The new camera.

Well, the old Canon elph broke, so we purchased a Nikon Coolpix with WIRELESS I tell you. WIRELESS! It's pretty nice to have. Takes great pictures too, for a small camera. I highly recommend. Here's a few from yesterday and today.

Happy Halloween!

I thought this picture looked funny because it looks so posed, but it's not at all. :)

I'll add one of the costume soon. Have fun trick-or-treating!

The next Michael Jordan

Cooper went to his two-year well check yesterday, although he wasn't really well. he has a sinus infection and bronchitis, bothf or which we got some good meds. Other than those things, he's "very, very smart" says the doctor. He "puts sentences together extremely well" and "is healthy, and did I mention smart?" Yeah, yeah. He's a genius.

We've learned that not only is he tall, HE IS THE AVERAGE HEIGHT OF A THREE YEAR-OLD. Stats:

Height: 37.5 inches (110th percentile)
Weight: 30.6 lbs. (75th-95th percentile, because of his height)

His head is normal, and his body mass index (BMI) was on the low part of the average side. "He's perfect, and will definitely be tall," she says, but I think she's just trying to make me feel good. It's working. :)

This just about sums it up.

We had a whirlwind weekend in Abilene for ACU Homecoming. It was a lot of fun seeing some friends who live there, and others who had come into town for the festivities. Starting to feel a little old, since the "Coming Home Queens" were seniors when we were freshman. Whoa.

Cooper loved the parade, carnival (go bouncy house thingie), hanging out with Nonnie, Poppie, Rachel and Uncle George, and the really hot football game. Also, I highly recommend not going to club breakfast. I've never felt so rested at a homecoming!

We went to see the musical "Aida" performed by ACU Theater. Let me say, it was amazing (shout out to cousin Lindsey as well). The lead actor and actress were perfect. I was incredibly impressed. Well, I've never really not been impressed with ACU Theater. It was GREAT!

Cooper threw up five times last night - it was wonderful. He's had a fever and coughing here and there, and I'm not sure where the throw up came from, but he's much better today, and still sleeping. We're supposed to go for his two year well checkup tomorrow, but that might turn into a sick checkup. Details to come!

TWO!

Coop,

Sometimes I sit back and wonder about my life. I wonder how the past has affected the way I am now and what I do, and how the future is going to be. I wonder if I'm a good wife and mother, if we're putting money in the right places, if I look older or younger than I am, how your future is going to turn out, where you'll go, what you'll do. Occasionally I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach because of my brain telling me that I've forgotten something when it comes to teaching you words, manners, social skills, numbers, books of the Bible, anything. Your dad and I stress about dumb things like money and work, and I pray that doesn't roll over into your daily life (we are not good examples when it comes to stress). And I wonder if that stress will ever end. The list goes on.

What I do not wonder about is this: The past two years have been the best years of my life. This I know.

You are a total joy to everyone you encounter. Your smile and happy demeanor light up a room. You can have entire conversations with most anyone about anything at all, because you speak so clearly and logically. Everyone loves you. It is for these reasons that we sometimes wonder whether or not you are our child - not just the blue eyes and blonde hair. Most kids want to be just like mommy or daddy. I want to be more like you.

We are proud to be your parents. I am proud to be the mother of a boy who is going to go so far in life doing whatever it is he wants to do (pilot/doctor/hint). You have a strong will, overflowing energy, a "doers" attitude, and a stubborn confidence. Each and every day is an adventure with you, even though you are a boy who loves routine, and phones (so obsessively you are a cell phone for Halloween because that's all you love). And, I get to be a part of this daily adventure. I'm so lucky to get to spend each and every day with you, and can honestly say that I've made the best decision for our family to do so. We are all so happy.

Cooper Hejl, happy second birthday. May you be richly blessed by God and everyone you come in contact with. You are the best son, and we love you. And as you would say, "My eyes are leaking!"

Mom

"I have a happy birthday party!"

Yesterday was Cooper's SECOND birthday party here at the house. He had such a great time, getting to see all of his family (missed George, Jackson and Alissa though), eat BBQ, cake and homemade ice cream (thanks honey!), and open presents. It was a Bob the Builder party, so he got tons of construction toys, and a Mr. Potato Head. He loved it.

It was pretty hot and humid outside yesterday. You never know what the October weather will be like in the greater Austin area. Next year might be an evening party, or inside at least. Besides the weather, a good time was had by all!

Cooper will be two on the 16th, so we're a little early because of conflicting weekend schedules. I'll post something on the "real" birthday. Just wanted to post some pics!

Got to lick the cake batter. Mmmm ...



The griller ...



The table.



Opening presents.



