the adventures of cooper d. dog...

well, crazy thing happened today. this morning zach let cooper outside to go potty and then went and got dressed for work- just like they do every morning. zach noticed a few weeks ago some of his work pants were starting to wear out so he had just put patches on them saturday night- so this morning he was "testing out" the strength of the patches ( that he put on himself!) and FORGOT to let cooper back inside and left for work. i of course had no idea and assumed cooper was still sleeping- as he usually dosent do much until at least noon- or later. around 12:30 i decided i would check the mail- which i do almost every day and cooper always goes with me to go potty again, so i open the door and say "come on lets check the mail and potty" like every day, but no dog shows up...so i check the mail alone and start feeling suspicious, where is coop?? i check his pillow by the slider door- no dog, i check his "doggy bedroom aka our wi closet- no cooper, i go down to the basement and check the couch and guestroom, no dog! then i got a little worried- i opened all the closets and doors wondering if he got stuck somewhere- the whole time im calling his name- suddenly i heard his little doggy cry so i call his name more but cant figure out where it is coming from because sawyer has began to protest being left alone by making loud chattering noises. now sawyer and i are on the hunt together upstairs, with him quiet i hear coopers cry again- i thought it was coming from the garage but when i opened the door he isnt there, just more crying. i open the front door and cooper comes flying crazily inside as if he has never been more happy in his life to be home- he picked up his bone and ran circles. i was in shock- trying to remember if i had let him out thinking there is no way he could have been outside since zach left at 7- but no, i hadnt let him out! and he hadnt been at the door when i got the mail- i think he must have been crying at the basement slider when i first heard him and then he ran to the front door when he saw me go back upstairs yelling his name- i cant believe he was alone outside for 5.5 hours and he didnt leave our yard!!! we have no fence whatsoever and acres of trees behind our house that he loves to explore but he knew better i guess. i have no idea what he must have done that whole time or if he went anywhere.. i didnt even know what to do when he came inside except give him a cookie and tell him good boy like i do every time he comes in.

Working Girl ;)

well, i cant believe that it has been 12 weeks already, sawyer is growing up so incredibly fast! i go back to work this week- tuesday and friday this week- im kinda freaking out- he just loves to nurse so much and hates taking a bottle. It took zach a good hour yesterday to get him to take one ounce because sawyer just has no interest in eating from any of the bottles we have tried. Today he did a little better and actually ate about 2 ounces out of a bottle for me while we were in the car- it just makes me feel sad for him because he dosent like it at all. It is going to be so hard for me to be away from him- i miss him so much even when he is asleep for the night! I think that it will be good for the both of us though- Sawyer is going to get to spend time with his grandparents every week and that will be nice for him and for the gparents. And i will get some adult interaction time outside the house every week which i think will probably be good for me too- as hard as it may be. Plus work is how i have met most of the girls i know with babies/pregnant and its so fun to be able to get the kids together. I am a TINY bit excited to go back because it means that i get to see all my friends at work again, i do miss everyone a lot, even the drs and people in other departments! PLUS i did NOT got the college and work my heiny off for four years to do nothing as easy as that may seem right now i really am not going to throw away everything i worked for even if right now I feel like i want to. I already feel like i have forgotten a lot in the last twelve weeks. I think once a nurse, always a nurse- im still thinking i might be interested in ambulance crew or maybe NICU nursing SOMEDAY, right now my hours and the people i work with are too good so im not going anywhere. Im hoping sawyer will start to take a bottle well because it would be SUPER convenient if he would take a bottle in the car so we could get to the ozarks this summer without him getting crabby in the car since he has now decided he hates his carseat. Im SO excited for nice weather. I cant wait to be able to take sawyer outside to play- AND since this has been the second depressing post in a row.. here are some nice pictures of sawyer outside in the grass for the first time ever a few days ago when it was nice.















whats this mommy?


















sleepy face



















loves to snuggle mommy


































what do you think little man?

















