Christmas Day 2012

After breakfast Christmas morning, we headed to my mom's house to get ready for Christmas with that side of the family.

Cooper was able to open one gift before everyone arrived. Pops picked this out and I know they were very excited to give it to Cooper.

Pops gave Cooper a quick lesson on how to drive the Gator and he took off.

Finally, the family started to arrive. We made a quick attempt to catch some photos of the kids together.

After eating a late lunch, we moved to the game room so that the kids could open their gifts. Chaos ensued. At one point, Cooper got up and walked away halfway through opening gifts. When I asked where he was going, he said "I need a drink!" I feel like he may have heard those words before.

I also got the biggest laugh when he opened the gift from Adalynn. Bridget had enclosed his new Batmobile in a Pampers box. He took one look at it, set it aside confused and said "This is baby diapers." Once I opened the box, he was thrilled with the Batmobile.

There was a final attempt to take a photo of all of the kids together, but they were all more interested in moving and playing with their new toys.

I think this photo confirms that Cooper & Adalynn are cousins!

The adults held a White Elephant gift exchange and things started to wind down. Once the house was quiet, we sat down with the family to exchange gifts.

Cooper was given another Aggie football uniform to keep at Nana's house and started stripping as soon as it was out of the box. He asked to sleep in the uniform, but Lin told him he would mess up the shoulder pads or something equally crafty.

Jason had the responsibility of opening Peanut Butter's stocking and confirmed that everyone will be treating her like a princess.

I always enjoy Christmas with my family. This year was especially nice with so many new babies. I can't wait until they are older and hope that they are thick as thieves - the way my cousins were growing up. Even though we don't see them often, they all seem to click and pick up where they left off. At least those who are old enough to speak!

Santa Came! 2012

Christmas Eve we sent Cooper to bed around 9:30. He stayed up a bit late watching a movie before heading up. We made sure he was deep asleep before we started playing Santa. Both Jason & I were equally nervous that we would be caught assembling gifts and Santa would be ruined forever. Thankfully, we had no visitor and managed to crawl in bed at a decent hour.

Only to be woken up at 5am by a very excited three year old. Cooper came into our room and exclaimed "Mom, I saw a bigger garbage truck by the tree!" Being the stellar tired parents we were, we said that was great and told him to get in bed with us. After tossing and turning, I woke up later to realize what it will be like to sleep sandwiched between two children.

We all finally got out of bed and headed to the living room. Cooper had been very specific with his Santa requests - a garbage truck, a bigger choo-choo train and something for Peanut Butter's stocking.

After checking out the toys under the tree, we all emptied our stockings.

Cooper was quite excited with his new Avengers tattoos, his "springy" and the whoopee cushion. He also thinks Peanut Butter will love her pink baby doll.

The rest of the morning was spent playing with his new toys while we packed up to head out for the day.

Not surprisingly, Cooper wanted to take almost all of his new toys to Pops & Nana's house. We compromised on the garbage truck and hit the road.

Christmas Eve

Jason & I decided to stay in Houston this year for Christmas Eve. We knew Cooper would "get it" when it came to Santa and wanted to be in our house that morning. We started Christmas Eve at church. Cooper has gotten very acquainted with Sunday School and wasn't as on board with sitting through church for an hour. With quite a few snacks and crayons, we managed. Once we made it back home, we cooked and ate dinner together.

Finally, the time Cooper had been waiting for arrived. We started by letting him open his gifts first.

He started with most of the smaller gifts - a Wii game, some clothes, a puzzle book & books for his Tag reader. Then he moved on to the bigger gifts.

We definately got the biggest reaction from the race track & basketball goals. He wanted to open both right away and play with them.

We had a great Christmas Eve as a family of 3 for the last time.

Houston Zoo Lights

This year the Houston Zoo was decorated with thousands of Christmas lights. They stayed open late daily and we decided to make a trip to check it out a few weeks ago. Cooper has been 1000% about Christmas this year, so I hoped he'd really enjoy it.

He & I picked Jason up from work and we headed to the zoo. It happened to be pretty chilly that night, which added to the whole experience. I'd prepped Cooper that most of the animals would be asleep so he wasn't too bummed.

He & Jason to a quick tour through the reptile house while I waited outside. We headed toward the tiger & lion exhibits and really lucked out. The tiger was fairly close to the glass pacing. He was either really angry or really hungry, but that's the best view we've had of the tiger so far!

