Has it really already been 6 MONTHS?!?!

Cooper's 1/2 Birthday can be summed up in a few words.  "Cooper sucks at shots!!" He got his shots Friday morning, and wasn't really back to "normal" until Sunday.  His appointment went well.   We saw a different doctor who laughed when I told him the other doc thought Coop was "malnourished" so we got off to a good start.  Cooper weighs 14lb 5 oz and is 26" long.  He is a little guy - kinda.  He is skinny, but long.  He eats a ton (we are up to 3 meals of solids a day) but he is 100 mph from the time his eyes open to the time he falls asleep!!  It is a hard job following Ady around all the time!

Here are a few of the pictures I took for his "6 months photoshoot" - there will be lots more on the Picasa web album shorty!!

The post it didn't last long, even though I put it where he couldn't see it. Sheesh!

Ady sure likes to hold Cooper, but he HATES sitting still!

This is his standard "where do I want to go next" pose... it never lasts long and he is off again in another direction.

Ady is FULL of it today!!!

Long story short, we have misplaced Adyson's bike helmet, but I am determined to find it.  In the meantime we went to Wal-Mart and bought a blue one that she can use until hers is found, then the blue on will wait for Coop to grow into it.  While I am searching through the disaster of unorganized helmets Adyson decides that she is going to take a bike for a spin.  When I asked her what she was doing the conversation went like this:

Me: Ady, what are you doing?
Ady: My just hop right on this bike and see what I can do.
Me: It isn't yours and we are not buying it so please park it.
Ady: Mom, put it in the basket.
Me: No, Adyson.  We're not buying a bike today.
Ady: My DADDY will buy me a new big girl bike.  He will buy me one with sparkles when he comes home.
Me: Are you sure about that?
Ady: Yes.  My Daddy  will buy me new big girl bike.  Let's call him

Geez.  She is a nut.  Maybe it is the blue finger/toe nails??

So we get home, cook a pizza for lunch (which Ady refused to eat), put Cooper down for a nap, and then we went outside to mow the yard. 

We come back in and now she suddenly wants her pizza.  I heat some up for her and after about 5 bites:

Ady: Mommy, I don't want to eat pizza.  I want REAL food.
Me: Ok, what do you want?
Ady: M&Ms!!
Me: That is not real food
Ady: But the are REAL good!!!

Sheesh.  I did make her eat more pizza and then gave her M&Ms.  She is so crazy sometimes.  Once she had the M&Ms she decided to start acting a fool again since she had gotten what she wanted.  Here she is "stuck" in her chair which miraculously fell to the floor as soon as I tried to help her out of it.... 

and for Cooper, he is just as wacky as ever :)

Keeping me busy...

I have fallen a little behind in blogging, but here are the highs of the last couple weeks.

Cooper LOVES avocado!!! LOVES it!!  He gobbled it up faster than I could spoon it into his mouth!!  This was the very first bite!

Cooper is rolling around and into everything...

During a diaper change, between "diaper off" and "diaper on" something like this usually happens.  He gets himself "stuck" quite a bit... Mommy to the rescue!

They do eat at the table together now that I bought Coop a hook on highchair.  This is the only time they sit still (well, kinda sit still) without being asleep!

Carrot sticks are great teethers...

Sippy cups are confusing...

Bananas are Cooper's FAVORITE!!!  Especially real ones in a mesh feeder...

Oh, Adyson...

Beauty Queen!!

Footies are a good snack...

Cooper really DOES have hair on top of his head...

and, finally, baby lotion makes great hair gel...

  Cooper is STILL sporting this mohawk today (after two nights of sleep!!)

OK - New Plan.

I took 112 pictures of the kids in the last few days.  There is no way I can share them all easily, except on the web so here is my new plan:

I started using Picasa to help organize all the zillions of picturs that I have and it has a "web albums" feature where I can post the albums to the web share that way.  That is the new plan.  I haven't ironed all the details out just yet, but the address where you can find the web albums is:

  http://picasaweb.google.com/jackie.l.lease/April2010?feat=directlink

Please let meknow if that doesn't work...

I will post a new link every month for the new month's album.

Warning - this is ALL the pictres I take, so there are bound to be some blurry, off center, or "what the heck is that" moments, but that is what you get when you are taking pictures of a 3 year old and a 5 month old!!

All in a days work...

It's 5:30, Cooper is fed, Ady is playing, I am exhausted and craving some Chinese food in a bad way - but not really sure where to get it.  We have been very busy today, here's a recap:

It really started at 11:30 last night when Cooper decided that the sweet potatoes that he had eaten for dinner would look better on his pajamas and blanket and sheet and crib wedge and crib and floor and wall.  Yes.  It WAS really that bad.  I decided that I would leave the mess for the morning and tend to the scremaing child so first thing this morning I had two loads of laundry calling my name.

