We Met Cooper. Finally.

My little man might not be the best sleeper in the world, but by golly he's a phenomenal traveler! I could not have been more pleased with he and Clara on our road trip out west to see family. It was just me and the kids. And we drove this time. I will admit I had butterflies as I went to get in the car to leave.

I underestimated the level of activity that we had going on over the fourth of July weekend and hadn't even finished packing the morning we were to leave. We were leaving on Monday the 5th and we didn't even get home from watching fireworks until about 10:30 the night before. Chris flew out the evening of the 5th for Calgary for 4 days too. I'm embarrassed about the state I left my house in for the friend who was coming by to take care of the dogs while Chris was out of town. I just keep telling myself he's a single guy and doesn't care what my house looked like.

Anyway, we left the house right at 10:00. Robert was asleep at 10:20 and slept until, get this, 1:45!! I could not believe it. We made it all the way to the other side of Ft. Worth before he woke. And Clara and I didn't even have to pee that whole time. Let me tell you I was giddy with excitement.

So we stopped for lunch in Weatherford and then I stopped not long after at a rest stop to nurse Robert since I didn't really want to do it in the McDonalds parking lot. Robert fussed for about 30 minutes or so and then fell asleep again and didn't wake until we got out at Uncle Howard and Aunt Jacki's house in Abilene which is where we stayed the night.

We got to meet Jennifer and Michelle's sweet boys Benton and Ben. The Clara's had a grand time playing together and later Zach and Michelle joined us for steaks on the grill. Here are Ben and Robert enjoying their Sophies together.

We got up the next morning and again took our time getting ready before heading to Odessa to meet up with my mom and Linsey. Linsey had a dr. appointment there that morning. Robert fell asleep minutes after leaving Abilene and slept until we met up with them at the mall. We did a little shopping and had lunch and most importantly, we got to meet Cooper for the first time. I didn't get any pictures since he was sleeping in his carseat the entire time. He's so tiny. That morning he was almost 6 weeks and weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz., 2 ounces less than Robert at birth. Crazy.

We drove to Wink to pick up my mom's car and again Robert slept until we got there. He woke as we were leaving to drive back to Pecos though. Yeah, that wasn't a fun drive. He had had a long two days in the car so I couldn't be too upset with him.

On Thursday my mom joined us as we headed to Carlsbad to see Margaret. Robert slept the whole way. (I know that's probably getting old to hear, but I just have to brag on him!) We had a nice lunch and chat with Nanny and then went on to Lovington to stay the night at Cody and Tanya's. (Robert slept.)

Clara loves her cousin Wyatt. So much so that she insists she's going to marry him. Oh, she still loves that dog too. Bryce, Wyatt and Clara slept on the floor in the living room that night and Clara was so excited that Holly snuggled up next to her. Right after I went to bed I heard her scream and come down the hallway crying. Turns out Holly doesn't like to be held in bed against her will and she had nipped Clara on the hand. That didn't seem to phase Clara though; she held her the whole next day.

The next afternoon we all went to Kermit (Robert slept) to have pictures made of all the grandkids. Um, I won't go into detail about that though. I'm still recovering. We had some pizza over at Tim and Linsey's afterwards and Robert got some hugs and kisses from his aunts.

Brody and Grayson love each other too.

And here he is finally. I have that magic touch with babies you know. They just love me. He's such a good baby. I don't know how Linsey got so lucky twice. The child doesn't cry. She would lay him in the pack and play and he'd just look around not making a peep. My babies cried if they even thought you were thinking about possibly putting them down. Seriously. Not fair. No one else could even hold Robert those first couple of months. (He preferred people who were lactating over those who were not.) Ok, I'm done feeling sorry for myself.

My mom and I went back to Pecos that evening and we all just took it easy on Saturday and then Clara and Bia made snickerdoodles that night. After church on Sunday, Tim and Linsey came over to visit for a few hours.

I got this super cute pic of Clara and Cooper and also one of Bia and Pawpaw with 3 of the 7. It was a little crazy in their laps, so we didn't make Cooper join in. Clara kept stepping on his apnea monitor and tripping over the cords all day so it was in his best interest to keep him plugged in on his daddy's lap.

I need to stop saying mean things about that baby. I mean, c'mon. Look at that face. How could I possibly have anything negative to say about that sweet angel?

We started driving home the next day and took a detour through Egypt (aka VBS). Aunt Jacki was helping with VBS at their church so she invited Clara to join in the fun on Monday night. It was such a fun VBS, complete with camels and a petting zoo. There was also a marketplace all decked out with different stalls that the kids circulated through and all of the adults were in costume.

Robert and I had the pleasure of hanging out at the church with Jacki's mom who was watching Ben during VBS. The kids were divided into families that they went around with and Clara got to be in Clara's group. Here's Honey at the end of the night with the Clara's. Thanks again for everything Aunt Jacki! Clara's still talking about Aunt Jacki's BBS.

We left on Tuesday morning at 10:00. Robert slept til about 12:30 and we made it all the way south of Dallas before stopping for lunch at Denny's. A quick nursing session in the car and we were on our way. Robert fell right to sleep again and woke about 45 minutes before we got home and only started crying about 10 minutes before we pulled into the driveway.

This trip could not have been more smooth. I was a little worried I'd be scarred for months and not even consider doing the drive again by myself. It's clear he's finally figured out that he loves sleeping in his car seat; now he just needs to figure out he loves to sleep in his crib. For longer than a couple of hours at a time. Or half an hour, whatever the case may be. He's such a little angel.