I'm pretty sure the cold air helped energize Cooper because he was like a wild animal. Every time we saw something new (like above) he took off running. We also stopped at all of our usual favorites.

Cooper is all about jumping off of things right now. He'll climb up, yell "To Infinity & Beyond!" and jump. The scary part is that he doesn't really judge what might be too high and I'm pretty sure he's going to break a leg or something.

We all really liked the psychedelic sheep farm.

After one last stop to see Santa...

and a photo op at the entrance...

we headed home. We were all getting pretty hungry by then. As a side note, I can see myself saving a lot of money one day with PB being a girl. We stopped at Five Guys for burgers and Cooper at the same size hamburger as me. It won't be long before he matches Jason at dinner.

Magic

Everyone always talks about how the Christmas season is so magical. I get it. I mean, the Christmas story is both a miracle and something that brings a little magic. Santa - that man is full of magic.

But I've never really felt that "magical" feeling until this year. I'm really sad that tomorrow is Christmas and it will be over soon. Don't get me wrong, I've always been a little annoyed at the stores putting their decor up mid-October. But this year...I could take another month of this.

Cooper gets it. He gets the excitement and anticipation. He loves watching the shows and singing the songs and reading the books. Today he knows that we'll go to church, open our gifts and go to bed waiting for Santa. He still thinks that when Santa comes, he's bringing snow. Since we're looking at a 70% chance of rain, he'll just have to settle with melted snow.

I've enjoyed singing songs with him every day in the car. Some of my favorites include:

Frosty the Snowman, had a wonderwul day
and
On the 12th day of Christmas, I wanna give to me...FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!!!!

Last night we left a place and the door greeter told him he needed to be good because Santa was coming. Cooper turned around and replied, very serious, Santa Claus is coming to town.

We've watched the Grinch, Mickey's Christmas (100 times), and a few others. I missed recording some of my old favorites to share...maybe next year. I've also seen Mickey Saves Santa 1000 times. Dear Disney Junior: make a new Christmas Mickey episode, please.

We've had a lot of fun Elf. Cooper doesn't quite get the whole idea, but he knows Elf goes to see Santa & that if he touches him, he's in trouble. We had a mishap Friday, though. Elf was placed on a towel rack in the bathroom where Cooper washes his hands. When he went to dry them, he accidentally (maybe?) knocked Elf down. I caught him putting Elf back. He never really got upset - until we told him that his magic was gone and Elf might not be able to go back to see Santa. Then we added that if that happens, he won't get anything from Santa. I sat down with him and we wrote Santa a letter apologizing for the accident.

After that, the night went downhill quickly. Cooper didn't want to listen, didn't want to eat, and started in with the 3 year old attitude. Plus, he begged to watch a Christmas movie. After saying no 15 times, I finally agreed - with the stipulation that I got to pick the movie. White Christmas. Surprisingly, he stayed up for the whole thing.

The next day, a letter arrived in the mail from Santa with a packet of Magic Dust that we promptly sprinkled on Elf. Thankfully we were also very close to Christmas so I don't have to worry about Cooper having any more accidents. Elf has since been perched very high & out of reach.

I can't express how much I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Cooper has been adamant about what he wanted from Santa. I can't wait to hear him come down the stairs and see his reaction. He also has that great belief that Santa will fill all of the stockings - mine, Jason's & Peanut Butter's.

I really am going to miss the past few months. I enjoyed Halloween and as soon as that was over, Cooper was ready for Christmas Day. I'm refusing to acknowledge that it is over until after next weekend. Maybe even the weekend after that, if we're being honest. Then I'll reluctantly take down my tree, rearrange the house, and admit that I have to start shopping for crib bedding. But I'll also look back at the photos and videos and remember his excitement. Pure childhood joy - that's really the best gift.

It's a...

Last week we had our "big ultrasound" appointment. We decided ahead of time to take Cooper to the appointment. I wasn't sure if he'd get it, but I knew it would be the only time I'd be able to share that with a sibling. The three of us headed into the Med Center and waited. And waited. And waited.

I'll use that to comment that I am glad this will be my last pregnancy. The wait times this go round have been atrocious and I reached my annoyance limit last week. My 10:30 appointment at the imaging center finally happened around 11:40 and I finally got out about 12:15. Meaning I was also about 45 minutes behind for the actual appointment to see the doctor. Which isn't terrible unless you have a 3 year old tagging along.

I finally headed back and the tech took lots of measurements, making sure everything looked good. Finally she went to the lobby to grab the boys.

