Christmas in January

I love the holiday season, especially when it happens 3 times in a row. Since Paul's parents were not able to make it for the actual Christmas they came this past weekend.
Here we are opening a few presents.

These are a bunch of snowmen ornaments. Lately I've been into decorating with snowmen. We even have a tree topper snowman. Someday I want to do an entire tree with snowmen ornaments. Paul is not too crazy about that idea.


Both Paul and his dad had fish themed presents. Paul received a really neat underwater picture of fish and his dad received a handmade fishing net.



Terry is holding a scrapbook full of Cooper photos. Now they can look at him all year round.



The family unit.

Cooper exercising his arms.

Cooper loves to look at faces.

Cooper is beginning to sit up when supported. He really enjoyed having Grammy read him books.

Cooper was so tired because he didn't sleep more then 30- 40 minutes at a time for his naps. He was so tired he was falling asleep while playing.

Thanks for a fun weekend Grammy and Grandpa Burnett!

Snot Sucker

Cooper has developed his first cold or so we think. His nose has been extremely stuffy and he sneezes and coughs a lot because the mucus is dripping down the back of his throat. This has made it quite difficult for him to eat and sleep. I have been trying to suck the mucus out of his nose every few hours or as needed to try and keep him clear. Those of you living in UT know how bad our air quality can become and we think this could be the cause. It could also be because he's been around many other snotty-nosed kids at daycare.

Surprisingly, Cooper is very very tolerant of having his nose sucked out. Thanks to my friend Brandi who suggested the idea, we asked for and received a battery powered nasal aspirator. It's the best invention in the world. I don't know what we would do without it. I can't believe the snot that comes out with this thing. I just turn it on and Cooper knows exactly what's going to happen. It's even stopped him from fussing a few times. Who knew.

So yesterday was Paul's first experience using the nasal aspirator. I'm usually the nose nazi.
I happened to catch a funny video of Paul and Cooper. Notice in the video how Cooper smiles when Paul stops in between nostrils. We are so lucky to have a very tolerant baby.





Here is a picture of me being the nose nazi. If you can, click on the picture and enlarge it. Notice the face on Grammy as I'm intently sucking out the snot.

Instruction Manual Please!

Cooper's first three days at daycare were very successful. I had been so worried that things wouldn't go well. He handled it much better than I did. When at daycare Cooper ate good including burping good and minimal spitting up, played hard with the other kids, and took 2 1/2 hour naps, even while other kids were screaming, running around, and banging on the piano. When I picked him up on Wednesday I had to wake him up. And surprisingly, since he hadn't eaten a third bottle, the ride home was very pleasant, no crying or fussing at all. Since I go back to work this coming Tuesday, I decided that I wanted to spend one last mommy day with Cooper. So Thursday was the day we stayed home and played. I thought since Cooper had a successful first week at daycare things would be just as good at home. Apparently, Cooper had other plans.

Cooper decided that during the day he didn't want to sleep at all. Every time I tried to put him down for a nap he would only sleep 1/2 hour at a time and then wake up fussing and crying. Now I know that Paul and I are rookie parents and Stephanie (daycare provider) has taken care of kids for over 15 years, but come on, only sleeping 1/2 hour?! And we have also had trouble getting him to burp. And if he does it usually includes a nice mixture of spit up. What's up with that Cooper?! Stephanie said that when it's time for Cooper to take his nap she wraps him up in a blanket, lays him in the crib, and that's that. Within 5 minutes he is asleep and stays asleep for a long time. At home it takes me at least 15 minutes just to get him to go to sleep. And forget about staying asleep. Exactly 1/2 hour after he has been placed in his crib he is wide awake. This his how it's been all weekend.

