what's new

the life of cooper j michael at 11 1/2 months:

*still crawling mowgley style

(we have decided if there was an olympic event for this, he could enter)

*walking, but only when holding onto something.

(like the other day, he only had a hold of the corner of my sweater... lazy!)

*he got his top left tooth in last week

(working on the other 3 up there)

*talking!!! that's right, i said talking.

-hi and he waves(always with a 3 second delay)

-coco (the dog)

-dada (of course. still no real sign of 'mama')

-hot (and he will look at the stove)

-no no (oops! he just started that one today)

-gee gee (that's my mom; aka GiGi. but he says it right to her)

*playing catch

(on any given moment in the day, there are 8 balls loose in our house. all different colors and sizes. they are kept in bins around the house and he will go on a search until they are all out and he can throw them, with you, or just to catch himself)

*feeding the dog

(since he could pick things up on his own, i have been letting him give coco her treats. mainly so that she would start to like him. so he has gotten the hang of it on his own and will get down after eating and hold onto one of his bites of food and scurry toward her and she will come up and get it. i really do need to get that one on video)

*open mouth kisses

(only from his own son would g accept an open mouth, wet one from another guy. pretty cute to watch every time though. i never get tired of it)

*the opening and the closing

(of every door, cupboard, cabinet he can get his little mits on...constantly. he doesn't really care about what's on the other side of it, he just wants to open it and then close it. i really thought he would have grown out of it by now. what do i know)

*he loves

-being outside

-punching g's heavy bag

-any ball

-phones

-books

*he doesn't come to work with me anymore.

(more of a bummer for me, i'm sure)

*he continues to be the easiest, happiest, most laid back baby.

i will get new pics up soon.

fenway from the budweiser deck

just about to close the pub down on night #1 in beantown

Waiting for the next round...

Hoping the sox can bring it back and make it a game tomorrow...
did i mention how humid it is here. crap. nothing like 90% humidity!

i wonder what this was????

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kurt cobain- seriously!

i never thought that i would find a kurt cobain quote so fabulous, but this one....

"wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are"

- kurt cobain

uh oh!

watch out.... i can now blog on the go. yep, that's right. i am becoming more tech savvy in my old age. good thing is i will now put more pics of coop up!

save the mom and pop shops!

i have gotten emails about it, but this was on a friend's blog the other day and it prompted me to let you all know about it as well. thanks lo!

if you haven't heard about the 3/50 project , you need to get on it. how great that YOU could help save your local economy. it's all about supporting the independently owned businesses in your area by spending about $50 per month in 3 of your favorites (not $50 x 3, but $50 total). in these times, the businesses that hurt the most are the small ones. you know, the mom and pop deli down the street, the really cute boutique that carries your favorite brands, or the specialty store where you can get those hard to find items. whatever your favorite small business is, make an effort to stop by, say hi, and buy something that makes you smile. if we don't make an effort to keep them around, who will?

so, here are my three (or so):

1.serendipity boutique: if i don't keep them in business, there goes my J-O-B. great finds for everything from a present for a friend to a great top for the collection.

(5362 h st and in the fountains in roseville)

2. la maison marche: a fab little home store in east sac that has so many great things that i could spend a lot more than $50 in there! great for a last minute hostess gift or cute little decorations for the house around the holidays. coop's giant dog painting is from them.

(h st and 54th)

3. bartlett flowes: just going in to this little flower shop in old roseville makes me smile. i don't go as often as i used to, but mabe now that i think about it, i will put a smile on my face more often!

(226 vernon st. roseville)

4. the tattered house: my absolute favorite haunt for anything antique and vintage. so many of the things in my house are from here. i wish i could just move in to this little house in old roseville.

(417 oak st. roseville)

5. foothill lighting and design: everything from light bulbs to chandeliers and fans to mirrors and paintings for the wall. love it!

