Oh boy.

Tantrum: an uncontrolled outburst of anger and frustration


Cooper has been throwing the most ridiculous tantrums yet.  I thought they couldn't get worse...but yet here we are with them continuously getting worse!  They typically last about 5 minutes but they come and go.  I feel like he never fully lets it all out and at any moment something will set him off.  He kicks, screams (at the top of his lungs with a high pitch), hits, flops around and is SO LOUD during the tantrum.  Sometimes we have not a clue what his tantrum is about and we ask him to show us/use his words and he seems to have no clue what he wants.  This especially happens in the middle of the night.  He's so out of it and wants something but it takes a good 10-15 minutes to figure it all out.  What's weird is that we have been told by numerous amounts of people to just ignore it and let him throw the tantrum.  We did that with his head banging, which has pretty much stopped.  But when we ignore him during his tantrum it only makes it worse!!!!  GRR!  So we try to talk to him and calm him down and figure out what is going on.

The tantrums come at any minute.  Sometimes he'll be playing with his toys and start freaking out.  Other times it'll be over a certain food, cup, silverware, high chair, clothes, shoes, diaper change, car seat, TV and our most recent...having to sit in the cart at the grocery store.  Today I was standing in the middle of the parking lot with Crew in the basket of the cart and Cooper thrashing around fighting me to get into the grocery cart.  How silly we must have looked.  I did end up calming him down and telling him that he needs to hang on to my hand or he will have to get in the cart.  He did very well and only needed to be reminded once about hanging on to my hand (he sure loves to run off and knock everything off the shelves).  The only problem...my cart was one of those silly ones that don't go straight.  I had a terrible time trying to weave in and out of people.  Eventually Cooper wanted to play with something so he sat in the cart (FINALLY) and I pretty much jogged through the store getting everything as fast as I could!!!  I can guarantee I looked pretty funny but let me tell you...I was NOT going to have Cooper throwing around another tantrum!

Aside from his crazy 2 year old self he is so sweet.  Saying I love you all the time (which sounds like "I mum".  haha and gives lots of hugs and kisses!  He starting to pronounce words better and has the funniest ideas.  He really enjoys hiding things in his pockets, then saying "where'd it go?", he waits to have us look for it and then pulls out whatever he was hiding yelling "here it is!!" all happy and excited we couldn't find it!  haha  He sure does love anything with wheels and airplanes!  Anway, that's all for now.  He's pretty cool and we are all trying to figure out what is in his little mind!

Parenting

A friend posted this article today and I thought it summed up how I've been feeling lately about being a parent.

My favorite part is this:

My day-to-day routine isn't what I envisioned it would be four years ago. Some of the things I imagine I'm judged on now are minor, others, a little more major. But mostly they are simple faults and I now know that they don't make me a bad parent. Sometimes I leave dirty diapers on the changing table. My children's socks don't always match. I forget to brush my daughter's hair. I use TV as a way to take a breather. I utilize the fast-food drive-thru. I bribe. I'm sometimes too easy. I'm sometimes too hard. I sometimes make the wrong decision, give the wrong punishment, ask too much, ask too little. But within all these minor and major faults is a singular truth: Most days, I'm doing the best I can. And I honestly believe that's a truth that can be applied to most parents: Most days, we're all doing the best we can.

Being a parent is hard work.  It is especially hard not to judge parents without having the experience as one (and even then it's still hard not to judge in some circumstances).  But I try.  We try.  Brady and I.  We are a team.  We both realize our days are much better and smoother when we have each other.

{here I am with no make up, hair not done and exhausted...BUT there's a happy boy!!}

Dad.

Things have been really crazy around here lately.  With me working nights, Brady working a lot and helping with Scouts, the boys sick on and off and getting things around to build a house (more on that later) we have tried to squeeze in as much play time as possible.

