No Excuses But Nothing Exciting....

I have no excuse for not blogging, other than that I often times feel like my life is slipping away from me. I feel like if I stop for 10 minutes and try to focus on just me, someone hits the fast forward buttona nd speeds life up around me. The dishes pile up, the laundry grows by about 3 times in diameter, the fish goes without food (whom by the way I flushed this weekend and Ashton hasn't even noticed because I've kept the tank running in his room... bad mommy), kids don't get showers, my car becomes a garbage can.... shall I go on? I think you get the point. So in a nut shell, taking those 10 minutes to myself actually only adds days worth of work for me. So instead I just collapse in my bed at night, absolutley exhausted, mentally trying to prepare myself for the next day.

Otherwise not much new on this homefront. Ashton and Cooper are starting to fight over toys, especially now that Cooper can get to Ashton in about 1/2 a second. All day I hear "Mom, can you get Cooper away?"..... oh how I love the sounds of sibling rivalry.

Hit The Deck.....

Typically Cooper goes down pretty easily for his naps and bedtime. He might let out a cry or two, but he usually has no issues rolling around in his crib and putting himself to sleep. Well, today was the exception. After 20 minutes of relentless crying, the monitor on my end FINALLY went silent. After about 10 minutes of silence I figured he was asleep, so I quietly snuck into his room to cover him since he was only in a onesie. No sooner than I lifted the blanket, he sat straight up and let out a scream........

That's when I HIT THE DECK........  After about 30 seconds of crying, I realized I was a 29 year old mother of two, huddled in the corner of the dark room, trying not to let my 9 month old son see me. There I sat on my knees, tucked into a ball, between the crib and the wall, just praying that Cooper would not see me and fall back asleep. WHAT THE HECK WAS I DOING?

BUT.......  If you are a Mom reading this, there is no doubt in my mind that you know exactly why I did what I did. If I had let Cooper seen me, it would have been alllllll over. I give P90X credit for my stealth reflex skills :-)

9 1/2 Months Old...

Most Mom's probably don't count the 1/2 months, but lately I find myself wanting to cherish everyday of Cooper's age. I had forgotten how much I love this age and how I wish I could bottle it and save it forever. Cooper is our last child and we won't be having anymore, so I'm begining to feel a bit of anxiety about how quickly he is growing. I'm not sure if it's that I'm more experienced as a Mom, or if I'm just enjoying Motherhood more the 2nd time around, or maybe it's that he's a very good baby overall... but whatever it is I'm going to miss this stage of his life. By no means is Cooper a perfect child. He still wakes up a couple times a night, he will ONLY breastfeed, which means I have had zero "me" time in almost 10 months and he likes to scream when he doesn't get what he wants. But overall, he has been nothing but joy for me.

Here's a list of just some of the things I LOVE about my Coop....

• I love the way you smile and get so excited when I come in the room to take you out of your crib.
• I love the way you cuddle your stuffed animals and pat them like they are a good "birdie."
• I love the way you crawl away as fast as you can when I catch you putting something in your mouth you shouldn't have.
• I love the way you put your hand in my mouth when I'm feeding you and you look at me with those big brown eyes.
• I love the way you twirl my ring around my finger when I'm feeding you.
• I love how you stand up and hold on to the back of my pants whenever my back is turned to you. Not sure if that's to let me know you're there at all times, or to make sure I'm there at all times :-)
• I love how you crawl all over your brother to wake him up and you love pulling his hair.
• Your laugh melts my heart and there isn't anyone who can make you laugh as much as your brother.
• I love how you love to ride on the 4-wheeler already.
• I love how I am your entire world. There are days where I wish I could escape and go get a pedicure, or have lunch with a friend in peace and quiet, but secretly I love how you need and want me.
• I love how you put your head on my shoulder and give that koi look to people you don't know, yet you'll flash them the most beautiful smile.

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU COOPER BAILEY FREDERICK

YouKnow You're A Mom When.....

Both of your kids fall asleep in the back of the car, yet you continue to drive around aimlessly for an hour, wasting a 1/4 tank of gas just to get some peace and quiet. You know the second you stop that car, your peace and quiet is over.... So drive on!

One More Toy For The Collection

As if we don't have enough motorized "boy" toys in our garage..... My husband decided to add one more to the collection. And I wonder where my GREY hair comes from.



