Happy St. Patrick's Day

Kiss Me!

I crack myself up!

31 weeks

We're In Trouble

30 is NOT That Bad Folks!

Ok, so what is the fuss with 30 people? Everyone is always dreading turning 30. Well, I turned 30 weeks old yesterday and so far it is just great. As you may have noticed a number of my recent pictures have been taken in my highchair. This is mainly because most of my new experiences take place there. Yesterday mom and dad gave me this great cup thing to chew on. I think something is supposed to come out of the spout but I am not quite sure how to make that happen. If you read the post below you will know that this picture was taken just a few minutes before I had a meltdown. You see, I LOVE to eat and I know that when I am in my highchair that means FOOD. Well, I am not sure what the parents were thinking yesterday but they put me in my chair and only gave me that cup thing and a few measly puffs (what the heck is a puff anyway?). I wanted FOOD. The real stuff. So far these are the foods I have eaten: rice cereal, bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, butternut squash, apples, prunes, biter biscuits, and green beans. It is all good, but I am wondering when I am going to get the really good stuff. You know the stuff I am talking about, chips and salsa, enchiladas, margaritas, stuffed pizza, Starbucks. I think my parents are holding out on me. Check back next week to see my new adventure for 31 weeks. Until then - eat well, live well!

Mishaps from a Multi-tasking Momma

Funny story. Our house. This evening around 5:30ish. Actually, let's back up to about 5:10. I have Daniel put E in her highchair because we are going to introduce her to a sippy cup and puffs. I was not thinking about the fact that it is close to her dinner time (5:30) and that she did not drink a full bottle at her last feed. Before I go any further, let me tell you that this kid LOVES to eat! She can hardly contain herself when she sees a bottle or when we put her in the highchair. Sometimes the anticipation of her meal will cause spontaneous combustion or laughter followed by tears as normal folks call it.

Ok, so back to the story.

We get her all set up in the highchair and give her the sippy cup. She doesn't really sip, but definitely enjoys gnawing on it. I give her a couple of puffs but she is not so interested. She then quickly goes from enjoying her sippy cup to great agitation over the fact that she is not being fed and in case we hadn't noticed she is in her highchair. I hurry into the kitchen and begin thawing out her bananas, get her prunes and rice cereal in bowls and onto the table. Daniel, being the wonderful dad and husband that he is begins to feed her the prunes and rice cereal. While dad is feeding the kid, I decide to get dinner started. Tortellini soup. YUM! I get the olive oil and garlic in the pot and am just about to pour in the chicken broth when I realize that my poor math skills have shown up once again. Instead of 2 quarts of chicken broth (64 oz.) I only purchased 32 oz. I quickly advise Daniel of the situation who if you remember is feeding our child. Who happens to still be waiting on her bananas to thaw! Daniel volunteers to run to the nearest store to buy the broth because you can't have tortellini soup without the broth. He comes into the kitchen and asks what he needs to buy. While in the kitchen we are distracted by our neighbor's two year old son standing on their kitchen table completely naked. After a good laugh Daniel leaves for the store and I walk into the dining room to finish feeding E. I knew it was too quiet in there! As I rounded the corner I see rice cereal being flung through the air. My dear sweet husband had left the bowl on the highchair tray and forgot that E loves to try and feed herself with the spoon. What a mess!

29 Weeks and the Stats

Well, we finally took Eleanor to the doctor for her 6 month visit. The doctor said she looks great! She weighed in at 17 lbs and was 25.5 inches long. She continues to amaze us each and every day.

Laughing Little Girl

TN Tales

I have been thinking about this post all week and I am still not sure where to begin or what to share. My trip to TN started out as just a fun opportunity to meet two amazing ladies and to share a little life with them. It ended up being a spiritually refreshing and emotionally renewing retreat. I LOVED the Joyner family and what a tremendous blessing it was to meet Arthanise and hug her neck! I have two very dear new friends who impacted my life in an amazing way over a few short days.
Eleanor and I spent three fun-filled days gallivanting around TN with our new friends. We enjoyed some sweet time with Arthanise at one of my favorite places to eat - Cracker Barrel. It was an emotional meeting because there was a time when I thought I might never get to meet Arthanise. But God is so much bigger than cancer! E loves her some Aunt Arthy!
Jeanine and I talked and talked and talked some more. A mutual friend once commented that we were "two peas in a pod," and that statement could not have been any truer. I felt like I had just met my long lost sister! It was nice to talk face to face with a friend and not on the phone, facebook, or email. Sometimes we just need a friend with flesh and I was definitely in need of one!

E played with Jeanine's 4 kiddos and adored them. In the mornings when they would wake up and she could hear them she would start looking around our room saying "hoo, hoo, hoo" until I would take her downstairs.

