Until my next post,
Love each other!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Brace Face
All my life I had crooked teeth. The top front two were the worst. Almost turned sideways even. My parents didn't have insurance when I was growing up, and they couldn't afford to get me braces. My parents owned their own cleaning business and they worked hard to give us the things we did have. When I was in High School, they both went back to school. I admire them so much for that. They showed me that if you work hard, you can accomplish whatever you put your mind to. Growing up poor taught us to appreciate what we had and to appreciate each other. My family was very close and still is. My parents are divorced now, but still we spend every birthday, Christmas, New Years and special occasion together. I have never known another family like ours and I am so thankful for them. Anyway, I digress. My teeth were awful. I got made fun of a lot because of them. Kids are just mean. Some adults are just mean too, sadly enough. By the time I was an adult, I had grown accustomed to my teeth. They were a part of me. They helped me to build character, BUT...I had a bad case of TMJ. I was waking up every morning with headaches from clenching my teeth so bad at night. When I chewed, you could hear my jaw popping across the room. It had gotten to be painful, so at 30, I went to the orthodontist and got braces. Within 6 months, my TMJ was gone. 2 and half years later, I still have my braces on. I get them off at the end of this week. I am excited, but also a little scared. I don't exactly know why I am scared, I just am. I feel like I am beginning a new chapter in my life. This year is a whole new chapter and it begins with new teeth and ends with a wedding. I can't wait to see my new smile.
Until my next post,
Love each other!
Until my next post,
Love each other!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Meet my Family...
My little family is not perfect, but they are perfect for me.
Cooper is the light of my life. Every day with him is new and exciting. He is always learning and he is incredibly smart. I know everyone thinks that of their kid, but he really is. I don't know many kids who are 25 months old who know how to work a TV remote or use scissors (of course, under supervision) or go get a tissue and blow their own nose. He is a strong little man. He was able to hold his head up on his own on the night he was born. At 5 days old, he rolled over on his own for the first time. My wish for him is that his character is as strong as his physical self. He delights me every minute of every day. All it takes to put me in a better mood is to see that beautiful little smile. He is starting to talk a lot more. His favorite question is "What is that?" with great annunciation on "that". LOL He has been asking that question for about 6 months now. He wonders about EVERYTHING and I believe that he takes it all in when we answer him too. He jabbers ALL the time. He is always talking about something even if I don't know what it is. He is addicted to chocolate milk. We go through about a gallon and a half of milk a week, and Chris and I don't drink it! He also drinks a lot of water and will sometimes choose water over chocolate milk, which is wonderful. He LOVES bath time and thinks its funny to splash water all over the bath giver, which is usually Chris. They have a routine that works best. He sleeps in his own toddler bed and has for about the last 6 months. He still wakes during the night. Sometimes quite a bit. Usually the cause for his waking is that his pacifier has fallen out of his mouth. I know....he shouldn't still have a paci, but its such a fight to get it away. He is down to only having it during nap time and bedtime.
When he was a newborn, he and I lived with my Mom, whom without her help, we would not have made it. I owe her more than I could ever repay her. Anyway, she has a very large window in the front of her house and Coop used to lay across the back of the couch watching out the window. It was his favorite place to be, even as a wee tiny baby. It is still his favorite place to be.
When Coop was 11 months old, he and I bought a house. Its not tiny, but its not huge. Lets face it, I hate to clean house, so any bigger than this and I would go crazy. It's enough to work a full time job, be a full time mom and keep a house clean too. We have three bedrooms and two full baths, a basement, a dining room, living room, kitchen and sun room. I looked at several houses before I looked at our house. As soon as I walked in this house, I felt like I was home, so we made an offer. Thankfully, they accepted our offer and in we moved. I saw "we", but I mean Cooper and me. Chris wasn't in the picture YET.
Cooper's bio-dad left the day after we came home from the hospital. I begged him to come back. I wanted a family for my son. He came back and two months later I asked him to leave. I had taken enough disrespect and I had to do what I thought was best for my son. There is a lot more to it, but I won't get into it on here. Fast forward to 16 months after Coop's bio-dad was asked to leave. A friend of mine talked me into getting on PlentyofFish.com. I figured if she thought it was a good idea, then I would do it. After all, she is gorgeous and should have no problem finding dates, but she is on there, so....I signed up. I met (online) quite a few interesting people. Some weird interesting, some intellectually interesting, and some were just rude. I set up a few dates. Went on the first one and it was the worst date I had ever been on in my life! Won't bore you with the details, but a half hour into the date, I told him I had to check on my son. I texted my little sister, whom I knew was going to be at a local club doing karaoke, and asked her to please call me and beg me to come there. Ha. Five minutes later, her now fiancee' called me to tell me to get over there, so I did, date in tow. He stayed about 20 minutes and left. After he left, a guy came and sat in his seat. I thought he was good looking, but I am too shy to make the first move, so we sat there in silence. He was there with my future brother-in-laws friend and I was there with my sister, so that is why we were all at the same table. I had to go eventually, never exchanging even a word with the good looking stranger next to me.
