Cooper: 6 months

How on earth did six months go by?! I feel like time is flying with Mr. Cooper. His first birthday is going to be here in a flash. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...we have quite the month to recap. 

His little tootsies don't even fit in these pictures any more!

Height & Weight - 
Height: 26.5" (50th percentile)
Weight: 17 lbs. 5 oz. (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 46cm (99th percentile)

**Still the same length as brother, but now has three pounds on Noah at this age! 

One day the little one will probably be the big one ;-)!

Eating - This has taken a fairly remarkable turn this month. Coopie is about 70% on formula. I have officially stopped breastfeeding (ouch...weaning is the worst) so he is exclusively on bottles. That said, I had enough milk in the freezer for the apocolypse so he is still getting some breastmilk each day until the stash is gone. Cooper could care less whether it is formula or breastmilk and has always prefered the bottle so that was a really easy transition. 

Here Nana, maybe you will like banana!

The one hiccup here is that he is a total snacker! The main reason I decided to wean him was to help his night sleep and was hoping by exclusively bottle feeding we could ensure that he was getting a handful of nice, big feedings each day. HA! He chows until he hits 4oz and then acts like we are trying to poison him. Getting the last 2-4oz. of a bottle in him can take an hour and a lot of patience and sneakiness on our part. 

First high chair experience. HI-YAH!

Solid foods are still a challenge. He only likes pears, oatmeal completely consitpates him, and event he pears are a little bit of a battle. He just will not open up to eat! One funny thing he does when we actually succeed at getting a spoon in his mouth with something other than pears is sticks his tongue out and makes an "ahh" sound. It is like a combination between a sigh and a gag and it is hilarious!

Couldn't you just scoop him right up?!

Sleeping (naps) -When given the opportunity, Coop is a great napper. He will zonk out in his bed from 30 minutes to 2 hours. That said, he often gets his naps on the go as a result of Mr. Noah's schedule. Once we are officially on two naps a day we will make some new arrangements to make sure he is getting some solid sleep at home.

Sometimes a stroller nap is just the way we roll! #punintended

Sleeping (night) - Whoa. This baby is a lot different in this department than Noah. With Noah we decided to cry it out and he was trained in about a week. I have now been sleeping on the couch** for almost a month and Coop still has good nights and bad nights. I swear just when we get a good thing going he will refuse to eat enough during the day or at his last bottle, gets a diaper rash, gets constipated, etc...all which ensure a night wake up. On a good night though, he will sleep through with barely a peep until 5 or 6 at which point I will give him a bottle and he crashes back out until 7:30.

Yep, we caved and got a video monitor. It's kind of amazing (and addicting)!

**(I'm on the couch because Coop is in our room until he is sleeping through the night and I can't sleep with him crying or wiggling, etc... Scott has recently taken up residence on the other couch...hope our kids are comfortable in their respective beds/rooms while Scott and I sleep like college kids!)

He loooooves to sleep on his belly! We also had to lose the infant insert in the pack n play this month. He is too heavy and I caught him grabbing onto the side!

Clothing - We are solidly in six month clothes and even some 6-9 and size 3 diapers!

He's going to be a lady killer with those eyes!

New this Month -The bottle/formula thing, and some serious progress sitting. He is so close to being able to be left in a sitting position but still topples occasionally so we have to sit with him.

Our little puppy at Halloween.

Cooper Likes - People, Noah specifically, mirrors, these funny little block toys that we have that crunch, kisses on his cheeks

I'm afraid his days in his bouncy seat are numbered! This boy is anxious to m.o.v.e!

Cooper Dislikes - Being hungry & diaper rashes. Can't say I blame him on either front!

Best little face to say good morning to! Plus, that hair is kind of awesome.

Overall, if you haven't noticed, we have the happiest baby ever. Our one and only gripe is his night sleep and we will get there! Who am I to argue about a few extra snuggles with my baby?! 

He loves kisses on his cheeks. Makes him giggle like crazy!

noah turns 3

What an interesting little journey this blog has taken. It started off all about Scott and me, morphed into the Noah show, and is now 99% about Cooper. BUT, today we are going to go back to the days of talking about my first born.

Future Buff? Here's hoping!

My Noah.

