Saturday, January 3, 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

This year was a quite Christmas. Paul's family was unable to come visit because of the snow storm. We'll see them in a few weeks. So on Christmas day it was just the 3 of us. Here is Cooper helping mommy open one of his presents.



Here is daddy opening a present from Cooper. Yum! Chocolate covered nuts. Daddy's favorite.




Cooper is learning to hold up his head. He is getting pretty good at holding up his head and looking around.


Cooper has had a difficult time staying asleep during the afternoon. Luckily he stayed asleep just long enough so mommy and daddy could eat Christmas dinner together.


My family came to celebrate new years. Here are some pictures of their visit.
This was my dad's (Poppy) first time meeting Cooper.


Here is Cooper trying on one of the hats Grammy Rachel made for him.


Here is a picture of my mom and me making chocolate covered pretzels. This is one of our new favorite traditions.


Cooper has had tons of fun playing with all of his new toys and reading his new books. His new favorite books are Curious George. He coos and laughs every time someone reads him one of these stories.


Aunt Olga and Uncle Craig gave Cooper a Curious George monkey and blanket. It is one of his new favorite toys.


Here is a video of Cooper playing with Curious George.


For New Year's Eve dinner we made a cheese fondue. It was way yummy. This has also become a favorite tradition of ours.


Have you ever seen footed pj's for adults? Olga found these footed pj's for Craig for Christmas. He looks like a giant smurf. Who knew they made footed pj's his size. Just goes to show you that you can find anything on the internet.


Here is Poppy holding Cooper high in the air. Cooper seems to like it.


Cooper is smiling at his Curious George book. He can't get enough of them.


Paul and Craig made sushi for dinner one night. Surprisingly even my mom and dad liked it. I still have not developed the taste for it.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Many More Smiles

Okay, so I may be a little carried away with taking videos, but he has really begun to coo and smile so much just today. It's so cute! I'm sure all new moms are this excited. This video is a little longer, about 1 minute, because he was more talkative. Enjoy!

Cooper Playing

Her is another video of Cooper smiling and Cooing. In this video we also happened to catch him sneeze. Lately, after eating he has been a little more active and playful. He likes to lie on a blanket and play for about 10-15 minutes. This video is brighter than the previous one so you can see Cooper much better.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Cooper Smiling and Cooing

Cooper has just recently begun to smile and coo. We happened to catch one of these moments on video. Usually he's happy and in a playful mood right after he eats. And surprisingly this usually happens while we are changing his diaper. Hopefully we will be able to catch more smiles and cooing on video and post them soon. Sorry the video is a little dark. I need to work on my video skills. Enjoy.


Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Annual Special Ed Luncheon

Today we had our annual West Clinton Elementary special ed team luncheon. We all met at Steve's ( principal) house and ate Applebee's for lunch. Bonnie was the only one who was unable to come. We missed you Bonnie. Since having Cooper I don't get out much. It was nice to visit with friends and see little Laney again. I'm so lucky to work with such fun people. Although it will be very hard to leave Cooper, it will be nice to get back to my routine at work soon.
Hear are some pictures from our luncheon.

Brooke (resource teacher) and I both recently had babies. Her little girl's name is Laney. Isn't she adorable. Twice the size as Cooper and just a month older.

Krista(behavior unit teacher) opening her gift with Diane (assistant principal) watching.


Diane opening her gift with, Liz (Steve's daughter) and Steve watching.

Becky (resource teacher) holding Cooper. Cooper was so tired he fell asleep through all the fun.


Susan (school counselor), Nina (school psychologist) holding Laney and Brooke.


Special ed team, minus our friend Bonnie

Steve and his family own several animals called sugar gliders. This is a picture of the mom.


