Boy oh boy, or, girl oh girl

Yipes, I don't update very often, eh? Sorry guys, mommy's sick with the new baby. I thought my 2nd pregnancy would be way easier... what a myth that turned out to be! But, to bring ooh's and aaah's from all, here's a pic of the new bundle. Sorry it's kinda hard to see, he's only been in there for 11 weeks!So, that means, an average pregnancy being 40 weeks long, I've only got 29 more weeks to go! The due date should be around Dec. 11.

But, so as not to spoil the new baby too soon, we should shine some attention on Cooper, who turned 1 year old on the 7th. Happy Birthday Hupper! Here's some pics from the party.

He's a lively and talkative 1 yr. old. We love him to pieces and he's an angel for his mom. His favorite things to do are to snuggle his "ow" (his name for his cow blanket, since he can't pronounce cow yet), answer the phone with a sweet little "ahwoh?", follow his cousins around (even though he usually gets injured in the process), and play at both his gamma's houses. What a lucky boy to have so many people who love him living so close! I tell ya, this boy is never short on attention!

He doesn't realize there's a baby in mama's tummy yet, but I'm sure as the protrusion grows, he'll figure it out.

A long suffered trial has passed....

I know all of you have been anxiously awaiting my return as author of the Callahan family blog. I really have to say I have missed my little posts as well. Ah, but so much for the sentiment! On to the reason of this misfortune! It seems that in our blundering hurry to buy a home (as naive first-time-home-buyers often do) we didn't ask, didn't wonder, and didn't find many problems that came with our new home until we moved in, and learned of them, sadly, by experience. (Don't get me wrong, we love love love our house, and it is way better than renting forever... but my goodness!) Our misfortunes have not been the center of our lives, thank goodness, and certainly haven't slowed the progression of our small family. After all, we are expecting another little addition sometime at the end of this year, or the beginning of next. Wahoo! Anyway, back to the house.

We moved in on February 2, 2007. A year to the day from when we moved in to our sweet, little apartment, we moved out, leaving with it the memories of our first pregnancy, the long hours of labor, and the bringing home of our first baby. As much as I've dreamed of owning a home, I certainly didn't know that I'd miss that apartment so much. It was so weird to clean out all our stuff and look at the empty shell of the place and picture all the little things that happened there: me up with Cooper with croup, or playing on the floor as he was learning to crawl, our first Christmas (we didn't count the technical first one in 2005 because we were living with Grandma Dooley), having Candice and Flint over till all hours of the night, eating cookie dough and playing Nintendo. I suppose I feel nostalgic because moving out of there meant leaving behind a chapter in our lives. We have now morphed from a little fledgling family to a full blown family operation with another kid on the way, a backyard, and a sandbox to boot! Not that this next chapter in our lives is bad, we are certainly looking forward to many things, but it is different, and with change comes a longing for things past (as I am so prone to do!).

So we moved in, blah, blah, blah. Jesse refinished our cabinets in 2 days, spending long hours and lots of masking tape. You might not be able to tell from the pictures, but it was tons of work! He re-covered the island in the kitchen with cherry wood, so that when he painted it, the grain of the oak wouldn't show through. He sprayed the rest of the cabinets and made new doors and crown molding. As you can see, I helped! :) So he painted the island black and used his sander to wear through it to give it that antique look. Then stained the rest of the cabinets a deep, pretty, brown.

So here's the before and after. Pretty impressive eh? I had to wait a few weeks for my cabinet doors, but I didn't mind, it's worth it! I don't have an after picture with the doors on it, and I'm not going to take one to post right now because my kitchen is very messy... so maybe later ya'll can see the finished product.

Anyway, we're here, we love it, and oh yeah... we finally have the internet!

New House!

Sorry for the long pause in blogging...We MOVED!!!! We bought a new house in Washington fields and we don't have the internet hooked up yet so I have to steal internet time when I can. Anyway, we love our new little house and neighborhood and when we get our internet is up and running you will all be graced with pictures of our new abode. So pictures coming soon!

