AWE.....A 3 DAY WEEKEND..................

What a great few days. It is amazing what one extra day can do. We had a great time today as we did nothing but what the kids wanted. For Raelynn that consisted of a lot of TV, swimming, baking cookies and playing school with Coop. For Coop it consisted of whatever Sissy wants. It was our first outing to the pool for the year and the kids had a great time. We saw our cousin Sky and his Mom and Dad there so that was a little bonus. After swimming we headed home and Raelynn and I made cookies and played games while Coop napped. The day seemed to go by way too quickly.

Yesterday the kids had a friend's birthday party. It was at the park and they had a "clown" who was a Fairy Godmother. She did face painting, a magic shoe and balloon animals. She was awesome and the kids LOVED it. She had both Raelynn and Cooper cracking up during the magic show. It was nice and warm out but well worth it.



On Saturday we visited Nanny's grave and put out some pretty flowers. Of course this always leads to Raelynn missing Nanny which I think is perfect. It gives us a chance to talk about the meaning of Memorial Day and gives them a chance to remember Nanny and Great Grandma Cooper and Uncle Wayne and all those who they have lost. After that we headed home and did a few things around the house to get ready for dinner guests. We had a couple friends over for dinner. We had a great time just hanging out and spending time together. The food was pretty great too :).



The week ahead is going to be a crazy one. Not only will I be trying to wrap everything up at work to prepare for being gone for Coop's surgery but also get everything ready for the month ahead and the kids schedule is nuts too. They are participating in a camp at the Gymnastics Academy every morning this week and then are with Jan tomorrow afternoon, me on Wednesday, Aunt Bonnie on Thursday and Kelly on Friday. They are very excited about it all! Then my Mom and sister come in on Friday, horse show on Saturday, Ironman on Sunday, preop on Monday and then the big surgery. I already have butterflies in my stomach! I suppose it is a very good thing this week is so crazy so I have less time to think about next week!

COOP'S FIRST HORSE SHOW.............

Saturday was the kids' first horse show of the season and Coop's first horse show ever. They were both way too cute! Raelynn is so much more poised this year and knows what she is suppose to do. She still has a short attention span and no patience but she is my daughter! Coop on the other hand would sit on the horse all day long and would stand around the arena looking at people and horses until the sunset. I think he may have his father's laid back attitude. Regardless of their differences they both did a fantastic job. Raelynn received 2nd place from the first judge and 4th place from the second judge. Cooper received 4th place from the first judge and 3rd place from the second judge.




Sunday night as I put Raelynn to bed we lay talking. She says to me, "Mom, I wish money would rain from the sky and land on our roof so you never had to work again." I wanted to cry. I love that she wants me home with her! I hate that I can't be! But I also love my job! That mixture of feelings are difficult for me to process let alone explain to a 4 year old. I told her that I love every second I am with she and Cooper and I miss them every second we are apart, but also reminded her that our time apart was also good for us. I let her know that it was our time apart that really defined us and tested us and that without this time apart we wouldn't know to appreciate our time together as much. She says, "I know but maybe you could just work when I am at school?" I told her in a perfect world that would be just what I would do. She was quiet for a minute and then said, "You always say your world is perfect?" Man, does this girl miss anything!!! I told her I didn't care if I worked or didn't work as long as I had her and Cooper and Daddy I had a perfect world. She said, "my world's perfect too!" Wouldn't it be great if things stay just like this? I sometimes think I should be recording our every conversation so in 10 years or so and I am no longer everything to her, I can play them as a reminder :)

Raelynn and Coop had there first real "argument" last night. It was hysterical! They were in the living room setting up for our game of Candy Land while I finished making dinner. I heard them arguing a little and then I heard little Coop say, "I go tell Mom". Next was Raelynn, "Well I will tell her too" and so they came running. At first they both began talking but I stopped them and said, "one at a time, Coop what happened?" He says, "Tissy knock over all my toys!" The amazing thing was Raelynn never interrupted Cooper as I questioned him about what she knocked over and why. When Coop was done I turned to Raelynn for her side of the story. She tells me Coop keeps messing up the game board. Then Coop says, "Did Not!" and Raelynn says, "You did too!" and then Coop, "Did Not"......"Did too!" "Did Not!".......it was awesome. It took all I had not to crack up. I helped them talk through it and they really did a great job of communicating after we got past the "did toos" and "did nots". By the time the discussion ended they were playing together very contently. So I guess I was successful on diffusing their first argument and with practice, both them and me, hopefully the success will continue. Oh yet another stage of their development and another stage for me to fall in love with!

