HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Well Coop, 2009 was the year you were born, and now it is coming to an end. Where did it go??? I think it disappeared with your gummy smile to be replaced by a toothy 2010.
I saw another person with a blog who did something I liked - a year in review.
January: This time last year your dad and I were watching Mama Mia, and I was big as a horse and probably fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. We thought we still had a little over 3 months until you would come to visit us. We spent the whole month of January getting your room ready, with a brief little stop in the ER when I had contractions Waaaay too early. I remember feeling like I would be pregnant FOREVER, and being miserable and happier then I had ever been in my whole life. I wanted you to come early... like 2 weeks early - if I had known you would try to come as early as you did, I would have begged you to stay in my belly forever - or at least for the full 40 weeks.
February: By February I had lost my belly button entirely, We got gorgeous 3-D ultrasound pictures of you, and I was completely in love with you - so much so that I didn't even mind missing my shower when you decided to give us all a heart attack and begin to make your way into this world a bout 7 weeks ahead of schedule. Then you were here and our lives changed forever.
March: In March I nearly went crazy and looked it, pacing the hallways of the hospital while you slept and ate and I prayed and prayed for you to gain weight and come home. I nearly punched a nurse, and finally we brought you home. I remember looking in your crib every 15 minutes to make sure you were ok, and that you were real, and that you were MINE. Your belly button came off, I went out for the first time without you with me, your dad and I passed each other in the hallway sometime.
April: Your DUE DATE!!!! You were finally supposed to be born and we celebrated with putting you through an awful "procedure" which you recovered from quicker then anyone I know would have. You spent more time meeting other family, you celebrated Easter, and you gave us a smile. That smile pretty much will make me smile for the rest of my life.
May: By May you became a chatty little thing, you continued to smile, and break swaddles and run the house according to your schedule. I spent many a day knowing there was a pile of books to read but just watching your face as you slept. Best use of my time, by far. We celebrated Mother's Day (featuring Cooper). Oh, and most importantly you found your feet! (your lower hands) and learned to kick kick kick that bear. The music that toy plays will be forever ingrained in my mind. You also slept THROUGH THE NIGHT (nothing compared to how you sleep now, but at that time I was prepared to buy you a car to get you to sleep 7 solid hours).
June: In June your Mommy graduated (not sure how still) and you dressed in your Sunday best, assuming that means a tuxedo... and a leprechaun suit. You were a trooper and attended for as much as you could. You also went to Texas for the first time and met your GG and stole her heart. You got a new mobile and it totally rocked your world, and Mommy hid out in your nursery to study for the Bar.
July: I really think this is when you and your Daddy hit your stride. By this point Mommy was a sleep deprived, over stressed, drooling lump of a person and thank goodness you had your Daddy to remind you what sane looked like. We went for lots of walks, we went ahead and ensured yours of humiliation by posting your little booty on line, and we tried to get you to eat something solid. You were not that impressed. Suddenly, Mommy returned from that dark place.
August: Hello chaos! We spent a weekend at Aunt Allison's and then packed up our whole life to take it to Austin. You traveled over 1000 miles in a car seat and DID NOT CRY!!! You made your parents so proud. Your Dad received several scars from an incident with one of the cats (not mentioned on the blog, I don't believe, but ask him about it - you will pee your pants from laughing so hard!). You got really in to that solid food thing that you had rebuffed previously, rolled over, and warmed right up to Texas. You saw your GG 3 times in about 10 days, and had plans to see her the following weekend, and then she passed. Our whole heart ripped out, and it still hasn't healed, but I know you made her happier then anything else, and I know she continues to watch you. Whatever has happened since, I know hauling the crew down here was the right thing, because those days with GG were days I wouldn't trade for anything. You deserved to have those.
September: We ferberized you. I almost need not write anything else because that is how significant this was for us. This is when your relationship began with Teddy. Mommy and Daddy suddenly had time to themselves - all of which we spent talking about you, thinking about you, sneaking in to look in your crib, and wishing you were awake (none of it was spent watching DVR, talking to each other, SLEEPING or eating a meal together). I left you for the first time ever this month - as in overnight. It ripped me to shreds to do it, but I had already lost a piece of my heart and to make it whole again, so it could start to heal, I had to go talk to GG and tell her how much I missed her. You understood, and let me go, and I knew you were in capable hands, but I have still never felt so excited on a 6 hour drive home. I was going home. I was going to the place where YOU were.
October: I started work this month, fortunately for suepr amazing bosses and with super amazing people, so even though I saw you less, I totally saw you waaaaay more then most working moms. I am blessed. Daddy and you were the men of the house and I counted seconds til I could return to you. You faked us out with that whole crawling thing, waived Bye Bye and dressed up as a Koopa Troopa to be adored in my office - my oh my is it hard to be you.
November: YOU GOT A TOOTH... and some stomach bug, which you recovered from nicely, but I think almost offed your Dad and I. You became this little person all of a sudden. Crawling like crazy, talking, expressing even MORE emotions in those beautiful eyes. It finally started to hit me this month. You are growing up. I couldn't be more excited for you, because I saw how happy you were with your new mobility and I think that excitement helped me get past the sadness that would creep in when I would realize we are creeping toward the end of your first year. I know I cannot hold on to them, and trust me, if we could have made time stand still we would have figured out how, but I didn't know it was possible to love something this much.
December: You were just spoiled rotten. The rest of your teeth came in nicely (the first 4 at least) and the next few have begun to torment your gums mercilessly. You pulled yourself up to standing for the first time, and we have watched you perform the most spot on imitation of the leaning tower of piza ever since. We have had to find ways to prevent you from busting your head, and we have gotten creative. You are still in one piece, and for that I am thankful. You took the month of December to rub in that you say "Da da da da" all the time, and though I have caught you once or twice mindlessly saying "Ma ma," once you realize I am around, you immediately switch back to "da da da." This would irk me more if you didn't call everything "da da" - even the cats.
This was definitely the YEAR OF COOPER and it was the best year of my life. The best thing I ever did was marry your dad and have this little family with him. It has been my immense pleasure getting to know your dad as a new and different man, watching him be a father, not just any father - but the best father in the world!!! and it has been OUR immense pleasure being your parents and watching you be you. Keep it up big guy. I am pretty sure there are big things in store for you in 2010.
Like a waterfall in slow motion, Part One
3 years ago