Croup, Eating Dirt, and other crazy things

As my illustrious title reads, our little Cooper (or as we called him for a brief period "Crouper") has had a many challenges as of late. Some self inflicted, and others happenstance.

Cooper, as it seems, has taken quite a liking to anything "organic". You know: rocks, leaves, sand, bugs. And, as everyone knows, what baby likes... baby puts in his mouth. As a result of his sudden fancy, we have had many diapers full of these articles. It's a wonder things like that can pass through the body as recognizably as they entered.

I had quite a scare at 4 am last Sunday morning when I woke up to my baby (who previously has been sleeping through the night) crying and barking like a seal, as well as wheezing and running a dangerously high fever. I, fearing that he was having an allergic reaction to his first time meal of chicken the night before, rushed him to the emergency room. I was met with chuckles from the doctors and nurses and a dose of Tylenol for my little one who was diagnosed with croup. Only dangerous to infants and old people, croup can be effectively treated simply by keeping the fever down and letting the virus run it's course. Our brave little man stuck it out and tried his best to be cheerful, even though we could tell he was feeling miserable. Luckily it only lasted a week and Cooper is now back to normal... all except sleeping through the night which we hope he returns to soon!

I had a fun surprise a few weeks ago when I got a call from Caci who was in town while her husband was in Europe. Me, Caci, and Beth all got together and spent 4 hours reminiscing about high school, laughing at the antics of our beloved husbands, and gushing over our babies and Beth's cute pregnant tummy. Caci is one of the cutest little moms I have ever seen! It was so precious to see how she dotes on her little Jace (who is a doll!). Beth was bearing a belly the size of a small cantaloupe that made me and Caci both give a nostalgic sighs.

We may also have some big news! We've made an offer on a house in Washington Fields and we're just waiting for the paperwork to go through. But if all goes well, we should be in a house in a week or so... hooray! Wish us luck!

Home for the Holly Days

Merry Christmas evyone! Santa spoiled us all this year... especially me! I got a new digi-cam and a kitchen-aid mixer (already this week and made pie crust), Cooper got more toys, books, and clothes than he needs and a high chair (more for mom and dad perhaps). Jesse was finally deemed old enough to get his own .22 rifle complete with gun case and a box of 500 bullets, which he's already used up, needless to say he loves his new firearm. We also held a sort of a talent show on Christmas day, thus the bear hunt video below. Among Cooper's many talents is his ability to captivate a crowd by simply clapping his hands on his thighs in a sing-song rhythm.

We also discovered that Cooper fits in the drawers of my bookcase as shown by this adorable picture. I suppose I should include more pictures of his Christmas photo shoot as well. We had pictures taken for our Christmas cards and Cooper was all smiles for the camera.."a photographer's dream". In my haste to update on all the goings on of the holidays, I have neglected the customary update of Cooper's development! The little dear will be 8 mos. old this week and is now scooting around on his elbows like a little army recruit in boot camp. He has no need of crawling since his elbows, and the occasional thrust from his big toes gets him where he wants to go, as fast as he wants to get there. He has shown little interest in being on his hands and knees, he seldom ventures to such heights. When he does he is probably startled by all the surprised gasps and sudden cheering from his ever-present aunts, uncles, and grandparents ("Look! Look! He's about to crawl! Look, he's gonna do it!!). He probably gets a silent chuckle at the commotion he creates with this simple act of physical prowess. As demonstrated in this picture below he also gets up on his hands and toes and holds his body horizontally, as if to do a man sized push up. Already a little athlete! His little personality is developing faster than we anticipated as first time parents. When he was born I thought he would stay a little cooing doll for his entire first year of life. He communicates his intentions, wants, needs, and comedic antics well enough with his squeals, jibber-jabber, and grunts. This last week on Christmas day he had a rough bout of constipation and learned how to grunt quite effectively and now uses it to get laughs out of his mom and dad. Sometimes I'm not sure whether he's trying to poop or just play.

