Happy 1st Birthday Silas Cooper!

Silas turned one year old on December 11th.  He had a great birthday!  We celebrated big time.  On Sunday, December 9th, we had a big party at Oil Belt Christian Service Camp for him.  They have a really big room there and it worked out great.  We had about 125 people come to his party.  My friend Dawn Cox took all of the pictures for me that day.  She did a great job!  Silas loved all of the attention and was so happy and smiley.  There were several people who had driven quite a ways to be with us that day.  We are so blessed to be so loved.  I can't believe our baby boy is one year old already.  We requested no gifts but said that if you feel that you must bring something then to please bring a baby blanket to be donated to the nicu at Mercy Hospital.  We ended up with 68 baby blankets!  We delivered them to the Nicu on the following Saturday.  There were 64 babies in the nicu that day and each baby got a blanket.  The nurses and doctors visited with Silas and were so happy to see him (and us).  Who doesn't like a happy ending??  Silas' first birthday was really special. 

I have a ton of pictures to share from his birthday but I can only get a few to load.  Check back for other posts because I think I will have to put the rest on another post.  Thanks Blogger.  You are the best.  (not)

The centerpieces I made with a little help

from my friend Kim Scarborough.

This table had some of his nicu things on it.

Family pic.

Grandma Debby and Grandpa David with Silas

My Mom and Dad with all four of their grandkids.

Dad and Silas

 

 

Catch-Up Post

Wearing a hat, just like Daddy.

Well, October and November just flew by.  I can't believe it is almost December.  Wowza!!  And I'm going to bet that December goes by just as quickly.  We have been busy and this post has the potential to be super-duper long, so I am going to try to give you the condensed version.

Backing up to October, which is where I left off.  Halloween was fun and guess how many pictures I took??  0.  That's right.  Nada.  Massive fail on my part.  My apologies to my kids who will one day read this in the blog book and be like "What?  No pictures of me at Halloween 2012?!"  And I will hopefully be around to say to them "Sorry.  But the bright side is that you have pictures of Halloween 2011, 2010, 2009..."

This was taken on Halloween morning. 

 It's my only picture of the day. 

Let me paint you a picture of how cute they were though.  Silas was Superman.  (Appropriate, dontcha think?)  His outfit was actually pajamas that looked like Superman's suit.  It was just all one piece and super comfy.  Comfy had to be in the plan because this kid goes to bed at 6 pm.  I figured he could sleep and still wear a costume this way.  Carissa was a doctor.  She carried a stethoscope and other various doctorish things.  She had a nametag that said "Dr. Carissa" and wore a white coat.  It was an easy-on, easy-off costume which she really liked and it was comfortable.  Maleah was Hermione from Harry Potter.  She had on a long black robe, a Gryffindor scarf, tie, and hat.  She also carried a wand and a book.  She looked great and had a lot of fun.

Maleah was really the only one that really enjoyed trick-or-treating.  I started out with all three kids and drove to two houses.  First was my Grandma Zelda's, second was Rick and Janie Bahrns.  It was freezing cold and Carissa was done after the second house.  She really could care less about the candy (I mean really, we already had bags of it at home from the halloween parades) and all she really wanted to do was to go to Grandma Debby's to the party.  Each year my Mom has a party on trick-or-treat night and that is where most of the trick-or-treaters we know end up.  She makes homemade donuts, cookies, soup, and lots of appetizers.  Everyone just sits around and visits.  It is a fun tradition.  So, after only going to two houses I took Carissa and Silas to Grandma Debby's.  They stayed inside and visited and watched the other trick-or-treaters arrive.  Maleah wasn't done though so I took her back to town for about another hour and she trick-or-treated at some friends and teachers houses.  And when we were about to freeze we headed back to Grandma's and warmed up.  It was a fun night.

Fall Fun.

How did we end up with all of these leaves?

We don't have any trees!

Sisters

Silas is not a fan of the leaves.

Okay, so then November started and then I blinked and then it was over. The girls have been staying busy with church.  On Tuesday afternoon they go to Kid's Choir at the Baptist Church and on Wednesday nights they go to our church at First Christian and have been practicing hard for the Christmas Program.  We had an interesting Thanksgiving.  Silas was sick with a stomach virus so Jason and I stayed home with him and sent the girls to the Oestreich Thanksgiving with my Mom and Dad.  While they were gone, we took apart Maleah's loft bed and put it in Carissa's room.  Then we put together a new headboard for Maleah and put that in her room, with all new bedding that she picked out from Pottery Barn.  Each girl's room got a major makeover and when they came home from Thanksgiving they were shocked.  Maleah screamed (repeatedly) and jumped up and down and Carissa was super quiet.  She was just speechless!  It was cute to see their reactions.  Jason and I were both worn out.  It was a lot of work.

