The Dragon

We made it out of the house again yesterday! I promise that I'm not going to start blogging about every venture we make out of the house because that could get really, really boring. This venture was worth mentioning. We decided it would be fun to go see Dad on his fire. It was the perfect setting. Right off the main road so I knew we could pull up and wouldn't have to hike in to take a look. The fire is right off what is known as "The Dragon". Yes, we checked out the fire on The Dragon (has a nice ring to it doesn't it?).

The Dragon (hwy 129) is kind of like the Autobahn of the Smokies. The section we were on is known as the Tail of the Dragon. I just knew Cooper would be all over it because we have done the scenic drive before and it's all about Bikes, Bikes, Bikes. Firetrucks and Motorcycles all in one place. It was the perfect combo for Cooper. We hung out at an overlook where people could look, enjoy the view and ask questions about the fire. There was a Fire Information & Education Specialist there to educate visitors about the fire. And a State Trooper on a Motorcycle!!!! He was sooo nice to Cooper and gave him a special badge and coloring book of Tenny C. Bear (ha, ha).

The day wasn't quite as exciting for Cruz. He stayed in the car (air conditioning stayed on in case you were worried about that) and slept. He was able to "meet" several of Mark's coworkers while remaining in the car and acting newborn-like. And Cooper was able to ham it up and get some extra attention without people oohhing and ahhing over his baby brother.

Cooper was also able to meet our good friend Matt for the first time who is here from Florida helping out on the fire. It was fun to get to introduce our kiddos to a dear friend from back in our Pre-Marriage, Pre-Park Service, Pre-Kiddo days. Unfortunately, Cooper had turned into Grumpy McGrumpy Pants at that point. Sensory overload. Oh well, I'm sure he seemed like the typical toddler to Uncle Matt.

The Fire is still burning and it's supposed to be hot, hot, hot the next couple of days. The Good news is that Mother Nature is doing her best to keep things burning. The Bad news is that Mother Nature is also doing her best to keep Mark burning. Damn Her! At least she chose such a beautiful spot to do her work. I guess I have to give her kudos for that.

Fire, Fire on the Mountain.

(Grateful Dead lyrics reference)

View from the other side.

Checking out all the bikes driving by. Notice Cooper had to bring his bike.

Checking out the Map. Cooper helping the Education Specialist educate.

View of The Dragon (and a few bikes)

Since we didn't manage to take a picture of Cruz here's a shot of what he looked like most of the time. Yaaaawwwwwwnnn!

Title

Time to update the title of our blog. It's no longer all about Cooper as there's a new Sheriff (equal billing) in town. I must give a shout out to Joanne who is probably unaware that she inspired the new title. She made a comment asking how Cruz 'n Coop were doing and I just liked how it looked. I also like the "play on words" with Cruz'n (like Cruisin') but thought I should reverse it and add Coop first since he came first. Is it crazy that I would even put so much thought into our new title? Of course it's crazy!!!!

We're getting some mixed signals on Little C's name. Mostly just silence when someone asks what his name is, but sometimes we get an "interesting" or at the pediatrician's office they asked if that was his last name. I'm sure Cruz will have issues with his name (don't we all) but we like it and it fits him. So there.

Our first comment about Little C's (I use this because I still haven't figured out how to do a possessive on his name yet--suggestions?) name was one of the nurses at the hospital. She asked what Cooper's name was when she met him and said "boy, you guys must really like cars.....you have a Mini Cooper and now a PT Cruiser"......Hadn't thought of that one and I PROMISE that wasn't the inspiration on either kiddos name.

When Cruz asks us what is up with his name we will explain to him that it's Portuguese and we wanted to give him a name that honored his heritage. His Great Grandpa and Grandma on his Dad's side of the family are from Portugal and we took a lot of time to come up with his name. We will then explain to him that he is NOT named after a funny looking car.

Mommy Milestone

It had to be documented....today was my first attempt at leaving the house with both boys all by myself. Sure we've been to the doctors office, but I had Mark as my Wingman. Those of you who are professional Moms of more than one, may think that this isn't a big deal. But to me, it was HUGE. I hope to look back on this one day and laugh at the thought that I felt compelled to blog about it.

