A Whole New World can be Seen When Sitting up in the Car

Carson's last ride in the baby seat to church this morning


Today was quite a big day for Carson. He has graduated from his infant carrier to his big boy seat. Not sure if the weight or the age is the true deciding factor in this transition but to say bursting at the seams doesn't say enough. Although just now 10 months old, at 23 and a half pounds Carson just couldn't make it any longer in the infant carrier. Not to mention that I just can't carry him in it any longer. He loves riding in his new seat, although on the way home from Grandpa's tonight seemed to prove to be a challenge. It is a little tougher to drink a bottle and fall asleep while sitting up and the world takes on a whole new scary appearance twirling by so fast in the dark


Look at Carson in his new big boy seat.

Nothing Beats a Simple Spring Day

To ease such a hectic few weeks we wanted to share some of our simple photos. Brad just loves it when I walk in and say come on I need you to ride with me down the road to help get a few photos of the kids. I love any opportunity to take pictures of my children and the buttercups of spring seemed to be a perfect reason.





I have really fallen behind on updates but to say things around the Hooper household have been hectic is an understatement. I suppose is seems longer than it really has been when you are working on little to no sleep. But hopefully things will be a little slower this week. After Papa in the hospital and his cardiac cath on Monday, Caroline came down with a virus and kept a fever ranging from 102.5 to 104.7 until late Wednesday night. So after being at the hospital until about 10:30 almost every night with Papa for the past 2 weeks and getting home around 11:15 and then up all night worrying over a sick child and then Carson came down with the same virus I felt like I couldn't drag on another second. But now with both children basically well with just a snotty nose left and things on an up hill climb for Papa The Lord has yet again given me the strength to pull through.

Thank you to everyone that has been praying for my grandfather. His cath results did not fair as good as we were hoping. Of course we were hoping for them to go in and find absolutely nothing but instead they found 3 arteries 90% blocked so they decided at the time not to put stents in; that he would need a triple bypass. Before and after the cath Papa's improvement seemed to be on a roller coaster ride. One minute things seemed as if he would be walking out of there by the end of the day and the next you couldn't get him to wake up. Then he would wake up and be glad to see everyone and the next would be back down hill. After a fall out of the bed while in CICU because he decided he was ready to go home and several other tests, it has been determined that he did suffer a heart attack along with several strokes. So for right now the bypass surgery is on hold and they are talking about trying the stents instead in maybe 30 to 60 days. The stroke seems to be the biggest challenge to overcome at the moment. He is unable to walk right now with out assistance which would be difficult for anyone to accept. He is in the cardiac step down unit at Baptist East and hopefully will be able to return home soon. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. If it is the Lord's will he will be healed.

Today was such a beautiful day. Although a day of rest Sunday is a busy day for me in the sense that it is the end of my week and the beginning of my next week all rolled into one. It works out great for me that way because whatever bad I have endured the week before I don't have to carry anymore with me past Sunday and I start fresh and new to start a bright new week. Today we went to a family fish fry at Grandpa Ronnie's for Jared's birthday. Caroline had a blast learning to drive the 4-wheeler. If you can call pushing the gas with no steering involved or even looking to see where you may be going driving but all the same she very much enjoyed herself.

Praying for Papa

Today was a day I would have rather spent anywhere but where I did. My grandfather, Papa to me, New Papa to all of his great-grandchildren, daddy to some, brother to others, a husband and a great influence to many is in the Cardiac ICU at Baptist East. He suffered from a heart-attack Saturday night. I say would have rather spent the day anywhere but where I did not because I didn't want to be where I was but because I didn't want it to be my Papa laying there, unable to speak. It is times like these that you sit and ponder about all the times you should have visited but things were too busy or the kids were sick but it is not the time for me to regret, I know all I can do is pray and lay it in the Lord's hands but for all of you that follow my blog please say a prayer for my grandfather. We have a large family with him having 5 brothers and 1 sister and 1 son, 4 daughters and 2 step-sons and all the wives, children and grandchildren that come along with that his life has a great impact on a lot of people. Please pray for my Papa. I know whatever is in the Lord's plan will come to pass but keep us in your prayers.

My Sweet Little Roley Poly

Carson is 9 months old now and he's growing up so fast. Something about knowing it is your last one makes all the milestones a little sadder. We went for our 9 month check up the other day and he now weighs a whopping 21 pounds. Which is fine with me cause i just love little Roley poly babies. He now has 4 teeth on the top and 4 more on the bottom. He has been crawling all over the place and now is starting to stand on his own. He pushes his little walker all over the place. I know he will be walking soon and I am really not ready for it. I remember I couldn't wait for Caroline to start walking and soon after wished she was still being carried. But with Carson my last little baby will be up and gone on to being a big boy. Just seems a little sad doesn't it?

A Winter Wonderland

I wished for a little more snow and we got just a little. That was a couple of weeks ago and then this surprise which is one of the biggest we've had in forever. They say since what 1968 or something like that. I thought we had a huge snow like this in 1980 something but I guess when you're 5 or so the snow seems a lot deeper in relation to your height at the time. The day started with a forecast of what they were calling Teflon snow that wouldn't stick much, to 2-5 inches to what we ended up with. As our day started, I was home on my off day and Brad was out of town for going on the 3rd day. Caroline, Carson and I decided we would have a lazy day and wait on daddy to get home around 5 for dinner. We stayed in our pj's most of the day and as I was busying myself with all the fun have too's of being a grown up I heard Caroline say "Look Carson!! That's snowing!" They sat at the window watching forever. It snowed harder and harder. Brad called to say he was about 2 hours away so we decided we would wait on him to get home to bundle up and go out. 3 1/2 hours later Brad called and said the roads were terrible and he knew it was getting dark but he should be home in about 15 minutes. At this time we could hardly wait, so we started the process of layers. After about 30 more minutes we knew it was either go out without Daddy or wait until the morning. Since we were already layered we trekked outside. The wind was TERRIBLE! So if you've ever ventured out in a blizzard just to catch some pictures of a 2 year old and a 9 month old it really ends up being a short process. HAHA!! The wind was blowing so hard it kept taking Carson's breath away. Caroline was mad cause she couldn't play on her swing set much less see how to get to it and it was snowing so hard that most of our pictures showed more of the snow than of Caroline and Carson which I was trying to get pictures of.







By the next morning it had quit snowing but with the wind, there were many areas in our yard that reached well over 2 feet due to the snow drifts. The wind was still pretty strong but we did enjoy our time while we were outside playing. Since church was canceled we were out around 8am which is on the late side considering our children rise and shine with the sun. Caroline loved the snow. We tried to slide which didn't work out well. Neither did her car. A snowman is much, much work. It was much easier when my parents helped me build it.(Maybe they know a secret they forgot to share with me) Our progress on the snowman didn't get very far but when your 2 and 9 months and occupy your parents arms snowman building takes on a whole new dimension of difficulty. Even Knox and Libby had a terrific time chasing each other around and around. It was a Wonderful day filled with lots of memories and lots of laughter. So if you want to count this one Carson has had a wonderful 1st winter of snow.