Okay, So I knew it would be hot in Houston when I moved here. Maryland can have some pretty brutally hot and humid days in late July and August so I just kept telling myself that summer in Houston would be a lot like July/ August in Baltimore. I was wrong! I have lived here for a month now and I have not seen a drop of rain and we have been experiencing record braking temperatures. Today the temperature was 103 and the current temperature outside at 11pm is 86 (at night)! It is hard to want to go out during the day because it is so hot. I hate to drag Cooper along with me because I am afraid he is going to sweat to death. So I guess summer in Houston is a lot like winter in Baltimore, you just stay inside. I must admit, I like the idea of not having a heavy winter here! I guess a heavy summer is not so bad, but just not for my warm blooded family members like my dad, sister, and Cooper.

For my friends and family in Maryland, I hear you were having some cold rainy weather. I would be happy to share some of the heat and drought with you all I hope the weather starts to warm up and the sun comes out soon so that you can all head outside or to the beach and enjoy yourselves. At least the weather will not be so hot that you feel like you have to hide inside.

Last night was a rough night for Cooper. It took from 7pm until 9pm for Cooper to fall asleep. Not sure what was keeping him awake. It could have been teething, gas, separation anxiety, or not enough wake time so he may not have been tired enough. No matter the reason for his resistance to sleep, he was one sad kid. He was crying and whimpering off and on for about two hours. I went up to his room about four times. The first time I went up there he was crying out for me. Yes, Cooper has learned to request me by saying “mom”, “ma” or “mama”. Most often he calls me “mom” in an almost British accent, which he says rather quickly. I wish I had a tape recording of him saying “mom”. But last night he was crying and screaming out for me. When I opened the door he greeted me by crying, “mooommmmm!” I picked him up and he rested his head on my shoulder and just kept whimpering, “ma, ma, mooooommmm, maaaaaa!” over and over. So sad! I felt terrible! I gave him Tylenol and gripe water in hopes that if he had teething pain or gas that one of those things would help him. Well, I ended up holding him off and on until he calmed down enough to go to sleep. All the while he kept whimpering my name. It was hard to see him so upset. I am glad that Cooper is able to request me now by saying my name. I am also glad that Cooper feels like I can sooth him. He is going though a little bout of separation anxiety lately. He can be in someone else arms and cry out, “ma, mom” and then proceed to reach for me.

I love that Cooper feel secure in my arms. It is amazing how being a parent helps me understand how God must feel about me. I understand that Christ hates to see me upset and wishes he could take away my pain. But I also understand that God cannot always take the pain and suffering away; it is just something that I have to endure (just like Cooper must go through teething). What I realized now is that if we call out to our Heavenly Father, “Abba”, He will respond, just as I will respond to Cooper. I sing to Cooper before he goes to sleep. I have been singing the song “He’s got the whole world in his hands”. I do this as I rock Cooper. He seems to love this song. The song reminds me that God is rocking me and hold me in his hands and that I have nothing to worry about because my Heavenly father has me in his hands! I feel it is a privilege to be Cooper’s mom. God is showing me a glimpse of just how much he really does love and care for us all by allowing me to be Coop’s mom.

Here is a little update on the teething front:

Cooper’s 5th tooth looks like it finally ruptured the skin. This was the first tooth that has cause a blood blister on his gums and a little bleeding. It really looked like it hurt. I am not quite sure, but his gum on the right top side next to his two front teeth is hard and I can see a little bump. The gum is not to swollen, but I think he’s getting ready to cut his 6th tooth. Wow…he seems to be getting all his teeth all at once. Anyone else have this happen to their little one? His naps are on the shorter side and he is waking up in the middle of many of his naps, but he has been able to fall back to sleep for some of his naps. His nighttime sleep still seems to be uninterrupted for the most part.

Here’s a picture of his teeth and his adorable smile!

We took Cooper to the Pool for the first time about 3 weeks ago. He did not react well to the water at first. I think it was a little too cold, but once he got warmed up he was squealing in delight and loved it! We were in a kiddy pool and he was tall enough to stand in it without the water being over his head. Chris, Uncle Trent, and I took turns pulling him around the pool. This is a picture of little Coop in his new swim trunks showing off his chunk!

