9 years for Team Cooper

This week we celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary for Team Cooper.  And since this year there was one more member of the team, we accommodated her needs for the celebration.  It was forecast to be the coldest day of the year (and set some records, a high in the upper 40s and low in the lower 30s) so our plans to go hiking were scrapped in favor of doing something a little warmer.  We decided to take Clementine to the Florida Aquarium for her first visit.  

We got up, Wade made us french toast for breakfast, then headed to Tampa (thankfully C took a short morning nap in the car).  We nearly froze waiting in line to get in, but once we were in, we warmed up and headed in the the surprisingly full galleries to see what C made of them.  And she LOVED the aquarium - the ducks and wading birds made her giggle, the huge red drum fish made her smile hugely, and the large main coral reef tank left her standing up against it in awe.  It was pretty fun to witness and made our day.  

We always do an anniversary selfie - this year we had a new participant :)

Afterwards we headed to Whole Foods for lunch where she proceed to charm the lunch time crowd in an unusually sociable manner like she was holding court.  She was a bit testy on the way home, but finally fell asleep just as we got back into town so we had to drive around for and hour to let her sleep.  At this point, I was getting a pretty bad sinus headache and our big dinner we had planned (we loaded up the slow cooker before leaving so we'd have chili waiting for us when we got home) did not sound remotely good to me.  Wade ended up eating dinner with Clementine while I slunk into the bathroom to throw up and succumb to my sinus headache misery for the rest of the night (wild party eh, 7:30pm bedtime!).  Needless to say, we had to plan for a make up night this weekend since we didn't get to the chocolate fondue we'd also planned.

For more pictures from the aquarium and her 10th month antics, including videos of her using her walker and clapping, go to our Picasa site.

10 months

Time seems to be slipping by faster each day.  Before we knew it, C was pulling up and cruising on the furniture, sprouting more teeth (current total is 4.5 with another one on the way), eating more new foods, and trying to climb in and on things.  She also caught her first cold (which she handled pretty stoically) so that kind of made things go by in a blur.  She's been to her first art festival and a kite festival and continues to enjoy our trips to the Farmer's Market every weekend.  I've added some more photos to her 9 month folder, and started her 10 month folder - both of which include some videos.  Her latest hobbies include climbing into the dishwasher, trying to climb into the washing machine, laughing at the cats, and emptying things (the washing machine of dirty diapers, the drawers in the kitchen, her dirty laundry basket, her sock basket, any box left on the floor, you get the idea).  

We also received a new hiking backpack to celebrate Clementine's 10 month birthday and to help Wade and I get outside more since we're both feeling pretty cooped up (thank you Granzie!).  She seems to get a real kick out of riding up high and she turns quite a few heads in it.  So far we've tested it out at the farmer's market and and art festival, and it was a hit - especially since it has a built in sun shade that can pop up over her head to protect her.  We've also found it to be incredibly helpful around the house for chores too - tending the yard, doing laundry, dishes, cooking, etc.  Now that she's so big, having a large supportive pack is also MUCH more comfortable than the smaller soft carriers we have for her.  Considering Wade's mom had to wear him around quite a bit like this when he was a baby, it shouldn't be a surprise she likes it. :)