more beach fun

Not much time to blog today but I wanted to upload a few pictures from the last couple of days. We've been having a great time hanging out with family although MamaJo has been down and out with a stomach virus. It's reminiscent of when Nana was out visiting for Thanksgiving and she spent the entire four days sick in the guestroom. Do we have this effect on people? Better think twice about inviting us to your home!

Here's some of our fun - beaching, boating, reading, playing, just being "us"



Since I'm begging and borrowing the internet from Tory and Parmy I'll answer a few things here rather than sending emails...

First of all, you can see my new hair in a few of these pics...thanks for caring, friends! Amy, you'll be happy to know that Brent has been taking lots of pictures with me in them and he's even attempting to learn how to use my Rebel! And, yes Susie, I am forcing myself to shoot in manual just so it will become second nature. Some of these shots are from Brent's camera so those, obviously, aren't manual but all of mine are. Thanks for the encouragement...I LOVE your photos too...are you manual?

baby beach bum

After a grueling travel day yesterday we're finally on the gulf soaking up the sunrays and marveling at our baby's curly hair (the humidity works wonders!).

We got up this morning and headed down the beach, hoping to beat the most brutal heat of the day. When we showed the pictures to Parmy this afternoon she was shocked at the mere handful that we took. I had to admit that I was too paranoid of the wind, salt, and sand to take my Rebel out of the case so our only pictures were from Brent's camera. Love the one of Sarah with her Papa, almost drowning along the shoreline. Okay, "almost drowning" might be a slight exaggeration but Sarah and Papa were both convinced they were going down!

happy birthday to meeeeeee!!!

I love having my birthday over Memorial Day weekend. So much fun stuff today. I've already celebrated with my closest friends and family over fondue last weekend so the specialness kind of seemed over...except it's not! I was remembered today by a few random people, which was fun - an ex-boyfriend (?!), one of my best friends from high school that I haven't talked to in years, and another friend from my old youth group. Feels great to be remembered and reminded that I'm loved. I so see those precious people around me as a reminder of God's love for me and that feels wonderful!

So...how am I celebrating?

1. got a fun new haircut

2. going to a BBQ tonight (not for me, but still fun and celebratory!)

3. baby swimming - is there anything better than BABY SWIMMING??? These girls don't think so.





FYI - Sarah got in the pool and immediately grabbed the foam "S" and wouldn't let go of it...she's for-sure gifted. HA!

the little guinea pig

It sure is a good thing Sarah enjoys having her picture taken. Today my new lens came in the mail which was all the excuse I needed to throw my precious girl in front of the camera. She loves the attention! (wonder where she got that)



For anyone who might be wondering, it's the Canon EF 50mm/1.8. Recommended to me by J.J.
So far I love it and I'm looking forward to playing with it on our upcoming vacation down south. Colleen, I know you have it too and I'm looking forward to seeing some of your shots! If you would just start a blog that would be a whole lot easier...and while I'm at it, I think I'll call out some other should-be-bloggers: LIZ, AMY, GINA, JARED, DAPHNE...I know better but I'll say it anyway...SAMANTHA!

four day wait

Eversince Sarah started solid foods a month or so ago I have been so dilligent about the "four day wait" rule. Basically, it's what pediatricians recommend when introducing new foods to your baby: start a new food and introduce nothing else new for the next four days. This way if your baby has an allergic reaction, you know exactly what caused it. Smart thinking in this day and age when so many life threatening food allergies abound.

Yesterday I broke the rule. Who can resist a precious almost-seven-month-old who reaches for your popsicle. If mommy and daddy have one, it's only fair, right? Of course she loved it and, of course, I checked her about a gazillion times for any sign of hives or difficulty breathing, convinced she would have a serious allergy to wild berry popsicle. And then when she slept in an extra 20 minutes this morning I just knew it had killed her. As it turns out she had discovered sleeping on her tummy and was just too comfy to wake up. Still, I was a panicky new mom. So it's back to the four day wait rule. But at least we got some priceless pics!

daddy fun

I'm so glad Sarah has the daddy that she has...he's just so fun. She's a lucky, lucky girl and I plan to remind her of that for most of her lifetime. He spents lots of alone time with her this weekend because I was busy with Stephen Ministry training and my girl's night. Not only did they have lost of fun hanging out but they even managed to get the entire house cleaned! Yippee for me! AND they took pictures too...Here's Sarah helping daddy with the laundry. Ignore the crazy, pasted-to-my-forehead hair she's got goin' on. We're at a loss as to what to do with her lengthening locks.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



And, since bathtime is usually daddy time, I can't resist posting this one. These were snapped as Sarah was waiting patiently for daddy to fill the bathtub with water.

weekend of surprises

What a fabulous weekend this has been.

Last night a bunch of the book club girls surprised Liz for her 30th birthday with a girl's night out to the Golden Bee - a cool little sing-along pub located on the grounds of the oh-so-ritzy Broadmoor Hotel. I have to say, we were all lookin' pretty cute.



And, apparently, I'm not the only one who thought so because a couple of hours into the night we were approached by a brave representative of a table full of Academy cadets. Of course this was hilariously funny being that all but one of us have husbands that teach at the Academy! The poor kid was appalled when we told him this and after several clumsy minutes of small talk he excused himself with some bumbling compliment about how he "hears it's hard to stay in shape" after becoming a mom. We laughed about this for the rest of the night! The moral of this story is: Liz makes 30 look like 21!



