Goodbyes are never easy.....

I lost my step father exactly 4 weeks ago today. Len was diagnosed with oral pharyngeal cancer in May of 2008, the same month he retired from 40 years of teaching. He died at home under hospice care on November 16th, 2009 at 1:40 in the afternoon. His passing was peaceful, not frantic or hurried. He was surrounded by my sister, my husband Jim, Cooper, my mother, his sister Carol, my aunt Mary and myself. Jim started a fire in the pit in the backyard around 12:30 in the afternoon, Len loved fires and I thought it was a perfect goodbye.

Len married my mother when I was five. Even though I never called him "Dad", he was. He was home most summers, off from school, so he spent extra time with my sister and me. Len was always happy and talkative. I remember he would call for no reason at all and ramble on and on, and I would just want to get off the phone, what I would give for just one more phone call, to hear his voice! Len couldn't really talk for the last year or so of his life, which was really hard for him. I will miss his voice, his hugs and his smile. I know that he will be looking down on us and I hope he knows we really miss him.

Len, I love you and miss you very much. You will always have a special place in my heart.

Preschool!

Cooper had his first day at preschool last week. It's at a local church and came recommended from a friend. He cried a little when we left but the teacher said it was only for a few minutes. His first day was filled with story time, outside play, music, lunchtime and a Pumpkin festival party. He made a puppet and came home with some goodies. Mommy got to study at a local Panera (which is where I think I may have gotten the food poisoning from-ugh!) All in all a good day for us both. He's on fall break this week but we're looking forward to next week and the weeks to come.

Cooper and Da-ee, walking into school.

Cooper's Big Boy Bed

The new bed!

It had to happen at some point and with the new baby on the way, we didn't want Cooper to feel like he was being pushed out....so we thought best to make this transition early. We had our usual routine of bath, brush teeth, and stories which usually happens in our bed but this time we read in his bed. Cooper seemed a little confused and cried so we waited outside the door and went back in every few minutes until he stopped. It didn't take long. He slept the whole night through, so brave! Seems like a happy boy this morning so far. We're off to pick pumpkins later this morning in the chilly Colorado weather.

Sweet dreams!

Day out with Thomas!!!

Cooper's big day out with one of his favorite loves, Thomas the Tank Engine was full of smiles and tantrums. We had been telling him a few days before, each morning he was going to see Thomas soon. "We have tickets and we're going to give them to the conductor and ride on Thomas' train", we told him. He looked at us curiously.
The day began with a tantrum at home because he didn't want to leave his trains, even though we said we were going to see Thomas. We finally got him in the car and headed to the Colorado Railroad museum in Golden. We parked in a lot outside the museum property and rode a bus over. Once we arrived, we tried to take Cooper to see Thomas but he threw a fit. Cooper could have cared less about seeing Thomas, he would have spent the entire day in the gift shop tent if we let him. We tried several times to coax him out to the railway to see Thomas, each time resulting in a tantrum. The kid has his own agenda. After a few timeouts, we made our way over to the line to board the train. Grandpa Walt and Joan even stopped by to watch Cooper ride. Once the train got moving, Cooper loved it. Afterwards we watched miniature trains, played in the Imagination Station, climbed the lego Thomas and threw a few more tantrums. We even got our picture taken with Sir Topham Hat, the controller of the line. Sensory overload but well worth some of the smiles! Cooper never went up to the life size Thomas for a closer look - maybe next time.

Can you say pregnant?

A little craving for me lately is ice cream. In an attempt to stay lactose free, I decided to give LaLoo's a try. It's a company based out of California that specializes in goat's milk ice cream. http://www.laloos.com/ Unfortunately I couldn't find the ice cream at our local Whole Foods, but they were nice enough to special order it for me, one each of chocolate and vanilla.

One each to me meant one pint of each....little did I know that meant one case of each to Whole Foods. A little quick math for ya, eight pints in a case, at $6.99 per pint is, well, about $55. times 2 cases...that's over $100 worth of ice cream. I sent Jim to pick up the ice cream and apparently the cashier had some problems ringing the order and rang up at much less, so we got 16 pints of ice cream for under $30....ah, good things do happen sometime!

Freezer full o' goodness!

chop, chop, cry!

cooper had his very first haircut today. his hair was getting a little long, two people last week thought he was a girl (really, a girl?) we chose a place close to the house called Cool Cuts 4 Kids. He sat in a fire engine seat and watched a Thomas video in hopes to distract him....didn't work, he cried. Jim even blew bubbles to make him smile...that kinda worked. We saved a lock of hair to put in his baby book (which i still have not completed!) He looks so grown up with his new "do".

after, a little blurry but such a cute face!

Cooper turns 2

My baby is two! Wow, that went fast. Cooper celebrated his birthday a day early with a party at our house. Mostly family and Cooper's buddies joined us for crafting, bbq feasting and cupcake messiness. He got lots of great presents, coloring books and craft type items, lots of instruments and even a t-ball set! We had such a great time and it was a beautiful day!

a little shy for the birthday song.

Cooper"s first trip to the dentist

Cooper has cute teeth and we want to keep it that way. We had our first trip to the dentist. Cooper didn't mind too much when the dental assistant brushed his teeth but was NOT a fan of the dentist leaning him back in the chair and examining his chompers. He got a new tooth brush, elmo toothpaste, and got to pick a toy out of the super big toy basket (he chose a bouncy ball). He has his two year molars coming in which could explain some crabbiness. The dentist said his teeth look good but expect him to get braces later in life (crap!)

