the BIG 30

Brad had his "Golden" birthday on Friday, March 30th. He turned the big 30 on the 30th. It is crazy to say that my husband is in his 30's not his 20's. Brad and I are 5 years apart so I like to tease him that he is an old man. I know 30 is not that old! With it being his 30th and "Golden" birthday I wanted to do something big. I had thought about maybe a surprise party at our house. But lets be honest that would not have been easy considering he gets off work at 4. Besides we are always having get together at our house so I wanted something different. I was talking with my friend Codie and she threw out the idea of doing it at Fat Cats (a bowling alley connected to The Pizza Factory). I went home and immediately looked into it and booked his party. I invited a group of friends and my family. It was an ordeal! I wanted to keep it a secret so I was doing secretive e-mails, texts, and phone calls. It felt like I was doing something wrong!

On top of that I wanted to get Brad a new Nixon watch for his birthday. I bought him a Rubber Player Nixon watch a couple of Valentines ago but we think Cooper threw it in the garbage because we haven't been able to find it since before Christmas. I didn't know which watch to get so I had been secretly texting and e-mail Brad's good friend Jason. Too many secrets and sneaking around for me. I honestly couldn't handle it and was sooooooo relieved when the party was over and there were no more secrets.

I ended up getting Brad the gunmetal District and I replaced his Rubber Player. I was happy with my decision. But I couldn't wait until his birthday so he got them at 11:40 the night before his birthday. Only 20 minutes away from his birthday...that still counts right? He was excited and said I chose well! I was really happy with the ones I got.

Then the day of his birthday was his party. Since it was a Friday it worked out perfectly. I planned to have everyone meet at Fat Cats at 5:45 so they could be there when we showed up at 6. We were out at DSW getting Brad new shoes and shopping at Babies R' Us. I said I would drive so after shopping I just headed to Fat Cats without saying anything. Obviously he knew something was up just didn't know what exactly. After the fact he had said he thought I had planned something just wasn't sure. Well as to be expected barely anyone was there at 5:45 (only my dad and sister were there) and even by 6 for that matter. So I just decided to go in and get started since I had to do everything anyways with the party planner. He was pleasantly surprised when everyone started showing up. We had a lot of our friends that were able to come. There were some that were missing though!! Thanks to Jason for being our photographer of the night!

Jason and Brad

Here was Cooper enjoying the water fountain and dancing to the music

It was nice because the food and drinks were handled, they took care of balloons and table cloths, the utensils, and plates. The only thing I was responsible for was the cake. I had my friend Amy bring it with her so that Brad wouldn't see it. It made the surprise a lot easier not having to hide supplies around our house.

Yes I know Brad isn't "Over the Hill" but I couldn't resist!

I forgot candles....I know lame! But we still sang.

I forked out quite a bit for Brad's birthday this year. But it was completely worth it. I figured he only turns 30 and has a "Golden" birthday once. We had such a good time bowling and hanging out. Everyone that came has kids so it was really fun. The kids had a blast. It was Cooper's first time bowling and he fell in love! He loved being able to roll the ball down the lane and watch it hit the pins. We got to bowl for 2 hours so we got a good amount of bowling in.

The whole group (minus Jason)

Happy Birthday Brad! I hope it was the best one yet!!!

There was the entry way to The Pizza factory right next
to us that the kids had a blast running around in.

incredibly unusual

I have friends whose babies are constantly falling asleep in crazy places.
It could be in their high chair, shopping carts, in their arms, just laying down on the ground, sitting on the couch, etc.
Cooper has NEVER been one of those babies.
He occasionally falls asleep in his carseat.
Sometimes he will fall asleep while I am rocking him in his room.
But it most definitely is usually always in his crib.
Don't get me wrong I feel blessed that I have a child who can put themselves to sleep.
I just wish he wasn't as picky as to where he sleeps.
He doesn't travel well because he wants to be sleeping in his own crib in his own room.

However the other day after church he must have been exhausted. We were eating lunch and I looked over to this. We just sat there and stared in unbelief!!! This has NEVER happened before EVER!!!!! He even stayed asleep thru me taking the tray and his bib off and wiping his hands and face down. (He was covered in Cheetos.) I was able to take him to his room and he never even woke up. UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING!!!!!

Poison Ivy....graphic pics

I went to the dermatologist a few weeks ago. I have a wart on my toe (I know really gross) that I wanted to get taken care of. My doctor reccommended trying a particular treatment that involves using poison ivy. I guess warts are a virus so in order to treat them they need to shock your immune system. So I guess one way they do this is by putting poison ivy on the wart. But before they do that they want to test a small area on your hip to see how you react. It either won't do anything or may blister up a little. But only on the small area they treated. The original area was about the size a finger nail. It blistered up a tiny bit but was never painful. It completely healed and just had a dry spot when the blister had been. Then over a week after the treatment I woke up to picture 1. I was a little freaked out. I called the office and of course with it being a Friday no one was in. I had to wait it out over the weekend or go to Instacare. I waited it out. It just continued to spread. Initially I could cover the blisters with a large bandaid. By the time Monday came around I coundn't even cover it anymore (pic 2). Of course I called them Monday and they had no available appointments so I couldn't be seen until Tuesday. Apparently I had a severe allergic reaction. My doctor gave me an ointment to apply and it did wonders. After one day of using it it turn to picture 3. It cleared up really quickly. I was happy too because it was painful and itchy and I couldn't carry Cooper around on my hip with it there.

