Snow Day!!

Today it snowed!!

Each week since we have been here, snow has been predicted but has never come! Today it FINALLY snowed! We woke up about 7:30 to a light snow and by the end of the morning it picked up quite a bit!

Alex and I went outside to play in the snow after he woke up from his nap! I bundled him up in sweatpants, a long sleeve shirt, his big puffy jacket, gloves and a hat! He was a little angry with me for bundling him up so much, but once we got outside I think he figured out the reason why! At first, we played in the snow on the porch, but I quickly discovered that it was pretty difficult keeping our active toddler from trying to wander down the stairs. After Alex chased Buckwheat around the porch and loving it, I decided to take him to the backyard and let him run wild!

He had a great time running around the backyard! He was running full speed ahead. He would fall down every few feet, pick himself back up and keep running! It was so much fun to hear his little laugh – I love that laugh!

Oh, another highlight of our outdoor adventures – Alex LOVED playing in the snow on the stairs of the deck! He had a great time playing with the accumulated snow on the steps! Who knew that could be so much fun?!

After spending so much of my life in Florida and not seeing snow, it was really neat to be able to experience it! I loved seeing everything covered in white snow – it really did look beautiful! I’m glad that Alex got to run around and play in the snow – while he probably will never remember it, I at least have pictures! The only thing missing from our day – Larry! He was at school, so he didn’t get to play in the snow with us – we missed him. Hopefully, it will snow one weekend day and he will be here with us!

Here are some pictures that we took today:

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Alayna Kate Howard

Welcome to the world, Alayna Kate Howard!

Today our good friends Zach and Gina Howard, along with their daughter Aliyah, welcomed their new baby girl, Alayna Kate, into the world! Alayna was born weighing 7 pounds and is 19 inches long! The picture that Zach sent to my cell phone is the one that I am sharing with all of you - I can't wait to see more!

We are so excited for Zach, Gina and Aliyah and we know that Alayna is welcomed into their family with so much love! We all wish that we could be there to meet her in person - I think that is one of the hardest parts of being so far away from friends and family!

Congratulations :)

Alex and his NEW toy box!

Larry and I were tired of the toys that were constantly lying on the floor, so we decided to get Alex a toy box from Toys R Us. We found a nice Step 2 (that is the brand name) toy box. We would like a nice wood one made eventually, but for now this will work!

Last night while Alex was sleeping, Larry and I put the toy box together. Okay, actually Larry put it together and I filled it with Alex’s toys! It definitely was big enough to hold most of the toys that we brought to Maryland (with the exception of the large toys) and it was nice to have the toys off of the living room floor.

When Alex got up this morning, he noticed his toy box! Well, actually he first noticed the basket that I had put all his “Little People” and “Little People” accessories in. He quickly examined the basket and then dumped all the “Little People” out of it! Once he was satisfied with dumping the toys of the basket, he discovered that all the rest of his toys in the toy box. Instead of pulling the toys of OUT of the toy box, Alex decided to climb IN the toy box with the toys! He was able to easily get into the toy box, but getting out was a bit more difficult. Larry had to help him out the first few times, but by nap time he had figured out both getting in and getting out! At one point before bath time, he was in nothing but a diaper and sitting in the opening just watching TV. He had both of his legs out and both of his arms out – he was just perched in the opening! I tried to get the camera to take a picture of him, but when he figured out that I was getting the camera he got down! Smart little kid! He is so crazy sometimes and is constantly keeping us on our toes!

We were initially worried that he wouldn’t understand that you have to pull the toys out and we were worried that he wouldn’t be able to get the toys at the bottom of the toy box. We should have known that he would figure it all out!

We took some pictures of the great adventure with the toy box. The pictures are below in a slidshow. After I got done uploading the pictures from today, I noticed that one year ago today I also uploaded pictures. Larry and I took a quick trip down memory lane looking at those pictures! It is unbelievable how much Alex has grown and changed.

Enjoy the pictures from today!

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New Pictures of Alex:

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Update on all things Alex - Part 2!

I realized that it had been quite awhile since I have given an update on all things Alex (it has been about 2 months). Between the holidays and moving to Maryland, I haven't had much time to write in the journal! He has started doing new things both physically and developmentally, as well as fine tuning all the things has been doing!

