Cooper: 1 Year!

One very happy family!

Height & Weight - 
Height - 30.25" (75%)
Weight - 22.3 lbs (50%)
Head - 49.5 cm (off the charts!)

His head might be as big as his legs but he is still darn cute! 

Eating - I will actually admit to some progress on the eating front! When Coop decides that food is acceptable he is insatiable!!! He can eat and eat and eat. There are times where I wonder where he is putting it all. That said, it is pretty predictable. Waffle (plain), english muffin with almond butter, or hot dog. That is a bit of an exaggeration and we are finding new tricks to get our little monkey to try new things (smoothies, toothpicks to make eating more fun, etc.). 

Debating whether this particular waffle is worthy of eating. 

One random food anecdote is that we cannot open a bag of chips with Cooper in ear shot or in our eye line. Once he hears the first crunch he is a mad man. He won't eat anything else and won't rest until he gets the chip! I guess it's good for my waistline! 

I spy with my little eye...(he has zero trouble crawling up flights of stairs).

We also officially ditched the formula. I forgot how abrupt this is...formula one day...none the next. So far Cooper isn't a big fan of regular milk (neither was Noah) but is ok taking it before bedtime at night so we will stick with that. I'm not complaining about going to one bottle a day! 

Our first visit to the beach Coop was not impressed...this time he couldn't get enough!

Sleeping (naps) - Still an amazing napper. Poor guy gets awoken from almost every nap due to Noah's schedule or his desire to sleep forever, but he never puts up a fight and still takes two naps a day. 

I sat in the car for 45 minutes because I just couldn't bring myself to wake him after our walk.

Sleeping (night) - I think our "wait and see" finally paid off. For the past week or so Coop has been officially sleeping through the night. Sometimes he wakes up in the 5 o'clock hour and isn't upset or probably even hungry but I will rush in with a bottle in the hopes he won't wake Noah by talking and singing in his crib! 

The sound effect that goes with this face is exactly how you would think it sounds. He thinks it is hilarious...it's pretty hard not to laugh!

Clothing - (same as last month) 12-18 months! Even a size 2 here and there (admittedly, the ones that run a little small). He is quite the big guy which is so fun and different from big brother! 

Why, yes,  you can have anything you want!

Before he could walk he would crawl over and pull up on your leg and just hold on and smile.

New This Month - Walking! It started with a step or two, seemingly by accident, but as of his first birthday he is a bona fide walker. I actually think he started doing it because he liked the applause. Now he just walks around clapping for himself. It still catches me off guard to see both of my boys walking down the hall! 

He would like to join in on the soccer action!

Clap clap clap. All.the.time. If you say "yay" he will drop whatever he is holding and start clapping.

He is obsessed with the trampoline. He actually gets his feet off the ground from time to time.

Teeth. Oh his teeth crack me up. He finally cut his fourth top tooth. That little guy was just sitting right under the surface for what seems like forever! 

Toofs! 

"Da Da". I concede. He officially calls Scott "Dada". I thought Scott was making it up but after FaceTiming with him and Coop freaking out for "Dada" I threw in the towel. He can say "Mama" but I wouldn't call it a specific request for me! 

I guess I can't complain...they are pretty darn cute! 

Cooper Likes - Baths. Music Class. People (kids especially). Snuggling (oh, the snuggles, he is sooooooo snuggly). Books (he adores books and will hand them back to you if you try to stop reading to him...although he gets hung up on the cat pages every time...anyone have a cat we can come visit). Everything. I mean, everything. He gets giddy when you put him in the shopping cart, give him a cracker, talk to him...he just loves life! He is just the happiest guy ever and we are so lucky to have a baby with such an amazing disposition. 

This guy. My heart.

Cooper Dislikes - Having his nose/face/hands wiped. He seems you coming and flails/wiggles/fights with every ounce of his little body. It is quite dramatic. 

I don't have any pictures of him sad so you get mischievous Cooper instead! 

Dogs other than Nana. You would think when you have an 85 pound horse Golden Retriever for a pet, nothing would scare you. Apparently this is not the case. I actually think he is afraid of barking and not so much the dogs themselves. Nana never barks and so I think the loud sound catches him off guard when he hears it at someone else's house. 

Nana doesn't even make him look twice!

I should have a field for Croup updates. We got round 6 and made the call to go see an ENT to make sure it was indeed that we "have a croupy kid". Guess what, we "have a croupy kid". They took a look at his upper throat and airway in the office and (luckily, or not so luckily) he was croupy at the time and you could clearly see his restriction. It was really educational for me and the number 1 take away from the visit is a clear treatment plan when it shows up. Of course, we will keep an eye on it, but for now, we just deal with this as a fact of Cooper getting sick. 

Birthday - We kept Cooper's actual first birthday fairly mellow. With a Baptism and pretty large party on the horizon we just enjoyed the day as a family. Luckily, Cooper's birthday fell on his music class day and that is pretty much the best gift we could give him!

It's kind of fun to be able to have a present in the living room without him having a clue he is sitting on it! 

Birthday eve. How was he in my belly a year ago?!

The necessary tools for assembling a million piece play kitchen ;-)! 

All ready for the big wake up! (For the record, we know he is only 1 and this was pretty much for Noah...but we have every other toy on the planet so we wanted something that would be fun for a long time for both boys)

The day I went into labor, Coop and I exactly one year later, and our very first picture together.

We had to hide his other toys to get him to even realize there was a kitchen to play with! The surprise was lost on him, but not his brother... 