Right before we moved Cooper cut his third tooth (center top right tooth). Thankfully, the third tooth broke through the skin right before we moved. Then as soon as we got here he started working on tooth number four (center top left tooth). That was a doosey of a tooth. The fourth tooth seemed to cause him the most discomfort thus far and it took a long time to break through the skin. The fourth tooth was swollen and did not totally break through the skin until 8 days later. Shew! This tooth really made him irritable and clingy. His naps were all out of sorts from the pain. Thankfully, Tylenol did the trick for him. I would give him a dose before his morning and afternoon naps on the really bad days and that seem to let him sleep for a longer period of time. If I did not give him the Tylenol , he would wake up after only 30-45 minutes of sleep. So not only did I have a fussy baby due to teething, I ended up with a baby who was overtired too, not a good combination. He finished cutting that fourth tooth last weekend. Then we had about a two day break and then the irritability and poor sleep started again. I took me about 2 days to realize he might be cutting another tooth…but yes…tooth number five (top tooth, next to center left tooth) is trying to make its grand début. Geez , can the poor guy get a break!?! So in less than a months time Cooper has managed to cut three teeth all while moving and adjusting to his new home. He has been a real trooper if you ask me. The one nice side effect to all this teething is Cooper wants to cuddle with me. For all of you who know Cooper, he is not a cuddler at all. But recently, he’ll just sit with me on the floor and watch TV and let me snuggle with him. Awww! Or, he’ll rest his head on my shoulder while I am holding him. I love being his mommy. Something about being his comfort when he’s going through a tough time makes feel good. Even though Cooper is less than his jolly self, I still love every moment of being his mom.

Sorry that this post is coming several weeks after our move, but we have been non-stop since we arrived in Texas. We finally got Internet and phone service at the beginning of this week. So hopefully, you will start to have more posts from me now.

Packing
I am still in shock that we have actually moved from Maryland and that I am living in Texas. The weekend we moved seemed like a whirlwind and I am not even sure how we were able to get everything packed up and in boxes in time to move out the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend. Our friend Nathan is probably the only reason we were able to have the truck packed and ready to head out on May 26th. Nathan and Chris moved everything from our condo onto the truck, which was parked around the corner and a good distance from our condo. We had a moving truck that we had to pack on our own, so if it had not been for Nate, not sure if we could have done it. Thanks Nate! I should also mention that my sister Lizzy, Mike, Jill, Chris’ boss Doug, our neighbors Angie and Terry, and Jayme were also a huge help in getting this move accomplished.  I should have taken a picture of the truck- 12 cubic feet packed wall-to-wall and ceiling-to-ceiling. Who would have thought that an 1100 square foot condo could hold so much stuff? During our packing and loading of the truck Cooper started to cut his third tooth (left top center tooth). He was extra fussy and a little irritable, but thanks to my sister and Jill for entertaining him, I was able to get all the packing done! Thankfully, Cooper’s tooth broke through the skin the day before we moved so we did not have a fussy baby for our long drive from Maryland to Texas.

Saying Goodbye
On Tuesday, May 26th we turned our keys over to the new owner at 9am. We woke up at 6am and started to frantically clean and throw the last few items in boxes. Chris was actually finishing up his shower when the new owner showed up… shew! So I did one last walk through of the condo. I walked through every room and memories just started to flood my mind. When I finally made it to Cooper’s bedroom, a well of emotions just erupted and I began to cry. Memories of rocking him and feeding in the middle of the night made me sad to leave the condo.

The Road Trip
We got a late start by normal standards, but we were right on Foley time. We did not leave Columbia until 2pm and we drove to Atlanta and arrived at 2:30 in the morning. Cooper did surprisingly well! Jayme went along on the road trip and without her I don’t think we could have make it to Atlanta in that short amount of time. She was great playing with Cooper, handing him toys, and getting the portable DVD player set-up with different Baby Einstein Videos. Oh my Gosh, what would we have done without Baby Einstein? Truly they were our saving grace. Cooper looked like he was hypnotized when we would put them on and we did not hear a peep out of him. I will never leave home without the portable DVD player and Baby Einstein again if going on a road trip longer than an hour or so. Cooper had fallen asleep in the car, but woke up around 12:30am right outside Atlanta. He was crying and I think he was kind of scared. So we popped in a Baby Einstein DVD and problem solved. Yes, so my 8 month-old was awake from 12:30 until 1:30am watching TV…crazy yes….but it saved our sanity! The second day we met for breakfast with Chris’s youth pastor from high school and then left around 11am and did not arrive until 12:30am. Cooper did pretty well but needed a little more attention on the second day. I think the drive was starting to get to him and the lack of “true” sleep was starting to wear on him. But surprisingly enough, he did well and we made it to Houston, Texas in two days and 27 hours later. WOW!

In Transition
We stayed with Chris’ parents for almost 2 weeks. Jayme stayed for a few more days after we arrived in Houston. We were so busy! We painted Cooper’s bedroom and bathroom and our bedroom and bathroom before we moved in. We did this so the paint fumes would be gone before we were actually living in the house. So this delayed our actually move into our home for a while. Thankfully, Chris’ parents were so great to us and had us stay with them until we could move in. My in-laws have been nothing but generous to us by opening their home to us, giving us their time and labor by helping moving, painting, taking care of Cooper, and cooking for us. They have also helped us out by giving us a few big furniture items like a kitchen table, piano, and shelves, and other things that I will not list. During these two weeks we celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday downtown with dinner and a comedy theater and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law came into town to celebrate. We also went into the city on two other occasions to show Jayme the town. Then the following weekend we headed off to Dallas for my brother-in-law’s surprise birthday party. So needless to say, the first two weeks we were here were non-stop!