He is saying so many more things, it is incredible. I swear he learns a new word everyday (or at least it seems that way). He can now say the following words, and most of them are pretty recognizable:

Dog

Ball (and simultaneously points to a ball)

Hi/Hi Guys/Hi Dada

Oh Man/Oh Me

Dada

Mama

Gabba (for his favorite show – Yo Gabba Gabba!)

No

Stop (usually at the dogs when they are barking)

Look

That

Cup

Bite

Bye-Bye (or sometimes when he is feeling lazy just “bye”)

Recently, I have started trying to teach him the parts of his face. We have started with the mouth. I try to point to my mouth and say mouth, then point to his mouth and say mouth. Yesterday (January 20) for the first time he pointed to his mouth when I said mouth. I couldn’t wait for Larry to get home so I could show him his new “trick”, but of course when Daddy got home we decided not to show off our new skill!

Alex is a dancing fool! Whenever there is music on at the house, he is dancing. He shakes his booty and gets the biggest smile on his face – so cute! I need to get a video of it, so you all can see it! I will try to work on that this week! He also has figured out how to spin around in a circle, which he does quite often!

He is climbing onto everything. A few weeks ago he figured out how to climb on and off the couch (bad idea). He is constantly climbing on the couch, off the couch and on the back of the couch! There is a picture in the album titled “Added 011609”, where he has climbed up onto the back of the loveseat and is messing with the air conditioner thermostat. When I asked him what he was doing, he just turned around and started grinning…he is such a mess! Oh, along with his great new climbing skill, he has learned how to successfully climb OUT of his Pack-N-Play. Yesterday (January 20) I left him in his Pack-N-Play to run in the kitchen to get him a snack and some juice. I heard him making some noises, but thought nothing of it – when I came back in the room he was standing outside of his Pack-N-Play and smiling at me! I put him back in while I was sitting in the room and he climbed out not once, but twice! He was not shy at all to show me his new found talent!

Another fun game is to take his toys and throw them over the gates. Sometimes if he is really lucky, he will get to watch the toy bounce down the stairs to the foyer! Every time he does this, he laughs like it is the first time he has done it. It amazes Larry and I the things that he will throw over the gates – some of them are really heavy, but he has determination!

He is quite fond of running up to either Larry or me and blowing on our arms (or whatever skin is exposed). He thinks that is the funniest noise in the world. He smiles and cracks himself up! Of course, Larry and I are expected to laugh right along with him! Each time he runs up to us with an open mouth and each time we are worried that he might bite us, but he hasn’t yet – he just wants to blow on our skin!

Alex does not know the meaning of slow or still! He is neither of these two things! He is always RUNNING around and always on the move! If you find him slow or still, he is usually sleeping.

He enjoys the new stairs at our place in Maryland. He loves crawling up them and scooting down them. We have put gates up so he can’t discover them on his own, but when we go up the stairs with him he insists on doing it himself.

Alex and Daddy love to roll around on the floor and play together. Alex will tackle Daddy and roll over him. He laughs so hard when he plays with Daddy! It melts my heart to see them playing around with each other – they both are having such a good time and it is completely evident how much they love each other. I added a few pictures of them playing together in the album titled “Added 011609”.

Another thing that melts my heart – he comes up to us now and gives us hugs! He will run over from wherever he is and give us hugs, spur of the moment and unplanned. Totally unexpected, but so very much appreciated! He has started giving kisses – although they are very sloppy and usually consist of his open mouth slobbering all over you!

On Monday (January 19), we took Alex to a place called Kiddos. It is an indoor toddler play place. They have padded mats on the floor, a ball pit, tunnels, things to crawl on, balls to play with and mirrors. Alex had a blast! They have a playgroup for his age group every Monday morning from 10 to 11 and I think we are going to go. The other Mom’s were pretty nice and it was great to be able to have Alex interact with the other kids. Larry was off on Monday, so it was great to be able to have him come along.

We are still holding steady with 8 teeth. The top four and bottom four. But he is in the process of having a molar come through on the left side of his mouth. He is also getting his top two incisor teeth, nothing like getting three painful teeth all at once. Needless to say, this process is going very slowly and he has not been a happy camper!

