Merry Christmas!

Cooper had a great first Christmas! He got to spend tons of time with all of his family and he got more toys than you can count. He is a very blessed little boy!
He acted like he knew exactly what he was doing and what he was looking at when he opened those presents!

Santa was really good to Cooper too. Jeremy and I definitely had a new experience when we were up late on Christmas Eve - him building presents and us arranging Santa's gifts! Here is some video of him riding around in his new red wagon that Santa brought (sorry, I'm not so steady with the camera sometimes).

Ut Oh!

Well, we had another first this week, but we aren't so proud of this one. Here are the pictures of Cooper...he sure is proud, but he doesn't know any better....

See all the brown drool stains on his white shirt?? Well, that is drool with a hint of dog poopoo! It was his first time to eat dog poopoo! He was crawling down the hall and he stopped and gave me a big ole dirty smile...I quickly stuck my fingers in his mouth and discovered the culprit. I have no idea where he found it but it must have been good! Jeremy and I laughed...what can you say????

More Drama

For starters, we had a great Thanksgiving. Cooper got to eat a feast of food at his Mimi and PawPaw's house. He had a lot of fun. You can see his eyes just taking it all in in this picture - he is so excited, he doesn't know where to start!

BUT, just when we thought the little man was through with all the drama, here we go again. He has had a cold for a while now - it really started back around the time of the hurricanes. He would get sick and then get well a few days and then get sick again. He had really been feeling good, but last week after Thanksgiving he started having this terrible cough. At first we thought he was finally getting over his colds and the stuff was just breaking up. Well, his cough kept getting worse and it got to the point that he was turning red and almost gagging because he coughing so hard. He had his 9 month check up on Monday, so we figured it was good timing for the doctor to check his cough. Luckily Jeremy was off of work so he went to the doctor with us. As soon as the doctor came in and heard his cough and listened to his chest, she got very concerned. She instantly did a breathing treatment right there in her office and said he was wheezing really bad. She sent us to the hospital to do an RSV test. We sat at the hospital for an hour and the test took about 2 minutes. We went back to the doctor's office to get the test results. We were there about 20 minutes and the doctor came in and told us he had tested positive for RSV. She admitted him to the hospital right away and said he would be there a minimum of 72 hours. We were in the hospital for 3 nights. He had an IV the first night, but it came out and they weren't able to get it back in (to me, that was a good thing). He was given antibiotics, a steriod, breathing treatments, and was put on oxygen while we were there. They were mainly wanting to watch his oxygen saturation levels. With his history, he is a more "at risk" baby when it comes to respiratory illnesses. We finally came home on Thursday and it is wonderful to be home. We are doing breathing treatments at home and we have a follow up appointment next week with the doctor. I took a few pictures of him at the hospital, but I won't post them. It isn't fun to see him with "hospital stuff" hooked up. Here is another cute picture of him in the bath tub.

We have had a lot of firsts this past week. We got our first haircut...Jeremy was the wonderful barber. He cut around his ears and a little in the front. He is even cuter with his haircut (I didn't know it was possible). As you can see his has grown out of the bumbo seat, but it was good for helping keep him still.

The other 1st was that we are now talking!!! He is saying "dada" and "baba". I am still waiting to hear "mama", but it will come before too long. Hopefully we can get him talking on video soon so I can post it.

Sleep Over

I started this one a few weeks ago - I just never got it posted. I will post this one now and post again in a few days.

Cooper had his first sleep over last weekend - and his first night away from his mommy. Sunday night I went with my sisters to Houston, so he got to spend the night with his Gran and Grandpa. It made me sad to leave him, but we had fun on our trip. Cooper had fun playing with Gran and Grandpa.

I think we are into our next phase of teething. The drooling has started all over, he is cranky a lot of the time, and some nights he doesn't sleep well at all. Other than that, there is not a whole lot going on. He is pulling up all the time and has let go a few times and stood on his own. Next thing you know, he will be walking! I am desperate need of going to by some baby safety items. Mostly latches to keep cabinet drawers and doors shut. He messes with them all the time. Opening drawers combined with standing up makes for some dangerous situations. We can't take our eyes off of him.