in the stroller like a big big
















cutie

looking back

We went and saw chase's parents last night at linden house for dinner- it was awesome to get to see them and i think it made the week a little easier on us all. it i honestly can't believe that it has been three years already since he has been gone- it seems like yesterday and forever ago all at once and it still sucks. bad. i still wonder what it would be like if he were still around, but maybe things would be exactly the same except him being gone. Its crazy how much things have changed in the last three years- zach and i have gotten engaged, married, moved, and had a baby since he has been gone- i have graduated from college, gotten a job and gone from a life of college parties and sorority life to something a bit more grown up- something I feel like he helped to shape my grownup life even after he was gone- I guess he is at least part of the reason I became an ER nurse- always hoping to just save at least one life... i still remember the night it all happened so clearly, waiting in the ER for news, but it also feels like a dream. I still miss you!

It was nice to get to introduce Sawyer to M and V and he helped keep the mood light. He did pretty good through dinner and v held him for me so i actually got to eat with two hands! And the food was soooo good! I always feel so happy after we get to see them. We were naughty parents though and ended up staying later than we should have talking with m and v and sawyer got sooo tired and threw a fit in the car on the way home- I was the dd as usual and zach could not get him to chill out almost the whole way home- im pretty sure he scares b and k out of ever having children when he melts down like that...

Its funny, zach bought the corvette the month after the accident and now here it is three years later and he is trying to sell it- we no longer have good use for a two seater car..since there are three of us now. And there may be three of us in the family now-plus cooper- but we dont legitimately need three vehicles- even though zach says he is going to sell the vette and buy a newer one because he "needs a cool car" I guess i sorta get it though- now that it is nice out, i do find myself missing my mustang on sunny days- i drive around and it feels like i see mustangs everywhere i go, but there is NO way sawyer would have fit in the backseat of that car. And the corvette is SO fun to drive-i mean, the handful of times i have driven it have been a blast- even more fun than the mustang because its so low, and with the roof off- amazingness! Its amazing that he has been gone almost as long as the amount of time we were good friends with him- but he still impacts our lives, but in a good way! He was a great friend, always so much fun and we will never the time that we spent with him!

1800's bath...

it was an eventful weekend in our house. thursday sawyer was excited to get to play with his buddy megan again and on saturday he met lindsay again. he was MUCH bigger than last time he met lindsay- he was only a week old then! He has changed SO MUCH since then!






































on saturday morning we were thrilled to discover that our water heater decided to go on strike. we then got to enjoy taking "1800's baths" as zach lovingly dubbed the experince, for the rest of the weekend. this is when you have to heat water on the stove and then pour it into the tub until you have enough to bathe in- yes it was awesome. especially after zach worked out in the yard all day and got VERY dirty- he was very excited to clean off all the dirt in 2 inches of lukewarm water. Sick! You might ask- why didnt you just take a cold shower in the unheated water. Well, the water that came out of the tap was LITERALLY so cold that it made your hand hurt if you just stuck it into the running water and it would actually get warmer if you ran some into the tub and let it sit, and by warmer i mean still stinking FREEZING but not ice cold. It was SO FUN!

zach got so dirty by spending most of the day saturday saturday lining the little creekbed with stones to facilitate and beautify the flow. It looks so neat now! I think it is going to be really pretty this spring once the grass gets greener. its pretty hard to tell in the following pictures since the rocks are all dusty and everything is all brown but you can sorta see the water flowing into the little pond. its muddy from getting all stirred up by the work- but it should look neat soon once things start getting greener- it really does look pretty darn sassy compared to before- and i thought it was cute already :).
















and here sawyer and i (and cooper but he is hard to see- he is to my right) are on the bridge zach and i built last spring over the little creek. i put sawyer in his bjorn and then wore zachs coat- but he didnt enjoy having to wear his hat! he fell asleep and i got to enjoy the day outside for a while! Im excited to plant some more climbing flowers on the bridge again this year even though my morning glories last summer didnt climb or bloom until SEPTEMBER! Ill plant much earlier this year in hopes of getting some nice greenery all the way to the top of the bridge! The morning glories were BEAUTIFUL once they started to climb and flower! Im also pretty excited to see if my hydrangeas that are planted on either side of the bridge flower this year- they never got big enough last year to actually have any flowers but they did grow green leaves so maybe THIS year they will be big enough to have a few flowers! One is supposed to be pink and the other blue. They are def. still alive because they both are turning green again already, but they are still TINY, you can't even see them in this picture and they are on either side of the bridge!































