Looking Back at 2017

This year has been fun and fast and full of lots of new things!  I thought it'd be fun to look back at the past year.

January

We kicked off the year with some goal setting and organizing our house.  We were excited to start off the year we would meet Cooper!  We celebrated our niece's 2nd birthday and took our childbirth classes.  I started learning how to use our new camera.  I also started my 5 year journal at the beginning of 2017 and I'm looking forward to going through it again this year!

February

In February we celebrated Valentine's Day with homemade dinner together.  I worked on lots of projects for Cooper and I had a baby shower with family and friends!

March

This was baby prep month!  Since our due date was March 31, we knew Cooper could come in either March or April.  I tried to space out my projects so that the crucial things were done in time, but I wouldn't be left with nothing to occupy my hands and my mind in the last few weeks.  I worked on lots of sewing projects, Cooper's room, and freezer meals.  We also took advantage of our free time with lots of date nights and walks. 

April

 April started off with meeting baby Cooper and then was filled with all things baby.  We celebrated Cooper's first Easter and David's dad's birthday.  We also did lots of photo shoots to remember our little guy.  Even looking at these pictures, it's hard to remember how small he was!  

May

May brought Cooper's first month "birthday" and lots of baby smiles and faces.  We continued to settle into life as a family of three and help Cooper adjust to life in the world.  I also got to celebrate my first Mothers' Day with Cooper and we spent Memorial Day weekend with lots of friends.

June 

June brought more of the same with day to day life with Cooper.  We celebrated Fathers' Day for David and his dad and had Cooper's baby dedication at our church.  I didn't blog about it, but Cooper had his lip tie and posterior tongue tie cut at a pediatric dentist which helped with his feeding and reduced his discomfort eating.  We ended the month celebrating David's 30th birthday with our first date night since Cooper was born.

July

July started with Cooper's first road trip.  We spent time in Oklahoma visiting friends and family and Cooper got to meet his Grandnanny for the first time.  I blogged about the mysterious 3 month mark and some of the struggles Cooper and I were having, but the good things we had going for us in the midst of it.  I threw a baby shower for my friend Yali and enjoyed getting to work on projects for that.  Cooper and I also went to a Bible Study with other first time moms and met some new friends while we got out of the house!

August

August brought an attempt to make a schedule for Cooper, which he didn't really stick to very well ;)  We did start sleep training after we had to stop swaddling and after a few rough nights and naps, he started putting himself to sleep!  Cooper and I also started going to baby swim lessons which he has loved.

September

September brought some milder weather and the opportunity to get outside more--which we love.  Cooper went to his first Rangers game and his first OU/Baylor Football Game.  He started sitting up by himself which brought a whole new world of possibilities for playtime.  He also started sleeping through the night sometime this month!  I got to be on the launch team for Melanie Shankle's new book.  I also blogged about my Reverse Bucket List.

October

My very favorite season started in October and it was so much more fun to celebrate it with Cooper!  We went to the State Fair and some Pumpkin patches and celebrated his first Halloween.  Coop and I also got to go on a quick trip to The Pioneer Woman Mercantile with my mom and family.  Cooper also started food in October after his 6 month check up and he was a BIG fan.

November

We continued all of our Fall fun in November as we looked ahead to Thanksgiving.  At the beginning of November, we started Cooper on formula because he wasn't gaining weight well enough and he took right to taking bottles all the time!  He also continued to try lots of new foods and I tried my hand and making some purees for him.  We traveled to Oklahoma to spend Thanksgiving with family and stopped at OU on our way home.  

December

December brought all things Christmas fun!  We celebrated Advent with a different Christmas song each day and we went to lots of local Christmas activities.  We ended the season with Christmas with both of our families then a week at home to recover!

What a year it's been!  We closed out 2017 with New Years Eve at home.  Since David and I have been dating, we've spent New Years Eve somewhere different each year--and this year we were excited to stay in (especially when it ended up being really cold outside).  We celebrated with homemade party hats and noisemakers while we watched the New Year come in in London before Cooper went to bed.  Looking forward to all that 2018 will hold!

