In-Sync Tiger Rescue

Last weekend was awesome!  We took the boys to a tiger rescue here in Wylie, Texas!  Who knew there was such a thing!  It was amazing.  All the animals are rescued.  They have huge cages so they lots of room to run around.  It was beautiful.  They all seemed to happy too.  There were signs on each cage letting us know the names and information about their rescue and about them on their cages.  We were also warned that if a tiger lifts its leg we needed to take cover: tigers can pee 15 feet out to "mark their spot."  EW!

Cooper standing in front of the tiger plaque.

My favorite out of all of them!

We were so close to them all!

Me and my boys...and 2 lions...

BREATHTAKING!

The lynx wanted to eat my baby.  Not kidding!  Nick moved Wyatt back and  forth, back and forth.  What did the lynx do?  Jump side to side, back and forth.. EEK!.

The Boys go to Joplin

Nick loves old cars.  We all know this.  But...what we didn't know was how far he would go to see old cars race.  Joplin, Missouri held their drags a few weeks ago and Nick had to go.  He loaded Cooper up and drove to Tulsa on Friday afternoon to stay at his brothers house.  The following morning Cooper, Tim, and Nick drove to Joplin to watch the drags.  Here are some pictures.

Cooper showing Penny his neat ear covers for the noise of the cars!

10 Year High School Reunion

What a busy weekend we just had!  Two weekends ago we were in Tulsa, again!  This time was for our high school reunion.  I can't believe it has been 10 years since we graduated high school (which also means Nick and I have been together for 10 years!).  We decided to go to Tulsa for the family picnic portion of the reunion (the reunion itself lasted all weekend).  We left Dallas around 8 PM on Friday and arrived to Tulsa just after midnight.  Of course Cooper was wide awake when we arrived so he stayed awake with us for awhile.  We stayed with Chad and Danielle again so bedtime wasn't until about 3 in the morning!  We played 2 games of beer pong and caught on on what we have been doing in the last week or two since we saw them.

On Saturday we went to the family picnic which was quite small considering we graduated with over 700 people!  There might have been 50 people total.  It was nice and small so the kids got to spend some quality time with a good group of kids.  After the picnic we went back to D and Chad's because we had all been invited to a cookout at their friends house.  Cooper loved it because one of the guys who owns the house we went too has a 5 year old son (he wasn't there because it wasn't his weekend to be with his dad), but he had tons of toys and movies for Cooper to play with.  They also had a dog called Stoops that Cooper fell in love with!  We left the cookout at 4:30 and headed to Incredible Pizza.  D, Chad, the 4 of us, my brother, Morgan, niece, nephew, and the 4 Baxters (high school friends who have since married and had 2 kids of their own) all came.  It was tons of fun!  I must admit the people there weren't the classiest of folks, but the food wasn't half bad and the kids (and grown up boys) all had a great time.  The 4 of us girls swapped babies and got lots of baby time in too!  After leaving Incredible Pizza at 9 PM it was back to D and Chad's for another game or two of beer pong.  I didn't last much past 1 in the morning, but the others all stayed up acting silly like usual.  I got some  great "fuddling" (aka cuddling as Cooper likes to call it) time in with my boys.

Sunday morning was as busy as the other days were too.  We woke up, got ready and drove to Oologah, OK for an air show with my brother and his family, and their friends Jay and Joy.  We got lost driving out there so didn't get to see as many planes as we would have liked to unfortunately.  We stayed until it was over then left to get some lunch.  Danielle, Chad, and their two friends Curtis and Danielle met us at a nice little Mexican restaurant.  After eating it was mid-afternoon.  The boys wanted to check out Bass Pro, so we spent the rest of the afternoon there.  After leaving Bass Pro we went to my brother's house to spend the last few minutes of our weekend trip with him and his family.  He had been wanting to show his motorcycle to Nick, and Nick had been wanting to see it.  We left Tulsa around dinnertime.  It was a really busy weekend, but we had fun as usual!

Here are a few pictures of our weekend:

Cooper and Kacie playing at Incredible Pizza

Cooper, my brother Brian, and Nick

The boys and kids racing...

