"Oh where, oh where has the month of June gone..."

I can’t believe I haven’t updated since June 8th! Oh my…

Well we have had a fun month.

On June 13th we travelled up to Cherry, MN (just outside Hibbing) to help my cousin Jaron celebrate his high school graduation. It was a very fast trip as it is about 4 ½ hours up. We left early Saturday morning and arrived shortly before Jaron’s open house started. It was fun spending time with my two aunts, uncle, and cousins. We were with them until about 7:30 and then we headed to our hotel to settle down for the night. Sunday morning we met up with the family again for breakfast and then headed home about 11:30. Even though it was fast, I think we really enjoyed just getting away for the night and doing something different. Besides, Deb and Gary hadn’t seen Cooper since he was just a few days old and Jill, Kim, Josh, and Jaron hadn’t met him yet.

My parents and sister came for a visit Father’s Day weekend. Mom and Dad just moved and Mom had a “free” Sunday. We enjoyed having them stay a few extra days and goof off. Steve enjoyed my dad’s company and having help with getting a few projects completed or worked on. Mom and I, of course, shopped.

Cooper has had a busy month, too. Let’s see if I can remember everything that is happening…

On Friday he had his ear tubes placed… finally! He was such a brave little boy and did fantastically well! We checked into the outpatient procedure area at 7:15. Cooper wasn’t too sure about changing into a gown, but he did. It was an unfamiliar place with lots of unfamiliar people. He also didn’t appreciate the O2 monitor even though he was fascinated that his big toe was glowing red. He also let me put on the “baby do-rag”, something they wear instead of a hairnet. Steve and I joked that now he can pretend to do surgery or welding. About 8:15 the anesthesiologist came to get him. I laid him on the cart and the anesthesiologist wrapped blanket around him and a belt and then sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as they went down the hall. Cooper never cried. They had told us it would be about 15 minutes, but just as we were settling in finding something to watch on TV a nurse said they done and were coming back... about 10 minutes after he left. Wow, that was fast! Cooper was completely out, but about five minutes later woke up very bright-eyed. It was a mad task to get him unwrapped and the electrode patch off his back before he realized what was going on. After a cup of juice (poor kid had been without food or water since 8pm the night before) we got him dressed and we were out the door at 9:15. Two hours from start to finish. I think they found silly knobs in his ears since he has been over-the-top happy since Friday. I’m sure it feels good to get that fluid and pressure off his eardrums. Hopefully we can catch a break from ear infections for a loooooong time.

Cooper is in the process of graduating from the older infant daycare room to the young toddler room. He started yesterday for a few hours and he will gradually move over there with them anticipating he will be fully transitioned by July 13th. Oh, my baby is growing up! It looks like from the schedule that Toddlers is a bit more structured with lots of projects, outside playtime or large muscle room activities, big toys, music, and time to rest and read. Mommy isn’t sure she is ready to leave Cooper’s teachers. You depend on these people to care for your child when you can’t, so they play a big role in his life. I’ve gotten a bit attached to them. But just as Cooper will adjust, I will, too. I’m sure his new teachers will be wonderful. He will be with some of his old friends that have moved before him.

While brushing his teeth this morning I felt his gums… and was bit a few times, too. Cooper is definitely getting tooth #8 (the fourth tooth on the bottom) and three molars… ALL AT THE SAME TIME! That has got to hurt. I’m sure the fourth molar will come soon, too. Wow! He is really good at brushing his teeth. I do his front teeth and gums (and now the beginnings of his molars) and then he tries… usually chewing on the tooth brush, but, hey, he is trying.

Cooper loves to be outside. This morning as soon as he was dressed he went to the front door and fussed. He wanted to go out. The last few nights we have spent quite a bit of time outside again playing with sidewalk chalk, picking up sticks (Daddy is thrilled at having help in a few years… hopefully Cooper will still think it is fun), picking up rocks, and going for walks. He just doesn’t want to come in.

I thought I’d share this one picture my beloved sister took of my belly… thanks, Missy. I’m not sure what happened, but all of a sudden when doing dishes or brushing my teeth, I have found the sink is getting further and further away. Little one is growing. She has now taken over my entire belly. I can feel her under my ribs, along my sides, and, of course, using my bladder as a pillow or soccer ball. I have another OB appointment today and my OB mentioned she will quickly scan her to see if she is head-down. Not that it probably matter since we are planning a scheduled c-section (which should be scheduled with Labor and Delivery today- Wow, again!) and the fact that Cooper was breech at 36 weeks and he still turned before 40 weeks. I’m pretty sure she is head-down because she is frequently getting hiccups and I’ve been told by OB that where you feel the rhythmic pulse is usually where the head is… my bladder. I frequently sit in awe watching my belly do the wave. I’m almost positive I have a baby butt just above my bellybutton. Oh, by the way… Cooper is absolutely fascinated with bellybuttons. And not just mine because it is starting to stick out. I hope he doesn’t start going up to people to lift their shirts to find one.