Christmas Day with Family

After Christmas morning at our house, we loaded up to head to David's parents house.  We timed it so that we would be in the car during Cooper's naptime.  He fell asleep pretty quickly and napped for about half an hour.  Then he played and talked in his car seat the rest of the drive.

 When we got there we opened our stockings.  David and I got fidgets and Amazon gift cards.  Cooper got a fun teething ring and a really cute Rangers shirt to wear next Summer!

Then it was time to eat!  Cooper enjoyed green beans and mashed potatoes as well as his puffs.  His Nanny and Pappaw got out this high chair that David and his sister used when they were little, so Cooper had a great seat for lunch.

Then it was time to open presents!  Cooper got a lot of fun toys and clothes.

He got to sit with Nanny and play

 And then Aunt Rachel held him for a while where he showed her how much he likes hair

Then back with Daddy for a while

He also got to sit in his very own chair that his Nanny and Pappaw bought him!

 After presents, Cooper took a little nap with me holding him (he still wouldn't nap on his own, but some nap was better than nothing!) and then it was time to play again.  He loved pulling up on the coffee table and took several steps cruising along the table to get to different books.

 He always has fun playing with Pappaw and Daddy

And his Nanny helped him explore his new Zebra toy that she bought him!

 It was a great day with family!  We had to leave around 6:00 so Cooper could get home and get to bed after a few long days.  He napped for a few minutes in the car, but then woke up and had a rough ride home--so I held his hand from the front seat most of the ride and he was fine with that.  We got home and we all crashed for the night and got a good night's sleep!

Cooper's first Christmas was definitely full of fun and family!  So many great memories with the ones we love.

Christmas Morning at Home

Christmas morning arrived and we were excited to celebrate with Cooper!  I woke up early and filled Cooper, David, and Lily's stockings and then worked on prepping a few things for our breakfast.  At 7:30, I got Cooper up and fed him.  Then we started our Christmas festivities.

 First up was reading a version of the Christmas Story.  We chose the story in the Jesus Storybook Bible that talks about the Angels appearing to the Shepherds and sharing the Good News of Jesus' birth!

We also sang our 25th Song of Advent--Joy to the World was a great end to 25 days of songs and a great beginning to our Christmas Day!

 Even though this Advent "calendar" was a last minute idea, it ended up being a really meaningful part of our Christmas season and I am so glad we did it!  I think we'll definitely incorporate it into our celebration in the coming years too!

After the story and the song, we headed out to the living room for presents!  We only got Cooper one main gift this year (apart from his stockings).  It is a baseball rocking horse that I found on an online garage sale site (yay for good deals on fun gifts!)

 We brought him to the edge of the living room so he could explore and he crawled right up to check it out.  He and Lily both checked it out for a while before he got on to test it out.  

(side note: when I was growing up, my parents always filmed our entire Christmas mornings.  They set up a video camera on a tripod and just had it running.  So we decided to do that too.  And we got some great video of Cooper finding his toys and opening his stockings--I'm so glad we'll have that to look back on his first Christmas!)

 Cooper was a big fan of this rocking toy.  He is always moving and bouncing, so this is a fun addition to his life for sure!  I'm glad he loved it as much as I thought he would.

Then it was time for stockings:

 David helped Cooper open his stocking.  He got a book, a toy and then a few things he needed-- labels for his bottles when we leave him at the church nursery, a tag with his name on it for his diaper bag, sock ons to help keep his socks on.

 We read his new book Song of the Stars that tells the story of Jesus' birth from the perspective of Creation.  After that, David and I opened our stockings (Lily got things out of hers while Cooper opened his).  We don't do gifts for each other, other than stocking stuffers.  He got me a few pieces of jewelry that I wanted and I got him a Dad keychain, a book, and a gift certificate for a local scavenger hunt to try out.