Olivia and E

Avery, Davis and Donovan

Thanks Jeanine and Arthanise for welcoming us to TN and treating us like family! We love you!

Sic 'Em Bears

Daddy's pride and joy! Gotta teach 'em early! Thanks for the great bib Worley. We love it!

Joyful

27 Weeks and Headed to Nash-Vegas

Tomorrow Eleanor and I are headed to TN to visit some blog buddies. We will be staying with Jeanine and her family and also spending some time with Arthanise. I am so excited to finally meet these two ladies face to face. Check back next week for photos of our trip.

Half Birthday

I can't believe it! My sweet girl is 6 months old. The days have sure flown by. It seems like just the other day I was waking Daniel up at 1:12 in the morning to tell him my water broke and we needed to head to the hospital. It does not seem like it was 6 months ago that I was walking laps in the labor and delivery wing of the hospital waiting for E's arrival. 6 months.....6 months....where does the time go! I realized the other day as I was rocking E to sleep that the birthmark that used to be under her nose was almost completely gone. I also noticed that her once almost completely bald head was no longer quite so bald. Her long skinny feet, are still long and skinny. Her big blue eyes, are still big and blue. But that tiny baby who entered the world on August 12th is no longer a tiny baby. She is growing up!
Sitting in her new "throne." She just started sitting in her high chair for meals and while Daniel and I eat dinner and she loves it. As you can tell by her bib she had just finished a delicious dinner of bananas, avocados and rice cereal. She is also eating sweet potatoes now and loves them. This girl loves to eat!

Will You Be Mine?

My Loves

I Love to Read and A Cry for Help

Ok, so I couldn't decide which picture I wanted to post for this week. So, you are getting all of them. Eleanor enjoys turning the pages of her books and tries to grab them while mommy and daddy are reading to her. She also likes to try and eat them. Hence, the mouth open in the first and last photos.

On another note...calling all moms...I need some advice. I am not one to normally seek out parenting advice on my blog, but we are in need of some help in the sleep area. Eleanor was a great sleeper from birth until just about a month ago. Before we moved to IL she was sleeping through the night and taking two great naps a day and a short cat nap in the evening. Since we moved, our precious angel is no longer sleeping through the night and is having trouble taking a good nap. She is having frequent episodes of night waking which are troubling to this mommy. Daniel and I have tried the "cry it out" method, but E gets so cranked up that she is then incapable of going back to sleep. Our other option is to get up every time she cries out and put her paci back in her mouth. This is what we have resorted to, but results in very cranky parents after an hour of trips back and forth to E's room.

Naptime is another area of concern. The 45 minute intruder shows up every day during at least one nap. Again we have tried the cry it out method to no avail. We also go to E, put her paci in, soothe her etc., but sometimes this does not work. When it does not work E will cry and cry. We can tell she is tired but cannot get her to go back to sleep.

Another issue we have encountered is that E is getting too big to be swaddled. Before you jump out of your skin, yes we still swaddle her. She has been swaddled before bedtime and naptime since birth because she is a mover and a shaker and if she is not swaddled she will not fall asleep. We have had to graduate from the single swaddle to the double swaddle, but now even the double swaddle can be outdone by our little Houdini. Last night we swaddled E before bed and put her down. A few hours later when we were ready for bed we checked in on her and she was out of her swaddle (this occurs almost every night at some point). Last night we decided to not reswaddle her and see how she did. She slept fine until 4:30am (this is about the time the night waking begins). When I went in to check on her I found that she had completely flipped. Her head was now in the place where her feet had once been and she was diagonal.

So, HELP! I know this is a long post but this mommy and her dear husband need a good night's sleep. Do you have any suggestions?

My Own Room

Yesterday I turned 23 weeks old! In honor of this special day, Mommy and Daddy gave me a special gift... my own room! I am so excited. Here is a picture of me in my crib in my very own room. Now I can have sleepovers. Party in my crib!

60 Magnificent Miles

In October of 2007, I took part in the Dallas Breast Cancer 3-Day. I raised approximately $2500 and walked 60 miles over 3 days in support of finding a cure. I chose to walk in 2007 in honor of my mom who was celebrating her 10th anniversary of being cancer free.

This year in August I will walk another 60 "Magnificent" Miles. This time in the Windy City and this time in honor and support of another courageous woman whose family has had to face this ugly disease. I am walking for Arthanise. You can read more about her story here. I became acquainted with Arthanise just before the 2007 3-Day and proudly wore her name on a shirt I had made along with the names of others who were fighting or who had fought the battle with breast cancer. This year, Arthanise is not just one of the names on my shirt, she is the reason I am walking.

I am walking so that a cure may be found. So that my sweet little one may never have to know the terrible toll breast cancer can have on a family.

