It's no secret that I love spending time with my little buddy, and with our new little buddy set to arrive this month, I wanted to have a special day with Cooper before things get a little crazy. Everyone I have talked to with more than one child (friends, family, random people at the grocery store, cashiers at the grocery store, neighbors, nurses at the doctor's office, etc.) have assured/convinced/promised me that even though it's hard to imagine being able to love and bond with another child as much as your first, that you truly do. As everyone has said, your love only grows; it knows no limits. They've also quieted my other fear of my first child no longer loving me because he has to share me. Hormones and exhaustion and nerves bring out a very sane side of me, as you can tell! Despite now believing that everything is not only going to be okay, but even better than it is now once Baby Jake gets here, I still wanted to spend some good quality time with Cooper beforehand because I know when Jake does come, my newborn will require a big portion of my time and energy in the beginning, which will be an adjustment for my little boy. So, hence the reason for Cooper and Mommy's Special Day (and yes, I realize this was more for my own sake than Cooper's)! Cooper and I have things we love to do together, and that's what our day was going to comprise. He loves to help me cook, especially when it involves the big mixer and anything he can smell and help pour. We love to do crafts together, especially when it involves getting paint on our hands. Sometimes we go on lunch dates together, and my little cutie and I always have so much fun; plus, eating is a priority, and after baking and doing a craft together, I thought it would be nice to go out to eat rather than make an extra mess to clean up in the house! And we all know that my little man loves the choo-choo park! What better way for us to end our day than that! A couple of my favorite friends, their children, Cooper, and I have a play date we have to attend in about an hour, so I have to wrap this up kind of fast!
For our cooking activity, we made a fall favorite in this household: Pumpkin Bars! It's one of those recipes that means something to you because of when/how you got it, and it becomes a tradition for your family. This is probably the first "tradition" recipe that came to be for us, and I've made them every fall we've been married. A mom from my second class introduced me to them. That was my most challenging class, and this recipe is probably the best memory I have from that whole year! I had never had pumpkin bars and ate one just to be nice. Low and behold, I found out that day that I love pumpkin! I sent a note home asking for the recipe, and she sent it back for me with a note of how they are one of her son's favorite things and how they make them together. That didn't mean a whole lot to me at the time; now it does though. It's not just a yummy, fall recipe; it's a true family recipe. I love the way they taste, I love the way they smell when they're baking, and I love that they're easy and fast enough to make that Cooper can do it with me!
While our pumpkin bars baked, we went on the deck--still in our pajamas--to paint a pumpkin! Of course our neighbors were outside with their dog at that moment. My pajamas these days consist of a large t-shirt. That's all. The t-shirt isn't as long as it used to be since it has a lot more to cover these days. I felt very classy. Back to painting pumpkins...Cooper was sooooo excited! At first he was thoughtful in what colors he picked and where they went. He was concentrating very hard and had a system going. But then the three year old side kicked in, and he started rubbing both hands around in the paint and mixing all the colors together, and then rubbing them all over the pumpkin. He got a little crazy and even slung some paint as he worked, which made me so glad we were doing this outside. By the time the timer went off for the pumpkin bars, we had a beautiful, fully painted grayish pumpkin! He was so excited about it, and it makes me smile inside and out every time I look at it!
After a snack and showers, we started talking about lunch. I asked him what he wanted, and he said, "Zeezuh!" (pizza) I thought that sounded pretty good too, so we went to a local pizza place for our date. We sat on the same side of the booth and ate delicious pepperoni pizza. We looked through all the pictures on my phone, and I felt so proud and sentimental at the same time. My phone is almost 2 years old, so my pictures go back to when he was 16 months old. There's a lot of fun stuff on there to say the least, including pictures of my positive pregnancy test with Jake and several ultrasound pictures.
Today was just what it was supposed to be--our special day. As much as I have loved and cherished my time with just Cooper, I am looking so forward to what our new special days will be like when Jake is here to join us. I can't wait for both boys to help me make pumpkin bars in the falls to come. I love the idea of both of them painting pumpkins and slinging paint around on a crisp, beautiful fall morning. I can't wait to sit in a booth looking across the table at my two sons on a lunch date. We have exciting times ahead of us for sure!
But for now, I need to hustle on over to the choo-choo park for a little more special time!
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