This boy has me wrapped around his finger while simultaneously knowing how to push each and every one of my buttons. He is an amazing mix of smart, athletic, focused, silly, and a complete sweet heart!

That smile just melts me!

I can't really recap the entire year or we would be here all day so I will talk about what my three year old is like right this very minute:

School - Noah is still going to school twice a week (Monday & Wednesday) and absolutely loves it. He is completely thriving and it is so fun to hear him just blurt out random things he has learned at school. Mostly it is in the form of songs but occasionally he will tell me something like, "it's fall, Mama" and I realize it is because they talk about it at school. I love to see his enthusiasm to go to school each morning and the excitement that he takes away from the classroom is absolutely magnetic. His teachers tell me he is a "quiet observer" most of the time (this is not surprising...while he can be wild at home he is pretty mellow in bigger social situations) but that he recalls the smallest details and can definitely remind people of rules or exactly how things should be going! My little rule follower/enforcer. Hopefully his healthy fear attention to authority continues into his teens!

He has gotten much more interested in arts and crafts. He will actually focus on a project and enjoys cutting, stickers, painting, and gluing.

Friends - This is also mostly a result of school. Seeing Noah develop real friendships is a really fun thing to watch. I love to see him interact with his little buddies and talk about them long after they have been separated. Mostly he is focused on what toys they have at their house or what sport they played together ("I do fast running with Cole & Reed!") but he gets genuinely excited to see them and definitely has made connections with certain kids all on his own (versus the days of just playing with whoever mom wants to hang out with!).

A few of his buddies at his small party. I had planned a big shin dig but opted to cancel that and just go for a small gathering at home. He tends to get overwhelmed by large crowds right now so we wanted to make sure he was happy and comfortable on his big day. For the record, we weren't allowed to sing happy birthday, clap, and he was more than ok with Cole blowing out his candle!

Potty Training -If there were medals being awarded for potty training, Noah would get a gold...and maybe like 5 of them, just for good measure. We talked up the whole, "when you're three you go in the big boy potty" thing like, to death. So when the weekend rolled around after his birthday and we took the plunge we were met with very little resistance. I won't go into all the details of our method, etc. but he ended up only having one accident Saturday morning (playing outside) and has had zero since then at home. He had a rough first day back at school on Monday (one, and a half...made it to the bathroom but not quite to the potty, accidents) but that was my fault as I rushed him through drop off and didn't really show him the potty set up. Fast forward to Wednesday and he made it through school with zero accidents. We have also done a number of outings and had friends over to play and he is able to tell us, or just go, when he needs to. So, ultimately two accidents thus far. Clearly, I'm a proud mama bear!

Undied for Fundies!

Paci - Noah still has his paci for naps and bedtime. We thought about taking it away but realized that it isn't causing him any more harm (damage is already done from an orthodontic state as long...well, currently...it needs to be gone by 4) so we'll take our time with this one.

We may go round and round from time to time but he makes me the happiest and proudest Mom on the planet!

Bed/Crib - Noah is also still in his crib. We, again, thought about moving him to a big boy bed but decided to hold off. First, he has never climbed out of his crib, or even tried. Second, I am SO not ready to lose any more sleep. I need a few months of solid sleep before I am willing to mess with Noah's night sleep!

The big progress recently was getting a pillow in the bed and ditching the sleep sack in favor of a blanket. Baby steps!

Why? - Oh.my.gosh. This is like Noah's anthem right now. It can be out of true curiosity or just to be a stinker of a three year old. Either way, I hear this about a million times a day.

Someone was happy about his new bike!

Eating - I would say Noah is a typical three year old. He like anything that is starch &cheese plus hotdogs and chicken nuggets. Of course there are the random things he'll eat, like salmon, but mostly it is just a challenge to get veggies in him (we sneak in a lot with smoothies and squeezies though) and he will gobble macaroni like it is the last thing on earth!

The spread at Noah's birthday party. He wanted a train on his cake so I kind of ran with the theme!

Sleeping - Oh my wonderful first born. He is the best. He still naps most days for 2-3 hours (although he can easily skip it if needed and occasionally asks to skip it) and goes to bed every night between 7:30 and 8pm. He wake up to greet the day anywhere from 6-8am. I haven't quite figured out the science on why this moves around so much but when he wakes up, opens his door and turns on his light (all from inside his crib), it is go time! 

