My lil Pirate!

This has been a year of pirates! Cooper's nursery was (and will be again) decked out in everything pirate! I even decided to make his first birthday a pirate themed party! I have been loading up on a ridiculous amount of stuff for his very first birthday celebration! Don't judge, I know it is a bit much, but is SO fun and it is easy to get caught up in! Hey- he only turns one once!


I am putting a picture of Captain Cooper on his birthday invites and I just wanted one cute snapshot of him, that should be easy right?!!...NOT! I should have known that my wiggly, busy boy would not sit still for me to snag even one picture of him. I tried 3 different times on Sunday, in 3 different outfits! You should have seen me dancing around, singing and calling out his name to get his attention! It was quite a scene! Finally I got smart and asked for help! My mom and Josh helped me get his attention for 10 seconds so that I could snap a picture. Go figure that the cutest one I get he is wearing a pirate hat! How cliche! Oh well, if we are going to do everything pirate than how appropriate! Look at this sweet face! Ahoy Maties!




He didn't realize the hat was still on! Captain Cooper at work!


Oh and... how neat that Pirates of the Carribean 4 just came out in theaters!

Interior

Here are the last pictures I took of the house. These were taken a week ago and since then the tile has been laid, cabinets have been stained and the walls have a coat of paint on them. Wow! Things are happening so fast and I CANNOT WAIT to move into this house! The update in these pictures is the wood work-the wood beams, trim, crown molding, closet shelves and our fabulous kitchen cabinets. The cabinets were done by Kirk, a very close family friend. They look awesome!




This picture does not do my closet justice. I had to include a picture because the shelves are SUPER exciting to me! I have plenty of room for handbags, belts, hats, etc!! There are 3 different levels to hang clothes, the top row is to switch out my seasonal clothes. It thrills me that I won't have to pack up the off season clothes in the attic, I can just pop them up on the highest rack!


We should find out very soon how much is left and when we can expect to close and move in. I am thinking 4-6 weeks, maybe less. What's left you ask... finish up paint, counter tops, carpet, brick/stone fire place, lighting, appliances, paint doors, put in the front door, lay driveway, and I am sure there are a few other things that I can't think of right now. All I know is that I am getting very anxious!

When it is finally time to move in it will be bittersweet! I will miss having my mom, dad and mother in law around all the time. We normally cook out 1-2 nights a week and we are always hanging out together. Also my brother, sis in law and nephew spend a lot of time at mom and dad's too...it feels a bit like Grand Central Station and I love it! It has been fun to live back at home! I will miss the home cooked meals, (I will cook but it won't be the same), early morning chats on the back porch and my mom rocking Cooper to sleep every night. Don't get me wrong I am tired of living in a one room apartment with a baby, having a cabinet for a closet and not having a washer and dryer of our own just to mention a few things. I do have to say that we have been living here since February and 4 months have just flown by! It won't be long now!

Exterior

Guess what?! We now have brick/stone on the house!! I am relieved that the brick sample we chose at the design center in March, looks great on the house! It was so scary to make that big of a decision just by looking at a pallet of brick colors. The name of the brick is Fall Creek and I think it is the perfect combo of colors! The brick and stone are a great match! Take a look...




Here is a close up of the rock and brick together. Love it!

A view of the brick without the glare of the sun!



Stay tuned for the update on the interior of the house!

10 Months

So I am a little late on posting Cooper's 10 month update.


Here is what my little sweetheart is doing now...


Cooper at 1o months you are 30 inches tall and 23lbs. 11 oz. Daddy had to take you to the Dr. because you have been sick with an upper respiratory infection and another ear infection so they gave us your stats. You are very tall and your weight is proportionate to your height. You are still one healthy little guy and for that we are very thankful!

You are sleeping pretty darn well! We put you down at 8:30 and you usually wake up one time during the night, only to get a drink and go back to sleep! I am hoping that you sleep like this or even all night when we move to our new house!