 Then we grabbed a family pictures in our pajamas!

 I made Sausage Cream Cheese crescent rolls and Monkey Bread for breakfast.  Cooper had some sausage and fruit.  After breakfast we all got dressed and ready to head to David's parents' house.

Cooper was all ready in his My 1st Christmas onesie!

It was a fun morning with our little family--looking forward to many Christmas celebrations in the coming years!!

Christmas Eve

This year we spent Christmas Eve with my family.  Since we had church at 4:00 and a few nap schedules to work around, we went to my mom's for a late breakfast and then spent the day with family. 

 David snapped a few pictures with Cooper in their pajamas while I was getting ready.

While we waited for breakfast, we opened our stockings.  This was Cooper's very first stocking since he didn't get one at our house or his Nanny and Pappaw's until the next day. 

He's watching intently as I open everything

Then he figured out it was all for him.  Socks in one hand, a sippy cup in the other.  We tried to put him down for a nap after we ate breakfast, but he was not having it trying to sleep in a new place.  So we got him up and decided to push through to open some presents.

 He made it through one present before he was crying and upset and couldn't handle it anymore.  My niece picked out some Little People for him and he was very interested in playing with them.  Everyone else opened presents while we held and walked around with him.  Then David went and laid down with him for a while and he got about an hour nap--anytime either of us tried to lay him down he would scream inconsolably and could not calm down, so we decided napping in our arms was the best plan for the day.

He and Piper both woke up from their naps around the same time.  We opened more of Cooper's gifts and then played until church.  One of the favorite things at my mom's house is this musical band of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy.  They each play 2 songs and you can sync them so the whole band plays together.  The kids love listening to them and dancing along to the music.  Piper and Chase showed Cooper how to use them, but he preferred to just try to grab them all off the table!

 Around 3:00, we got ready for church.  My mom had bought Cooper this green plaid onesie, so we paired it with his jeans and mocs and headed to church.  I wore him in the Lillebaby during church hoping he would nap.  There was so much to look at that he kept himself awake until about the last 10-15 minutes of the service when he cried a little and then passed out.  He woke up as soon as the service was over and we headed back to mom's for dinner.

 Cooper enjoyed some fruit while we ate dinner.  These 2 pictures were taken about 10 seconds apart.  This is what Christmas Eve feels like when you haven't had your naps for the day!

Cooper cheered up pretty quickly after this and was held by myself and his grandma as well as a few of my Aunts.  We still had a few more gifts to open since my brother had been at work most of the day so we waited on him for some of the last ones.

 Worn out boy opening his last gift.

Checking everything out

He got a few more snuggles from Grandma and then we headed home to go to bed!

It was a great day celebrating with family, but we were all pretty tired by the end of it.  And we still had more fun to come the next day!

Christmas Weekend

This past Saturday we had a family day to kick off Christmas weekend.  We got our normal breakfast tacos and then came home for Cooper's nap.  After his nap, we decided to head to downtown Frisco to check out their Christmas decorations.

It was a cold day out, so Cooper was snuggled up in his stroller with his jacket and his blanket.  It was a beautiful day despite the cold!

 We started off with some pictures inside the heart

 And then headed to the Christmas tree.  Then we walked around for a while and watched the ice skaters on the outdoor rink.  Most of their decorations are lights that are obviously best seen at night, but daytimes are easier for Cooper, so we decided to try out the afternoon and it was a fun time walking around.

 Before we left, we stopped at a cupcake shop.  I had a Black Velvet and David had a Banana Pudding cupcake and both were delicious.

Cooper wanted to get in the fun too.  He climbed out of his stroller to try to get at the cupcakes!  

We also took home some popcorn from a gourmet popcorn shop.  That night we found a new-to-us neighborhood to drive around and look at lights before bedtime.  It was a great Saturday with my boys to start off our Christmas weekend!