For New Years we stayed up playing games of Cranium and Dominoes at my parent's house (by the way Dad, if your name is Annie, sometimes you DO chop your hand when making stir-fry). New Years day we went on the annual Syphus shoot-out. Jesse proudly paraded around his new rifle with a little boy grin on his face. We were just shooting at paper targets and rotten apples, but never the less enjoyed every shot.

As the new year looms ahead I can't help but think of the blessings that have been heaped in our laps by our loving Father. We have a lovely home, Jesse loves his job, and our biggest blessing of all, our sweet son, is sleeping peacefully (and through the night no less! 11 hours WOOHOO!) in the next room. Prosperity, in all it's forms has been showered upon us. Happy New Year everyone... God Bless!

Confessions

I might as well own up to things now. The reason why I haven't posted for a while is that I lost our digital camera on our trip to Bryce canyon the first weekend in November. It's been rather disconcerting to try and post without any pictures. Every time I get a hankering to blog... I think of my lost camera and start to pout that I have no proof of the things which I would write of. I've been wallowing in my self pity for far too long... and coincidentally I have new pictures that we took with our wonderful photographer that I am amazingly proud of!

Also, I have a hunch that Caci is refusing to post on her blog until I post on mine.... or something. I am dying to know how her little Jace is doing and how motherhood is treating her.

On our side of the web things have been going great. My 22nd birthday came and went last week. Jesse built me a wonderful bookcase/entertainment center to go in our bedroom. It's huge and beautiful and I would show you pictures but alas for my camera! (I like to think someone snatched it right out of our car) Also this week Annie smashed her finger in her garage and took a trip to the emergency room... for more info on that you can check out her blog that I have linked. She's pretty much the bravest person I know. I figured out that much when we were little kids and she got stung by a scorpion... and also when she got lost on Pine Valley Mt. (hm... is anyone noticing a pattern?)

I can't think of much else that has happened this month... my memory is failing me... I feel almost handicapped without pictures to remind me. Maybe if I'm good Santa will bring me one for Christmas!

Wiggly boy, Halloween, Mom And Dad's Renovation

Well, I have quite the news for you all, besides all the normal holiday and baby news. My parents ripped out an entire room in their house to put in new flooring... and... oh yes...new bookshelves. Beautiful Cherry wood, richly stained and glossy. I'm including some pictures so you all can see the process from start to finish.

Step 1 was to move all the junk out and rip up the carpet. Step 2 was prying off the baseboards and painting the walls and ceiling.

Next, came the plastic wood floor, and cabinets! I included this picture of Dad in his cover-alls especially for you Spencer! I'm sure by now you miss them. Also, Spencer, as you can see, Mom and Dad did pretty well in picking out the color. I don't know if you can remember colors from the shop, but they chose one called "Kevin's Brew w/ black glaze". Jesse had the time of his life staining and installing these. But he had a lot of help from all the brothers: Special thanks to Ben (master painter), Alan (logistical manager), Dave (wood floor specialist)... and Annie (a very petite helper), Amanda, and Sara (the baby-watchers).

Now, on to other things! Halloween was the cutest one in memory, with Cooper as a purple dragon, Jesse as a prince, and I being the damsel in distress princess. All Cooper's cousins dressed up as well and brought knew definitions to the names of lion, fairy, ballerina, and skeleton. From left to right: Cash, Maddie, Elyza, Cohen, and Cooper. Happy Halloween everyone!

The marathon, Peeling apples: All tokens of Autumn

Seasons are changing, as are the activities of our small family. All the special autumn traditions are a billion times better with our little Cooper along for the ride.