SUMMER HAS BEGAN.....SORT OF.........

Yesterday was Raelynn's last day of school. She and Terry went on their end of the year field trip to CiCi's pizza. I believe it was a little hectic but they had a good time!


So even though the weather has not indicated it....for Raelynn summer has began. I don't know if just the fact that Coop spent the whole day with Raelynn since she didn't have school or if it was something else, but Coop was very very funny tonight. I laid him on his changing table to change his pants and he grabbed the changing pad from under him and pulled it off the table. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Tis (This) noying (annoying)!" I said, "it's annoying you?" He looked right at me and said, "yep!". So now my four year old is using words like "literally" and "amazingly wonderful" and my 2 year old is using words like "annoying" and "upset". Do you wonder what words they hear the most :)?

Yesterday I took Coop to his pediatrician because since Sunday he has had a terrible cough and snotty nose. Because surgery is quickly approaching they decided to treat him aggressively for walking pneumonia. It is not as serious as it sounds. If he wasn't getting ready for surgery he probably would not be treating him at all. Anyway the only medication for this spikes his level of Digoxin which is one of his heart meds. They determined that at his size he could actually be taking more Digoxin than he is so if the level is spiked it still should fall under the max amount he can take. The pharmacy let me know what to watch for if the level did get too high and we were on our way. After a few scares yesterday and today, fortunately the Digoxin level seems to be ok but the medicine is to be taken with food and well since Coop doesn't eat food, it causes and upset stomach and diarrhea. Anyway, it has not been horrible but poor Mary Beth and Karen have gotten the brunt of both the throwing up and the diarrhea. We have the medicine until Sunday and then hopefully he will be fully recovered.
Tonight we got home from riding lessons a little late. I got the kids to the table for dinner and when I got done I gave Coop a bath while Raelynn finished. I gave Coop his bath and was getting his PJs on when it occurred to me I had not heard from Raelynn asking to be excused from the table yet. I finished Coop and headed to the kitchen. To my surprise, Raelynn had finished her dinner, cleared the table, windexed the table, put all dishes in the dishwasher, wiped off the counters and put everything in the refrigerator. The kitchen was spotless. When I thanked her and told her how good it looked she said, "Yea, I did a better job than Dad does." It was pretty funny!!! So Coop and I had a little time to play why Raelynn took her shower. It was a huge help and made a late evening turn into a wonderful night.

RAELYNN'S FIRST GRADUATION..................

Today they held a graduation ceremony at Raelynn's preschool. It was wonderful. I love stuff like this anyway but I also LOVE her preschool. I almost cried several times. They had such a great little ceremony for them or really for we parents. I am so proud of Raelynn for so many things and this just added to it. She has had such a great experience at preschool and I cannot say enough good things about them. The ceremony included a couple songs the kids sang, ice cream and some very special gifts from and to their teachers and principal. I was really touched by it all. After the ceremony we headed back to Raelynn's room to get her stuff. As we started to leave I made the mistake of saying, "Raelynn, tell your room goodbye this will be the last time you'll be her." Tears began to fall. She cried for a good 20 minutes about how she was going to miss her preschool and how she wished she could just stay there. I wish she could too. It just goes to show how much she liked it and her teachers. Anyway, it was a very emotional day for her and I just thought to myself, I wonder how we will handle High School graduation? I figure much of the same way as today......I would feel so proud I could explode while at the same time knowing my little girl is growing up while she will feel excited but yet scared of what the future holds. Aunt Steph came to graduation to surprise Raelynn!Raelynn and her friends! Raelynn and her teachers, Mrs. Strong and Mrs. LRaelynn and Mommy! The graduate herself!

VERY QUICK UPDATE.................

I have to get some sleep tonight and still have 2 projects to complete before bedtime so I am making this quick. Last Thursday Raelynn and Cooper started horse riding lessons again with Aunt Bonnie. Yes, both Coop and Raelynn are riding this year. Raelynn did pretty well and you can tell she is a year older because of her posture and just general concentration. However, she still has a very short attention span. Coop on the other hand would ride FOREVER if I would let him. I had to finally cut the lesson off to get Coop off the horse. It will be fun to watch him over the summer.


