Awkward

Just thought I'd share...
Today in church someone asked me if Caleb and Emily have the same father. She actually more assumed that they didn't: "These two have different dads, right?"
Awkward.

Our Blue-Eyed Boy

I've been waiting for his eyes to change, but it's been three months now. Could we possibly have a blue-eyed child?

He's Done!

We just found out that Joseph did well enough in his courses last semester to be completely done with coursework for his PhD! We are excited about this because now he can focus solely on the research for his dissertation and his schedule will hopefully be a little more flexible. He will most likely be taking a few more courses in subjects that he's interested in, but they will not be as stressful as what he's already been through. Congratulations, Joseph!

Also, we had new family pictures taken on our last trip to Utah. I am surprised that Emily is smiling. It's not her real smile, but at least she's not glaring, which is what I was sure we'd end up with in the picture. She missed her nap that day.
Our last family picture was taken two weeks after Emily was born, so while this was still closer to Caleb's birth than I would have liked (he was two months old), it's an improvement.

Morning Excitement

This morning Caleb, Emily, and I were spending some nice time relaxing outside on the little landing at the top of the stairs outside our door. I was reading a book, Caleb was sitting in his bouncy chair looking at nature, and Emily was keeping herself busy with various [important] toddler projects. Our peace was shattered when, in an effort to close the door, Emily ran her foot over with it. Now, our front door is no wimpy, light-weight number. Brackenridge doors are akin to storm cellar doors (except they still somehow leak all kinds of cold air in the winter and hot air in the summer). They are very heavy duty and difficult to swing closed, but once they get going they build up a lot of momentum.
Poor Emily started screaming which got Caleb going. When I saw the blood everywhere I grabbed her and sat her on the bathroom sink to wash it all off. I tried to gently push the nail back on but she really didn't like that so I just prettied it up with a couple of BandAids. And then she looked at me, pointed at the big toe of her other foot, and said "more? more?" so I gave her another. Caleb was hanging out outside on his own through all of this. Between the distraction of new accessories (BandAids), juice, and High School Musical, she eventually calmed down. She would still occasionally grab her big toe, give it a good squeeze, and scream, but that's tapering off now. Caleb is also a lot more calm now that Emily is under control. And I am a lot happier now that my tiny apartment is not filled with the screams of my two children.

Losing my Keys AND My Mind

My keys were missing for almost two days. They turned up in the KitchenAid bowl and neither Joseph nor I had (consciously) put them there. Very suspicious.


Today marks the second incidence of my buying milk and leaving it in the trunk after getting home. And the weather has been pretty warm. Hey, at least I haven't left a baby in the car yet.

3 Items of Business

Number 1: We are getting sleep!
Caleb is turning into a really good baby. I know I've complained a lot about him and compared him to Emily who is and always has been a very easy child to deal with. Lately though, he is holding his own. For the past week or so he has been going to sleep around nine and waking up around seven, usually with one feeding in there sometime during the night. Keep in mind he is not yet three months old. Last night he didn't cry when we put him down and he actually slept all the way through without eating! I was planning to walk with a friend at 7:30 but we slept in until 7:45 and missed it! (Sorry Katharine.) I have not really had to use an alarm clock since Emily was born, so this really caught me off guard.

Number 2: Ant fodder.
Poor Miss Emily has been playing in some of the ubiquitous fire ant piles we have around our complex. I would have thought that she'd learned her lesson last summer, but she was probably too young. Take a look at her poor little brown paw!
This is three days post-trauma, so I guess you can't really tell. She is still swollen though and has bite marks. You should have seen it one day after.

Number 3: Advantages of being a poor student.
Recently we have had many of our electronic devices give up the ghost and leave us wanting/coveting sparkly new replacements. We have learned, however, that being too poor to act on these desires and having a little patience pays off.
Walking to a friend's house on Conference Saturday in April, we were offered a TV by a moving neighbor (whom we had never met before). We gratefully accepted and now Emily can dance along with the Wiggles again. She loves to point her fingers and do the twist. She can also practice her high kicks along with the cheerleaders in HSM3 and show her support for Troy and the Wildcats.
Joseph was on the lookout for another computer since our desktop turned into an expensive leaf-blower. His heightened senses led him to notice a neglected laptop gathering dust in the corner of his lab. After a few inquiries he was granted use of it for probably the rest of his graduate career. We have since assimilated it into our household. Joseph can use it for presentations when he needs, and we can use it as a desktop machine the rest of the time.
Total cost to replace both our television and computer: $0!

Brother and Sister

I always have to post the best of the new pictures when we empty the camera onto the computer, so here we go!