These are the baby sugar gliders. Click on the highlighted text if you want to know more about these fascinating animals: sugar gliders

Sunday, November 30, 2008

My First Thanksgiving

Since this was my first Thanksgiving, mommy and daddy decided to let me tell all about our trip to Nampa, ID. The Thanksgiving festivities began on Tuesday. I noticed Mommy and Daddy scurrying around the house at an unusually fast rate filling different bags with clothes and cameras and computers. It was interesting to see. I suspected that this unusual activity meant something was up, so I decided not to sleep much in the morning. Mommy and daddy put me in my car seat and I knew this would be interesting. We were all packed into the car and started driving. This trip seemed a little different than other trips I have taken. We were in the car for a long time, so I decided to fall asleep. A couple hours later, mommy woke me up so I could eat. I didn't really like the fact that mommy was giving me a bottle. That's always daddy's job...at night. It was strange because we were in a noisy parking lot, and when I was done with my bottle this strange man with dark glasses changed my diaper on the front seat of the car. I later figured out it was just daddy hiding behind his sunglasses. After we started driving again, I let mommy and daddy know that they forgot to rock me after eating by screaming. The man with the dark glasses reappeared and leaned over my car seat to calm me down, but he just made me scream louder. Mommy almost pulled over, but I finally decided that I would just forget the rocking. Besides, when I closed my eyes, the strange man with dark glasses disappeared. I slept the rest of the way. It was a 6 hour drive! I was so glad to finally get there. That was my longest trip ever!

When we arrived in Nampa, Grammy Terry and Grandpa Ed were excited to see us. I was a little cranky from the car ride, so we all decided to go to bed early. I didn't sleep so good in the bassinet because when mommy and daddy put me on my back, I kept startling myself...stupid Moro Reflex! I think I finally fell a sleep and before I knew it I was already waking up hungry.

Wednesday was mostly a sleep day. Thank goodness mommy held me or I would have never gotten any sleep. I'm not used to being away from my room for so long.

During the afternoon we went to visit Aunt April at the coffee shop. More riding in the car. At least this time it was much shorter. When we got there I woke up long enough to say hi to Aunt April, look at all the bright lights and then fell back asleep.




Grammy Terry, Aunt April, Mommy and Daddy at the coffee shop.


Before I knew it mommy was putting my pj's on me and I was being rocked to sleep.
I haven't completely mastered the use of my eyes yet, so sometimes I cross my eyes to try and focus. Silly mommy wanted to put me in my bassinet to sleep on my back. Daddy knew I wouldn't like it and when I woke up 10 minutes later daddy decided to put me in my car seat to sleep. Great idea daddy! I think I slept for almost 4 hours, but I can't tell time yet so I'm not really sure. After a good night sleep I woke up and it was Thanksgiving day.

I wasn't sure what to expect on Thanksgiving. After Grammy got home from Church she had a few minutes to cuddle with me. I liked it so much I decided to smile. I was a little gassy at the time so it was easy for me to smile at Grammy.

Grammy could only hold me for a short while because she had to start making dinner. It was hard for me to stay asleep in the other room because I kept hearing everyone having so much fun in the kitchen without me. No fair! Mommy helped make the cranberry sauce while daddy made the potatoes.






Aunt April always makes the butter rolls. Mommy tells me that April is really good at it. After all the banging and noise in the kitchen was done I decided I wanted to stay awake and eat. Funny how mommy and me always seem to want to eat at the same time. I decided I'd eat fast and then fall asleep so everyone else could eat. Wasn't that nice of me? I don't let that happen very often.


I didn't get to eat with everyone else so daddy took some good pictures and I got to meet everyone else later.


Daddy took a picture of dinner so I would know what mommy had eaten. We had stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, butter rolls, and of course turkey. It tasted pretty good if you ask me. After dinner I heard everyone making lots of noise in the dining room. It sounded like they were having lots of fun without me. Mommy told me they played Cranium. I can't wait until I'm old enough to play with all the little pieces.



The play dough that Grammy was playing with looks like something I would enjoy getting my hands on.


Of course, I couldn't let the fun continue without me. I had to cry rather loudly to be heard over all the laughing. Finally, daddy came to pick me up. Thank goodness mommy was close behind because I was hungry again.

Before I got to eat Aunt Erin wanted to hold me one more time before she had to leave. I liked looking at her long curly hair, not something I get to see very often. But after a few minutes I realized I was still hungry so I started to fuss so she would give me back to mommy. Sorry my visit was so short Aunt Erin.

Friday morning was a busy time. I woke mommy up early to eat and then decided I didn't want to go back to sleep. Grammy wanted to hold me and I thought this was fun.

I liked looking at her when she wasn't always in a hurry to cook something in the kitchen. It was nice of her to hold me up so I could see everything.