Lesson learned: I am severely allergic to poison ivy so hopefully I never have any close encounters with it!!!

singing in church

Last Sunday at church while we were singing a hymn I looked down to this.

It melted my HEART.
Everyday Cooper does something that melts me.
He is constantly surprising me with the little things he catches on too.
Once he realized I noticed what he was doing, he got the biggest grin.
He was so proud and felt so grown-up.
I wish the song could have lasted longer so I could have continued to soak in this moment.

Cousin Weekend

A couple of weekends ago Brad's brother Rich, his wife Jamie and their little boy Abel came to visit and stayed with us for the weekend.

It was nice having them up and Cooper getting to spend some time with Abel.
Abel is 7 months older than Cooper.
Now that Cooper is a toddler and not a baby it is fun watching them play together.
They played SO WELL together.
They were attached at the hips all weekend.
When we would get into the cars to go somewhere they would freak out. Cooper would be saying "Abel, Abel, Abel" and Abel would be crying for "Coofer".
They were funny.

We spent time just hanging around the house.

We went to the Jump N' Bounce by our house.

Then finished off the weekend at Joe's Crab Shack.

We sat outside so the boys ran around and played the entire time.

We were the only ones sitting outside.

I loved watching Cooper play with a cousin from Brad's side.
None of Brad's family live here so when we get to spend time together it's awesome!

Sick Baby

We have had a sick baby on our hands. I HATE when my baby is sick. It breaks my heart.

It all started last Wednesday at about 10:00 pm. Cooper had gone down like usual but right around when I was going to bed I heard him begin coughing. I just got the feeling we were going to be in for a long night. I HAD NO IDEA however how long it really would be. The coughing finally woke Cooper up at 11:00 and didn't fall asleep again until 4:00 am. He was wide awake for 5 HOURS!!!!!

I got up and gave him medicine and a cup of warm milk. I rocked him and got him to sleep. But the second I tried laying him in his crib he would scream. So I tried bringing him to my bed...no luck. I put him back in his crib and let him cry for about 20 minutes but he wasn't going to be calming down and I didn't want him to make his cough any worse than it already was. So I took him downstairs and watched tv for an hour. I was sure he would fall asleep....nope! I tried going upstairs and rocking him again. He just wanted down. He kept walking in our bedroom and finally got Brad up. We all went downstairs. He had just wanted all of us up together apparently! Brad and I laid on the couch with Indiana but Cooper just wanted to wander around and play. I finally couldn't take it anymore. I took him back upstairs, rocked him a bit, then laid him down. He cried for about 10 minutes and finally fell asleep. He had to have been exhausted!

I was sure he would sleep in....but of course he was up at 7:30. Brad left for work at about 8. I fell asleep on the couch until 9:30. I didn't mean to and panicked when I realized I had fallen asleep. Cooper could have been hurt, made a huge mess, or really anything. But he had just been watching tv and playing with his toys. I was so relieved. Apparently that hour and a 1/2 was enough for me because I was fine the rest of the day.

He did not feel good and insisted on keeping his binky and blanky with him all day. Normally they stay in the crib!

The next night he was only awake for 2 hours.....a huge improvement!!! Luckily he is now almost over the cold and is back to sleeping thru the night.

Listen to that little sick voice!!!

St. Patty's Day 5K

Well I ran/walked my first 5K on St. Patrick's Day. My friend Amy convinced me to do it and I was a little nervous. I have not been running or doing anything to prepare for it. I was going to start running the weeks leading up to it but I had a severe allergic reaction on my hip to a medicine from the doctor (story for another post). So I wasn't able to run or workout. We decided to push the boys. I was happy because if I was walking I didn't look like such a wimp. I really hadn't planned on running very much because I am soooo out of shape.

Since it was St. Patricks day we had to run in something green and the boys needed something too. We found these bright green workout shirts and the boys these little St. Patty's day shirts at Old Navy. They were perfect!

Yes Amy and I were wearing the same Lulu Lemon jacket....and no we didn't plan it!

Well the morning came and it was freezing and really windy! We bundled up and we were ready to go. Luckily Cooper had green rain boots and a green jacket to wear. It said it was supposed to be rainy all morning so I was quite nervous. But it didn't rain at all. Luckily!

Brad and my dad came to support. It was really sweet of them! They drove to the middle of the route so they could cheer us on. It was hilarious. They would get out and take pictures like it was this serious race. Super embarrassing but it is nice having the pictures and knowing they cared enough about me to make fools of themselves :)

Between the wind, having to stop to adjust the boys hats and gloves, give them snacks, Amy's hurt foot (her doctor had told her not to run for 2 weeks but we still did), and the heavy jogging strollers our time wasn't great by any means. But it was quicker then I had thought we would do. My official time was 39:16:9 and I took 14th place in my age group and 160th overall. Definitely not amazing but I wanted to document it!

It is nice saying I have completed a 5k. I am wanting to completely run one in April. Then we are going to do the Race for the Cure in May. Brad said he would do this one with me so we will probably walk it.

Here we are about to cross the finish line.....watch Cooper as we pass!