The color of lady bugs

This morning Paul and I had a disagreement on the color of ladybugs. We both agree that ladybugs can be many different colors but when I was in school I was taught to color ladybugs red with black spots. Paul apparently was taught to color them orange with black spots. Please take our pole on the right side to help us settle our disagreement. Look at this picture, you can't tell me that is an orange and black ladybug.



Paul Added:

Ok, let's be fair here. You can't tell me that this is red:

Aquatic Suicide

Our beloved green chromis named the blues brother, tragically fell to his death after a successful suicide attempt where he jumped out of the aquarium. He has been in our family for 4 years. After several attempts to find him a mate (which he aggressively pestered to death ) and being neglected after the birth of Cooper, he apparently decided he had enough and determined the only solution was to end it all. He was found in a dried up state on the floor lying next to the aquarium. As active and agressive as he was we will miss our little scaley friend.

One Handed Talent

On Friday Cooper started to pick up balls with his left hand. We would hand him a ball and he would hold it with his left hand using a super tight grip. If he dropped it he would find it with his left hand and pick it up. We were so amazed by this new ability. The funny part is, if the ball ends up on his right side he will roll over and pick it up with his left hand.

7 Months Old!

It is hard to believe that 7 months have past since Cooper was born! A lot has changed over the past month.

Likes:
holding and reaching things with his left hand (yes we think he's a lefty)
lullaby music to help him go to sleep
toys that play music and light up
looking up at the lights on the ceiling
watching the ceiling fans
riding around outside on daddy in his infant carrier
watching the fish and lights in the aquarium
kicking and making splashes with his legs and feet in the bathtub
going to day care
looking at pretty girls (he always has a big smile for them)
tummy farts
standing up and trying to walk
flying in the air over daddy
having his diaper changed (or at least lying on the changing table)
chewing on his chew blanket
talking to grandparents on skype (this is the only time he will sit for at least 10 minutes)
sucking on his hands (or any hands that come near his mouth)
watching the fish in his light-up crib toy
watching anything that lights up
having his chin tickled
watching mommy and daddy vacuum
looking at faces

Dislikes:
eating rice cereal (this used to be something he liked to do...for about a day)
going to sleep. (He will do anything to fight it, including talking to you in a sweet voice pleading to stay up...of course sometime he takes a more direct route which includes screaming)
being woken up in the morning (mommy and daddy hate to be awoken too)
staying asleep during the day at home (although it's much better than it has been)
having to be burped during the middle of eating
looking at daddy wearing sunglasses

New Abilities:
rolling over from back to stomach
reaching for anything in front of him
almost sitting up by himself
manipulating toys while holding them


This is a video of Cooper rolling over for us. He just started doing it with no warning...he looks like a pro.


We have attempted to introduce a nightly snack of rice cereal or oatmeal. However he has not quite acquired the taste for these scrumptious snacks. He eventually "enjoys" the cereal after about 10 minutes of fighting it. This is becoming a nightly struggle because each night begins with this 10 minute fight.


In the end, more food is deposited ON his mouth than IN his mouth.


Now that it is warmer out, we have let Cooper play naked...well as naked as we feel is safe.

Cooper Playing Patty Cake

Here is a cute video of Cooper playing patty cake with Grammy Terry.

Cooper Dancing

Here is a video of Cooper dancing to music. We play the music on the laptop computer and Cooper can watch a visualization of random shapes and colors that change to the beat of the music. This time he decided he wanted to dance.

Busting Out!

Recently Cooper has been busting out of his swaddle wrap more than ever! He will not stay wrapped. We've tried putting him to sleep without the wrap, leaving his arms out, but that hasn't been going too well. This video was taken two minutes after Cooper was very tightly wrapped up and placed in his crib. The video is dark but you can see his crib toy going on and off. I can't believe he busted out so quickly. Since he has learned to turn on and off his crib toy it doesn't put him to sleep any more. If you turn the volume up you can hear him clicking the button on and off.





This is a picture of Cooper not sleeping for a nap. He was placed in his crib tightly wrapped and again within a few minutes he busted out completely, arms, legs and all. During this process he lost a sock, and began chewing on the Velcro straps. We don't understand how he can manage to do this all within a few minutes of being put in his crib almost sound asleep.

Since he keeps busting out of his swaddle wrap we have again been trying to put him to sleep without swaddling him. Today he slept a total of 20 minutes from 10am-8pm! Paul had to handle most of this all by himself because I had to work half day. I'm so sorry Paul had handle this alone. It made for a very long, tiring, grumpy day for everyone. Anyone have idea on how to get him to sleep without swaddling him or how to get him to stay swaddled?