I had so much fun I completely forgot where mommy went. I finally decided I was tired and Grammy put me in my car seat to sleep. After mommy was finished in the shower I decided I was hungry again. Being awake for so long uses up a lot of my energy. Mommy fed me and then got me dressed. By this time it was starting to get very noisy in the dinning room again. But this time it was only daddy and Grandpa Ed making the noise. They were taking down an old fireplace and making a big walk in closet for Grammy and all her kitchen gadgetry. Daddy was impressed that he and Grandpa Ed didn't have to cut down all of the pipes. It came down with a few tugs on the rope.




Things were beginning to get noisy and dusty. Mommy thought it would be a good idea to get out of the house for awhile while Daddy and Grandpa Ed worked. We decided to go visit Aunt April at the coffee shop again. This was most likely the only place that wasn't packed with people shopping on black Friday. When we got there I decided to wake up and I was glad that I did. Aunt April had decorated the shop for Christmas with lots of lights and decorations. It was pretty and sparkly. But after awhile the lights began to hurt my eyes because they were so bright. It was nice of Grammy to hold me for a few minutes until I fell back asleep. Before I knew it we were home again and I was hungry. After I ate, mommy took me out into the dining room so I could see daddy and Grandpa Ed hard at work. I couldn't believe all the progress they had made in such a short few hours. It's a good thing daddy has built walls before or it might have taken a lot longer. He's so handy. I can't wait until the day when he teaches me how to use all his fun looking tools. I'm sure I could make just as much noise as him using that hammer thing.


Later Friday night I got to meet some of daddy's high school friends, Mort and Simmons.

Mort's head kind of looked like mine, no hair. His is by choice. Mine is just taking a long time to grow.

Then Simmons wanted to hold me. He was wearing a hat and I couldn't really see his face too well. I didn't like his hat so I decided I wanted mommy to hold me again. I started to fuss and wiggle around but before mommy could get her hands on me Grammy was there whisking me away. She held me and rocked me to sleep. I didn't see mommy again until early the next morning when I was hungry.

Saturday there was more banging going on in the dining room. This time mommy and I stayed home. Mommy watched movies while I slept most of the day. Everyone else was too busy to pay attention to me. Mommy was tired because she wasn't able to take a nap like she had hoped.


Every once in awhile mommy would bring me out to say hi to Grandpa Ed and daddy and see how the closet was coming. I couldn't believe they had finished the closet in two days. That's some fast building.

This is what the finished closet looked like. The only thing left for Grammy to do was paint it and add shelves. Grammy Terry and Grandpa Ed were very happy that we stayed so daddy could help finish the closet.

Since daddy had hardly seen me all day, he wanted to rock me to sleep. I was so tired I fell asleep fast. Daddy was having a difficult time keeping me upright. I decided that it was most comfortable with my face in daddy's arm. It smelled like sawdust. Yum! I can't wait until someday when I can play with that stuff.

It was finally time to leave on Sunday. Mommy and daddy were up early to pack up all of my stuff. Grammy was nice enough to hold me while mommy and daddy looked all around the house to make sure they didn't forget any of my things. Packing the car went much faster this time. Then were on the road before I knew it. I was a little fussy at first because I knew this was going to be another long ride home. I was so anxious I kept spitting out my pacifier and mommy had to lean in the back seat and help me find it again. This was making her car sick so she finally decided to come sit in the back seat with me. This made me feel a little better. I liked to see her next to me. I soon went to sleep and before I knew it I was hungry and started to wake up. It was a good thing that mommy and daddy stopped shortly after that because I don't know how much longer I could have waited to eat. The man with the dark sunglasses was feeding me my bottle. How dare he give me a cold bottle. I kept fussing and finally the sunglasses came off and I realized it was daddy. Despite the cold bottle, I decided it was safe to eat. After I finished eating, mommy changed my diaper on the front seat of the car. Luckily, this time the car door wasn't open because it was so windy and it would have made me even colder than I already was. When I was all changed mommy put me back in my car seat and daddy put some gas in the car. Mommy must have forgotten that I wanted to be rocked so I tried to tell her by screaming as loud as I could. The best she could do was sit next to me, hold my hand, and sing me a song. I decided this was better than nothing and went to sleep after awhile. W hen I awoke, mommy said that we were almost home. It's a good thing we were because I was starving. I'm glad the long trip was finally over.