22 Months Old

22 Month Facts:

• I currently get a running commentary from you all day long. From the time you wake up until you go to bed it's non-stop talking, and I LOVE IT!!! Here is our typical conversation on our way out of the house "out" as we open the door "nana fooo" as we give Nana her breakfast, "cole or hot" (cold or hot depending on the temperature outside) "grah" (grass) "waher" (water, you no longer say "lala" which I miss but your language development is increasing literally by the day) "rock" "throw or eat" (depending on his mood and if we have read his dinosaur book where the dinosaurs eat rocks to digest their food recently) "han" ("yes Cooper you have to hold my hand when we go in the street") "lock" as I unlock the truck, "fireruck" and "blamblam" (fire truck and ambulance, we live right next to the fire station so you get to see them everyday and you're obsessed. As I buckle you in your car seat you say "pooper!" (Cooper, because you have to help me buckle it now). As we drive you tell me everything we see "light, greeee, reh, lellow" (green, red, yellow) and then we talk about what each one means. And the talking continues as we pass places or things you know; "train, choo choo" (the choo choo in a higher voice than train) "eyesh" (ice-cream) as we drive by Farr's, "chickeh" (chicken nuggets by McDonalds, thank you Ryan), and then of course if you see a motorcycle you say "mowtah" or trucks, i'm telling you, you don't stop talking, and it's so fun!!!
• You've started nodding your head in a yes motion while you're asking for something that you want, it's so dang cute and hard to say no to you when you do this, you little stinker, you know your parents too well.
• You have a new favorite food, chili, who would've guessed?! You downed it and asked for more.
• You are getting very good with associations and have become even more observant; for example, when we drive to MaeMee and Boppa's house you say "deeer!" because you saw some a few weeks ago and remember it.and "cree" (creek) because you throw rocks in their creek.
• You love jumping on the tramp you say "jump and boun" (jump and bounce) the second we get out of the truck at MaeMee and Boppa's, we'll have to get one when we get our new house.
• You have also been loving "pahcor" (popcorn) since we got our airpopper you ask for it almost daily, you'll eat it plain and if you're sharing with me butter and salt, yum!
• You started trying to jump with both feet off the ground and have succeeded quite a few times, you still love jumping into pillows on our bed or on the couch.
• You independence has also come with some attitude, you tell me "away!" when you want me out of the room. You've started doing this when you are pooping, you love to be alone to do your business.
• You are finally saying the right colors when I ask you what color something is!!! Everything isn't "greee" anymore, you're such a little smartie pants!
• You are big enough that we flipped your car seat facing forward and you love it! This could be another reason you are such a little chatter box in the car, because there is more to see.
• You love the sandbox that Daddy built for you and the chalkboard wall Momma made for you and will play with them even if it's only 50 degrees outside, sometimes I have to get creative to talk you into coming inside the house.
• You are so fun and we love you more than you can imagine, you are growing up way too fast and we just want to freeze time!!

Girls Trip!!!

 

My bestfriend, Ashton, and I have wanted to do a girls trip for ages now and between kids and traveling hubbys it's been hard to coordinate a time that would work. We finally found a weekend that would work for both of us and decided to take a quick weekend trip to Arizona.

I dropped Coop off with my Dad on my way out of town and had a really hard time, I've never ever left Coop over night. I called Ry after I left crying that I didn't think I could do it. He and my Mom both told me I needed this trip, so I should enjoy it and relax, which I think I did a pretty good job after I got over leaving Cooper. I got to the airport with time to spare, so called to check on Coop a few times, and started reading some books I downloaded. My flight down was completely packed, I had B boarding and still had to sit by people in a full row, we taxied forever on the runway which ended up making my flight about half an hour late, which was okay because so was Ash's.