Zach thought I looked funny with sawyer zipped into his coat- like i had a "potbelly" or a "funny big belly with little legs poking out" But it was nice to be able to take sawyer out without having to put him into a whole snowsuit since it was too nice for a big bulky snowsuit! He loves the bjorn so much! I was happy to see that my AMAZING, ADORABLE weeping willow tree did good thorough the winter and now has little green buds! - ok so i guess its kinda sawyer's too since we planted it when i was preggo with him last fall- but grandma and papa did pick it out with me in mind- because i LOVE weeping willow trees- i think they seem kinda whimsical i guess?? I just think they are special :) Im excited to watch sawyer and the willow grow together! Its hard to see the little green buds in this picture actually...



















And planted just to the left of the willow was THIS!




















its the daffodil plant that i bought from marcus LAST YEAR for honor society's daffodil days- i bought another this year so now this one will get a friend! I was so excited to see that it bloomed! Zach actually had to point it out to me because he planted it for me last year! What a cutie! Im also excited to see if my rose bush I got about this time last year (got it a few weeks after my birthday so probably actually 11 months ago) is still doing well! It was so pretty last summer!

Zach also put rocks around our firepit on saturday afternoon so we celebrated by having a big bonfire with bryan and linds. It was fun- love bonfires, but turned out to not be the wisest plan for zach and i- we ended up having to heat up water for ANOTHER 1800's bath because it is DISGUSTING to even consider getting into bed without showering after a bonfire...take note of that- if your water heater is broken, a bonfire isnt the best activity for you.

Sunday was easter so we took yet ANOTHER 1800's bath before church-this one wasn't so bad, we put sawyer's bathroom heather into our bathroom to warm the air more, and also got the water pretty warm. Im not saying i envy people with no heated water but it wasn't as bad as the rest. We left the house at 1030 am and went to church and then both sets of our parent's houses and didn't get back home again until 830 that night- sawyer skipped his bath that night, i did NOT feel like heating up any water for him. He actually went to bed ok without his bath first, i think he was pretty worn out. It was great to get to spend the holiday with both of our families. I really do love living with all of them so near by- and we got two amazing meals! Sawyer looked so cute in his big boy button up shirt, and even matched daddy AND grandpa but naughty mommy forgot her camera at home and by the time we got back sawyer was ready for jammies!

finally tonight Zach and grandpa erv put in a new water heater! It is much cuter than the old water heater (as you can tell i dont know much about water heaters). Brandon (from the tire shop) had to come over and help but they got it done, which is AWESOME because im not sure i ever feel like taking another 1800's bath again ever! I might go shower in the warm water just to celebrate!

Sawyer's first shopping excursion

Sawyer's first shopping trip to DM was a success! it actually went as smoothly as anyone could hope for an hour long car ride each way with an exclusively breastfed 2.5 month old. especially considering that recently sawyer has decided he hates his car seat! uncle marcus rode in back with sawyer on the way to dm because he felt to tired to drive after last night's first place track meet (and first place long jump-go uncle marcus!) that didnt end until 11! sawyer got mad about being in the car but then sucked on puppy a bit and took a few sucks on his (pumped milk) bottle and finally took a little nap until we got to dm! he rode in the baby bjorn for a quick old navy trip and picked himself out an outfit to wear to track meets, and a cute sun hat and shorts. my mom bought me an adorable brown dress as part of my birthday present and we had to get one of the sales girls to get it off the mannequin for us because it was the last small- and i wasnt convinced i could fit my new breastfeeding sized chest into an xs and there was NO way the xxl was going to work. then it was over to costco- the most important stop! sawyer was almost out of wipes AND diapers so this was a very important stop! he did great the whole time! he rode in the bjorn and looked at everything and then just drifted off to sleep until it was time to go! he is now the proud owner of 206 kirkland diapers. here is uncle marcus helping with the giant box of dipes- look at those muscles. this will last us about a month- hence the size 3 instead of 1-2. i think he wouldnt have lasted in the 1-2's another month since they only go up to 15 lbs.