Finally, We’re Home!
We moved into our home on June 8. We slept in our living room the first night because we had not set our bed up and Cooper slept in his pack ‘n play until just a few days ago. But I am happy to report, that both of our bedrooms are finally functional and we have our bed and crib assembled! Cooper has been sleeping rather well in his new room. We painted it the same color so it really does not look much different than his room in Maryland. Cooper cut his fourth tooth last week, which made his naps a little off and his mood a little less than desirable, but he seems to be doing much better now. We still have a ton of boxes everywhere, but I try and tackle a little bit at time. We still have a ton to paint, but I am in no rush to paint the rest of the house. I want to make sure that whatever colors I decide to paint, that I will like them because I am not going to repaint!

Thoughts
I miss Maryland and all my friends! I am not much of a phone person and I enjoyed spending time with my friends. I definitely think that my love language is quality time. I miss my bible study girls and all the babies! I looked forward to getting together with all the girls every week. I also miss the rest of my friends and just hanging out. I miss having a great next-door neighbor (Angie) to run over and talk to or go for a stroller walk! Hopefully in time I will meet some good friends here. Our street has a ton of young children all under the age of five. I am hoping that when the weather cools off a little (it has been blasted hot here - high 90’s every day and humid) that they will come back outside and play in the court again! The parents are usually outside with their kids pushing them around on their little cars and just socializing with the other adults on our street. Our neighbors seems nice and are very friendly, so I am hoping that in time I can form some good relationships with some of the other mom’s living on our street! Still no church home either, Chris and I just started our church search and I am hoping that God will lead us to a good church where our family can worship, learn, grow, and fellowship!

Working from home
Chris is still working for APL remotely. Now that we have Internet at home he is working from home. I enjoy the company even if we are not interacting much while he is home. Chris has enjoyed working from home too. He does not have to waste time in the car and he gets to see more of Cooper this way. Temporarily, Chris is set up on a card table in our office amongst all the moving boxes and clutter until we get a desk. We have our doorway Johnny Jumper set up right in the office. I took a picture of Cooper playing while Chris was working. Hope you enjoy the picture!

This is my last full week in Maryland before we make our trip west to Texas. I have a thousand and one things to cram into the last few days I have left here. Between packing, visiting with friends and family, Jayme’s graduation, settlement, and just trying to run a few more last minute errands, I have my hands pretty full. So if you don’t hear from me on our blog for a while, you will know why. I promise to faithful keep updating the blog once we get to Texas and get our Internet set up. I am sure I will have a lot to say about your move. Just in case you did not know, we are driving to Houston, Texas with Cooper. Yes, I know that sound crazy, but we are doing it. We needed to get our cars to Houston and well that means we needed to drive. Jayme is coming with me to help out with Cooper. We plan on breaking the trip down into 3-4 days. So hopefully that will make it more manageable with Cooper. Cooper has been a real trooper lately! We have taken him all over God’s creation and keeping him up late at night (normal bedtime is 7pm and he’s been going to sleep some nights close to 9pm) he is missing naps left and right, but despite all the craziness, he is doing okay! I cannot believe that he is handling all of this so well. I am thankful to God that he is allowing Cooper to be more flexible so that I can do all my good-byes!

This week is bound to have me filled up with emotions. I was born and raised in Maryland and leaving it feels like I am leaving a piece of me behind. I pray that my transition to Texas will be smooth! I’ll just miss all my family and friends that I am leaving behind.
Okay…more cleaning/ boxes await…signing off for a little while…

Hi Everyone, It’s me Cooper. This is my first blog post and mommy is helping me write it. I wanted to put a video up of my buddy Saber. Saber is a mini gray hound dog and he is my best friend. He makes me laugh and giggle really hard. When I am in a bad mood, Saber can always make me smile. I sometimes grab his skin too hard and mommy tells me to be “gentle”. I’m working on that! I am going to miss my buddy Saber when we move to Texas. I asked daddy and mommy if we could get a dog, they told me not yet. Boo!

Saber, I love you! Don’t ever forget me because I’ll never forget you!

