18 Months!

It is so hard to believe that Cooper is a year and a half old already!

At 18 months, Cooper weighs 26 pounds (50th percentile) and is a little over 34 inches tall (90th percentile). The pediatrician says he is very likely going to be tall. He wears 18 month-2T clothes and wears a size 5-6 shoe.

Cooper LOVES to play in his kitchen and clean. He also loves to play with any kind of ball, car, truck, or stuffed animal. He has recently become more interested in puzzles too! He continues to love reading books, and is very good at identifying objects inside. He loves all animals especially dogs.

Cooper can point to almost all his body parts, but we are still working on saying them. He can find the letters C,O,P,R,S,T,Q,X, and I almost all the time. He can say about 25 words, but doesn't always use them consistently. He has also learned to shake his head "no" and will do so anytime it is needed! :)

I am so thankful for the past year and a half with my sweet little man!

Christmas Round 2

This weekend we headed back to Abilene for Christmas with the Chambers. (We also spent Christmas Eve lunch with the Foster family, but I forgot to take pics.)

MiMi and Grandad got Cooper this cleaning cart. It was definitely a hit! (We have such high hopes for our child's future. Haha!)

Chad was determined to distract Cooper with some more "manly" toys like his new baseball tee, gun, toolbench, or even his sit and spin.

But... Cooper insisted on cleaning!

Cooper and Madie in their matching pj's from Aunt Cassie!

Getting cookies and milk ready for Santa!

Santa brought Cooper lots of goodies, but the only thing that interested him was his new kitchen! He cooked all day long! In fact, I'm pretty sure he still hasn't stopped cooking (except to eat and sleep of course).

Cooper later discovered that the box was almost as fun as the kitchen! Especially after Grandad cut a window in the top.

Madie was sure happy about her new house too!


We had such a fun Christmas! We are so thankful for all the family we have to share it with!

Playdates, a Carriage Ride, and Prairie Lights!

We have had a fun and very busy Christmas week!

First, Rachel and Katelyn came over to play! It was so great to see them. Katelyn has grown so much and is so smart! They loved checking out the Sesame Street ornaments on Cooper's tree!

Can you believe how much these two have changed?

Then, we met some friends at Chuck E. Cheese! Cooper loved running around and even liked the Barney ride this time!

Our neighborhood had Christmas light carriage rides again this year. Cooper really enjoyed looking at the lights and the horses!

This is our picture from last year's carriage ride. Cooper slept the whole time!

We had to wait awhile for our turn this year, but he didn't mind since there were cookies to keep him entertained!

Tonight we took Cooper to Praire Lights. We let him get out of his carseat and sit in the front with us. Not sure if he liked the lights or being out of his seat more. Oh well, either way, he had fun!

He loved walking through this forest of lights!

Christmas Round 1

This weekend we went to Abilene to celebrate Christmas with my family! It was so great to see everyone. It is very rare that we are ALL together at one time these days! Cooper had a great time playing with Meghan and Kate!

Cookie Decorating
It was so fun for me to see Cooper participate in our cookie decorating tradition this year. Even though he wasn't exactly sure what was going on, he sure enjoyed shaking the sprinkles and licking the icing!

Meghan and Kate ready to roll out the dough!

Putting the sprinkles on!

Discovering the icing!

Grandmommy got Cooper these cute little Bob the Builder juice bottles. (he doesn't usually drink juice, so we poured out most of the juice and filled it up with water) As you can see, he loved them!

**Cooper also got to experience Grandmommy's warm towel tradition this visit! She always puts the grandkids towels in the dryer so they are nice and warm when they get out of the bath. (talk about spoiled!) Cooper LOVED it! He just giggled and cuddled up inside the towel. It was so cute!

New Toys!

PaPa and Grandmommy put the kids presents out "Santa style". They had so much fun playing with all their new goodies! Cooper got a race track, Little People Noah's Ark set, step stool, Elmo camera, clothes, puzzles, books, and lots of other goodies!

Checking out the new sesame street books.

Playing with PaPa and Meghan

Cooper and Kate playing with his new race car track!

Grandmommy and PaPa also gave Cooper money so we could buy this table for Coooper to use for snacks and activities!

Once we got home, Cooper really enjoyed trying out all his new toys! He loves his cooking pot, alphabet letters, and puzzles!

Standing on his new step stool to brush his teeth!

Thanks Grandmommy and PaPa for such a fun weekend!

Gingerbread House!

Today we met with our playgroup to make gingerbread houses! Cooper loved licking the icing and eating the graham crackers. He was also very excited about the finished product!

Here is Cooper's first gingerbread house!

A little of this, and a little of that

Since I have been terrible about blogging lately, I decided to do a little catch up post to show you some things we have been up to!

Last week, we took Cooper to the light parade in Midlothian. We got there really early to be sure we had a good watching spot. Unfortunately, it was really cold and Cooper was ready to go soon after the parade started. (I think it was a little slow paced for him!) However, he had a great time playing with this lighted sword his daddy bought for him.




This past weekend we hosted our annual Sunday School class Christmas party. We had a great time, especially with the white elephant gift exchange. It is so funny to see the gifts that resurface from past Christmas parties each year. Thanks to MiMi and Grandad for entertaining Cooper for the afternoon and evening! We enjoyed our adult time, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't ready to come home!


This week, we hosted our first playdate for our playgroup. It was very interesting to see how differently Cooper acted when all the kids were in his territory. I'm pretty sure he did not like his surroundings being disturbed. He was very fussy and unhappy the whole time. Luckily, he returned to his playful self as soon as the group was gone.

Making Christmas ornaments


Cooper hugging his favorite friend, Sophia.

Cooper has had a sudden interest in eating in his booster seat after seeing his playgroup friends borrow it.


Finally...some painting just for fun!

ICE! and the Gaylord

This weekend we met Cassie, Mike, and Madie at the Gaylord for an early Christmas present! We decided to take the kids to the ICE display and spend the night in lieu of Christmas presents to each other this year. We definitely had an eventful weekend!

Mike and sweet Madie getting ready for ICE!

The ICE exhibit was amazing, and VERY, VERY cold! Cooper liked looking at all the ice sculptures, but was ready to exit pretty quickly...especially when they didn't allow him to go down the giant ice slide with Daddy.

Walking through Snoopy's house made of ice!


Cooper and Daddy all bundled up!

Giant ice slides!

The decorations in the hotel were beautiful. Cooper loved watching the trains.

He also loved watching the fire in the lobby.

We made a stop to see Santa while we were there. As you can see, there is no picture below. Cooper loved smiling and waving at Santa from a distance, and even said his name. However, he was having no part of the up close and personal visit with the jolly man! Oh well, maybe next year!

Daddy and Cooper also managed to sneak in a quick swim in the indoor pool.

Spending the night at the hotel ended up not being such a great idea after all. Cassie, Mike, and Madie ended up making an early exit at 2 a.m., and we left pretty early the next morning after a long, sleepless night. Guess you never know what to expect with an infant and a toddler! :)

Pretty sure Cassie and I could have used some help from this booth after the night we had!

Don't the kids look like they are having a great time in this picture?

Overall, Cooper had a great time and we made lots of memories!