Friday Coop had an eye doctor appointment and the news was good but we are still patching his eye. The left eye is visually stronger and that is good but it sounds like we have a little ways to go. Friday night we headed back to Scott City for a family friend's graduation. It was a fun but fast weekend. The trip to and from is so very long and the kids generally do not sleep at all. These were taken on the way out!


In Scott City they have built an amazing art gallery called the Jerry Thomas Gallery and connected it to the museum. It is beautiful and amazing. Jerry Thomas is actually my sis's boyfriend's uncle and Dad did all the electrical on the building. He did an amazing job as the lighting is beautiful. It was really quite interesting to hear the stories behind each of the paintings and something definitely worth driving to see. What a great asset for Scott City! Anyway, we had a nice quick visit and then it was back home for a busy week. Coop was a little under the weather on Sunday and as usual we were not sure what was going on with him. His color was awful and his eyes were just as bad. However, today he did great and seems fine so I guess we will just take it day by day.

Tomorrow is Raelynn's graduation from Preschool. I cannot believe how she is growing up! We have so many special surprises ready for her and her teachers tomorrow, I am very excited. Nothing makes me happier than to celebrate her, it is sure to be a great day!

Oh boy.......Coop is standing next to me......guess it might be a long night......better get him back to bed.........sure don't mind a little extra snuggle time though :)

WE ARE NOT POTTY TRAINING............

We have been told not to work on potty training with Coop until after his surgery in June and we have followed these instructions. However, Cooper will often tell me he has to go potty so of course I sit him on the toilet as to not discourage him but we do not actively work on potty training. Tonight, as almost every night, Coop told me he had to go potty before he got in his bath. Tonight though he wanted to take off his pants and diapers by him self. So I let him and then sat him on the toilet. We were just chatting along when all of sudden he did it, HE POTTIED IN THE TOILET! He was so surprised and I was too. I started to cheer for him and Raelynn came running. As soon as she realized what he had done she started the high fives and ran to get him an M&M (I rewarded her with M&M's when we were potty training her). Cooper just sat there with this adorable grin on his face. Oh the excitement!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.......

Do I really need to say any more about how my Mother's Day went? My morning began with my sweet baby boy being laid down beside me in bed to snuggle why I was allowed to "sleep in". Next I was served breakfast in bed by my amazing husband and perfectly wonderful daughter. The cheerios were delicious! The rest of the day I did very little, it was great! To my Mom~thank you for giving me the eyes to see what I have and the heart to love them more and more each day! Happy Mother's Day Mom! I am so fortunate to have received the opportunity to be a Mother and without you I would not have learned how to love someone else so unconditionally as I do my children and as you do me. Thank you!

Besides a wonderful Mother's Day we also had a fun Saturday. The kids and I visited the Monarch open house on West Campus. It was very interesting and fun. I found out that my daughter knows more about the development of a butterfly than I do! The kids were able to hold caterpillars and watch Monarch butterflies. Raelynn even got to talk to an expert in Texas on a live chat on the computer. She sat and asked her questions and even explained a few things to her about the crystallises in case she did not know. :) Raelynn even convinced me to purchase plants to start our own butterfly garden. We had a great time other than Coop getting freaked out when a caterpillar ran up his arm and he threw it across the room. I was very apologetic but the lady that had given him the caterpillar without me knowing it was equally apologetic. After that adventure we headed out to the Sertoma BBQ to do a little Farmers promoting. That even turned out to be a lot of fun for the kids as Raelynn joined me at the park and Coop hung out with Terry at the store. After all that it was home for naps, playing and cleaning!


Another perfect weekend!

ALL ABOUT COOPER.............

I have been saying that Coop's vocabulary is growing and growing but this morning I realized it was not just his vocabulary. We were leaving the house and Coop ran out to the car. As he got to the car door he says, "I get in alllll by myself". I agreed and opened the door. He spent a few seconds trying desperately to climb in and finally turned to me and said, "O tay, you help just a wittle bit." I wish you could hear him because his voice is so cute and he has a little accent to go along with it. Then we were headed to Mary Beth's and Coop had his baby in the back with him. Coop started to kind of cry or wine and I asked what was wrong. He said, "my baby tick (sick)". I said "oh no what is wrong with him?" "It his heart" Coop replied. I asked what was wrong with his heart and Coop said, "don't work wight (right)" I said "I am sorry can they fix it" Coop says, "they fix it soon". It really caught me by surprise and made me wonder if he can really know that he is about to have surgery. Cooper also now tells me how his day was and little things that happen. It is so amazing to watch him develop. I think you could have a dozen kids and these developments would continue to be as unique and amazing as the first! As I put him to bed tonight he asked me to lie down with him. I remember laying with Raelynn every night and talking and giggling until her yawns became closer together and it would be time for one last kiss good night. Now it was Cooper who lay there giggling and yawning and when I gave him that one last kiss goodnight I could not help but smile and thank God for the magic! Who needs Mother's Day, every day is our day!