Brady and Cooper being monkey's (like the one's on Coop's jammies)

 we like to read...especially with "Cooper Bear"

 and these two together are a pretty fun pair! Here they are in cute shirts from Grandpa and Grandma T.   They are laughing/smiling at Dad behind me :)

And speaking of Dad - I need to brag about him a little.  He's pretty amazing (Brady that is).  Since I've started working night shift my sleeping schedule has been out of sorts.  I've been sick too and that doesn't help.  Brady has been Mr. Mom for the last few weeks and helps out a TON.  And I actually mean does pretty much everything while I try and gain strength and energy to even make it off the couch (okay I'll give myself a little credit...I'm not that lazy - just tired).  But really, if it wasn't for him our home would be chaos.  And we all love him for it!!  Crew has really warmed up to his daddy and Cooper's adoration for him strengthens daily.  And he's not just amazing for us.  He's a great friend to others.  Especially the little boys in Scouts who LOVE him!! Just the other day we had an 8 year old ask him over to play video games...so we went! Brady played a video game for the entire 3 hours we were there.  And he's gone to a few of the boys football/basketball games to cheer them on.  So all in all Brady is a wonderful person and a great example for our boys.  He supports our family, is kind/loving to me and is a great friend to everyone.  I am super blessed to be his wife!!

Dog

On Cooper's first birthday, Great Grandpa Ellis gave Cooper this stuffed dog.  It looks like a cocker spaniel and it had red bows at each ear.  At the time, Cooper was not interested in stuffed animals.  But as time went on he grew to love this animal.  We cut the red bows off and gave him a name - Dog.

Dog has really been through it all.

He's gone "bye bye"

 he's had a photo shoot

 he is loved by a 2 year old

 has had meals with the family

 has a best friend named "ooh ooh"

 is squeezed as tight as possible

 has even played cars!

He's also had a diaper on, a diaper change, attempt at a bath, rode on a car, rocked to sleep and tucked in to bed almost every night.  He even takes a random nap on occasion!

That Dog sure is special!!

Crew

Little man Crew.  He is pretty much amazing!  He is so easy going and is happy most of the time.  Here's a little update:

- he can sit up. He's still unsteady but he can do it!

- LOVES to eat.  He gobbles everything down that we give him.  He doesn't seem to care for carrots but will still eat them.  He reaches for food that we eat and he's slowly figuring out how to eat small solid pieces.  So far he's had bread, spaghetti, banana and toddler snack puffs.

- wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 2-3 diapers.

- we can not keep socks on his feet - they are way too chunky!

- adores Cooper.  If Cooper is in the room that's where his attention goes to.

- continues to sleep through the night.  He sleeps swaddled with a musical bear and pacifier.

- Will not put weight on his legs. However, he will jump a little in the jumper but if we are holding him to try and stand he just collapses.  We are going to start physical therapy this month in hopes of some improvement and strengthening.  He still hates tummy time and constantly rolls over...so he's not pushing himself up like he's supposed to.  The developmental specialist says PT will help strengthen his core and should get him back on track quickly.

- he still has blue eyes with a little bit of brown!! I thought they would start to change fast after I saw the specs of brown but they're hanging out at blue!

- he has 2 teeth (the two bottom front teeth)

- his hair is straight when try and curly when wet.

Here are some cute pictures:

sitting up all on his own!

 he doesn't mind his big brother helping out with things.

 stays calm through some crazy/loud situations. he is only upset when he's hungry and sometimes when he's extremely tired.

 happy boy playing with his toys!

 I love his big blue eyes

 had spaghetti for the first time last night and LOVED it!!!

2!

Our big boy turned 2 last month!!! I can hardly believe it's been 2 full years since Cooper joined our family.  He has brought so much joy, laughter, and happiness to our home.

We had two birthday celebrations.  The first one Brady's parents and his sister's family came to visit for a weekend.  We celebrated with presents, pizza, and cupcakes.  He had a blast playing with his cousins!

Then on his actual birthday we had a special day just the 4 of us.  His birthday was on a Sunday so we went to church and came home for a nap.  During his nap we wrapped presents (last minute huh?) and blew up balloons for Cooper to wake up too.  He was super excited when he came out of his room and started to run through them as we had hoped!  Then we made his favorite for dinner...home made macaroni and cheese and bacon cheese burgers.  We opened presents and played for the rest of the night!  It was a great way to spend his special day and he had a blast!

 He wasn't too sure about the hat.

 Opening presents (and wearing his new dress shoes)

 what 2 year old is patient with new toys?!

 he LOVES daddy's home made mac and cheese.

 blowing out his candles!! He truly enjoys blowing them out and is SUPER proud of himself every time.  He claps, yells "yay" and asks for "one more." 

 Strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

 This was so fun!! He has on a rain boot, daddy's shoe, buzz light year back pack and he was shooting basketball!! He thought he was so cool!