Catching up and some ketchup

Just wanted to check in since it has been awhile since my last post. Not much to report other than we're finally back HOME!!!!!! We moved back in last Friday. All is well (and dry) and pretty much back to new so I won't bore you with house drama. All we have to do is final nitpicking with the contractors and then we're moving on without another thought of the Flood of 2009. Cooper's Grandma Mickey arrived the day we moved in so we've been busy filling Grandma's day with Coop's cuteness.

Greeting committee.

This is what greets Mark when he comes home from work.

Hillbilly Guitar Hero

Enjoying some of our new garage sale finds: Guitar and Rocking Chair

(entertainment at the cabin)

Coop discovers ketchup

Uh oh....

Bad idea?

Does this mean I'll have to carry ketchup in the diaper bag?

I sure hope not.......

Oh No You Didn't

Cooper and I each celebrated a milestone yesterday. Cooper said his first word (besides Momma and Dadda) that clearly sounds like the actual word and not just gibberish. He now says "car". It actually sounds like "gar" but close enough. He saw how excited I was when he said it, so now he's saying it non stop.

And yes, it finally happened. Much sooner than I would have thought. I'm not posting this for a pity party because I already received plenty of pity thanks to Facebook and the friends and family that I talked to. But yes, it had to be documented. August 12, 2009 was the first day that someone asked if Cooper was my Grandson!!!. Ouch.

The short and sweet version...Coop and I were shopping at a thrift store we frequent every once and awhile and the owner was trying to chit chat with us as he was ringing us up. He said, 'is that your grandson or you son?'. He must have seen the sheer terror on my face because the next thing he said was, 'Uh, I mean, Err..I didn't think he could possibly be your grandson.' Duh, nice try. If you didn't think so, then why did you ask?

Moving on......Coop and I have a busy day planned. I better start stretching my hips and take my Metamucil before the day gets away from me. Jeepers, where does the time go? :) Before you know it, I'll be doing the old lady fist pump in the air and telling people to "get off my lawn".

My self portrait

Tennessee moonshine!

The Last Frontier State

Here are some fun facts about Alaska:

• State Flower: Forget-me-not


• State Fish: King Salmon


• State Bird: Ptarmigan


• State Tree: Sitka Spruce


• State Mineral: Gold


• State Gem: Jade


• State Sport: Dog Mushing


• State Insect: Dragonfly


• State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth


• State Mammal: Moose

Here are some not so fun facts about Alaska:

• Over 4,000 miles from Tennessee


• Mark's current location

Mark left for a fire assignment in Alaska on Friday. It's definitely not the most convenient time for him to be gone (again), but the show must go on. After I put Coop to bed Friday night, I couldn't help but think about how much has changed since the last time Mark went to Alaska...........

It was over 7yrs ago and Mark was assigned to a 3 month detail in Fort Greely (about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks). He and I were shacking up, living in sin had just moved in together, Targhee was just a pup and we weren't even engaged yet. I bawled like a baby when I dropped him off at the airport and it was the first time we had ever been apart for a long period of time. I caved and let Targhee sleep on the bed with me the first night Mark was gone and the rest is history. We now have 2 labs on the bed with us and occasionally, a snugly 15month old.

We weren't technically supposed to have dogs at our condo so we had to be sneaky about Targhee's existence. I enrolled Targhee in obedient school and he went to doggy daycare a couple of days a week while I was at work. The other days I dropped him off at Grandma Linda's on my way to work. I joked that I was a single parent and Mark left me to raise our puppy all by my lonesome. During the 3 month period, I visited Mark for about a week and we were able to explore a little bit of Alaska together. Little did I know that Mark was pondering the idea of proposing to me during that visit. He ended up deciding that he'd wait until he returned home.

This time around is a little different. Targhee now has a sister (both dogs could use a little refresher course in obedience training) and I didn't cry as hard when Mark left. In my defense, I'm kind of used to him leaving on fire assignments and it was 4:30am. Okay, I'll admit it, I didn't cry at all because we said our good byes the night before and I was sound asleep when he left (sleep is a little more precious now). This time around, we're kind of homeless and the dogs are starting to run off on me at the cabin. We have since lived in 3 other states together, have moved 4 times, we're married and have a SON. Other than that, not much has changed.

Keep Mark in your thoughts for a safe and speedy return. As far as the rest of the family goes, let's just hope we survive this house fiasco, the dogs don't run away and that we'll be settled in our home before Mark returns.

Hello Dolly

Coop loves books. This love has evolved from stacking, organizing, turning pages (and some tearing of pages) to a full on love of story time. Over the past several weeks, Cooper has definitely discovered what story time is all about. All we have to say is "Coop go grab a book and we'll read a story". He'll run over and pick a book of his choice and bring it to one of us to read. This one book turns into 2, then 3 and it goes on and on. Right now, Coop is the one guilty of skipping pages. Soon the roles will be reversed and we might be guilty of skipping a page or two from time to time.

We can thank Dolly (Parton to those of you not on a first name basis with her) for Coop's early love of books. We signed him up for her amazing Imagination Library program when he was just a couple of weeks old. If we didn't have reason enough before to think Dolly was Da Bomb, we do now. She sends Coop a book once a month in the mail until he turns 5 years old! And these aren't your average humdrum books. They're carefully selected by Dolly herself and a special committee.

