Dani, Daniel and Mya's Birthday Party

Cooper attended his first birthday party this weekend and had a great time! He obviously didn't participate in much, but he sure did love watching all the kids run around. Evan had a great time, too! It was at an outdoor eatery here in Melaka and the weather was actually really nice by the water, so we all had a good time hanging outside for a bit. They had a bouncy house, which E totally hated (as you can see from the pic below, he didn't even want to stand up in it), a clown who made balloon animals and played games with the kids, and also a pinata (which Evan participated in but wasn't sure why he was hitting this strawberry suspended in the air!!).

Can't you tell how much fun he is having ;-) with his balloon sword!

He also tried out scissors for the very first time, which by the way he did great at opening and closing them on his own! His initial instinct was to use them with his left hand, but I wasn't sure how to show him how to use them with that hand, so I made him use his right.....I sure hope he doesn't turn out to be a lefty....or else his Uncle John is going to have to school him on life as a lefty!!

I got him to try out the bouncy house, but he wanted to have nothing to do with...even with only one other little boy in it! It was too "scardy" (Evan's word for "scary")! He looks so tiny compared to all the other kids....the little girl hitting is the one who turned 3...but most of the other kids were 5 years old or older. Evan's turn at taking a swingHe wasn't quite sure what to do when the pinata busted open so I had to help him gather up some goodies before all the other kiddos jumped at them.

Looking like a little old man hanging in this chair! He has looked so funny lately because he has been biting his gums due to the other top 2 teeth coming in!Trying out all the big kid toys too!!

Monkey sightings never get old.....

at least not for Andrew or I...and now even Cooper loves them! If he is in his walker, he will shoot over from the opposite side of the kitchen if you ask him to look for the monkeys! He seems truly amazed by them. As for Evan, they are so old news that you can hardly get him to come look at them if he is busy doing something else! I suppose growing up with them makes them just another everday thing!

Can you tell that E has been doing some window decorating with some Cars decals and Valentine's day stickers BeBe sent him!

I think it's this same little guy that continues to be our frequent visitor and he seems to be getting less and less afraid of us. They used to run as soon as we even made a move towards them, and just today (as Cooper and I were playing "catch Evan" in the living room) this same one just sat there as we ran right past him. He occasionally gives us a knock on the door... as if asking to be let in...yeah sure!! So now if Marte and I hear some unexplained noise, we immediately go to the door or windows to see if it's the monkeys and 9 times out of 10, it usually is!! They have been visiting quite frequently since we returned and they are these new monkeys - black ones with white eyes and mouths (quite attractive as you can see!!)...not the little grey ones that we used to always see before. Guess these guys have claimed their new territory because we see them more often than the grey ones now.
I wonder what Evan and Cooper will think when they look back at these pictures - will they think that it was cool growing up with monkeys in their backyard or just wonder what in the world kind of place we had them living in their first few years?!?!?!

Oh what a beautiful day!

The sound of silence at 7am is such a magnificant thing, especially when you haven't had to get up AT ALL during the night. Yes ladies and gentlemen, he has finally done it....my little Coop slept for a straight 12 hours for the very first time (I know, I don't even want to hear it from you moms whose little ones started doing this at 3 to 4 months old....I too, had one of these, but it wasn't my little Cooper!) You should have seen me as I rolled over, looked at my clock and had this huge ear to ear grin on my face when I saw that it was 7:45am!!! YES!! The first great night sleep in 8 1/2 months....well, actually even before Cooper was born since I was up 2-3 times a night going to the bathroom while I was pregnant! However long it was, it's been a long time and I was beginning to think this day was never going to happen! Oh what bliss! Now, let's just hope he keeps it up!

Maybe it was all the walking around that he did the day before....this kid loves to be on his feet these days...but only to go exactly where HE wants to go, not where you want to take him!!

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Yes, I've hit the ripe ol' age of 34 and feeling every year of it! Andrew and I went out to make a night of it and I was totally paying for it the next morning.....and get this, we were at home and in bed by 12:00 - how pathetic is that!!!

It was a great day and my wonderful boys bought me some beautiful flowers and my favorite cake...a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake...to help me celebrate! It's still hard for me to believe that just less 4 years ago, Andrew and I were just getting married and starting our life together...and now we have 2 beautiful boys that bring more joy to our lives than we could ever imagine!! I think I have to be one of the luckiest girls ever! If every birthday continues to bring the happiness that my 30's have brought me....well then I say, keep them coming!!!

Back in Malaysia

Ok, it's been over a month since I last updated, so I thought I'd better get on the ball. I'll try to recap our events over the holidays, so you'll have to go backwards to catch up with what our December and early January involved. I've been accredited with being the inspiration behind a couple of my friends recently starting up blogs, but they have gone and completely put me to shame by becoming frequent updaters...so my goal this year is to be more diligent at keeping everyone updated more frequently. I know - I've said it before, but this time I really mean it!!

Oh yeah and the reason for the new look on the blog... my cousin had to go and spiffy up her blog with different backgrounds for each season and all these neat add-ons and stuff which made my page look like total blah...so I had to steal her ideas and spruce up our blog as well. Hope you like it! Anyhow, here is what we've been up to.....

Cooper is 8 months old today!

