Adorable T-Shirt

One of my nearest and dearest bff's, Jill, made this t for Cohen for his first birthday. Isn't it perfectly cute? I know the cute baby helps sell its cuteness! He has worn it quite a few times since his first birthday party. Check out Jill's many creations on her site, Oh Le' Bebe'. She can make onesies with your little ones initials and even create a matching burp cloth. Her fabrics as oh so cute!

She also just recently made Cohen an elephant t that is to die for. (I will post pictures of that soon). All of her creations are custom and one-of-a-kind, perfect for a baby shower gift or a treat for you and your little one. Do I sound like I am pushing her product? Well, I am... so check it out.

Edited Before She Popped!

Just wanted to share all of the images from Sara and Kevin's maternity photo shoot. Click here to check out all their images from their session. They were an awesomely gorgeous couple that is going to have two equally gorgeous babies. That is right, twins! (Aden and Addison, not sure on the spelling) I know you don't have to say it she looks awesome for 31 weeks pregnant with twins, hell she looks awesome for 31 weeks preggers! ENJOY!!!!

Cohen and Mr.

So I thought it would be fun to flash back. Here are two videos of Cohen. One of him at 6 months, taken in November and the other is from yesterday. (1 year old) I forget sometimes how much Cohen loves his blanket or Mr. as we call it. I think it was around 6 months that this love affair started so enjoy the videos of him with his blanket. He has three of the same blanket and loves all three. The other night he grabbed all of them when it was time to go to bed. How could he choose which one to sleep with, right?

Videos

I have not taken a picture of him in over a week. Hard to believe I know...


The first video is from May 5th, the day before Cohen turned one. Chris Mill's, one of Jeremy's college roommates gave it to him for his bday. Cohen figured out how to use it so quickly. I swear he amazes me. Only being one, it seems like he just gets things! Jeremy showed him how to push the button twice and he was off. I bet all you non-Arkansas people are laughing with irony about the Arkansas t-shirt, and no shoes on an ATV thing. Redneck in the making, I know! To be honest I am laughing too. Holy sh*t we are so totally Arkansans!

The second video is of Cohen in his pj's one morning playing with his bat. I just think it is funny that he almost tripped and fell. I am a mean mom! :)

The third video was taken today. My kid never wears clothes and as my mom say's... He would rather be naked. I could not resist sharing how independent he is. He just goes outside, jumps on his ride and goes. He has not figured out that you have to steer but after all he is only one. He will get it soon!

Enjoy!

Found At Wal-Mart!

Oh, I cannot wait for the day that Cohen gets angry and says "I wish you weren't my mom", because I am going to pull these pictures and tell him about how we came to be his parents... 

I will proceed to explain to him how I discovered him abandoned, and asleep in a shopping cart on an empty aisle at Wal-Mart. Bruised forehead and all! I will then go on to explain to him that he better be thankful that it was me that found him that day at Wal-Mart because we have all been to Wal-Mart (right?) and have seen some of the country folk that come through that place... wearing spandex that they have owned since the 80's and hauling a cart full of kids around with no shirts or shoes on and don't forget the mom in spandex is yelling at her kids things like... "if ya'll don't shut up you ain't gonna get no McDonalds later!". Maybe then he will realize and appreciate just how lucky and fortunate he was that it was me who found him that day. 

Really the pictures are from our latest trip to Wal-Mart. No spandex were worn, however this was not the first time I have done my grocery shopping with him asleep like this. Its just so cute, even if it is a Wal-Mart cart. I have been meaning to photograph him doing this and I just happened to have my little point and shoot with me. Hope I didn't offend my Arkansas friends with this post :) 

Its Not School, Its Daycare and That Is Okay!

This is a video of Cohen in the car coming home from "school"... Like one year old babies go to "school". I think "school" is what parents call it to try to keep themselves from feeling guilty that they send their kid to some sort of childcare. It is only school when you ride the yellow bus to get there, partake in organized recess, get called into the principals office or have home work assigned daily and so far Cohen has not had to do any of those. I have no problem calling it daycare or mother's day out because I do not feel guilty sending him there. I actually look forward to dropping him off. Am I a bad mom to admit that? First of all he loves it,  second of all I need a break from time-to-time damn it and third... I love to see his face when I stand at the door to his room, after him being there all day, and wait for him to notice me. When he does, his face lights up so big, he comes for me and starts to say Momma! See, if anything "school" makes your kids miss and appreciate you and that makes it all worth it. I think they are happy to see you because you rescued them from "school" as seen in the video above, which is okay, I will take that. This day on the ride home from "school", Cohen took one of his ginormous shoes off (size 5...I think that is abnormally large for a just 1 year old) and started acting cute the car ride home. Enjoy the video!

Empty House

For those of you keeping up on past posts you will know that I recently had 18 days of house guests. My parents were the last to leave exactly a week ago. The house is quiet and I really miss all our guests. Honestly, no one really got on my nerves and if they did it was for a sec and that was it. I wish my parents lived here or I lived in Seattle.

I really wish Mike, house guest and Jeremy's best friend from college, would leave the U.S. stepsister Canada and head back to where he can golf until early winter. Mike you can live with us... for free. Well for manual labor and a few chores, oh and you need to walk around in just your underwear from time-to-time. That was a nice treat and the upside to having house guests for so long ;) We love you and want to back on the south side of the boarder.

Chris, one of Jeremy's college roommates also consisted of one of the many house guests. He spoiled Cohen with a motorized ATV. Jeremy showed Cohen how to push the go button by his thumb once and the kid had the ATV mastered. He is smart. However he keeps running into s*%t because he cannot figure out how to steer. Right when we thought he was a quick learner with the grasping of how to make it go he has failed us yet again and hasn't even slightly grasped turning. I have marks on my wall thanks to his inability to just turn the damn steering wheel. None-the-less... thanks for the gift Chris, now Cohen is even more of a spoiled brat. Seriously, do one year olds need motorized cars?