About 4 days later, I got a message on plenty of fish from a guy who worked at a local radio station. His pictures weren't close up, so I couldn't tell what he really looked like, but we messaged back and forth that entire day. I could not wait to get his next message. He was so witty, and funny and smart and we really clicked through email. Apparently he thought so too, because he couldn't wait to meet me and came to see me that very night. We hit it off right off the bat, but I was hesitant to start anything serious because I thought I just wanted to date around. A couple of days after my date, I was telling my sister and her beau about it. They asked his name, and I told them. A few minutes later, my sisters bf comes up to me with his phone and shows me Chris' facebook page. He was the good looking guy sitting next to me at the bar that night just days before. We didn't recognize each other from the bar but we have been inseparable since.
Chris is truly the best man I have ever known. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that I had to go through some of the horrible relationships I did, in order to truly appreciate him when he came along. He lifts me up when I am down. He encourages me to do whatever I want to do. He supports whatever decisions I make. He loves me unconditionally and he loves Cooper the same. Cooper and I are extremely lucky. Chris and I took things slow in the beginning, but were engaged just shy of 6 months after our first date. We had been talking about getting married after 2 and a half months after our first date. Our wedding is in October and I can. not. wait. I am having a lot of fun planning it, but can't wait for it to get here so that I can become his wife. Everyone had always told me that when you know, you just know. Now I know....
So, that's my family. We enjoy gaming. Video, card, board...we like them all. We enjoy anything that we can do as a family. Chris and I often play a game of Scrabble before bed after Cooper has gone down for the night. We enjoy museums and traveling and going out to eat. Basically if it enhances our together time as a family, we enjoy doing it. We just love spending time together. Coop makes us do group hugs and kisses. He loves us and I hope that his love of family continues through the teen years, but until the time comes that he is too cool for Mom and Dad, I will soak it all up as much as I can.
Until my next post,
Love each other!
Cooper is the light of my life. Every day with him is new and exciting. He is always learning and he is incredibly smart. I know everyone thinks that of their kid, but he really is. I don't know many kids who are 25 months old who know how to work a TV remote or use scissors (of course, under supervision) or go get a tissue and blow their own nose. He is a strong little man. He was able to hold his head up on his own on the night he was born. At 5 days old, he rolled over on his own for the first time. My wish for him is that his character is as strong as his physical self. He delights me every minute of every day. All it takes to put me in a better mood is to see that beautiful little smile. He is starting to talk a lot more. His favorite question is "What is that?" with great annunciation on "that". LOL He has been asking that question for about 6 months now. He wonders about EVERYTHING and I believe that he takes it all in when we answer him too. He jabbers ALL the time. He is always talking about something even if I don't know what it is. He is addicted to chocolate milk. We go through about a gallon and a half of milk a week, and Chris and I don't drink it! He also drinks a lot of water and will sometimes choose water over chocolate milk, which is wonderful. He LOVES bath time and thinks its funny to splash water all over the bath giver, which is usually Chris. They have a routine that works best. He sleeps in his own toddler bed and has for about the last 6 months. He still wakes during the night. Sometimes quite a bit. Usually the cause for his waking is that his pacifier has fallen out of his mouth. I know....he shouldn't still have a paci, but its such a fight to get it away. He is down to only having it during nap time and bedtime.
When he was a newborn, he and I lived with my Mom, whom without her help, we would not have made it. I owe her more than I could ever repay her. Anyway, she has a very large window in the front of her house and Coop used to lay across the back of the couch watching out the window. It was his favorite place to be, even as a wee tiny baby. It is still his favorite place to be.
When Coop was 11 months old, he and I bought a house. Its not tiny, but its not huge. Lets face it, I hate to clean house, so any bigger than this and I would go crazy. It's enough to work a full time job, be a full time mom and keep a house clean too. We have three bedrooms and two full baths, a basement, a dining room, living room, kitchen and sun room. I looked at several houses before I looked at our house. As soon as I walked in this house, I felt like I was home, so we made an offer. Thankfully, they accepted our offer and in we moved. I saw "we", but I mean Cooper and me. Chris wasn't in the picture YET.
