Something To Smile About

4 years old

On the 12th of October my baby boy turned 4 years old.  I can't believe how grown-up he is getting.  He is such a fun loving, stubborn, contradicting, whinny (hopefully a short stage) independent,imaginative, whole-hearted little boy.  Oh excuse me, Cooper would correct me and say 'big boy'.  At his 4 year old well child check-up he weight 31.7 lbs and was 40 inches tall.  He's in the 11th percentile for weight and just above the 25th percentile for height.  Hopefully he got his daddy's genes for height.  Cooper is till wearing his dafo (leg/foot brace) on his right foot to help with correct foot placement and aliment while walking/running.  He's doing great most of the time with and without it the brace except when he is tired.  Then sometimes you can see him dragging his right leg a little.  Cooper is now FINALLY potty trained! (insert band playing and crowd cheering)  It only took a year to do it...and boy, was it a tough year.  His teachers at school finally said "ditch the pull-ups." And so we did, and haven't looked back since.

Here are a few of Cooper's favorite things:
Cooper has the best imagination.  He can make up the most interesting games to play.  Usually involving a fireman, policeman, or some sort of super hero.

Cooper LOVES to watch daddy's "iPad" while he eats.  We started this when he was about 2 in order to keep him at the table.  Now it's the only way he will eat his meals.  Or I guess I should say stay at the table.  We still have to constantly remind him to eat. Hopefully when Elana starts sitting at the table too, we can remove the movie watching.

Favorite movie/shows to watch: usually Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but he also likes to watch Chuggington, Handy Manny, Roary the racing car, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Veggie Tales, and lately the Pink Panther (which is much more violent than I remember from when I was a kid).

Favorite book:  Not sure he has a favorite book, but he does like Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny, Thomas, Little Critter.  Cooper says his favorite book is, "All By Myself," but that could be because it was the last book we read.
Favorite Healthy food: Oatmeal, scrambled and flat eggs, cereal
Favorite Veggie: Carrots
Favorite Sweet: any kind of candy will do, he's really into bubble gum now
Favorite snack food:  Cheetos (or Pcheetos, according to him)
Favorite toys: wooden trains, Hot Wheels, construction vehicles
Favorite game: super hero game he invented (he is usually spider man)
Favorite pizza toppings: red eyeballs and grapes (aka: peperoni and olives)
Favorite place to visit and play: train museum  
Favorite clothes: naked boy  (underwear only) or PJ's
Favorite method of transportation: hopping.  He hops all over the house!
Favorite Color: Black
Favorite Animal: A monkey and a parrot
When he grows up, he want to be: "A dad."
Cooper is also starting to like helping cook or bake in the kitchen and he loves to help daddy whenever he is fixing something.
Cooper loves to ask questions and not just simple questions either.  Complex questions such as "why do we need zero?" and "why do we sometimes need to be squishy?"
And Cooper's most favorite thing in the whole wide world right now that he can't live without... Daddy!  I'm glad he loves his daddy but he's becoming a little too much like Velcro.

Here are a few of Cooper's dislikes: 
Eating without watching a movie
Getting ready for bed
Stop playing to do anything
Taking naps at home

Cooper talks well for his age but still has a few word that he doesn't say correctly.  Being a speech pathologist, I do try and make him say most things correctly but there are a few that I think are still just too cute to correct.  Here are a few of his Cooperisims:
Chicken for kitchen, ut (short u as in up) for ate, ament truck for cement truck, beblongs for belongs, light boat for light bulb, smallow for swallow, same of the time for at the same time, flat egg for fried egg, betanic for mechanic, last day for last night, gynosaur for dinosaur.

Cooper is really into super heros lately, mainly Spider-Man. How that quite happened, I'm not sure.  So he wanted to be Spider-Man for Halloween and he wanted a Spider-Man birthday party.

Cooper was so excited to help me make his birthday cake,

His favorite part was helping put the frosting on the cake (actually he just ate it).  My favorite part too.

We ended up making two cakes.  One to have on his real birthday and one to have for his party.