This week will be Thanksgiving and then the highpowered Christmas shopping begins. This will probably be the only year that I can actually take him Christmas shopping with me, he won't understand...

Catch-Up

I haven't been good about posting, so let's catch up since I was last here...we went to the pumpkin patch in Vidor the week before Halloween for some photo-ops of Cooper. It was great.

For Halloween, we had the cutest little monkey I have ever seen! He did great in his costume and didn't mind the hat with ears or anything! We had a pre-party with pizza at our house and then went to the fall festival at the church. He got to semi-experience some of the activities at the fall festival, but it was fun!

He got to meet his Granny and Aunt Judy and Uncle Charles for the first time when they came down to visit a few weeks ago. He is such a charmer and smiled the whole time.

Last week, Jeremy went hunting so I did the bad mom task of what I like to call "sleep training." It is known as "the Ferber method", "progressive waiting approach", or more commonly, "crying yourself to sleep". I don't know, but in the end....we are SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! The first night wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't easy. After that, it got WAY easier every night. Now, after taking his bottle, he falls to sleep around 9:00 and sleeps all the way until about 5:30 or 6:00 the next morning! No bottle, no waking up, nothing. I have waited 8 months for this! Needless to say, I am pretty happy.

This week he is doing amazingly better at crawling with his hands and knees. We were playing with him in his room earlier and he crawled across the room twice and never once went down on his belly. He is eating more and more real foods. He is pretty much on 3rd foods of baby food for dinner (chunky stuff) and I am starting to just blend up some of the food that I cook so he can start adapting to our "family cuisine". We go tomorrow for our 2nd round of flu shots, so that won't be fun. That is all I can think of for now. I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures that I think captures his personality.

Just a Swingin'

We now officially have 2 teeth! The second tooth broke through the skin on Friday. Hopefully that will help with some of the unhappiness he has been experiencing lately. Our other new talent is that we can now open and clothes drawers. Every drawer he sees, he crawls over to it and opens and closes it a million times. Greeeaaat! He hasn't really gotten interested in what is actually in the drawers yet, but he will be before too long. He will be getting into more and more every day.


I went and had his picture taken on Thursday at Sears and they turned out sooooo cute. Here is his fall scene - he is just a little man!



I found a fun new use for the jumperoo...it can also be a swing! Do you think he likes it?

On the Move

We are definitely on the move and it is only going to get worse from here. On Wednesday this week, Cooper has really started pulling up! All you have to do is kind of hold his hands a little to reinforce him and he can stand up all on his own. We are going to have our hands full. We are definitely going to have to keep him in our sight at all times because I am sure he is going to be grabbing onto anything he can get a hold of and trying to stand up. Jeremy plans on lowering his crib tonight because we don't want him crawling out of that thing!

Here is a video of his belly-flop crawl!

Baby Cousin(s)...and TEETH!

We are so excited around our house these days....we just found out that Cooper's Aunt Stacey and Uncle Jim are going to be having a baby cousin for Cooper to play with!!!!! The new baby is due May 4 of next year and we can't wait. Cousin Aaron and Heather are also going to be having a baby next spring. Things are changing all the time - we are going to have babies everywhere now! We hope Aunt Stacey and Cousing Heather are feeling well!

Cousin Jonathan and Erin also had baby Isaac Wesley yesterday. He is just precious! Now that is another cousin for Cooper to play with!

Our newest development is...TEETH! Last week Gran and Cooper showed up at my office at work and it was because they had to show me his new tooth that finally broke through! That sucker is sharp! It is his right tooth on the bottom and now the one next to it is about to break through also. We are going to be chomping down! He doesn't really let us look at it and we definitely can't get any pictures of it. About the most we can do is feel it, but I think that is because it feels good on his gums. Maybe we will get a picture some day!

Gustav...Ike...

It has been a while since I have been able to get on and update the blog. I feel like we have been nomads for the last month...running away from hurricanes! Cooper has not enjoyed traveling to distant lands all the time. He likes to be at home. We left for Gustav and went to Austin and were gone 4-5 days. We weren't home a full week, I don't think, and we were packing again for Ike! This time we went to Dallas for 2 nights and then headed back to Austin for another 5 nights. That was just too much for him. He never could get used to the new surroundings, the new schedule, everything...and boy did he miss his daddy! This last stay in Austin, he even got a rash on his cheeks and I think it was from all the bleach and stuff in the hotel sheets and towels. I don't guess they wash their stuff in Dreft! Anyways, we are back home now and hopefully he will be getting back into his old routine soon...and it better be soon because his momma is getting tired of the lack of sleep!

