Cooper's First day of PRESCHOOL!

Here is the report... we made it! We were excited on the drive over; talking about his new teacher Mrs. Laura, wearing our new man bag-which he indeed selected (my mother is witness to how much he loved his new 'purse' as he calls it). He hopped through the parking lot and sauntered over to the yellow classroom of fellow Gumdrops. That's his age groups class name, the gumdrops. We found the hook for his bag and he was happy to hang it next to his classmates' bags. Then came the look of 'mommy... you're not actually leaving are you?' -See attached photo at the top of this post.

I stayed on site for the whole 'shortened' first day. I got all kinds of updates from the incredible staff. Letting me know he was calming in and out of his episodes, checking in with me to see if I was okay (they know what's up). While I wasn't a wreck outwardly... I was certainly willing my tears to not fall down my cheek. Note: I was successful, thank you very much!

Cooper cried nearly the whole 1 1/2 hour class time. :(

He was relieved to see me in the line of cars picking up kiddos. He outstretched his arms and started to wail 'don't leave me'... how sad right? Only to then hop in his carseat exhausted and say... "I need to go back". And I asked him, "Cooper did you like preschool today?" And he answered "Yes, I did!" emphatically. So... tomorrow is another day of full time (that'd be 2 1/2 hours) preschool, he goes Mon & Tues afternoons. It's just going to take some time of adjustment. It's a new place, a new routine and challenges his comfort level. He's going to do great though. I'm confident that we picked just the right preschool and am ever thankful that George had some 'pull' to wriggle him into a slot there at Circle of Friends.

I'll keep you posted as to tomorrows 'mood' after the fact. Til' next time!

Ciao for now-

AMBER

Grandpa's company picnic

This last weekend we made a trip up to Mimi and Grandpa's house. (That'd be my parents in Belfair-) It was my Dad's company picinic on Friday so amongst all the other plans we made, we made it a point to hit the park for the festivities, food and fun. Cooper got his face painted and Chase did what he could to wriggle free from his stroller. We had some cotton candy and played at the park. It was a great visit and always nice to see my family!

Before that was a lil' concert I got to go to with some of my girlfriends... we had a good time. This upcoming weekend is Ryan's FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT... that's right folks, I will become a football widow. As I do every year around this time until February... who am I kidding, then it's spring training and I lose him to Fantasy Baseball too... we all know I'll take March Madness... I think that's one sports arena I trump him at... probably the only one though.

Hope this finds you well. Posted are some random pics of the fam- and yes, that is Ryan's ceremonial picture representing his 'diaper changing headdress' ;).

Lazy Saturday morning-

Daddy is out golfin' with Bapa this morning... so the boys and I are just hanging around the house. It's going to beautiful day today (and week for that matter) so we decided to fill up the pool and get it warmed up for some swim time.

Cooper is getting so independent! And with that comes willful disobedience :( We're working with him constantly (and when I say we, I mean me!) It seems like the only way to get him to listen is bribes or solitary confinement... which the latter is not specifically a favorite of mine.

Chase is a gigantic baby... he is so so needy. He's become this lil' puppy dog that follows me EVERYWHERE around the house. Once he's discoverd I'm in another room and not 'holding' him, he jacks up onto his knees and holds his hands out squeezing his fists and whining for 'ma-ma'... it's kinda cute... for two seconds :)

Anyway, hope this finds you doing well. Til' next time!

CHEERS-

-AMBER

Tragedy strikes!

In the interest of 'clearing' up what happened with Cooper yesterday (for those who already know and then again for those who have no idea what I'm talking about) I'll recap with a picture. Yesterday I was changing Chase's diaper and came out to the hall to a bloodied Cooper. He had blood dripping from his mouth, down his neck and soaking his shirt. Keep in mind head wounds bleed much worse than they really are, especially mouth cuts- Of course I was caught very much off guard and started to put pressure on the 'owie'. I realized he had cut his thumb as well and all he kept saying was "sharp, owie, it was sharp". I thought he'd hit his head on the counter, because we call that sharp corners. Full expecting to find blood on the countertop, it was clean. I looked and looked all around at what he could have possibly hurt himself on. I examined the garbage in his bathroom where we were tending to the cut-nothing, just tissues and such. I hadn't heard a thump, or clunk- no toys in the way, I was baffled at this point. Just trying to stay calm and get him calm as well.