 

This is a picture of Elana sitting on the kitchen table while we sang happy birthday to Cooper.

For Cooper's birthday party, we decided to do something special this year.  We had the Tumblebus come to our house for the kids to play on.  The kids had a blast.

 

 

Who knew Cooper was so strong!

Rope swing

 

Parachute play

Monkey bars

Zip line, love his face!

 

Awards ceremony, getting a medal.

Giving his friends a medal.

 

Getting a new bike from our neighbor Papi.

After the Tumblebus we ate cake and ice cream.

Then the craziness began with opening presents.   After opening his presents, Cooper decided he wanted to go play outside.  It was a cloudy, chilly day. 

Even Elana didn't want to miss any of the fun.

Cooper plays with Monroe's Jeep more than she does.

 

Playing around in the leaves in the yard.

Later that night Cooper got two more presents from grandparents.  Grammy Terry and Grandpa Ed gave Cooper a gas station.  Now he can fill up his fire truck and lawn mower.

  

Grammy Rachel and Poppy gave Cooper more wooden train tracks and trains.  This track is usually set up somewhere in the house.  

It was a great day for a birthday party!

I still can't believe my baby boy is 4 years old!  Every day I am more amazed at the things he knows, the things he says, and the things he can do. 

 

First Snow Fall

 On Thursday we had our first snow fall of the season.  Cooper came home from school that day saying "Daddy, it's Christmas at my school".  I'm sure he'll be a little disappointed when he realized he has to wait two more months.

 Cooper wanted to go outside and play in the snow and make a snow man.  This is the end result.  Carrot from our garden for the nose and flower heads for the eyes.  Then 4 small snowballs for the mouth.

Then Cooper decided he wanted to shovel the snow off the driveway.  Too bad it only lasted a few minutes.  That's ok, most of it has melted by now.

And what blog post wouldn't be complete without a cute video of baby Elana.

2 Months Old

Dear  Elana, 

I  can't believe you are now 2 months old.  You have changed so much since you were born.  When you were two an a half weeks old you gave us all quite a scare.  You were having a rough day, not eating or sleeping too well.  It was about 6 pm on a Sunday and I was trying get you to eat.  It wasn't going very well.  Then all of the sudden you stopped sucking and your face and feet turned slightly purple.  I rushed you outside to dad and we try to do something, what ever we could to figure out what was wrong.  I remember daddy tipping you upside down and patting your back to see if anything was stuck inside your throat.    You were sort of sleepy and non-responsive. So then we went back inside we tried to wake you with a cold wash cloth and took all your cloths off.  You color was a little more normal but you were not squirmy and wiggly like normal.  You were not even crying, which was a little scary to us.  After about 45 minutes of trying to decide what to do, we decided to bring you over to the ER to get you checked out and make sure you were ok.  You were so well behaved, and of course better by the time we got there.  You were crying now and your color was much better.  Many people came in and out of the room to examine you and stick you with needles, ouch.  I think it was more painful for me to watch than for you to endure, because you, being my strong, brave, princess, did not cry one bit when the nurse poked you repeatedly to try and get an IV in you.  Dad and I could not believe how brave you were.  After many hours of prodding and poking the ER doctor, which by the way I totally loved, because he was so patient friendly and thorough with his explanations, he told us that they couldn't seem to find a cause for this episode and to watch you carefully for the next few weeks.  

 

Your little legs and arms were so skinny.  

 The next day we took you in to see your doctor, Dr. Lau.  I really like her a lot.  She is very thorough in her examinations, patient friendly, informative, knowledgeable, and has a really cool accent because she is from Columbia.  Love her! She thought that the episode might have been caused by acid reflux and you may have had some breast milk get into your lungs momentarily causing you to turn purple and stop breathing for half a second or so.  That would explain the spit up.  And wow, this was only the beginning of the spit up.  It has gotten much worse since this time.  So you are now on acid reflux medication and tolerating spitting up a little better.  We suction your nose out almost every time before you eat to help with your breathing through your nose.  It helps a little bit, but you often sneeze a lot after you eat to try and clear out the milk that has refluxed up into the back of your nasal area.  I should also suction you out after you eat too because you seem to be gasping for air often when you sleep because your nose is so stuffy.   Dr. Lau thought it would be a good idea for us to use an apnea monitor on you to monitor your heart and lungs while you were sleeping in case you momentarily stopped breathing again.  I thank God everyday that this never happened again!  Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of you wrapped up in the electrodes.