All in all, our little man is growing and changing every day. He is constantly surprising us with new things he can do - some we teach him, others he just picks up on his own. He is at an amazing age – filled with so much wonder, excitement and love.

Whack-A-Mole

For Christmas, Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristy got Alex the game "Whack-A-Mole". We didn't take it out of the box (it was easier to travel with still in the box) ... until today!

Alex had a great time with "Whack-A-Mole"! He loved being able to bang on the moles. He wasn't quite sure about it at first, but once Daddy showed him what to do he had a great time and caught on very quickly. He started banging on the miles like had been doing it all his life! At one point, he had all the mallets in one hand and was trying to bang on the moles with the other! After he got tired of the game, he was walking around banging on everything else with his mallets (thank goodness they are plastic). I walked out of the room and heard Larry telling Alex - "No Alex, we don't hit Daddy with the mallet. We hit the moles!"

He was hilarious while he was playing the game! Thank you so much Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristy - we really enjoyed watching him!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Josh!

Happy 18th Birthday, Uncle Josh! We can't believe that you are 18 years old - time has flown by! We hope you have an amazing birthday. Know that we are thinking of you and wishing we could be there to celebrate this BIG birthday with you! We miss you lots and how that you will be able to come see us this summer!

We love you!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Trey!

Happy 22nd Birthday, Uncle Trey! We hope that you have a great birthday and hope you get a chance to come visit us this summer!

We love you!

Safe in Maryland

We made it safe and sound to Maryland!

We left Enterprise, Alabama around 6:00 am on Friday morning. We loaded up the U-Haul on Thursday, so all we would have to do Friday morning is get ready, throw the last minute stuff in the car and hit the road. We headed up to Birmingham, Alabama to pick up Sheena and Larry Jr. (Thank you for meeting us Trey – it really helped out!). Sheena was kind enough to agree to ride with me to keep Alex occupied and keep me awake and Larry Jr. was kind enough to ride along with Larry in the U-Haul to keep him company!

While the trip was long, it was not as bad as I had been anticipating! We were lucky enough to get some “doggie downers” for the dogs and they slept nearly the entire ride (is it bad that I am thinking of giving them the tranquilizers on a daily, full-time basis?!). At every stop, we made sure to get them out of the car to walk around and go potty! They woke up a few times during the ride, but each time they would look around for awhile and then lay back down! Normally they are not that great in the car, hopping around the car and acting crazy all the time, so this was a welcome change!

As for Alex, he was so much better than I expected. For the most part, he was happy watching a DVD on the DVD player and eating “Puffs”. He had about an hour and a half of fussiness, but in his defense - when he had his fussy moments he had already been in the car for 12 hours. We were able to let him run around when we would stop, which he loved. He took two good naps and fell asleep for the night around 9:00 pm.

We pulled into our driveway in Maryland at midnight. Considering that we had to stop frequently to fill up the U-Haul, walk the dogs and let Alex (and the adults) stretch his legs, we didn’t do too badly! Once we got to the house, Alex woke up (which I had anticipated) and we unload a few essentials. Alex went to sleep fairly easily once he ran around in the house for a few minutes. Luckily, we thought ahead and put the essentials in an easy to grab spot in the U-Haul. We were able to get the things inside and get to bed around 2:00 am.

Throughout the rest of the weekend, Larry and Larry Jr. were able to get all of the big items put together and set up. Sheena and I focused on making several trips to Wal-Mart and getting a good portion of the boxes unpacked. There is still a bunch of things left to do, but it is a great improvement from where we started on Saturday morning!

Thank you both Larry Jr. and Sheena! You both were such a big help and I know that Larry and I couldn’t have done half of this stuff without the two of you! I know that you are both exhausted and have sore muscles, knees and heads, but please know that we appreciate all that you did more than you will ever know! We are so lucky that you were both willing (and able) to drop all of things going on in your own lives to help us with ours!