As customary we watched the St. George Marathon from Veyo (mile 7) and were extraordinarily inspired by the runners. My parents have been camping out at that exact spot to videotape the runners (in case of cheating) every marathon for 10 years! So we bundle up against the cold and drive up at 4 am just to see this amazing spectacle every year. Jesse had me burn a special "marathon mix" so he could open all the doors on our Yukon and blast the music as loud as it would go without blowing out the speakers. This included classics like "Eye of the Tiger" and the "rocky theme". Lots of runners would be intently focused on the large hill ahead of them and then recognize a classic inspirational running song and look up to see me and Jesse boogying down. Some would blink in confusion and re-focus themselves, others would put their hands up and yell "thanks for the music!", still others would be walking until they heard the uplifting tones of "chariots of fire" and then begin to pick up their pace into a jog. I think because of our cheering and support, and especially inspirational dancing and yelling, lots of runners finished at least 5 min. faster. We tend to have that effect on people.

Another Fall tradition held by our family is the yearly drive to New Harmony to buy bushels and bushels of apples. My dad has been doing this since he was 5 years old. "What do you do with bushels and bushels of apples?" my attentive reader might ask. We bottle them! Last Friday night, as Jesse was away on a scout camp-out, me and Candice had a free night, so we spent 7 hours bottling 60 quarts of apples. They are beautiful! Also, it's a long awaited jump-start on our food storage.

These small and seemingly insignificant events notch out the time as the weather turns from warm to cool, and these last few jam-packed holiday months fly by. It's almost like autumn is the calm before the stormy tornado of decorating, parties, family, and sugary treats. Happy Autumn to all!

Big eyed boy

Hello all! No big news to post, but some sweet, awesome pictures of Cooper! The first is of Cooper waiting patiently for the shuttle bus in Zion's Canyon. He looks like a little old man! We had a fun weekend last week with Ben & Tasha, and Annie & Dave, when we went to Zion to watch "Shackleton's Journey" on the Imax. A documentary on the expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who wanted to be the first man to walk across the south pole on foot in 1914. His boat was caught in the ice and it took him and his crew of 27 other men 18 months to get back to civilization, and not one life was lost! The film was narrated by Kevin Spacey - an exceptional movie, if I do say so myself.

Also, I think Cooper's eyes are the most beautiful and big I have ever seen. I love that boy!

Shots

I know that my posts usually revolve around Cooper, and I am sorry to those of you who find it boring... but he really is the center of our world. We have nothing else in our lives that we find even remotely as important as he is. Even his drooling would be considered more important than all of Jesse and my accomplishments combined. So, the subject of this entry is something that was quite upsetting to our little offspring. He got his 4 month shots this last week (I know, 4 months already!!!!), and he took it quite bravely at the time, but he whimpered for the next few days. He also contracted a small fever the night after, but I'm told that's normal. If you can see in the picture he has two cartoon band aids on his thighs, his own little "badges of courage". On the bright side, we measured and weighed him at this doctor visit: He is now a bouncing 14 lbs. 13 oz. and measures a whopping 26 3/4 inches. He's grown 5 inches and doubled his weight since birth! Imagine if we grew 5 inches in 4 months!! Also, I don't mean to gloat, but the doctor did comment on his very perfect head shape (what an odd thing to be proud of... but that's motherhood for you!).
Updates on the new things he's mastered lately: He's finally found his toes, and they are now his favorite things to play with. He gets frustrated when I put shoes on him, or those pajamas with the little footsies in them- because then he can't see his toes. He has also started branching out in the noises he makes with his mouth. At first he only yelled a "Ahhhhh" sound, now he has a full range of soft little "ah ah ah" sounds, to loud "bppppp" raspberry sounds (like the one he's demonstrating in the picture). He also loves squealing like a little piglet (not sure how he picked that one up). Anyway, we are enjoying our little man, and we lavish many nick-names and kisses on him every day.

