Monday, June 27, 2011

Life doesn't always turn out the way you think it should.

My heart has been aching the last few days.
I reached out to my sisters pleading to fix our broken family and not one of them was willing to forgive one or more of the sisters. I was completely woken up to the fact that my family is never going to be the way I think it should be. I may be over-exaggerating a tad as I always do when I am hurt, but I feel as though I am mourning my eldest sister Margie, as it seems I no longer exist to her. Not even going to get into what was said between Becky and I, but I just felt the need to vent a little more so I can move on.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Welcome to our WEDDING

A few of the decorations....
Made by Jessica and Mary
Gift photo box filled with wine glasses, rocks glasses and coasters with "C"s on them from Gabrielle, Kathryn and Amanda.  A 25 cent thrift store frame with family pics.
The odds and ends from my bouquet materials in an old vase and a picture of my Mom framed by my sister Becky.
Corsages designed by me to match bouquet. Assembled by Gabrielle, Kathryn and Amanda.
Thank all of you ladies for all the help!

Now may I introduce.... the most beautiful wedding cake in the world made by a close family friend Maureen!
The lid of our treasure chest cake was German Chocolate and the bottom was Red Velvet, both of our favorite cakes. Mo's husband did the construction and made this cake so sturdy! The coins are peanut butter and all of the jewels and pearls are edible and so delicious. We saved a huge chunk of both flavors in the freezer to eat with Sawyer on our 1 year anniversary! The cake was so perfect and I really did not want to cut it!

Me with my bouquet of purple roses, twigs and feathers I made the night before with my girlfriends while toasting with wheat beer in plastic champagne glasses! Also, my sister brought a purple rosary so I laid it out on the photo of my mother.


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Let's do this!

It's our Wedding Eve!
 

 Time for Bill's Pizza and family, family, family! Friends later ;]

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

25 years down

Each time I tell myself I am 25, it blows my mind. It feels like my whole life before starting my family is one long saga of a chapter that has now closed. There is still so much to look forward to that I am more than happy to call myself 25 and say goodbye to childhood and welcome adulthood. Yep! It took me till I was 25 to feel like an adult! Those first 24 years I learned so much and I really had to take the long way around to find out what it was I wanted from life. It really didn't come easy to me! My late teens and early 20's, I was so uninspired. I knew there was passion buried deep, somewhere inside me, but no clue how to bring it to the surface.

I am STILL discovering who I am! And realizing it's up to me to be the person I want to be. Each day, it's easier and easier to see that person in me, I just have to keep searching. Its hard to admit I have a problem with being hard on myself and treating myself badly, so I am changing it. I DO love me, I AM super cute, I DO deserve to be happy and treat myself good.

So here's hoping I continue to love and nurture myself, and really work on being the best ME I can ;]

Goodbye, Lil Yenny, you'll always be a part of my past but now I am Mama Yenny, and God, it feels great.

Not quite the "Cool Aunt" I used to be...

Christopher is my 14 year old nephew. He was born when I was in the 5th grade and I remember the very night it happened, October 30. He was always my most favorite tiny person, he was so small and looked up to me so very much. We were best friends every summer although we were nearly ripping each others hair out half the time. I remember so much of the cute things he used to say, the way he danced, his beautiful, genuine smile. It was always the highlight of my entire year, getting to visit him and my sister, Tina.

So it comes as a bit of a shock now, that I am an adult and he is a teenager, so much ahead of him. This time in his life is so very scary to me now that I am a mom and that I survived being a more wild teenager than any of my family knows... It chills me to the bone to think that sometime soon at a party he is going to be offered a joint or a shot of vodka. Experimenting is the norm I suppose, But I know first hand that "experimenting" can turn into regular everyday behavior, real quick too. All I can say is I am thankful Tina is such a good mom, because I know she will always keep an eye on him. If there was one thing I could say to my teenage self and to my teenage nephew it would be to just slow down! You have plenty of time to do stupid things when you are an adult so for now just take care of yourself and think of the person you want to be at 25. Its hard when all your friends are doing it but honestly, what you do now in your teens makes such an impact on your future. Why is that so easy to see in hindsight but when I was 15, all I wanted to do was be crazy and destructive and just not really give a fuck about the next 10 years. The things I let myself get involved with at 16-17-18 years old were just insane and I am still recovering from it and I probably always will. Not going into details but I am so lucky to be free of that life for 5 years now.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Wedding Ceremony, draft 1