Today has been an especially frustrating day. I nursed him this morning at 6:00. Then at 8:00 he wanted to get up. So daddy got him up, and boy was he grumpy! While changing his diaper he screamed through the whole thing. This never happens with Cooper. He usually loves his diaper changed. Then Grammy and Grampy held him for a few minutes before he started crying in desperation because he was starving. After feeding him a bottle (which he didn't eat very much of) he fell asleep in Grammy's arms. Nap time! NOT! When I was wrapping Cooper up in his blanket he started laughing and smiling at me. Then Grammy tried to rock him to sleep and all he did was stare at her wide awake. We got him up and played with him for another 45 minutes. By then he had been awake for over 2 hours and had not had a morning nap. When I put him down for his second nap I gave him his pacifier and he was asleep in seconds! I thought this was a great sign that he was exhausted and would sleep for at least an hour. Boy was I completely wrong!! He only slept for 20 minutes. So we thought rocking him back to sleep would help.
NOT!

This is Cooper after 15 minutes of rocking! Does he look tired after only sleeping 20 minutes all morning? You'd never know he didn't sleep by the way he was acting.













So dad continued to rock him and a few minutes later we were here. ( see picture)












Still awake, but calm and not smiling.

Then a few minutes later we end up with this picture.











This is Paul giving a what-the-heck look as Cooper is pooping in his diaper. There goes another nap. After changing his diaper Cooper was wide awake, smiling and laughing for 10 minutes until again he started crying, dying to eat. During the bottle, he spit up so much that he went through 3 bibs. And most of it ended up on Paul! As far as we know he hardly ever spits up at daycare. What are we doing wrong! Oh it's so obvious that we are rookie parents. Especially since I blog in great detail about his entire day. Any advice you may have would be greatly appreciated. I want to remember this so when he has kids some day I can look back laugh and say " it's payback time!" That's what our parents have done to us. I have to say one last thing. Even though Cooper doesn't sleep when at home, we have been blessed with a very happy child. Paul and I are so thankful for this.

Cooper's 1st Day of Daycare

Today was Cooper's first day of daycare. I decided to bring him to daycare a week before I actually go back to work in order to figure out scheduling and such. In the morning, Cooper decided to wake up at 5:00 wanting to eat. After eating he went back to sleep until I woke him up at 6:50. I had wanted to go back to sleep but thought I should stay up and see how long it would take me to eat and then get ready for the day. When I woke Cooper up he was in a good mood, thank goodness. Once dressed, we put him in his car seat. He could tell something was going on. We kept telling him that he was going to daycare, to see Stephanie, and that he was going to meet some new friends. I'm sure he didn't really understand but after a week or so he'll get into the routine. After loading up the car with all of his supplies, Paul and I ended up leaving the house at 7:08. Pretty good timing for me. I hate being late. Paul decided to come with me for his first day. I was a little anxious and knew there would be some tears after I dropped him off. Although he didn't say it, I'm sure Paul was a little anxious as well. So off we go, ahead of schedule. We didn't get very far and I realized I left some papers at home. I'm sure Stephanie wouldn't have minded if I brought them Tuesday, but it had a list of things I wanted to share with her. It's a good thing I realized this before we got too far. Cooper was pretty tolerant of my mishap. Overall, he likes riding in the car. Our second attempt was successful. We got him there and surprisingly he was still awake. I'm kind of glad that he was so I could take him out of his car seat and give him a big hug and kiss goodbye. We were only there about 10 minutes and the instant we got in the car to drive home the tears started flowing. I new he was going to be fine but this was the first time in almost a year that we were apart. I'm so glad that Paul was with me. I'm not sure I would have been able to hold myself together if he wasn't around. When we got home he went to work and I took a two hour nap. Boy, was I tired. I'm glad my mom was still here because it gave me someone else to talk to and keep me busy until it was time to go pick him up. We went out to lunch, did a little shopping and then about 2:30 went to pick up Cooper. From what Stephanie said, it sounded like he had a pretty good first day. Maybe tomorrow won't be as hard to leave. Who am I kidding. It will be hard every day! At least next week I will have work to keep me busy. Here's to a successful first day at daycare!

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.

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.