1st Birthdays

Warning lots of photos

The boys new bean bags

Coop is 1

Cohen is 1 family is the best

our cute hats

present time

our new car

never seen them so excitied over a toy

Cooper loves it

the cake Mommy made

SUGAR

sister and the birthday boys

I love cake, well really icing

Yummy, just dive in

so cute

No, bring it back I wasn't finished

the boys after a nice bath

What a fun filled year. Learning how to take care of two infants at the same time. They were really good babies for the most part. Evening time was usually fussy and they were the pukiest babies I have ever seen. Once we got used to always washing burp cloths every night it was pretty good. We have learned that with 3 children/2 infants life is busy and you just never stop moving. The boys bring so much joy to our family.

Cohen, my bubba. Mr. Chill, he is laid back. He usually always had a huge smile. He loves people and smiles and laughs so easily. He is relaxed, entertained pretty easily and loves his sister. She can get him to laugh so hard by doing practically nothing. He is a mommas boy and my little cuddle bug. He loves giving hugs and kisses talks up a storm. (Yah, I know where does he get that from?)

-weighs 22lbs( roughly our actual check up isn't until next week

-sleeps like a champ 12hrs, hardly ever wakes up when Cooper is up.

-still sleeps with paci and his lovey, usually on his belly

-can stand on his own, but hasn't taked his first steps yet( surprised since they have been pushing around since he was 8.5 months.

-loves crawling up the stairs

-usually inhales when it is time to eat, double fist and eats quick

-loves to say Dada and sis sis, Momma only comes out every once in a while

Cooper, Coop, Mr. serious. Now he is my take it all guy. He loves to sit back and observe just a bit. He isn't as soical and gets spooked sometimes with to many people. He is a mommas boy if people are around. Once Daddy is home he normally will choose him. He is everywhere and fast. He doesn't sit still long always on the move. He is very persistent. Loves to get into everything and I can't seem to distract him otherwise. Example: I take him off the fireplace and tell him no, give him something else to do and he will go right back. I am sure this happens about 40 times a day. He is very bright, just watches once and then does. I am sure he will learn lots from his big sister, good and bad. He has the most beautiful big blue eyes and the onryest smile.

-weighs 22lbs

-sleeps close to 12 hrs. up once or twice a couple of times a week

-loves his paci and lovey

-picky eater, loves to throw food onto the floor, eats slowly

-loves crawling up the stairs, doesn't like to be made to go down the stairs.

-says moms more often, but loves to make mmmmm sounds

3 Days of Christmas

Christmas at the Lymans house was fun and eventful! As you can guess there are a ton of pictures of my children. If you have seen enough, which most of you have then please do not continue. I love the camera and get kind of carried away. Well anyways, Mitch and I decided to take our nieces to Build-a-bear for their Christmas. They have never been and thought they would enjoy the experience. So their gifts turned into a entire event. I picked them up and meet Mitch at the mall when he was off work. That in itself was an experience. Have you ever tried fitting 5 kids in a tahoe, all in car seats/booster seats? OMG such a huge pain. After finally getting the seating arrangements figured out we made it there all in one piece. In the pouring rain I might add. Which is what every mother dreams of when tyring to get 5 kids out of the car by herself. Once we accomplished that, Mitch caught up with us. We ate some dinner and then off to make bears.
The girls thought it was pretty cool, I was a little leery on how Payton would do. We told her that this was Roxannes and Aubrey's Christmas gifts and that she wasn't making anything. She has been there before and we don't need anymore stuffed animals at our house. She did great, never complained once. We then of course rode on the merry-go-round before leaving. We also decided we would brave a sleep over since school was out. So they spent the night which went well. We had breakfast and played the next morning and then my brother picked them up while the boys were napping. All went pretty well for having 5 kids under 5. Mitch made sure to mention," THANK GOODNESS we didn't have 5 kids this young".
Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents on my Dad's side and exchanged presents. Everyone had a good time and the kids all got their P.J's for Christmas morning. Yes you might notice they all match. Well any of you who know my mother, that is why. ( she loves that stuff)!!
Christmas morning was so much fun, I was lucky enough to get off work Christmas Eve so I would be home when everyone woke up. Mitch's parents and brother came to the house for the day. We had a great time, very low key. Cohen is not so into opening presents, doesn't want to be made to sit still. He just wanted to play and eat paper. Cooper was interested as long as someone gave him a hand. Payton got a doll house from Santa and loved it. That was what she told anyone who asked that she was getting, good thing he came through. I worked that night and went in after dinner.
Monday we went to my parents for their celebration. I took a short nap with the boys and then we showed up at Mom and Dad's house. Again Cohen was not interested in opening presents. We blew through the gifts, which happens when there are so many kids excited to dig in. We ate, and played the Wii. Tyler was surprised by the chairs Mitch made. That was our gift to family this year. Mitch made everyone a pair of Adirondack chairs. He worked very hard and they looked great.
I love this time of year but am anxious to get the house back in order before the boys birthday which is in 2 days. Time goes by fast when you are having fun. Thank you God for the birth of Jesus and giving us this wonderful holiday.