I absolutely love my bible study girls. I wish I could take them with me to Texas. Each of them is so unique and bring such a wonderful quality to our group. What I love most about these girls is that I feel free to be me around them. I can vent about Cooper’s lack of sleep, laugh about something rather silly, cry about motherhood or about friend and family who need Christ, or just be a plain dork (which I do rather well). These girls have poured out love for me as Chris, Cooper, and I are getting ready to move in about two weeks. They have had a girls dinner out one week, a huge going away party with all my extended friends, and a bible study farewell dinner with our spouses last night. The love I feel from these girls makes me so grateful to God for allowing me to be apart of these women’s lives. How I love all of them so much. I pray that they know how much I have appreciated each and every one of them!

Here is what I have learned from each of these women:

Jo- to be more flexible with life. Every day presents a new challenge and we just need to accept that with each day comes some variation. I have also learned to be open and honest with needing help and asking for it. She has encouraged me to reach out to my friends when I need more help. I have also seen how Godly a woman she is and she inspires me to lean on God for my every need. She is a wonderful mother and wife and I pray that her example would help me to grow as both a mother and wife!

Angie- to be content in all situations. Angie has had a lot of difficult situations this past year between moving to a state and knowing no one, raising a newborn, health issues in her family, and buying a new home. Despite all these difficult situations, she has not complained at all. She has share her heart with me and her sadness, but never once complained. She is a woman who really trusts in God. Shes loves her son and husband so much and it is evident in her actions!

Tricia- a Godly woman. She is a person who truly loves the Lord! She has such great insights to share when we are studying the bible. She is a woman of prayer and really has a Christ like love. She has really convicted me to spend more time with God in prayer and reading his word daily. My relationship with God has grown so much because of the example she has set for me. She is a wonderful mom and wife with a true servants heart!

Janel- a praying wife. She is a woman who prayers for her husband and family all the time! Instead of sitting back and saying, oh well life sucks for my family, she gets down on her knees and prays. She also asks for her friends to join her in prayer. I have seen God do wonderful things in her family because of her prayer and petitions to God. She is also a person with a servants heart. She is always helping other people who need help, whether that is babysitting for a friend, driving a friend to the doctors, coming over to a friends house who is crying and needs support, or just bring a meal to a friend. Janel is a trust worthy friend and I am going to miss her! Although Janel is not a mother yet, I have no doubt that she will be a fantastic mom when her time comes!

Andrea- rely on your friends. Andrea just had her first child this year. As a first time mom, she has been great about asking for help from her friends. I was not so good at asking for help. She has taught me the value of community and depending on your friends for help, support, encouragement, and prayer. I hope that when I move to Texas that I can reach out to other woman as Andrea has reached out to me and her other friends. She is also a very Godly woman who has total trust in God’s plan for her life. She has inspired me to have more trust in God. She has also encouraged our bible study to pray more often and because of that we have seen God answer some awesome prayers! She too is a wonderful mother and wife!

Our website is hosted by Chris’s brother Trent. Trent and his wife Sarah were away for almost 2 weeks in Italy. (Yeah, I know…doesn’t it make you jealous!) The server was down while they were gone.  Now that they are back, I have our website back up and running! Needless to say, I had a lot of things I wanted to write about during out hiatus…so without further ado…

Gig ‘em Aggies!

We have a little Aggie in the making. What is an Aggie? Well for those of you who are not from Texas, let me explain.  Texas A&M Aggies (variously A&M or Texas Aggies) refers to the sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname “Aggies” is common at land-grant or “Ag” (agriculture) schools in many states. You can also refer to a person who attends the college Texas A&M as an Aggie. Chris went to A&M and he has already started talking about how little Cooper will one day become an Aggie too. Jill, a friend of Chris’s, bought Cooper an Aggie sweatsuit to get him started young!

Sew Your Own Sleep Sac

I decided to test out my crafty side and make my very own sleep sac. I got the idea from my friend Jo. I was over at her house about about two weeks ago and I noticed that she was trying to make a larger sleep sac for her 14 month old son. I thought, what a great idea. Sleep sacs cost a ton of money ($20 each). I traced a sleep sac that my friend Jo already had on a brown paper bag. I used that as my pattern since the front and back side are relatively the same size. The only thing I made sure to do is to make the neck opening lower in the front. I bought a yard of soft cotton fabric and a zipper from JoAnn Fabrics for $6. I love the fabric because it has monkeys on it and says, “little monkey.”  I traced the pattern onto the fabric twice to make my front and back and I had my sleep sac started! Adding the zipper was a little tricky at first, since I have never done one. But I got the hang of it. It took me about 2 hours to complete, but I think I could have been faster if I knew what I was doing with the zipper. I took some pics of Cooper in the sleep sac.

Packing Up

We started to pack for our big move to Texas at the end of the month. I cannot believe that we are actually going to move. I don’t think it seems real to me. Even with all the packing and boxes that we have started to accumulate in our condo, I still don’t feel like it is quite real. Moving probable will not feel real until I am all settled into my new home. I bet I’ll feel like Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Anyways, I took some pictures of Cooper helping us pack! He was so helpful!