(927 lincoln wy. auburn)

pick your 3 and just stop in to say hi and support locals. happy shopping!

back to the diapers...

so, as you have all read, i HATE chacters on diapers. i have now found something out there that claims to work just as well, and there is NOTHING on them.

a friend of mine works for whole foods and she has a son that is a couple months younger than coop. her little guy had on some diapers that were a natural cotton color the other day at church and i just assumed they were cloth and she had gone that route. as i was inspecting thema alittle closer, i realized they were disposable...yes! so, my questions began. she has been using them the whole time with him and they are about the same price as pampers or huggies. they are by 7th generation and i can't wait until my pampers box runs out and i can try these and tell you how they really work!

to skimp???

during these interesting economic times, i am sure that my husband wishes he was married to someone a little more frugal. one who could do all of their shopping at wal-mart and not color her hair or buy that people magazine with michael jackson on the cover, just because it was staring at her in the check-out line. well, he's not. instead he's married to a woman who runs two women's clothing boutiques and likes to eat out once in a while. one who has to get her hair done every 7 weeks for fear of ever learning the real color. one who has to read the newest fashion magazine, for work of course ;), and one who likes to feel pretty. which is what this post is about, sorry for the long intro... mascara: with my husband harping on me to spend less (yes, i know. it's smart.) i decided several months ago to fore-go my usual $22 a tube mascara, kiss me. it is fabulous, by the way. it was the pioneer in tubing your lashes in color instead of just painting them. anyway, i am off on a tangent. so, for the last 5 months or so, i have been testing drug store mascara. after 5 months of research, the drugstore ones just don't do the job.

here are my reviews on the ones that i have tried in the last months:

1. lash blast luxe by cover girl~$8

good, but dries out fast. it was done in about 3 weeks. supposedly, there are sparkles in it to make you eyes shine. i idn't notice that, i got it for the color. it is a wine color, which makes teh green in my eyes pop. that part i liked.

2. lash blast by cover girl ~$8

i really liked this one, but like the earlier one, it dried up really fast. and i know better than to pump my mascara wand, so i can't blame that.

3. double twist by revlon ~$12

this is the DEVIL!!!! awful product. i am not one to make a formal complaint for anything. i think that is from all of my years working in the service industry, especially restaurants. but i actually wrote a letter to revlon about this one. this is supposed to be the greatest brush and do length and volume with one swoop. well, if all of the product didn't come out with the brush and clump the wand like there was no tomorrow, i am sure it would. i couldn't even wipe enough off to get to where i could put it near my eye without looking like i had spider legs for lashes.

4.there was, of course, the old stand by that everyone swears by; maybelline great lash. you all know it. the pink tube with the green top. tried that and byt the end of the day i felt like i looke dlike heath ledger as the joker.

5. stila major lash that i got as a free-bee in an ulta give away.

it worked but ran off my lashes faster that prefontaine crossing the finish line.

so, as you can see, lots of trials for nothing great to show. and for all of my trying to be frugal, i could have just bought one tube of my $22 mascara and been good for at least 4 months. lesson learned, there are some things you just shouldn't skimp on.

elmo on diapers

why are there cartoon characters on diapers????

why can't diaper companies just make diapers that don't have any stupid characters on them? do you think that a 3, 4 or 8 month old really cares about who is on their diaper? i mean, he doesn't even know who those crazy little creatures are yet! those crazy characters are covered for the most part, but when cooper is running around in just a diaper, i have to look at elmo or big bird on his little butt. is that cute? not so much...

don't mind me... just venting.

laundry

can we talk laundry for a minute?!?!? who knew that a 17 pound little person could produce more laundry than 2 grown adults... my days off are now consistent of laundry, laundry, making baby food and more laundry. and then 2 days later... more laundry!

he's crawling

it was only a matter of time... he is now crawling. every day he gets more coordinated and faster. just tuesday he figured out how to go from his hands and knees to a sitting position. i saw it the first time he did it and i was so excited! i started clapping like a fool and he just stared at me and started laughing. i do have video footage of it and as soon as i can figure out how to load it, i will put it up.

the water

this kid loves the water! he will be in there forever! he's fine in a cold pool, or a warm spa. i am sure he would play in a puddle if i let him. he just sits and splashes around and licks his little legs and laughs. 

Mother's Day

your first mother's day is pretty cool.

 last mother's day, i was pregnant with him and i thought that was special. but to have him on the outside and smile at you all day long is something so much better!