In between Gustav and Ike he had his 6-month doctor check up. Jeremy got to go with us this time because he was off of work for jury duty. The little man got a mouth vaccine and three shots, but the doctor said he looked great. He was 26 1/2 inches and 17 pounds 7 ounces. He is still in the 50th percentile on both height and weight.

He is full fledged into eating baby food now and he loves it. He is getting more and more interested in our table food every day. He wants to grab our plates anytime he is within reach of real food. He is sitting up so good and we are taking major steps with the sitting up. He now sits in high chairs at restaurants and he sits in the buggies at the store. That is much easier for me instead of toting that baby carrier around all the time. That big old lug is getting heavier and heavier to carry - especially when you add in the weight of the carrier. I have also started giving him baths in the real bath tub. I just sit him down in it and I am right there in case he decides to start tipping over. He is doing so good!

We are also a half step away from actually crawling. He does a kind-of commando belly crawl thing right now because he hasn't figured out the whole knee/arm coordination, but he definitely can get himself wherever he needs to go. He can go from one side of the room to the other.

Hopefully we will get more and more back into our routine and I will have time to get back into posting more often. Sorry for the delay! More to come soon....

Our 1st bath in the real bathtub!

Sitting up so good!!!

Jumperoo

About a week ago we got him a new toy - a jumperoo! He absolutely loves it! It is hanging in the laundry room so I can work while he plays. It plays music and other stuff and he goes to town!!!

Quick Recap

A quick recap of the week...not much to talk about! Cooper is doing good. He keeps eating like crazy now...we can't stop him. He is doing good with his fruits and vegetables. He has already tried applesauce, pears, carrots, green beans, squash, and sweet potatoes. All have been pretty good except the green beans - he didn't like them and they didn't like him!

On Saturday, I took him grocery shopping with me and he sat in the front of the buggy for the first time. He had a ball! I put the shopping cart cover in there and I kind of padded him in since he doesn't sit straight up completely yet and he was just fine. He loved looking at all the sights and sounds at the grocery store. He is always ready to see new things and take it all in. He was a hit, too! Who knew he would get so much attention and so many strangers would want to talk to him.

Cooper went to church today for the first time. We were nervous leaving him in the nursery, but Grandpa stayed with him and gave him first hand, top notch care! He was too cute in his polo shirt and pants - I will post the picture of Jeremy and Cooper getting ready to go to church. Aren't they the cutest?

Rolling Over

Well, I decided to get out the video camera and try to get a video of him rolling over. It appears as though his camera shyness has gone away (atleast for tonight, anyways!)! At first he just wanted to lay there and do nothing but yell at the camera. I have a whole other video of about 5-6 minutes of him doing nothing but screaming and talking! I stopped recording for a few seconds and he decided to start rolling over. In this clip, you get a taste of his yelling/talking and you get to see him rolling over!

The Littlest Astro

Last weekend Cooper got to go to his first Houston Astros game! He was so cute dressed in Astros gear from head to toe (well, the booties didn't really stay on). We had seats in the outfield and when we first got there and they were doing batting practice, Cooper had so much fun looking around and seeing all the people and the sights....then they sang the national anthem. As soon as the song was over, everybody clapped and cheered and it was downhill from there. He didn't like all the noise of the clapping and the music and he cried almost the whole time! I guess you don't realize how loud it is until you see that the little man is sensitive to it. Oh well...I know one of these days he will be dying to go to a baseball game and will be loving every minute of it! Until then, we can just look at how cute he is in his Astros gear!

