Coughs, sniffles, and sneezes, oh my!!!... Again!

Almost another week is over… wow! Where do they go??? I feel like I haven’t updated forever.

Well, we managed to pick-up another cold. Hmmm… I think we’ve been cold-free for about a week since September. They haven’t been anything significant, but it seems like we are either wiping Cooper’s nose or listening to him cough. I was so happy to hear last week that his ears looked good. His doctor also thinks he’s too young for allergies… I was starting to wonder if that was what was going on, but they are probably colds that are starting before the other ends. On Friday, his daycare teacher commented that he had been not himself all afternoon and cried unless he was being held. Cooper has a reputation for being a very happy kid! She thought it was the shots from the day before, but I had a feeling a cold was brewing as he had been fine Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. By Saturday he was clingy and tired. Jackie and I did take him to the Mayo employee craft sale… poor kid. I brought the Baby Bjorn and once he was in it he slept the rest of the shopping trip. At this weight he should probably face forward, but I put him toward me and he cuddled in and snoozed. All he wanted was to be close. So other than a really sore back, it worked. By Sunday I was feeling like I had it and then Steve got it, too. In fact, Steve felt bad enough to stay home on Tuesday. It seems to be a short lived cold and I’m pretty well back to normal. Coops still has a cough that will probably hang on and his nose continues to run. Ugh.

I think I mentioned last week that the daycare gave Cooper spaghetti and he loved it. The other night we had spaghetti for dinner and thought we’d give him some. Oh my! What a mess, but he did a great job and loved it. Next time I think we’ll strip him down more. I left a onesie (that will probably need to be bleached) and pants on him. This week at daycare he has had eggs, bagels, beef pot roast- potatoes and carrots, rice, French toast, and cake. Cooper is eating better during the day than we probably are! With all these new foods, he sure doesn’t want baby food… yuck.


It is well known fact… I’ll admit it… that I get bed-head in the morning. Today it was mommy like son. Cooper had the worst case of bed-head he has ever had. The poor kid had it standing straight up. Part of it may have been that he didn’t sleep well last night and Steve brought him in bed with us. Oh, that was one long night. I don’t think the child slept much at all… I know we didn’t. Steve had Cooper’s head in his armpit and I had his feet kicking my ribs. If Steve cuddled him or I held his had he would settle down for a few moments, but it didn’t last long. Hopefully he will sleep tonight. (If you double click the picture you can really see his hair standing up.)

Poor Cooper is probably thinking that life is behind bars… although this is the only time in his life that he will be behind bars.

He is also finding the dining room table to be a fun place to crawl under. I guess I better get it dusted. Where are Cooper and his sock??? Maybe he’ll dust it while he’s down there… just kidding.

Last weekend went too fast. Steve was on-call and ended up working much of Saturday. We did make it out to dinner with Jackie and Kyle Saturday night. On Sunday we were supposed to go to Lanesboro for another play, but I wasn’t feeling good and Steve wanted to work on getting more of the tree that we took down cut up. We had Jackie watch Cooper and we went to Target and Petsmart for a few things. We also stopped for a quick cup of Caribou Coffee, so we did have a bit of a date. I made plans to get a babysitter and Steve and I are going to go to a movie tomorrow. I really want to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It’s about two eight year olds during World War II… one a Nazi officer's son and the other a child in a concentration camp that befriend each other through a wire fence. It will be a difficult movie to watch, but I have a feeling it was very well done. Schindler’s List was a tough movie to watch, too, but probably one of the best movies ever made. After being to Dachau twice, it makes those movies all the more powerful. Otherwise, I’m hoping for a quiet weekend.

A Cooper update...

Where did the week go? Believe me, I’m not complaining. I’m looking forward to the weekend!

Mr. Cooper is Mr. Speedy when it comes to crawling. Wow! He can move! If he knows where he wants to go, he goes. Usually it’s to Cody… who doesn’t appreciate Cooper’s new found ability. He is doing well with getting up and moving if Cooper approaches. We, of course, watch the two of them and make sure Cooper is not in danger or “bugging” Cody. The hard part is that Cooper loves Cody and giggles when he sees him. Sunday was the first time (of many I’m sure) where I asked Steve where Cooper was. I was in the bedroom and Steve was at the computer. It was only for a few seconds, but Cooper had crawled into the bathroom (which is between the computer and the bedroom). I think he likes the fuzziness of the bathmat.

Cooper is making progress with eating. The daycare gave us a sheet last weekend with foods we will allow them to give him. I checked off several things that I know he can eat. We also gave them permission to try new things with him if they think he is developmentally ready… hey, these people spend their days with kids his age and probably know more about what they are doing than we do. Well, this week he has had green beans, peas, diced peaches and pears, yogurt, pancakes, and yesterday he had a blast with spaghetti! They had to take the tray way from him after two helpings. He LOVED it! He also enjoyed “splashing” in his applesauce. Fortunately… or unfortunately- depending on how you look at it… this kid is “into” food. Cody doesn’t have a problem with Cooper when he is in his chair and a Gerber puff or two come over the edge of the tray.