Cooper and Gigi

Cooper and Grandma

Cooper's 1st Race for the Cure

My family has been doing this event every year, the day before mother's day, since 1998. We do it for all of those women out there battling this cancer, but mostly, we do it for my Aunt Nancy. She lost her battle in 2000. It is awesome to have been a part of this for so long and to watch it grow every year. And I hope that one day, we will walk because there IS a cure for this awful cancer. But until then, you can find us among the 20,000 or so at Cal Expo the day before Mother's Day.

alexi, mom, dad and me (brennon was still trying to find us)

4.22.09 happy half birthday!

this was his 6 month birthday. lots of party tricks by this time. his favorite being pushing himself up to his spider crawl. still couldn't move his arms by that point, but he was trying.

uh oh!!!

did i mention that he can do this all on his own??? yep, we are in trouble! he also like to just skip his knees and go right onto his toes, so he looks like a little spider. he doesn't go anywhere yet, just rocks back and forth and then pushes himself backwards.

my parents are to blame! they were the ones that have been practicing this with him! too darn cute though. 

the pool!!!!

On Sunday, it was so hot that we found a pool. Our friends, Heather and Wade along with their little boy, were staying out at her parents house... all the way in Dixon... on a farm! So much fun. It was like getting out of town without the drive/flight, hotel, etc. We all felt like we were on a little vacation, and we were only there for the afternoon. So, thanks Elaine and Chris for letting us use your home and pool. Sorry, back to my story. 

Cooper loves any water. This water was cold and he didn't even make a sound. Just lots of smiles and a cute little look of content. Although it was hot, Gabe was the one that got in with him while I kept my white butt in the shade.

This is Devin. He is about 8 weeks older than Cooper. I think this was the first time that we have had them together that they were both awake at the same time. It was very cute to see them interact.

Happy Easter

We hope everyone had a happy easter!

Great Party Trick!

Last week he started figuring out that those things at the end of his legs were his also. And they taste pretty good, too!

Great Daddy pics

There really is no hope for him... he will be a Raider fan! Just like his Daddy.

Gabe and his mini-me...

L-E-T-S-G-O Lets Go, Lets Go!

Gigi made him his very own outfit to go and support his Aunt Alexi for RHS Softball Games. Needless to say, he's cuter than a giant tiger! The girls have adopted him as their mascot. Go Tigers! 

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work....

As most of you know, Coop comes with me to work. Here he is at the H St store talking to himself in the mirror, before he realizes that he is being watched.

I see you!

And here is our big boy! All he wants to do anymore is sit and if someone will help him, stand! And he's not happy just standing there. He wants to move! I am in so much trouble!

Swinging the day away

Gabe brought it to my attention one Saturday that he was with him that he loved the swings. Not surprising since he LOVES to sleep in his swing at home. So, we tested it out, and yep. He could stay in there for hours. At one point he was laying back and his blinks were getting longer and longer. At that point I decided it was probably better to have in sleep at home rather than the park. I don't want him thinking it's okay to be a bum ;)

Mom's 50th!!!!

yosemite, here we come!

my mom turned 50 on the 22nd and so we all headed south for the weekend. gabe was the only one in the family that had ever been, and the rest of us were pretty excited to see the majestic landscapes. and yosemite didn't disappoint!

i drove down mid-day on friday to get checked in to the house and get everything set up, but more importantly, to get cooper down and asleep before everyone else came. i was able to find a pet friendly house, so the dogs came too. alexi had a softball game and gabe had to work, so the rest of the gang didn't get there until about 10.30.

up bright and early the next morning though, mom wanted to see the sights and hike to where we could at this time of year. no sooner do we get in the cars and head off further into the park,  the sky opens up and just starts dumping on us! it even started to hail! mom insisted that we weren't going to melt, not even cooper, and we were going on!

here we are with el capitan and bridal veil falls in the background. clouds were covering half dome the whole time we were there.

did i mention it was raining? this was us on the walk to bridal veil falls. somehow, we managed to keep cooper dry and warm. he loved all the water. he just stared.

later in the day checking out the lower yosemite falls. and raining again!

this was later that night after we had all drowned. back at the house for mom's birthday dinner. everyone had their party hats, even coop.

we knew that there was a chance of snow for that night. the rain wasn't letting up, but we didn't really think that we would wake up....

to this! about 3 inches at 7 am. cooper's first snow. the deer were out around the house and everything was so pretty. 

except for the fact that it didn't stop snowing the whole morning. by the time we left at 10 am, there was about 7-8 inches. roads were closed and the only one they were plowing was the one through the park! so, after waiting for a bit and getting chains on brennon's truck, we set out for home. and we got there, 6 1/2 hours later! it was pretty funny...i showed up in sandals and a t-shirt and left in multiple layers and fur lined boots!

it was a great trip though and i hope it was the b-day that my mom wanted. happy birthday mom!