as a side note until the cloth dipes i ordered to try out arrive, costco dipes = awesomeness. ive used pampers, huggies and these and i do like pampers swaddlers the best, but for the price and the giantness of the box you get costco wins- they sell huggies at costco too but seriously the kirklands dipes kick huggies butt- i will never buy huggies again! gross. the huggies wipes however i do enjoy, i havent decided between the kirkland wipes vs huggies wipes yet, they are almost the exact same price per wipe... i bought 1,704 wipes today- wow i know- it will last 2-3 months i hope. kids=adorable but not cheap! if i like using the cloth dipes (more on that in another post once they arrive) i will think about also doing cloth wipes...
here is how sawyer spent his shopping trip- all snuggled up!















and here is sawyer on the way home! he woke up and was happy for quite a while while i rode by him and we chatted- then got mad about being in his carseat, threw a fit for a few minutes and slept the rest of the way back to grandmas- he woke up once we got home, played a bit and has since been taking a giant nap! so much stimulation!
















loving puppy, and glad to be done shopping

















loves to bite puppy's face, ears and arms!
















lets go home and see daddy!
















yay! we are going home! i did good




















sawyer and the "pub mix- new LARGER size" which turned out to be a great buy at about 5 bucks for like 3 pounds of "gardettos on crack" as zach described it -because he thought it was tastier than gardettos, but with some similar elements such as those yummy brown rye chips, breadsticks and pretzels.

basically all in all sawyer did great with no public meltdowns, blowout dipes, lost socks, ect. next time we will tackle the mall- no time today! and when we got home i seriously used the last wipes in the wipe warmer- luckily we have 1,704 to refill it with!

Small victories, small setbacks..

mmmm fist!
















naughty daddy letting sawyer watch tv! at least it was the history channel! now he knows about the pyramids! sawyer was turning his head and looking at the tv while on his blanket so i guess zach figured he wanted to watch too! thats why i leave it off all day!!























mohawk





















im a chunk!


Well first and foremost YAY! because Zach is now stone free. He passed his stone on Friday night at the rehearsal dinner. Here is the story he told me: Caution it's graphic, I AM a nurse after all, and you know how us nurses love all the gory details! So here it is according to Zach: "I went to the bathroom and then my pee stream slowed down. All of the sudden the stone came shooting out and hit the back of the urinal and made a 'plink' against the back of it, and it bounced off the urinal and landed on my shoe!!" Me: " did you pick it up and save it so i can see it!!??" Zach: "Duh of course, i knew you would ask that!"

And folks, its gross, it looks like an apple seed to me...sick. And that is enough talk about THAT!