You are still on formula and take a bottle 2-3 times a day. You have several different sippy cups that you like, but in the next couple months we are going to really encourage them instead of a bottle, so that maybe we can ween you around your first birthday. You are not a huge fan of baby food, you much rather prefer the real stuff, so we don't push it. You eat mashed up table food and of course the Gerber Graduate snacks! You really like water and you enjoy apple juice too!

You now have 4 teeth! Your top two front teeth have finally poked through and you look so cute when you show us your pearly whites!

You are the happiest baby boy I have ever seen and a little nosey too, I admit you come by that honestly! We cannot go somewhere without you trying to get the attention of the person in front of, behind or beside us. You cock your little head to the side and give off the BIGGEST grin! Everyone compliments you on your beautiful blue eyes and your sweet demeanor!

You are still not saying dadada or mamama repeatedly. We may hear it here and there but it is not consistent. That being said you are a babbler. I love turning the radio down in the car and just listening to you "talk"!

You are such a fast crawler and you pull up on just about everything! You love to stand up and walk between furniture. You are not walking just yet. You can stand on your own, but then fall down when no one or nothing is there for you to hold on to. We have seen you take a step and are sure you will be walking in the next month or two. No hurry, however I think it will be easier to chase a walking you rather than a crawling you. Atleast I will be able to put you down more places, and walk alongside you.

You have now begun to "dance" when you hear music. You bounce up and down and the look on your face is so serious as if you are really concentrating on your dance moves. Ha!

You absolutely LOVE staying with Natalie and Annette! Every morning that Annette picks you up or I drop you off with Nat, you just smile and head for their arms! It makes leaving you so much easier knowing that you are truly loved! You also love your cousin Hadley! He is with you 4 out of 5 days a week and you two play so well together. He takes care of his lil cuz and is so careful with you. He has also taught you to have some patience, I said some, you realize that when you are with him that you are not the only child. This will help tremendously when you have a lil brother or sister, not in the near future, just to clarify!

You are a little lover! Lately you have been laying your head down on our shoulders and we say awwww, and you just snug and smile. It melts my heart, let me tell you! I love my 'lil mama's boy!

I thank my lucky stars that you are my son! I can't even begin to describe how deep my love is for you, it grows each day! Thank you for making me a mommy! I love you Cooper Jackson!


My sweet boys!

They make my heart melt! I am so thankful for a wonderful husband and a beautiful baby boy! This was such a sweet picture of my boys cuddling in their white shirts! I am a very blessed mama who is in LOVE with my boys!

A walk through of our future home!

Our new home is coming right along! Josh and I have been closely following the progress and we are so happy with the way everything is going! Maverick Homes began building our house 30 days ago and it has POPPED UP right before our eyes! When they say they are going to do something it is either done on or before the scheduled date. We are so blessed to be working with such an incredible builder who is doing an excellent job on our home! Here is where we are at with the house as of today...

The front of the house...if the weather cooperates it will be bricked this week!


View of the front door from the living room. There is a small hall closet on the left. Cooper's playroom is on the right, to the left is the hallway which leads to a bathroom, a study, Cooper's room and a spare bedroom.



This is a view of the living room and entry way from the dining room. The fire place is in the back left corner, the kitchen is on the right and directly to the left is the back door to the patio.

This is the opposite view of the living room/dining room from the hallway.

This is the dining room and just to the left of this picture is the bar and kitchen. The door to the master bedroom is in between the kitchen and dining room. That is the back door on the right.


This is the kitchen area, Cooper's playroom is past the kitchen to the left and the laundry room and garage are straight back to the right.

This is one side of the master bedroom!

This is the other view of the master bedroom!

Here are Cooper and Josh checking out Coop's room! Our lil guy loves his new room and cannot wait to play in it!


We are so blessed to be able to build this house and we could not be more excited about it! I can't wait to see the finished product! We are thinking about 6 more weeks and it should be very close to, if not completely done.