Baby Cotter the Sqealqual

Jeff and I had our first ultrasound today for baby #2. I am 8 weeks and 3 days along, and our due date is January 15th. I want to keep this short, so I will keep updating as the months go by. So far, so good. Very little morning sickness, and no other symptoms. Hopefully this will be another easy pregnancy.

Memorial Day Fun

Yes I know its been a while, so lets move on. It is very rare for Jeff and I to have 2 entire days together, but because of Memorial Day we got just that. First of all I would like to say thank you to all of our troops (past and present), your sacrific can never be repaid. Jeff and I did a whole lot o' nuthin' on Sunday. We ate dinner at Moms, and relaxed most of the time. Monday we took Christopher for a bike ride out by Tybee. The pictures below are from Monday and a happy boy flying down the path on Daddy's bike.

I Took a BIG Jump...

...and landed with Robin at a tattoo shop. I have wanted a tattoo for a while, but have never really had the guts to get one. I decided when Christopher was born that I wanted a tattoo that keeps a piece of him with me. That being said, it was difficult to decide what to get. I decided on his baby feet. Below is the result, and I can't stop laughing when he looks at my arm. He tells me that "Mommy has a Christopher foot Boo-boo". Hehehehehe

Funny Boy

It has been a while since I actually have sat down to (and felt like) blogging. There have been a lot of things causing this that have been affecting our family. I am hoping that what is best will be the end result. Christopher however, is by no means worried. He is still the happy little boy that he always has been. Tonight I wanted to show off his counting skills (as well as his ABC's) that they are learning, but he decided to "play dead" with Daddy instead. He did eventually get to what I wanted... sorta :)

"My Lynda",...

... says Christopher. She has only been here for 24 hours, but he has quickly become an attached little boy (again). He hasn't seen her in over a year, but it's as if she never left. She is getting some practice in before her baby arrives. By this time next year, Lynda will be a mommy too.

Christopher has not let Lynda out of his sight. He is always looking to make sure that she is right beside him. Last night when she arrived, he tried to sit in her lap (only to be stopped by her 18 week baby bump). She tried to explain to him that there was a baby in her belly. His response was, "My baby". I had to force him to leave last night, with the promise that we would be back today and spend the night. On the way home he told me that he loved "his Lynda". He is going to be sad all over again when she leaves. We will have to drive up and visit next spring.

Such A Great Day.

Great start to the weekend so far. I wasn’t sure what Christopher and I were going to do today while Jeff was at work. I hate to stay inside when the weather is GORGEOUS. I was set on taking Christopher on a nature hike, but that is something we usually do with daddy. So we called Mamaw to see what she was doing today.

After driving in a big circle downtown, we decided to head to Hilton Head. Mom wanted to go to the outlet mall and see the beach. Let’s just say this was a very long day. We left home at 10 this morning, and didn’t get back home until 7. None the less it was a great day. We spent some time at the beach, and I was surprised to see how many people were there today. Christopher was as excited about the ocean as he always was. He certainly didn’t want to leave, even if he needed to eat lunch. This by the way was a Fuddruckers famous hamburger (YUM!!).

After some swift shopping at the outlet mall, we still had yet to pick up Jacob’s gift for his birthday tomorrow. Mom decided that we would stop at Wally World on the way home, which happens to be right down the street from my office. This particular store serves adults over 55 mostly so I was curious as to what their baby and toddler area was like. JACKPOT!!! Everything was so much cheaper than anywhere else I have ever looked (when baby #2 happens to come along, I will be going there for EVERYTHING). I happen to also run across toddler beds on clearance that was half price. We took two, one for mom’s house and one for ours.

So this brings you up to speed, and now I am typing this blog while my little guy is fast asleep in his new big boy bed. Tomorrow we are celebrating my baby brother’s 7th birthday, so if I’m not to tired… more pictures will come.

While He Sleeps

It has been almost 2 months since my last update. I feel bad for not blogging more frequently, but there has not been anything out of the ordinary going on. Christopher continues to grow like a vine, Jeff was released back to full duty today, and winter seems to be getting the hint to leave.

The boy has most definitely hit the terrible two's. Most of the time he is whining, and when he is not getting his way the "Cotter Temper" comes out. We have been trying to break him of his violent mood swings, but it only seems to be getting worse. He uses hitting as his way of getting what he thinks is his. This is getting to be our biggest hurdle. He is most definitely a mix of Jeff and me. I haven’t decided if he will grow up to be an excellent lawyer or a fascist dictator (hard to tell at this point).

Jeff has been off work for a little over 2 months. He had surgery on his shoulder to fix a lesion in a tendon that keeps his shoulder from dislocating. He wasn't supposed to go back to work until next month, but he assured me that he was ready. This is the only reason I have free time to blog :).

This winter weather has been giving me the blues lately. I moved south to rid myself of this cold, blah, and wet climate. I might enjoy it, but it has been lasting to long. Today was a great day to be outside, beside the fact that I am getting sick AGAIN. Christopher and I went out to play with some toys before nap time (which is going on now). I leave you with some photos from today, and hope that I might be inspired to blog again soon (or it might be another 2 months).

Santa Truck & Christmas Day

We always start off our Christmas week with the "Santa Truck". Our fire chief, Wayne, first started this tradition years ago, and it has become a yearly tradition throughout the area. I always enjoy doing the Santa truck, because there are some children in our area who don't even get a tree for Christmas (let alone toys). We don't have enough money in our funds to get hundreds of kids toys for Christmas, but the one thing we can give is parade. Depending on how may people show up, we take our 2 or 3 fire trucks with the Santa sleigh. The sleigh is decorated in lights, Santa waves (while saying his ho-ho-ho's), and his helpers give out treat bags to the kiddo's. We do this 3 nights in a row, to make sure everyone gets some candy and a chance to see Santa. The third night is, by far, the most embellished night of all. As we go across the causeway, the people that live on Burnside Island meet us. They drive their cars, 4-wheelers, golf carts, or whatever else they can find (of course they are COVERED in lights). The video below doesn't do much justice, but it is an amazing sight to see. We enjoy it every year, and are glad to give the children in our area some happiness, even if for just a few moments.

Santa Truck from Sara Cotter on Vimeo.

As for Christmas morning, I thought Christopher would be more excited to open his presents. He let me down!! "Tear the paper", I say. "Open the presents". Nope, all he cared about was the snazzy new tricycle that Mimi got for him. I have learned my lesson. Next year Mimi's gifts are hidden, until he opens Mommy's. Hehehe!! Once he opened his gifts, and realized how TOTAL GREAT they were, he got in the swing of it.The video below is of his train set. It takes up a good portion of the living room, and we didn't even use all of the pieces. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and has a great New Year.
-The Cotters

Christopher's Train from Sara Cotter on Vimeo.