When I landed I took the shuttle over to the airport rental car area and had the best driver ever, he reminded me of Rafiki from The Lion King. He lifted my bag for me and gave me "VIP seating" and proceeded to talk the entire 20 minute ride over, he gave weather reports, nationality and racial reports, local news report and gave a bit of some tour guide type information, basically our entire shuttle was laughing the whole way over because of our little Rafiki driver. I got our rental car with a bit of a fight, long story short, priceline gave me one price and the car place tripled it, but after a bit of frustration and lots of talking I made them get closer to the price I was originally quoted. I drove back to the airport and picked up Ash and we headed over to the Scottsdale Quarter, an amazing mall, and shopped until our movie started at 6:00PM. It was so great to catch up while we shopped, we went to a few different stores and we found a store called Oil and Vinegar; they had a wall full of different oils and vinegars, literally every flavor you could fathom. We spent no less than an hour tasting different oil and vinegar mixes from all over as we tried to narrow it down and find containers that would be carry on worthy. After we decided on our flavors and the lady bottled them up for us we headed to our movie over at iPic, the most amazing theatre I have ever been to! As we walked to the theatre we called our husbands, Ry was feeding Coop chicken McNuggets and Jade had the girls at McDonalds, we both had to laugh. At the theatre we had huge recliners with a pillow and a blanket, and a great waiter. Popcorn came with our seats and after we polished that off we order some delicious lemon chicken satay with roasted asparagus and ended our movie with a yummy death by chocolate cake, it was SO good. I want all my movie going experiences to be like this from now on. After the movie we headed to Bill's house (Ashton's Mom's new husband) and got settled in for the night.

Friday morning rolled around and I woke up early because I was still on Idaho time and I'm not used to sleeping in, I got up for a while and then decided I should take advantage of trying to sleep in so I went back to bed for a while. After we woke up we headed to downtown Gilbert, a really cute area, and ate breakfast at a place called The Farmhouse, it was pretty good minus that both of our orders were a little messed up, and they burned Ash's waffle and flipped it over thinking she wouldn't notice. When we finished there we headed back to the house for some serious sun soaking, the neighbors had left to Canada for their snowbird flight and so Ash and I had our own private, heated pool. We definitely used an entire bottle of tanning oil between the two of us in two days. The weather was so perfect! After we had had our fill of rays we showered and went to San Tan Village for some serious shopping. It was so nice to shop with not a worry of time, kids' schedules, potty breaks etc. We both found some great things and then decided we were pretty famished from our shopping so we went to an Italian restaurant called Brio. Our bruschetta and dessert were delicious, my meal was mediocre and Ash's was delish. After dinner we found a Redbox after quite a bit of driving, (Siri was confused) and then we headed back to snuggle up and watch it.

Saturday was our last full day together so we made the most of it by heading back over to downtown Gilbert for some breakfast at Liberty Market. Before breakfast we were excited to see that they had a farmer's market going on, so we meandered through it before we grabbed some yummy breakfast and then headed to Usery Mountains for a little hike to the Wind Caves. It was a good little hike but really nothing to see, we counted maybe two desert flowers and a couple lizards. I'm used to Idaho mountains full of lots of trees, water and pretty things to look at, but at least we got a little exercise for all the dessert we enjoyed, right? We descended pretty quick so we could head home and change into our bathing suits and soak up as many last Arizona rays as we could before we went home. After we were satisfied with our sun exposure we showered and got read for our last night together. We decided to go back to Scottdale Quarter, such a fabulous mall, and found a great H&M and did lots more shopping and then enjoyed a delicious dinner at True Food Kitchen. We couldn't end our evening without dessert so we found a place, no thanks to Siri, who wanted us to "prepare to walk (through the desert) to our destinination" called White Chocolate grill, our dessert was good but I think the other ones we had prior trumped our white chocolate brownie that night. We had quite a task ahead of packing our bags and bags into our single carry on, so we stopped and found some space saver bags. By some miracle we fit everything and had a quick sleep before we headed to the airport at the crack of dawn Sunday morning.

We said our good byes, both barely made it through security check with our precious oil and vinegar and I was so happy when I found out we only had thirty five people on our flight. I had a quick flight home and drove as fast as I legally could to get home to my boys. Coop was napping when I got home so I peeked on him and then showed Ry how amazing it was that I fit everything in my carry on, I think he wasn't that amused. It was nice to be home and see my boys but I do miss the sun, we have since had a rain storm and a snow storm.

 

Dropping Coop off with my Dad, I don't really know that he knew I was gone, everytime I talked to Ry and asked to talk to him he fervently said "no".

At Scottsdale Quarter right after we both arrived in Phoenix, ready to shop and have a weekend of relaxation.

Watching "Admission" funny movie, great company, food, and I think every movie theatre should be like this one!

One of the pics Ry sent me, Coop sleeping at about 5:00PM, not naptime or bedtime, just a little rest.

Two vampires waiting in the sun to be seated and The Farmhouse for breakfast...

 

The sun was absolutely heavenly.

