The Royal Wedding....Yeah I know!!!!!

I admit it.........I was/am obsessed with the Royal wedding. I don't know why either. This past month I have recorded everything that had anything to do with the wedding. I have watched things on their past, dating life, predictions about the wedding, past royal weddings, etc. You name it and I watched it. I don't know if it was the little girl dream of being a princess that surfaced or what it was. It crazy because all of the money in the world wouldn't be able to buy you the kind of life, fame, attention, and just everything that the royal family has. I have a fascination with the Royal family, their lifestyle, the history, and just everything about them is intriguing. I want to understand all the titles and meanings though because it is all a bit confusing. Kate is one of the most classy stylish people. I wish I could be as athletic yet classy as she is. It doesn't matter what she is wearing she always looks good. I recorded the Royal wedding on two different channels just to make sure I didn't miss a thing. But it didn't stop there. I recorded all of the after shows, the Lifetime movies, really EVERYTHING!!!

Today was the day I have been looking forward to for the past month. I didn't get up and watch it at 4 am though. I probably would have if I didn't have a baby that still wakes up in the middle of the night to eat. I couldn't wait to see her dress, the hats, the kiss, cars, crowds, ceremony, the new titles, and just how everyone looked. Watching the wedding made me wish I lived in England and could pass off wearing hats like that. I could go on about everything but I won't. It is just fascinating everything that went into the wedding and how amazing every detail was. I couldn't help but be a little jealous of Catherine. She is going to live such an amazing lavish life. But I wouldn't trade Brad and Cooper for any of that. I am a little glad it is over so I can stop obsessing. I will be watching and looking forward to hearing when they start having babies and what not. I know I sound like a crazy person. Brad can't believe how obsessed I have been!

No More Baby Seat

Cooper has finally been moved to his big boy car seat. I figured it was probably time. His pediatrician assumed he was already in it at his 9 month check up so I got the feeling that maybe we should move him to the new car seat. His baby car seat goes up to 22 pounds and 29 inches so he still fit in it perfectly fine, but he is getting heavy and is practically at 29 inches. We have had this next car seat since before he was born but he has loved napping in the baby car seat and it was just easier when we were out shopping and he was tired. Today was the first time using the new car seat. I was very hesitant on how Cooper would like it, but he LOVED it! He sits up better and can see a lot more. He looked so big in his baby car seat and now so little in this new car seat. I call him my big baby little boy. I was worried that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep in it as easily as the old car seat. But today he proved me wrong. I hate to admit that my baby is big enough for a big boy car seat :( This new car seat goes from 5-100 pounds and transitions into a booster seat as well. So he will be in this car seat for quite awhile. I am not too excited about the new law on having your kids facing backwards until they are 2 years-old. I was eager to turn him around in the a couple of months, but not anymore. I do have the mirror in the back so I can see him in my rear view mirror and he can see me. It makes him facing backwards tolerable for the both of us. I can't imagine not being able to see that face when I am driving in the car.

EASTER

Easter was a lot of fun this year. It all started with the night before Easter we had some friends over and we dyed Easter eggs. We dyed the eggs how you regularly do them and then we mixed it up a little bit. My friend had read about this idea in a magazine so we tried it. You take crayons and shave tiny pieces of wax off. Then you boil the eggs. Immediately after you boil the egg you put it in the carton and sprinkle the crayon wax on them. The eggs are still so hot that it melts the wax and you get an awesome tie die effect. They turned out pretty cool. It will definitely be a tradition that we will continue to do.