Rice Cereal

I forgot to tell you all that we started Cooper on Rice cereal a few weeks ago. He had all of a sudden slipped back into sleeping only 2 hours at a time at night, and he would wake up ravenously hungry. So, we started feeding him rice cereal before we put him to bed at night... now he sleeps long and deep! But the thing about the cereal is, he loves it! He gobbles it up and grunts for more every night! He dives after the spoon when he sees it and tries to shove it on his mouth. If I don't feed him fast enough, he starts his whiny "uh uh uh" for more.

Houston, TX

We recently returned from an adventure in Houston, where we visited Aunt Kat & Uncle Jerry and our wonderful cousins (Kristie!!!). Annie, Dave and Maddie Berry traveled with us and made the trip very entertaining. I can't believe Kat and Jerry willingly volunteered their home to house 6 extra guests!!! It's so big though, that it did not seem crowded at all. I suppose now that we are gone, they may feel that it is rather empty (or they just miss Cooper!). They certainly gave us the royal treatment and we felt completely welcome ( they also offered a 24 hour babysitting service for Cooper... ahhhh... relaxation!). They took us around to all the sights we had energy to see, including: The woodlands mall ( a beautiful, spacious mall in the middle of "The woodlands"), the biggest horse in the world (who, by the way, drinks 2o gallons of water a DAY!), and the Houston Temple (very beautiful and lush, I loved the fountains). They also showed us all the beautiful neighborhoods and houses that they are fortunate enough to live in the midst of. We are very tempted to move! We had no idea Texas was so green and beautiful, we thought it was enveloped in dust and tumbleweeds and cowboys. I am a little sad that we didn't see cowboys. We did, however, see real live long horned cattle!


We were very sad to leave, our hosts were wonderful to us, and the area was so relaxing and serene. Our vacation would have been near perfect, except for a minor glitch on the way home. We were flying with buddy passes graciously obtained for us by Dave Berry, and when there weren't enough seats on the connection from SLC to St. George, Annie and Dave gave them up to me and Jesse! We are so fortunate to have such wonderful family! They ended up getting a hotel room and coming home first thing in the morning.

Cash - - The Boy - - not the singer, or money

We are posting a picture to introduce to the world, our new nephew Cash Jerry Syphus, son of Ben and Tasha Syphus. This is the only good picture I have of him... all the others were blurry because of his wiggly nature (or my poor skills at camera holding). He was born August 4th at 4-something in the morning after an exhausting labor (can I get a HOO-HA for TASHA!!!), he weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 19 in. long. A short stocky boy just like his very thick daddy. That kind of build is good for wrestling, certain positions in football, and bulldozing siblings (believe me, I know!). Ben and Tasha seem to be settling in nicely to their new roles as mom and pop, it took Ben awhile after the delivery to realize that squirming slimy thing was his boy, but now I think he can tell which end is which. I don't think Cooper knows of his new cousin yet, though he's seen him several times. But then again, he doesn't even know of the existance of his own toes.... and sometimes he goes cross-eyed trying to figure out who's chubby hand is clasping his (his own of course). So a relationship between cousins will have to wait until they can conceptualize other beings besides themselves. And just to brighten things up, some cute pictures of Coop-a-tons! (nick-name courtesy of Chris Syphus)

Phoenix, Elder Syphus, other tidbits

Hey all!
It's been nearly a week since we got back from Phoenix and I haven't updated our news! We left last Tuesday and drove to Vegas and waited for 3-4 hours for our flight (turns out the power went out in LA and no flights could take off or land! Sheesh! Waiting in an airport with a hungry Cooper is no picnic -- well I guess for him it is.). Once we actually got on the plain the flight was only about an hour. Sounds like a normal flight, right? Nope! It was Cooper's first plane ride! Little guy didn't notice it though, he slept through the whole thing.

Most of the time we hung out by the pool and took naps, we went shopping a bit and played with Chris and Shawn (my brother and his wife who live in Phoenix). Kaylee held cooper and gave him kisses! So so cute!