"Mom, carry me!"

Noah's Stats: 
Height - 37 inches (39th percentile)
Weight - 29 pounds (21st percentile)
BMI - 14.89 (15th percentile) 

Our old pediatrician had a fun little equation that based on a three year old's height you can calculate what they will likely top out at. Noah came in at 5'9". Obviously, this isn't exact and time will tell but it isn't unlikely based on Scott & my heights.

These two are two peas in a pod. Watching Noah's love for sports grow and his requests to take Scott in the family room and "watch football, Dad" absolutely warms my heart.

The reason he is a string bean...he never.stops.moving!

Fears - I have touched on this before but my guy has some pretty major fears. Far and away, number one is mascots. Or really anyone in costumes. There was a parent dressed up at Olaf at Noah's school on Halloween and we had to make an emergency exit from the premises. It is pretty much a full body reaction to seeing these characters and the fall out can last for a few minutes or days. Luckily, we seem to be making progress on the rest of his fears but our guy is definitely sensitive and you won't be seeing him sitting on Santa's lap this year!

After evacuating the parade where Olaf was.

About an hour later and the terror continued (this was because I wouldn't hold him and expected him to actually walk on the floor in our house...fall out I tell ya).

And about an hour after the above photo!

Sometimes I feel like there are two Noah's...the one at home and around his close friends/family, and the extremely cautious guy that other people tend to encounter. For example, I knew picture day at school was going to be a challenge for him. The whole set up, a stranger asking him to do something, pictures in general, was all just asking for him to melt down. And, sure enough, I got a call from the school that he was having nothing to do with it and they needed me to try and get him to take the picture. A little bribery and we officially got something on film! BUT, that guy is a totally different boy than the silly, rambunctious, chatty, and hilarious boy that runs around our house. He has energy for days, is smart as a whip, and is really the happiest kid on earth. He just clams up a bit when he encounters new people or any authority figures that aren't me and Scott. 

My nervous, shy guy.

And this one! Such a goofball.

Noah's heart is pretty much the biggest ever. In the middle of the whole picture debacle he turned to me and said, "Mama, I just love you". And, in that moment, he could have had anything in the entire world (he got a giant hug and kiss!). He is also the sweetest big brother in the world, well, 98% of the time. He gets really concerned when Cooper cries and rarely gets jealous of the attention Coop needs. Hands down, Noah gives the best snuggles ever and it will break my heart when the day comes that he doesn't want to snuggle up and watch Curious George with me any more. 

Brothers.

I could write forever about Noah. He makes me so incredibly proud every day. He also makes me laugh every day. He also makes me want to pull my hair out at least every other day ;-). Three is proving to be a bit of a doozy...he is quite opinionated and isn't afraid to make that known. BUT, the good and fun far outweighs the challenging and I look forward to seeing him continue to grow into the amazing little boy he is becoming.

Off to year 4!

Cooper: 5 months

Love this face!

Height & Weight - 
Height: 26"
Weight: 16.6 lbs.

(He is the same height as Noah at this age but has two pounds on our first born!!)

Love wearing this little guy when we are out and about!

Eating - Cooper loves food. Like seriously, there is not enough milk in the world for my boy. I am 99% sure that my milk supply is going down so we are supplementing a lot of his feedings during the day with a little extra breastmilk in a bottle if he still acts hungry. This usually adds up to about 6oz. of bottle milk each day on top of a handful of nursing sessions. Before bed he GOBBLES 8oz. of formula. It is rare that he will turn down a bottle! 

Smiles all the time!

Solids are another story. We have tried oatmeal and pears and he pretty much acts horrified the entire time I try to feed him. He turns his head away from the spoon every single time! I am sure that if we offered him solids every single day he would probably start to get used to it but we aren't very consistent (poor second baby) so it will likely take longer. I'm not feeling any pressure or concern and know that we'll get there in time!

Seriously, mom?! Where's the bottle?

Sleeping (naps) - Progress! I made a commitment to get serious about this while Scott was out of town and I had my mom here to stay with him for all naps and it was like he knew and just magically started taking hour long naps in his bed! No crying, just did it. I think being able to sleep on his belly made a big difference here. 
 