15-Month Check-Up

Our original 15 month appointment was scheduled for January 26, 2009, but when we found out that we were moving I called Dr. Whitaker’s office and I was able to get Alex’s appointment changed to December 31, 2008. We love Alex’s pediatrician and all of the nurses, so we wanted to be sure to get in before the move!

We had another EARLY morning appointment. I love appointments first thing in the day because I know that they are usually on time (or close to). When the nurse came in, she took her normal weight, height and head measurements. His 15-month stats are:

Weight – 22 pounds (20%)
Height – 32 inches (85%)
Head – 17 5/8 inches (10%)

He is growing right along the same curve that he has been since birth. He has a small waist and tall legs. Both of which make it difficult to find pants that fit! He can wear 9 month pants around the waist, but he sure does look like he is waiting for a flood! The 12 month pants are just a little too big around the waist, but fit pretty good length-wise.

The doctor came in to talk to us and we told him about our trip to the After-Hours Pediatric office in Florida. He was happy that the doctor there told us just to treat his fever and didn’t try to diagnose him incorrectly with something. Dr. Whitaker made sure to look in Alex’s ears (which were clean), look at his throat (which was slightly irritated, but nothing major) and listen to his chest (which was clear). Because Alex did have a fever of 103 degrees the night before (December 30), Dr. Whitaker did not feel comfortable giving him his shots! I was glad about that because I didn’t want Alex to have to work through a sickness AND work through feeling yucky because of shots. We were told to come back in a week for a nurse visit and shots – as long as his fever was gone!

As always, Dr. Whitaker talked to us about his development. He said that he is doing great developmentally – both physically and mentally. He said that our little boy looks great and we are doing a great job with him! That is something that every parent enjoys hearing!

We let Dr. Whitaker know that we are moving to Maryland and he wished Larry luck and told him congratulations! Alex and I plan on going back to Enterprise for his 18 month appointment on March 31. We figure that it will be a great time to check on the house and go to the doctor. We are going to find a doctor in Maryland “just-in-case” we need someone, but we really like the relationship we have established with Dr. Whitaker and his staff.

I will let you know how the shots go on January 7, 2009!

Sick Little Boy :(

Larry and I were able to have a “date night”, since Grandma Karen was nice enough to watch Alex for us! We decided that we had better take full advantage of it because once we move to Maryland, our schedule is not going to allow for too many date nights! We had a great dinner at Ruth’s Chris and went to see Marley and Me. It was nice to be able to out to dinner with each other and enjoy and nice, hot meal!

When we got home, Alex was sleeping. I bent down to kiss him and noticed that he felt warm. I am not usually got at feeling if he has a temperature, so I asked Grandma if she had a thermometer. She did and I took his temp underneath his arm and it was 101.8. I got him some Motrin, which really didn’t bring it down all that much.

The next day (Monday), he battled the fever all day. It would go up, I would give him Motrin and it would go down to about 100.8. I called our doctor and told the nurse about his fever, the fact that he was putting his hands in his mouth and tugging at his ear. My first thought was teething, but the nurse told me that was too high of a fever to just be from teething. GREAT!! She advised us that it would probably be best to take him to a local pediatrician to get him check out. After calling around, we discovered that the only place that took visitors and children as young as Alex was the After Hours Pediatric Care.

We got to the After Hours place right as it opened and we were third in line! They eventually took us back and weighed Alex. Once we got back in the room we told the nurse his symptoms and she took his temperature. She took it rectally (poor Alex) and it was 103.3! No wonder why he was sleepy and grumpy! Larry and I could not believe it was that high.

When the doctor came in, she listened to us explain his symptoms and she suspected that he had an ear infection. She looked in his ears and was amazed when she discovered NOTHING! She listened to his chest and it was clear. His throat was a bit irritated, but he was having a little drainage from his nose which could be the cause of an irritated throat. All in all, she could not find the root of his fever – he had nothing wrong with him that she could see. She told us that it was possibly the onset of an infection, but nothing that could be treated without any signs of illness. She told us to get Children’s Tylenol and treat the fever. We are to give him the Tylenol every 4 hours (even to wake him up during the night) and make him comfortable. She also told us to follow up with our doctor if he wasn’t better in 3 to 5 days – luckily, we have an appointment set up with Dr. Whitaker on December 31.