My funny little man

cooper is the funniest little person i've ever met. he doesn't talk much but has such a personality. the past few weeks he's been busy entertaining me in the morning. i've been feeling like such a slacker as a mommy because i've been so sick, had awful headaches and have been so tired, but he really does make me smile.


sitting on the potty eating a banana

Breckenridge

We love visiting Breckenridge, it's under two hours away and it's just fun to A. get away from town and B. walk around the cute little town. Friday when we got to town, there was gold panning on main street. Cooper and Jim had fun trying to strike it rich. Friday night we visited a new (to us) mexican restaurant.

Saturday we headed over to Keystone for the brew fest, I once again become the DD for several months to come. We met up with some friends and listened to some great music and Jim sampled several beers.

We've decided that it's no longer fun to go out to breakfast, something we used to LOVE! The options for us gluten free peeps is limited and looking at all the yummy non gluten free stuff on the menu just makes me depressed. So we bought some gf waffles and sausages and made our own breakfast in bed. Cooper's favorite part of Breck is the awesome toy store with a thomas train set....he could play for hours and usually we let him.

Sunday we were invited to a cookout at Walt's. Aunt Diane came in town from Indiana and we grilled some yummy salmon and hung out with the family. What a great weekend!

New beginings......

Our family tree is growing!
We are expecting a little one in the spring of 2010. We're all very excited about becoming a family of four. Cooper has no idea what is in store for him, I hope he adjusts well. I've been sleepy and lots of headaches and my face has broken out! (this did not happen with cooper) I'm going to try to enjoy my last pregnancy.

Jess starts school!
I start massage therapy school the beginning of September. After careful consideration, I've chosen the Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado http://www.mtic.edu/. It's a great school that's privately owned and also houses the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine which offers a 3 year masters degree (acupuncture, herbs, etc). I toured four schools and this one just felt right. It has a very holistic approach and also offers advanced bodywork training. It will be a difficult road being juggling pregnancy, school, home life and sleep but I'm determined to make it work. Wish me luck!

Denver Zoo

cooper and i went to the denver zoo today with joan. i forgot my camera! i guess it's ok not to document everything. cooper had a few meltdowns, i'm seriously starting to wonder when this phase will pass. out in public, every other child i see is smiling and happy but not mine. a woman i passed today told me that her daughter used to throw herself on the ground and kick and scream in public. her daughter was with her today (looked like she was in college maybe) and blushed at the comment. hopefully i will be able to look back and laugh one day.
anyway, the zoo was so fun and cooper really likes the primates. we saw a gorilla eating it's own poo too, all the moms were covering their mouths and saying "ewww", "gross", "stop" and the kids all wondered what he was eating! it was pretty nasty, poor gorilla. he topped off his poo snack with a brown paper bag and then a head of lettuce...seriously.
next time we'll hit the aquarium. we sure are having fun experiencing all colorado has to offer!

jess

The big GJ!

We took a trip to Grand Junction last weekend and it was hot! Jim goes for work about once a month and every so often, Cooper and I join him. It's really great to get away and bond with the family. Einstein joined us this time too! We arrived around lunchtime and hit our favorite Mexican joint, LaBamba. They make yummy refried beans fresh everyday. We headed to Palisade for some wineries after lunch and then the farmers market on main street. Friday, Cooper and I visited the local toy store where there is a HUGE thomas the train play area. For those of you that know how much CJ loves thomas, well, let's just said he had a pretty good meltdown when we had to leave. We bought him a few new engines, Diesel, Daisy and Duncan. Friday afternoon, we met up with Jim and hit the wineries again. At Canyon Wind winery, Cooper was offered water from a wine glass by a worker. He likes to bite down on glasses, so you can only imagine what happened next. I was able to get all the broken glass out of his mouth and the bleeding stopped soon after....thanks, lady! Cooper was really good for most of the trip but did not like the crib (we forgot our pack n' play) so he ended up in bed with us for both nights. It was nice to snuggle but I'm glad he has his own bed to roll around in. Friday night we went to our fav Italian restaurant, they serve gluten free pasta! We had a bottle of wine and enjoyed the outdoor patio.

Great trip, thanks Jim!

Happy Campers!

We did it, we took Cooper on his first camping trip. Lots of rain and tears, but we did it. It's much harder to camp with a toddler in tow, but we're determined to make it work. Jim took us to an amazing spot in Pike National Forest, a spot where he camped a year ago before the whole family moved out to Colorado.

Coop loved to jump in the puddles, he now has an official pair of camping pants (mainly b/c i couldn't get the stains out)

He was a little confused most of time to what was going on. He kept wanting to get back in the car. He thru a few tantrums, but we're used to that. Night Night was a little difficult, it took about two hours for him to fall asleep, he just wanted to wrestle and roll on top of us. Coop woke up in the middle of the night crying and threw his head back and busted my lip open, I'm ok, it's healing...thanks for asking.

We already have our next trip lined up (not sure exactly where yet, somewhere in CO) with Jim's sis and hubby and our niece and Nanna is flying in from cleveland to camp too! Wish us luck!!!

parties, guests and concussions..oh my!

We officially celebrated our home this weekend with a housewarming party, in pure jim and jess style!

Lots of wine (homemade by jim) and beer (vanilla porter from breck brew because jim's homebrew did not turn out so well) and a taco bar. We had lots of people join us to warm the place and we were so excited with the turnout.

Mattie and Tadz and our niece Maizie come up from New Mexico too.

Sunday we capped off the weekend with a trip to the Highlands Ranch farmer's market. Cooper had fallen asleep so we put him in his stroller. We were walking around when I decided to take a peek at some veggies, I left him for a split second and the brake was not on....and the stroller crashed on it's side off a 6 inch curb. I was so freaked out and shaking. My little man! We took him to the ER and got him checked out. He suffered a mild concussion but is doing well overall. He has quite the bruise on his forehead but he's still the cutest thing I've ever seen!