Hanging out with Zak & Caycee

Woo hoo breastfeeding!!!

My wedding dress fits! I love breastfeeding! Yeah, yeah, I loved it before 'cause it's all healthy & everything, but this is so cool! I gained some weight I got married 7 years ago & I was up to a size 16 before I got pregnant. Then I gained more than 50 pounds (I know, it's ridiculous) while I was pregnant. Yuk. But now I'm down to a size 6 (sometimes an 8 depending on the brand)!!! Woo hoo! And no dieting & no exercising, except for chasing a one-year-old, just breastfeeding. I may have to force Cooper to continue breastfeeding 'til college at least :)
(My dress has a big stain in the front :( That's what I get for not having it professionally cleaned & stored I guess.)

Autumn arrives in our backyard

Earlier this week every leaf from our neighbor's tree fell in our yard overnight. Cooper has a bit of an obsession with leaves; if there's a single leaf outside he'll find it, carry it around, and probably try to eat it. So when I saw leaves several inches high in our yard I bundled him up (don't you love the monkey hat? It was a gift from my brother Adam), grabbed the camera, & took Cooper & the dogs into the yard.
Most of the time I'm a little disappointed that photos don't really capture what's happening; you can't see the action - the way Cooper's dancing, or how his expression changes, or anything. Not the case with these pictures. They fully capture everything that was happening:


I know. You were expecting some action-packed shots with smiles, and flying leaves, & the blur of a toddler. Me too. But this was it. I set Cooper down in the yard, and he stood there. He moved a little because the sun was in his eyes, then stood. Still. No stomping on crunchy leaves, or throwing them in the air. Nothing. He did eventually pick a few leaves up & held them, but that was about it. When he finally actually moved, he went over to the deck, climbed the stairs, & stood by the door until I let him in. Oh well, we'll try again soon.

My new to-dos

Sometimes it seems your ever-increasing list of things to do can leave you feeling totally undone. ~Susan Mitchell and Catherine Christie, I'd Kill for a Cookie

This is something I've been thinking about lately, and then I found that quote. Perfect! So if you read my previous post about to do lists, you know I'm a little insane about them. I decided that instead of a neverending to do list that just gets totally chaotic & overwhelming, I'm only going to have 5 things on my to do list. That's it. I'll make a list of 5 things to do each day and when I finish I can make another list of 5 things; or I can just be done & feel great about having completed my entire list! Of course, when I first decided this I immediately thought that I'll have a list of things to put on the list of 5 so I wouldn't forget anything.
But that's craziness! Then I'm right back to the big long list & the list of 5 is a joke! If it doesn't make the list of 5 and I can't remember it long enough to put it on the next list then it's just not that important.
I made my first list of 5 things today:
1. scrub kitchen floor (Dora puked all over; probably related to the incident on Thursday when she ripped open a bag of garbage in the kitchen) - check!
2. wash Dora's bed - check!
3. pay bills
4. post new blog entry - check!
5. take out garbage - check!
I still have to do dishes & laundry & clean up toys & all the other stuff that's so regular that it never makes the list, but I'm actually going to complete a to do list today! I feel so good! I like this new plan.

Get back to work!

Cooper hasn't had any modeling jobs recently so we found other ways for him to earn his keep...

Look Mom!

Cooper's new trick is climbing on the couch by himself & then running across it just to scare me. As you can see, he's feeling much better.