 

My child and his dinner; chicken nuggets, yep that's a twently piecer, and he is drinking his milk out of a water filter bottle, so healthy, so glad I was only gone for three days.

"Look Momma, i'm having the time of my life with Daddy!!"

 

Wind Caves hike

Us at the top of our hike, check out that view!

 

Our last night, at True Food Kitchen, the night was perfect we were seated outside in lounge chairs and ate the most delicious dinner.

Our dinner, a bowl of delectable crudites and yummy tortilla soup.

 

My bag fully packed...

Unpacked, I'm not sure how this happened but it did and I love it!

 

Easter

EASTER MORNING

Since we don't have church until 1:00, we had a nice relaxing and fun filled Easter morning. Coop was excited about his Easter basket and of course went straight for the new Cars book that has a magnadoodle connected to it.

 

After Cooper looked at everything in his basket I set up some egg dying stuff for him, koolaid, markers, tape and glitter, and stickers. He loved the blue koolaid the best and dropped most of the eggs in there. While he was busy with that I made bunny cinnamon rolls and then after breakfast we all went out to enjoy the sunshine and let Coop try out his new sidewalk chalk.

He took a good nap, and I made inside out carrot cupcakes for my Grandma's, Ry went to teach our lesson because Coop was still sleeping and we met him for a nice Easter sacrament meeting.

Right after sacrament we went up to my grandparents for a delicious Easter dinner. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the grass was starting to green, I remember most Easters the grass is still brown and sometimes we even have snow so this was a wonderful change. Marcus was in North Dakota but we did get a few Easter sibling pictures. Coop did not want to leave the swing, Abby and Mareesa hid eggs for the little kids and Coop could have cared less, he just wanted to swing ("thwing") the entire time. It was a battle to have him come in to eat dinner and the second he was done wanted to go right back outside.

The little ones hunted eggs and surprisingly Coop has gotten very good at finding them. After the egg hunt Mareesa, Kirsten and Andrea walked down to the park with the kids and Ry, my mom and I went down shortly after to see how they were doing.

Coop with two of his favorite things: dirt and swings, and of course uncle Kaid and Daddy.

 

End of March and Easter Egg Hunt

At the end of March I worked a shift of fire watch for Ry, I went to orientation the day before and watched a movie about all the dangerous ways I could die on the site, comforting, and the next day I started work at 3:00AM. Luckily Mareesa was on spring break so she could watch Coop, the job was only supposed to be about twelve hours but ended up being twenty hours. I only worked twelve and was dying trying to stay awake once about noon rolled around. I am working a shut down at Simplot starting the middle of May that are twelve hour shifts (6:00PM to 6:00PM) so this was good practice for me, I hope I will be able to stay awake, because it gets boring really fast.

This week was the hardest week I have ever had with Cooper, he was really pushing all of my buttons, seeing how far he could get with things and just made my life a living hell. He was Mr. Sassypants, talking naughty, into anything and everything and pretty much lived in time out; i'm glad the week is over and he is back to him sweet self, for the most part.

After my long day of standing at work making sure nothing caught fire while the guys welded I was tired and my back ached. Ry scheduled a massage for me and he watched Coop while I was gone, it was heavenly. When I got home I came home to these pictures Ry had taken to show me what they did while I was gone. Coop digging in the dirt and Nana supervising...

Nana the gaurd dog always right next to Cooper making sure he's safe. If anyone she doesn't know gets close to the fence she starts getting super protective and barking.

You can't really tell from these pictures, but Coop was filthy from playing in the dirt, he had dirt in his hair, eyes, ears, fingernails, everwhere, but he had a blast. And shortly after I got home he zonked out on the couch for a nap.

 

EASTER EGG HUNT

I felt like Coop was too little to go the big city egg hunts they do so I was just planning on letting him hunt eggs on Easter with our family. The law office Kaid works for does a nice little Easter egg hunt and Kaid invited us to come.

Coop was patiently, or not so patiently, waiting for them to say he could go start picking up eggs.

Him in the pose I used to do when I was younger and would get excited, he's definitely my child. I finally just had to have him sit down on the sidewalk and have him tell me the different colors of eggs he say so he would be distracted until they could start.

 

When they finally said "go" Cooper meticulously picked up eggs, opened them, and if he liked what was in them put them in his basket, and if not he threw them back on the grass.