Then, after 50 hours of training and five months of weekly lessons, this morning was my commissioning as a Stephen Minister. My friends have been so supportive of my decision to pursue this call and I had invited several of them to attend the service. Brent wanted us to go out to breakfast before church and when we arrived I was so surprised to see several more friends in attendance. So awesome! Brent also surprised me with a Stephen Ministry t-shirt he had ordered weeks ago. I'll certainly never again say he can't surprise me!

Thanks so much, friends, for being part of such a special day for me...I love you guys SO much!

our little flower girl

Aunt May May...this gerber daisy's for you! We think one of these shots would be lovely as a poster in Charlotte's room.





This was one of the flowers in my Mother's Day bouquet. I finally had to take it away when Sarah started to eat the petals. Until then it was super fun for the Pigbear.

Here's one that Brent and I agree captures her essence...



mobility update: This evening Sarah was having a ball rolling all over the living room when we noticed her starting to hike her leg up and pushing with her knee. I think she's getting dangerously close to getting onto all fours. Better get this tri-level with a basement baby-proofed!

That Cobb Smile

I just received a stack of photos in the mail from Sarah's 6th month. As I was flipping through them I found one picture in particular that startled me, even though I had seen it before. She's wearing a grin that's reserved for special, really exciting occasions (in this case, playing naked on the coffee table) and when I look at her face in this shot I see nothing but Cobb.


There have been many times that Brent and I have stared at Sarah asking, "where did you come from?". There are definitely things about her that clearly come from us but you have to know what you're looking for. She has Brent's narrow feet, my "elf ears", her grandma's long slender fingers but nothing about her that screams Cowan or Cobb. So many babies are "all dad" or "all mom" while Sarah is, well, all Sarah.

So it's refreshing at times to see a picture like this that gives her away as actually being one of us. I love when she pulls out her Cobb smile. When her cheeks push her eyes into flat little crescents, her top lip disappears, and her square Cobb forehead (proudly referred to by the Cobb boys as their "horns") becomes prominent. Her face shape in this picture is all GG (great grandma Cobb) and her excited smile is all Papa - if you were at my sister's wedding you may have seen this exact look on Papa's face during a rousing "Family Tradition" rendition.

I love it. It's all Cobb. And after all, I do love a lot of Cobb's.

Here are some more classic Cobb looks.




(gg, papa, daddy, and uncle tory)

a few of my favorites

Some of the shots that I love of late...





















How cute is that Americana baby on the milk box? Thanks Ms. Joyce for the red, white, and blue duds!

Mother's Day Leftovers

I forgot that there were a couple other things I wanted to post from yesterday.

First, me and my girl, taken by Daddy.
















Also, this struck me yesterday... (to modify a line from Jeff Foxworthy)

You know you're a mother when your nightstand book pile looks like this...



And, a kindergarten funny. I've been subbing in the mornings at my old school since one of their kindergarten teachers had a baby last week (it's definitely in the water there). I was out on the playground supervising recess today when a little boy wandered up to me and began clawing and scratching his back, neck, face, and complaining about how itchy he was. When I asked why he was so itchy he replied with "from Mother's Day yesterday." Go figure.

awesome, awesome day

Be forewarned, there's lotsa stuff here...

Last night as I went to bed I had a sudden urge to grab Sarah, cuddle her up, and let her sleep with me. I just kept thinking, "last year on this night she was sleeping with me." We've worked so hard to establish good sleep habits for her so I knew this was a no-no but at 10:30 on Mother's Day Eve I just wanted to snuggle my baby. I resisted. But then I woke up to this, so it was all good.



After a yummy breakfast (my husband makes the best bacon) Sarah played in our bed and discovered that tickling Daddy's toes is hilarious...



but being tickled by Mommy's toes is even better. Check this out. Might take a little while to "connect" but, trust me, it's worth it.

Then this afternoon I received this awesome decorative addition to my scrapping space...



Now I can't resist telling a funny story about this "secret" little project Brent and Sarah worked on for Mother's Day. It starts with the fact that there is a very long history in our marriage of Brent not being able to surprise me. Ever. Under any circumstance. It started with our first anniversary when he "secretly" booked a few nights in Gatlinburg and the reservation receipt came in the mail just days before we were to leave. Then the following Christmas he went out shopping for the perfect sewing machine, found a great sale, had to sign up for some special offer to get it, and after being reassured by the salesperson several times that nothing would be coming in the mail, a sewing maching catalog arrived days later addressed to him. Hmmmm. Surprise failure #2. Then on my 24th birthday he "secretly" packed my bags, planned a night in a hotel (I LOVE a hotel) complete with a rented video game system (I never grew up) and my favorite fried chicken salad from O'Charley's. When I arrived home from school that day after taking my students on an afternoon hike I decided I needed a shower which was totally out of my routine. Discovered I had no blowdryer, no makeup, no anything. Hmmmm. Surprise failure #3. Sadly, I could go on and on. Poor Brent. Seriously, the failure to surprise thing is not for lack of trying. Or for excessive nosiness on my part, although I know some would beg to differ. He just has bad surprise karma. So he didn't even bat an eye when he came home from church the other evening and I started the conversation with the words "I have a confession..." I had seen this awesome Mother's Day photo collage flash up on the screen when I opened Photoshop that evening to edit some pictures. Seriously, how does that happen?

It doesn't matter that I saw it for a split-second and knew that something was coming my way today that would feature my sweet Pigbear's little red hat front and center. I love that hat. I love that girl. And I love my husband more and more each time he tries to surprise me. Thanks for a great day, Pigbear's daddy.