After about 15 minutes of bleeding- man it felt like FOREVER! I finally got the bleeding to stop, only to then see the exact shape of the cut. A perfect pair of slices across his bottom lip, a razor blade. He had fished out an old razor blade from my bathroom and was "shaving like Daddy". Sadly, he learned the hard way that razors are ONLY for mommies and daddies... not for kids and now has the slices on his lip and a fileted thumb to show for it. He's fine today and I'm sure he won't be messing with razors anytime soon- he spent the whole day last night reminding me, it wasn't for kids. I usually lock our bedroom door so that he can't get into any kind of mischief, but shoot, I WAS RIGHT THERE!

Goes to show you, kids will be kids, they will hurt themselves no matter what, no matter how hard we try to keep them safe, or if we're even standing 10 feet away. I'm sure it won't be the last time. I just felt the need to clarify that he is indeed, just fine. Sadly, during the whole sha-bang, I had put Chase in the bathtub (a sort of make-shift crib) to keep him wrangled while I tended to his brother. All the whooping and whaling by Cooper got him so worked up that he lunged head first out of the tub to get to his brother, only to bonk his head on the bathroom floor. He too is fine, but it was an... interesting... 15 minutes for all of us. Looking back now, it's almost comical... almost.

Anway, hope you're doing well and staying clear of old razor blades :)
Til' next time-

AMBER

Pool time!

We enjoyed our pool today! It was a delightful 89 degrees outside and we soaked it up. Nana & Bapa bought this pool for Cooper for his birthday and it is fabulous; two-tiered and has a bench up top for mama and a slide to the bottom tier built in... again FABULOUS. I'm sure there will be many pictures of it to follow in the coming summer months.

Hope this finds you well!

Industrious efforts-

For any 'non-believers' out there... here is some proof of Cooper's obsession with the garbage. Luckily for us, we got knew recycle bins and we've been very mindful to rinse out all our recyclables so I have to say, we have the cleanest garbage bin ever! As the pictures will depict, I caught Cooper literally swimming in the recycle bin... he can't get enough of it. At first it was weird, but what-ev, it makes him happy and I know exactly what's in that bin... nothing dangerous or sharp or contaminated for that matter! Mostly just empty cardboard boxes and rinsed out milk jugs. It's still funny to see that he'd rather play with garbage than his own toys... had to share.

In other news... I started the potty training efforts again yesterday. We've had more successes than failures, although there has been plenty of both. I'm optimistic for several reasons but mostly because he doesn't seem to be kicking and screaming at the chore of a trip to the potty every 20-30 minutes. I took some good advice from my friend Amber to concentrate more on him being dry when he's off the toilet and that seems to be doing the trick. Anyone who's ever had a toddler knows they are the sharpest pencil in the box, so the rewarding of candy when he peed in the potty only resulted in him running to the bathroom every 2 minutes only to come back and ask for candy. (What a booger eh?) Anyhoo... we'll keep at it over the long weekend with no real plans to intrude our efforts.

Hopefully your weekend is restful and fulfilling! Take care and check back later.

CHEERS-

AMBER

A lil' under the weather-

It seems like Ryan CANNOT catch a break! I swear he has been sick more times in the last 6 months than our entire 11 year relationship! (That's right... 11!) I digress... he has had cold after flu after virus after ache and pain and now he's suffering from some kind of ear ache or whatever... poor guy... that being said- He's very 'vocal' with his ailments... kinda like my 9 month old infant :) Who am I kidding though- I very much like taking care of them. It's my job, I mean really- I'm 'the mama' that's what we mama's do... can I get an AMEN?

I had to snap some cute photos of the kids today. First of Chase getting overly excited over the telephone. (What is it with babies and phones? I swear they like them more than straight sugar!) And then secondly, Cooper had his own game of "chubby bunny" with some grapes after his nap. - I know shocking... he did in fact fall asleep today for the first time in a LONG time! Kinda nice for me I must say. Believe it or not... the pic of him looking 'constipated' he was actually saying "cheese" with a mouth full of grapes. Ah... good times. Made me smile for sure!

Anyway, here are some cute lil' snaps of the boys. Hope this finds you well!

Take care and til' next time-

CHEERS- Amber