6 MONTHS!!

Somewhere along the way my baby has grown up!!  I know I say it every day...week... and month, but where does the time go?  I had a huge realization this week that Cooper is not a baby!  I'm not sure when it happened and I think I was in denial for a while, but my eyes were opened this week. We had lunch with a friend who has a 2 month old baby.  Well, I scheduled the lunch on one of Caroline's school days so it would just be Cooper and me.  He's my easy one right?!  This has been what I've fooled myself into thinking!  He had taken a great nap early in the morning so when we got there, I thought I would just feed him some baby food in his seat and he would sit quietly and play.  I even linked some links together and hung from his carseat thinking this would be just the thing to keep him entertained!!  Well, while Erika's baby slept in his seat the entire time, I was holding Cooper and doing anything I could to keep him quiet.  It was then that I realized that 6 months old was the time when I stopped going out to lunch with friends with Caroline.  Cooper is always the baby wherever we go and he just goes with the flow, usually doing whatever activity we have planned for Caroline.  I still usually take him in his carseat with the snap and go stroller and just expect him to sit there.  He is definitely proving me wrong!  He's a big "little" boy and probably looks ridiculous in that thing!  However to me, he seems like he was just born! 

With all of that being said, Cooper seriously is getting to be so much fun!  He can sit up on his own now! He is rolling over much more now and always wants to be touching something and putting it in his mouth.  He still loves his sister and loves it when she rolls on top of him.  Just when I think she might have hurt him, I hear HUGE belly laughs coming from him.  He has also started noticing Beca and his eyes light up when she walks into the room.  She loves him just as much and will lick his face any chance she gets!  He loves to giggle and laugh and is the most ticklish kid I know!

We had our 6 month doctor's appointment last week and found out where Cooper stands:

weight: 19 lbs. 3 ounces (78th percentile)

height: 26.75 inches  (60th percentile)

head circumference: 46 cm  (97th percentile)

Cooper is one healthy boy and still loves to eat!!  He's had just about every kind of baby food and is eating food for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still nursing quite a bit.  We have no problem in that category at all!  :)  However, we did have a slight hiccup while we were at the doctor's.  As you can see his head size has jumped up to the 97th percentile!  We've always known he has had a big head.  Just by looking at him you can see that!  Our doctor was somewhat concerned and had us go to the hospital to have an ultrasound of his head to look at his brain.  Because our doctor did not make a huge deal about this, I wasn't that worried.  That was until I scheduled the appointment.  I spoke with the scheduling lady of the hospital and had to tell her our reason for coming and diagnosis.  Then she gave me all of the details of the procedure and it just seemed like more of an ordeal than I had thought.  It didn't help that this was all on a Friday and we had to wait until Monday to actually go in.  Josh was gone for the entire weekend at a work retreat and so this left me home by myself.  Well, of course I did some research of my own on the internet to try and figure out what was wrong with my little boy.  I know that googling things just makes you worry more and gives you so many more problems than answers, but I just had to know.  Macrocephaly {having too big of a head} could be caused by severeal things.  There could be fluid on the spinal cord, his brain could be too small, the ventricles could not be working correctly... and the list goes on and on OR he could just simply have a big head.  I cannot tell you how humbling of an experience this whole thing was.  I had several moments where I just looked at my baby and couldn't help but be concerned.  He looks so perfect and we had laughed about his head size quite a few times.  Although it was only for a couple days, the feeling of being completely out of control of the situation is huge and something you have to deal with as a parent.  I know this will not be the last time.  There are going to be things out of my control and I can not tell you how many times I got on my knees and prayed for this little guy!  God is bigger than all things and has a plan for each one of my children.  I was reminded of this over and over again throughout the weekend and really it is because of Him that I was able to let go of that control.  God showed us He is bigger than ALL things.  We had the ultrasound performed on Monday and although it was a little scary having to hold Cooper so still, the ultrasound technician said from what she could tell everything looked good and she wouldn't be worried.  That was a relief!  We got the final word from our doctor later that day and could not be happier for Cooper to just have a big head!!  It is one cute noggin and one I cherish more and more!