We'll still cheat and have some snuggles from time to time. That face is too precious!

Sleeping (night) - We're getting there! Since our return from vacation we have settled back into a nice routine of one wake up a night (he sometimes tries to get up at 3 but a paci and some back rubs and he'll go back to sleep until 4/4:30). With his aforementioned monster daytime appetite he absolutely does not need to eat in the middle of the night! When he nurses it is for about 1 minute before he starts popping on and off and after putting his paci in he goes to back to sleep. We just need to get tough and do a few nights of crying and we will officially have two boys who sleep through the night! I kind of can't wait. Monitors are hooked up, just need to commit. Hopefully by our six month update there will be a lot of great sleep to report.

Happy boy waking up!

Clothing - We are solidly in six month clothes and even some 6-9. He is also already in size 3 diapers (Noah wears a 4!)!! I mentioned his noggin in my last post, but he is wearing hats meant for 1.5-2.5 year olds!

Thank goodness he fit into his Cardinals onesie! Unfortunately it didn't bring us enough luck though :-(.

New this Month - Rolling over from back to front. He discovered this shortly after our return from Tahoe and has not stopped since. He made his first roll in the middle of the night and definitely surprised himself (and me when I went to get him out and found him on his belly). BUT, it only took him about one night to realize that is his preferred sleeping position. He immediately flips to his belly and seems to be sleeping much more soundly than before. It is also fun to watch him roll around while he plays and pop his little head up to say hello! He gets a bit frustrated whenever he rolls to far and finds himself against a piece of furniture though ;-).

I left him on his mat with the closet door closed (he likes to look at himself in the mirror). I went and switched the laundry and came back to find him like this. Rolling and apparently opening closets now!

Cooper Likes - People. Toys are fairly interesting, but he loves nothing more than to have people talk to him. He also adores Noah! One thing we have mastered this month is the ring sling. We love it. Coop rides along happily and has even zonked out on a number of occasions!

Snuggled in his sling at Kristina & Nick's wedding.

These two...not really enough words for how they fill my heart.

Cooper Dislikes - Being hungry. This is really the only thing that makes him upset! He is the happiest baby ever!

This is the face he makes when he is hungry. He starts sucking his bottom lip as a subtle indication that a meltdown is coming if he isn't fed soon!

**I swear Scott still exists! Not sure why we didn't get any pictures of him with Coop this month but I plan to rectify that in the coming weeks!

wedding tour 2014

Look at me! As promised, I am actually going to recap our vacations! We packed two cities and two weddings into 14 days...

Our trip to St. Louis was originally planned based on Katie's wedding. It turned out that it was also Cooper's first trip back so we got to make an extended vacation out of it. This meant that I got the "opportunity" to fly out to St. Louis alone with both boys (Scott joined us a week later as we stayed for 10 days).

My crew and our luggage. Scott helped me get it in the door ;-).

The flight actually went ridiculously smooth. Noah is a rockstar flyer and Cooper apparently is already following in his big brother's footsteps. The most entertaining part was probably when all three of us got to journey to the airplane bathroom together!

Now picture this in a teeny tiny bathroom!

Snack and an iPad...the keys to airplane success!

And this guy...he's just always happy!

Once we arrived we wasted no time filling our schedule! We had two sides of the family to introduce Coop to, plus lots of close friends to see. This trip to St. Louis was extra nice because both of my parents are now retired so we got to spend a ton of quality time together.

Coop and his Great Grandma (my mom's mom)

And with my dad's mom. How lucky are my boys to have two Great Grandmas to snuggle them?!

Playing chase with Grandma!

St. Louis is full of amazing places to take kids. We opted to visit the zoo and Museum of Transportation this time around but I look forward to adding to that list as both boys get a little older. Noah loved both experiences. He was especially excited to see the elephants at the zoo as San Francisco doesn't have any and we have been promising him elephants for months! Every time I go back to the St. Louis Zoo I am seriously impressed by just how amazing it is. Again, so excited to keep taking the boys as they grow.

Watching the seals with Papa. Two peas in a pod!

Seriously, best zoo ever.

He couldn't be bothered to take his eyes of his beloved elephants!

Museum of Transportation. Noah was really excited to get to climb in a caboose (and I love hearing him say it!)