It is so sad to see Alex not feeling well. He is definitely not acting like his normal, happy self when he is feverish. I am glad that nothing is seriously wrong with him – the worst really does go through your head when you see your child have a fever that high!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

We hope that everyone has a great day filled with love and laughter!

Love,
The Cothrens

BIG NEWS!!!

We have big news…and no, I am not pregnant! We are moving!

I am so proud to announce that Larry has been accepted to attend the Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland ( Naval Test Pilot School). As part of the process, he will be sworn in as an Army civilian engineer on January 5, 2009 and we will be reporting up to Maryland around January 12, 2009. He will be involved in a rigorous academic schedule until the 2nd weekend in December – 11 months of intense classes. He was selected by a board of previous Test Pilot School graduates at his work and was told of his acceptance on December 11, 2008. Not too much time to plan!

Alex and I will be joining Larry in Maryland. He will be extremely busy with school, but the downtime that he does have, we want to be able to be with him and spend time with him. I will be holding down everything on the homefront to allow Larry the chance to focus primarily on his school work. Last week, we (Larry, Alex and I) went to Maryland to find a house to live in for the next year. Luckily, we found a very nice rental townhome. We are renting from a great couple – the husband just graduated from Test Pilot School two weeks ago! The townhome is 3 floors and 3 bedrooms/2 full baths/2 half baths, it has a cute little fenced in yard for the dogs and a deck out back. It is right near a Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Old Navy and is only about 10 minutes from where Larry will be going to school. We are moving to a town called California, Maryland!

This is such a great opportunity for Larry and I am so proud of him! Larry will be in TPS class 136, his class will have roughly 30 pilots and 3 engineers. After finishing this course, he will be a few classes short of his masters (something that I have wanted him to get for quite some time)! At Larry’s work Christmas party this past Friday night (December 19), his boss was telling me about TPS. He mentioned that when Larry walks into the building that classes are held, he will notice a bunch of plaques on the wall. On those plaques are the names of previous TPS graduates – some of those names include Neil Armstrong and Alan Sheppard (among several other historical figures). In December, after graduation, Larry’s name will be among some of the most influential people in Aerospace history! I can’t even begin to tell you how proud of I am of him and all that he has accomplished and continues to accomplish in his short professional career!

It will be a big change for our family – a big move and getting used to a new town, but we are doing it with open minds and eager hearts! I think this opportunity will be what we make of it and I see nothing but great things that will come out of it!

We welcome any visitors in Maryland this next year! Larry will be super busy with school work and won’t have much time to spend with anyone, but Alex and I will be excited to have visitors! We are about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Washington, DC (I can’t wait to see the Cherry Blossoms in the springtime), about 1 hour and 30 minutes from Baltimore and only a 2 hour train ride from Baltimore to NYC! Alex and I will be taking advantage of the great sights up there and can’t wait to show them to anyone that comes to visit!

Wish us luck and keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare for this next big adventure in our lives!

Christmas with the Kritner's (and Worley's)

This year we had Christmas with Larry’s family on Saturday, December 20, 2008. Sheena and Trey got here on Friday (to watch Alex for us while we went to Larry’s work Christmas party) and Becky, Pete and Josh got here on Saturday around noon! Becky, Pete and Josh got here right as Alex went down for his nap, so Larry and I thought that would be a great time for the adults to exchange Christmas presents. We figured it would be a good idea to open presents without having to worry about Alex running around and getting into everything ;) We gave our presents to everyone – I think everyone was happy with what we got them!

After presents, Larry and I got to cooking! We had turkey, ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, orange jell-o and rolls. Like I always, I make enough for a small army (another wonderful trait my mother instilled in me)! We didn’t eat until after Alex woke up – I didn’t want him to miss lunch!

Once Alex woke up, we let him open his presents. He was hysterical! He would rip a piece of paper off a present and say “OH!”, hand me the piece of paper, and repeat the process. We can definitely tell that Christmas morning is going to be a SLOW process! Alex got four sets of Little People, three sippy-straw cups and four outfits from Aunt Sheena and Uncle Trey, a pair of Superman pajamas from Uncle Josh and a tool kit from Grandma Becky and Grandpa Pete.