The Lake

Well, we did get to go to the lake last weekend. I think I brought half of our house and it still seemed like there was some stuff missing! We had to take the truck since we were towing the trailer, so I put all of Cooper's stuff in plastic bags because I didn't want it exposed to the elements...a little neurotic, I know. Friday night was pretty bumpy. The little man was not used to the new environment and he didn't like that hard pack n play compared to the throne crib that he sleeps in at home. I don't think any of us got much sleep that night. Saturday night was a little better because we were all so tired, sleep came a little easier. I also got a blanket and got him fixed up in more comfort.
Our friends Dan, Jennifer, and Ty came from Nacogdoches to meet us. It was the first time for them to meet Cooper and the first time for Ty and Cooper to meet. Ty is a big boy...he crawls around and pulls up. We will be there before too long! Ty wanted to play with Cooper so bad, but the little man couldn't do much except lay there and kick! We didn't go outside much because it was too hot and we didn't get in the water because there was too much seaweed, so we pretty much played with the babies!

Cooper started rolling over from back to front this week. Earlier in the week he did it for Gran during the day but we couldn't get him to do it again at home. Today he was on a roll and did it several times for Gran and then kept rolling over when he got home. I think he has it down now! More changes all the time!

Here are some pictures of Ty trying to play with Cooper!

Uneventful

Last weekend was very uneventful. We didn't do much but hang out around the house. We did go to eat at the new mexican restaurant on Friday and the little man was pretty good. He actually stayed in his car seat the whole time while we ate and we didn't have to get him out to hold him while we ate because of his crying. It was really nice for us both to eat a hot dinner and not have to play hand off. Of course, we went to Texas Roadhouse in Lake Charles on Saturday night and we were back to our old ways! Maybe he is getting better though.

I think we are going to go to the lake this weekend, and I am very nervous. It will be our first night away from home (except for the hospital!). I think I should have started packing last week!

Here are some pictures that we got taken at Sears a few weeks ago. Isn't he the cutest?????

Chick Magnet

Well, the little man is only 4 1/2 months old and I have already found him two girlfriends! This week I got to meet baby Zoee who is only about 6 weeks old (my friend Christa from work's baby) and this weekend Cooper got to meet Isabel who is 26 days older than him (Jeremy's friend Larry from work's baby). He is just going to be surrounded by them....and of course, he is bigger than all of them!!! He has definitely caught up on his size. Here is the little chick magnet!

We started feeding him cereal atleast twice a day now and I am going to increase to 3 times a day before too long. He is getting better at it all the time. He opens up his mouth to take a bite! Last night he slept from 10:30 to 5:00...6 1/2 hours! I just hope he can keep it up!!!!

4th of July

We had a pretty good 4th of July weekend. The 4th was pretty non-eventful. We just stayed around the house. On Saturday, we went to Aunt Nickie and Uncle Shane's to eat hot dogs and get in their pool. The little man was able to get in the pool a little bit, but we didn't want him to get sunburned.

We went today for his 4-month check up and shots. He was 15 lbs. 3 oz. and 24 3/4 inches long. It kills me to see them give him those shots. He had a delayed reaction...didn't realize it hurt until after it was almost over! The doctor says he is doing great developmentally. Usually babies double their birth weight by 4 months and triple by 1 year. Well, we are a little more than a pound away from being triple our birth weight already! He was in the 50th percentile on everything, and the doctor said he is catching up really well since he started out little behind.

Hello again!

Wow - it has been a long time since I have been able to get on to the blog. There has been a lot going on around here and it is hard to find time to get on the computer with a fussy baby around! Cooper is doing pretty good. He has gone through this terrible phase where he doesn't want to eat! He would eat about 1-2 ounces and then scream and cry. I took him to the doctor and we did an upper GI on him to check everything out. It killed me to put him through that, but good news is that everything looked ok. He is eating better, but every now and then he will have another 'episode'. I have been feeding him oatmeal cereal in the evenings before he goes to bed and he seems to really like it. It is doing a lot better in his little tummy too.
He is getting so big and growing out of all of his clothes so fast. For the most part he is in 6 months clothes. I love getting him in new outfits and getting him all dressed up. When he is bigger, he probably isn't going to let me do that much! Here are a few pictures of me and Cooper and one of his new outfits that his Aunt Nickie got him.

Finally!!!

Finally - I think I figured it out..after hours and hours of trying to get video loaded from our camcorder to the computer, I think I got it. I am going to try to post some video of Cooper so yall can see it. There isn't a lot of excitement in this video, but I was mainly trying to get it working.