Good afternoon, Will and Jenny would like to start off by thanking you, their families for endless support and love.
Please take a moment to remember those who could not be here in person today, but who are surely here in the wind,
in the trees, in the sky and clouds all around us. But mostly in our hearts.... [brief pause]...

They have chosen a small Irish prayer to share with you.
-Irish Marriage Blessing-
May God be with you and bless you.
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortunes
and rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward.

[Rings]

For thousands of years lovers have exchanged rings as a token of their vows.
These simple gold bands are not of great value in themselves,
but are made precious by our wearing of them.
Your rings say that even in your uniqueness you have chosen to be bound together.
Let these rings also be a sign that love has substance as well as soul,
a present as well as a past, and that, despite its occasional sorrows,
love is a circle of happiness, wonder, and delight.

Will, take Jenny's ring and put it on her finger, and repeat after me:

Just as this circle is without end, my love for you is eternal/
Just as it is made of indestructible substance/
my commitment to you will never fail/
With this ring I take you to be my trusted confidante
and partner for life.

Jenny, take Will's ring and put it on his finger and repeat after me:

Just as this circle is without end, my love for you is eternal/
Just as it is made of indestructible substance/
my commitment to you will never fail/
With this ring I take you to be my trusted confidante
and partner for life.

As you all and the angels as their witnesses, it's my pleasure to announce Mr & Mrs Cooper,
May their promises be sealed with a kiss....

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Perfect Saturday

AM: Tidy the house a bit
Farmer's Market for dinner veggies and amazing bbq for lunch
Grocery shop
MUCH NEEDED car wash
Home to tidy some more and mostly RELAX with my babes
PM: Practice wedding hair style with Megan
Amazing pot roast dinner prepared with tender love by my fiance
Sam Adam's East~West Kolsch and Odell IPA and maybe a Pabst Blue Ribbon
And who knows what else!


garlic flowers from the Farmer's market!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

7 days

Until THE DAY! The beginning of the rest of our lives. Mrs. Cooper. Mrs. Jennifer Ann Cooper. Gotta practice typing that ;] Here's a couple more pics of the stinker....


Finally got him down for the night. Praying for a little more sleep! I have been having such trouble in that area.
Got as much nursing and solids in as I could today so I pray it pays off.

GOOODNIGHT MOON

Is this some kind of sick joke?

MY PHONE IS MISSING! Ahhhh..... I have no contact to the outside world! Or more importantly, Will! We were both so sick during lunch today I didn't wanna make him look for it for me... Okay, okay, just had to get that out!

Hello, I'm Mr. Handsome!
Thanks to my adorable baby I am feel MUCH better.... We had a long nap/cuddle sesh and then Sawyer played while I soaked in a warm woodsy bath for a few.


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

I've never been great at titles.

I am semi new to the blogging scene so bear with me here! Ha, I am 90% talking to myself and 10% secretly hoping someone will read this someday! I have only had one previous blogging experience but that was just myspace. I actually wish I had kept up with it, there seems to be so much I have missed and will have to catch up on. One reason I am picking it back up is so that I have an outlet for all this dialouge running through my mind all day as I'm singing ABC's or making funny sounds for my baby. I try to get it all out to Will when gets home but I always forget to tell him so much! I'm also hoping to use this blog to document important milestones in my relationship and my child's life, as well as display my crafts. I have always been into scrapbooking but recently have been trying different things since the wedding is coming and I took on the feat of making everything by hand myself. It has honestly been such a fun project, this wedding! And I'm a little sad that there is only a week of planning left! I always imagined being a frazzled mess one week before my own wedding, but each day I feel nothing mounting but happiness and excitement. Our budget is under $1500 and its going to be the best wedding I have ever been to, that's a pretty good job of wedding planning if you ask me! The most expensive part is the food and even that is a HUGE deal compared to what some people pay for their weddings. See, my fiance is a chef (in training) and works for a huge resort near our home, so he is able to prepare all the food there ahead of time! And the day of the wedding the food will be grilled by my MIL's fiance, John.

