Musical Beds...

Well, we had several milestones come about this past week. All revolving around beds.

Some wonderful friends of ours (Jeremy & Kristin) are expecting their first baby (Miss Sydney) in early November and I had always hoped that I would find a loving home for my beautiful crib and changing table...so I was thrilled when they announced they were pregnant and the due date matched up perfectly with Carter needing to exit the crib.

Anyway...they came over last week and we played musical beds in our house. The crib was taken apart and the pieces moved into the Hemphill's car, then the bunk beds were taken apart and moved into Carter's room. Then the mattresses that the Hemphill's were giving to us, were put into Cooper's room. Yep, he gets to have his own room! He was very excited! At first I worried that he would miss sharing a room with Conner and protest, but he never said a word about it. Now this also means that Conner has graduated to the top "bunt", which he also thinks is super cool! And that leaves Carter who has graduated from the crib to his big boy bed on the bottom "bunt".

It is really no surprise that Mom and Dad were the ones who had the hardest time with all this "graduating". Ultimately it means that we no longer have any babies in our house. This was a harder pill to swallow than I expected! Carter is no longer a needy, helpless infant, nor is he even a wobbly little toddler, he's somehow creeped into little boyhood without me even realizing it. He has actually done surprisingly well with no bars to contain him in his bed. He's really only gotten up once each night, then with the threat of a spankin', decided that staying in bed was the safer choice!

Although, last night we had a pretty hilarious exchange. Back when we first put Conner in the bunk bed with Cooper, Cooper would sit up above, convincing Conner to perform all kinds of illegal acts, like getting toys and throwing them up to him, or telling him that it was perfectly fine for him to be out of bed reading books...knowing full well that this would guarantee him a spankin. Oh the joy of being the big brother.

Well, last night Cooper passed the torch to Conner, who was up on his new found thrown, convincing Carter to cook him a three course meal in the "kitchen". Carter doesn't realize that using a metal spoon to stir up "food" in a metal pot is not the sneakiest of methods. Day stood outside the door only to hear Conner telling Carter to "Go get that!" And Carter replied with a confused "huh?", only to be officially busted in every sense of the word!

So we'll see how tonight goes, until then here are the pictures of everyone in their new beds. I also included a few of Carter in his crib for the last time:(

Carter's last night in his crib.

The last morning to wake up in his crib.

He does look very grown up to be in a crib, much to my dismay!

All tucked in for his first night in the big boy bed!

Conner making his way up to his top "bunt".

"Mr. Top Bunt"

Cooper's face says it all! He's in hog heaven!

The many faces of Carter...

Carter has always been full of expressions! Even from very little, he's made some of the most hilarious faces and now that he's old enough to understand, and make them on command, I got them on camera. Just had to share. Unfortunately, this 'photo shoot' took place while eating, so I hope you don't mind "see food." :)

"Surprised Face"

"YIPEEEEE! Face"

"Luscious Lips Face"

"Pouty Face"

"You can't say "No" to this face, face"

"My just plain happy face!"

Jr. Jag of the Day!

On Wednesday, Cooper was the Jr. Jag of the Day! He was so excited on Tuesday, he already knew he was next and could hardly wait for Wednesday to get here. They are going in alphabetical order through each child in his class, to have their chance to be Jr. Jag of the Day. They get to wear a crown, and they spend a good bit of time talking and learning about that child. They count how many letters are in their name, how many vowels, consonants, syllables, and word wall words you can make from the letters in their name. Then they let the child tell something about themselves and they write a short (very short) story about that child and illustrate it. Then each child writes that same sentence on a story tablet and illustrate it themselves. These all come home with the Jag of the day in a little book. He was very proud of himself and came home all smiles. Here is a picture of him with his crown and the "story" they wrote with all the things they learned about Cooper and his name.

I thought this would also be a good time to update you on how he's been doing with kindergarten... Each day has most definitely gotten better and better. Mostly his struggle is in the mornings, being woken up, pushed to get ready faster, etc. He's very used to moving at his own pace and does not appreciate being pushed to move faster. I've started out with the strict rule that he cannot watch TV or play the computer until he's TOTALLY ready for school...that means; eat, dressed, teeth brushed, shoes on, and hair combed. It didn't take long for him to realize that the faster he got ready, the more time he'd have to watch a show or play a quick game on the computer. This has helped immensely! Now he's waking up on his own, and yesterday he told Day..."I'm not going to waste any time today, so I can play the computer." I guess a little motivation goes a long way!

