Highlights of a two-year marriage

To say that time flies is such an understatement. I can't believe that it has already been two years since Toby and I stood under a huge tree in the blazing sun and said our vows. We have had so much great fun in the last two years, and maybe 1 argument.

We honeymooned in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. We've spent vacations with family in England, Canada, Florida, South Carolina and other places I'm forgetting. We've seen three other dear friends commit their lives to each other.

We've nearly renovated a house, worked hard at our jobs, and hosted a few really fun parties.

And our greatest accomplishment is snoozing away next to me while I type. Thanks to Annie, now we're our own little family.

Happy Anniversary, Toby! As I said two years ago under that big tree in the blazing sun, I am the luckiest woman in the world.

Two Months!

Annie turned two months old last weekend. I couldn't decide which extra-cute picture to post, so here are both of my favorites. We're so lucky to have such a very smiley baby - she makes everybody else smile, too.

Here's the evidence - betcha can't help but smile!

We hope that she brightened up the very sad weekend for our Broach family members, as we gathered to say goodbye to Grandma. As family members converged on South Carolina, Grandma hung on until every last one of us made it to see her, a true blessing and an unexpected miracle. Toby said that, in true Broach fashion, Grandma wouldn't want to hurt anybody's feelings by saying goodbye to some family members but not others. I didn't think Annie would get to meet her great grandmother, and I am so glad that she did. We had a very joyful and tearful reunion, just as Grandma would have wanted.

Happy Mother's Day!

We celebrated my first Mother's Day today, and it was wonderful! Toby started the day by giving me the greatest gift - five straight hours of sleep from 3-8 am! (He took the 5:30 am feeding.) I also got about four hours of sleep earlier in the night from 10:30 - 2:30, so I felt like a new woman all day. It was awesome!

Then Annie gave me a lovely gift (see more on that below), while Toby made pancakes and bacon and I read the entire Sunday newspaper! We took some cute pictures outside - Annie is getting so big! Everybody keeps telling me that she looks more and more like Toby every day, so its a good thing that Toby is so good looking. :)

We headed out to a late lunch/brunch where I got to eat both eggs benedict and a chocolate chip waffle during the same meal - heaven! Annie slept like an angel in her carseat, and I try to appreciate how easy it is now to take her out to eat. I'm sure things will change shortly on that front.

My gift from Annie was a very cute card that she painted with her footprints! Toby added a photo and a frame, and it will soon have a place of honor on the wall. Toby videotaped the making of the card - here is a short snippet from the video.

As always, I'm super lucky to have such a sweet hubby - he put a lot of effort into making my first Mother's Day incredibly special.

Water here, water there, water everywhere...

... but little Annie is still having a ball!

Hoping this little pic will help everyone affected by the floods smile - at least for a few seconds.

Take care everyone - stay safe.

Flooding, tornados and more flooding - Part I

Things are pretty awful in Nashville right now, but the Cooper household is hanging in there just fine. Every area of Nashville is experiencing dramatic flooding after getting up to 15 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. Here are a couple of photos of the park that is a five minute walk from our house. The river is at 24 feet, which is a new record, I think. In the first picture, you can see the top of an SUV in the parking lot. In the second photo, the river bank is actually about 100 feet, or maybe more, from where the water is now.

There are only 3 roads still open in and out of Franklin, which is a little disconcerting since that means that over 20 roads are closed due to flooding. Toby was able to make it, however, to Home Depot this morning and buy a generator to run the sump pump in case we lose power. They were out of sump pumps, obviously, so if ours burns out we'll have to start bailing I guess.

We've lost a retaining wall in the basement, but our sump pump is holding on - so far anyway. It has run continuously for more than 24 hours, so we think there is a decent chance that it will burn out, but it has given us enough time to use the basement as a storm shelter (twice yesterday) and move important things to higher ground.

What I've learned so far -

1. Tornados used to be irritating and mildly bothersome. Tornados when you have a baby are terrifying.

2. When Toby asked me what important things need to be brought up from the basement, I couldn't think of anything - it is all just stuff.

3. They need to make miniature motorcycle helmets to put on babies during tornado warnings. I mean, if the weather people say that a motorcycle helmet is the best thing you can put on an adult's head to stay safe during a tornado, there should be a baby version.
4. I married the best man in the world, who has worked non-stop for 2 days to make sure our baby is safe.

So far we have lots of friends with completely flooded basements, our favorite jeweler (a truly nice, nice man) is under water, hundreds of people are stranded on interstates, Vanderbilt Children's Hospital is flooding and we're pretty sure that nobody in Nashville has flood insurance. Keep us all - especially the Children's Hospital - in your thoughts.

Marathon-sized disappointment

Not even all my crossed fingers and toes could keep away the thunderstorms today, and the marathon organizers closed the course at mile 20. Toby did a fabulous job through really tough weather conditions (from 75 degrees and humid to driving rain, wind and lightning), but is so disappointed that he wasn't allowed to finish the race. There were thousands of disappointed faces at the finish area.

To make matters worse, I didn't know that the course had been closed, so I didn't know that I should have met Toby an hour earlier than expected, and he had to stand out in the driving rain for an extra hour. Ugh.

So it is a dreary, rather sad afternoon at the Cooper house. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to take a long nap...if we can get AnnaLeigh down, of course.

Thanks everybody for the encouragement all along the way - Toby really appreciated it all!

Keep your fingers crossed!

Toby is running his first marathon on Saturday, and the forecast is absolutely rotten. I've been so impressed by Toby's committment to the race...I can't imagine braving 20 mile training runs when you've been up all night with a newborn...and I'm really hoping for good weather for him. So send some good thoughts our way and keep your fingers crossed for cool, dry weather!

AnnaLeigh and I will be out cheering him on along the course, unless the forecasted thunderstorms arrive as scheduled, in which case we'll be cheering him on from indoors somewhere.