8 months old today....and for about the last 4 months, this is typical Cooper! He is such a happy baby who is always wearing a smile. Don't get me wrong, when he is tired, hungry or teething he'll definitely let you know, but for the most part he is usually in a good mood. I can't believe 8 months have already flown by. He hasn't quite started crawling yet, but he loves to be on his stomach lately and has done alot of sliding around...although just backwards - he can't quite seem to figure out how to go forward yet. He is also trying to start walking - he loves having you hold his hands and guide him around. He can keep his balance for a second or so, but hasn't tried a step on his own yet. Evan took his first 3 solo steps just shy of his 9 month birthday - I don't think Coop will be far behind him at this pace! As for teeth, his top 2 teeth popped through shortly after we returned home from the US, so he now has 4...with the other top 2 showing just behind his gums as well. He got a small cold after we got back, so that coupled with the teething made him a bit of a grump for a few days! Luckily, neither of these things seemed to interfere with his sleep. Since we've returned he has slept 9 to 10 hours straight, waking at 5 or 6 for a quick feed and then back to sleep until 7 or 7:30....which totally works for me since this has been the best sleep he has gotten since he was born! We are still working on getting that full 12 hours with no wake-ups...hopefully we'll get there soon!

Cooper also started eating 3 meals a day and we introduced meats to him while we were back in the states (maybe this all has helped with the sleep as well). He loved everything we gave him (chicken and vegetables, turkey and rice, chicken noodle, chicken and gravy...etc) - we've yet to find something that he won't eat. You can tell peas aren't his favorite, but he still eats them even after he gives you this "this doesn't taste so good" look! I am so lucky I have 2 children that love to eat....everything!! It's pretty difficult to find a fruit or vegetable that Evan won't eat! The kid loves everything from green beans to raw green bell peppers! I hope they both always keep up their healthy appetite and love for food (since I don't think we'll ever have to worry about them becoming overweight...given that they seem to have such a hard time putting on weight!)

And of course, after trying to brainwash him into his first word being "mama".. since he was about 2 months old - his first word was "Dada", just like Evan!! What is up with these boys....don't they know they are suppose to be mama's boys!! The other cute thing he says is...when you ask him where E is, he has started yelling "eeeeee"....it's precious! In the last month he learned to give "high 5" and within the last week he has started waving "hi" and "bye-bye". I've been working with him on signing "more" for a while now, but he hasn't quite picked that up yet. He loves puff stars, so every time he eats beside Evan for breakfast or lunch, Evan feeds them to him and he tells him to say "more" (as he signs it for him as well) before he gives him another one..too sweet! I'm sure it won't be long before he picks that one up as well. I absolutely love this stage - they start to do so many fun things at this age! I've also started to get an idea of what it is going to be like having two boys trying to play together. Cooper already wants to get into everything Evan is doing and Evan is constantly saying "Cooper....no!" Cooper will get in his walker and trample all over a line of cars Evan has set up, so Evan pushes him all the way to the other end of the kitchen and says "Cooper (which has started sounding like "Coopa")...you go there!" Oh the fun we have in store ...I can hardly wait!!

This is always the choke hold E puts on Coop every time I ask him to take a picture with Cooper!

New Year's with the Robledo Clan

For New Year's, my mom's side of the family decided to get together in New Braunfels for a visit. We had tons of fun and are so glad we did it! It was hard enough getting 30-some people at one place at one time during the holidays, but to find a place that would accomodate that many people at one time proved to be a real challenge. Luckily, after much research, my dear husband found us the perfect place. It had one main house with 6 bedrooms and a seperate bunk house that had 4 other bedrooms and then several futons and pull-out couches...so everyone had a place to sleep! It even had an inside hot tub by the downstairs bar area (although for some reason I never took advantage of that one!) Anyhow, the weather was fantastic so we were able to totally enjoy all the outside amenities too...like the outside patio area, porch swing and fishing on the pier. We had tons of food and booze and did alot of catching up. Cooper was in heaven with all his aunts and cousins paying so much attention to him. I was afraid he would be too overwhelmed with so many people around, but that didn't seem to be an issue at all....he wore a smile on his face the entire time. We had about 7 little ones there under the age of 8, so I think they also had a great time running around with each other too!! Evan was also pumped about spending as much time outside as he possibly could. We also got in alot of bowl game watching and Wii playing. As depressing as it was, we watched Texas Tech get slaughtered (which put one of Tech's biggest fan - my aunt Lucy- in a bad mood the rest of the day since her boy Grahm couldn't pull off a win!!) and Alabama (who we were also pulling for....sorry Lin!) lost miserably as well. We'll just have to look forward to next season!

I personally want to thank everyone for making it. We would have never been able to see everyone during our visit if we had not decided to gather in one place. I know it was a long drive or trip for most of you, so I hope you thought it was worth it as well. Can't wait to do it again! Love you all and miss you already!

The whole gang (a few are missing) right after ringing in the New Year!!

The two sassy college girls....I think they were the only who got dressed for the occasion, so they were the only ones whose picture was worth posting :-)

My cousin Erica, her oldest, Cohen, my cousin Brooke, Cooper, Evan and meAndrew and I playing catch out back....it was a beautiful backyard overlooking the river

A pic of the back of the house....if you are ever looking for a spot to house 25+ people, this is the place!

Lauren, Honey and Cooper chilling out by the river...doing some fishing!
Evan also made a new best friend while we were there....his cousin Alicia...who he now calls his "girlfriend"!!
Little Addi decided she wanted to put on Coop's hat and jacket...and looked way too cute not to get a picture of her!

Honey and most of the grandchildren and great grandchildren (a few didn't make it and a few had left already before we got this picture)...we just keep growing!! Although, Andrew and I won't be adding to the numbers from here on out!