I have been a mama for almost a year! We have a pretty full weekend and I'm going to start it early. See you Monday!

I had another post planned today, but the rain changed my mind. It's not often I truly enjoy rain anymore. I use to love it. Often times now it comes with aches and pains, you know my arthritis...But today it's nice and relaxing.
I have good memories of the rain.

• I remember splashing in puddles with my brother, Matt as we yelled "Singing in the rain, Just singing in the rain". I imagine I was about 5th grade so he was probably 11th. He always did great fun things like that. He was "cool" but never to cool to have fun.
• I also liked taking naps in my mom and dad's family/TV room. With the couch next to the window and the rain coming down. It was the perfect sound and darkness to take a nap. Ohh...I still love their/my home. When we go there and we are on a time crunch I get sucked into a time warp and we usually leave a few hours after we were supposed to. I have been really thinking about my childhood home and thinking how I can recreate that comfort in our new house (keeping it clean would probably be a start)!
• Another memory of rain is my green raincoat. During my BIG thrifting phase in high school I bought it at "Unique" with Carrie. It is one of those old school ones lined in blue with strawberries on the inside. I've had it at lease 12 years now. It was probably 1o years old when I got it! That rain gear reminds me of my high school days...as I prepare for my ten year reunion next week! I wonder if I am too old to be wearing a bright green vintage rain coat. Please tell me if I am.
• A newer memory of rain is not the aches and pains that it can bring, but the great sound it makes on our sky light. Did you know we have a great sky light? It is one of the many favorite things about this little house Mike found for us. I hope the sound of the rain on it is a comfort and sweet memory for Dorothy and any other kids we have some day.

What do you love about the rain?




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A look back at Dorothy's first year:

Now this is just ridiculous! This is her "Harvest Homecoming" outfit. And yes that is a poncho she is wearing. After all every kid that is of Floyd County descent must have a Harvest Homecoming outfit. I think I've already got this year's picked out :)

My new favorite ideas...

Here are some links for you to enjoy or waste time on...or both!

• I made two dresses for Miss D this past week! It was very encouraging to have some sewing success as I sew my purse inventory assembly line style (which is not encouraging by the way. Check out the tutorial here: reversible dress tutorial at Polkadotbug.
• I really want to do a little rearranging in Dorothy's room and I think I'll do a peg board like this from Paint in My Hair.
  
• Everyone in my family benefits when I am organized. Even though I never like getting up early I am trying to make it a habit, because it helps me stay organized. Here are some great encouragements for my morning routine: GirlTalk Blog (please note, that I DO NOT get up at 5am!) and Simple Mom's Morning Routine
• I have a bunch of jeans that I am looking for ideas for...maybe this skirt, this blanket, or this couch, which would be a great reading couch.
  

A look back on Dorothy's Holidays and Celebrations

A look back on D's Holidays and Celerations
Originally uploaded by findingcontentment

Check out this video:

Oh My, I love this.

Remember when I wasn't feeling good the other day. Well that was one of the first times that Dorothy and I sat down to watch TV for her. She has been in the room when we watch things some, and really likes Radiohead and Pearl Jam concerts but this day...I let her watch Teletubbies. She loved it but I didn't so I changed the channel (well I it was really on demand, so I changed the show) and we went over to a sunny dayto Sesame Street and she loved the muppets. It was all about the letter Q and quacking and she loved "Rubber Ducky" and Big Bird. How could you not!?! That's my girl. (I even bought the Sesame Street coffee table book a few years back, I guess it's still packed with most of our books).

ANYWAY. A blog I check UHandblog posted this great Feist song on Sesame Street. So watch and get it stuck in your head! I can't wait to show it to Dorothy when she gets up from her nap!

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Today's look back at Miss D over her first year:

This was the night of Nathan and Amy's baby shower.
It was the first night all three of these girls were together (Ellory Coffey, Dorothy Cosper, and Anna Abell).
I am pretty sure this was the night the Eubanks went into labor and we had another beautiful girl, Evangaline!
Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA ABELL! You are so beautiful and sweet!

Just the other day I was telling a friend about my "planner". It is a big ole system I use to try to stay organized. I'll explain it someday. In the meantime, I was telling her that the teacher in me wants to plan teaching Dorothy. Writing down for the month ahead things I want to work on. I can easily set myself up for failure so I am simply just making a list of 5 or 6 things to think about each month or every couple of weeks. I know many people are strongly for or against homeschooling. That is not what I am even what I getting to (my sister in law does it and does it beautifully, by the way). I am talking about how we are our kids first teachers. They learn so much from us whether we mean for them to or not. One of my favorite professors in el. ed. always talked about, "We are always teaching". I just want to be more intentionally about it.

For example. A car in front of us almost caused a wreck and I yelled a "word" and my 11 month old yelled it back. Repeated it. I was teaching her at the moment whether I meant to or not. And when Mike and I raise our voices or yell (yes we do!). She follows suit and raises her voice and yells. We can become so numb to the tone of our communication, but having Dorothy has reminded me of the harsh tones and sarcasm I use ALL the time.