He and Jillian are amazing friends and playmates. They pick up right where they left off no matter how long they go without seeing each other.

We tried to go apple picking. Noah freaked out about a tractor and we ended up picking exactly zero apples.

Of course, taking two boys out of their routines and home doesn't exactly mean that we were all super rested this vacation! Noah travels really well and adjusts to the time change pretty seamlessly. Cooper was a bit of a different story. I know one day he'll be easy peasy but this trip left me waking up a time or two extra a night and him needing to be held a lot. Luckily there was time for extra naps with all the extra hands on deck!After a week of bachelorhood, Scott joined us in St. Louis for the main event...Kate's wedding! Katie and Chris got engaged on Christmas Eve and we have been waiting for this day ever since. All of the festivities were perfect (I expected no less with Kate in charge) and it was such a fun weekend celebrating an amazing couple.

My very hot date!

Right before the ceremony! Kate looked stunning!!

The newlyweds!

My and my momma!

After a night of partying like we were in college again, it was time to head back home. We loaded up our ridiculous amount of luggage and boarded our flight home...thankfully with an extra set of hands this time (although both boys delivered another great flight).

A new Ducati toy, just like Papa's, also makes flights go off without a hitch!

Seriously, who packs this much?! And my parents really have almost everything we need at their house already!

We landed late Sunday night and pulled a few necessities out of our luggage but left 98% of our bags packed and strewn across the house as we were off to Tahoe on Wednesday...

All of this went in the car. Plus all four of us. The angle is bad but that is 4 suitcases, two pack n plays, golf clubs, two coolers, a Boppy, and a handful of misc. smaller bags!

Somehow we packed a ridiculous amount of luggage (seriously, how is it possible that two small people require so.much.stuff?) into the car with zero room to spare and hit the road. We lucked out on traffic and made fairly good time. We had to make two stops, one for food for the big people, and one for food for Coop, and by the time we made it to Truckee everyone was climbing the walls of the car.

Something about a trip to Tahoe makes In N Out a necessity. It is the only time I ever eat fast food and it is sooooooo good!

Really glad I had the whole fam with me for this pit stop. It was a little eerie!

Guess what, Grandma & Papa were there! And thank goodness they were. I really don't know how we would have managed the logistics of this wedding without them. I was a bridesmaid, Noah was a ring bearer, and Scott was the officiant which kept us pretty busy. We kicked of the festivities almost the moment we got there as the bride-to-be bunked with us on Wednesday night.

We made it! Could the lake be prettier?!

It was pretty much mandatory to get pre wedding massages!

Noah and his two favorite people on earth! I am good for snuggles but these two deliver all the fun!

A little fun at the lake on Friday morning.

Coop caught a few zzzzzz's.

Nervous Noah sticking close to Grandma.

Once again, we celebrated an incredible couple who mean the world to both of us. My brain and eyes are tired from the length of this post so I am going to let the pictures continue to speak for the amazing weekend we had.

Friday night we were treated to a pre-pre-wedding dinner at Sunnyside. Noah was obsessed with all the boats.

Coopie in his new hat. I brought a bunch of his hats with me and not a single one fit!! I had to run out and grab this one and it is sized to fit a 1.5-2.5 year old. Love my boy and his big noggin!

The welcome dinner the night before the wedding was at the incredible Martis Camp. Kristina and Nick organized all kinds of fun games for the guests as you can see above!

Scott and his Mama.

Look at this matchy family! I intentionally dressed the boys the same...it was seriously just happenstance that Scott & I matched too!

Kristina and Nick thought of absolutely everything and pulled off an amazing wedding in an unbelievable setting. We had so much fun the entire weekend!

Ah the life of a breastfeeding bridesmaid!

Noah spying on the set up below. Those suspenders are just too much!

The beautiful bride and me!

These two pretty much made all of these weddings possible for us. Not to mention it was just great to celebrate with them!

Sillies with my boy!

"Hold hands, Mama". The mantra of his life right now.

They had so many adorable details.

Oh that face.

Our wedding family.

Finally, it was time to pack up our family and head home and get back to our normal routine. We actually managed to make it all the way home with zero stops!!! It definitely feels good to be home but I still can't believe the weddings are over. It has been so much fun planning with these ladies and it was so special to be a part of their big days.

Until next time...