My goal is to raise $2500 for this year's event. If you would like to help me achieve that goal please visit the link below.

If you would prefer to mail a donation, follow the link above and click on the print a donation form link. The donation form contains all the information you will need.

Thank you in advance for your support in the fight against breast cancer!

First Big Snow

We have had lots and lots of snow the past two days. Eleanor is not sure what to think!

Shoppin' at the Pig

One of the first surprises of our visit to Grayslake back in November was the the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Dallas doesn't have these and I had thought they were only in the south. The other day Gloria was standing in line at the local Jewel Osco, the other local grocery store. Somehow she got into a conversation about the Piggly Wiggly. The other woman said that she normally shops at "The Pig." Piggly Wiggly is already a funny name on it's own, but why would anyone want to call the place they get their food "the Pig." The animated gif of "Mr. Pig" above is from www.pigglywiggly.com. The irony is a bit mesmerizing.

Eleanor's New Office

Even with all the hubbub here in Illinois, we managed to get Eleanor's new office setup. I think she likes it. Eleanor and her Dad can work together.

No Longer A Teenager

Eleanor turned 20 weeks old the day we arrived in IL. We intended to take her photo amidst the boxes all over the house, but it never happened. We finally decided to take her picture in front of the house.

Houston, We Have Contact

Happy New Year Everyone!

D, E and I arrived safely to the Chicago area on Tuesday morning and are slowly but surely getting settled in. There are still boxes upon boxes to be unpacked, but our home is finally beginning to look like a home.

Here are a few photos from Christmas Eve. Christmas Day and new home pics to follow soon.

Thank you NaNa and PaPa for my beautiful Christmas Dress

Cooley Family
Our First Christmas As A Family of 3

Letter to Santa

But I Don't Want To Go To Bed!
(This picture is also proof that our child can and does cry. Not very often but on rare occasions it does occur)

Offline Until Further Notice

Craziness.....that is our lives right now. Sheer craziness. On Sunday morning our little family will be hitting the road to move across the country. Please bear with us as we move and get settled into our new home. There will be plenty of pictures coming from Christmas and from our moving adventure! Check back after the first of the year for more from the Cooley's.

Santa Baby

Precious

Seventeen Things About Me

Well folks, yesterday I turned 17 weeks old. Mom is a little slow at getting my pictures put on this blog, but please forgive her. I require a lot of her time and attention! Here are 17 fun things about me:

1. My favorite person is my daddy.
2. I like to suck both my thumbs at the same time.
3. In the past few weeks I have started playing with my toys.
4. My new favorite toys are my feet.
5. I like to kick and splash in the bathtub and then laugh.
6. I wear a size 2 shoe (yes, this is a little large for a baby my age).
7. I don't like tummy time very much so I just roll from my tummy to my back.
8. I am working really hard on rolling from my back to my tummy. Although I don't know why,
because I don't like laying on my tummy.
9. I like to watch NCIS.
10. The ceiling fan is my best friend.
11. I only cry when I am hungry.
12. I smile after I spit-up.
13. I wear at least 7 bibs a day.
14. I like to sleep with my hands behind my head.
15. I like to sleep in the car.
16. I am a celebrity at my daddy's work.
17. I love to blow bubbles and drool.

Sweet 16

Eleanor went to the beach for the first time.

We're Back

Here is a slide show of photos from the past two weeks. More to come as our adventure continues.

Technical Difficulties

We are experiencing technical difficulties....be back soon!

Airplane

Eleanor did great on her first airplane ride. She fell asleep before the plane ever took off and woke up after we landed. She has really been so easy to travel with.

Suitcases and Rasberries

Going on vacation

Blowing Rasberries

Welome to the World Sarah!

Sarah Allyson Poe arrived safely today and was welcomed by her mommy and daddy, Meredith and Paul, with loving arms. She is beautiful!

Lucky 13

13 weeks old!

The day we came home from the hospital (2 days old).
My has she grown!

Dedicated

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up."

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Yesterday was a special day for our family. Daniel and I stood before our church body with Eleanor Grace and dedicated Eleanor to the Lord. We committed to raise our daughter in a home where God's name would be spoken of often and His commands repeated again and again. The verses above are the verses we chose for our daughter but also for ourselves. It is our prayer that Eleanor would learn to love the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, and strength because of the example we set for her.

Daniel reading the verses we had chosen for Eleanor

Our family

First Friends

Once a week, Eleanor and I meet up with some other mommies and babies at the mall and go for a stroll. It is a sweet time of fellowship and something I will definitely miss when we move at the end of December. Here are some pictures from this week's playdate.

This is how we roll!

This is Eleanor's very first friend, Liliana. Liliana's mommy and I worked together.

Our new friend Julia.

One sleepy little one!

Better by the Dozen