Miss Cierra is growing, too. I look at her and see the height of an adult dog. She still needs to fill-out a bit, but she isn’t that little one we brought home four months ago. She also loves to be outside and play with the neighbor dog. We’ve been leaving her out of the kennel in hopes of putting the kennel away. For now she spends the day while we are at work in the kitchen. We make sure she has chew toys, but once in a while she gets bored and eats something she isn’t supposed to. Unfortunately the corners of the walls have been the hardest hit… I mean chewed. Ugh, add those to the project list. When will the chewing end??? She really is a good dog, but she is definitely still a puppy.

(Notice the tennis ball and chew bone next to the damage???)

Well, I think that about updates the highlights of the last few weeks. Time is moving very fast. We have less than six weeks before our daughter will be here. I need to start getting ready.

Here are a few more pictures to enjoy…

Cooper got balloons from Grandma and Papa to help him feel better after his ear tubes.

I love balloons!

My sleeping prince

Caged!

Reading a good book... Good Night, Gorilla

Bookshelves: 1 Cooper:0

Our Big Boy!

Cooper turned sixteen months old on Saturday. No pictures??? What was Mommy thinking?

Cooper slept in his big boy bed for naps this weekend and did fabulously well! I got a little nervous with him on Sunday as he got close to the edge so I put extra pillows beside the bed, but he did just fine. We will eventually work on getting him in there overnight, too, but naps are great for now. He really snoozed yesterday for nearly two hours in it. I just want him used to his new room before his sister comes.

Cooper is scheduled to have his ear tubes placed on the 26th. He probably met ENT’s tube criteria months ago. Five ear infections or fluid for three months. Hmmm, I think the poor kid met both. There was no question for them that he will benefit from the procedure. The resident we saw said she has heard story after story from moms that kids hear better right away and their speech improves… not that we would necessarily see a big difference in his speech since he is just 16 months old. I can only imagine that what he is hearing is like if we had our head underwater or how my ears get after flying… my ears never equalize pressure very well. While I am anxious to have it done, as a mommy I am a bit nervous. I know it is quick and he will only be out for five to ten minutes, but I am putting my son in the hands of others… complete trust. He will be fine. Thankfully we get to do it at a new outpatient center and not at Saint Marys so we should be in and out in a couple of hours rather than all morning at SMH. The surgeon doing it only does pediatrics. He should be back to normal later that day. We chose the Friday date so he has the weekend before going back to daycare.

We had a great weekend… busy, but great. Cooper did a fantastic job during church yesterday. He was quiet through most of the service. About half way through I gave him two of his cars to play with thinking he would roll them on the pew cushion, but Mommy quickly learned that they are more fun to bang on the back of the pew in front of us. I quickly grabbed a book to distract him. A short while later he had some stop-sign crackers (oyster crackers) and then a bottle of milk. That almost got us to the end. We have had several people mention that they never hear him during the service. You never quite know what people are going to think about a small child in service. The family in front of us yesterday once mentioned way back when Cooper was about two months old that the church has a great nursery. I know we do, but I’d like him to sit with us as much as possible without disrupting those around us. We also like to sit toward the front on the side. I’m way to distracted if we sit near the back, so we chose to take our chances.

Well, here is to another week... a bit soggy today, but welcomed rain.

Adventures in parenting… take #... hmm, I don’t know

Some days just seem to be more interesting than others and in the grand scheme of life, these probably really aren’t that interesting, but for today, they seem to be. Now keep in mind that at 29 ½ weeks pregnant the interesting-ness (is that a word?) is a bit more exaggerated than usual. Everything takes longer and is a bit more challenging than not being pregnant.