Carissa's new room.  New dresser and Maleah's

old loft bed.  Carissa took this picture herself.

A partial view of Maleah's new room.  She took the

picture herself.  She is proud of her new bedding

with her favorite two blankets at the foot of the bed.

I stayed home on Black Friday (which made me sad because I LOVE Black Friday).  The girls spent a lot of time in their rooms, which was nice.  By Friday night I thought Silas was much better and no one else was sick so we went to the Cooper Thanksgiving.  As we were getting ready to leave Carissa said, "My stomach hurts."  That was clue #1 that I should have gotten her a bucket, or a sack, or something.  I put her in the car and we headed from Cisne to Flora.  We got to 50/45 intersection and she said, "I feel carsick," which was clue #2 that I should have immediately passed her a sack or something.  Instead I asked "Do you feel like you might throw up?"  No answer.  "Should we pull over?"  No answer.  And then it happened.  She puked all over the place.  Jason pulled over.  I got out and tried to help her but was sort of helpless.  She was covered in it but said she felt much better.  I got right back in the car and said "Hammer down.  Get us home!"  We were  home in about another 5 minutes and we took her straight to the tub and the carseat straight to my brand-spankin' new washer and dryer that I love (another November event).  It turns out that Silas wasn't really any better either, so on Saturday I had two sick kids and on Sunday I had three sick kids.  Maleah ended up with a cold but not the stomach virus so that was good.  Today is Day 10 of Silas' virus and he has had diarrhea this whole time.  Isn't that horrible??  I can't wait for it to be gone.  Poor baby.  So needless to say, I spent the whole holiday weekend at home (with the exception of a few short errands).  I watched at least five of those Hallmark Christmas movies (which I love and are addictive!).  We watched Elf twice, Home Alone three times, and White Christmas.  I also had a very clean house and all of my laundry caught up (thanks to the aforementioned awesome washer and dryer).  Oh, we also put our Christmas tree up and decorated for Christmas. 

One of my favorite elves decorated our tree.

Trimming the tree as a family.

Silas' first time!

Most of our ornaments are homemade and

we didn't put any on the bottom few branches

but it is still beautiful.  The girls love it!

All done!

It took a little hot glue this year to fix

this ornament I made in 1986!  Still cute!

In Silas news, he is doing great (other than the neverending diarrhea).  He is crawling!  He is sitting up by himself.  He is very vocal.  (He is a Cooper kid after all.  The chances of me having a quiet kid were about the same as my chances of winning Powerball tonight.)  He is always happy and smiling.  He has two teeth on bottom and two on top came in this week.  He has been grinding them together which is driving me nuts.  He started getting his Synagis shots this week, which are once-a-month shots in each leg to prevent RSV.  Because he was born so early he is at high-risk for RSV and is a candidate for these shots.  Maleah had these for her first two winters and that kid was never sick.  I definitely wanted Silas to get them too and thankfully insurance approved it.  I do believe that these shots really help their immune system but I also believe that these are the reason that Maleah would scream bloody murder if we even pulled in to the parking lot at the clinic.  She is almost 8 now and still hates going to the doctor.  I hope Silas doesn't end up like that.  It is stressful for all of us. 

Cutie Pie

 

Sound asleep in his bed.  11 months old.

 

In Carissa news, she is sassy as ever.  She loves playing with her baby dolls and legos and has two imaginary friends that she loves to play with - Maggie and Mollie.  Imaginary friends are a sign of intelligence, you know.  She is super smart.  She can do math, knows her abc's, can count well, all of the ordinary stuff a three-year-old should know, but she is also a great problem-solver and has a lot of common sense.  She is extremely observant and doesn't miss a beat.  She is also stubborn and mischievous.  She is extremely lovable and sweet.  She likes to say that she needs some "mama lovins" and crawl up in my lap to snuggle.  I love that as much as she does.

In Maleah news, she is making straight A's in school (high A's, 98% and a few over 100%).  She is really into reading and science.  She is super smart too and amazes me with what she knows.  She has a great sense of humor and is a wonderful sister to Silas and an okay sister to Carissa (needs improvement).  She is really into style this year and has been dressing up for school most days.  She is so fun to be around and is a big help to me.

In Jason news, he is still on day shift and is doing great.  He hasn't got to go bow hunting quite as often as he would like this year but the season isn't over yet.  He hasn't got a deer because he had some coyotes messing things up but the good news is that there is now one less coyote out there.  He smoked that bad boy.  Ha! 