They are having a book fair this week and last night at dinner I told Cooper we'd go early and let him pick out some books. I got home from the gym at about 7:25 and Day said he'd been up since 6:30 and dressed since 7, waiting for me to take him to the book fair. So, like I said, it's getting better. He always has a smile when I pick him up, and tells me several things he did each day...I make him tell me at least 3...otherwise it would sound like this...

Me-How was your day?

C1-Good.

Me-What did you do today?

C1-Nothin'

Not surprising, I know, but now he has to tell us three things at dinner so that we have some idea of what happens in his life:)

Here are a few Cooper funnies that he's come home with that I know you'll like...

C-"I got my name tag pulled today"

Mom- "What does that mean?"

C-"It means I was talking during silence at lunch, and they pulled my name tag."

Mom- "What happens then?"

C-"You have to sit out for five minutes at recess, but five minutes goes by REALLY FAST!"

(Good to see he was so affected by his punishment!)

Many of you know that Cooper has a tendency to be a little girl crazy. He has a girlfriend in every class he's in...one in his Sunday school class, and apparently, one in every kindergarten class. He informed me the other day that he had 5 girlfriends at school. I tried to calmly explain that one girlfriend at a time is more than enough to handle. "No, I want to have as many girlfriends as I want!" Then I asked him how many husbands I had. "One." he said, sounding very dejected and annoyed all at the same time. Later, Day asked him if he had made any new friends. He told Day that he has a friend named Riley, that she's really nice and he wants her to be his girlfriend. Then he said, "Yeah, I follow Riley around all day, and she doesn't even know it!" He said this with a sneaky grin on his face, like he was so proud of himself. He cracks me up!

That's all I can remember right now, but I'm sure he'll provide me with new material soon!

More firsts...

This past week marked a few more firsts for our family. Carter got to go to school for the first time on Tuesday. He was very excited, despite the fact that he had no idea what was going on. He got to school and all he wanted to do was play in the water fountain. His teacher Ms. Dede said, "Looks like we might have to bust out the baby gate." All I said was..."You were warned!" Day and I have been telling them since before we left for the summer last year that when Carter showed up, they would either kick us out or raise our rates. But thankfully he did fantastic and even took a nap. I was shocked, since he's never slept anywhere but his bed or the pack and play. And the thought of keeping him contained on a rectangle mat for two hours sounded like a nightmare...but he does great for other people I guess. I was very relieved to hear he had a great day, and he's done great ever since. Yesterday they told me that he just keeps trying to go into Conner's class and wave and say "Hi, bubba!" If that's the worst of it, then we're in pretty good shape!

Conner also started school in the big boy three year old class. He went right in, no problem and had a great day. It's so fun to watch him saying hi to his friends from last year, and interacting with others. He's most defiantly growing up.

Sending them to school feels very different than sending Cooper. I think mostly because I know the people that are loving on them, and that they are in a Christian environment that I can trust. I can't say that at all about Cooper's school, but I can say that the same God that takes care of Conner and Carter is taking care of Cooper and guarding his heart and mind, while I'm not there to do so. (That's what I've been specifically asking Him to do lately.)

Here they are, ready for a great day at school!

Tuesday was also a first for me...my first day without ANY children in FIVE YEARS!!! Now, there have been plenty of days that I've had to myself, thanks to my mom, Day or various friends watching them for me, but this is somehow different. I don't have any guilt about inconveniencing my mom, or anyone else, since I'm paying for the younger two to learn, play, and have so much fun, and Cooper is in good hands too. My mom asked it it felt weird, and I said; "No, it feels WONDERFUL!" I spent the day working in our flower beds, getting all the weeds out, putting newspaper down to keep any more weeds from growing and planting some edging plants. I think our yard looks the best it has in a LONG TIME! I've for some reason decided to work really hard at keeping it looking nice and Day has done a great job at keeping the yard looking nice and the shrubs cut back. I even took a picture, since it may never look like this again!

On Thursdays I am leading a small group for a Beth Moore Bible study at our church, but I'll have noon until 2:30 to run errands or whatever else I need to get done. It will be so nice to get in and out of the car...all by myself, walk into the store and not fight anyone about how, where, or if they're going to sit in the cart, look at WHATEVER I want to and never have to visit the toy dept. or the fishies. It's amazing how much more I can get done.

Again, it is bittersweet, because I know it's just one step closer to me having all day, every day to myself, and that is an adjustment I'm not ready to make. I love having my boys at home during the day, to read books, play games, eat at Chick-fil-a, go to the zoo, the mall, the park. I am learning to cherish each moment as though it's the last one.

On that note...I'm going to get off the computer and get on with lovin' on my boys!