Our little family coloring Easter Eggs

I only did Easter baskets for Cooper and Indiana. With Brad just having had a birthday and with my birthday and Mother's Day coming up, I didn't want to hassell with trying to find other ideas for baskets. Besides the candy is the important part and we get the candy from Cooper's basket. I had found this adorable monkey Easter basket at Hobby Lobby a couple of months ago and I just had to get it. I still call Cooper monkey (he is still completely living up to his nickname) so I had to get him a monkey basket. The only problem was the basket itself didn't hold very much. But that is okay because I had decided what I wanted to get Cooper and it wasn't going to fit into a basket very well anyways. I have been wanting to get him building blocks so I decided to do that for Easter. Iwent to Lakeshore Learning (the most amazing store ever!!!) I went there for teaching. It is a teacher/parent heaven. It has everything from books, to games, puzzles, manipulatives, toys, etc. for children's development and learning. And because they are built for classrooms they are built to last. I am not kidding when I say I could spend thousands at this store. I got him these hard foam building blocks (they don't hurt when they are thrown but they are durable) and this fun musical toy (Dancing Teddy Bear Band). It has a bear that dances, piano keyboard, and plays all different instruments and songs. I also got Cooper some books. I am OBSESSED with books. I want my kids to have a ton so I always am buying them. My mom bought Cooper the softest sheep pillow/blanket. Since none of his stuff fit in the actual Easter basket we filled it will candy. Indiana got some treats and a new toy. They both loved their Easter gifts! But Cooper's favorite had to be his Dancing Teddy Bear Band. Cooper did wake up with a bit of a cold so he was a little grumpy and had a runny nose all day. So he wasn't his happy self but he still enjoyed his toys.

After we opened and played with baskets Brad had to go home teaching. While he was gone I made egg salad sandwiches. Every year when I lived at home, we dyed Easter eggs and then the Easter bunny hid the eggs and we had to find them. After we found them all we made egg salad sandwiches for lunch. I had thought about hiding the eggs but instead I just let Cooper play with them. I will keep with tradition however and hide them for my kids.


After lunch we headed to church (1 pm). It was a busy day at church. I had to say the opening prayer in sacrament. If you know me you know I HATE public speaking or when the attention is drawn to me. Therefore I get terrified even just praying. I had known for about a week that I would be saying it and I was stressing about it the whole time. I did however buy a new Easter dress just for the occasion. I bought this cute yellow dress and wore a blue sweater with it, Cooper wore this yellow and blue button down with a blue sweater vest, and Brad wore a yellow and blue button down with a blue sweater. We looked very festive. I didn't get a picture of us in our outfits (I am so mad!!!) But we are going to be doing family pictures soon and we will be wearing them. To continue with the busy Sunday Brad had to sub in Sunday School and then I had to teach in Young Women. Immediately after church we headed to my grandma's for dinner. It was delicious and it was fun to get the babies (mine, my nephew, and my cousins new baby) all together and see how big they have all gotten.

We had an amazing and busy Easter but it was good to spend time with family and also go to church and remember the true meaning of Easter.

N.I.N.E M.O.N.T.H.S

9 Month Stats:

Weight- 18 lbs 4 oz (20%)
Height-27 3/4 in (40%)
Head-17 3/4 in (50%)

I honestly can't believe that my baby is 9 months old. I can't believe he has gotten so big. He is at such a perfectly cute age. He loves to play. His favorite toys right now are his fire truck, walker, this monkey ball that he can push around and makes monkey noises, Noah's ark and animals that Grandpa Jim made, musical tool set, books, and anything he isn't supposed to have (ex. Indiana's food/water dish, laptop, phones, remotes, pens). But his all time favorite is his ball. He loves to catch, throw, roll, chase, and just hold it. He lights up and gets so excited when he sees it. He really can be entertained with anything you give him though. He LOVES to play with Indiana. He chases him around the house and Indiana reciprocates the love for playing with Cooper. I love that they are buds. He has 4 teeth (5th one is about to appear according to his pediatrician) so he eats everything. He still loves anything you feed him. He loves (just to name a few things) peanut butter sandwiches, grilled cheese, spaghetti, oatmeal, yogurt, oranges, bananas, strawberries, his Gerber puffs (any flavor), cooked veggies, and rice. He is crawling all over the place. Cords are still one of his favorites. He stands on everything and loves going up the stairs. He will even take a few steps with his walker with a little help. He has finally figured out the sippy cup that I introduced at 6 months. He has realized it isn't just a teething toy or something to squeak his teeth on. It doesn't matter if there is juice or water in it either. He has had 2 haircuts. It is amazing he just sits there and lets me do it. Nap times have become a struggle recently. Since he can stand up in the crib, he does and screams because he doesn't want to lay down. He will fall asleep in the car with no problem though. So getting anything accomplished is a challenge. I am hoping he gets over this little phase soon! We started limiting binky time about a month ago. He used to always have it attached to him but now his binky stays in his crib and he has another one he gets in the car seat but only when he's tired or grumpy. When it was attached he was always sticking it in his mouth when he was playing. He hasn't even cared he doesn't have it around the house anyways. Cooper is a mama's boy still but he absolutely LOVES his daddy. When Brad walks in the room he lights up and when he walks away when we are in public Cooper gets worried and makes the saddest face and fusses until Brad comes back. It's so sweet! Cooper is the most wiggly climbing babbling little monkey that I have ever seen!!!