Cooper had a well baby visit yesterday afternoon. So it all started with trying to carry my child up to Community Pediatrics. This usually isn’t a challenge, but for some reason yesterday everyone was in the Baldwin elevators and at least one wheelchair in each… and the elevators aren’t that big. We were on time, but quickly running out of time as I had to let three elevators go without getting on. Now I could have taken the stairs, but carrying my child can be challenging enough without adding stairs to the mix. We made it up to the third floor only to find a long line of people… did everyone make late-day appointments??? Then I of course was handed 10… and I’m not kidding… sheet so paper to fill out. This is the first time I have had to do a current visit survey on Cooper. Does anyone in the house smoke? How much TV does he watch? How many fruits does he eat? What kind of milk does he drink? etc... And then I had to do a developments survey on him. Thankfully (maybe) Cooper was a bit intimidated by his surrounds (not that I want him to be scared of going to the doctor) and he sat very quietly in the chair next to me while I completed his forms. His visit went well. He is 24 pounds and 31 inches long. His pediatrician did suggest trying to get our “self-decided” vegetarian to eat some meat. We try, but he definitely prefers fruit and veggies to meat. He does eat eggs, cheese, and peanut butter. Overall he looked really good. The decision was made to have his hearing tested based on the fact that he has had so many ear infections and lots of fluid behind his ear drum. His left ear did look red… perhaps another ear infection brewing and his lungs sounded like he had the beginnings of an upper respiratory infection… but he doesn’t seem sick… yet. To end our visit he got two shots. Oh, they never get easier. He held my hands so tight and just cried. But he got a sticker and a book out of it, so not too bad and he forgot about his legs by the time I got him dressed. His pediatrician is leaving at the end of the month and we needed to request a new one as we left. Thankfully, I got the one I think I want. We also got a hearing test appointment for this morning.

So this morning our routine was a little off. You would think that I would have this mastered by now… getting out the door on time, but when you think you have everything under control that is when things don’t always go as planned. I was able to shower and get dressed without too much of a problem. Nothing ended up in the toilet. Thankfully today was garbage day and there wasn’t much for Cooper to empty from our bedroom garbage… and there isn’t anything dangerous in there since we know he likes to empty it. For some reason (my heart gets in the way) I brought Cierra out with us. I just feel so guilty when she is left in the kitchen and I know she will be in her kennel all day. They did great together! I was able to get my hair and make-up done while the two of them entertained each other in the bathroom.

Once again, nothing ended up in the toilet. The only problem was Cooper got a Cierra hair on his tongue and started to gag. His gagging got so bad that he tossed his milk from this morning… curdled milk to be exact. Once again, keep in mind that I am very sensitive to smells and vomit. I can gag very easily these days. So as I glanced at the clock I see we need to leave, very soon! I got another outfit for Cooper and wiped him down the best that I could. For the life of me I couldn’t get that smell of curdled milk to go away, but I didn’t have time to bathe him. I even tried to brush his teeth, again. I got Cierra outside one last time and then in her kennel and we were out the door… with stuffed puppy, pacifier (just in case), and snacks (we were missing daycare breakfast). I neglected to remember (since I never park there) that the Mayo ramps early in the morning are HORRIBLE! I was stuck behind probably eight or so cars and had to go all the way to the top (ten floors) and then start back down to park on level six. Then wait again for an elevator with a ton of other people to get to the subway level. We then quickly hurried (waddled) to another elevator… I’m starting to dislike elevators… to get to our floor in another building. We got to the desk about three minutes past our “check-in” time. Oh well.

Thankfully Mommy doesn’t get to claustrophobic anymore as we had to go through two soundproof thick doors… scary. Cooper had a great audiologist that obviously plays a lot with kids. The audiologist was stacking rings and other objects to keep Cooper entertained while a “puppets” on the wall would periodically make noise or the helper behind the glass called his name. The noise would get louder until Cooper responded. This repeated several times… and Coops even started to anticipate the puppets. They then took pictures of his eardrums with an earplug looking thing (a very scientific description). He then was tested with a headset behind his ear that bypassed his middle ear to test the actual nerve. The results… “Abnormal middle ear function”. The fluid is preventing him from hearing at lower decibels. He has a completely normal hearing test if they bypass his middle ear. Soooooo, tomorrow we will see the ENT doc to get an assessment of what next. They initially wanted to wait 6-8 weeks to see if the fluid would clear and repeat the exam, but I shared with his pediatrician that I didn’t want to wait since he has been battling fluid or an ear infection since last July and I didn’t think 6-8 weeks would give us a different result. She agreed. No to mention little one should arrive about that same time and life will be even more interesting. If he needs tubes I would rather do it before she comes so I can focus on him… even though I know it is a simple procedure. We should know tomorrow. If they tell us we need to wait I may become a momma bear protecting her cub… on pregnancy hormones. But I will be positive. I don’t want to put him through a procedure for the sake of doing it. I’d like him to be ear infection free for more than two months and hearing better! No to much to ask, right???

So off to daycare we went. Cooper fell asleep on the way there and was extra cuddly when I took him out of his seat. It was hard to leave him. I don’t like doing drop-offs. He’s my baby.

Until tomorrow….