In Beth news, not much to report.  I have been busy preparing for Silas' First Birthday Party.  Woo hoo!!!  I can't believe that little guy is going to be one in a couple of weeks.  We are having a HUGE birthday party for him on December 9th at Oil Belt Christian Service Camp in Flora from 2 to 4 pm.  If you are reading this, then you are invited!  I have invited everyone I know, friends, family and church family.  Anybody that prayed for that little guy or who read about his progress on my blog is invited.  If I don't know you personally, that's okay.  Just stop by for a piece of cake and punch and introduce yourself.  If you are a dangerous crazy person, please don't come though.  Okay?  Thanks!  But everybody else is invited!  I even sent an invite to the Duggar Family so who knows, maybe they'll come.  Silas deserves a big celebration and he is going to get one.  He fought hard to be here and we are going to celebrate.  No gifts please, but if you do come and feel like you want to bring something, bring a baby blanket.  All blankets collected will be donated to the NICU at Mercy Hospital where Silas spent three months.  They will be given to the babies that are there this year.

We sort of adopted a kitten.  It's a long story but I found it, saved it, spent a fortune on it at the vet clinic, tried to find it a home, failed to find it a home, and kept it.  My Mom started calling it Atticus and although I love that name, it didn't fit this guy.  The kitten especially loves Maleah and she started calling it Bobby Wasabi, but the rest of us are just going to call it Bobby.  If your name is Jason and you are reading this, I am still trying to find it a home.  If that's not your name, then we are probably going to end up keeping it.  He was covered with ringworm and we had to keep him in seclusion for quite a while but I think we finally have that under control.  Luckily, none of the kids got the ringworm but since I was the one taking care of it, I ended up with it on my arms.  Uggh!  It is finally going away and I am so glad it is wintertime and I can wear long sleeves. 

Bobby Wasabi

 

Smile!

I think that is about it for the update that was long overdue.  I am so happy it is Christmastime.  I love this time of year and am really going to enjoy it this year.  Last year is a blur and I don't remember much.  I am going to enjoy Maleah's school Christmas Program this year because I won't be in labor and hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) that Carissa can stay awake for it this year.  She has slept through the whole thing the last three years in a row.  Last year I held that sleeping 25 pound child on the bleachers for the whole thing while having terrible back pain (which turned out to be back labor).  I feel very blessed to be able to celebrate the season with a wonderful husband and three kids at home this year.  Life is good.

Me and Famous People

Remember when I mentioned that I would be going to Nashville with my friends soon?  Well, I did.  And boy oh boy, did we have a good time!!  Me and my group of friends all met years and years ago when I joined their private little playgroup when Maleah was a baby.  The group consists of Deb Duquaine, Kate Saulle (who moved to Jackson, TN a few years ago), Holly Emery (who moved to Colorado a few years ago), Leslie Warren (who couldn't make it on this trip), and myself.  Deb and I drove down.  Kate drove over and Holly flew in from Colorado to hang out with us.  Nashville is awesome and has really really good places to shop.  Malls, sales, and really big TJ Maxx's make me very happy.  Meeting famous people also makes me very happy.

Let's just have a little recap of the last two times we were all in Nashville together.  The time before last we met Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy.  Last time we met Kellie Pickler and Jimmy Wayne.  And thisssssss time....  we met Little Jimmie Dickens, Roy Clark, Sarah Darling, Elizabeth Cook, Bobby Tomberlin, and some others.  We also were in the same small room with Riders in the Sky, Exile, and a bunch of other musicians.  There were no "big name" artists playing that night at the Grand Ole Opry but it was still awesome to see some classic artists and some up-and-coming artists.  It's pretty cool that Deb has the connections to get us in backstage.  A big thank you goes to Opry Dan, who was our host for the night!

Here are some pictures from the night:

Me and Little Jimmy Dickens.  I look like an Amazon

Woman next to him.  He is seriously not much bigger than

Maleah.  I loved LOVED his pink suit.  I told him that he

looked so handsome and he said "Thank you Ma'am" in a

 real quiet little voice.  He was very polite the whole

 time we talked to him.  Loved him!!!!

Holly and me with Elizabeth Cook.  She

has a show on XM Outlaw Country.

She is very good and very nice.

Me and Holly with Sarah Darling.  She has

several songs on the radio right now.  She

is super sweet, very talkative and

approachable, so pretty too. 

Holly and me with Roy Clark.  This guy

was so NICE!!!   He was a very genuine guy.

He was walking with a cane and sat in

a chair when he sang but he did great.

Me with Bobby Tomberlin.  You might

recognize him from The Singing Bee.  He sings

but he is mostly a songwriter and has written

several big hits.  He was so nice and wrote out

an autograph to Maleah that reads, "Maleah,

thanks for watching! Bobby Tomberlin" after I

told him that Maleah liked to watch the Singing Bee

with me.