Last week you went in for your two month check up.  Girl, you have grown, and are the cutest, chubby baby I know!  Of course I'm a little biased because I'm your mom.

  You now weigh 10.8 lbs and are 22 inches long, double what you weighed at birth.   Here is a picture of you in your car seat when you were first born. Your head was so tiny and your legs and arms were so skinny. 

  

This is you in your car seat now.  So different! You are still not crazy being in your car seat so it makes it difficult to go places.  Eventually you will get used to it.

 A month after you were born Daddy had to go away on a business trip.  So we made flat Daddy so he could be with us while he was gone.  Here is flat Daddy playing with you on the floor.

 

Your first smile caught on camera.  Thanks to Grammy Rachel.  So cute!

 

About a month old, you developed an umbilical hernia.  If you look closely you can see that your belly button is big and puffy.  This was because of all the fluid inside.  It didn't seem to bother you and the doctor said it should go away on it's own, which, by now it almost has.

Grammy Rachel stayed for 8 weeks at our house to help take care of you and Cooper.  This picture was taken the day before she left.  Cooper apparently wasn't down with having his picture taken. You at the moment were calm and not fussing.  

 

 As soon as Grammy Rachel left you began your fussing stage.  Most days from 4-8 you will cry uncontrollably and there is no stopping you.  You usually are awake the entire time and skip your evening nap.  BRUTAL!  Cooper never fussed this much so we were at a loss as to what to do or where to even begin to stop the insane crying and screaming.

 

We have yet to figure out how to get you to completely stop screaming except to wait it out and then feed you again and put you down to sleep. 

 Sometimes walking outside wrapped in your so called princess blanket (above picture), other times lying on your changing mat or having daddy stand you up works. 

 

About 8 pm you are exhausted and this is the end result.  Sleeping in the swing.  You have spent many hours sleeping in this swing these past few weeks.  So much that we have moved it into your room so we can listen to you on the monitor.

You are completely different from Cooper at this age.  You sleep better at night, 5 or 6 hour stretches and most often sleep 3-4 hours during the day, which Cooper never did. 

You are now starting to stay awake for a little longer after your naps.  You still spit up often so you spend at least 30 minutes in your bouncy chair or I will hold you for some of the time.  But you are a very wiggly worm and prefer the bouncy chair over being held.
 
Sometimes we will play on the floor and try to give you some tummy time.  You often start fussing within the first 30 seconds of being on your tummy.  

Cooper likes to play with you when you sit in your bouncy chair. 

He is learning to play peek-a-boo with you.  You aren't quite sure what to think of peek-a-boo but you do like looking at Cooper.

 

Here is another photo of you looking cute.  After a few minutes of picture taking you began to fuss.

 

You really enjoy spending time on your changing table.  I'm not sure quite what it is about it,  but if you are fussing it seems to calm you down for a few minutes at least.  You smile the most when you lie here.  Something about mom or dad looking down at you or having you bottom free from cloths or diapers makes you happy.  I'd spend all day there if you wanted to.  Anything to keep my baby happy.

 You love your daddy and don't fuss as much when daddy holds you as apposed to mommy.  You always think you get to eat when mommy holds you.  You look so cute and small when daddy holds you.  I hope you stay cute and small for awhile. 

This is such a cute photo of you, almost a smile. You are looking around more and turn your head to look at me if I am in your view.  You are now starting to smile much more when we talk to you and even coo at us.  It's so much fun to have a conversation with you.  There will be moments where you are very loquacious and I love every minute of it.  It's pretty amazing how you develop.  I love every step of the way. Ok, well, maybe not the screaming moments but they are part of you and your cute personality!   I'm so happy you are part of our family.  I can't imagine life without you.

