Mini Vacay and first week of "school"

I have gotten really behind on blogging lately, so I decided to do a catch up blog post.  This is what has been going on with us lately….

First of all, Justin completed his summer semester of grad school and had the entire month of August off school.  Hallelujah!  We wanted to take full advantage of the free time since he would be back in Grad school, working part time and then we will have a newborn!  We were so thankful to be able to go on a short mini vacay together!  It was originally supposed to be a family vacation, but Cooper caught a stomach bug the night before we were supposed to leave.  We were so bummed, but were able to go the following week since Justin still had time off school.  My parents graciously were able to watch Cooper for us so we could getaway by ourselves.  We went to the Marriott resort in San Antonio.  We had such a great time together and it was so nice and relaxing!

It's not a road trip without a stop at Bucee's!

View of the pool from our hotel

Our favorite spot by the pool

Chillin by the pool with book and drink in hand 

Playing some checkers in the evening after a wonderful dinner together

It was the first time we left Cooper overnight, but he did great!  He loves going to Granna and Ga's house!  We definitely did miss him though and it was good to be back together again.

A few weeks after that, Cooper started a Mother's Day Out program 2 days a week.  I was really nervous about it because Cooper can be very shy and I have never left him that long (5 hours) before with the exception of my parents who he knows very well.  I just didn't know what he would think about me leaving him with strangers for that long!  We talked to him about "school" a lot and we met his teachers and classroom the week before and I loved it.  We started the morning off with some blueberry muffins...

Then we tried to take some traditional first day of school pictures, but Cooper wasn't too thrilled at first...

Then Daddy held him and made him smile of course

I was surprised how hard it was for me to take him and how nervous I was.  I know my pregnancy hormones weren't helping since I'm crazy emotional right now, but I was crying on the way there the first day!  Thankfully, Justin came with me to drop him off so that helped and I got my emotions all out before we got there.  I'm sure they would think I am super crazy mom if they saw me cry for just a 5 hour program!  Thankfully, he didn't cry at all when we dropped him off which helped so much.  The 5 hours flew by as I tried to get way too much done in my free time.  I was excited to pick him up and happy to hear that he had a great day!  He played, ate all his lunch and even took a nap.  They say he is so good and very easy going.  Easy going?  Hmm, I'm sure glad they think that!!  :-)

After we picked him up, we decided to do something fun with him and went to get some frozen yogurt.  It was a fun family time together since Justin was off that day.

Cooper's first artwork at school….sweet handprint

He's been in Mother's Day Out for 3 weeks now, just 2 days a week and it's going so well!  I LOVE his teachers and love all the fun things he gets to do there, while making new friends.  I know it is good for him and it is great for me to have some down time before Baby #2 comes…only 3 months away!

Austin Trip

Justin had a few days off in a row so we took a quick trip to Austin to visit his family.  Cooper did great in the car and slept most of the time and was content looking out the window the rest of the time.  On Saturday we got together with more of Justin's extended family and Cooper enjoyed playing with his 2nd cousin Abigail, who Cooper called Aba.  They were both a little shy at first but before we knew it Cooper wouldn't stop hugging and kissing her.  I really don't know where Cooper gets his affection from because he LOVES to hug kids his size.  Nonstop. He does it all the time.  It's super cute until the other kid has had enough hugging.  I think it's time to start teaching him hugging once is enough :)  They also had fun playing on the piano together.

They would play and then laugh and then play and then clap….too much cuteness for one day.  Thankfully Cooper slept well while we were there, though he didn't nap too long.  The next day we went to Zilker park and got snow cones and rode a train around the park.

Cooper has his serious face on as he enjoyed looking and observing everything around him.  The park is huge and there is also a natural spring pool where everyone was swimming.

Cooper enjoyed watching everyone swimming with their dogs.  He kept saying "dog" over and over.  It was definitely summer weather that day as it was HOT.

That evening Justin and I had a very nice date night out.  We had an amazing dinner at Steiner Ranch Steakhouse with the most beautiful view.  Since my birthday is Saturday and Justin is working, this was my early birthday dinner, so we splurged a little and enjoyed our evening out!

We sat outside and had a beautiful view of the sunset while listening to live music.  It was a great evening!  Cooper also had fun with Mimi while we were out.

One of Cooper's favorite things to do was riding his little motorcycle down Mimi's driveway.  He would clap and giggle after he went and kept wanting to do it again.