So are you wondering how much he weighs??? Yesterday he had his nine month well baby visit and he is at 19 pounds 13 ounces… about the 39th percentile. He is doing great. He’s a little on the short side, but came in at 27 inches. He seems long when he starts to outgrow the length of his pants. He did a great job of showing Dr. Alme how he can flirt and be cute. He is such a happy baby. Cooper loved the paper on the exam table. Trying to undress and dress him was nearly impossible. Then trying to keep a nine month old occupied on my lap was hard. This particular exam room had nothing fun to look at. Thankfully he got a new book during his visit so we had something to read while we waited for the nurse to bring his shots. At first the nurse didn’t think he was going to cry after she gave him the first one, but once Cooper figured out that it hurt, he screamed. Poor baby- I still don’t like the idea of my baby being poked, but I know the shots are important. I thought she could have done the second one a little quicker, but Cooper did okay. By the time I had him sitting up he gave her a smile. He has to go in again in four weeks for the flu shot booster… ugh.

Well, I suppose it’s time to go and get him from daycare and start the weekend. Take care!

JCP pictures...

Here are some of the pictures we had taken at JCP two weeks ago. Oh, he is growing up too fast!

Happy 9 months old, Cooper!

You are growing up so fast!

Playing in the leaves...

Sunday was a gorgeous day, so Cooper and I spent some time outside while Daddy worked on the tree we took down. Cooper enjoyed playing in the leaves. He tried to eat one, but thankfully I got it out before he swallowed it… yucky.

On Sunday, Daddy also dropped Cooper’s crib to the lower level. Cooper hadn’t pulled himself up yet, but it was probably just a matter of time. Cooper found Daddy’s tools to be very interesting and wanted to help. I think I may have another handyman!

"I think he did it right."

We put Cooper to work cleaning the walls… not really, but he enjoys wiping the walls with his socks. Maybe someday I can get him to help me dust.

"This wall looks awefully dusty, but I think my sock will work....

There! Much better!"

Crawling with Daddy...

"Goodbye!"

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween... a couple of days late. Where do the days go???



Cooper had a great time trick-or-treating! We went to a few of our neighbors to show off our puppy. We live in a great neighborhood with some wonderful families (many of them about the age of our parents). It's a good thing we only stopped at about four houses... a few neighbors were gone for the night... as it took us an hour just to do them and they are all right next door or across the street from us. We had fun chatting and they were amazed at how fast Cooper has grown. I hate to say we didn't get him out as much during the summer to visit with the neighbors. It seems like the days went so fast and by the time we got home from daycare, made dinner, got ready for the next day, it was dark out. We did go to the block party back in August, but some haven't seen him since.

After we finished we went over to Jackie's house. Cooper loved seeing Lucy (Jack's dog) in her costume... poor Lucy- but she was cute!... and petting the kitties. They were so soft.

Since we had a whirlwind of activity after work, we stopped at Culvers for dinner after Jackie's. They were giving out Halloween candy, too. Cooper brought in quite the stash for five houses and Culvers. Fortunately... or unfortunately... Mom and Dad will enjoy it.

Today I think we'll try to get out to play in the leaves and then go for a walk to get some ice cream... not that we need any more sugar, but Daddy has a free dish from Cold Stone for his birthday.

Scare you later!

Here is Cooper's Halloween sweatshirt...

We are taking him out to see our neighbors and some friends tonight. I'll try to get some pictures posted after we get home.

Scare you later!

Our puppy...

Here are a few photos from yesterday afternoon’s daycare costume party. We got to decorate sugar cookies with Cooper. He probably ate about 1/8 of one and loved it. Thankfully, he didn’t get as much of the frosting on him as one of his friends that will probably still have orange hands to match his Tigger costume on Friday. After we got Cooper dressed, they put most of the little ones in a stroller and rolled them to the playground for the parade. The home store next door invited the kids to come over for trick-or-treating. Cooper got several pieces of candy that he can’t eat, but that Mom and Dad will enjoy for him. He is progressing in his menu of things to eat… cookies, toast, crackers, pudding, mashed potatoes, but no candy bars or M&Ms yet. Cooper had fun grabbing the item out of the bowl and then giving it to me to put in the bag… sometimes I was prying it out of his hand before it went in his mouth (with the wrapper). They had a magician at the daycare after the trick-or-treating, but we decided to pack up Coops and go home.

