Good Morning!

This is my happy girl in the morning. She always wakes up so happy and talking to herself. She plays in her crib if she wakes up early till mommy comes and gets her. I love my little happy girl! She is getting so big and so "little girlish". I want her to crawl, but at the same time I love being able to contain her and that she is content in my arms. I love being her mommy! She is the best little baby in the world. (no offense to the other mothers that claim this right) :-) Everywhere we go she charms and mesmerizes the crowds with her delicate features and huge smiles that she gives away freely. I can hardly remember a time when she wasn't with us and I cannot imagine our world without her.

Whoops!

Short story of my morning with my little screamer. Yup you read me right. I joined the gym near our house and I am so thrilled. I can take Shiloh with me now that she is old enough for the Tot Drop. We went once last week and she did OK. I only worked out for 45 min. Then this weekend we went camping with a couple of friends and she did great(pictures soon). So today I headed to the gym around 8:45am. Dropped her off at the tot drop. She was the only child which I thought would be great. Well about 30 min. into my workout my number for the Tot Drop was called. I went in and found my little angel with snot running down her face and red eyes filled with tears. I held her and put her paci in. I set her in a little walker thing with toys and slowly made my way out. I thought to myself that I needed to hurry. About 15 min. more the over head speaker calls out my number again. I think to myself, " my workout is officially over". Sure enough half way to the tot drop I hear my child screaming at the top of her lungs. You would have thought that she was dying. Tears, snot, coughing, and choking on her spit... it was the biggest fit by far. I looked at her realizing that she was scared and mad. I thought OK, am I supposed to give in or is this another time to hold the line and tell her no. So I did both. Told her no.. no don't scream. Waited 30 seconds and then picked her up. She kept screaming and I was at a loss. I was embarrassed because the lady said, "maybe she will do better next time. Boy does she have a temper." WOW~~ My daughter is labled as The Baby with a Temper. Yup! Shiloh was kicked out of tot drop today for her temper. ( I rebuke that!)LOL. What am I going to do with her? I chalked it up to three things:
1) Mommy is way cooler than anyone else.
2) No other kids were there to distract her from the reality that I wasn't either.
3) The age of love and longing. She loves me with her all the time and I am longing for some me time. :-)
Anyways, I thought it was funny about an hour later after we both took a nap. We'll try it again in another day or two. Good thing I didn't pay for a full membership for her. :-)

Video of Shiloh Laughing

Shiloh Videos

More From Texas

Our trip in Texas was a very relaxing time. We did pretty much nothing and were very happy in it. I have not seen my grandparents in (prepare yourself for something dreadful) 9 years. The last time that I saw them before this trip is briefly at my wedding. Now before you throw tomatoes at me I did ask their forgiveness and brought a very cute little present to make up. Besides the last few years have been dull up till now with me so I think that we made up for lost time. I had forgotten how much I love my grandparents. Not forgotten them in the way that you forget those you went to high school with, but in my memory I was still a child playing in their house, causing them to thank God that we lived so far away. (;-0 ) I was a little mischievous. I mean that I forgot how wonderful it is to have history and deep meaningful love for someone that you have known all your life. That I have people who have my blood in them, who love me no matter what. They don't care that I have gained 10 lbs, gotten older, or if I am smart of not. They are not looking to see if I am perfect. It was so comforting in a way that I cannot explain. Like I went home in a way. Both sets of my grandparents are unique and gifted. You forget, I think, that the people who amazed you when you are young, are the same, just older and still amazing. Anyways.

Here are a few more pics from Texas.

This one of Shiloh is one of my favorite

Steven by the pond in my grandparents (chandler,tx.) backyard.

It was really beautiful!

Shiloh was chewing on everything and everyone, including my Nanny Sue's (grandmother) hand. My dad's dad remarried many years ago to a beautiful woman. She always told us when we were young that she was too young to be a "grandmother" so to call her "Nanny Sue". So there you have it. :-)

More From Texas

These first pics are at my grandparents (my dad's mom) in Lumberton, TX.

These pics are at my grandparents (my dad's dad) in Chadler, TX.

How Do You Say That In Texan? :-)

There are many things in Texas that make it very unique. The people, the out of the way places, and a language that is all their own. Steven and I have laughed at some of the strange things that we have seen and I thought that I would share a few.
* "Ya'll" is used in every sentence. "Shalom Ya'll" is hanging on my grandmother's kitchen wall.

* No matter where you are, you are never too far from a Dairy Queen.

* When we got turned around we stopped for directions. " Go down to the 4th stop light and hang a left, then haul a**. But don't haul a** til ya'll are clear of town." WOW!

*Hurricane is pronounced Herican where my family lives. :-)

*My dad's family is Cajun and though my grandmother doesn't have a bad accent some of them do and it took Steven a few phrases to know what they were saying. He would just shake his head and smile. I just laughed because a couple of times they were telling him a friend died and he was smiling about it. :-)

That is just a few funnies that we have encountered. Got to run to the store with my grandmother. More to come later.

Happy Easter!

Happy Resurrection Day!

We Are Doing Great!