Since we were opening presents, we let him open his present from Aunt Jenny, Uncle Keith, Kyle and Katelyn – they got him the Little People Raceway! He loves it! He will sit and watch the cars go around and around. He also opened a present from Karen, Tony, Xavier and Jesse Soto – they got him a Fold and Go Train! The little train goes around the track and makes all sorts of “choo-choo” noises! Another hit!

After lunch, we all hung around for a little while watching Alex and his latest antics. He sure does know how to keep a crowd entertained! He would run from person to person and from toy to toy! He loves attention – I certainly don’t know who he got that from (wink, wink)!!

Becky and Pete left around 5 – but, they let Josh stay for an extra day! It was nice to just have the siblings here, hanging out together. It is something that we don’t get too often and something that we treasure when we do get! The boys had a great time playing Xbox together and Sheena and I had a good time hanging out! PJ didn’t come home for the weekend and he was greatly missed.

Larry's Work Christmas Party

Larry and I had a chance to get dressed up and go mingle with other adults – it was his annual Christmas party! The attire for the party is formal, so I was able to wear my bridesmaid dress from Sheena’s wedding. Since it was a red color, it was absolutely perfect for the holiday season!

We had already planned to have Christmas with the Kritner’s (and Worley’s), so Sheena and Trey came down early on Friday afternoon to watch Alex for us Friday night! It was nice to not have to worry about Alex – we knew he was in great hands!

It was fun to be able to go and hang out with other adults and have “adult conversation”! We got the chance to hear great advice about Test Pilot School and have a bunch of laughs! We had a great meal, had some pictures taken and we were even able to share a dance! We had a great night!

A Busy Weekend

Two years ago, Larry and I went to the Gaylord Palms in Orlando and toured the ICE Exhibit. Everything was made out of ice - we thought it was absolutely amazing! This year at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, TN, the theme of the ICE Exhibit was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". We decided that it would be really neat to take Alex (especially since this is the last year for the Grinch exhibit).

On Friday, December 12, 2008, we travelled up to Nashville and stayed a night at the Opryland hotel. We were able to walk around and look at all the Christmas lights throughout the hotel. Alex was amazed by all the lights. He kept saying "OOK" and "THAT" and pointing at all the lights. We would tell him "lights" whenever he would point, bt he was too amazed to even care what the word for them was. He really enjoyed himself and looking at everything.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and waited on Aunt Sheena and Uncle Trey to get to Nashville. Once they got in the area, we took a shuttle bus to the exhibit. We put on Alex's winter hat, gloves and parka and the end result was a very bundled up, but unhappy child. He did not like the parka - we thought he looked super cute though :) After looking at the exhibit, we went back to the Opryland for lunch and to walk around a bit more. We said goodbye to Aunt Sheena and Uncle Trey and headed to Huntsville for the evening.

Saturday night, we had dinner with Barry, Kari and Andy. We went to our favorite spot in Huntsville - Wings! After dinner, Kari and I ran a few errands and the boys (with Alex) went to the mall to finish up some Christmas shopping. Apparently, a pretty famous Alabama football player was there, so Alex got a signed picture from George Teague (the football player). Once we got done with errands and shopping, Barry, Kari and Andy came back to our hotel so we could put Alex to bed and hang out with them for a little while longer. We had a great time hanging out :)

Sunday morning, Grandpa Larry and Great-Grandpa Larry came to our hotel for breakfast. We were able to spend a little time with them before we left the area - we were also blessed to be able to share our "big news" with them in person (moving to Maryland). They were so proud of Larry! We headed to Barry and Kari's for a quick visit to meet their new puppy, Maggie! She is so cute and very lovable! After Barry and Kari's, we headed to Grandma Becky's and Grandpa Pete's house. We were also able to share our "big news" with them in person as well!

Off to see Santa

We went to Dothan this afternoon in hopes to start some Christmas shopping and to let Alex visit Santa. We went to the mall first and decided to head straight to Santa. As we walked up to Santa, we saw the most horrendous line ever. I told Larry to forget it - I did not want to stand in that line just to get up to Santa and have Alex freak out! Luckily, we discovered that the LONG line was for Iron Bowl shirts and not for Santa. Alabama fans had lined up to purchase their Iron Bowl victory shirts!

