Merry Christmas in pictures...

Our tree before opening gifts...

Cody opening a Christmas cookie...

My new Christmas jammies...

Riding my Little People race truck...

My tractor from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa...

My book from Aunt Tamra and Uncle Brian...

My new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Hull...


Playing my kitty cat keyboard...

Playing with my bead maze...

My race truck...

Reading the 12 Dogs of Christmas... a texture/feel book

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I can’t believe it is Christmas Eve! Last week I was thinking I still had about a month left to get everything done that I wanted to get done. Well, it is here and I’m not sure… actually, I know, I don’t have everything done, but it is just going to have to be okay. I work until 3pm today and the daycare closes at 3pm, too. Steve is off, but thought he’d try to get a few things done while Cooper plays with his friends. I’d like to get a pan or two of cookies made yet this evening. Tonight we will go to church and then hopefully crash for the night. Santa dropped of a new pair of jammies for Cooper to wear tonight. However, Santa forgot to wash them, so we’ll see if it gets done. We’ll also hope Cooper sleeps until at least seven tomorrow, but I’m sure he’ll be up about 6am. I could use an hour or so to sleep in. Thankfully he doesn’t quite understand gifts yet and that they arrive Christmas morning.

It was fun to look at Cooper this morning and think back to last year. Steve and I got to see Cooper on ultrasound on Christmas Eve for a growth check. He was roughly 4½ lbs… now he is 21lbs. It is amazing to think of everything that has happened during the last year.

Have a wonderful Christmas. I’ll try to update tomorrow.

"Look at all the presents!"

"Who me??? Bow? What bow?"

Let it snow, let it snow... no more.

So you are probably wondering where we have been, right??? Me, too. The days have been full and I’m not sure where the last two weeks went. We have been busy preparing for Christmas and dealing with a bit of weather that has made things interesting. You’d think that being stuck at home has meant that I’d be able to get to the computer more, but it hasn’t really happened. There are just so many other things to do and of course Cooper needs attention, too.

Cooper loves the Christmas tree! So far he hasn't pulled it down or taken too many ornaments off. The one that he has he can't hurt. The wrapped gifts are starting to become a little more appealing to him. We'll see how many stay wrapped before Thursday.

I have no idea how much snow is on the ground other than I think I heard on the weather that we are already nearing our winter average. We will definitely have a white Christmas. After Thursday it can ALL go away. I have to admit I have been a little behind in getting gifts and had hoped to maximize Saturday, but this is what we got…

We did venture out, but it was a fairly quick trip. Thankfully today looks a little better… at the moment… and I’ll try to get a few more things done before the next blast of snow that is due to arrive later today. Steve has been busy shoveling and snow blowing the driveway. It has been terribly cold, too. I could really do without the -30 wind chill. I think Cooper would agree. We try to keep him out of it, but there are times that you have to go out.

In an attempt to amuse ourselves during lunch on Saturday, we had ABC’s and 123’s for lunch. As you can see we were playing with our food…

Last night our friends Steve, Jan, & Amaya came over for a visit. It was fun to watch Cooper and Amaya play together. They stood at the baby gate and played with the exersaucer-activity center.

"Santa, I've been a really good boy!"

Sorry to keep this short, but I’ll try to get a few posts up in the next week.

Away in a manger…

I thought I would try to get in a quick update before the end of the day. Another week blew by.

Last year at this time I knew I would want to buy Cooper the Fisher Price Little People nativity set. I ordered it last week and got on Tuesday. Wow- has he had fun with it! I never imagined he would play for 30 or so minutes with it at a time. Now, he is too young to “play” with it, but he looks at the animals… this has been another opportunity to ask what a cow says or a sheep. He likes to tap them on the coffee table and then drop them on the floor, but, hey, he is having fun. He loves the star at the top that lights up and plays Away in a Manger.