We didn't exactly go on a major excursion. Just to the post office. Cooper was in charge of holding all the stuff we had to mail and I was in charge of not forgetting Cruz in the house before we left or leaving him in the post office by mistake. Both of us took our jobs very seriously. Cooper insisted on bringing a few extra toys than normal (maybe because it had been so long since we'd left the house?) and he decided he needed to wear his back pack too. The only reason I even bring this little tidbit up is that it caused a little more effort to put the back pack on before we left the house and take the back pack off before we got in the car seat. I was hoping Cooper would forget about the backpack once we got to the post office, but NO. He remembered and insisted the backpack be worn. Juggling packages to be mailed, dressing toddlers in their backpack and deciding which kid to take out of the car first is something I guess I'll have to get used to. It's all very terrifying to me at this point.

An added bonus to our journey is that the post office is right next to the Fire Station and just as we were leaving, the Fire Truck was pulling in. Perfect timing. We were able to watch the Fire Truck back into the station and watch the crew do whatever it is that they do when the return from being called out. Cooper was in awe and Cruz slept. Two happy boys on our first outing together. Next up: the grocery store. I think I might put this one off a little while longer. Baby steps my friends. Baby steps.

1st Bath

Cruz FINALLY had his first bath. The sponge baths (thanks to his umbilical cord stump) just weren't cutting it any more. Our baby boy is now a clean boy!!! I was anxious to give Cruz his first bath and was feeling bummed Mark had to miss it. I thought I'd have my other little man help me mark this special occasion. I got all set up and ready to go and asked Cooper if he wanted to help me bathe his brother. I thought he'd be all over it and had this fantasy of Cooper and I bathing his brother for the first time together--Ah, how precious--NOT. Here's how it played out:

ME: Hey Cooper, do you want to help Mom give Cruz a bath?
Cooper: No, I busy.
Cruz: Just do it woman. Forget about the other kid. This kid needs to be washed.

What's that you say? I couldn't quite hear you. I have bubbles in my ear.

Ahhhhh, that's what I'm talkin' about.

Missing Banana

I'm not gonna lie. Mark and I are tired. The fire that cut our maternity/paternity leave short Sunday is still burning (damn those fires). Therefore, Mark is working very loonnnngg days. Talk about baptism by fire. Mark is back to work and doesn't come home until after I have put Cooper to bed.

Here's the extent of our conversation when Mark walked in the door last night (as I Cruz and I were zonked out on the couch)
A: Hi
M: Hi
A: How's the fire doing?
M: It's burning and growing.
A: There's dinner in the fridge. (Mind you "dinner" was fixings for BLT's)

Mark took the 2nd shift of Operation Try to Get Cruz to Sleep as he has entered the always want to be held phase. He also helped get Cooper up and settled before he had to leave for work. We decided we'd let Cooper watch tv in our bed while he drank his milk so that I could lounge in bed a little longer and feed Cruz. It worked. That easily bought me an extra 1/2 an hour.

Pretty boring stuff up until this point. I'm sure you get the message: yada, yada, yada...Mark and I are tired (it comes with the territory) so I'll try not to make all my posts about our lack of sleep.

Here's where the humor of my day begins. Since the novelty of having the tv on in Mom and Dad's room hadn't worn off, I decided we'd leave BOTH tv's on at the same time. Cooper was moving from room to room watching both tv's and running around being a 2yr old at the same time. All this while eating a banana. Often bananas cause some strife in Coop's life because he MUST eat the banana "like a Monkey" (aka, in the peel). He hasn't quite figured out how to peel the peel down further when the banana gets close to the end so he just dumps it unless we're on it and peel the peel further back for him before it gets to this point.

I soon discovered that we had a missing banana on our hands. This was not good. It could be in our bed, under the covers, basically anywhere. I told Cooper that we had to find the banana right now and explained to him that we can't leave food laying around. When I asked him where the banana was, he said "I don't know". Oh, he knew. So then I threatened him with the worst thing ever: we're going to turn off the tv if you don't help me find the banana. That worked. The second the tv went off, Cooper bee-lined it for our bedroom and immediately opened Mark's sock/underwear drawer. "Hi Banana....I found you!"

It's a good thing we found it. Otherwise, Mark's underwear would have been pretty ripe (pun intended) come tomorrow.

Busy Boy

Poor, poor Cooper. He is kind of house bound for the next little while. As we take baby steps in dealing with 2 kiddos, I don't think we'll be venturing out much just yet. Therefore, Cooper will miss the hustle and bustle he was able to experience while my Mom and Dad were here and while Mark was taking time off from work. Everyone did a great job making Cooper feel special and keeping him busy so that the transition would be a smooth as possible.