"Happy to you!"



Loves his sweets.



And, yes. I made the cake again!

An every-night thing.

Just thought I'd share what Cooper said in his prayer last night before bed. He's so cute, and overwhelmingly obsessed with phones. I will post pictures soon, just thought I'd let everyone know we're still out here, getting used to my first week at home.

Me: "Dear God, thank You for ..."

Cooper: "Mommy, Daddy, Joey ... Nonnie, Poppie, Nonnie's phone, Poppie's phone takes a picture ...

"Daddy's iPhone (I'm not kidding), Mommy's phone don't hold it, Granna, Grannadaddy, Hayden, Kelley ...

"Cooper's bed, Cooper's feet, Cooper's elbows, Cooper's eyes, Mommy's eyes ...

"Zacchaeus and Jesus, Cooper's going jogging, preschool, Ms. Cathy and Ms. Tasha, food ...

"Cooper's books, the Bible ..."

Me: "In Jesus' name,"

Cooper: "AAAAAAAA -- MEN!"

Love it.

WOO HOO

I don't usually blog about my job. In fact, I never have, and for good reason. Anyway, I QUIT MY JOB LAST WEEK. My last day is the 21st, and I'm pumped. Don't want to be too specific on the Internet, but it's a great thing. I get to stay home with Cooper and work on Photo Card Cafe'. I'm super blessed. Hopefully, it will give me more time to post more pictures. I don't want to speak too soon though ...

We have caved.

Luke got one, and I downgraded. No more Blackberry for me! Woo hoo! Little Samsung flip phone for me, and I get to play with Luke's. It's pretty cool, I must admit.

Getting HUGE

Sorry it's been a while. Gotta keep up with the pictures! A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks as far as traveling - Labor Day stuff, Hejls lake weekend and Cooper's FIRST day of preschool. He loves it so far!

Didn't want to hold his lunchbox.



But wanted to show his tummy.



Cooper's first jet ski ride - I'm getting better pictures on this.



This is what he does. Laugh and play with phones. We went to AT&T Saturday, and it was like his personal heaven.



Just thought this was funny.



Sara also has some great pictures of Cooper and Chase together on her site. Enjoy!

Okay, okay, I was finally tagged.

This should be an interesting exercise for me.

100. My favorite food is pizza.

99. I have an awesome son named Cooper who is growing up too fast.

98. I hate folding clothes.

97. I can say the books of the Bible in less than 20 seconds.

96. I'm grateful that I grew up with all of my family living in the same city, or the metroplex. Who grows up with all of their cousins from both sides of the family?

95. My husband is the greatest, smartest, most awesome husband in the world.

94. He has to eat the food off of my plate, even if he has som eof the same food still on his plate. Annoying.

93. I am a size 10.

92. I am nearly six feet tall.

91. I love InStyle magazine.

90. I love to rub Cooper's back at night before he falls asleep, and how he always asks "One more minute!" so I have to come and rub it some more. Cute.

89. I love to run.

88. I only really get to run about twice a week.

87. I love to sing, but I'm getting worse at it since I haven't sung it much lately.

86. I drive all of the time, all over the place. It's getting old.

85. I love Macs.

84. But I'm on a Dell right now.

83. I miss ACU, and all of my friends from ACU.

82. And I secretly want to move back to Abilene.

81. I have an anxiety problem.

80. I'm really bad at remembering to water my plants.

79. I love working with Photo Card Cafe' - had to get that link in.

78. I have contstant mom guilt about working.

77. Post-It notes are awesome.

76. I taught advertising at ACU for a year. That was pretty fun.

75. I have the cutest, smartest one year-old ever.

74. I'm thankful for all of my family - Martins and Hejls (Prices too)

73. I'm watching that Ice Truckers show - interesting.

72. I love king-sized beds, and can hardly sleep in anything smaller.

71. I obsess unhealthily about work.

70. I love lamps.

69. I need a mani/pedi like SO BADLY.

68. I wish I was more of a positive person.

67. I love to shop online for stuff. All stuff. Ebay is great.

66. I ate at Saltgrass tonight and had the salmon - pretty good.

65. I love to read, but don't get to very often.

64. I like reading biographies.

63. I'm feeling pretty boring right now!

62. I, like Leslie, love the smell of permanent marker.

61. I'm excited to see Charis, Ty and Colt in two weeks!

60. I also like to eat Mexican food, a lot. Chips and queso. Mmmmmm ...

59. I like Sharpies. So fun to write with.

58. I'm a compulsive email checker. It must stop.

57. So, I'm getting rid of the Blackberry.

56. Luke and I dated for two months and got engaged, married five months later.

55. We've been married six years.

54. I love Cooper's sitter, Kelley. Cooper loves her too, and her son, Hayden. They are best friends.

53. I love reading everyone's blog just to keep up.

52. I love good advertising on TV. Great commercials move me.

51. I just can't wait for the new fall season.

50. But I sorta can wait, because I like having nothing to commit to at night.

49. Fave movie: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

48. And Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

47. I love big sunglasses.

46. I have big normal glasses.

45. I hope Cooper doesn't turn out as blind as I am.

44. I don't like lots of jewelry.

43. My hair can get incredibly huge.

42. I try to read my Bible every day, but I'm not very good about it.

41. I hadn't printed out a single picture of Cooper since his birth, until about 2 months ago. Now I'm caught up.

40. I just bought a hard drive to take all of the pics off of my computer.

39. I can't wait until Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

38. I love music. All kinds of music.

37. Musicals are awesome.

36. I'm starting to sound pretty boring.

35. Church moves me to tears almost every Sunday.

34. We made the final payment on our Yukon YESTERDAY! Halleluia!

33. I love it when Cooper sings to me. He's getting so good at it.

32. I have a secret fear of the water. It's just so uncontrolable.

31. I hate the war between working moms and stay at home moms. Why can't we all just get along and accept each other as doing what's best for the family?

30. I also love the movie Big Fish. It's so beautiful.

29. The Food Network is my favorite station. I could watch it 24 hours a day.

28. Ironically, I don't get to cook real meals that often!

27. I did my undergrad and grad in advertising. ACU and UT.

26. I've only been to two UT football games.

25. After the first one, I gave birth to Cooper the next day.

24. Luke and I love the lake, but have not gotten to go yet this year. Stupid rain!

23. I wish I could organize my house better.

22. I worry that I'm not teaching Cooper something that's supposed to be learned at this age. I don't even know what those bits of learning would be.

21. Again, I'm always worrying, even though God says not to worry.

20. I have a poem called "The Buried Life" memorized - 98 lines. (remember this Leslie?)

19. I was a Siggie.

18. I was in the band and played saxophone. I'm cool.

17. I was also in the colorguard - award winning, mind you. We were not rejected cheerleaders!

16. I'm a huge fan of DCI - drum corps international. Nerd.

15. Luke and I have retainer nights.

14. I love good, strong coffee. Starbucks is still the best.

13. I miss getting "Big Swigs" at Skinny's in Abilene.

12. I am extremely empathetic. I always look at people's situations that are good or bad, and cry for them, feel for them, and put myself in their situations. I try to be very compassionate and realize that everyone is a person.

11. Did I say I was a Mac person, because mine completely broke, blue-screened today.

10. I can't wait to have another kid someday soon. Cooper would love a little bro or sis.

9. I want to throw my Blackberry out the window.

8. I don't like wearing makeup.

7. We have way too many flip flops, but Luke and I love them.

6. Austin has the best Mexican food in the world. Trudy's, La Morada, Chuy's, Guero's.

5. I'm running out of things about myself.

4. Jan from The Office EMAILED ME BACK! We're totally friends now.

3. I love how much Cooper loves his Nonnie, Poppie, Granna and Granddad. Talks about them constantly.

2. I'm thankful for the situation that God has blessed me with, right now. Even though I complain, get completely stressed out and anxious, am always driving and going and going, I feel so blessed to have what I have.

1. God really does intervene and help me in my life.

Werd up.

Just thought I'd post a pic of Cooper. We're doing well, busy as ever. Isn't he cute?!?!

"Negative on the stamps for U.S. visitors, eh."

This was our first greeting in Canada from the border patrol on the way from Seattle to Vancouver, by car. Us newbies to the passport thing wanted a stamp, but they didn't have them. Sadness. But thankfully, that was the lowest point of the trip. For those of you that don't already read Sara W.'s blog too, Preston, Sara, Luke and I went on an AWESOME trip to Seattle, Vancouver and Whistler this past week. We had SUCH a great time, eating, relaxing, hiking, biking, eating, walking around, shopping, eating, seeing the sites, basking in the beautiful weather, and yes, more eating. Here are some highlights from the trip:

1. Ziplining across the mountains and raging rapids of Whistler, BC. We're crazy!
2. Eating all different kinds of good food. We're so good at it. I think I'm still full.
3. Walking around Vancouver's Stanley Park, and visiting the Aquarium. Awesome.
4. Renting bikes in Whistler and riding around the trails, seeing beautiful lakes.
5. Meeting Jan from "The Office" - see Sara's story on that one. It was so cool!
6. Seeing the first Starbucks ever in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and eating tons of fresh fruit from there. Such a neat place!
7. Anniversary dinner at Anthony's in Bellevue with Luke - GREAT seafood. (Luke and I were in Seattle for about 24 hours before Preston and Sara met us - happy six years baby!)
8. The Capilano Suspension Bridge. Scary!
9. Riding the train from Whistler back to Vancouver. So gorgeous.
10. The International Fireworks Competition in Vancouver - we watched Spain. It was the BIGGEST fireworks show I've ever seen, and probably will ever see. Amazing.

Of course, we were ready to see Cooper after seven days apart. He had so much fun with Nonnie and Poppie that he probably didn't even notice we were gone for that long. It was good to get away for a while, but we REALLY missed him while we were gone. I promise, he grew.

Book update: I finished reading The Kite Runner, and it was GREAT. I loved it. I'm working on The Time Traveler's Wife right now, and will let you know how it goes.

Here come the pictures!

Me and the hubby.


First Starbucks - my Mecca.


My attempt at being artsy.


Outdoorish.


Best part of the trip. The gang.


Jan from The Office! We watched her stroller!


Gorgeous lake.


"What? We're walking across where?"


"It's not that high up!"


Train ride along the mountains.


Some video of the Capilano Bridge and the fireworks show. Both pretty cool.

Thanks!

Thanks everyone, for the GREAT recommendations! Drum roll ... I've chosen to finish The Kite Runner, and read The Time Traveler's Wife. Randomly, I will also be reading The Reagan Diaries, as my mom has these two books in her possession. (Thanks Mom!) I'll let everyone know what I think after I read them. Again, I appreciate the recommendations.

Gilead will be next, only because everything I'm reading is free right now. Carolyn's shining recommendation was the most motivational. You win the award!

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book. Thoreau

I need a good book to read. What is your favorite book of all time? Something that you could read over and over again and never get tired of. Or, something you've recently read that truly changed your life.

I have The Kite Runner right now, but I've read to page seven, and had it for about six months. Depressing.

Please tell me, I need a list of good reads as I will have some time soon that I can read and relax for a while, and I want to see what everyone's reading!

Keepin' up

Seems like I'm apologizing for not keeping up with this thing every time I write. Hey, I do what I can!

Last weekend, we went to the beach in Port Aransas with my family. It was a blast! Cooper had a great first-time-at-the-beach experience, even with the seaweed. He would just run out into the water and one of us would have to chase after him. If it would have just been me and Luke, we would have been exhausted! We had a great July 4th too. Weird that it was on a Wednesday, but it broke up the week a little bit, so that's good.

Weekend wedding streak ends

Last night was our third wedding in three weekends. That can be tiring. But, they were all very different from each other, and lots of fun. Last night, Luke and I went alone (thanks Jeff and April) to Claire and Chris' wedding. The reception was the only sit-down dinner I've ever been to as far as a wedding goes, and it was awesome. A free, very good steak at the Stephen F. Austin downtown. Mmmmmmm ... I'm so happy for Claire and Chris. They've been dating since before Claire and I worked together at Edelman, which is what, maybe five years? That's a long time!

Cooper's doing well - he's 20 months old going on 13 years. He learns something new every day, and is always surprising us.

Hope everyone has a good week!

"I wish I liked anything as much as my kids like bubbles."

Okay, that might not be the exact quote, but Luke and I went to see Knocked Up last night with "Izzy" and random curly-haired guy, and the best part, Paul Rudd. It was a HILARIOUS movie. I'm so glad we went to see it. Everyone should go see it if they and #1 a parent and #2 want to laugh the whole time. Talks about a lot of life's questions, how your life will never go just as you planned it, and it ends well. I loved it.

We've had a crazy few weeks. Luke's bro Jackson got married this past weekend, and a great time was had by all. We all just can't believe lil' Jackson has a wife! Allissa's awesome though - we're so excited for them. I'm a little jealous since they're on a Jamaican honeymoon. No fair.

Here are some pics! And a video here of Cooper dancing in church. Wait, can that happen? :)

This one was supposed to be good - dumb camera. All the Hejls.



When he gets a card at church, he pretends like he's writing and says "COOPER Hejl!"



"What a long rehearsal. When do we go to the lake?"



We got all dressed up.



The happy couple. Good pic huh?



And who's car is this?!?!? The whitey bens ah-la Luke!

Yes, I'm here.

I know I haven't posted in a while, but we've been pretty busy around here. Luke got a new job, friends came in Memeorial Day weekend, our upstairs bathrooms and shower got retiled, cleaned that mess up, and still cleaning. I will post pictures soon I promise!

We're all doing well. Luke's bro Jackson is getting married to awesome Allissa this weekend, so we're all stoked about that!