We are getting ready for Christmas in the Hull house. The tree is up and the lights are on, but no decorations yet… maybe this weekend. I have a feeling only the top half of the tree will be decorated. My mom bought us shatter proof ornaments last year so maybe a few will go on the tree. Cooper loves to “touch” the branches. I don’t think he has the strength to pull the tree down, but I don’t want to find out either. He also likes to try to crawl under the tree. Steve bought lights to put up on the house.

I apologize for those of you waiting to get our Christmas card. Close your eyes if you don’t want to get a preview of our Christmas card… or what I think maybe one of the pictures. Here is the challenge of working with a subject that is almost 10 months old. Twenty pictures later and maybe one turns out. We’ve also tried doing a family photo with the dog, too, but trying to get both of them to look at the camera is a challenge. We will do one of four things… take about 500 pictures (thankfully we have a digital camera), change our mind and just do Cooper... maybe, but see below, get a really candid shot, or scrap the whole idea. By December 25th you should know what happened.



What is this red thing???





I really don't want my picture taken...





Please, Mom, no more!





Thank God... I think she is giving up!


Here’s to another quiet weekend… wait, I’m a parent… there aren’t quiet weekends anymore, but I love the reason why. I just need to remember to not put Cooper in bed with us. He is such a kicker. This morning he was up at 4am, so I tossed him our bed. By six I had given up and was getting sore, so we got up. Maybe he’ll sleep in until 7am… now I am dreaming. But it could happen.

A week of firsts...

First, Happy Thanksgiving… a little late!

Wow, I am really behind in updating. But as I’m sure you can imagine, life has been busy over the last week!

I must start by saying how thankful I am. I am so very blessed in so many ways. The last year has been absolutely incredible!

Well, it has been quite the week for Cooper. Many, many firsts. Last Sunday, Cooper pulled himself up to standing on the baby gate. Steve was able to get a picture of him standing. In the last week he has mastered this move and can do it quite quickly. Last Wednesday I forgot to put the crib rail up when I put him to bed and found him standing with the rail waist high Thursday morning. Thankfully I grabbed him before he decided to look over. Last night he was able to pull himself up with only one hand and was able to reach down and stand back up. He definitely has standing mastered and walking with help is a breeze. I’m still wondering if he will be walking by Christmas, but he has a ways to go with balance.

We traveled to Sioux Falls to be with family for Thanksgiving. Thursday Cooper had his first Turkey dinner. I had fixed a small plate for him and he finished most of it. He did really well eating. He enjoyed the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. He also did well with the green beans and turkey. Thursday night he had his first sleepover in a hotel. I can’t say it went very well as he was up off and on during the night.

On Friday, he ate a ¼ of Jacob’s Belgian waffle for breakfast. I’m not sure where he packed it, but he sure did.

Since Jacob was getting his hair cut on Friday, I thought I’d have Cooper’s trimmed also. I wasn't really ready as the first haircut seems to be another rite of passage from babyhood to toddlerhood. His hair was starting to get long on the back… a baby mullet. He did a great job. The barber trimmed the back with clippers and then used the scissors to trim up the top. His hair is so fine that she couldn’t get a good clump to save as a lock of hair, but he did get a certificate and we got pictures.

Friday afternoon all three boys… Cooper, Jacob, and Logan went to see Santa. I have a hard copy of it at home, but they don’t like you taking pictures. I did get one of Jacob with Cooper next to the reindeer by Santa’s house. Don’t they look handsome in their red sweaters???

Friday evening Steve and I took Cooper swimming and he really seemed to enjoy it. We didn’t go for long as he was shivering in the big pool and the hot tub, while wasn’t very hot, was a bit too warm for more than a few minutes. We got a few pictures. Maybe this spring we will take a Baby & Me water class.

Last night we put up the Christmas tree. We didn’t get to the ornaments yet, but maybe tonight. Cooper seems to love the lights on the tree. Daddy is going to put up some on the house, too.

Cooper has also started to wave hello and goodbye. At first Steve thought it looked like Cooper was waving his hand in front of his nose as if to say, “Stinky”, but it’s not. He is getting better at turing his hand out. (I have a picture I will attach).

I’m sure I am missing something, but it has been a busy week.

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!