trying to enjoy food court food

Build-a-bear in action
the finished product

around we go( I should have stayed off, motion sickness Yuck)

Coop

Sibling love

I love noise, bells, singing and yelling all at once ( I know you're jealous)

Good pic

our fam

OH... a phone

anything that makes noise is a hit

the matching 5

Christmas morning

opening presents

Cooper happy boy

watching a new movie

cuddling with Uncle Sean

Christmas at mom my parents

attempting again

alright cars

new hats

wearing them like Daddy does

chairs made by Mitch

Hanging with Nana and Papa Jim

Crazy Chaos

The past 2 weeks have been crazy in our world. First week more along the lines of fun chaos. We have had haircuts, Payton Christmas dance program, and playdates. The second week was not so much fun with Cooper becoming very sick.
Some of you already know most of these details who recieved my "Pray for Cooper" email. We have been from Dr. appts to Children's Mercy 3 times all week long. Cooper has had a bad rash, high fevers and just a very sick little baby. This is my short condensed version.
This has been one of the hardest weeks, being stressed out and watching your baby be so sick and there is nothing I can do to make him feel better. I don't like when everyone tells me they don't know what is making him so sick. Needless to say after a very long week for my poor baby, today showed some good signs. He crawled around and actually showed intrest in playing with Cohen and Payton. We even got so see that cute onry smile that I love so much.
I know God has been protecting Cooper and I am so thankful he is starting to get better. We have a great support team of friends and family. There were many people who jumped in to help with Payton and Cohen after my first day at the doctors office for 3 hours with 3 kids during nap time. That is a reciepe for a headache. The rest of the week I only had to take Cooper with me becuase someone had volunterred to help. We even had a couple of nights friends brought us dinner, one less thing to worry about. It is the little gestures people make that make such a big difference in someone's world when it feels like it is falling apart. We are very greatful for such great family and friends and all your prayers. Hopefully he is back to normal for Christmas and to enjoy his birthday.
On a positive note, Cohen is standing all by himself. It is around the corner he will be walking without pushing something. Then they move faster, I am in big trouble. Today during naptime for the boys Payton and I got to make sugar cookies. She was so excitied, I promised we would get them done and it made her day.

playing in the kitchen before Cooper got sick and before haircuts

gosh you just want to squeeze them
Payton's dance program( I wan't taking the pictures, I had video camera)

our little dancer

Cookie time!

Look at ME!

I want to help bake mom

Christmas Has Arrived

It officially looks and feels like Christmas. Payton was so excited to see snow this morning, "now Christmas can come", she tells me this morning. Our outside lights are on at night, we have decorated the inside. Now it feels like Christmas time. I am ready to get started on holiday baking. The weekend after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree and got out all of our decorations. We didn't put up as many things as we have in past due to my cute little explorers. We took down our play pin play yard. The gate now surrounds the Christmas tree.
We went to visit Santa last week. I was worried the boys would freak out and scream. I was pleasantly surprised they were just fine. Cooper was even smiling at him and gently touching him. Cohen just looked at him in awww. Payton ran and jumped into his arms screaming. She was a little bit excited, even though she looked as if I had her on drugs, she wasn't.
Saturday Payton was in her first Christmas show with her preschool class. We enjoyed watching her on stage. We tried to block out the pulling up of her dress and messing with her tights, and itching herself. It was fun to watch all of the little kids singing and all dressed up.

Cooper helping pull of bulbs

the dogs are even tired

watching Polar Express after decorating. Boys are about to head up to sleep Bass Pro
visiting Santa for the first time

my 3 clowns

visiting the fish at Bass Pro, they love the fish

Cooper waiting to see Sissy perform

Cohen waiting to see Sissy

Payton on stage

Pretty girl

Cohen

Cooper