Because of this I have been meditating on James 1:19

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

It has been very humbling and taught us to be mindful of what our words and actions are communicating to her.

So here are some of the goals I am thinking about as she turns one:

• Talking calmly and using only words that I don't mind my own kid saying
• Labeling items, "This is your sock, it goes on your foot"
  
• Model counting in every day activities
• Continue working on walking and other gross motor skills using this book
• Model prayer time
• Talk to her about Jesus and tell her simple bible stories about him

And our look back on D's first year for today!

This is on her quilt from her Great Aunt Jean (whose name is Dorothy Jeanette!) I love the skirt and those socks. Oh my sweet girl... I remember this day so vividly. This was the night we got to see Miss Ruby Laffin for the first time. Ruby was so small and Dorothy was SO big for her age. Now they are pretty close in size. We love you Laffins and Faiths!

A new recipe!

I go to the Old Spaghetti Factory just for the salad dressing. It is so good. I could drink it. Then I found it online and I think maybe eating it too often or drinking it as a refreshing beverage may not be so healthy. But despite being made of mayonnaise and buttermilk, it's SO good, I mean that is why it is good.
CREAMY PESTO SALAD DRESSING. Enjoy!

Today's look back at Dorothy Jean:

Six weeks old with giant pacifier face.

And why do babies stop stretching like that?
They should never outgrow that cuteness.

My new favorite ideas...

There is a blog that I really like called the Motherload. She has great tips on family life, motherhood, and home keeping but all on a shoestring budget...one of my favorite things she does is her weekly notebook. On her notebook post she shares links to all kinds of great things that she has seen on the internet, cool projects for her or her kids, and recipes... She also has a section on meal plans for eating well while shopping at Aldi's.

So, inspired and blessed by the Motherload Mom Advice Blog, here is a little collection of my newest favorite ideas that I have seen around the web lately.

• Alabama Studio Style. It's all about sustainability and style. I have always loved making things from old clothes and repurposing them. This is what they are all about! I knew there was this great book but I just stumbled onto the blog today!

• GirlTalk Blog has been sharing a lot about homemaking and it has been a blessing. Here is a great list of books I want to read up on.

• VanillaJoy posted her reflections on her first year of motherhood. I am about to hit that milestone myself! I love how she wrote "So I’ve learned that with motherhood, “productivity” cannot be measured or even detected sometimes. How much I visibly accomplish in a day is no indication of my sucess as a mother - another unique characteristic of motherhood."

• Tried this Pasta with Lentils and Arugula from Everyday Food. We use penne and big juicy tomatoes from our CSA. It was so good.
  

• I bought some of this fabric (in red and white) to make D's birthday dress. She and Levi are having a ladybug/bumblebee birthday party next week!

That's my list for now!!! I think we'll have a drawing soon. You better start posting.

And today's looking back at Dorothy's first year picture is below:

Five days old, going home from the hospital.

Mike, me, Dorothy, Brian, Jack, Jolie, Arlen, and Mae

We visited our friends the Holtons this weekend. It was one of those days where you are gone for 12 hours but it feels like a whole week vacations. They have an amazing house from the late 1800s that the gutted and redid. Beautiful! Also they are partners in the farm where we get our chickens from. Mike got to see the humane and healthy chicken farm but I opted out. I can't connect my meat to animal. Even if it is organic and free range.

Anyway they are such good friends...so hospitable, so easy going. It was a blessing.

Today is one of those days where I had my whole list made and ready for a productive day.
and. I. am. not. doing. it.
I think I have shared before that rain can suck the life out of me with my RA. It's the humidity and pressure I think. So it has been a while since I have really chilled out, but I am enjoying it so much.

Oh and for those of you that I went to high school with!!! Rosie is having her baby soon! Hopefully today!

Up and down the hallway.

So for all of those who are here to see pictures of D. You are in luck. Her birthday is coming and I have been reminiscing so look for lots of pictures over the next couple weeks.

YIKES!!!

This is what it looks like when I am sewing. I promise all the other rooms are clean! I love this house, but I wish that I could sew in another room, one that isn't the main entry to the home, one that is closed off from everything else. This unfortunately is where all our guests walk in. Luckily it only looks this way a small portion of the time. I have gotten much better about putting things away each day instead of after the project is done.

PS Happy Birthday to my good friends Emily Ferguson (yesterday) and Rebecca Dennison (today)! I am blessed by you both!

Have a beautiful day.

Some of my favorite moments...

I love how she discovers new things. Like peeking out of the door windows, waiting for daddy or visitors or seeing herself in a little mirror at a rest stop on vacation. Her face lights up. Three new things she has done in the last week: blowing kisses, "uh-oh", and pointing to her eyes when asked "where are your eyes?"

Please excuse the dirty windows, between a dog and a baby...what can I say?

Internet Efficiency

I have wasted a lot of time in recent years on the Internet. It only got worse when Mike got me my own ibook last summer and I didn't have to share with him. Over the last two months I have come up with some things that have allowed me to read blogs, email, write this blog, facebook, myspace, flickr... without loosing so much quality time with my family.

