Growth Spurt City at the Cooper's

Hi everybody!  Well, I didn't get the blog done any faster this week.  Sorry about that!  The problem?  I really haven't had much to report.  It's been a pretty quiet week around here.  But here's the latest on all of us.

I am feeling much better and healing great.  I am pretty well back to normal and have been feeling so much better!  I am so happy about that.  I have definitely had my moments of pain and discomfort and some digestive issues that I won't go into, but still overall, I am feeling better.  I go back to the doctor next week and am hoping that by then my belly will look a little more normal or at least he will be able to give me a time frame in which to expect to see my normal shape again.  Right now I just see a very bruised and swollen belly.  It's a little scary, folks.  Even to me.

Carissa is really pulling up to things now.  Like, constantly.  When I had previously reported that she was pulling up, she was doing it very infrequently.  But now, all she wants to do is stand.  Yay for her!  What does that mean for the rest of us?  That we have to keep the end tables pretty well cleared of everything.  If you tell her "no", she looks at you and laughs.  Then she continues on with whatever she isn't supposed to be getting into.  If the gate to the kitchen isn't kept closed, you can pretty well bet that she is headed into the laundry room to eat cat food.  Ewww.  She keeps me and her Dad hoppin', let me tell ya.

Maleah had Dad's Night at her school tonight.  It's a night for the pre-k students to bring their dads (or special person) to their school and have just dad/child time.  Maleah was so excited about it that she couldn't hardly fall asleep last night.  It was ALL she could talk about.  And you guys know how much she talks, so we heard a lot about it and how excited she was.  She came home from school today and picked out a pretty dress to wear tonight.  She chose the dress, the leggings, and all matching accessories all by herself.  I really don't think I could have done a better job.  She asked me a million times if it was time to go yet.  She was surprised to find her Dad already awake when she got home from school and made a remark about how he was probably too excited about Dad's Night to sleep.  I didn't burst her bubble on that one.  So finally, they were out the door.  Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead and I didn't get a picture of her.  About the time they left, Carissa fell asleep and I had an entire hour by myself in a quiet house.  So I ate my supper in my recliner and watched Everybody Loves Raymond all by myself.  It was so nice.  She came back home just as excited as when she left, and told me all about it.  They had hot dogs and chips for supper and then they made a very pretty birdhouse together.  She is sooo proud of it.  Does she have a good Dad or what???

On my agenda this week:  shopping at Tuscola.  I went through Maleah's closet this week and removed about 75% of her clothes because they do not fit.  All of her shirts are too short on her and it drives me nuts!  I really wish that she could've waited until closer to spring to have a growth spurt, but that just can't be controlled.  The good news is that all of the long sleeved shirts should be marked down really cheap.  Little sister will probably end up with some new stuff too.  It's weird how Maleah's old clothes do not fit Carissa seasonally.  Their birthdays are four days apart.  At first, none of Maleah's clothes fit Carissa because Maleah was a preemie and Carissa was not, so I had to buy a lot for Carissa.  Well, now it's the opposite problem.  When Maleah was almost 1 she was a lot chunkier than Carissa is now.  And her head was bigger.  So a lot of Maleah's clothes that she was wearing in February/March are size 18 mos. and Carissa needs a size 12 mos.  And in the size 12 mos. clothes that Maleah did wear, all of the necks are stretched out on them so even they seem too big on Carissa.  Did you follow all of that?  It's so frustrating!  But it is an awesome excuse to go buy cute new stylish clothes for both girls.  I'll fill you in on all of my purchases next week.  Until then...