6 months old

Cooper is 6 months old today! At his doctors visit last week he was 16 lbs, 10 ounces and 26 1/2 inches long. The little guy is starting to sit up all by himself now and still kicking his feet like crazy.

Visit with Laurie and Cole

Unfortunately, Laurie is here from Texas because her Grandmother passed away. Fortunately, it's my birthday week (yes it fell on a Sunday yesterday so I get to celebrate turning 35 all week long) and I got to visit with Laurie, Cole and Barb tonight. Cole loved to kiss Cooper and you can see he returned the favor...can't wait to spend more time together tomorrow.

Countdown to the Bahama's Cruise begins...we leave on Thursday and come back this Sunday, Easter Sunday :)

First visit with the Easter Bunny

Cooper got to visit the Easter Bunny today for the first time, and got to spend the day with Brody!

Below is the ONLY naptime Cooper had all day, and that lasted maybe 15 minutes. Needless to say on the car ride home he fell asleep and still is as I type this.

Good Bye Aunt Gracie

Grace Costa Kuenzel, 93

Mrs. Kuenzel, a Stuart, Florida resident for 30 years, died Sunday, March 9. Born in New York City, she retired as an industrial engineer for General Electric.

Survivors include a brother, Joseph Costa of Boca Raton; and two sisters, Josephine Motta of Merritt Island and Mary Brower of Melbourne. Grace was the matriarch of her family, helping her father with their family of 6 children after her mother's untimely death to leukemia. The family resided in Teaneck, New Jersey. She was the first female industrial engineer for General Electric and retired with her husband Fritz, 30 years ago to Stuart, Florida. She took great pride in her 10 nieces and nephews, 19 great nieces and nephews and 3 great, great nephews. She was the family "memory" knowing every one's age, birthday and family milestone. Grace loved to knit, play Bingo, drink wine, eat ice cream and laugh!

She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.

She was predeceased by her brothers, Thomas and Johnny Costa and her husband Fritz.

Night Night...Sleep tight

Rob and I have settled into such a nice bedtime routine. After Cooper gets his cereal, he gets a small amount of play time, then it's bath time with Daddy (even a little floating and kicking in the big tub getting ready for the pool this summer) and then off for his lotion rub down and story time. Each night we put a blanket on the floor and every other night take turns reading a story. Cooper gets so quiet and loves to listen. Here are a few pictures from him tonight laying on his blanket waiting while we made his bottle so he can then drift off into slumber. He has been quite chatty these days, "talking" through most these pictures as well as playing with his feet. He just found out that they belong to him I guess! We spring ahead tonight with the clocks so we'll see how well we all do :)

Coopercabana

As you know, my family has a love for all things Barry Manilow (Manilowians I think we are offically called). So when we discovered that my new wonderful house didn't have a pool bath for people to change in and out of their swim suites...the Coopercabana was born. I LOVE to have a pool but I HATE to have people walk wet through my family room, past the office/eat in kichen area to the bathroom dripping on my hardwood floors to change their clothes. Mom and I got our heads together, and armed with too much HGTV and DIY knowledge, we were bound and determined to come up with something so we didn't change under our towels anymore. We have a privacy fence but I never think to notice our sliders are parrell to our front window and I am sure my neighbors across the street or those walking their dogs have looked through my house and caught me getting out of a wet suite. What a sight! So....in order to keep my house open and free and not just put up blinds, we created a cabana in the corner of our very large porch so you can change. "The Cooper- cabana" my Mom proclaimed, and with that, I could hear the beat of the Barry Manilow song thumping..... "Music and passion were always in fashion!" I got even so crafty as to decoupage a sign, used an old coat rack I had hidden in the back room to hold our clothes/wet suite and rolled up some towels to create the whole effect. Stick on magnets hold the curtains together on the front and on the sides so guest will feel more secure. The girls used it this weekend so I declare it a success. HGTV, eat your heart out!

Cousins!

We all had a great time visiting with Hope, Brit and Taylor today. Cooper loved seeing his cousins, laughing and playing with them. It was a beautiful weekend and we had the first cook out of the season. Grandma, Pop and Grammie also came over and enjoyed the hamburgers, hot dogs and fresh corn. Yum-O. Everyone enjoyed the girls, Pop can't wait until Brit's meet in May in Kissimmi! Thanks to Nana and Papa for bringing them over, we had a great day :)