School Bus

We think there is another blog post when Cooper was a little younger playing with this big school bus. And he is still a big fan. So many things to move and touch and manipulate. He could play and explore here for hours. His favorite "station" is the car/trucks in the front.

Gator Fan?

Maria's brother Michael has been a Florida fan his entire life. His clothed his childhood in Gator hats and tshirts, and his bedroom was full-on Gator'tastic.

Is Cooper on the same path?

Are ya kidding? With all the Mizzou stuff around? Gators? Never!
Cooper has taken quite an interest in the kitchen and the happenings of the room. Luckily the washing machine has a child-lock option! He wants to help throw things out in the garbage and makes a beeline for the fridge whenever it is open.

Maybe after he plays quarterback for the Tigers he will be a contestant on Top Chef!

Birthday Boy

Our little boy is 1 year old today. Incredible.

We have been reliving where we were a year ago at this time.....

Maria's water breaking unexpectedly at 7am, Lori pleading her case to everyone/anyone at multiple airports trying to get home as quickly as possible, Van stopping by the hospital with a care package, Lori watching 'Baby Mama' on the plane, the concern the hospital staff conveyed due to Maria carrying on the small side and going 5 weeks early, Lori finally running in to the maternity ward at 9pm, inducing with Pitocin, the immediate crash after the epidural, the baby's heart rate concerns, inability to stabilize Maria's blood pressure, epidurals (medical distress aside) are FAB, Lori and Maria getting a few hours sleep, hanging out most of the morning, the baby making the decision to drop, Maria (still feeling NO pain) thinking they were "practice pushes" until Lori told her she could see the head, a perfect baby boy being born at 10:37am, the NICU doctor who was annoyed with us that she wasted her time in our room on this "emergency" when he was born just over 6 lbs and near-perfect APGAR scores, and naming our son Cooper Michael Megown.

This picture was taken when Cooper was less than an hour old. Thank goodness Lori had her iPhone handy! The first visitor was Michele Cordoza, and Lori will always cherish that memory. Other visitors started coming shortly thereafter: Maria's dad, mom and sister, Van/Sarah, Georgie, Liz, Cordoza, Brian (we still owe him a dinner), Stacey, and luckily Mel was in town as well. Happy that we decided on the private room so we all had enough space! And how amazing was it that Mara and Eli had their son on the same floor and on the same date? A special bond the boys will always share. And now? Our little boy is constantly curious about what is around him, and wants to explore everything he can. Babbling all the time, getting more balanced on his feet, and has left baby food and formula behind him. It is just amazing to watch his mind try to figure out how things work. And one is his favorite pastimes is to fling any object laying on the coffee table on to the floor post haste. Yeah, we think we are going to keep him.

* HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOPER *

Walker'ing

Again, Cooper loves this walker given to him by Julie and Andrea! He usually spends his time taking each block out one by one and throwing them behind him, but has now opened up his realm of experience to actually encompass walking with this walker.

Took it slowly at first.

But got the hang of it very quickly.

He finally picked up a bit of speed, but hit the (proverbial) wall.

And he was NOT happy about it! LoL

Now Is Your Chance

Cooper! Quick!

Grandma's not looking!

Touch the ornaments!

Micioni Non-Christmas

The Micioni Family has a tradition of getting together a week or so before Christmas to ensure all can spend a day celebrating the holiday with as many family members in attendance as possible. The host home rotates on a yearly basis, and 2009 landed everyone at Peter/Beth's place.

Unfortunately the snow threw a wrench into these best laid plans, so the party got postponed until Sunday. This in turn messed up the spending of family time for Jimmy/Kim/kids who flew up from Florida just for the party! For some strange reason Spirit thought they would be the only airline on the East Coast to not cancel flights. Idiots. So they were stuck delayed for hours and hours at the Atlantic City Airport instead of enjoying homemade pepperoni bread in Fair haven. Maybe next year!

This is approx 1/4 of all the cousins. Maria is the oldest of 20 first cousins. Then we have Alex, Mark, and Cooper in the next generation slot thus far. Madness.

Sarah is SO good with Cooper, and he absolutely loves her.

Cooper. The center of attention. Again!
So much wine, so little time.
BUTT we want to go outside and play in the snow!
The new bar area in Peter/Beth's house. We like it. A lot. And the heated floors were a good choice! Lori has decided she is going to move in to the boat house. FYI.

Another thing enjoyed at this traditional Micioni function is a ravioli recipe that has been in the family for generations. A kept copy of the ingredients and cooking instructions are handwritten by Maria's great great grandmother, and seriously - these are the best raviolis in the entire world. Amazing.

Cooper received some great gifts from all the aunts and uncles.
The twins got these balancing birds from Ellen and Donny, and they were an instant hit with the boys! They tried them out on every possible surface.
The three of us went into the family room for two mins of alone time.

Hey Uncle Peter, please remember that Cooper is going to welcome all the male bonding that goes on at Giants games in a few short years. Put him on your list!
Quiet time with Grandma.

Mangia Mangia Mangia

Cooper's first full-blown spaghetti experience.

Bravo! Satute! Buon appetite! Pronto! Prego! Basta! Ciao!

Do you think I am Italian? (Si, sono Italiano.)

Oh, and Harts -

Please notice that this meal does NOT consist of Spaghetti-Os. :-)

Uploaded And Ready

Maria's mom has been known to take a picture or two..... And then takes a bit of time before she uploads them to Snapfish. But she did so today. Yay! The damage? 471 pictures. Yup, 471 pictures. That is quite a slideshow, huh? Here are a few "blast from the past" photos:

Halloween. Too cute.

Cooper was so exhausted, and was very receptive to being rocked to sleep by Great Grandma.

Great Grandpa in the act of passing on a magic trick to the next generation.

Watching a football game. Who is playing? Giants? Or maybe Mizzou?

What is Grandpa telling him?

Yeah, he knows he is cute.

Uncle Mikey.

SantaCon

So two Santas walk into the a bar......

No, really. Two did walk into a bar. At like 2am. We were there. Turns out that these two merry men were expats from SantaCon '09. Some call it a convention, some call it a pub crawl, but however you want to categorize it - just call it a blast!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Truck Drivers

Grandpa's sweet ride.

Grandpa in action.



Cooper's sweet ride.

Cooper in action.
Grandpa, we are thinking that you have a driver for the truck for the Blizzard of '26 booked and ready! Until then? Give him a couple of years to get this walking-thing down, and then Cooper can be your shovel'er, your ice'er, and your go'fer.