First of all, Emily is becoming a big girl! First she switches to the big girl bed, then she becomes a big sister, then she gets her first haircut, and now this!
I can't believe her hair is long enough to be put up like this.

The other day I was putting Emily down for her nap, and she insisted on keeping her sunglasses with her. This was my last glimpse of her before closing the door for three hours.

Emily is just transitioning from parallel play to interactive play, so she is starting to pay a lot more attention to Caleb. I'm afraid he is sometimes overwhelmed by her sisterly devotion.
It started out innocently enough - Emily decided to share one of her favorite books with Caleb. She insisted on turning the pages and reading the story though. It is her book, after all.
Then she decided that Caleb would be even happier if his froggy rattle was within easier reach.
And hey, if that made him happy, more toys will only increase the joy!
Why not take the whole bucket?
And my doll, as long as you're careful.
Wow, can you even see him under that pile of love and devotion by his big sister? What a happy, lucky little guy.

This morning we were playing on me and Joseph's bed. Caleb was having a rough time, so we brought Emily up to help him feel better.
I think it worked.

Summer is here!!

Yay!
(Except when it's 100 degrees and 90% humidity)

My Short Little Fat Man

Today was Caleb's two month appointment. I was very curious to find out how much he has grown, so here are the stats:

Height: 24 in. (75%)
Weight: 15 lb. 4 oz. (97%)
Head: 42.5 cm. (97%)

I can't believe he has grown 3-1/4" since his last appointment two months ago! And gained 5 lb. 5oz! I guess that is why little babies sleep so much.

He did very well with the immunizations. He stopped crying very quickly, ate, bled a little on my pants, and has been sleeping ever since.

PS - I learned today that "A butt!" really means pants. Not as funny I know, but at least it's more appropriate.

Happy Mother's Day!

.............. My mum .................. Joseph's mom ................. My stepmom ..............

I wish I had a better picture of my mother. I guess we just never pull the camera out when she comes to visit. I was talking to one of my sisters the other day about how spread out our family has become, but how it is held together by my mother, even though she is far away in New York City. When my sister-in-law found out the gender of her baby, I found out from mum. I'm pretty sure my whole family found out about my second pregnancy (and maybe my first) through her before I contacted them. She always stands ready to help when we need it, and my siblings and I all know we can depend on her.
Joseph's mom, Janet is pretty amazing too. She is always in tune with what her family needs and takes care of us all.

I recently read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and I loved his description of Ma Joad, the mother of a family trying to keep things together during the dust bowl:

"Her full face was not soft, it was controlled, kindly. Her hazel eyes seemed to have experienced all possible tragedy and to have mounted pain and suffering like steps into a high calm and a superhuman understanding. She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken. And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt and fear, she had practiced denying them in herself. And since, when a joyful thing happened, they looked to see whether joy was on her, it was her habit to build up laughter out of inadequate materials. But better than joy was calm. Imperturbability could be depended upon. And from her great and humble position in the family she had taken dignity and a clean calm beauty. From her position as healer, her hands had grown sure and cool and quiet; from her position as arbiter she had become as remote and faultless in judgment as a goddess. She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone."

It is easy to take what a mother does for granted. The world certainly does not appreciate her role, and I know I didn't give mothers the credit they deserve until I became a mother myself and learned how difficult it is. I feel lucky to have such great women in my life to emulate and to turn to when I need help. Happy mother's day, Mum, Janet, and Crystal! I love you!

Six Books

I really like books. I spend a lot of time reading them and looking for good ones.


My friend did a book blog post that inspired me, so I am going to copy her. I have been agonizing over these lists since she posted hers on April 21st, so know that I have put a lot of thought into these.

About this first list - just because I couldn't put them down doesn't mean I loved them. It just means they were kind of addicting.

Six Books I Couldn't Put Down:
1. The Hunger Games
2. Most of the Harry Potters. Probably all of them.
3. Twilight. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that.
4. Memoirs of a Geisha
5. The DaVinci Code
6. Gone With the Wind

About these next lists - I had a lot of trouble coming up with them because honestly, I just like stories. It doesn't matter if it's not a good story or if it's really slow, I like stories. I even liked the story problems in math class.

Six Books I Couldn't Finish:
1. The Amber Spyglass
2. Confessions of a Shopaholic. The main character just got on my nerves. A lot.
3. Breaking Dawn. Actually, I didn't start this one. I just read the three before it, so it counts.
4. Don Quixote. I still plan on finishing this one day.
5. The Bible. This doesn't mean I hate church, just that I might not be a very good member.
6. Boy: Tales of Childhood. I tried reading this when I was really young and I was expecting another fun Roald Dahl book like Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Six Books I Forced Myself to Finish:
1. The Subtle Knife. This got on my nerves enough to make it so I couldn't finish The Amber Spyglass.
2. The Old Man and the Sea. I believe I had to read this for a class and it really wasn't that bad. I just needed another book for this list.
3. Great Expectations
4. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. I loved learning about him, the book was just very dry.
5. Crime and Punishment
6. Hop on Pop. Oh wait, I did finish this one. Several hundred times. Enough to have it memorized.