THE ANNUAL ART SHOW....NIGHT OF SURPRISES.....

Tonight was the FPC Preschool Annual Art Show. This is when we as parents get to go to the preschool and see all the artwork they have been working on all year. It is so much fun to see. This year they had a book fair there as well which was a nice but costly surprise. Now it is not only Raelynn that loves books but Coop too. Of course we left with multiple books and a princess poster, yipee! They also have a canvas painting each year that Raelynn's entire class paints. They have a silent auction for these paintings. Last year Terry and I ended up with the class painting and we were hoping to again this year. I love getting these and then putting them up in Raelynn's room. She loves them as well. This year the bidders were a little more aggressive. I do believe there reaches a point that my competitiveness out ways my desire for the painting which is not good on the pocket book. Anyway, I was waiting in line to purchase the kids books and sent Terry over to check if anyone had out bid me which they had. I asked him to go back over and bid $2 higher but then I was done. I also let him know that he had to split the cost with me :). I finished buying the books and headed over to check out the bids. SURPRISE! Terry didn't want to mess around and overbid them by another $10! Well we did end up with the painting which is great but then I always feel bad that the other family didn't. I tried to go find them to make sure they were ok with us getting it but they had already left. So I guess we have another painting, saved the other family a chunk of change :) and made our daughter happy. Besides enjoying the art show we also love seeing the other parents and teachers who have become friends in the past few years. Raelynn also loved being with her friends who are just as silly as she is.
After the Art Show we decided to stop by DQ for some ice cream. We had not done this since last summer. We were sitting there eating when I look up and see our old neighbor from when we lived in our town home 6 years ago. They had moved from Lawrence several years ago and are now in Baton Rouge. It was such a wonderful surprise. When we were neighbors they had one little girl and now have 2 beautiful girls and 1 adorable boy. Aaron and Sarah were awesome neighbors and just good people. It was so great to see her and catch up a little. It is always good to see old friends and reminds me of all the great people we have encountered over the years! So it was another late night but so much fun!

On a side note.....I am pretty sure Coop's fall on Tuesday knocked something loose. The boy is a maniac. He is running around with more energy than I have every seen him with. I am beginning to fear how much energy he may have once his heart is working right. Seriously the boy is CRAZY!

TUESDAYS.....................

Well Cooper is once again keeping us on our toes and of course that combined with the fact that it was Tuesday can only mean one thing, trouble. You see Tuesdays are Terry's golf days. He plays on a league and even when the league is not going on Terry tries to play on Tuesday afternoons. In the past couple years there have been multiple incidents on Tuesdays while Terry is trying to play golf. Poho (our dog) got his jaw caught on his kennel door and couldn't get it free, I went into labor with Cooper, Terry's Mom passed away, there was another incident when Coop had to be taken to CMH,and then there was yesterday. We had stopped to visit friends after work. We were all in the backyard playing. Cooper had climbed up a ladder to the slide. My friend thought he was safely at the top and turned away when Cooper fell. She grabbed him up quickly. I ran over to him and was attempting to take him from her when his back arched, his arms locked out and his eyes rolled back. He did not appear to be breathing. Just as fast as it happened it went away lasting about 3 to 5 seconds. As soon as it started I grabbed him and ran to their table asking my friend to call 911. By the time I got to the table he seemed better. I talked to him, asked him to give me five, had him walk...all seemed to be fine. It was terrifying to see but he recovered so quickly we had no idea what happened. I called CMH to see what they thought and they advised us to bring him over to the CMH ER. So there we were again interrupting Terry's Tuesday golf outing. We headed over right away and Terry was meeting us over there. We ran by the house to grab milk and diapers before leaving. While I was getting the milk and diapers for Cooper, Raelynn packed she and I drinks, string cheese and bananas. She put it all in her back pack and I did not even know what she had done until we were on the road to CMH and she asked me if I was thirsty or would like a banana. When she told me she had packed drinks and snacks for us I remembered how strong she was. In such a scary hectic situation she remained not only calm but also responsible and yes, she is still only 4. So I gave her yet another job as we drove to the hospital, "watch your brother, let me know if he looks or acts strange and don't let him go to sleep". We got to CMH and walked into the ER. YIKES! It was packed and scary. I considered turning right around and leaving because the thought of sitting in there with so many visibly sick people when our job is to keep Coop healthy was more than I could take. Fortunately I decided to take another route and just told the check in nurse that Coop had serious cardiac issues and scheduled for surgery in a month. They moved us quickly to a private room. This is why I love CMH! Cooper was examined by multiple doctors and they decided that it was a Breath Holding Spell (BHS). I googled it tonight and the information I read made it seem very likely. If interested you can cut and past this link and it describes the issue and causes.