9 Month Stats:
Weight- 18 lbs 4 oz (20%)
Height-27 3/4 in (40%)
Head-17 3/4 in (50%)

THE FAVS!!!

Standing Everywhere

Now that Cooper can pull himself up to stand, he refuses to do anything but stand up at things. He has kind of figured out how to get back down which is really just him falling. Because he is trying to figure it out still, he has many accidents where he falls and hits his head or gets scared so he cries. It breaks my heart when he hurts himself but I know he has to learn how to figure these kinds of things out. I mentioned earlier how I had a hard time moving his mattress down because I loved going in and having him standing to greet me. Well he has figured out how to stand again with the mattress lower. He's still little so he has to reach his hands and stretch but he gets up and stands there. I love it! Seeing his cute little face peeking over the top of the crib is the best! Here are some examples of where he insists on standing.

Had to watch the bath tub fill with water
(Probably my new all time favorite pic)

Always standing at the kitchen chairs

Brad was making cookies and he stood up to look at what was inside
and found himself. He kept kissing his reflection.

Bath time is more of a process but also more fun at the same time. He is constantly standing up and grabbing at the faucet or just standing and giggling. The many faces of Cooper.

Can't Turn Our Backs

Tonight we bought a new gate for the stairs. We have had one upstairs since Cooper was born because I didn't want Indiana running down in the middle of the night and think he could go outside to go potty when I got up to feed Cooper. But in the past couple of days Cooper has started to show interest in the stairs. Since he can stand up he is standing up on everything and the stairs are no exception. Yesterday was the first time he managed to get up any stairs. He only made it up one and then stood there and didn't know what to do.


Then tonight while we were reading the directions and getting ready to start putting up the gate downstairs we heard something on the stairs. Brad says "Did Cooper go up the stairs?" Sure enough he was up the first flight of stairs all the way to the landing. Great parents I know, but honestly he zoomed up them in seconds. Here is a video of how fast he is already....note this is only the 2nd time for him going up stairs.

Crib or cage???

This morning I go in to get Cooper and this is what I find.....

Visit to the Easter Bunny

Yesterday I took Cooper to see the Easter Bunny. I never got around to taking Cooper to see Santa and I have regretted it ever since. So I wasn't going to miss my chance to see the Easter bunny. I was worried how he would act because sometimes he gets shy and scared of new people. But Cooper LOVED the Easter bunny. He was so excited. I think he thought he was just a huge stuffed animal, and Coop loves stuffed animals. He was touching his hair, hugging him and trying to give him kisses. It was so adorable! We didn't catch a smile in the picture, which is too bad since he has his little bunny front teeth :) But you can see him gripping his fists and making the face when he is really excited about something.

Walk to the Park

A couple of days ago my friend Amy and I took the babies on a walk to the park. There are a ton of parks all over in the neighborhoods where I live. It will be a lot of fun when Cooper gets a little older and can actually play on the parks. Cooper loves when we go on walks out with our jog stroller. This particular day Cooper hadn't napped really well so I was sure he would fall asleep on our walk. I was wrong. He is very much like his daddy in the fact that if something is going on he wants to stay awake to take it all in. This makes it hard because it is impossible to get him to sleep in public. He will only fall asleep in his crib or in his car seat. This means that we have to lug around the car seat whenever he is going to be needing a nap (ex. at church). When we got to the park and he was still awake I thought we would swing and go down the slide. Cooper was taking it all in. When he gets really tired, like he was this day, he gets very mellow and quite. He loved swinging. He totally relaxed and just laid on me and looked at everything going on around us. I will have to take him again when he is a little more awake and can get excited about it.

