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!