Mark and my Dad took Cooper to his first story time at the library. This is something I have been meaning to do for quite awhile and kept putting it off. Cooper wasn't really that into the whole story reading and thought it was more fun to explore around the library instead. He was briefly interested during singing time, but not enough to stick around. Direct quote from my Dad. "You really need to get this kid around other kids". Yes we do.

My parents also took Cooper out to lunch (very brave). Cooper isn't always the most cooperative lunch date these days. Luckily he was an angel for Gma and Gpa. As we warned them that it might not be very much fun, they must have thought we were just rookie parents that don't know how to handle our kid in public places. Thanks Cooper for behaving for Gma and Gpa and proving Mom and Dad wrong.

And a visit to Pigeon Forge would not be complete without a trip to Dollywood. My Dad, Mark and Coop had a boys day out and Cooper got to show Gpa the ropes. I was very disappointed that I missed seeing my very Brave Boy ride on a ride all by himself for the first time. A big step for Cautious Coop.

Here are some (not so great kind of blurry) pics of Take Gpa to Dollywood Day:

Taking Gpa for a spin.

Here's a very Grumpy Lady that was riding the kiddie carousel all by herself (not that there's anything wrong with that). Cooper and my Dad chose the Ostrich right next to her but my Dad decided that she was kind of a buzz kill and gave her some space. Apparently, this made her mad because "they were slowing up the start of the ride". Unaware of the drama, Mark managed to get a picture of her. You can see in the distance how far my Dad and Coop moved away from her.

Look how big Cooper looks on this ride!!!!!!!

I love seeing his head peering between the antennae.

Big Boy!

Luckily they didn't have to worry about Grumpy lady on the Bee ride. Apparently, she was strictly a carousel rider.

Family Bonding

It's official. Our Maternity/Paternity leave is over. Our special troops (Gma and Gpa) have gone home, Mark is back to work and Cooper and I are all alone with Cruz during the day!!!! Pray for us :). Somehow I think we'll survive. I remember when I was afraid of being left alone with Cooper and couldn't imagine ever leaving the house or showering again. Someday, I'll look back on this and think how easy we had it. I hope.

Cooper sure does miss Gma and Gpa. He still talks about them and thinks that they're still on an airplane. He went with Mark to drop them off at the airport and thinks that they are flying around in the sky. Any time the topic of Gma and Gpa comes up, Cooper mentions that they are on an airplane. Think of all the frequent flyer miles they're raking in! Flying since last Tuesday !?! That's what I call a looonnnnggg flight. I hope they can recover from the severe jet lag.

Again, I can't mention enough how happy I am that Cooper was able to really get to know his Grandparents during this visit. They took such great care of him and I just know it's something all of us will cherish forever. One of my favorite mottos of this visit is "Swing 'til you puke!!". Grandpa is soooooo diligent at pushing Coop's swing that he made him puke (Cooper, not Gpa). Now that's what I call some serious Swinging!

Last night was my first taste at putting Cooper to bed ALONE with Cruz. Mark was called out on a fire right before bed time which made Cooper very upset. As I was settling him down with story time, Cruz decided he wanted some lovin' too. I had my first taste of reading story to sad-toddler that missed his Daddy while holding fussy-baby. Then I had to deal with convincing sad-toddler that all my attention was on him and not on fussy-baby. With a little patience (on Cooper's part) all turned out okay. Sad-toddler became sleeping-toddler, fussy-baby became happy-to-be-held-baby and Mommy became thank-God-the-kid-is-asleep-Mommy.

On the baby news front: Cruz finally lost his umbilical cord stump this morning. Hooray! No, I didn't save it to make a pretty charm necklace and I won't be mailing it to the grandparents or anything like that. I just had to mention it since it's one of Little C's first milestones.

Here are some cute pics of the boys and Gma Linda and Gpa Pat.

Look who decided to venture out of the garage on their bike!!!!!

Easy Riders.
Read just 1 more Gpa. 1 more!!!!!

Only 6.5 hrs until Mark gets home from work!

2 weeks

Tomorrow marks 2 weeks since Baby Cruz became a part of our clan. Oh my goodness, there's so much to share. So many emotions and new experiences! My little brain is just going a flutter. If I could bottle up the past two weeks in a time capsule I would. I truly want to remember as much as possible (therefore, I must blog about it). Please forgive me if my thoughts aren't coherent. I'm trying to regurgitate as much as I can in a small amount of time.