Also among the many firsts for Cooper on this trip, was his first swim. The kid's a born frog!
Also he looks way cute in his swim trunks!


Also among the recent occurrences --Tasha Syphus's Baby shower. The poor girl is swollen to bursting, but she's hangin' in there! I think she's got about 2 weeks left.


So... Spencer just sent home a CD of pictures, but sadly, none of them have labels or explanations... your guess is as good as mine! Isn't he just the handsomest missionary?! (I can say that, I'm his sister)

Jesse: Crime Fighter!

Who is a cabinet man by day, and catches burglars on the run on the weekends? That's right.. it's my very own husband Jesse! So here's the story as it unfolded:

Saturday 8:30 AM- Jesse and I are awakened by a phone call from his shop manager Eric Miller telling him that the cabinet shop has been burglarized and he better get down there to talk to the police. From what we can piece together there were two men dressed in black throwing papers around the office and just generally wreaking havoc when Fernando, one of the workers, walks in on them (there was nothing to take because, learning from a previous break in, they sent the cash box home with a secretary every night). They immediately took off on foot down the street and Fernando jumped in his car and followed them. He cornered them against a building and jumped out of his car with his tire iron! They somehow got around him and took off running into the hills. Fernando, unable to follow them in his car any further, drove back to the shop to call the police.

9ish- Jesse arrives on the scene and discovers some important facts: The supposed get away vehicle that was parked up the street was Jesse's work truck that had previously that week been taken to a repair shop! (we found out later that the auto shop had been broken into a few days previous, but had not missed the key to Jesse's truck which was stolen. Apparently the thieves had returned several nights later and took the truck!) The "Green Valley" stickers were torn off of it and the camper shell was ripped off (probably sold) and the license plate had been changed to a Florida plate. They looked around in the truck and saw a pistol in the back seat! At this point the police told Jesse and Eric to go around to the other businesses and notify them of the thieves so they could be on the look-out.
Jesse and Eric considered the situation carefully, but their thirst for justice got the best of them and they drove away to try and apprehend the men from the other side of the hills. They had to turn off the main road to go up into the hills and they were bouncing around in low gear, smashing through the sage brush and over rocks! When they got to the peak of the first hill they took out the binoculars and scanned the dusty hills for any sign of the black-clad men on foot, but there was no sign of them.
So they kept going, hill after hill, until they finally came to the last and highest hill. As they peered down from the top they spotted two men running, out of breath, and dressed in black! The Police were at the base of the hill trying to make it up to the men, but they, of course, were winded as well. So Jesse and Eric, fresh as daisies, took off down towards the men, running at full speed! The thieves, seeing that they were cornered, with two large scary men running at them from one side, and police with a shotgun aimed at them on the other, they raised their hands in the air to surrender. Jesse and Eric held them until the police arrived and handcuffed them. Only one officer was able to make it up the hill to cuff them, so Jesse got to lead one of the cuffed men down to the police.
We found out later that that these men were AWOL from a military unit stationed in Texas. They are going to serve some hard time for sure!

Jesse previously held a life-long dream of being in a bar-fight, but after this he says, his thirst is satiated! OH! And here's a cute picture of him and Cooper: :)

Also in our family news:

-Cooper got his 2 month shots today (ouch!)

-The Dooley family reunion was this weekend... it was great to see the family that we haven't seen for years... Uncle Mike and his family from Missouri, Aunt Lisa and her family from California... and also never seen before (by me anyway) Grandma and Grandpa Dooley in the same room!

-Fight night was Saturday night - a battle between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz.... the latter winning the fight in a matter of seconds.

-We are also anxiously awaiting the birth of Tasha and Ben's baby who is 5 weeks away from his due date!

Smiles :)

Guess what?!!!! Cooper has learned how to smile!

He's smiled before on rare but happy occasions, but today he mastered the art of smiling! He grinned and laughed at his mamma all day long!

Here's a small glimpse of what I've had all day: