Scattered Brain Syndrome...

...I'm suffering from Scattered Brain Syndrome (aka SBS) today. And you, dear reader, get to take a little glimpse into it. I've been following MckMama's blog for a long time and my heart feels heavy for her...she celebrated her son's 1st birthday yesterday with him in the PICU. Not how ANY mother would want to celebrate their child's birthday - or any day for that matter. I've also been following the blog for Larisa - her parents are having to visit their "baby" girl in the burn unit of a hospital. I met and got spend a wee bit of time with a young mother a few weeks ago who's daughter was recently diagnosed with Rett Syndrome. All of these situations are very different, and they are all heartbreaking. I've been more consciously aware of how incredibly thankful that for right now, at this moment, I have two healthy and perfect children. I know that can be taken away in the blink of an eye. (I really don't mean for this to be a "downer" of a post...just posting what I'm thinking.)

As I was cleaning in the kitchen today Lia was "helping" me by pulling the dirty dishes out of the dishwasher and putting them on the floor...thankyouverymuch, Lia. I don't know what I would do without her help. ;) Usually it annoys me and I try to move her away from my work area (aka under my feet) and try to get Jacob to help distract her. Today, though, Jacob is at Papa and Nana's house and the song came into my mind "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. You can see the video here. I remember Jacob doing this same thing when he was her age and now he's outgrown it. Yep, I miss his "help". So - I took a picture this time instead of getting annoyed, let her play, and it only took an extra 5 seconds for me to put the dishes back in the washer. Pretty small price to pay for your child to be happy I think. Now, mind you, she wasn't playing with steak knives or anything!


As I was downloading the pics I took this morning I decided to look at old pics of Jacob from when he was the age Lia is now. I was struck by how much these two look alike! People tell me all the time how much they look alike. I usually smile, say "yeah, they do", and go on about my business. But this time I really took the time to get lost in the pics of Jacob I have. It blows me away - is there a such thing as twins born 2.5 years apart? If so, I think I have a set! It boggles my mind to think about how much my "original baby" has changed since he was Lia's age. He was the age Lia is now when we moved to TX. That boggles my mind too. I thought he was such a big boy then, but I realize now he was just a baby!


Jacob at 13mo - taken about a week after we moved to TX.


Lia at 13mo






On my drive back home from visiting my parents yesterday it was actually quiet in my car (no 3 year old to be constantly answering questions for/ talking to). I had time to THINK! I know, I know, it's quite a concept sometimes. My mind drifted back to "College Round 1". (Yes, there was College Round 2, but it wasn't quite as exciting.) I spent 4 years at a college close to where I grew up. The memories from those days came flooding back. One day I'll do a post about some of my time there. It's where I came out of my shell so to speak. I experienced some wonderful times, and some of the lowest times of my life. I want to get those things written down for my children to read one day. Some of the friends I made then and experiences I went through are a very important part of who I am today. For that I am thankful.

Now I must do what I've been avoiding...finish cleaning up the rest of this house...all the things I need to be DOING are running through my head too! I'll put on my "SuperMom/CleaningLady/Chef/LaundryAttendant Cape" now and get busy.

And just incase you read this post David - I've been working hard all day. No, really, I have!

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This was one night at bedtime...nothing sweeter than getting smothered in kisses! And a little playing too, thrown in for good measure!

urgh...

so...I went messin' with my blog settings, messed everything up, had to start over...and here I am. I don't have time to be sittin' here trying to figure everything out again so I'll work on it later. urgh! This blog will be going through a few "tansformations" before I'm happy with it again.

It's 9 AM...

...do you know what your kids are eating?

If their names are Jacob and Lia they're eating pumpkin cookies - unbeknownst to Mom - until it gets to quiet in the kitchen when Lia was supposed to be eating Cheerios.


just minding our own business


"oh, hey Mom. Wanna cookie? They sure are good."


"ok, fine, we'll just finish these off"


humm...mine is gone. Wonder what I should do?



beg big brother...that works every time.
"Hey there brother...wanna share your last cookie with your favorite sister?"


works every time..."hey Mom, put down that camera and could we get a few more cookies please?"

Georgetown 09

We had a wonderful 4 days in Georgetown a couple of weeks ago. These are just a few snapshots during our time there...



Jacob and Lia had a great time playing in the new gravel box. It was a HUGE hit with the kids! Meetings were a lot quiteter it seemed - the kids got their energy out playing in the rocks, then slept during mtg., giving the parents a chance to actually listen. What a concept. ;)









The "baby" Coker girls - this was only some of them...and there were several more Coker boys too. Yeah, there's a lot of us. ;)
Salem, Lillie, Lia, Callie, Suzanna


And...Lia took her first steps that Friday night! I wouldn't say she's really walking yet, but she did take one independant step two times. Ya gotta start somewhere!

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I realize it's now closer to next Thursday than last Thursday...but I wanted to get this posted anyway. We had our annual convention in Georgetown 2 weeks ago - I've been there every year (except for the few I lived in FL) since I was 6 weeks old. It is very special to be able to take my own children there now.

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This is not the greatest picture, but it is compliments of my 3 yo son. I think he did a fine job if I do say so myself. We were at our annual convention in Texarkana last week when Jacob snapped this. Thanks buddy!

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Try not to have a heart attack please...here I am!


I just attended my 15 year high school reunion - 15 YEARS! How can that be I want to know!!


Meet my friend Nikki. She and I grew up on the same street. The town where I grew up is very small and I attended Kindergarten through 12th grade with mostly the same kids. Nikki was no exception. In high school we were in band together which meant every Friday night during football season we were sitting in the bleachers at a game. I had no idea what was going on at the game - I just appreciated the "social time" I got to enjoy. After the game Nikki always brought me home - but only after a few times up and down the "drag". Yeah, we were cool like that. Now we're each married with a son and a daughter - how time has changed things!

For anyone who doesn't understand/ appreciate what the "drag" is...in my town there is one main street that goes through town. The cool kids (anyone with a vehicle) would start driving at a certain parking lot, drive through town, turn around at a the parking lot on the other end of the street, turn around, drive back to the original parking lot, and repeat the process. Yes, yes, that is what we did. With the windows down of course so you can talk to everyone as you're driving by them. It used to be that Ff was always jumping on a Fri./ Sat. night with all the kids out. Now, it's dead. Kind of sad to me. Where are all the kids?




Meet Leslie. We grew up next door to each other. Both of our families moved into the houses we grew up in when we were 3. That was the beginning of our friendship. There are a million stories we could tell on each other. We used to play Strawberry Shortcake dolls together after school. We learned to ride bikes together. We played hide and seek under the street light that was in our driveway. I would also sneak out and talk to Leslie through her bedroom window. I thought I was really doing something. Eventually boyfriends and cars came into our lives. And drama. ;) But we remained good friends through it all. Leslie now is married, has a cool job, travels the world with her husband (just because they can), and I live vicariously though her sometimes.

How He & Me Became "We"

Growing up I had an idea of what the person I married would be like. Not that I was in a hurry - I certaintly wasn't - I just had my ideas of what "he" would be like. He would be from TX; we would live in the country; raise cattle; have sons who would be in 4-H and FFA; drive large diesel trucks. So...who did I end up with? He's from FL; we live in town, in a subdivision; raise one dog; probably no 4-H or FFA in our future; drive small vehicles. And I couldn't be happier! ;)
So, how do a TX girl and a FL boy get together? We get that question a lot! It's kind of complicated, but not really. ;)

*singing* "wrote a song about it, wanna hear it?, here it go" *end of singing* (name that tune!)

My Aunt and her family lived in a small town in the Atlanta area. David's Uncle and his family lived in the same small town. All the years growing up our family would make a trip out to GA every summer to see our extended family, and on occasion would see David's Uncle(Tio)/Aunt/Cousins also. Tio got the idea in his head many years ago that this "cute little Texas girl" would be just right for his nephew. Problem was, nephew lived in Jacksonville, FL so that didn't make it real convenient to introduce us. Several years went by and we never met. But I did hear about "the nice S. boys in FL". And you know the first thing a teenage girl thinks when she hears "they're such nice boys, and one of them is really quiet and shy (David)"...nerd, weird, not attractive, and a host of other negative things. I never even gave them a second thought.

A few years later my cousin Shelley got married and David happened to be visiting his Tio that weekend. After the wedding was over, a group of us got together and played basketball. David came to the game - supposedly to play, but I think it was really to scope me out. ;) Afterwards he gave me a ride back to my Aunt's house. The truth is, I was attracted to him at that point and he was to me also, but we were young and dumb so neither one of us said much of anything on that long drive! End of story.

Life happened and I ended up moving in with my Aunt/Uncle a few years later. I became good friends with Cindy who was dating Daniel, David's brother. Daniel was still living in FL at the time so he made many weekend trips up to GA. David decided to start coming with him - just to keep him company during that 6 hour trip you know! That was the story any way. ;) Needless to say David and I started dating during that time. Life was grand, things were rosy, then life happened again.

I moved back to TX to go to "College Round 2" and he moved to MN to go through the Radiology program at Mayo Clinic. We said we would keep and touch - we talked on the phone one time after that! I dated other people, he dated someone else, but we were never to far from each other's minds. Of course neither of us knew that at the time. Over two years passed and I was in a relationship with someone else. I was struggling in my situation - I liked that person very much and had absolutely no negative feelings at all about that person, but I knew he wasn't the one for me. It was a very hard thing for me to do, but I finally got up the nerve to end that relationship. The next day David called me. Talk about shell shocked! I knew his voice the second I heard it. The first question he asked me was "what's your status?". Yeah, it didn't take him long to cut to the chase! That was in December. In January we met in Atlanta - it was kind of a "neutral" place for us. In February, I went with him to Cindy and Daniel's wedding. In March he came to visit me in TX. In April I moved to FL. Mind you, his parents hardly knew I existed prior to me showing up to Daniel's wedding. They had no idea David was coming to see me every weekend when I lived in GA. They really thought he was going up just to keep Daniel company on that long road trip and to see his Tio and Aunt. ;) So they were a little surprised when I moved all the way out there after "only seeing David once or twice and talking on the phone a few times." My parents of course knew all about David. I remember telling my Mom one time "David is the kind of guy every mother would want her daughter to bring home".

I moved to FL in April '02, we got married in April '03, and Jacob was born in April '06. We moved back to TX in July '07 and Lia was born in Sept. '08. That's our story in a nutshell.



* I decided to do this post after reading someone else's post about how she and her husband met. I'd love to hear your story if you care to share it!

Happy 1st Birthday Lia!

Where has this past year gone? It's seemed to be the fastest year of my life! One year ago today I woke up at 5:30 AM KNOWING our baby girl would be born within the next 24 hours. I was shocked, unprepared, scared, nervous, and excited. The origional plan was that when the time came for us to go to the hospital we would take Jacob over to my brother's house...
A. plans are made to be changed
B. baby girl was coming earlier than expected
C. Brad and family were out of town
D. we quickly came up with "Plan B".
We called our friend "T", told her we needed to drop Jacob off at her house, and we were there in 15 minutes. In the mean time we called my parents who immediately started driving toward the town we live in (1.5 hrs away). They picked up Jacob when they got to town, and came to the hospital. Thirty minutes later "T"'s house cought on fire. I kid you not! (It was put out before to much damage was done.) To say that it was an exciting morning is an understatement. Seven hours later our Lia Renee arrived. Talk about love at first sight - she was the most precious baby girl I had ever seen. ;) I will never forget holding her all night long that very first night - I was "officially" feeding her, but really I was in awe of and savoring this brand new life that I was granted the privilege of having. Since we've already had one baby and really know how fast they grow/ change in the very begning I didn't want to miss one second of her being in my arms. She's still in my arms several hours a day - everything else can wait - I've got precious babies growing. She and Jacob have brought us so much joy - we can't imagine life without them.

newborn Lia

(photo courtsey of Shanda's Shots)

Lia 6 months


Lia 1 year

52 Weeks of Mom in the Picture

I'm getting back on the band wagon...I never meant to get off but somehow I did. Yes, you've probably seen this one before...but I love it and it was taken this week so I'm sharing it again.

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1st Birthday Party

Lia had her first First Birthday Party this past weekend at my parents house. (I say first party because we'll have another one on the actual day - must celebrate multiple times you know!) We had a great time - the weather was AWESOME and the company even better. ;)

Party guests:

Alison, Caroline, Kayleen, & Allie P.

Charles & Norma

David & Brenda C.

Papa & Nana C.

Great Grandma C.

Dennis, Carla, & Adam C.

Brad, Lesha, Trace, & Trevin C.

Lena, Linda, Brittany, & Wyatt C.

Kevin, Audra, & Salem C.

Time to play in the pool!! All the kids had a grand time - I remember when it used to be my generation playing in the pool and our parents supervising. Now I'm the "parent supervisor". How and when did this happen?? All these little kids here...I used to play in the pool with their parents when we were their age...it's mind boggling to think about how fast time has passed.

My two cute kids (and their cute dad)...just because.

Time to eat - "OK kids - line up on the clown car". It was quite handy actually. (car explanation coming in the next post)

Time for cake...

...and ice cream!

Lia had many helpers when it was present time...little Salem, however, had better things to do. A girls got to get her beauty rest you know!

Party Time!

Hodge Podge

What's that?...you want to know what other fun and exciting events we've had going on around our place? Well let me show you...

David is busy teaching Jacob some really cool tricks - sure to impress the girls one day!


Lia and Jacob play lovely duets together...


Lia has been shopping for a pair of boots.
should she get pair A...


or pair B?

These are big, important decisions in life that a girl must face you know!


We also got to spend a few days with our cousins in another town. Jacob and Lia had a blast with "A". And he had a great time with them.


Is this not one of the cutest things you've ever seen!


These two are great buddies now!


So that's it in a nutshell...aren't you glad you asked!


Next up...my baby girl's first birthday party!

Where to begin?

Where to begin since I've been gone so long? I had intentions of getting all caught up but that task seems too overwhelming right now with everything else going on so I'm keeping this simple...

We went to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus in Dallas a few weekends ago. We met B,L&Co. there - and had a grand time! Afterwards we all went to a great restaurant...Aunt Lesha & Nana had fun keeping the boys occupied while we waited to get seated...



...and where is this kids parents?? ;)



Us ladies received roses from my Dad...he's good like that. However, the boys thought they needed the flowers. Perfect photo op right??? riiiiight!!

Trevin decides Lia's lap is just perfect for him, Lia wonders if she is going to be stuck for life, Jacob is proclaiming to the world how awesome his "Scoop" is, and Trace is just being sweet.


Kid fruit basket turnover...and Lia is out of there!! ("Not so fast, little missy, not so fast!" declares Trevin.)


Trevin decides Lia need some lovin' for putting up with all the action!


And one more try with Nana & Papa...fugetaboutit!!