Abby & Cooper

the nova's came up from fresno a couple of weekends ago and, as always, it was great to see them. their little girl, abby, will be 2 in june. she is getting so big!

she thought coop's car was just as great as he does. she was pushing him around the house like he was her baby doll. it was so cute. the bottom pic actually looks like he is steering too. so funny!

our little McCutie

Cooper's first St. Patty's Day!

Thanks to Aunt Rach, his little shirt says

'I'm a McCutie'.

Pretty adorable.

food. yeah!!!!

good stuff, mom!

it took a little bit, but he actually got the hang of it. we tried this on thursday night, not knowing how it would turn out. he loved it! by the end of the feeding, he was lurching toward the spoon, mouth open, hands going everywhere. quite funny. glad we got it on video.

he is now sitting!

Yep, that's right. Every day he is doing something new. This week, sitting. It started out with just a few seconds, but he will sit there for a minute or two before falling on his face :)

Here's a recent one

Here he is at about 4 months with Uncle Brennon. DOing his favorite thing of late, blowing raspberries! The more spit he can get out the better. He thinks he is pretty funny. All boy!

The big day

October 21, the night before. Right after Gabe took this picture we went to PF Chang's and had dinner. I thought for sure I would make it to my next Dr appt., which was 2 days away. Little did I know that at about 1:52 Am my water would break and I would wind up having this baby!

This is about 3ish in the morning. I didn't have my epidural yet, but the contractions were still bearable. It was just Gabe and I at this point. We figured it was no use calling everyone in the middle of the night, when we were going to be there for a while. In fact, we were the first ones to check in that day. We decided to call the delivery room crew once I had gotten my epidural, except for my mom, of course. Thankfully she was there when they were attempting to give me my epidural because she remembered some pertinent info from my back surgery that I was in no condition to recollect. It took a few tries, but they managed to get through and all was well. Or so I thought...

This was mid-day, after they gave me a super boost of my epidural. It was wearing off and i was starting to feel pain in my right hip area. So, the anesthesiologist came and gave me a mega-dose. I was only dilated to a 6 at the last check, so they figured it wouldn't hurt anything. That killed all pain and i got to relax a little. At least until the nurse came in 20 minutes later and checked me again. This time I was a 9! No wonder i was starting to feel some pressure. Although, I couldn't figure out why all the pain in my hip and back, until..... they told me he was sunny side up! Babies are supposed to come out face down. Well, Cooper wanted to see the world right off the bat. He was face up. So, we were spine on spine and that would be where the pain was coming from. From here, things got a little hairy. Heart beats dropping, nurses everywhere, contractions not doing what they were supposed to be doing. They even were throwing around the word C-Section. At this point I had been in labor for 13 hours. Had been dilated to a 9 for 3 hours, I was going to kill someone if they were going to do a C-Section. So much commotion was in my room. They were paging my doctor, holding an O.R. waiting to see if that was what she wanted to do. Meanwhile, Gabe is holding my hand, running his hand through my hair and talking me through each contraction, which I can feel with full force. I am not sure what the dialogue was between him and my mom at this time, or if there was any. I just remember chaos. Then Dr. Ho sweeping in at the nick of time. Calling off the O.R. and reassuring me that we were going to deliver this baby the old fashion way. And she stayed with me for the next 2 hours until i pushed him down far enough that she could get the vacuum on his little head and get him out of that birth canal. She warned me sometime during that last hour that he had pooped in the womb and they weren't going to let him breath until they got his airway cleared, so I wasn't going to hear him cry right off the bat and her was going to be purple, but he was fine. Ok, I thought. I can handle that, just get him out. Well, she did just that and she was right, he was a shade of purple that I had never seen before. It scared the hell out of me. And even though I know they were doing it for a reason, I just wanted to hear a little cry to know that he was alright. He did start making little noises and told em he was good, but had inhaled some of that poop and they were taking him to the NICU to watch him. Gabe went with Cooper and my mom, Alexi and Denise stayed with me. 

The picture on the left, he is still in the room with me, but the one on the right is him in the NICU with Gabe. Everyone got to go in and see him there. Thankfully they came back to me with reports because I didn't get to see him again for 3 hours. But, when he came back, all was fine and he was healthy and hungry! 

By the time we got up to our room upstairs, we were the last ones there. First ones in, last ones out.