CDP...#4

I'm behind getting this on here but it's been less than a week so I think I'm still doing good! :) My newest nephew entered the world last Sunday morning at 12:25 am. This is my sister's fourth child and third boy. It's going to be very busy at her house. She is such a champ when she has these kids...it makes me very envious when I think back to my 18+ hours of labor with Little Man plus 3 hours of pushing but I'm glad she has a relatively easy time. Really I am. :) So with no further delay, I introduce Cooper Douglas to you. He's a keeper.

Listening to daddy

And the pouty face is perfected already! :))

Momma's first time to hold him

Big boy and holding on for dear life!

Daddy love!!

GooGoo love!!

Beginning to quiet down and settle in

Little Big Sis didn't know what to think...she's still only a baby herself so she didn't understand what was going on. She was okay until he started crying...

...and then she needed some major momma lovin'

She was so tired and ready for bed...she's doing much better now and has decided he might not be an alien after all.

Papaw is quite experienced and less nervous now

And Yay! for daughters who can take good pictures! After being the photographer during delivery, I was excited to get my picture taken when holding him the next day.

Princess settled in with him in no time and immediately started rocking with him. She ended up putting him to sleep. Going to be a good mama I tell ya!

Since Little Man was coming straight from a football game, I decided to not give my sis a heart attack and let him hold his newest cousin. But he did admire him from afar and is so anxious to get his hands on him soon!

So that brings a grand total of 6 grand kids for my parents and I'm not done yet and my brother hasn't even started! :) Life is so fun and God is so good!

1-0!!

Dear Little Man,

Ten years ago today, you made us a mom and dad. You made GooGoo and Papaw grandparents and you made Adam "uncle". You took awhile to enter into this world but every second was worth it. I realized today that you were born enough years ago that I don't have any digital pictures of you until you're about 2 1/2 years old. Go find your baby book and there's a lot more pictures from when you are a tiny baby I promise. :)

Daddy was so proud of you from the moment you got here.

Becoming a father was a wonderful, scary but very rewarding feeling.

You seemed to want to be older from the second you got here and you have truly grown up so fast! You were talking to me like an adult before you were 2!

You immediately loved dressing up ALL the time! And you were never particular about what you were, you just always wanted to be dressed up as something other than "a kid".

Your love for sports runs very deep. As you outgrew your dress up phase, you realized you could still transform into something else by putting on a uniform or gi. You are sports, all the time.

You are so stinkin' smart! You started reading a little after turning 2 and have always enjoyed sharing your love of books with anyone who will listen. You had "Where the Wild Things Are" memorized and could recite it before you were 4 and sang Santa "The Night Before Christmas" when you only 4. I am constantly amazed at your intelligence and just know it's going to help you do great things in your life. You are a very deep thinker and love learning.

You love your family! I'm glad you have that trait in you that says, "I know family is important and I love spending time with them". And you really love goofing off and having fun with everyone who will join you.

You have never really cared what other people think of you. You have a confidence in yourself that I envy. It was obvious to us even at a very young age that you know you are a child of God and that you love Him with all you are. Your identity is in Him and that's all that matters to you.

You will be an amazing father one day because you love your baby cousins!! And they adore you and look up to you more than you know! You've always been so gentle and patient with them and love teaching them things as the oldest one.

I cannot believe 10 years has passed since that day. You've made me laugh, you've made me cry, you've made me feel like I'm going mad but I love you so much. You are my little buddy and I'm so proud of the young man you're becoming.

Stay strong in your faith, believe in yourself and keep being kind to everyone. Allow your heart to stay sensitive because this world needs more men like that. It doesn't make you weak, it shows how sweet and caring you are. Always do your "work" for God and trust Him to take care of you.

Thank you for making me a mommy and for letting me love on you all the time. Thank you for being such a great kid and for trying to do what is right. I love you so much!

First Kiss

I really meant to post this yesterday but ya know how that goes...

Anyway, I wanted to tell you a story....15 years ago yesterday, Sept 19th, I was 17 years old, in my senior year of high school and was going on a date with a guy that I had been hanging out with for a couple of weeks. This really cute guy picked me up wearing his boots and jeans, a cream colored shirt and his black cowboy hat. We went to the Tri-State fair and bought him an engraved Copenhagen lid for his ever present snuff can in his back pocket. After people watching and playing games for awhile, this really cute guy took me home cause I'm sure my curfew was something lame like 10:00 pm or something. (Or his curfew was cause his parents were WAY more strict than mine!) Once arriving back home, we sat quietly in his pickup for several minutes. The whole time I'm thinking,

"Dude...we have been doing the whole 'date' thing for several weeks now and you haven't even held my hand! Are you just not interested? And if you aren't, WHY do you keep hanging around?! I need to know what is going on in that shy mind of yours!!"

And then before I could even stop the words from coming out of my mouth I said,

"So are you ever going to kiss me or what?"

And he said,

"Umm....well....yeah...."

And we leaned in close for our VERY FIRST KISS. I distinctly remember not even being able to breathe after that kiss and very quietly whispered, "Wow". Fireworks flew ya'll...I'm not even kidding. It was like no other kiss I had ever had (even if I only had 4 other guys to compare to but whatever...)

From that moment on, I knew that this very cute, very shy and incredibly awesome guy was going to end up being my husband.

Fast forward 15 years and that guy did end up becoming my husband and I am more in love with him now than I was then. :) So what did we do to reminisce that night 15 years earlier? We took our kids through the same first date that we had shared all those years earlier and ended the night all four of us piled on the couch. And as for the kiss? Well, I got three kisses this time...kisses from my three most favorite people in the world.

Not long ago, I heard this song on the radio and had to immediately call my husband to tell him that the writer had been following us around our entire relationship! Even down to the wedding in the middle of June part! It is now officially "our song" and it makes me smile every time I hear it because I think back to that night, on a date with a really cute guy, sharing a moment that would change both of our lives forever.

Enjoy!

(turn off my music at the bottom before you play it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDUOcHg5ijg

FOOTBALL!!

It's football Sunday!! Actually, it's the second week of major football games but for us, it's the first week of Little Man's tackle football career. At first, I was very nervous about him playing tackle but I am feeling better after these first games are out of the way. He's not terribly aggressive so maybe he won't get too hurt (even though he is the second smallest on the team).

#10 in the black and gold (good colors if I say so myself!)

Father (and Coach) and son watching the team from the sidelines

The two coaches: neighbors and friends

So during the first game we did have a little "incident". The ref called for a time-out because there was a player bleeding on the field. And...what do you know? It's my kid walking to the sideline with blood dripping down his arm, covering his hand and going all over his pants. My heart quit beating just long enough for me to realize that it was from a previous injury and that the scab had just busted open. Whew! I thought his football days were over at that moment. ;) He was so proud of his dirty pants that he didn't want me to wash them for today's game. I guess he thought it would be more intimidating if the other team saw him with blood all over him...they didn't need to know that it was his own. :)

Little Man and his best bud ever...Hayden (or Eddie...that's what we've named him anyway)

Before today's game...father and son striking a pose

and then getting down to business discussing plays

I love football and I love that I have a really cute player to watch now. I am praying for him throughout this season though to stay healthy and learn to have fun. I love watching my hubby coach as well...watching him with the kids makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. It makes me love him even more. Gush gush <3!

Football also means that fall is right around the corner and I am ready for that!! We picked our first pumpkin out of the garden this week and we had some great cool weather last week. It's coming! :)