BTW, my husband made it a point to let me know that  my previous blog is incorrect. My mother's swimming pool is not 12 feet deep, but rather 6 feet deep. Guess my perception of size is quite skewed. ;-) (this will work against you Ashley).

Fish Out Of Water

Well, my Mom has only had her pool open for a few weeks now and already Ashton has learned how to swim. Last summer we spent endless hours with him in the pool, only to come to September and he still couldn't swim more than a couple of feet. Don't get me wrong, the kid would live in the pool if he could. He's like a fish out of water and will dive for anything you throw in the water, including in the deep end (12ft deep). But he just couldn't get the hang of swimming.

BUT..........

2011 has brought about a major change. The kid can now swim.. YAY!!! I can now sit on the side of the pool in my lounge chair and just watch him. It's a real relief and weight off of a mother's shoulders when you know your child can swim to not just the edge of the pool, but quite a distance, in the event of an emergency. I've included a little video below. I must add though that he wasn't really cooperating with me in the video. I wanted him to show how he could really swim and instead he was more focused on just playing around... but you'll have to take my word on this one :-)

On a different note, anyone hungry for a piece of chicken? I don't know why, but Cooper just loves carrying around this plastic piece of chicken in his mouth all day. I can't help but laugh.

Caught Red Handed

Normally in our household, the Costco sized toilet paper lasts quite a while, but lately I've noticed that it seems to be disappearing quicker than normal. Now I've had my share of ideas as to why, but I'm pretty sure the person wasting the toilet paper is the same person who unplugs my computer 3 times a day and unfolds all of my laundry.....

BUSTED... Caught Red Handed!!! How do you scold such a cute face??? :-)



INSANITY... The death of me!

So, after having Cooper, I was determined to get back into evey single pair of my jeans and in order to do so I enlisted a little bit of help... P90X. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's this little 12 disc, 90 day video program that KICKED MY ASS! I'm talking 90 straight days, no breaks, of pure hard sweat. But I will say this, it got rid of every pound of baby fat, plus 5 more pounds. Ashley went from 235 (yes, he gained weight with me during my pregnany... isn't that sweet) to 202. And as if that wasn't enough, Ashley and I have decided that we're crazy enough to try INSANITY.

It's been given that name for a very specific reason... it is seriously insane.  I did day 1 yesterday of the 60 day video set and P90X doesn't even hold a candle to it. This workout program may be the end of me. I consider myself in somewhat good shape. By no means do I run triathlons, but I completed P90X and I'd like to think that I have quite a bit of endurance.... WRONG! This video put me in my place last night and as I collapsed on the floor after it was over, I realized I loved the pain :-)

So I'll keep you posted on my progress. I have to admit, by the end of P90X, my weight had remained steady for several weeks in a row. I felt like I was stuck on pause, hence the reason for the change. INSANITY is all cardio and core work, so hopefully this will be the solution I was looking for.

Try it out if you're looking to lose those last few pounds... I'm a true advocate of these videos.

Blogger Stalker

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I am a devoted "Blogger Stalker." I LOVE looking at everyone's blogs. People I don't even know, but who are friends of friends, I check their blogs daily. Don't sit there and think I'm crazy... I know you all do it to, especially us Moms. It allows us to read into other Mom's lives and gives us a moment of normallacy. It allows me to feel like I'm not the only one losing it with my 5 year old, or waking up twice a night with my 9 month old.

So with that said, I decided I may as well start a blog of my own for someone else to stalk :-) And let me begin by giving you a quick run down of my life. I am VERY happily married to my husband of 7 years. I have two beautiful children, Ashton who is 5 and Cooper who is 9 months. We live in Carnation (not the actual "flood" part of carnation, but rather the Redmond side of Carnation) on 2 acres. I work full time but I bring my children to work with me (yes, I'm crazy, but that's a whole other blog). My 5 year old is at a point in his life where I am certain that his ultimate goal is to see how many times a day he can make Mommy mad. My prescious Cooper is without a doubt the neediest child I have ever come across. He refuses to take a bottle, which if you're a mother you would have already figured out that that means I have not spent more than 20 minutes away from him in 9 months. And last but not least, my darling husband is obsessed with his yard and finds his happy place with his head phones on walking behind a push mower for 8 hours a day on the weekends. Gee, wish I could put head phones on for 8 hours a day :-)

Okay, enough complaining for blog #1.  I promise the next blog will be full of inspiration and sunshine.