Life Lately

Last weekend we sold the last few puppies of our 11 puppy litter. It was sad to see them go but such a relief to not have to clean up piles of poop several times a day! We bred our dog Bailey with Austin's parents dog Doc this past Fall and had 11 puppies born in our home December 3rd. With some of the puppy profits we did some small renovations...

I have wanted a built in bench here for a while now and LOVE the way it turned out!

It always bothered me that I couldn't see over our bar top into the living room to see Jace. It was higher than your average barstool height and we lowered it about 6 inches. it opens up the space so much and I am so happy we did it!

This is the first year the Falcons have made it to the Super Bowl in almost 20 years and Austin has been SO nervous all week. Everyone is coming here to watch the game and cheer on our Falcons to victory! RISE UP!

I went and got pedicures with Marlee (center) and Amy (right) this week to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Marlee's little boy! We got pedicures together for Amy's baby Oliver and on my due date with Jace! It is the best tradition! Love these friends so much! Amy is pregnant with a little girl so there will finally be someone to buy bows for after the long streak of boys in our friend group!

I found this mug at Marshals the other day and couldn't help snapping a picture to send to Austin because this is the recipe for our happy marriage haha! This pretty much breaks down what I need from Austin...

This is Bonnie, our last puppy to go to her new home. She was so spunky and full of energy and we loved the people that took her. It has been so fun getting pictures this week of all the puppies loving on their new owners. I was not raised with any pets so this has all been a big learning curve for me. As messy as it was, it really was fun and I think we will do it again in a year or two. 

I also decided to unplug from Facebook for a little while this week. I have absolutely zero self control in that area so a friend of mine told me she had someone else go in and change her password so she couldn't log on. I thought that was brilliant and asked Austin to do it right away! There has been so much negativity on Facebook lately and I was getting consumed by it. At one point this week I was looking down at my phone reading all of the junk and looked up to Jace just smiling and laughing at me. I realized at that moment I was missing out on him and that sweet moment for a bunch of junk. So for now, I'm taking a break and it has been amazing. My head and heart are so clear and I have way more brain space. Life lately has been good and I am so looking forward to Spring. We are starting to plan Jace's 1st birthday party and a few summer trips and I cannot wait! Happy Sunday friends!

-Gemma

Jace: 10 Months

Hard to believe that tomorrow we hit the 10 month mark... so close to a year! Every stage has been amazing but this stage is just pure fun! And busy! The kid does not stop moving. Thank goodness he is such a good sleeper because trying to get things done with our curious little man is not always easy. I tried to get him to play in his pack n play while I folded laundry the other day and it went over really well... 

I feel like a terrible parent for saying this but does anyone else think it's just hilarious sometimes when they get so mad? I can tell the difference between his real cry of pain or sadness and a fake cry because he is just plain mad and sometimes it is just so funny. He is pulling up on everything! Walking in to his room when he wakes up to that little face just peering up at you while standing up in his crib is one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life. He has been able to crawl for about a month now and is finally getting to the point where is crawling more than army crawling. He has been army crawling for a long time and preferred that to regular crawling for a while because he could get around faster. He loves to laugh, especially when I laugh at him doing something he thinks it is hilarious and laughs harder. He can clap his hands and gives high fives and boy has he got the moves. The kid can dance! 

He eat man-size portions and really will eat just about anything. He is down to nursing about 3-4 times a day and eats 3 solid-food meals. He still sleeps about 12 hours at night from 8pm-8am and takes 2 naps a day ranging from 1-2 hours. We recently weaned him from the paci to where he only uses it for naps/bedtimes. The first day it did not go over well at all haha! Since then he's been just fine! He has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth and has been drooling a ton lately and I'm thinking there are more about to come in. He loves playing with other kids and is so fascinated by them and has lots of little bros. He loves the playground, especially the swings and eating the playground bark is a personal favorite of his. Austin's parents got him this awesome bike that I can push for Christmas and he loves going for walks in it. He was so fascinated by the puppies we had living at our house but hated when they nibbled on him. And now that they're gone he seems pretty happy to have Bailey all to himself again. Toilet paper rolls are also a new favorite and are among the top favorites of door stoppers, electrical plugs,dog food, and pulling mommy's hair. 

My sweet Jace Austin Cooley my heart bursts with love for you. I look at you every morning and wonder how it is possible that you are my son? You bring so much joy to my life and I cannot fathom how great the love of God must be for you because I know my love for you is like a drop in the ocean compared to His love for you. Run the race marked out for you kid. Thank you of making the last 10 months of my life the sweetest months I have ever had. And it keeps getting better...