coop's first christmas!

It's safe to say Coop loved his first Christmas. What's not to love?! He got to visit lots with all of his cousins, he stuffed his face with turkey and mashed potatoes and fell in love with turnip, and I think he's really enjoying that our living room has been turned into a playroom. 

Cooper loves tissue paper, especially the metallic kind that he can't break apart into a million pieces and eat. He likes the noise of a room filled with rambunctious relatives -- he think's it makes a nice soundtrack for a nap. So excited to have a few photos to remember Coop's first Christmas...

I can't believe we've come to the end of Christmas and now we're jetting off for a week vacation in Florida! Coop in the pool in a little floaty ring...my heart will explode. 

coop has a tooth!

Just as we were starting to wonder if teeth would ever come for this little guy...his first tooth arrived out of nowhere!

He wasn't fussy, he wasn't drooling, and there have been no "teething" signs yet. Just a sharp little tooth that popped up on the bottom. I have noticed that he has been sleepier than usual, maybe that has something to do with it!

He is going to be so excited when he figures out he can start cutting into the skins on his cucumber sticks. 

Coop's first tooth! How exciting :)

iphone photos from november, part two

Preparing for a road trip is a big job when you're the mom of a baby and a puppy. There's packing for everyone, picking up road trip snacks...but it was made easier by our friend Brittany who offered to keep Weeze for the weekend :)

Plus, she is my favourite babysitter ever due to her frequent snap-updates. LOVE!

One of our first stops was to see Kevin and spend the afternoon together. Coop loves his Uncle Kevin.

We stayed with Scott, Rebecca, and the girls of course :) 

November also marked our 2 year wedding anniversary, and I thought it would be a good time to finally change my name and make it legal. The process for getting the formal marriage certificate was the most difficult part, and after that arrived in the mail, changing my name was easy :) 

Every single card in my wallet now says Laura Kelly on it!

On the night of our anniversary, we went over to Ryan's parents' house to drop off Coop. We walked in and started explaining how much of a bottle he would eat before bed, and go over some details of his routine, while they just stared at us like, "wait...are we babysitting?"

Funny story. Ryan and I both thought the other had arranged for them to babysit. They gladly accepted Coop for the night and Ryan and I enjoyed a celebratory dinner at Milestones. Grandparents are the best. 

It's still booking season for my business, and Coop had to join me for a consult earlier in the month. I was worried he was going to be needy, but instead he just slept the entire time :) 

Our Christmas decorations went up during the last week of November. Names are finally on all the stockings...and there's a little bit of festivity in every corner of our house. 

Shortly after the above photo was taken, our new living room rug was delivered! A Black Friday sale -- woohoo!

Addressing Christmas cards by candlelight, while Coop says "blah blah blah" in the background.

Oh...this photo. Ryan was in charge of cooking dinner one night. The theme was orange. 

Orange peppers, rice with hot sauce, shrimp, shrimp sauce, brettons, and tomato soup. We watched a documentary about Burt's Bees while we ate. It was a weird night. 

Also in November, our book club Christmas Party! It was lovely and festive and we all wore moustaches and paper hats. 

The decluttering project is well underway -- I think we've done about 10 places in the house, and most recently we compressed our DVD collection from FIVE ikea bins, down to one sleek DVD wallet. The hardest cases to part with were definitely those pictured below...

Coop's first Christmas is only a week away -- I can't believe it!