We had a normal morning, UmiZoomis, Max and Ruby, Lucky Charms, Chocolate milk, and most importantly coffee.  Cooper got fussy but wouldn't go to sleep so we loaded up and headed to Target.  I FINALLY found some 95" curtains for the toy room and a couple other things and home we came.  Cooper slept the whole time we were gone but was fussy again as soon as we got home.  Awesome.

Doorbell!  Whoo Hoo!! Fed-Ex!!  Ady's new table and Cooper's new crib bumper arrived and I went to work.  The table was easy and the chairs only required on scres each so that was an easy assembly.  Ady's new table is Mickey Mouse and the table top is a dry erase board and it even came with three markers. 

Next task - on to the crib bumper.  It also was an easy task. 

Wait.  Where's Ady?  She is too quiet. 

Found her.  Guess what color one of her new dry erase markers is?? 

It's has to be nap time by now, right??

Time to work on the house.  Now, I know this is still going to look like chaos to everyone, but really, there was barely a walking path when I started so I consider this a great feat!! 

Oh good, Ady's awake.  and Cooper too!  It was a beautiful day to day so we decided to take a walk.  This was Cooper's first "big boy" walk in the stroller.  He did awesome!  Our neighborhood has a lake in it and we walked about half way around and then turned around and came home, maybe next time we will go the other way and see what we can find!!

Now, to find some Chinese food.....

"Whoopy Dooooo"

She's CRAZY!!!  Ady INSISTED she have a "whoopy dooo" on top of her head... I couldn't resist.

5 Months Old!!!

Cooper is 5 months old today.  I do not know where the last 5 months have gone, but man they have flown by!!!  I took Coop to the doc this morning because I suspected an ear infection.  Turns out, yes his ears are "red and irritated" but there is no fluid or pressure so they sent us home.  However, I was informed that he is "malnourished" and that he need to be given at least 8oz of formula in addition to breastfeeding AND have solids at least 3 times a day.  WHAT?!?!  She told me the "ultimate" goal is to double his birthweight by 6 months.  Okay, so let's do the math.  Cooper weighed 13lb 13oz today.  He weighed 7lb 3oz when he was born, double that would be 14lb 6oz.  Considering he has gained a pound a month for the last two months, I think it is safe bet that he will be able to gain half a pound before he hits 6 months.... Sheesh.  Sometimes I wonder just exactly what people are smokin' and where exactly they got their medical degrees...

Here are some pics from today's "photo shoot"

"Mom, why do we HAVE to do this every month??"

Plotting his escape

Makin' a run (or a roll) for it!!! and I am fairly certain that is a McGee "shit eatin' grin"

Ham & Potato Soup

I have made this a few times now - and it is delicious!!!  I don't really measure the veggies, I just kinda make it up as I go... but here is the recipe I use!!

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes

1/3 cup diced celery ( I used an entire small bunch of celery - didn't really measure it)

1/3 cup diced carrots (Again - I just eyeballed it, until it looked like enough "orange" in there)

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

3/4 cup diced cooked ham - I used leftover ham that we had cooked in the CrockPot the day before

3 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste

5 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

Directions

Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.

In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

Moving...Moved...Almost Unpacked.

Honestly.  The move wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, aside from leaving our dear friends in Illinois.  It breaks my heart everytime Ady asks for Brady, and which house is his new house. 

Last Saturday (Yikes, has it realy been a week?!?!) we packed up the house into a 26 ft Penske truck, and of course ran out of room.  One quick trip to Uhaul later, I had added a 4x8 trailer to our moving plans.  Finally everything was going to fit.  You never really realize how much junk you accumulate until you move.  It was rediculous.  Still is.  Half that damn truck must have been the kids' toys!!! 

Checkout went great, in fact, they moved the next set of tenants in before we even got the moving truck/trailers out of the cul-de-sac!!  Really.  We were still saying bye to the neighbors when they took over the keys!! 

The drive wasn't bad either.  More challenging with 2 kiddos, but overall it went well.  Cooper screamed a little more than I expected.  He was done in the car after about 5 hours each day, which is understandable, but the show must go on!!  I was worried about Ady needed to stop to potty all the time, but she did great.  I just kept her pink potty in the back of theTB and we got it out at every stop.  The truckers all had a good laugh at the little girl on the pink potty, everytime we stopped.  Here are a few pictures from along the way.  The ice is in Kentucky, just before we crossed into Virginia.

What better way to pass the time than "ride" the Uhaul trailer?!?!  Yeeeee-Haaaaaaa!!!!

We finally made it to the new house and I haven't taken any pictures yet.  Except these:

Ady's new back yard has a rock wall...

and a slide...

and a flying trapeze bar...

and swings...

Before we had cable, Adyson was survivng watching only the portable dvd player.  Cooper enjoyed it also!

We have met lots of new neighbors, but no kids yet.  However, there is a 13 year old girl next door who has already offered to babysit.  Our favorite new neighbors are these guys:

More on them later, but this was literally in our garage.