Cooper's bio-dad left the day after we came home from the hospital. I begged him to come back. I wanted a family for my son. He came back and two months later I asked him to leave. I had taken enough disrespect and I had to do what I thought was best for my son. There is a lot more to it, but I won't get into it on here. Fast forward to 16 months after Coop's bio-dad was asked to leave. A friend of mine talked me into getting on PlentyofFish.com. I figured if she thought it was a good idea, then I would do it. After all, she is gorgeous and should have no problem finding dates, but she is on there, so....I signed up. I met (online) quite a few interesting people. Some weird interesting, some intellectually interesting, and some were just rude. I set up a few dates. Went on the first one and it was the worst date I had ever been on in my life! Won't bore you with the details, but a half hour into the date, I told him I had to check on my son. I texted my little sister, whom I knew was going to be at a local club doing karaoke, and asked her to please call me and beg me to come there. Ha. Five minutes later, her now fiancee' called me to tell me to get over there, so I did, date in tow. He stayed about 20 minutes and left. After he left, a guy came and sat in his seat. I thought he was good looking, but I am too shy to make the first move, so we sat there in silence. He was there with my future brother-in-laws friend and I was there with my sister, so that is why we were all at the same table. I had to go eventually, never exchanging even a word with the good looking stranger next to me.
About 4 days later, I got a message on plenty of fish from a guy who worked at a local radio station. His pictures weren't close up, so I couldn't tell what he really looked like, but we messaged back and forth that entire day. I could not wait to get his next message. He was so witty, and funny and smart and we really clicked through email. Apparently he thought so too, because he couldn't wait to meet me and came to see me that very night. We hit it off right off the bat, but I was hesitant to start anything serious because I thought I just wanted to date around. A couple of days after my date, I was telling my sister and her beau about it. They asked his name, and I told them. A few minutes later, my sisters bf comes up to me with his phone and shows me Chris' facebook page. He was the good looking guy sitting next to me at the bar that night just days before. We didn't recognize each other from the bar but we have been inseparable since.
Chris is truly the best man I have ever known. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that I had to go through some of the horrible relationships I did, in order to truly appreciate him when he came along. He lifts me up when I am down. He encourages me to do whatever I want to do. He supports whatever decisions I make. He loves me unconditionally and he loves Cooper the same. Cooper and I are extremely lucky. Chris and I took things slow in the beginning, but were engaged just shy of 6 months after our first date. We had been talking about getting married after 2 and a half months after our first date. Our wedding is in October and I can. not. wait. I am having a lot of fun planning it, but can't wait for it to get here so that I can become his wife. Everyone had always told me that when you know, you just know. Now I know....
So, that's my family. We enjoy gaming. Video, card, board...we like them all. We enjoy anything that we can do as a family. Chris and I often play a game of Scrabble before bed after Cooper has gone down for the night. We enjoy museums and traveling and going out to eat. Basically if it enhances our together time as a family, we enjoy doing it. We just love spending time together. Coop makes us do group hugs and kisses. He loves us and I hope that his love of family continues through the teen years, but until the time comes that he is too cool for Mom and Dad, I will soak it all up as much as I can.
Until my next post,
Love each other!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
A New Blog-ginning
I am starting this blog as a way to get out feelings and thoughts and to save memories. I am hoping that it will help me to recognize what is good in my life (there are a lot of good things), and sometimes I lose sight of them. I am hoping that it will be cathartic. I believe that in life, we all need a fair bit of catharsis at times. I am blogging for me, not for anyone else. However, if what I blog helps someone else, or brings a smile to someone else's face, then that is just an added bonus.
A LOT of my blogs will probably include things that my son, Cooper, has done or said. He is my light. My life.
I have started to write a book, but am not getting too far. As you will probably see in this blog, my thoughts are alllll over the place. My written thoughts are a reflection of my mind....busy. I have a lot of stuff swimming around in there and sometimes my fingers are not fast enough to get it all out in an orderly fashion.
I may also use this space to rant a fair bit. I have a lot of opinions and being a work from home mom, have no one to spout off to during the day. Cooper is not much of an audience. My rants are not meant to offend or upset anyone. They are just my opinions and from what I have been taught, everyone is entitled to one.
When I was comtemplating starting a blog, a dear friend reminded me that never in my life have I thought about doing something. If I want to do it, I just do it. I have always been this way and now is no time to start doing things differently.
So, until next post....
Love each other!
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