The theme of the past two weeks is LOVE. I've never felt so much love from everyone around me and I can't tell my family enough how much I love them. It has been beyond amazing to share this experience with my parents. It's been awesome to have others here to watch Cooper adjust to having Cruz around and I'm so happy that we've had extra love to hand out thanks to Gma and Gpa. It has made this transition soooooo much easier. The waterworks have been in full force lately. I cry at EVERYTHING!!!!! Mostly tears of joy but also sadness when my parents left on Tuesday. I was a blubbering mess the morning (and most of the day) they left.

Cooper stayed with my parents while Mark and I were in the hospital and he did great. This was the first time we had left him alone with anyone for longer than a couple of hours since he was born. I realized as Mark and I drove to the hospital that there had only been one other time that we had been alone in the car together since the morning we drove to the hospital to deliver Cooper. Yes, we are in desperate need of a date night and I don't see that happening for quite awhile.

Cruz is doing great. He's eating, pooping, sleeping and reminding us how much laundry is involved with living with a newborn. He's such a squishy little nugget and we haven't wanted to send him back yet.

Cooper seems to like his 'lil bro so far. He's really sweet with him but for the most part he takes a few seconds to check him out, say hello and then he goes about his merry way. He's far too busy to stare at a sleeping baby when there's playing to be done. Gma and Gpa were waaaaayyy more fun then Cruz.

When Cooper walks by as I'm feeding Cruz, he'll stop and say "oooooooh, nice baby Mommy" as if he's complimenting me on my outfit or something. So cute. He also refers to Cruz as "she". IE: she's crying mommy, she's yawning mommy. I don't think this means he was hoping for a sister because he refers to anything that isn't himself as "she" right now. He has also learned that he likes to help change Cruz' (?) diapers. (Hmmmmm, this is the first time I've thought of this.....how do I do a possessive with Cruz's/Cruz' name? I better do some research on this). Cooper likes to be in charge of holding the Vaseline and taking off the lid while we're changing Cruz. It's pretty ironic that he HATES changing his own diapers but has no problem helping change his brother's.

Well, I better get back to being connected (read Milk Maid) to a newborn and chasing a 2yr old around the house. Here are some pics of our cute little boys.

Cruz doing what he does best right now. Sleeping.

Proud Brother. I couldn't decide which pics to post of the first time Cooper held his brother. What a special moment.

Little Brother

Baby Cruz is in da house! Cooper's little brother is here. Born August 6th at 11:27am. 7lbs 11 oz/21 inches. Once he was ready to make his appearance, he wasn't messin' around. It was a pretty quick process. I started feeling pretty severe contractions Thursday night. The contractions were strong enough that I had my Dad help me start timing how far apart they were. They were about 10 to 15 minutes apart and I had been having Braxton Hicks for a couple of weeks so I decided (out of denial) that I would just go to bed because sleep sounded much better than giving birth.

At about 4:45 am Friday morning, I woke up and it was obvious that it was time (I'll spare the details). By 7:00 am we were at the hospital and by 8:30am I was given an epidural. I was honestly looking forward to a relaxing morning knowing that Cooper was in good hands with my parents and thought I'd have time to soak in the moment, do a little reading or watch some Non-Nickelodeon tv programming in my hospital room all while being hopped up on my epidural. But baby Cruz was ready! By 10:45 am I thought the nurses better check things out because things were feeling "different" down there and it was time! It happened so quickly that my epidural wasn't quite strong enough so they hurried and called the anesthesiologist while warning me that we might not have time to "kick it up a notch" and the epidural might have to stay at the strength it was (yikes!!). The anesthesiologist gave me a little boost and told me it would take about 15 minutes to notice any difference. Believe you me, I was holding him to that and watching the clock like a hawk. Let's just say the epidural was "adequate" and luckily Cruz was on the move. He arrived 17 minutes after I started pushing and just in time for the doc to take over for the nurses.

The rest of the story plays out like one would expect. We were overjoyed and relieved that our little guy was healthy and couldn't wait for Cooper to come meet his brother. My parents brought Coop by later that afternoon and Cooper was mesmerized at first but quickly moved on and wanted to check out my cool "hotel room". He was more interested in helping out the nurses. They were so sweet to include him in everything. He even got to help take some of his brother's blood work to the lab all by himself with the nurse.