Love,
Mommy

An Unexpected 4th of July Surprise

   During the last few weeks of June I spent most of my time trying to relax.  I finished up most of my work at school and sent Cooper to school 3 days a week.  My hospital bag was packed and I was ready to go, except for clothes for the baby that I still needed to wash.   I was anticipating that I would have 2 or 3 more weeks to finish getting ready for baby girl. On Monday July 2nd Paul was out fishing for work all day and out of cell coverage most of the day.  Cooper and I went to the library in the morning and then took a nap in the afternoon.  I was feeling a little more miserable and uncomfortable than usual.  I was also feeling more contractions than I had before, although nothing I thought was out of the norm.  Tuesday I took Cooper to school and again spent the day relaxing on the couch.
      Since Wednesday was a holiday I was fortunate enough that Paul was home for the day.  In the morning I started to show some signs of pre-labor.  Of course my doctor's office was closed because of the holiday so I thought I'd wait and see what happened throughout the day before I bothered my midwife at home.  Paul was so great all day entertaining Cooper while I took a nap.  My mom was scheduled to fly in on Sunday and I still had some cleaning to do around the house to get ready for her arrival.  I decided to start sorting out the baby's clothes and do some laundry so I could put the finishing touches on organizing her room.  As I was sitting on the floor in the baby's room I began to notice contractions becoming a little more painful.  They were still coming at random intervals about 1/2 hour apart.  As I was sorting through the baby clothes Cooper was trying to go down for a nap, which never ended up happening.  I decided that my contractions were painful enough that sitting wasn't the best position and I should lie down on the couch with my feet up.
   About 5, Paul made burgers and fries for dinner.  I tried to eat something but didn't eat much because I was feeling too much pain.  Paul convinced me to contact my midwife and let her know what was going on.  Kathy suggested I head over to the hospital to get examined just in case.  I was so hesitant because I'm not one to 'cry wolf'.  I was also worried because we didn't know what we were going to do with Cooper.  Would he come to the hospital with us?  What if I needed to stay, where would he go?  Luckily Paul was so calm through all of this and contacted our neighbor, Rebecca, who was staying at her dad's house for several months.  She said she would be happy to watch Cooper and he could stay next door for the night if needed.
   About 6:30 I decided it wouldn't hurt to go get examined at the hospital.  I know
I wouldn't be the only one who goes to the hospital and then sent home.  Paul thought it was better to be on the safe side.  So we packed Cooper's bag, just in case, and off to the hospital we went.  Looking back on all of this, I am really glad we live less than 2 minutes away from the hospital.  When we got there the nurse at the reception desk was checking me in and as I was standing waiting for a room my water broke.  Not as scary and dramatic as it seems in the movies.  Thank goodness!   Cooper noticed my situation and exclaimed "Mommy why are you dripping?"  Lol!  I never thought I'd hear those word from my son.  Paul explained to Cooper that the baby was going to come out of mommy's tummy very soon. He knew that meant he was going to sleep next door at Benecio's house, so he was excited.  So, if we lived any further away my water would have broken in the car.  I knew that baby girl would not wait until my due date, July 30th, but I didn't expect her to come this soon.  On my least favorite holiday, of all days.

Once I was finally in bed and all hooked up Paul took Cooper over to our neighbor's house to get settled in.  Cooper was excited to get to watch fireworks that night.  I'm glad Cooper was ok staying with Rebecca and Benecio and didn't cry when Paul left him.  This made me worry much less about Cooper and I was able to focus more on baby girl.  

 

  
     It was just after 7 when we checked in and within a few short hours Elana Marie was born with only 5 pushes at 10:55.  She was 5 lbs 2 oz and 18 inches long.  So much easier and faster than the first time.  Loving that!

 
   After she was all cleaned up, the nurses said that her temperature was a little low.  They ended up putting her under a heat lamp for about an hour.  I hated having to wait and hour to hold her.  This time I didn't end up throwing up as much afterward like I did with Cooper.

To me she looks so cold.  I'm not quite sure how a heat lamp is better than clothes and a blanket, but apparently it is.