The venue is perfect, serene, woodsy, intimate yet pretty big, beautiful and fresh. The ramada at Goldwater Lake. 

The menu includes: carne asada, carribean jerk chicken leg quarters, achiote-orange chicken leg quarters, a pasta salad, potato salad, veggie tray, fruit, and salsa made by the owners of our favorite mexican restaurant, Annalina's (may you rest in peace.) We will be sipping Kilt Lifter from our own Tempe, AZ! [Where little Sawyer was first made] as well as champagne for toasts provided by our good friends, The Joyals, and sparkling punch for the kiddos! With awesome silly party straws, of course!

I can't even go into the cake right now, but there will be pictures later!

I haven't begun to include any details of the decorations, I was saving them for last...
Purple, gold and brown pine cones, purple feathers, gold pebbles, purple candles, lacy candle holders, brown table runners on the tables. I could say purple a million more times ;] It's always been my fave.

Before I get carried away listing every purple thing there is I am going to sign off on this blog sesh.

TIME TO SNORE LIKE MY MAN AND MY DOG:

Meet Sammy <3 the biggest pain in my rear that I just love too much to stay mad at.


Diving into "being a grown-up" the best I can...

This will, more or less, be a journal for my own pleasure. I doubt I will have any readers but if so, welcome to my life! I am a 25 year old mother to the handsomest baby boy Sawyer Liam Cooper. Sawyer's father and I are tying he knot next friday! So I will be using this blog to document our lives starting with the amazing wedding we have in the works. June 17, 2011, our son will be six months old and I will be marrying my soul mate! Life definitely throws some curve balls at you but once in a while, you get the perfect pitch and knock one right out of the park! (Wait a second, did I really just use a sports analogy? My better half, Will, must be rubbing off on me.) Anyway, life as a mama is just beautiful. Every tiny thing my son does is just mesmerizing. I am lucky that I am able to stay home 5 days a week to give my little Soy-Boy the tender, loving care he needs and so deserves.

I have never been much of a cook, but preparing his pureed fruits and vegetables is a lot of fun. He really seems to respond better to REAL food versus the jarred stuff, so its no trouble at all to steam, puree and freeze fruits and veggies. Also, this way, he gets to really taste and enjoy all real and organic produce. Hopefully he will grow into a healthy eater despite the fact that his mom and dad do indulge in junk occasionally. My parents raised me on McDonald's cheeseburgers and Top Ramen, not very healthy whatsoever! My dream is to never substitute junk for the nutrition he needs but we will deal with the demands for chicken nuggets and french fries when we get there. I don't want him to suffer the consequences I face everyday for a lifetime of bad eating habits. I understand that means I have to really focus on being a positive role model in the here and now. ANYWAY, today I saw a nutritionist who informed me that it is okay to bump him up to 3 solid food feedings a day. This comes as a relief because he has been wanting to nurse almost constantly, every 2 hours, all day and all night long. The first 3 months of his life I was happy to be feeding him this much and really didn't even mind the night feedings. But here lately, I had the feeling I wasn't making enough milk for him and considered supplementing with formula. I am glad I persevered because this 3 solids a day thing already seems to be helping, he just went almost 4 hours in between nursing which is a great improvement. It's time for his 3rd and last feeding of the day and I am crossing my fingers that all this food in his tummy means mommy can get some solid sleep in tonight!

Here he is after eating carrots yesterday, he won't let me clean his face very well which explains why he is all orange! Cutie.