Cooper and Hugh have discovered whoopie cushions...

The 4 cousins at the air show.

Snow Cones!

Interview With a 3 Year Old

I love when you ask a young child a question because their answers are always a good giggle or out of this world crazy.  I figured I would come up with some fun questions and ask Cooper them.  Here is how our interview went:

I'm going to give you an interview okay?
Cooper: What's an interview?  Hold on one second, be right back.  (He went into the kitchen to get his snack).

Okay Cooper, I'm going to ask you some questions, okay?
Cooper: K

Can you tell me you full name?
Cooper: C-O-O-P-E-R, Cooper Middleton

Coop, what's your favorite toy?
Cooper: (Looks around the room).  "Thomas."

Why?
Cooper:  I like my car bed.
Why?
Cooper: Cause I do

Can you tell me something you love to do?
Cooper: Yes.  Um.  I like to play outside on my swingset.

Who loves you?
Cooper:   My cousin Kacie.

Who else?
Cooper: Auntie Mo and Uncle Brian.

Who else loves you?
COoper:  Who is that girl in the pool?
Which girl?
Cooper: The girl in the pool with the striped bathing suit.
Joy?
Cooper: Yes, Joy loves me.

What do you love about your brother?
Cooper:  I like to play with him.  I like to share my toys with him.

Who is your best friend?
Cooper:  Lauren.
From school?
Cooper: Yes.  And Mrs. Holloway (his teacher from last year).  We need to buy more of these pepperoni's at target okay?
Okay Cooper.

Tell me about your school?
Cooper:  Um, (chews...) I like to play with toys there.
What kinds of toys?
Cooper: Tunnel, and choo-choo train and play-doh.

What kinds of animals do you like?
Cooper: Elephants.  And giraffes.  And horsies, and cows.

Why?
Cooper:  Cause I do

What color is your favorite?
Cooper:  Um, green and yellow

Tell me your absolute favorite thing to eat.
Cooper:  These (points to the pepperoni's he's munching on).
Anything else?
Cooper: No, thats it.

What foods do you not like?
Cooper:  Um, hmm.  I don't like tomatoes.  I like spinach and after spinach I like bananas and fruit.  Ya.

Why don't you like tomatoes?
Cooper: I like to just pick them off.

Do you want me to ask you more questions, or are you done?
Cooper:  You can ask me more questions.

How old are you?
Cooper: Three.
Just three?
Cooper:  Ya, I'm not two  (he usually says three half)

Whats the weather like outside?
Cooper: 88

What did you do over the weekend?
Cooper:  Hum.  (plays with his pepperoni).
Not sure?
Cooper:  Uh, un.

Cooper: I'm done questions.  I dont' want to talk anymore questions.

Dermatographic Urticaria

Big words, I know.  BUT the good news about big medical words the boys pediatrician says is "the longer the word, the less severe the problem."  Anyways, back to the dermato-whatever its called.  If you have ever been around Wyatt you would notice how super sensitive his skin is.  Taking off his shirt would leave long red lines on his poor head and arms, and even holding him would leave handprints on him.  His dr told us that after a year of watching him and seeing how red he gets she could finally diagnose it.

Wikipedia describes it as "a skin disorder seen in 4–5% of the population and is one of the most common types of urticaria,^[1] in which the skin becomes raised and inflamed when stroked, scratched, rubbed, and sometimes even slapped.^[2]"


Nothing to be worried about.  If it gets worse in the future we can give him an antihistamine.  As of right now the little guy doesn't even know he's got it.  His doctor joked with us that we could write all over him with our nails lightly and suddenly words would appear on him.  Its true though, he's that sensitive!

Haircuts...

Now that Wyatt is one year old we can finally cut his hair!  I'm not sure if anyone else knows/follows the old wives tale, but supposedly it is bad luck to cut a babies hair before their first birthday.  So with both kids we haven't cut or trimmed it just to be safe.  I'm not typically the type of person to follow these sorts of things, but Nick and I read so many different articles on the silly wives tale on Google that we just decided, "no hair cuts of any sort until they are one."  Go check out google, its crazy!  Last night we finally did it.  I did it actually.  Nick cut Coop's hair and I cut Wyatt's.  I did Wyatt's with a size 7 on the clippers (the longest tip we had) and it is  still really short.  The good thing is it looks nice on him and it truly does look like he has aged a year with the new do!