Ward Talent Show :)

Our ward had its annual ward talent show tonight. The bishop had asked each auxiliary to participate in the talent show. **The Young Men and Primary however got out of it somehow** Therefore since I am in the Young Women I was volunteered to participate. Last year we had to participate and it was just embarrassing being up there. So this year we came up with a fantastic plan where we wouldn't be recognized during our performance. This took lots of planning and practicing but it was fun to put together. We kept it a total secret and NO ONE knew what we were going to be doing. I even managed to keep Brad in the dark and he had no idea what we had planned. I was really excited and hoped that it would come together and be a success. Brad recorded the performance so ENJOY!!! I hear it looked lots better in person but oh well.

p.s. I am the retard on the left who messed up right in the beginning.

I Can Use These Teeth to My Advantage???

Well now that Cooper has his 2 bottom and 2 top teeth he has discovered biting. The other night when I was burping him before bed he bit my shoulder and made me bleed. But even when he's not biting he loves having stuff in his mouth and chewing on it. It doesn't matter if it's a toy, blanket, or his binky. He will bite/chew anything that he can get his little mouth on. He puts toys in his mouth and then crawls around with them. I need to catch some pictures of him doing this still. He does like giving kisses but he goes in for those with his mouth open just the same as when he's getting ready to bite. Before we moved his mattress down he had put bite marks and scratched the paint with his little teeth off his crib where his mouth was when he was standing. Side note: I had a really hard time when we moved the mattress down. I LOVED going in to see him standing there smiling ready for me to get him after his naps. I have a hard time adjusting with the fact that he's getting bigger :(

Well the other day I look over and he's standing at one of the kitchen chairs. And of course he's biting it and rubbing his little teeth into. I had to stop and laugh. Once I caught him he just found it funny and kept doing it then looking at me to make sure I was still watching. Then he would go back to biting the chair. I like that he's leaving his mark around the house. Then when I look back I can remember the funny things he used to do when he was little.

I'm Coming

Every time I get on the ground this is what happens.
He zooms right over and gets so excited! I love it!

March Ensign Highlights

I completed my ward's Relief Society challenge again this month. I get such a feeling of accomplishment when I finish an issue of the Ensign. It is a spiritual boost that I enjoy gaining. I feel as if each issue has a few articles that deal with something that I have been thinking about or needing help with. When I flip back threw the pages to find some highlights I feel like I have highlighted almost the entire Ensign. It really is hard to find just a few items that I want to share. So bare with me if there is a lot that I am quoting or sharing.

Looking For The Good

by: President Uchtdorf

This was the first article in the magazine. As you can tell they start right off with amazing teachings. Here President Uchtdorf says "Those who look for the good will find a kind and compassionate people-a people who love the Lord and desire to serve Him and bless the lives of their fellowman. But it is also true that those who look for the bad will certainly find things that are not so ideal." This is something that I feel I need help with. Sometimes I am so critical and judgmental of people and don't really give them a chance. I jump to conclusions and it's hard to sway my thinking after that. I don't take the time of getting to know who they really are, I kind of just make assumptions from my first impressions. Next he says "The word of God admonishes the followers of Christ to be pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." I need to work better on not being such a hypocrite and show more mercy. I judge people on situations that I haven't had to deal with and assume that I would handle a situation differently. We all have the choice of seeing the good or bad in others. I need to remember to give others the benefit of the doubt that I would want from them. I'm not perfect by any means so I need to not expect everyone else to be.