Mike with Cohen

Kevin, Jeremy, Cohen, Mike and Chris in the background

Chris, Mike, Jeremy, and Kevin

Mike with Cohen (Mike bought C that shirt)

Above: Cohen riding his birthday present from Chris



All of the below pictures were taken while my parents were in town.

Above: For those of you outside of Arkansas... Ken and Bridge playing Baggo for the first time. I think they are hooked. Even Bridge was talking s*%t!

Sneak Peak.. Red Hot Momma!

Meet Sara! You will never guess that this hot momma is 31 weeks pregnant... with twins! Check out more images from her session on my photography blog. My jaw is still wide open in awe of how great this soon to be momma looks!

I Think Summer Is Here!

Koda, old gal... so patient and good with Cohen!

Today it was about 80 degrees and I think that I have a kid who loves the outdoors. No shoes, no shirt... just his diaper and the backyard. He was in and out of the house all day and I loved it as much as he did. Not a bad gig I have, to be a mom. Especially on days like today where the weather is great. Thanks for working hard Jer so I can be home with little man. I love every second of it and it won't be too long before he doesn't want to play in the backyard with me anymore. I don't know, I am pretty cool so that may not ever happen :) None-the-less thank you for allowing me to be the best mom I can be!

Gramma and Grumpa = A Good Time!

We have been so busy with Gramma and Grumpa that I have had no time to blog. They leave tomorrow which makes me sad and it will not be easy to say goodbye to them. I just wished that we either lived there or they lived here! I cannot begin to tell you how helpful they have been around the house. My Dad will do whatever just to stay busy. He is like that old man who just wonders around trying to find things to fix or clean up. Today Mom and I left him alone to run a few errands (I know, we left him without a sitter, ha, ha) and when we came home we found him power washing the back porch and he had already fixed the garage door key pad, and was getting ready to put up a ceiling fan, and then power wash the front porch. My Dad even scrubbed the grill cover because it looked weathered. Its a grill cover, it is suppose to be weathered! My Mom cooked, helped with Cohen, did yard work, fixed, painted and put up baseboards. Jeremy and my dad also tackled putting new mulch in the yard which I must say looks amazing.

It has been a great week with them here. I never want them to leave! Not only did they help out a lot around here but they are actually a whole lot of fun. I never dread them coming to town. They are really funny and always provide interesting conversations. We watched movies, played Baggo, grilled out, went to a few restaurants, and had an overall great time.

We spent Mother's Day in Branson, MO shopping at the outlets and checking out the other attractions in town. Hate to say it, Branson is nothing to write home about. But it was still a good time :) Above is a picture of my parents with Cohen at the outlets. It was fun to spend Mother's Day with my mom. Someday we will do it up right Mom, I promise! Like a day at the spa, or something fun and relaxing like that. Maybe even a weekend retreat with some of the other ladies in our lives! I will post more photos from the week after I have a chance to recoup from the 17 straight days of house guests we have had. We sure are going to miss my parents!

Recap of Cohen's Bday

above: my favorite

above: one of my favorites

above: we had my sister on web cam in Seattle watching

above: closest thing to a family portrait we have, see Koda in the background?

Recap from Cohen's first birthday... Really we did not do anything special. My parents flew into town on Tuesday to help celebrate and get some time with Cohen in his element instead of us coming to Seattle. We simply had cake at around 8 our time, had my sister on the web cam so she could say she saw him eat his cake, (we are web cam junkies, Cohen is going to think the Jerome family lives inside a computer!) Jeremy on video and me behind the camera while Gramma and Grumpa gauked at Cohen. We didn't even do presents because Cohen was so exhausted by the time we got the cake cleaned off him that he was ready for bed. All-in-all it was a simple bday but I think he got it, or at least got that he was the center of attention, yet again.

And He Is 1!

And he is one...

I still cannot believe it. I am the mom of a one year old. Wow has my life changed! For the better of course. It is amazing how many emotions this one little person has allowed me to feel in such a short period of time. It starts out with this rush of love, a love that you have never felt before and now, well... its like I never have lived a day without him. Getting pooped on, spit up on, thrown up on, cleaning diarrhea of your baby's back, legs, neck (yes neck), load after load of dirty laundry, cleaning out high chairs and trying not to barf because you missed cleaning out food the last time and now it is nasty, doctor visit after doctor visit, hospital stays, to him napping on me when I wished him to his crib... to laughs, giggles, hugs, kisses, smiles, cuddles hearing him say momma and dadda, him reaching out for me and him crying for me... I would not change a thing about my first year with Cohen. He is such a special little guy and I am sure most parents say this, but I really feel like he will change the world someday.

He lights up a room with smile and has a fiery spirit. He is a busy body that wears me out... he is relentless in a good way. When he wants something he makes sure we know it and that he gets it and when he wants to show you love, boy does he show it! He by far is the best thing that I have ever done, created, experienced, accomplished or made! I feel lucky to have him!

*more photos to follow!

Mother's Day Contest

Taking a page from an old friend... Shelby Nicole, I decided to do my very first give away in honor of Mother's Day.

Check it out at the Northwest Photography Works Blog!

Rainy Weekend = Bored Which = Photos

This weekend it rained and rained. Cohen and I were stuck inside everyday. So we did a photo shoot. It was hard to be creative so they look like all the others I have taken lately so I apologize. The last picture doesn't even look like Cohen but it looks so much like so many of Jeremy's baby pics. Scary, really!

Oh, yeah... Cohen to turns 1 on Wednesday. I am getting sentimental :(