Six of My Favorite Books Ever (in no particular order)
1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. Uncle Tom's Cabin
3. A Tale of Two Cities
4. The Book Thief
5. The Hiding Place (Corrie Ten Boom)
6. Anne of Green Gables
7. The Count of Monte Cristo

Please pretend that last list has six, to keep with the theme. I just can't keep a good book to myself. Read them all if you haven't already. And I would love any recommendations of great books that changed your life if you have any.

A Quick Jaunt

Well, we went for a quick jaunt to Utah last weekend. We left Friday afternoon and came back on Sunday. We learned a good lesson on our way there - flying with two infants in arms is no fun. And Emily needs sleep or she cannot function.
The trip was super hectic but I'm glad we went. We arrived after midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning. Joseph and I took advantage of the available babysitting and went to the temple on Saturday morning. Straight after the temple the whole family went out to lunch.
Here is the Cooper clan at Wingers. We had some trouble with the reservations - they gave away our room to some other party of 15 and refused to serve us after that. After a lot of angry feelings and some loud words we piled into the van and trucked on down to the Provo Wingers. That worked much better. Plus it was in the mall so I was able to get some shopping done.
Isn't it awesome though? All of the Utah Coopers plus the San Antonio Coopers and us all in the same place at the same time.
Oh, except Rebecca and Jeff were in Salt Lake at a wedding.















This is Emily and her uncle Nathan hanging out at the fountain after lunch. Emily was trying to launch herself in and Nathan was preventing her. They look pretty good when they're not pulling faces.

And this picture is of me holding Caleb, looking as exhausted as I was feeling.

After lunch we went for family pictures, which was really the main reason for our trip. I'm glad we had these pictures taken, but Emily was wiped out after such a late bedtime the night before and no nap. I'm pretty sure she was glaring the whole time. It was all we could do to keep her from crying.
After family pictures we sat down and relaxed for a second. Then I realized we were going to have around thirty people arriving in an hour and a half for Caleb's blessing. So we had to get going again. Joseph and Janet did a wonderful job of getting the house ready to accommodate the crowd. I mostly ran around trying to look like I was helping.
Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of Caleb in his cute white suit, but we will post them once we get them from other family members.
However, by some miracle, my whole family as able to be there and we got some great pictures of that! I can't remember the last time we were all together. My sisters have super busy schedules and my brother lives in Arizona. And I live in Texas.

We always knew Sarah would be tallest.
Here's Caleb hanging out with Grandma Crystal. Not your typical gray-haired grandma!
I am so glad we were able to bless Caleb in Utah with our families. It was so nice to gather with those that care most for us and for our new baby. Joseph did a wonderful job with the blessing and Caleb was a good kid while everyone was there, so hopefully left a good impression!

Who Taught Her That?!

Yesterday I was doing dishes when Emily walked up behind me, prodded the back pocket of my jeans, and proclaimed for all the world to hear,
"A butt! A Butt!"
She seemed very proud of herself.

Joseph's addition: Please listen.

Mothers Beware

A while ago, I was pregnant. I am proud to report that I bought only one item of maternity clothing during that whole nine months! Soon after this purchase we noticed a withdrawal from our bank account by WPI*PARENTINGMAG for $20. We did some research on the internet and found this page showing that dozens of other people had run into this same issue. Apparently, Motherhood Maternity shares the credit card information of their customers with other businesses and that's why they were able to deduct money straight from our account.

So, if you are currently pregnant and shop at Motherhood Maternity, make sure you check your account records carefully for the next couple of weeks. If you do find the $20 charge, call 1-800-234-0847 and they will refund your money.

Midnight Ruminations

A couple of nights ago I was awakened around 2 am by Joseph moving around, trying to find something on his bedside table. He finally found the light (a headlamp) and jotted down a few notes onto the pad of paper he keeps handy. Then he laid back down and was still.
In the morning, this is what I saw.
I figured his notes would be messy and simple, considering the fact that he was half asleep when he wrote them down, but look at them! I have no idea what they mean, but I'm sure they are important to his research.
It's stuff like this (thinking long into the night about research) that convinces me that Joseph will be a great professor one day and conduct very successful research.