Happy Birthday Grandma!

HaPpY BirthDaY To YoU!

We LOVE You!

and...we REALLY REALLY REALLY MISS YOU!

We HoPe You HAvE a GReaT DaY!

Sleeping Baby is a Happy Mom

Help! How do I get him to sleep better at night?

Situation: He still sleeps in my bedroom in his little bassinet. What? I can't help it. I'm anxious about the crib transition. I know, I know. I would sleep better if I couldn't hear every snort and grunt.

So I'm mostly told to let him cry it out. Ouch. But it always seems to work in the end. In fact, the best kid sleepers I know cried like this when they were babies. And he won't remember crying it out anyway. So what am I waiting for?

But I tried it for like ten minutes...and surprisingly daddy was the first to crack.

So any advice would be helpful. And if I could offer advice to new moms it would be this: Spend just as much time preparing for motherhood as you do for labor and pregnancy!

By the way, he had three shots today. He ran a pretty good fever tonight and winced whenever my hands got close to his little thighs. I'm grateful for Tylenol.

Funemories

I'm looking at some of my mom's pictures and I couldn't resist posting some of them. What fun memories! I've also been looking at our blog that is now plastered with baby pictures. We are living in Spring, TX which is a long distance from family (excluding Brian's parents) and a blog is a great way to keep them all updated on our lives. You may have noticed that Brian and I both blog and we really do enjoy it. But I admit that I'm not always great at formatting, and I think Brian has posted duplicate pictures of our boy. But I do hope that you all enjoy the Cook'sbook. We have had fun.

This is such a great picture of my mom and youngest brother. This was at my brother's wedding a few years ago.

We love hiking!
This picture isn't funny unless you know how Brian feels about fish. Here he is looking at his catch of the day.

hahaha. He didn't want to let her go...even for a nap!

I love this memory. Lazing in the sun together.

Scattering Sunshine

Let me indtroduce you to a very special boy...

Dawson Joseph Lindstrom is my sweet nephew. He was born Aug. 6, 2005 with his twin, Mallory. Dawson passed away this week. His four and a half years of life will never be forgotten. I encourage you to read about Dawson on my sister's blogs: www.thewondertwins.blogspot.com or www.yourlifeuncommon.blogspot.com. The second blog is an inventive website that my sister has to celebrate all of the good things in life and to help individuals become their best self. My sister is easily one of the most optimistic people I know. You won't be sorry if you take time to get to know her story. We love you Dawson!

Mallory takes after her mommy. She is SO fun and a very happy girl. Here are a few pictures of us with the "wonder twins".

Dawson loves music. It was fun for Brian to play the piano for him and to sing to him. Music brought Dawson immense comfort throughout his life.

Mallory calls him "Hunka Brian" instead of "Uncle Brian". We will miss when she grows out of that. She is quite a character. Tonight when I offered her some cooked carrots, she said they were warm and bendy and insisted that she couldn't eat them. I guess she likes them better raw.

We thank the Lindstrom family for being such an inspiration to us all!