He is too funny...whenever we pull out the video camera, he clams up and won't smile and won't do anything. He is going to have to get better at that if he is going to be famous one day! Enjoy! Let me know how it looks!

Birthday Weekend

Saturday was Jeremy's birthday, so we had a busy weekend. I took off work on Thursday to run some errands and get him a birthday present and the little man came with me. We had a very interesting time at Target. He cried and whined almost the whole time in the store, so I was carrying him and dragging the buggy behind me! Then, as soon as I finished checking out, I realized that he only had one shoe on...he had lost the other one some where in the store. So there I went...holding him, dragging the buggy with my bags behind me, and looking down each aisle for a little blue shoe! It was crazy, but...you have to get stuff done!

I bought him a bumbo to sit in and he looks so cute when he is in it. He is growing like crazy and we have moved up to a lot more of the bigger clothes in his closet. The drawer that I have of clothes that he has grown out of is getting bigger and bigger! I can't believe it!
Friday night we had a pizza-bar party at Mimi and PawPaw's and Cooepr had fun seeing everybody.

I need to do a little more research because so far this rice cereal isn't doing very good on his tummy. I don't know if I should keep going, or just wait and go straight to first-stage vegetables in another month or so. I will do some reading on the internet to find out.
Here are some pictures of him in his bumbo.

Big Step

We took a big step this weekend. First, we went on Friday night and bought Cooper a high chair! Only big boys need high chairs! Then, we fed him cereal for the first time on Friday night. I started out trying to feed it with a spoon, but he was so mad...(he has to learn)...so then we put it in his bottle and he gulped it down. We fed it to him every night this weekend. I am going to try again soon with the spoon.

His new thing is he grabs onto everything he can. Jeremy was amazed last night because when he put him in bed and tried to give him his paci - Cooper grabbed Jeremy's arms and wouldn't let go. He wanted to be picked up! It is amazing what changes he goes through and how quickly they happen! He is also putting things in his mouth. He likes to put his fists in his mouth, if he has a bib on he puts that in his mouth and he likes to put Clifford in his mouth (not the paci, but Clifford himself!). Time is flying by!

Here is a picture of him eating in his high chair.

Pre-Bath Time

Cooper has so much fun getting ready to take a bath. We try to capture as many pictures as we can!

Working Mom

I started back to work this week full time. It isn't too bad - we are very busy and there are a few people out so it makes the day go faster. I miss the little man a ton and I am so excited to get to see him in the afternoons. Gran and Mimi are doing a great job of taking care of him.

We took some video of him the other night and I am trying to figure out how to get it posted on our site. Hopefully that will be coming soon!

Sleepy Love

With all this love, sometimes it just wears you out!

I love my Daddy!

Waving???

Today we decided that Cooper is learning to wave (or maybe we imagine it). Jeremy waves at him all the time and today he is starting to lift up his arm and move it around when Jeremy waves at him. We just think he is the smartest baby in the whole world!

Last night we went out to eat at Casa Bella in Orange. We were worried about him being fussy at a semi-quiet restaurant. They ended up sticking us in a front room by ourselves, but we were glad. He did start crying some, but we weren't bothering anyone because we were all alone! He had a colicy night once we got home and he ate and it was hard to get him to go to sleep. He didn't actually go to sleep until about 11:30.

Testing 1,2,3,4

This is a test to see what it can do as far as creating posts and sending emails. I am also going to attach a picture to see how that works! More to come...

Night Out on the Town

We got to go for a night out on the town tonight. Mimi and PawPaw came over and watched Cooper while Jeremy and I went out to eat and ran errands. We went to Academy and Wal-Mart - it was a wild and crazy night! Here is a picture of Cooper and Jeremy tonight.

I love my Daddy!

Mother's Day

The picture in my profile if of me and Cooper on Mother's Day. I will post the pictures that I have of us from Mother's Day.

I love my mommy!

Trying it Out

This whole blogging thing is new to me, but I thought I would try it out. I set up our blogspot and I am working on creating our page. I don't really know what I am doing, so hang in there. I will learn as I go and maybe one day it will be an interesting page! Of course, I am going to go back to work soon, so I don't know when I will ever have time to work on this. Oh well! Hopefully it will be fun and not too difficult!