On a sad note, we drove in yesterday to see our front tree pretty well lying across the grass with a ten foot stump sticking out of the ground. Unfortunately, this was planned. I hate it and will need time to mourn the tree. Last night I just wanted to close the drapes (not that it would have helped as they are shear) and close the blinds in the bedroom… I can’t bear to look outside. I love our wooded lot and hated the thought of taking it down… and the five (one on the side of the houe, too) others to come. They are 50 year old trees… you just don’t grow them over night. But they are starting to become unstable and the thought of one them crashing through our living room makes me know that this had to be done… BUT I HATE IT! The five trees lined our front yard in a perfect row. Now we have two, a huge gap, and two more. The yard is going to look silly… my OCD response… I like things in order. Steve said we will plant another tree as soon as we can… maybe yet this year, if we can. When he asked how big of a tree to get I said a 50 year old size, but that isn’t realistic and the size I want will probably cost as much as it took the other one down. I just don’t want a “twig” in our front yard. Here is how it used to look…

Moving right along...

I wanted to share a few more pictures of Cooper crawling. He came to see me while I was on the computer last night... and then left me to go back to Steve. I think he is enjoying his new mobility. Excuse the fact that he is missing his pants.

Cooper is going through a phase… I hope it is a phase… where he doesn’t like to get his clothes changed. Last night he bawled me out with a babababababa or mamamamama (I don’t think it is really mama) with a bit of a quivering bottom lip. He has started to express his displease with a situation. His current favorite “word” is i-da, i-da, i-da. He has several combinations, but the i-da is the one we probably hear the most.

He is making progress also in the area of eating. We have tried hard toast with him and he is doing great. While Steve’s parents were here we went out to eat and he had a couple of crackers. We have also been doing diluted juice with a sippy cup. It is amazing how quickly he can suck down a cup of juice.

Yesterday Cooper helped fold laundry with one of his teachers. I wonder if we can get a discount on his tuition. They have decided that with his new moving experience that he will stay in the mobile infant room. Up to this point they have been combining the infant rooms as they are not full. They have a new little one and a couple of the older infants have moved on to the toddler room.

Tomorrow the daycare will have a Halloween parade. Steve and I will go over tomorrow afternoon to get Cooper ready. He is going as a puppy. It will be fun to see him and his friends in their costumes. I think we will take Cooper to see some of our neighbors on Friday.

Here are a couple of photos Jackie took when she was caring for Cooper. My teddy bear is about the same size as Cooper and he loves it!

Here's another one of Steve and Cooper.

I'll try to get some costume pictures up tomorrow.

Cooper can crawl!!!

Happy Saturday!

Well, he’s done it. Cooper can now crawl! He has made great strides in the realm of baby transportation. Yesterday when I went to pick him up from daycare, his teacher was sitting with him on the floor. She had a toy that she was tapping on the floor encouraging him to come and get it. He didn’t know I was behind him (or he would have wanted me to pick him up) and he made a move for the toy. He did it! He crawled!!! She said that was the first he actually did it... if it wasn't I'm glad she lied to me, but I think she was telling me the truth. At last! Cooper has been working on it for a few weeks and his determination paid off. He has been moving all over the living room since. Now we are frantically working to get the remaining child-proofing done as we know he will all over the place now. Some things are obvious, but then there are things that we don’t think he’ll get into, but probably will. Now, where to put everything???

Cooper is also pulling himself up on things. The other night he pulled himself up on the coffee table and started pulling books off… so we cleared it off, except for things he can play with.

Steve’s parents are here for the weekend. They are having fun with him! Grandma bought Cooper a winter jacket for an early Christmas present. I never thought it would so hard to find a 12-18 month jacket, but we did. Now he can stay toasty warm when the temps drop.

We took Cooper to get his picture taken at JCP. They were busy and I was a bit disappointed when the photographer only took about ten minutes worth of photos, but I still had a horribly difficult time trying to decide on what to get. She got some great pictures!- But the subject is absolutely adorable, so what did I expect??? As you can see from the pictures I took today he was in denim bibs and a white shirt. There are a few of him with a pumpkin and some leaves and then she spelled out Cooper in blocks. I got the smiles-by-wire, so I will post them when I get them.

Since Steve is celebrating a very special birthday (read 40th… shh) tomorrow, we will take advantage of Grandma and Grandpa babysitting and go out to dinner tonight alone. I made Steve a drop-raspberry cake with butter-cream frosting… trust me this is a HUGE feat and a symbol of love. I could have bought one, but I wanted to show him I love him… hmmm, I really hope it tastes good or it may not taste like love…, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Hold on… I have a pooopppppppppyyy diaper to change. Yuck, yuck.

Well, Steve and I are off for his birthday dinner… with me. We’ll go out with his parents tomorrow.

Take care!