Sweet Tea

I started running again. Coop asked me if someone was chasing me. When I reassured him through fits of laughter (and gasps for breath) that they weren't, he asked me if I was looking for something. Nope, just running Coop. Strange concept, I agree.

He's growing like a weed these days. Gracious goodness, I can hardly keep up.

I'm addicted to McDonalds sweet tea. It's terrible. One dollar gets you a gigantic gallon in a styrofoam cup. Shame. I got hooked the day after I tried to kick my caffeine habit. Ironic.

I'm not feeling too blogtastic these days.

I'm blaming it on my hormones. I've been preggo twice in the past 5 months and I feel like I've sprouted an extra head. And maybe a third eyeball. I get hot and sweaty in the middle of the night and dizzy and cranky and weepy and silly. All at once.

Being home with Coop two days a week has been an absolute God-send. I am soaking up these precious days and don't take a single moment for granted. We've been to the aquarium, to feed the ducks, to the train store, to Target, to the dry cleaners, to the bank. We've laid in the floor and played cars. We've splashed in the pool. We've played pirate ship. We've read books. Every second is glorious. Even the ones where he strips nekkid in his bed at nap time.

Even those.

Twos

Parker Baby is a tiny little rockstar! He has made amazing progress this week! Go Parker, go!

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Coop is a rockstar too. And by rockstar, I mean that he is rocking the twos. The lay-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming-and-pounding-your-fists-two-minutes-before daddy's boss comes over for dinner, twos. The-pee-in-your-pants-while-looking-mommy-straight-in-the-eyes, twos. The two-weeks-in-a-row-have-mommy-and-daddy-come-get-you-out-of-church, twos.

But the OH SO SWEET, twos. The twos where he rubs my hand and tells me that he loves me. The sings-songs-angelically-while-he-falls-asleep, twos. The mommy-this-lummy-cakebatterdip-makes-my-tummy-happy, twos. The picnic-at-the-park-shrieking-and-giggling-best-days-of-our-lives, twos.

Love him two pieces. We really do.

We found out we were expecting again (jazz hands). Then we found out that we aren't expecting again (sigh).

But you know what? God is mighty and for whatever reason, he is using this season in our lives to show us more of Him and more of His provision in our lives.

I love that His Grace is made evident in our human frailty. I love that when there is less of me, there is more of Him. I love that when I fall to my knees, He lifts me up and carries me.

The best thing in all the world is that God's plan for our family is bigger than these moments.

Laying low, keeping calm, and moving on.

"Because you are with me, I will not fear." Psalm 118:6

We Found Nemo

Super Coop has not been so super duper this week.

On Sunday he was so bad in church, they had to come and get us out of worship. We got the quiet tap on the shoulder that meant, "come now, you must tame your beast before we start losing members and visitors". I bet someone touched his Liken A-Queen car. For the love of Pete.

As his Mama, I know his MoodyMcMoodiness is due to the fact that he hasn't pooped in days. (I probably just lost some readers).

Anyway, it's true. The "I no need poop Mommy" trend has kept up. Good gracious, what are we to do? Stop the potty training all together? Call in our old friend Pampers and take a few days off?? I called the pediatrician and their recommendation involved a q-tip. Um, no thank you.

Anyway, Murphy's Law, he pooped today. I know you are all relieved. He is too.

We o-fish-ially paid our first visit to the Georgia Aquarium on Monday. Coop's eyes stayed as big as saucers the entire time. It was a hoot! FISH FACE!

Dol-pins! Stingerrays! Fishies!Opters!

My review, in a nutshell:

1. They say no big strollers. Go on. Take your little umbrella stroller. We did. It will fall over backwards 57 times within the first half hour and you will be a cranky, foul, sweaty mess. You will slam the ankle of complete strangers with your camera as it clanks to the ground. Your bags will spill and your fruit snacks and Capri Suns will scatter about the "No Outside Food and Drink" area and you will get scowled at by the giant whale playground police.

*Disclaimer: We will be those people with our humongo jog stroller next time. The repeat visitors learned this. I know because I saw them all giggling at us as we wrestled umbrella strollers through the Baluga Whale exhibit. They tooled around with their well-balanced big mama jammas all day. Sweatyless. Crankyless. Live and learn*

2. Go to the ATT Dolphin Show. Go. Run. You won't regret it one bit. Ah-mazing. So beautiful. So fun. Cooper and I are both still talking about it.

3. Order the $30 pizza and chicken fingers at the precious little aquarium Cafe. Enjoy the atmosphere and ambiance. Split them between your group of 10-12 and go to Chickfila on the way home. Loading up your cafeteria tray with more than 1-2 items could potentually break the bank.

4. Be careful of the moving sidewalk and crawl-through tunnels if you are suffering from BPPV. You will lose your balance and potentially drop your awe-inspired fishie admiring toddler.

5. If in the midst of potty training the day of your visit, take Pull Ups. It's likely that, (after climbing a gazillion flights of stairs with your 30+ pound toddler on your hip, to the top row of seats in the amazing dol-pin show that you simply cannot miss) your toddler will shout out "Mama I need tee-tee!" as the lights dim and the show begins. Pull Ups. They'll save the day. For sure.

Such an awesome experience! I am so tickled that we have such fun things to do right here in our backyard. Next up, the Choo Choo at Stone Mountain. Big time, y'all. Big time.

BPPV, the Truffle Shuffle

So apparently I am not totally crazy. I'm only half crazy.

Went to the doc and they induced my crazy falling over, room spinning, eyes jumping psychoness. It was a sight.

Apparently I have something called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or in case you have no clue what that is or how to say it, BPPV. In a nutshell, tiny crystals in my inner ear have (for no good reason) dislodged and migrated to other parts of my ear. There they lay, irritating tissues, hitting nerves, and interfering with signals from my brain.

The result, lots of falling over, sweating, spinning, whirring nights.

Shoowee, it's some kind of weird. It can come and go without reason and has no real known cause.

Until it packs it bags and gets to walkin, I am sleeping sitting straight up, armed with drugs that apparently don't do much except for put your lights out. If it keeps up, I'll go see a vestibular doc at Emory.

But at least I'm not crazy.