Just thought that I would update everyone on how our trip is going so far. First I just have to say that when you travel with a baby you better just plan on taking everything and the kitchen sink, three separate bags. By the time that you get the diapers, wipes, multiple outfits, toys, and all the what ifs you are well over 50lbs. :-) It wasn't so bad. I thought I did good by packing myself and Shiloh in the same bag and only 2 lbs over. (which they didn't charge us for) We got to the airport and Shiloh was her normal happy self. I picked a flight close to her nap time so when we started to take off I swaddled her and gave her a bottle of juice to suck on. She started going to sleep and slept till 30 min. before we landed. After that she was perfectly happy and amused the people around us. I am thankful that she isn't a screamer! We exited the plane, found baggage claims and my grandparents and headed out of Dallas. The drive to their place is about 2 hours, but we stopped at a great Mexican restaurant on the way which gave Shiloh a break. She was amazing and I have to say that I have the best baby ever, hands down! (sorry to all my friends who have great kids)
The weather is warm and amazing and she is loving meeting so many people and being in the sun. Her schedule is a little messed up, but she bounces back and does great. We have traveled a little to go see the other set of grandparents in Lumberton (near Beaumont) Baby did well and I think Steven had an eye opening experience. (more to come on that later).
Well that is it for now, just wanted everyone to know that we are well. I will post about the funny finds in Texas later.

Well We Are Ready

I printed off our boarding passes already so we are almost ready to walk on the plane. I love doing that the night before, because you get a better boarding time and on Southwest you sit anywhere. So the quicker you board the better seat. Tonight I realized that it didn't matter this time, because the call for people with infants first anyway. Yeah! Before we board the plane we have to get a baby verification document for Shiloh at the counter before she is "secured". All we have to do is to show her birth certificate and wa la, she will be an "unofficial" passenger. We didn't buy her a seat so she is in tow.
I am mostly packed minus a few last minute baby needs. Today before work I was trying to think of a way to get her little activity mat in the suitcase. Tonight when I get home from work I will have to finish packing somethings, clean up a bit, re-check my luggage ( I always pack it twice to make sure) and then pray that I can get some sleep before 6am rolls around.

I am not so worried about Shiloh on the plane now. I think that the worry of the upheaval to her schedule for a week has taken the previous worry slot. Waking up earlier, sleeping in a strange place, driving a lot, etc.. this could wear on any ones nerves. Lord help my little beauty adapt well, to be flexible and to not get germs....amen.
If you think about us, say a little pray for me, we may need all of them that we can get. :-)
Till I have Internet access again, ta ta

Cutie Tuti

I Was Crafty Today

I have been looking for bibs that don't cost an arm and a leg and well most bibs are expensive. Who wants to pay $4 for something that Shiloh is going to spit peas on? Any who.. I was going to pitch this tan towel in the garage for a rag because the end was torn and then a light bulb went on. Ah Ha~~~ I could make bibs out of this, and the pea stains wont show so much on tan! So I scurried off
for one of Shiloh's bibs and went to cutting. Here is a pic of the four that I made today. I already had all the ribbon and iron on things in my sewing box so everything you see here cost me nothing. (most of my sewing things came from my mom) I think they are rather cute, but I did make them. I think it would be kind of silly for me to call my intense labor ugly, right? ;-) Now I am not ready to go into business, but I think that I will be proud to show up at my grandparents in Texas this weekend with nice new, cute bibs.

One of the bibs has pink and white camo ribbon with an iron on crown in the center. That is my favorite one!

It Has Been A While

I am so sorry for the drag in post lately. Life just zooms past me sometimes and I realize that a week turns into two before I know what hit me. I will update you on what is going on in our home (brief as I can be) and share a couple of videos.

1) Spring sprung only to turn around and dig in for a few more weeks. The weather here is dreary to say the least and cold. We had snow flurries last night. Yuk. Where are my daffodils and spring birds?

2) Grandma and grandpa Cooper were in town this last weekend. That is always a fun time and we enjoy there company. Shiloh always benefits materially as well. A bag full of new clothes and at least a couple of new toys. This time it is a talking story book and a jumper for the doorway. A video of that will soon follow.

3) I went to an OJC meeting (http://orphanjusticecenter.wordpress.com/) where there are really focused on the 2 billion orphans world wide. Now obviously we cannot take in all 2 billion, but as many as we can there are families and support staff being trained right now, here in KC. It is exciting and I am going to jump on some of the training.

3) Easter is coming up. Grandma Chamberlain is making Shiloh her first Easter dress. It will arrive soon and I promise pictures.

4) We are taking our first family flight. We are going to my grandparents house in Tx this coming weekend. I haven't flown with an infant before so if you think about us pray for us. Good thing that there are Wal-Marts every where in case I forget something. If you have any tips let me know.

5) I am growing and learning so much. I feel that I am learning more about myself and seeing that I have a serious need for God. That I am a mess without him. My husband is wonderful and I think that my daughter is the best in the world by far. We have wonderful friends and family that support us and God is so faithful, even when we are not.

SO that is it in a nutshell. Here are some cute videos.

My little happy girl!

I am not a proponent for babies in front of TVs, but someone gave us this praise video for babies and Shiloh loves it. Steven let her watch it while making himself some dinner.