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Breath+holding+spell

Anyway it was very scary and we had to watch him closely but he is fine and had a rambunctious day as usual. Once again just a little reminder of how precious his little life is and how much we have to cherish every second. So after a long evening and little sleep the alarms all went off way too early this morning. Surprisingly the kids did great. Raelynn even requested a special hair do and we were out the door early.

Tonight was suppose to be my golf night but with all the craziness last night and stuff going on every night from now until Sunday, I decided getting home and having a normal evening together was a little more important. Cooper had food play with Molly tonight too. The food play has helped Coop and he has really made big gains in his comfort with different textures of food even if he is not yet really eating. The yogurt continues to be a constant though and we now are putting various things in it to get him to chew and eat. He really likes Molly as she has been working with him since he was about 6 or 7 months old. Raelynn also has greatly enjoyed our time with Molly and loves food play!



Do I dare say, I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

A SLEEP OVER AND SITTER ALL IN ONE WEEKEND.......

We had our first sleep over this weekend and it went great! Raelynn was set on having friends over to spend the night. Her idea was to have every little girl she knew over but I limited it to 2. They had a wonderful time playing dress up and putting on make up, lots of outside time, making pizzas and just being crazy. Other than one little girl scaring the other two to death insisting that ghosts are real and that they are invisible and all around us, things went great. One of the girls said to Raelynn that she could spend the night with her next. Raelynn responded, "No I can't, my Mom isn't ready for that. You can stay with me anytime though!" That girl knows me way to well. She went on to tell her friend about last summer when she went to Grandma's house with Aunt Steph and that Mom cried all weekend. She finished her story by saying, "she'll be ok when I get a little bigger." Well I guess you can tell who the mature one is in our house! Anyway, I guess at least she knows not to ask to spend the night with anyone anytime soon, hahaha! So we went from sleep over on Friday to babysitter on Saturday. Well I guess I should clarify a "night care person". Raelynn did not like me saying babysitter because she is not a baby but we couldn't call them a daycare person because it was night time so she came up with "night care person." Terry and I have never had a real "night care person". We have had friends watch the kids a couple times but in 5 years never a real "night care person", but circumstances lead us to it this time. I had received great reviews of Raelynn's soccer coach as a "night care person" so I had called her and she was excited to do it. The kids had an amazingly great time. During the evening I received a text with this picture. They had made crowns.

I loved her as well. When we got home their dinner dishes were done and the house was spotless just as it was when we left. That is big brownie points! It was a great relief to know that she is available, responsible and so sweet if we need her again! Sunday was our day to recover. We went to church but that was about it. We played outside, made cookies and rested.....just what a Sunday should be.

Then Monday morning back to work/school/daycare we went. Terry had to open the store again so the kids and I were on our own. They did fabulously for a Monday morning though! Coop had us all laughing because he chose a lizard eye patch to wear which reminded him of the lizard that visited our house a few weeks ago. All Raelynn and I heard all the way to Mary Beth's was lizard this and lizard that. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds and when he says "L's" his tongue comes out of his mouth like a frog catching a fly and you cannot help but laugh! Coop had them laughing at Mary Beth's too. I guess when they got him up from his nap he had took his socks off and put them on his hands and slept that way! He is a comedian even when it is just him he is entertaining! So on to the rest of our week.....can't wait to see what is in store for us!