We got in line for Santa and were happy that the line was moving quickly and it wasn’t too awful long! While waiting in line, Alex ate a snack of Kix cereal and Cheerios and kept pointing happily at Santa! We hoped that was a good sign. By the time we finally made it up to Santa, Alex was pointing and waving at him – surely that was a good thing! I put him in Santa’s lap and he started clapping and smiling. He even looked back at Santa and smiled at him – GREAT!! We were going to have a successful Santa visit! Oh no, that was not in the cards for us today. After Alex sitting in Santa’s lap for a minute or so, one of the teenagers working as an “elf” let us know that the printer had run out of paper so it would be a minute. The suggested getting Alex out of Santa’s lap so he didn’t get bored just sitting there! I did – he was still pointing at Santa and waving. After what seemed like forever, the girl finally came back with paper for the printer and told me to go ahead and put Alex back in Santa’s lap – I did. He was a little bit leery at this point. Although, I was able to get a smile out of him for at least one of the pictures that the “elf” snapped. My heart dropped when I heard the “elf” tell me that the picture didn’t take. He told that me that I should probably take Alex out of Santa’s lap while they fixed the camera. I took him away from Santa for the second time. When the teenaged “elves” finally fixed the camera and told me to place Alex in Santa’s lap for the third time, Alex slightly clung to me and did not want to go back to the man dressed in red! I walked away and Larry and I noticed the look of fear in his eyes – we knew that we were not getting the smiley child and Santa picture we had hoped for! We were able to get one picture of Alex and Santa. As you can see in the picture, there is fear in Alex’s eye and not much of a smile on his face. We are lucky that the camera did not capture any tears though! We ordered the package in which we got the picture saved to a thumb drive and the “elf” told me that I was able to get three images on thumb drive – I told him that I was not putting my crying child on Santa’s lap again! We walked away with only one picture!

Our Christmas Tree is Up

Not only did we watch a great football game today, but we were also able to put up our Christmas tree after the game! We decided that this year we would put the Christmas tree up in the living room as we have done for the past three years, only this year, the Christmas tree is cage in! We bought a gate to go completely around the Christmas tree – to keep little hands away from it. We also decided that it would probably be in our best interest to only decorate the Christmas tree with lights, garland and our angel! We have a bunch of really special ornaments (some that Larry and I have acquired throughout our years together and some from my Mom and Dad) and it would absolutely kill me if anything happened to some o f the ornaments!

Alex seems intrigued by the lights – he loved watching Larry put them on the tree! Once the tree was up and the lights were on, he went and stood by the gate and just stared at it – it was so cute to watch!

Iron Bowl 2008 - ROLL TIDE!!

Today was a big day in the Cothren household…it was the Iron Bowl! The Iron Bowl is the long awaited and anticipated football rivalry game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers. An important game that allows one team in Alabama to bragging rights for the entire year. In our house, there is no mistaking who we cheer for; we are Tide fans through and through!

Alabama is having an amazing year. Going into the game, their record was 11-0 and they were #1 in all the NCAA football rankings! The Iron Bowl did not disappoint and was just as great of a game as we hoped for (well, only if you are an Alabama fan)! After 4 exciting quarters, Alabama defeated Auburn 36 – 0!

Alex was a little more awake for this year’s Iron Bowl! Last year, he pretty much slept through the game, but this year he was running around like a mad man. He would cheer wildly when Daddy and Grandpa Pete would cheer and he would throw up his arms for a touchdown (and sometimes it would actually be because Alabama scored). He wore his Alabama jersey and jeans and we were even lucky enough to capture a few pictures with his Alabama hat on! Alex had a great second Iron Bowl.

It was a great day to be an Alabama fan! We could not have been happier with the way that the game turned out!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Larry and I are so thankful this year for Alex and everything that he brings to our lives! We are blessed beyond measure! We have a strong, smart little man that is learning and growing everyday. He is the light of our lives and the joy in our heart! He has filled our lives with so much love - more than I ever realized was possible!

We hope that everyone has a day filled with family, food and fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!