It's a big deal when a new book arrives in the mail. Coop knows when one arrives. I'll say "hey Coop, Dolly sent you some mail. A NEW BOOK! ~~insert an excited Cooper smile here~~

Thanks Dolly! We'll make sure Cooper always knows just how special you are and we'll do our best to pass it on.

Everything's going to be all right

Bob Marley said it best..Everything IS going to be all right. I can't get over how calm and relaxed I felt all weekend long. After a couple of weeks of stress and worry, I feel completely at ease. Our house is coming along, Cooper and the doggies are adapting to all the change amazingly (why was I soooo worried about this???), Mark is home and we are all happy and healthy.

We moved into Cabin #2 (Afternoon Delight) this weekend. It's a little bit older than Cabin #1 (Brother Bear) but it was very easy to baby proof and the dogs have more room to frolic (translation: run off without bugging poor innocent vacationers). We're scheduled to stay here for another 3 weeks. Hopefully our house will be completed by then. Only time will tell....

A "before" pic of the front room Front Room sans hardwood

(one of the nice guys working on the place) Nice curb appeal (dumpster and storage pod)

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Cabin #1 (Brother Bear)

Apparently, rental cabins need a catchy name

Cooper checking out the new digs

BBQ'ing at Cabin #2 (Afternoon Delight)

We've come a long way in the last 2 weeks. So long are the days of staying in pee-stained, kennel smelling hotel rooms. My standards have definitely changed. I've looked beyond finding an occasional mouse turd and scorpion in the new pad. As long as the little critters keep their distance, I'm okay with co-habitating.

Before the You Know What

I just wanted to share some pics from our visit to St. George, UT. We had a fun and relaxing visit and I'm so happy we decided to go so last minute (despite the repercussions ).

Here are the thoughts that come to mind when I think about our visit:
sprinkler time, grass, hose time, 4th of July parade in Hurricane, pancake breakfast in Virgin Town, farmer's market in Springdale, people watching in small town UT, petting zoo, pool time, playing pickle ball (love it), golfing, tearing gma and gpa's house apart (and them not caring), Simon the Cat(Piggy and Tess too), dirt, cruisin' in the golf cart, pedicures, good food, popsicles, taking time to watch MJ's memorial (Cooper was really broken up about the whole tragedy and insisted on watching), relaxation, spending time with family, on demand babysitters, and AMY AND MARK'S 1st DATE SINCE APRIL 18, 2008!!!

Piggies Storytime

Pickle Ball

Riveted :)

Cheese!

Thanks Gma and Gpa for a wonderful time and for making us feel right at home.

Love, Coop, Mark and Amous

Our Day

A little glimpse at our day yesterday:

• Drive 45 minutes from the cabin to the house to drop the doggies off. Targhee runs off and tries to get into our not so friendly neighbor's pool house. Contractors are ever so patiently waiting in our driveway for me to let them in. Already running late for Cooper's 15 month check up.
• Drive 45 minutes (and arrive late) to Coop's appt. Poor little guy get 2 shots and now realizes the jig is up. He's totally on to the nurses and immediately screams when they put him on the scale. Mom asks the normal questions that the doc has probably heard a million times. Coop's stats; Weight-21lbs 14oz./Length-31.5 inches/Head circumference 47cm (I bet you were dying to know about the size of Coop's cranium).
• Drive back to ground zero to check on the dogs. They hang out on our screened in porch at the house because I don't trust them to leave them alone at the cabin. Coop and I join them on the porch while the demolition continues inside. Coop tries to figure out why he can't go inside.
• Drive back to the cabin (dogs in tow) and start preparing for the evening routine. As dinner is cooking on the stove, Cooper and I play on the back deck.
• Cooper gets stung by a wasp on his ear. I grab him, put an alcohol swab on the bite (thank-God those were in the diaper bag), give him a squirt of Benadryl. Cooper screams bloody murder.
• Cooper's ear quickly swells about 3 times the size of his other ear. I take a deep breath, turn off stove and put dinner (still in the pot) in the sink~thinking to myself there's no way the dogs can reach this sink.
• Cooper and I drive to the Emergency Room. Side note-I'm very allergic to bees. I'm also freaking out about all the stuff Coop now has in his system: 2 immunizations, Tylenol as a fever reducer because of the shots, Benadryl and now WASP venom.
• We wait in the very crowded ER waiting room as Coop begins to feel the effects of the benadryl. He could care less about the drunk lady sitting next to us because he is now drunk too.
• We finally see a doc and I notice that pretty much all the swelling has gone down, Coop has no labored breathing and we just experienced our 1st (of probably many) trips to the ER because Mom has overreacted.
• Doc "humors" Mom and tells me he would have done the same thing. It's better to error on the side caution (blah, blah, blah). His way of trying to make me not feel like a overreacting mother.
• Coop and I finally make it back home. Coop is sacked out in my arms, dogs are sacked out on the floor and the dinner that was left in the sink is gone. I guess they figured it would have gone bad and didn't want it to go to waste. How very thoughtful of them. Turns out they could reach the sink. Who knew?