We had a great time relaxing and visiting family.  On our way out we got to see my childhood best friend Gloria and her 2 daughters.  It was so fun to see them!

Could Cooper be any whiter?  How my quarter hispanic child became this white is beyond me!  Bring on the sunscreen.  

Easter

We had such a fun day yesterday celebrating Christ's resurrection and having some fun family time.  Justin had to work on Good Friday and Saturday but we are so thankful he had Easter off which made it more fun!  We went to our church in the morning which was so great and then went over to my parents house for the day.

This was the only good picture I got the whole day.  Oh well, you do what you gotta do when you have an 18th month old.  My mom made a delicious brunch which was so yummy!  My brother, nephew, Aunt, Uncle and cousin were all there too.

Cooper got 2 Easter baskets, one from us and one from my parents.

I think it's safe to say that he loved his first chocolate bunny!

But don't worry, he just ate the ear and I'm sure the bunny will last a long time.  We also got Cooper a little Tball set for the backyard.  He practiced a little inside first.

It was such a beautiful day so we played outside for awhile too.  Cooper played outside for a little while but his main obsession is going into the garage to explore and then watching and waving to all the cars that go by.  We tried to have an Easter egg hunt in the backyard which my nephew loved, but Cooper was not really having it.  Oh well, maybe next year. 

He did enjoy his Tball set though!

It was a great day all around even though Cooper was a little tired and cranky at times.  He did love playing with his cousin as they chased each other all around the house.  Granna also gave the boys rice crispy treats which Cooper loved.  He sat on the floor in the middle of the kitchen to enjoy the goodness.

Thank you Jesus for the real reason we celebrate Easter…He is Risen!!  

Hello 2014

Yes, I do realize that we are well into 2014 and I actually started this blog post a few weeks ago....but December was so crazy for us that my 14 month old decided he doesn't like naps anymore and he loves waking up bright and early.  Therefore, the only real free time I have these days is in the evening which  other things come way before blogging.  So here is my attempt to catch up!

I'm not sure how this happened, but somehow it's 2014.  December was so busy that I blinked and it's now January!  How did this happen?  We went to Austin for Thanksgiving and after getting back, it has been pretty crazy.  It started with Cooper getting another very high (103) fever, his second fever in just the past 2 months!  He was miserable for a few days and so was I (it's so hard seeing your babies sick).  We were also trying to get everything packed and ready for our Colorado trip, decorating the house for Christmas and buying Christmas gifts.   Shortly after he got better, we went to Colorado for our big family ski vacation which was wonderful.  Cooper got a little sick there, and his entire eating habits changed and has yet to come back.  Then I got a horrible 24 hr stomach virus the day after we got back from Colorado.  Thankfully Justin was able to stay home from work because there was no way I could have taken care of Cooper as I was in agony and could barely get out of bed.  Then it's Christmas!!  Thankfully we were all better by Christmas and had a great time spending it with my family.

We went to the Christmas Eve service and then came back to the house to open some gifts, eat dinner and lots of yummy dessert.  My mom is the best of making the most delicious Christmas treats and desserts.  Cooper was just adorable!

His 2 big gifts were the Pottery Barn chair we got him and the fun car my parents got him.  He loves it!

It was definitely a fun and relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to spend with family.

Then the weekend after Christmas, Justin's family had a mini family reunion.  It was really fun to see all of Justin's family and spend time with everyone.  

Cooper also had fun with his little cousins..they are just too cute for words

Then Justin's mom stayed with us for the weekend and we enjoyed going to church, walking around Old Town Spring, relaxing and had a nice dinner.  The day after Justin's mom left was New Year's Eve.  Unfortunately Justin had to work New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, but it's a trade off since he was off for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I went to my parents house and we went out to dinner and then came home to watch the Aggies play in the chicfila bowl!  WHOOP!  Justin got home at a pretty reasonable time and we waiting to watch it with him.  It was a GREAT game and we had a lot of fun watching it.  Cooper slept horrible that night so I was pretty exhausted on New Year's Day.  Thankfully my parents helped out by watching Cooper so I could sleep some more.  And then before we knew it, December was over, and it's 2014.  Phew!

2014 has started out a little rough with Cooper not sleeping well or eating well anymore, but more on that later (he is 15 months old today! EEK).  I'm thinking it's just a phase and hopefully he will go back to his happy self sleeping until 8am, napping great, and waking up happy :)  I sure miss it and didn't realize how good I had it!