The wedding and Sawyer's baptism both went well. We were all SO tired after such a busy weekend that we just vegged out for the rest of the day. Zach now always says that he is glad that we have Sawyer because he is "too old" to party all night and now he has an excuse not to. Sawyer was good while I was gone at the wedding. At first he was crabby and wouldn't take a bottle but after 4 hours of not eating (yikes- i was ready to drive home and feed him, that seemed like a long time to me even though he can go 8+ hours at night and not eat) zach's grandpa gave him a bottle and he chugged it down now problem, and continued to do so for the rest of the time i was gone. Now i've tried to give him one bottle of breastmilk a day- ussually just 1-2 ounces, just so he keeps taking the bottle...today he was MAD when i tried- he took half an ounce and then i gave in and nursed him- im hoping it was just because he was tired because now he is passed out cold... 2 weeks until i go back to work and he has to be able to take a bottle 2 days a week... sometimes he will take it no big deal and other times no way...its not like im even giving him formula- it tastes the same buddy! I think he is going through a growth spurt right now though because he has been wanting to eat way more often the past few days and yesterday he slept ALL DAY long, i didnt even know what to do with myself- i cleaned up the house but it was already pretty clean since we had people over on sunday. I got 4 loads of laundry done! Yep 4 loads in ONE DAY! But he also woke up TWICE last night to eat- and he hasn't done that since he was like 3 weeks old! Yuck! I was SOOOO tired today that we had to sleep in together. He ate and then went right back to sleep but wow its been almost 2 months since ive had to get up in the night with him and then i always end up falling asleep while he eats which is a confusing experience..the cool thing is that after his last growth spurt is when he started smiling and cooing so im excited to see what he will be able to do in the next few weeks. Im hoping for either big laughs or rolling over, or both! He is such a "talker" now. He loves to coo and coo and his favorite thing is just to have conversations with us. We talk to him and then he responds with his aaaahhhs and oohhs, and sometimes even squeals and screams now! Then he smiles and smiles and smiles. he is such a happy boy and just thrives on attention. he gets mad if he isnt getting enough! He also loves to sit in the bumbo seat and is happy in it for ridiculous amounts of time...he likes to be like a big boy and sit up and he can hold his head up so well the whole time and he just looks around. And he is def. right handed. He loves to stick his right fist in his mouth now, or use his right hand to chew on his puppy toy. he is getting so big! lots his 0-3 month stuff is starting to get a bit small, although he does have a few things that dont even fit yet---same brands and sizes as stuff he is outgrowing!

last night zach did some more brush burning in our yard and started turning up the soil for our new BIGGER garden! in about a month we can plant in it! and my weeping willow survived the winter very well and has green buds already! yay spring!

Crossing my fingers

im supposed to do WHAT in this crib?
but puppy and i aren't tired!
















and THIS is why i always get my way


crossing my fingers..that zach is actually better this afternoon. he woke up in a lot of pain again tuesday morning. he went in to work on pipes for vermeer but was home again about an hour later- im pretty sure it was the second stone they had seen causing the trouble. he stayed home yesterday and this afternoon he started feeling a lot better again so now he is back at the pipe shop tring to get stuff done for the week. we are hopeful that he is going to stay feeling good now. we have a crazy weekend ahead and he needs to feel good! tomorrow we have b's rehearsal dinner, and then the wedding on sat- and zach has to feel ok because he is the best man! yikes! then sunday is sawyers baptism and lunch.

im really excited because tomorrow sawyer and i are going to lunch with my work friends and two of them have daughters 3 months older than sawyer and one is pregnant and due in july (with another girl perhaps)- and we are going to a baby sale after lunch. its so fun for sawyer to have his "girlfriends"- it will be the first time they have all been together outside the womb :) I cant wait for our baby pool parties this summer! It is so much fun to get to watch all of the babies grow up and now for m to be pregnant and to get to watch her belly and then baby grow up! and G I know you read this sometimes, I cant wait for you to have 8 babies at once ;)

This afternoon before zach went in to work I went to maurices because I needed a pair of pants to wear on sunday and its the only store in town...and since zach was feeling yucky i didnt get to go to dm like i wanted to. Zach and Sawyer stayed home. Of course Zach got sawyer to take a nap while i was gone...what the heck! Then he called me just to brag. he calls himself superdaddy. last night he asked sawyer if he wanted a four wheeler and sawyer cried..im not sure if that meant yes you have been promising me one since before i was born now where is it, or a big no..i guess we will find out.

Oh, and our tomato plants are getting bigger, we probably have some that are 4 inches tall already! Yay! Too bad it snowed here today! Yikes!

I just tried to get Sawyer to take a nap and I now Im hearing him coo...at least he isnt crying. Time to play!