Who wants rice?

Cooper had his first taste of baby rice last night (organic of course! lol). He really seemd to like it. Of course, he didn't know how the whole spoon thing worked, but he did very well. I pretty much had to pour the rice in his mouth while he was crying. But when he got a taste of it he was sooo into it, smacking his mouth and swallowing all the rice... Hardly made a mess at all. There was no thrust reflex with him pushing the spoon out. 

It was so cute because he's used to the bottle or boob where it's a conitnuous flow of food, and with the spoon he wasn't getting that. So between spoonfuls he was screaming, wanting more! LOL It was so cute. 

I was hoping the rice would help sleep longer, but it didn't really... Altho he did sleep better, no grunting every 5 minutes (he's my lil grunter lol). He slept from 11 till 4 and then from 515 until 6, 615 until almost 1030!!! I'm very well rested today! LOL I actually woke up at 930 wanting to get up but since he was sleeping on my hip I layed in bed until he woke up. 

When he gets up at 6 I usually bring him into bed with me and feed him until he falls asleep... He usually grunts every couple of minutes which means I have to put the paci back in, rock him, and shhhh him back to sleep (about 5 seconds). It's just easier to do when he's in bed with me. 

So after he had his bottle at 6ish I put him over my hip (I was laying on my side) and burped him, we ended up falling asleep that way! LOL... He loves sleeping on his tummy. He kinda slid off my hip and onto the body pillow I always curl up with. I wish Paul would have been home to take a picture because it was so cute to see him lay there half way on the pillow and half way on my hip on his tummy. We were verrrry comfy! 

I gotta go, it's almost time to get ready to go to the Chiropractor. Just wanted to do an update about his first feeding!!! 

xoxoxo 

Amanda and Cooper

6 week check ups

Cooper and I had our 6 week check ups yesterday. 

I have healed perfectly from what Kathy (the midwife) says. Woo hoo!!! I'm in the clear! 

Cooper is doing great. The pediatrician says he is a totally healthy 6 week old weighing in at 9 lbs and 20 inches long!!! 9 lbs!! In 6 weeks he has gained 4 lbs and 2 inches. Amazing. Breastmilk does a body good! LOL 

Not much else is going on. Cooper is sleeping peacefully in his daddy's arms at the moment. The weather has finally gotten warm here, in the 70's everday, so we've been going for a lot of walks. Cooper loves to go for walks, and Pebbles doesn't mind either! 

I've started putting Cooper in the Baby Bjorn (front carrier) during the day so I can get some stuff donw around the house. It's great! I'm able to do the laundry, dishes, etc and he's not fussing or crying. He really likes it too. 

Well, I guess I'll get off here for now. Not much more to report, he's just growing like a weed!! 

Love, 

Mandy, Paul, and Cooper!!! 

I've come to realize...

Since having Cooper I've come to realize that... 

-I've come to realize that I'm never sleeping longer then 4 hours at a time again.
-I've come to realize that I'm going to late for everything no matter how much planning I do to be on time.
-I've come to realize that I hate pumping so much.
-I've come to realize that Cooper is getting bigger everyday.
-I've come to realize that Cooper changes every time I wake up.
-I've come to realize that we don't "travel" light anymore.
-I've come to realize that we can't leave the house without diapers, wipes, pacifiers, bottles, nipple shield, breast pump and all accessories, diaper cream, a clean outfit for Cooper, a clean shirt for me, burp cloths, blankets, and toys... And that's just for a trip to Kroger!
-I've come to realize that I will never watch a television show all the way through again. Thank goodness for DVR's!!
-I've come to realize that eating is something I do when I can, not because I want to. 
-I've come to realize that cleaning is over rated, I don't need a clean house to be happy.
-I've come to realize that the shower starting is like an alarm clock for Cooper.
-I've come to realize that I will never shave my legs again.
-I've come to realize that we're lucky if we have clean clothes to wear because who has time for laundry.
-I've come to realize that life doesn't get any better then this! 
-I've come to realize that I enjoy every second of having Cooper in my life! 
-I've come to realize that I don't mind all the "disrupts" to my life... I don't even consider then disrupts, more like blessings!! 
-I've come to realize Cooper is my life, and he always will be, but I still need to take care of myself and my husband. 
-I've come to realize that my husband is a wonderful man - so helpful and amazing! 
-I've come to realize that I can't imagine how single mothers do it. 
-I've come to realize that crying in the middle of the night with Cooper is perfectly normal and fine! 
-I've come to realize that when Cooper's eyes are closed he's not really asleep because when we open the door, or get comfy in bed, he wakes up and starts crying. 
-I've come to realize that A&D ointment is a godsend! 
-I've come to realize that Pampers totally suck - Donating one vaccine for every package of Pampers bought, yea I'm not supporting that!
-I've come to realize that no matter what outfit Cooper is in, even if it's just a onesie, he is totally adorable!
-I've come to realize that Cooper is the light of my life!
-I've come to realize that even though he's only been here 6 weeks it feels like he's always been in my life.
-I've come to realize that I can't imagine my life without Cooper in it. 
-I've come to realize that baths have a natural calming effect on babies. 
-I've come to realize that when Cooper is hungry he means NOW, not in 10 minutes when the bottle is warm.
-I've come to realize that I can't drive when Cooper is crying, I have to pull over and feed him, burp him, change his diapers... whatever he needs. 
-I've come to realize that Cooper crying pulls at my heart strings. 
-I've come to realize that I will do whatever I have to do to calm Cooper down when he's upset. 
-I've come to realize that Cooper likes to have some kind of background noise on when he sleeps (fan, sound machine, whatever).
-I've come to realize that Pebbles is okay with Coopers arrival. 
-I've come to realize that baby stuff is expensive. 
-I've come to realize that we always need baby stuff. 
-I've come to realize that schedules and routine aren't an option to an infant... we do what he wants when he wants. 
-I've come to realize that I love my son with all my heart!!!!