Shaggy 1 and Shaggy 2!

He is a hair cut pro!

He did so good!

The after!  So cute!

Wyatt is Walking!

We have hit a major milestone here at the Middleton household!  We are excited to announce Wyatt is now walking!  The day before his birthday he decided it was time to be more of a walker, not a crawler who would take a few steps here or there.  He had been talking one-three steps randomly but would fall as soon as he realized he was walking.  On August 2 he just gave it all he had and all day would walk from spot to spot.  It is now one week later and this little guy walks 75 percent of the time!  He will not walk with his new shoes his Daddy bought him though...this might be a problem!

Wyatt is 1!

My baby turned one year old last Wednesday (August 3rd).  I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!  This past week has been so hard too thinking about how sick he was last year.  He is such a sweet little guy, I am so thankful for him!

Crazy Kid!

Here is a quick look of some of the last years pictures of him!  Enjoy!

August 3, 2010.  Wyatt Ford is here!  8 pounds 13 ounces!

Fighting to breath on CPAP, 30 hours after his birth.

The morning after the worst phone call of my life.  Dr called my room and said they had to intibate Wyatt, his breathing had gotten too bad.  He was fighting to breathe over the breathing tube.  Worst 10 days of my entire life.  The teddy bear was a gift from Big Brother Cooper saying "Hi Baby Wyatt."  Since Cooper was too young to be allowed into the NICU that is the only contact the brothers had.

8 Days old!  Getting stronger!

The first time Cooper got to see his brother.  In the NICU at Presby of Plano in Texas.  Best hospital in the entire world if anyone wants to know!.  This room is a special room for parents to sleep in with their babies the night before their NICU baby can leave the hospital.  Its like a hotel within the hospital.  Nurses come by once or twice a night to check on the baby but they don't have the tubes and wires or anything like that.  Cooper walked into the room the following morning, moved this chair over to Wyatt and starting petting him. It blew our minds!  He instantly became the best brother in the whole entire world!

Cooper about to bring his brother home!

Look who's a month old!

Two months!

Eating cereal at 3 1/2 months old!

4 Months old, December 2010.

5 months old!

He's 6 months old here!

7 Months and counting!

8 Months!

What a difference a month has made!  Look who's 9 months old!

So big at 10 months old!

11 Months old!

Happy 1st Birthday Beautiful Boy!

The Boat

While we were up in Canada, my grandfather (my Dad's dad), was talking to Nick about how he was cleaning out the old barns on his property.  While talking, Grandpa said to Nick that the old boat was up there and he could have it if he wanted it.  The old wooden boat has been the apple of everyone's eyes for as long as we could remember, but nobody has ever asked for it...until a kid driving by came up to the door and asked Grandpa if he could buy it off of him and Grandpa said no he was going to give it to family.  Anyways, a little bit about this boat:

Granny and Grandpa bought it in Ontario in 1966 or 1967.  It's original owner bought it in 1952/1953.  The owner was on the same army base as my grandparents and sold it to them when he was transferred overseas.  It was used by my Dad and his brother and sister when they were kids all over Ontario.  Then they got older and it just sat in my grandparents barn.  My dad and the guy who lived beside us in Orleans, Canada growing up took it to our house when I was 3-4 years old and restored it.  They spent all weekend working on it and finally took me out of a ride on the rideau canal in it.  To their suprise their was an old boat festival going on.  Not that that has anything to do with the story of the boat but its cute.  After that day it went back to the barn...and stayed there for 23-24 years...until this summer.  

My Granny and Grandpa (boat owners since 1966!)

Nick, Grandpa, my cousin Chris, and a bit of help from Cooper pulled it out of the barn and checked it over. It truly is in incredible condition other than some bird and rat poop on it haha.

The boat was on its original trailer and needed a bit of work to be able to make the trip from Ontario, Canada to Dallas, Texas though!  So Uncle Murray and Nick worked hours on updating the trailer, buying a new axel, changing the wheels and bearings and such.  Their hard work payed off and everyone was so happy to see someone so excited to want the boat so much!  

