cute. And her big sister is so proud of her. I think she's been standing on her own for at least a month now, but still, when Kendall sees her doing that or walking she yells, "Mom!!! Cooper's standing!!!" Like it's the first time. Love it!
I will keep working on pictures and videos, but I just wanted to have this documented!

Splish splash!

One day this past week we filled up the princess pool for the girls to play in!
Cooper wasn't too much of a fan - I think I should have filled it up earlier in the day and let the sun warm the water up!

Love fun nights at home!

Out for a walk!

Even though walks with these two girls don't really count as exercise because we stop every three steps, I love love love them!!

Usually when I take both of them on a walk these days, I push Cooper in the stroller and Kendall rides her tricycle. We walk one time around our block, checking out all the flowers, unusual sights, listening to the birds, and making our way to the waterfall...a water feature at the house on the corner. This is Kendall's favorite part! I love going on these adventures with them!

Cow Creek 2011

Last weekend we made our annual trip out to Aaron's family's place at Cow Creek! We have been each summer for three years now and we love it every time! This year we had a committment on Thursday night, so we left early Friday morning and stayed until Saturday afternoon. It was just our family, the Beams, and the Sanders. Smaller crew, but we still had a blast and the kids loved it.

Something about having two kids makes me take less pictures (ha!) so I hardly have any from our time there this year! Friday we got there after lunch, and even though it was naptime, Kendall was ready to go get in the creek! Randy sacrificed and stayed up in the cabin with Cooper while she napped and Holly, Stephanie, and I went down to the creek with the kids. I think Jason and Aaron were also up helping Ran watch Cooper...napping. :)

The creek was super low this year, but it actually made it better for walking down there and then sitting out in the middle on a sandbar. Kendall was totally my child this year and didn't really want her feet to touch the bottom. :) She eventually warmed up to it though and started playing.

We did a lot of eating in the two days we were there! Here are Kendall and Cooper eating a popsicle!

Cooper loves Holly! So thankful for sweet friends who love our kids!
We ate dinner Friday night and then put a movie on and let the kids watch that together while we stayed up late talking. Love those times! We laugh a lot and just enjoy hanging out!
Saturday morning was our turn to cook - Randy made chocolate chip pancakes, I made eggs, and Holly made bacon. The pancakes were a hit! After breakfast we went down to the creek and played more. Cooper and Randy came down to the creek this time!

We ate lunch and then cleaned up, packed up, and took a picture of the kids before we left!

Ella, Aubrey, Ethan, Lawson, Brynlee, Cooper and Kendall!

We love Cow Creek weekends! So thankful for sweet friends and relaxing days together as a family.