I'm looking forward to what 2014 has for our family (oh, besides the fact that Justin has to go part time in May to finish up grad school, but don't want to be a Debbie Downer...womp, womp)  Happy Belated New Year to all!!

Colorado Family Vacation

We just got back from a wonderful family vacation to Beaver Creek Colorado.  My brother won the trip through his work and he graciously chose to take our whole family along.  It really was a dream vacation, staying at a ski in/ski out resort where everyone treats your like royalty.  The weather was absolutely perfect...sunny days, not too cold and beautiful!  It was also Cooper's very first time on a plane.  I was a little nervous going into it because I didn't think Cooper could sit still in our laps for that long, but he did so well!  Our first flight was to Dallas and he slept the whole time.

Our 2nd flight was the longer flight and he was super fussy until we finally took off and then he fell asleep again.  Phew!  We finally made it to our resort and were able to take in the beautiful view of the mountains from our room.

That evening we went to dinner in the hotel and tried to get to bed early since we were getting up early the next morning for skiing!  My parents were so nice to watch Cooper so Justin and I could go skiing together.  We started out the first morning taking a private lesson together since it had been awhile since I've skied.  Justin definitely did not need a lesson but he was sweet to take it with me.  

The greens were a lot harder greens than what I was used to, so it took me awhile to get back into it again but it was still a lot of fun being out in the snow!

We met my brother and nephew up for lunch as they also took a lesson.  They had lots of little restaurants and shops and an ice skating rink at the bottom of the slopes where you can walk around for a break.  

Justin skiied the rest of the afternoon while the rest of us went back to the hotel.  Cooper did not sleep well the night before so he was pretty fussy and tired off and on that day.  Though he was tired that day, he sure LOVED playing with his cousin!  Cooper loves playing with other kids and he is constantly hugging Peyton.  It's so cute to see them playing together and Peyton was such a good big cousin to Cooper.

That evening we had reservations to go on a sleigh ride to the top of a mountain to eat at a nice restaurant.  It was so fun...and cold!  The ride up the mountain was beautiful looking at our resort and the city at night.

The restaurant was beautiful and the food was A-mazing!  It was a very fun experience.  After dinner we rode the sleigh back down the mountain and then sat outside by the fire roasting marshmallows.

The next day Justin and I went for day 2 of skiing by ourselves.  I knew this would by my last day skiing as I wanted to spend time with Cooper the next day and give my parents a break.  We skiied out of our hotel and skiied across to the main Beaver Creek area.  It was fun skiing together (even though I may or may not have had a small panic attack at the very end of the run where there was an extremely steep drop off..ugh, this was not a GREEN folks) (I did survive and made it down thanks to my patient hubby).  All in all, it was a fun and beautiful day of skiing!

After skiing we met the rest of my family for lunch.  These Texans may have gone a little crazy bundling up the 14 month old....this was his position in the stroller, poor baby couldn't move his arms!

 It reminded me of The Christmas Story when the mom was getting her son ready to walk to school and he couldn't move his arms.  I think it was clear to everyone around us that we are the Texans...people were even pointing and laughing at sweet Cooper all bundled up.  I'm not sure if the laughing was due to his absolute cuteness or to our absolute craziness.

The next day Justin decided to take advantage of skiing one last day and I stayed with Cooper to take him to play in the snow.  It wasn't quite what I imagined it being in my head of Cooper playing in his first snow as he really didn't want me to put him down, but hey we still got some cute pictures of him in the snow!

The weather was so great that we even got hot in all our layers.  We really didn't even need a jacket with the sun out.  On the last night, we had reservations to go to a nice dinner at the resort.  We wanted to get some good family pictures in too since the hotel was decorated so beautifully for Christmas.

We decided it would be more relaxing for everyone for my family to eat first at 6 and then Justin and I would put Cooper to bed and then we ate just the 2 of use after my family came back.  It was perfect since Cooper is pretty unpredictable at meal time and we were able to have a nice date night.  After having a nice dinner, we went outside to sit by the fire for awhile and then came in and sat in the hotel lobby.  I enjoyed a chocolate martini, which reminded me of our honeymoon when I had one almost every evening.  It was a very nice evening!

And then before we knew it, after 5 days and 4 wonderful nights, our vacation was over and we were on our way back to Houston.  It was such a fun family vacation and I am thankful for my brother who worked hard to win this trip and to take us with him!  We were very blessed :)