Nick told me one night while laying in bed "I've loved that boat since the first time I laid eyes on it ."  So cute!

So now we are going to be restoring this old boat for the next few months!  Should be fun.  Still looks great, needs a bit of work and some new paint and she'll be working like a charm!

CANADA Summer 2011

I am SO far behind on this blog!  Things have been happening so fast that I haven't had a chance to post anything in far too long!  We took a trip to Canada to see my family at the end of July.  We left Wylie at 4:00 in the afternoon on Thursday (after Nick's meeting).  He had stayed up the night before until 4 am so he would sleep late into the day.  That way he could drive the entire night (since I can't see well at night I wasn't much help).  I drove the first stretch to Tulsa (a 4 hour drive).  Then he took over and drove until 7 am.  We stopped 3 times during the night and stretched.  Both boys did amazing and slept through the night!  Well...I take that back... After the 2 am stop Cooper wasn't falling back asleep so I took the opportunity to close my eyes for a few minutes!  I'm one of those people who won't let only 1 person be awake driving at any time during a long trip.  I have to have a second set of eyes on the road for safety.  So Nick and Cooper chatted for 2 hours!  Here's a quick picture of Cooper singing to Adele during the middle of the night (he wasn't as crazy looking as this picture looks lol).

I drove the following morning for a couple hours while Nick rested, then he took over again.  We crossed into Canada through Michigan around 4:30 in the afternoon.  Once we hit Toronto I drove again.  The fastest speed we hit on the entire drive was there in Michigan; I couldn't keep up with them, and I'm a pretty good speedy driver!

We arrived at my Grand-parents house at Midnight.  We were buzzed from our Tim Hortons coffee's (YUM!).  We stayed awake talking to everyone for a while but finally coaxed ourselves into going to bed and starting to recover from the mega drive.

While in Canada we saw all of our family, went to see the changing of the guards in downtown Ottawa, did some shopping, had lots of amazing food, and had Wyatt's first birthday party with my whole side of the family.  It was so special, everyone was there!  Oh, we also brought Cooper to the dinosaur museum!  he has been wanting to see it for MONTHS!  Here are a few pictures:

Cooper on the same exact tree that my brother and I had our pictures taken on 2 decades ago!

Wyatt's first time on REAL SOFT grass!  Nothing like this crappy Texas grass that hurts to walk on!

My Nanny and Papa (the boys great-grandparents). My mom's parents.

My Granny and Grandpa (their other great-grandparents).  My Dad's parents.

My Aunt  Sandy teaching Cooper how to swim!

We did some fishing at Uncle Mike and Vi's house (on the Mississippi).  We caught tons of sunfish!

Yup, this sassy Dallas Mamma can forget her makeup and diamonds and get down and dirty..and take a fish off a hook.  HAHAHA, so many people would have never believed I did this!  I also picked live frogs out of the pool too!

The changing of the guards in Ottawa.  Its breathtaking!

My babies and I in front of the parliament buildings.

Nick and his boys in front of the parliament buildings.

Dinosaur fossils at the dinosaur museum!

Wyatt in MY Granny's Grandfathers crib.  That means this crib is Wyatt's Great, Great, Great Grandfathers.  How amazing is that?  Granny also slept in it, as well as her dad!  Breathtaking to think about!

Family picture taken at Uncle Mike's.

People swimming in the pool for Wyatt's birthday.  All family and friends!

Nick's burger balls before he made them into patties for everyone!

He went crazy for his birthday cake!  It was awesome!

Nick is sitting in his boat...that we pulled back from Grandpa's barn...on the middle of I-30 in Texas.  Next post is about the boat.... Anyways, a tractor trailer lost the front axel on his truck (don't worry, nobody was hurt), but the road was closed so we all had to park our cars for well over an hour.  We decided to have some fun and took this picture.  The lady behind in the van had Nick checking her air in her tires, showing her a TX map and how to get to where she was going.  It was fun to be silly after being stuck in the car for so long.   Such an amazing trip, can't wait to go back!