Park Days

The weather has been so nice lately and it has been great to be able to get out and go to the park!!  Caroline has been sick and we were stuck inside for several days in a row.  So the other morning around 9am, before Cooper went down for a nap, we took a walk to the park.  Cooper can sit in the wagon so well now and the two of them love riding together.  

Cooper is my little model!  Although it was hard to get him to look into the sun, he is perfect because he enjoys just sitting there!  It's a little difficult to keep him from eating wood chips at the park, but other than that he loves to watch the older kids play.

 Beca loved being along for the ride.

ELEVEN

 {The blanket above that I have been laying Cooper on for these pictures is also the blanket that I sometimes swaddle him in for his naps.  I guess he's caught on and will have nothing to do with it.  So I did not get any smiling pictures!  I figured not to try any longer and just use what I have.}

Well, my little boy is growing and changing faster than I can type!  He turned 11 months a couple weeks ago and I just can't believe that he will be a 1 year old in just a few short weeks!  He is still such a happy baby and content with almost anything.  He loves eating and still cares mostly for meats.  He will eat vegetables if you continuously give them to him and make him try them more than once.  We are pretty much completely off of puree baby food and I have just started giving him whole milk in a sippy cup.  He doesn't seem to hate it, but doesn't drink a lot of it at once.  He really plays with the cup more than anything else.  He is not far behind his sister's weight and is somewhere around 23 pounds I would say.  So far he has not said any words, but lately has started babbling quite a bit more!  He will blow kisses and play peek-a-boo over and over and over!  However his favorite game is to drop things off of his highchair and watch Mommy pick them up.

Caroline insisted that she match Cooper the other morning!

We have had a little set back this month with development.  Cooper was pretty sick in the beginning of January and so I took him to the doctor.  I casually asked when an infant should start being able to get into the sitting position from laying down on their own.  The doctor said it should happen by 8 months and that she was a little worried he wasn't doing it.  Well, we ended up calling ECI (early childhood intervention) and they came out to evaluate him.  I have to admit it was a little scary calling them and actually saying out loud that we thought something might be wrong.  They came and said that they did think his development was delayed and he would be able to be enrolled in the program.  This was most likely caused by several things: Cooper not liking to be on his tummy and us not putting him on it enough... his laid back personality and being completely content just sitting wherever he may be... and low muscle tone.  The muscle tone is just how you are born and something you have no control over.  Wouldn't you know it that his daddy was not going to just let that be it!  He came home that night with detailed exercises that we needed to do and a way to get him moving!  At the beginning Cooper was hardly even rolling.  After just 4 short days of exercises we noticed a difference and Cooper was rolling across the room!!  Since then we have had 2 therapy appointments and the therapist has given us different activities to work on with him.  What a change!  Cooper is ready to move and I think really just noticed he can!  We're not sure how long the therapy will continue, but we hope to have this boy crawling soon!

Here are some pictures of the Coop man exercising!

practicing putting weight on his knees by playing in this position

 shifting his weight from side to side and stabilizing himself

 practicing being on his tummy

 just jumping away!

We have kept busy this month with the wonderful, warm weather!  It is so nice to be outside!!

TEN!

Such a big boy and so many changes going on! Cooper is now 10 months old!! It makes me sad to think that an entire year has almost gone by! Everything has happened so quickly and gone by in the blink of an eye. I am just ready for time to slow down! Will that ever happen? :) Days have gotten so much fun with our little Coop and his personality is just blossoming. He has such a sweet disposition and seems to always be smiling. He's pretty content with whatever we are doing as long as he is not hungry and you're not putting him down for a nap. He is still nursing and eating quite a bit, however he prefers meat over ANYTHING else and will eat baby food vegetables, but doesn't exactly like them in regular form. He is ALL boy and his favorite toy is a ball. He will sit and play catch for quite a while and is already showing a preference for his right hand. One of his favorite Christmas presents was a little basketball hoop with two balls. I can sit him in front of it and he will "shoot" the balls through the hoop over and over. Daddy is so proud!

Cooper hasn't quite figured out how to crawl, but he is getting close! I can't quite decide if I would rather him start or stay how he is. Of course I want him to do it and not be so frustrated, but selfishly it is kind of nice that he isn't all over the place. He will flip himself on his stomach and has rocked backwards several times. He has started becoming interested in toys that are out of his reach and can pretty much do what he needs to in order to get it. He will stretch, roll and reach to get to whatever he can! He still loves to grab Caroline's hair the most and will jump on her any chance he gets!! Caroline hasn't grasped the concept that he is still just a baby and this is what baby's do. The big sister in her has to yell and tell him "no"! Sometimes she gets upset, but most of the time she will give him a giant hug and say "Cooper is my best friend in the whole wide world!". It really is so sweet and they both get excited to see each other every morning.

Cooper is weighing in at somewhere around 22 pounds and wearing 12 month clothes. He still is in size 4 diapers and has those sweet chubby cheeks! He has taken more of an interest in tv and lights up when the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song comes on.

We could not imagine life with out our Super Cooper and are looking forward to all that is to come! We love you Coop!

Santa Claus came to town!

We had quite the surprise on Christmas morning... Santa Claus came and visited!!  He was so concerned that the kids would think he forgot about them and wanted to make sure to tell them he had filled their stockings and left presents for them both in Pennsylvania and in Texas, so he made an extra stop to the house.  What a treat!

Thanks Santa!!

Cooper's First Christmas!

Christmas morning came early, but Cooper was ready!  Everyone woke up about the same time and even though Cooper wasn't sure what was going on, he quickly caught on!

 Daddy helped Cooper open his gifts and enjoy all of the nice presents people had given him.

"All these presents are for me?"  I think everyone was so excited to buy BOY gifts, that they went a little overboard.  But we are so happy to report that we now have quite a few more toys that are not pink!

Can you spot the Coop Man?

This present will do!  Cooper isn't even 1 yet and he has his very own recliner.  He was quite content!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

GREAT Grandparents

These kiddos are so lucky!  They have quite a few Great Grandparents and we were lucky enough to visit GREAT Grandpa and Grandma Green on Christmas Eve.  After church we headed over to their new apartment and got to spend a little time before the busy-ness of Christmas began.  It was such a nice time.  Now getting all four children {as well as grown ups} looking is quite the challenge!  We had many takes!

 The Guys!

This next picture is my favorite and pretty much sums up the evening. This was the last picture taken and the kids were done!  After a long church service and no dinner, what could we really expect?  :)

Christmas Begins

Our Christmas festivities started off by celebrating with Grandmother and PaPaw.  Unfortunately Grandmother was in the hospital, but we did not let that stop us!  We took the party to her!  Nanny and LC were there too and we all enjoyed watching everyone open presents.  We were so thankful that Grandmother felt well and could have us all in her room.

Super Coop got his fair share of fun toys!!  Lots of balls and cars and trains.  Just what every boy could ask for!

Such Happy Kids!