Teaching the Doctrine of the Family
by: Julie B. Beck

There was a ton in this article that I loved. My focus in life seems to be on my family since I have had Cooper. I want our family to do the things we should and be prepared to teach Cooper and our other children the things we should about life and the gospel. We need to get prepared now and start habits that we want our children to have. This article states "Without the family, there is no plan: there is no reason for mortal life." I really take this to heart. I feel like everything I am doing now is for my little family. My goals and actions are really centered on my family and future children. I truly feel that my path in life was to be a mom. Yes, I got my college degree but I didn't do it for myself or for a career goal. I did it so I have something to fall back on and to be able to support my family incase anything every happened to Brad and also to show my kids how important education is. I didn't want to give them an excuse to not go to college. I know that college isn't for everyone but I wanted to be the best example I knew how for my children.

Raising children is not going to be easy. Especially if I want to teach them the gospel and show them how to be the kind of person the Lord wants. As Sister Beck says "Bearing children is a faith based work." I know that I am going to need help teaching my children and there is great comfort knowing that I can turn to the Lord for guidance. A part of this is teaching my children the true doctrine of the family. In order to do this we need to "Live in our homes, in our families, in our marriages so that youth will develop hope for eternal life from watching you." I know this is important for my own children to see but also for the youth in my ward. Serving in the Young Women has given me a new perspective on how the life I live is being seen. Every action or word spoken needs to show my own children as well as my Young Women that I believe in this gospel and eternal families. I know that I can't be perfect all the time and it gets really overwhelming when I think about all the things I could/should be doing better. It really helps to remember what Sister Beck says "Think in terms of precision not perfection." I need to work on one thing at a time and be precise with that habit before I move on to something new. We aren't expected to be perfect but we are to strive to be the best possible.

We hear all the time about how much harder the world has gotten and is still getting. We see all these things happening around us and it is really scary. It scares me for my own children and thinking about how the world is going to look when they are older. "This generation will be called upon to defend the doctrine of the family as never before. If they don't know it, they can't defend it." That is why it is so important for me to show my children how an eternal family can look and should act. I want them to know they are supported and loved. "The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us."

There is so much more from this article that I could share. But instead I would encourage you to read them yourself!

Where's Coop???

The other day I was sitting at the kitchen table and couldn't find Cooper. I turned around and this is what I found. I guess his nickname (one of many)- Coop Dog- actually fits. He didn't want to come out. He just laid in there and opened and shut the door with his feet and was completely content.

The Big 29

Last Wednesday, March 30th, was Brad's 29th birthday. I like to tease him that he's getting "old" but I like that he's older than me. I love that he's further along in his career and because of that can provide for us and allow me to be a stay at home mom, own our house, have reliable cars to drive, and really have money to do or get anything we need and usually want. I am so lucky that I have been able to spend the majority of his 20's with him (22-29). It has been amazing to see him grow as a person as well as in our relationship. I have been able to see him become an amazing husband and even more of an amazing daddy. Cooper absolutely loves his daddy. I love watching him light up every day when Brad get's home from work or walks into the room. Brad really isn't the "normal" husband. He loves to cook (even more so bake), enjoys shopping, helps with dishes, cleaning, laundry, with Cooper, and really anything that I need. I sometimes feel like I need to tell him to stop helping because he's been at work all day and once he's home needs to relax. But I love and I am so blessed that he's willing to help out with everything.




Brad and I have an issue with being able to keep presents a secret until the occasion. Because of this we always end up getting our presents before our birthdays or whatever they are for. I got Brad a 2tb external portable hard drive, but he got it at the beginning of March. I hated him not having anything to open on his birthday so I went and got him some more practical things that he's been talking about (but still opened them the night before his birthday). He got some work out equipment, 2 pairs of shoes (which he picked out), and a new wallet. The thing that I was most excited about was dinner. I wanted to take him to Last Samurai. It's a Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. It's somewhere different that we haven't been to in awhile and I thought Cooper would enjoy it as well. Because it is more expensive than a normal place, I didn't want to invite a ton of people and make them feel required to come. So it ended up just being Brad, Cooper, me and our friends Danny and Alex. Dinner was a blast. We all enjoyed ourselves and like always the food was DELICIOUS.