After the kids were done egg hunting the Easter bunny came and gave them each a big egg with a certificate for Farr's ice cream, yum. Coop got his egg and then just stood there and watched the bunny give everyone else their egg, it was hilarious, he wasn't scared at all just completely mesmerized by this giant bunny. McKaid picked him up and Coop kept petting the bunny and would laugh and grin while saying "buheee".

Once all the kids had their goods they had lunch for them, Coop like to eat his pizza backwards, and then he dove into his candy which he later threw up. This kid does not hold junk food well, which doesn't really make me that sad.

 

21 Months Old

21 Month Facts:

• You've started talking in third person, anytime you want to hold something or do something you so "Pooper" (that's how you say your name, seriously, it's the cutest) or if you are feeling extra independent you will say "nooo pooper do".
• You peed for the first time standing up. The kid care at the gym has a mini toilet that's just your size, I didn't want you sitting on the dirty thing and your potty seat is too big to fit on it so I stood right behind you and told you you could pee, you looked up at me for the "okay" which I gave again and then you peed and then said "coooool!!!!" it was sooo funny, I really hope I won't be kicking myself later for letting you do that.
• You have started saying two and three word sentences and are becoming more verbal than every.
• It has started warming up a bit and you want to live "siiide" outside. You're favorite words lately are, walk, park, outside, cluhlor (color), paint, you keep me very busy my child.
• You love dirt, everything about it, throwing it, digging in it, squishing it, yes, and sometimes eating it, gross. Your Daddy is going to build you a sandbox shortly which i'm sure you will live in all summer long.
• You have been playing with your language a lot and have started adding extra syllables to words. For example, shoe is shuueeey, go is go-eeee, play is play-eee, I have no clue where you learn these things or what possesses you to do them, but I love them and they make me laugh.
• You had a few very sad nights this month where you woke up with bad growing pains. You would hold your feet and legs and say "foot oweey, leg hurt" it was the saddest thing and I hope that you won't have to endure to many more spurts like those, hopefully you'll grow slow enough that you will start sleeping through them because it kills me when I can't do anything but cuddle you to help.
• You are so amazing little man, your Daddy and I are constantly in awe of the things you are learning and how fast you are growing, we love you to the moon and back Coop!

Beginning of April

I think we are all a little eager for summer weather and we try to take full advantage of the days that are warmer. We eat lunch in the backyard, blow bubbles, and play chase with Nana.

I'm also eager for less layers and summer clothes, i've ordered most of Coop's summer clothes and when these came and I was showing him he saw these neon orange shorts and wouldn't take them off!!

I was reading to Cooper one rainy afternoon and he fell asleep on me. I know that these moments are probably numbered now that he has become so independent so I have been trying to be better at savoring moments like these instead of hurrying to lay him down because I have a list of things that need checked off.

We went to Home Depot one Saturday to get the rest of the wood we needed to build Cooper's sandbox and they were doing a kids workshop so while Ry got the stuff we needed I took Coop over to the workshop. Coop wanted to build the bird house but the lady said they didn't have the kits yet so I talked Coop into making a mini tool box instead, he helped me nail it together and put the stickers on all by himself, he was so proud and was showing everyone as we left the store.

I always love conference weekend, something about not feeling guilty about wearing sweats all day and watching conference with cinnamon rolls and popcorn just makes me so happy. Coop was pretty good at watching the morning sessions with me and was asleep for most of the afternoon ones.

Coop finally hit the thirty pound mark and we turned his seat around, he loves it!!! He looks around non stop and comments on every detail of our drives.

Here are some self portraits Coop took of himself while he was on the potty...

 

Since we have had some yucky, cold days we have had to be creative about getting out of the house. One of many adventures included meeting our friends at the library. Coop and Kolt are so good at playing together, (when they were a bit younger they just played side by side and didn't really interact,) they played with the animals and dinosaurs, colored together, and of course had snacks together. Part way through our time at the library Coop told me "away" (go away momma) and had "Lolo" (Lauren) color with him while, so I went and sat by Kolt who put his feet up on me and loved me rubbing them "again Meggy" it was so cute.

 

We finally finished Coop's sandbox (i'm not sure why I didn't take pictures of it yet) and his chalkboard wall which he absolutely loves. When he wants to play in the sand his says "dirt" and when he wants to color is "cluhlor" in a pained sounding voice, it's hilarious, he's started using different tones for different words, Ry and I are constantly laughing at this.

I'm sure we will spend hours outside this summer so I'm glad we have a few things to do without having to leave the house.

 

My baby is growing way too fast!