Having a baby brother who was more concerned with the relocation of his toys means you get to open his presents! 

That kitchen is great, but I sure love these rhythm sticks!! 

Yep, the $6 sticks were far and away the favorite gift! 

Scott surprised Noah (and me) with a special present just from him on his first birthday and did the same with Cooper! Coop was definitely more interested in the opening of this one. 

I think he is confused as to why it isn't a Cardinals jersey ;-)! 

Birthday cupcake!

Excited to get his hands on the cupcake.

As suspected, he felt the same way about cupcakes as he does about most food and it was fed to the floor! 

We are beyond smitten with our little 1 year old and can't imagine life before him. He brings so much happiness to our family and we can't wait to continue the celebrations of our big 1 year old!

Last monthly picture. The only thing I won't miss is cutting out the numbers! He has been a great participant all year! 

Cooper: 11 Months

He is turning into such a little boy! 

I keep waiting for the month where he won't lay on the blanket for pictures but he might be the most cooperative guy ever! Noah was always too busy to be bothered with a picture (hence most of my pictures of Noah are of him on the move). 

Height & Weight - 22+ lbs. No length measurement until the big 1 year check up next month.

Hi! I get this smile every time I peek around the stroller and say hi to him! 

Eating - Not a whole lot of progress here (although tonight he ate about 3 teeny tiny bites of hot dog and we pretty much hit the roof with excitement). He still has his funny food aversions and prefers the standard rotation of all things crunchy with a little yogurt, squeezies & formula thrown in. 

He tried some Fro Yo. He was pretty unimpressed. That said, it was Blueberry Tart (Noah's choice) so I can't really blame him. We'll try some Birthday Cake flavor next time, buddy! 

One fairly hilarious part of his pickiness is just how picky he is. We finally got him to eat Macaroni & Cheese. Turns out, he will eat Annie's Rotini & White Cheddar Cheese Sauce...only. Any other way, shape, or form of pasta need not apply. A shell? Forget it! Funny, yet frustrating all at the same time. 

Nana scored this meal. Wrong pasta choice. 

I mentioned formula. He takes 6-8oz. before each nap/bedtime and usually a 4oz. sometime between 3am and 6:30am depending on the night. He is going to miss his beloved formula when the regular milk moves in next month (we, however, will not miss paying for it)!

Mmmmmm, the approved spiral pasta. (Please note those teeth for a note a little later).

Sleeping (naps) - Rock.star. We actually have to wake him half the time because he would sleep 3 hour stretches if we let him. He takes a great morning nap daily at 8:30 or 9am (1.5-2 hours) and again in the afternoon around 2 or 2:30. We wake him by 4pm each day and try to make 3 hours his maximum daily total or we risk a 5am wake up the next day. 

Not really much guessing when it comes to knowing when he is tired. Paci, bear, snuggle. 

A fairly hilarious reality around here...every time we walk Noah falls asleep and Coop just babbles along the whole way! 

Same deal, different day! 

Sleeping (night) - Pretty good. We still haven't buckled down and gotten rid of night feedings. Honestly, they are so quick it almost doesn't seem worth it. It is never more than one 4oz. bottle and sometimes it isn't until 5 or 6 in the morning. It may be the kiss of death but I am kind of in a "wait and see" mood with this to see what happens when we switch him off formula. 

Precious baby. 

Paci. Bear. Snuggle! Haha! 

Clothing - 12-18 months! Even a size 2 here and there (admittedly, the ones that run a little small). He is quite the big guy which is so fun and different from big brother! 

Yep, your heart just exploded too.

New This Month - Standing without holding on. I swear he could walk if he would just take that first step but he has zero interest. If you try to make him stand when he doesn't want to, he turns his body into an L and refuses to do anything but sit. 

A little bit of a creeper smile but he is a standing machine. 

Teeth. He has cut some major chompers with a couple more on the way! 

Teeth picture above. Pretty sure those eyes will get him a Lady or two ;-). 

First Easter this month. He was pretty unimpressed by the whole thing and wanted everything in Noah's basket anyway! 

Coop also finally starting babbling his consonant sounds and even says "car" from time to time. It was like one day he could just say "ba ba ba, ma ma ma, ga ga ga, da da da, ya ya ya, ca ca ca"! He can also flip his tongue over which is fairly funny to watch a baby do. Neither Scott nor I can do it!! 

Not the tongue flip, but funny nonetheless. He also loves climbing up in Noah's anywhere chair. 

Cooper Likes - Baths. Music Class. People (kids especially). Snuggling (oh, the snuggles, he is sooooooo snuggly). Being chased (his favorite game is crawl as fast as possible towards Nana's water bowl!). Books. Everything. He is just the happiest guy ever and we are so lucky to have a baby with such an amazing disposition who just wants a leg to pull up and stand by! 

Gah! He just makes me so happy! 

One thing that I have to note is that coming home to Cooper might be the best thing ever. He is better than a puppy! It doesn't matter if you leave for 2 minutes or 2 hours, the reception when you walk in the door is seriously pure thrill to see you again. 

Snuggles with Brother. 

Cooper Dislikes - Having his nose/face/hands wiped. He seems you coming and flails/wiggles/fights with every ounce of his little body. It is quite dramatic. 

Apparently sand isn't a favorite either! 

 Nor the bunny!

We also almost made it an entire month without croup but it snuck up on us Friday night. #5 for anyone keeping count. I have given up hoping that a runny nose won't eventually be croup. C'est la vie! 

Croup can't keep this smile away!