We are now home and settling in. Cooper is having a blast playing with Gma and Gpa and checking out his brother while Mom and Dad are quickly being reminded of what life with a newborn is all about. Life is good. Even if sleep isn't really a part of it at the moment.

Before shot - Right after I was given my epidural. Ahhhhhhh.....

Baby Cruz

23 minutes old.

Proud Daddy.

First Bath


Coop meeting baby brother for the first time.

His first reaction.

Nurse Cooper.

Mark was nice enough to take a photo of the poster hanging in the hospital bathroom. A (not so) subtle reminder of my new life.

Thank-you Mark for putting up with me throughout this entire pregnancy and for being an amazing team mate as we welcomed baby Cruz to the world. I don't know how you put up with me (I could barely put up with myself). Here's to our next step as we enter this new chapter of parenthood. Buckle up Buttercup.

Sprinkler Fun

Throughout the course of our (Mark's) basement remodeling project, Mark has made many, many trips to the hardware store. One of these trips included the purchase of a brand new (kid friendly, lead free) hose for Cooper and his very own SPRINKLER. Therefore, we've been spending quite a bit of time cooling off in the front yard. All the fun and excitement also leads to the let down of having to come inside. This brings up the subject of a new milestone Cooper has entered into in full force: The Defiant, Independent Toddler who has mastered the art of stalling. I'm not sure if it's because I'm pregnant, oafy and a little extra lazy, but it feels like every task we have Cooper do these days is a chore. Cooper wants things HIS way on HIS time and on HIS terms. Therefore, even a simple task like washing his hands before dinner takes FOREVER. This should be interesting when we throw a newborn into the mix. I won't lie and say that I'm not totally terrified about how we're going to handle everything. Hello to the reality that is quickly sinking in.

It's a good thing the little bugger is so cute. Lately, during his tantrums we've been trying to tell him he has some choices to consider. IE: You can continue to have a complete and utter meltdown for no reason at all OR you can calm down and we'll read your new race car book before bed BUT that means STOP crying (for the Love of God--this part said under our breath of course). The other night when I gave him this option, he tried to stop crying and get ahold of himself and said "Okay, Mommy.....I feel better now, I'm Happy". I immediately started laughing hysterically. Why would I laugh at such a rational response from a 2yr old? Because he said this as HUGE tears were rolling down his cheeks, he could still barely breath or speak and was totally whining as he said it. He was having a tough time sounding convincing but I had to give him an A+ for effort. More importantly, I think he actually got the message.

But enough about grumpy Coop. Here are some pics that capture the fun stuff. These are the moments I will always cherish. Even the last picture that captures the beginning of a major meltdown because Cooper's mean Mom and Dad announced that sprinkler time was over and it was time to go inside. Oh, the nerve of us!!!

A little lizard that wanted to get in on the Sprinkler fun.

Here Lizard, Lizard.

What do you mean it's time to put the sprinkler down?

Here comes the water works of another kind.

The waiting game

Today marks the day of being 3 days beyond the stage of pregnancy that Cooper was born (37.5 weeks). I guess this little guy feels the need to keep on cookin' a little while longer. Maybe he senses that we still have things to do. I hope he can at the very least hold out until tomorrow night when my parents arrive. Gma Linda and Gpa Pat were nice enough to plan their stay a little early so that we wouldn't worry about what to do with Cooper when D-Day arrives.

This go around has been a little different. Very early on in the pregnancy I started to worry (fret) about what we would do with Coop when I went into labor. We only had the doggies (and our beloved Lexie) to worry about when Coop was born and luckily our nice neighbors were able to check in on them for us. Mark did several 2.5 hour round trip journeys from our house to the hospital so that he could check on the dogs and feed them but we made an emergency call to our neighbors (at about 7 am) on the morning Cooper was born. We thought we might have time for Mark to "run" home real quick to let the dogs out and the nurse pretty much told him if he left he'd miss the birth of his son. She looked at us like we were crazy to even consider having Mark leave at that moment. Hey, what can I say.....we love our dogs! Although, I do think the birth of our son trumps letting the dogs out to relieve their bladders.

It will be so wonderful to have Gma and Gpa here to help take care of Coop and the doggies and to welcome the arrival of our 4th (6th) family member. I can't wait until tomorrow night to give them a big ole squeeze!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're never too old to feel a sense of relief when you know your parents are there to take all your worries away. Now if only they could help erase the memory of how much fun labor is and all the stuff that comes with it. I guess that would be asking a little much.