1. I read this great post on email efficiency at SimpleMom. It has saved me a lot of time in emails.
2. I found that on the bottom of blogger I can write several blog posts at once and set the time and date that I want them to post. This has helped me think ahead and plan what I want to post.
   
3. I joined Bloglines. Instead of checking each blog on my bookmarks one at a time (which I spent SO much time doing) I entered them into my Bloglines feed and now I have to go to one place online to get all of my blogs. The best part is that it updates for you. So that you don't have to go to each individual post hoping that it has been updated only to find out it hasn't. It lets you know what blogs have new posts!
   
4. Generally, I get on the Internet for only 30 minutes at a time 2-3 times on weekdays and I am trying to write my blog entries when Mike is working on Sundays. That was a loose rule I had to set for myself because it was very easy for me to spend D's entire nap time on here or an entire night.
   

I said earlier last week that I had heard a wise women say that when you work on one discipline in your life it can't help but spill over into other aspects of your life. This is another example. I have more time to play with Dorothy, talk with Mike, read, pray, clean house and sew! Who'd have thought?

I hope these ideas bless and help some of you. There are other "blog readers" out there for blogs. Google has one and so does Yahoo. I tried Yahoo, but personally didn't like it as much.

Let me know how you are Internet efficient!

Ten years ago today, I was picked up for a date with this guy I knew just a little about. I had met him a year and half before in our junior year through our mutual friend Lachlan (his best friend and my Jr. prom date:). Mike Cosper was a guitar player, tall, handsome, and the icing on the cake- a christian. As I had gotten to know him, he was guy who took his faith seriously. So that date was the greatest. I got overwhelmed at the budding relationship and freaked out on him for a few weeks emotionally abusing him like so many young girls do with guys, but by September we had were together and talked about getting married.

And people, you all knew it was crazy, because I never had really really dated anyone before that. Some told me we'd break it off before our wedding or get divorced soon after. By the grace of God, we had two couples come into our life soon after our wedding in December of 1999. Daniel and Mandy Montgomery and Les and Alison Groce were slightly older, wiser married couples. They poured time and love into us and showed us formally and informally godly marriages. To this day they love on us and care for our friendship and marriage, whether they live a few blocks away or across the world.

So today on Facebook I declared that I have been dating Mike Cosper for ten years, and though 8 and half of that is marriage, he still dates me.

I love you Mike.

Three Things I'd Rather Not Do:

1. Exercise
2. Refrain From Sugar.
3. Refrain From Caffeine.

Three Things that Make My Rheumatoid Arthritis almost Forgettable:

1. Exercise
2. Refrain From Sugar.
3. Refrain From Caffeine.

A Cosper Family Nike Collection

The four year old in me is jumping up and down pitching a fit, but it is official. I have done informal testing and numbers 1-3 make me feel much better. During the weekend I relaxed and ate a lot of birthday cake, drank a lot of cokes and coffee, and most importantly didn't work out (because I am NOT one of those who is naturally drawn to strength training and cardio). Anyway, it creeps up on me, this auto-immune disease of mine...aching in a wrist and then by the end of the day it can be everywhere. So I did my strength training again last night started monitoring my water (good), and caffeine(bad), and sugar (very bad). And most of my aches are gone just in 24 hours.

But I know that just monitoring these items is not my fix all. I still have to maintain my stress, sleep well, take my medication, and the weather, well I can't control that one. So all that is to say, I can't control this stupid disease completely BUT, I have a little more control over the disease when I practice self control.

I heard a wonderful speaker, Betsey Ricucci say recently that when you work on one discipline in your life it can't help but spill over into other aspects. So this idea of self control, without being legalistic, I am working on self-control with eating and exercising and it's spilling over into my self-control with anger and speech. Praise God!

I know I have posted this picture before for my mom's birthday, but it is of my fourth birthday party, 24 years ago!
And hey there is my friend Jessica in the corner!

Thank you all so much. I have received so much love for the logo (which I cannot take credit for, it's all Emilee) and lots of love for my birthday.

We have been home for a week. The last four days of vacation were in the car, which jet lagged us and it took us this whole week to get back into any hint of a routine. I still have a pile of vacation things to put away and pictures to load and edit... But it is over. Mike's 5 and half week sabbatical was over this morning as he left for work. I had grand plans of getting up and making him breakfast but I slept through, and just barely woke up to see him out the door. It was the best overall month in our marriage. You know the five love languages? Well mine is quality time and gifts so to have almost six weeks with my two loves and then top it all off with some fabulous birthday presents was spectacular!

So back to the routine, the daily grind. I am actually looking forward to it. Here we go.

Well Folks,

It has begun... my friend Emilee brilliantly designed me a business logo and cards and I am beginning regular sewing time. Sooo, I guess it has begun, this little sewing/crafting business of mine... I'll keep you posted with what I am making and where I am selling. Keep visiting. If you'd like to get my quarterly newsletter, email and I'll make sure you are on the list.

Oh and if you want to hire Mrs. Emilee for design work you should! Just email me and I'll send you her contact info.