Cooper was very concerned as to where my clothes were, first. Then he started watching the screen to see baby Peanut Butter. Finally we saw what we came to see - a girl. I was shocked, Jason was a little less shocked and Cooper seemed to have known all along.

The doctor came in & took a look for himself at PB and confirmed that everything looks healthy. We tried for a few of the 3D photos, but I think she was done by that time and wouldn't cooperate.

The first photo is a side facial shot, second one is what looks like another long leg (if she's like Cooper) and the bottom are her feet. Cooper's been pleased with the result, though part of me wishes I could have seen what he would say if it was a boy. I'm not sure he'd be sad about it - so maybe he's indifferent all together. He has looked at the photos several times and took two up to his room to keep.

I'll admit it took almost all day for the shock to wear off. I always thought I'd just have boys. Dirty, smelly, snotty, rough boys. I'm not a pink hairbow & tutu kind of girl, but I do.not.like.dirt. So, I always assumed I would just have to live with the dirt and enjoy the fact that boys are good walking out of the house in a shirt & shorts that don't match and may have yesterdays ketchup on the front. I've learned to love it so far! Girly things...that's a whole new ballgame. A pink one.

Now that I'm past the shock, I find myself looking forward to things like tea parties. Taking her & Adalynn to the Nutcraker when they're older. Playing with all of the other girls being born lately and being fast friends. Like their moms.

Three Year Check-Up

We took Cooper to the pediatrician yesterday for his 3 year visit. Neither of us were surprised to see his weight & height are still off the charts.

Weight: 41.5 lbs
Height: 41.5 inches

Does that make him symmetrical?

For the first time, we had to do the vision test. Cooper was a little confused at having to wear the glasses & kept saying they were broken and that he didn't need them. Once we convinced him that was part of the "game" he went with it & did fine.

The doctor came in and looked him over - noting that his vocabulary is pretty good. I mentioned that he asks a LOT of questions and that's always a good sign. He's doing very well with everything according to the milestones. The rest of his check-up went great and the bonus was that we did not need any shots!

Here are few things Cooper has done recently that crack us up.

The day before his birthday party, we sat out a few gifts from us & his aunts that were wrapped. He took one look at them and said "Mom! Santa came!"

We bought into the Elf on the Shelf idea and Cooper has the funniest pair of Elf pajamas from his Aunt Carla. One evening after putting them on, he ran downstairs because he needed to tell Elf that he looked like him.

I can't imagine him being more excited for Christmas than he his this year. Every day he asks if it is Christmas Day and if we can open presents. He loves to listen to the Christmas music and watch any Christmas movie. As soon as we get in the car, he starts singing along. Even if the songs aren't playing!

We've been talking about the Christmas Story quite a bit and Cooper thinks Baby Jesus's parents are Jophes and Married. I tried correcting him, but it really is just too funny and cute.

Santa visited the daycare earlier this month. Cooper isn't a fan of anyone in costume - especially characters like the Easter Bunny or Woody from Toy Story who visited a restaurant earlier this year. I pumped up Santa hoping he'd be past his fear and we talked about how he could tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Everything was going well until Jason mentioned he would need to sit on Santa's lap. He got very serious and said "No. That man is scary." We explained that if you don't, you won't be able to tell him what you want for Christmas. Cooper responded with "I don't want nofing." The next morning I told him he could stand beside Santa. This was the result.

I'm pretty sure the candy cane was the only thing that got him close to that scary man.

Happy Birthday, Cooper!

Since we were fortunate enough to move into a larger house earlier this year, I knew I wanted to take advantage and have Cooper's birthday party at home complete with Christmas decorations. We decided on a Polar Express theme and chose a morning time. I really hoped this would be the year we'd have cold weather and could enjoy coffee & hot cocoa...but we ended up with a nice, mild 80 degree day. Like the last three years!

We served breakfast food & cupcakes while the kids played outside, thankfully. They all had a great time playing together and our swing set got a good workout.

Uncle Z was great and played catch upon request.

We finally stopped to sing happy birthday and let the kids eat cupcakes.

Before everyone arrived, Nana & Pops surprised Cooper with a new bike. He was so excited and spent a good half hour driving circles in the backyard.

Once things quieted down we let Cooper open his Happy Birthday Presents. He'd only been begging for hours. This age is so funny because he would open one, want to play with it and forget about the rest.

I love this age and loved seeing him so excited about everything. He would gasp and cry out with pure joy. I can't wait until Christmas morning!