Me hanging out in the Women's Dressing Room

backstage at the Opry.  This room was

recently in a scene of "Nashville," if you're

watching that show.

Little Jimmy signing a poster for Holly.

Holly, Kate, Deb, Opry Dan, and myself posing

as if we are in the opening scene of some

old soap opera that I had never heard of.

(I didn't tell them that though.)

We are in the Green Room of the Opry.

 

While we were in Nashville we did a lot of other fun things.  On Friday night we went to this really good Mexican restaurant that is one of our favorite restaurants in town.  It is called Cantina Laredo and is gourmet Mexican food.  They have the best guacamole that I have ever had there.  They make it at your table.  They bring the avacodos, salt, lime, tomatoes, etc to the side of your table and cut the avacodos open and start mixing everything into a wooden bowl.  Mmmm.  It is so good!  The restaurant is in this really trendy part of town called The Gulch.  Here is a online review of the restaurant that is right on:  http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/the-gulchs-newest-hot-spot-cantina-laredo-is-to-mexican-as-pf-changs-is-to-chinese/Content?oid=1201294   Another interesting fact about this place:  Taylor Swift lives in the condo highrise above this restaurant.

 

On Friday we also spent several hours in the biggest and best TJ Maxx ever.  On Saturday we ate breakfast at our favorite little bakery in town called Provence.  They have good bread.  Then we spent the whole afternoon shopping until we met Opry Dan at his house for appetizers before the Opry.  Then we did the Opry, stopped back by Dan's to visit and pick up our car.  Kate and I headed back to the hotel to get some sleep and we dropped Holly and Deb off downtown.  They stayed out a little later than what we wanted to.  It sounds like they had a great time dancing to some really good bands.  On Sunday we shopped some more and then had lunch at Buca di Beppos' Italian restaurant.

 

My favorite things about the whole weekend:  spending time with friends that I don't get to see as much as I would like, trying on clothes for hours and getting honest opinions on how I look, meeting famous people, the awesome new shoes I bought that finally make my feet not hurt (Danskos), knowing somebody laughed so hard they peed their pants (and, no, it wasn't me), the CoolSprings Galleria mall, the beautiful weather, coming home to a wonderful husband, three well-cared for kids, and a clean house.

 

My least favorite things about the whole weekend:  leaving Jason and the kids for that long (I really missed them!), and the fact that Onstar failed me the whole weekend when I really needed it.  I depend on that and apparently Nashville is a black hole in the world of Onstar.  Boo to Onstar!

 

Now in other news...  My cousin Andrea had her baby today!!!  I am so happy for her and her husband Dustin and for big brother Mason.  I know that she was sent from Heaven and given a hug from her big brother Bryce before she got here.  I'm sure he is smiling down on her now.  She is absolutely gorgeous.  I thought it was funny how small she seemed and she was 7 pounds, 3 ounces.  Compared to Silas Man, that is HUGE!  But she still seemed small.  As time passes you forget how small he was and I don't want to forget that.  Anyway, her name is Anna Lou Edgington and here is a pic of me holding her when she was just about three hours old.  I scrubbed my hands for two minutes and requested a gown from the nurse before I held her.  The nurse said I didn't need the gown but it made me feel better.  I try to always do unto others as I would have them do unto me (I don't always succeed but I TRY very hard to do that) and there is no way that I would let somebody hold my three-hour-old baby without scrubbing up (especially in cold and flu season.)  Now, if only everybody would do that maybe less babies would end up with RSV.  RSV can be just a simple cold in an adult but if that adult has those cold germs on them it can easily be transferred to the baby and turns into RSV in a baby - even full term infants are at risk for RSV.  Even if you feel fine, you should scrub up before you even touch an infant because that virus can live up to 12 hours on surfaces so if you just touched the bathroom doorknob (chair, handrail, etc) you could have picked up the virus and then when you hold the infant, you spread it.  Each year over 125,000 children are hospitalized with severe RSV and many die.  It seems as if most adults in Clay County are not educated about this and do not take handwashing seriously.  But I will now calmly step down from my soapbox and show you the picture of the beautiful Anna Lou!

 

 

Here are some other pictures from the last week or so:

 

This is Jason holding a very sleepy Silas tonight.

 

This is Silas wearing his camo cap.

Carissa showing me the house that she had just

built out of legos (her favorite toy).

 



 

Well, that's it folks.  It's after ten o'clock and I am going to bed.  Good night!  Oh wait, I forgot to mention that Silas has a tooth!  Okay, now I am done.