  

So sweet!  She grabbed on to Paul's finger and wouldn't let go.    He said it was so hard not to reach down and pick her up.   

It was about 2 a.m by the time Paul ended up going home and we both tried to get some sleep.  But come on, how much sleep can you really get in those uncomfortable hospital beds.  And not to mention a little infant waking you up wanting to eat.  Oh and I can't forget those pesky nurses who come and wake you up to check your vitals at 6 a.m. when you just finally fell back a sleep at 5:30! I'm not sure I was expecting to get much sleep after having a baby but more than 30 minutes would have been nice. 

Around 9:30 Paul brought Cooper over to the hospital to visit.  Boy was he excited to meet his new sister.  He was so cute wanting to hold her.  What a good big brother he's going to be.  Hopefully he will still want to hold her once we bring her home.

After about an hour or so Cooper became bored being at the hospital.  Paul took Cooper home to play and wait for his mom to come.  We called her right before Elana was born to see if she would be able to come and help out with Cooper until Sunday when my mom arrived.

I didn't realize that my mom was able to change her flight and come Thursday night.  Yay!  What a huge help!

  

Cooper had stayed up the night before watching fireworks until about 10:30.  Then the next morning he was awake about 7:30.  Poor kid was so tired he fell asleep on the hospital room floor watching TV.   Later that evening Cooper went to the airport with Paul to pick up Grammy Rachel. 

Grammy Terry stayed with me and Elana at the hospital.  She had no problem holding her for the next few hours.

Grammy Rachel finally arrived and was excited to meet Elana.

So far she is very different from Cooper.  She sleeps well, 4-5 hours at a time and eats well.  She does not fall asleep while eating like Cooper did.  Man, was he hard to wake up.  I remember it took over an hour to feed him because he kept falling asleep and was hard to wake up.    I'm glad I don't have to go through that again.

Cooper wanted to hold Elana again.  So cute!

Our first picture as a family of four.

 

Cooper can't get enough of holding baby Elana.

Such a sweet boy.

Grammy Terry can't get enough of baby Elana either.

Daddy finally gets a turn to hold Elana.

Yay!  On Friday we were finally cleared to go home.

Cooper still wanted to hold Elana even when we got home.
 

 

What a sweet princess sleeping.

Sleeping girl trying out the swing.  I think she likes it.

What?! Finally awake for more than five minutes.

Cute princess posing for the camera.

A thumb, her new favorite thing to suck on.

Cooper trying to help wake her up.  It's not going too well while she's all wrapped up.

And more sleeping in her newly named "princess blanket".

Surprisingly, Elana enjoyed her first bath.  She only screamed for a few seconds while we put her in.  And no pee or poop anywhere.  She saved that for her second bath.

She's already started to figure out how to hold the pacifier with her hand.  I think it was a luck that her hand ended up in that position.  It didn't last very long, but long enough for dad to take the picture of her. 

Little Elana is such a joy to have in our family.  We love her so much!   I can't wait until she is awake more so we can play and get out of the house more.  It's been so hot outside we've had to stay in almost everyday.     It's been almost a week since the time I started this blog post and had time to finish it and in between this time Elana has already changed so much. I love all the cute faces she makes her little forehead wrinkles and she movers her lips around, cute and funny all at the same time.  She moves around and wiggles so much more, she is getting bigger all the time (now into newborn clothes and out of preemie) and her crying has become more frequent and LOUDER.  When she is unhappy she will let you know, especially when she is hungry.  Feed me NOW or I will continue to make your ears hurt by screaming at the top of my lungs.  Thankfully this doesn't happen all of the time. 
    My brother Craig was able to come and visit last weekend and my dad will be out to visit the middle of August.  Can't wait.  My mom is staying until Labor day so she can watch Elana when I have to work for a week and while Paul is gone on a trip.  It's still a few weeks away but I'm nervous for the day that I will have Cooper and Elana all to myself for a day.  But for now I will not worry about that.  I think I hear a little girl starting to wake up.   Did I mention how much we LOVE this little girl?!