One month ago today...

One month ago today we were in the hospital holding our beautiful newborn baby!!! Today he is a bouncing baby boy, weighing over 7 lbs!!! Wow!! Things change so fast, I can't believe it's already been a month, but at the same time it seems like life has been this way forever, like I have had this gorgeous baby boy in my arms my whole life... I guess in a way I have, he has been in my heart my whole life!

In one month he has gone from 5 lbs to over 7. He has started latching on a little better, not every feeding, but much better then he was. He is sleeping in his room all by himself, like a big boy! lol. He is holding his head up so well and starting to really grasp things and hold on to them. He has gotten used to his diaper changes, but he still doesn't like his clothes being changed! lol. He went for his first walk yesterday.

We think he had his first social smile yesterday! It was amazing. Paul has 70's music on andShake Your Groove Thing by Peaches and Herb was on. Paul had Coops arms and was "dancing" with him and we were both singing and he made this huge smile!!! He hasn't done it since, but that's the biggest smile we've seen!! It was definitely different from his "gassy" smiles!!! So exciting!!! I can't wait to hear his laugh, I think a babies laugh is the most amazing sound in the world, and I can't wait to hear my babies laugh!!!

Paul went back to work today. I was pretty nervous about this at first, but so far it's going great. Cooper went to bed at 9 last night and slept until 2. We went back to bed at 3ish and he got up at 430 (this was a new one! lol) and didn't go back to sleep till after 6, but then slept until 9! I was happy to sleep in until 9! Right now he's napping in his boppy, but he'll be ready for a bottle within 30 minutes most likely, which means I need to go wash bottles!!! Fun times!

I love my lil man more and more everyday!!!

He sleeps... in the nursery

Sunday night we put Cooper in his nursery for the first time. I was extremely nervous about this and was seriously ready to change my mind. But Paul reassured me that he would be okay, I could go in and check on him whenever I want, and he would even wake me up if he woke up so I could go check on him... I must have went and checked on him 10 times, and of course he was fine! lol 
 
He actually seemed to like his nursery better then he likes the bassinet! He slept better, didn't fuss as much, didn't grunt as much, and fell right to sleep. We have a sound maker in there and it also prjects images onto the ceiling. We have the sound set to "rain" because he likes the sound of running water, and the images on the ceiling are fish and stuff (of course lol). Thanks to Fay for this wonderful gadget!!! 

So far the nursery is working out smashingly! He slept in there last night as well. We go up around 430 to feed him and put him back in the crib awake (we couldn't do that in the bassinet, but can with the crib), he fell asleep on his own, but then grunted until about 8 a.m. until Paul got up with him. It was so funny to hear him grunt for so long... but he was sound asleep!! Everytime we went in to check on him he was out like a light. 

He hasn't slept through the night again since last Thursday, but he's getting better. 

Paul goes back to work tomorrow... I'm not looking foward to doing everything on my own again. it's been great having Paul here the last 5 days, he's such a wonderful help and I truly appreciate him. He changes diapers, feeds Cooper, cleans up, did laundry, putzed around outside yesterday, takes Pebbles out all the time, etc... It's great! I'm going to miss him! lol 

We are going to go for a walk today. It's a pretty nice day today, supposed to be around 61!! woo hoo!! I think spring is on it's way... but it's supposed to go back down into the 40s later this week, and be rainy for the rest of the week. So when Coop wakes up from his nap we're going for a walk. 

Well, I'm gonna try to get some lunch before he wakes up. 

xoxoxo 

Amanda, Paul, and Cooper

And he sleeps....

Cooper slept 7 hours on Thursday night!!! I'm sure it was a total fluke, but it was great to get 7 straight hours of sleep. I had so much energy yesterday and felt great! Of course when I woke up after not pumping or nursing for 7 hours, I was totally engorged!!! But I pumped (got over 7 ounces) and the engorgement went away. 

Did you know we had kitchen counters? Counter tops that aren't cluttered with papers, bills, baby stuff, pet stuff, etc. etc. etc.!!! It's great to see sparkling counter tops again! Haven't seen them since March 9th! lol 

Last night Cooper slept from midnight until 230 and 330 until 730. So that wasn't too bad, 7 hours, just broken up a little. 

I weighed Cooper the other day and he weighs a little over 7 pounds!!! He's a growin boy. Of course I don't know how accurate this is because it wasn't on a baby scale, we used out bathroom scale. I weighed myself without Cooper, and then weighed myself with Cooper and it went up 7 pounds. We have a pediatrician appointment on April 21 so we'll find out exactly how big he is then. 

Cooper has been holding his head up since he was a couple of hours old, but now he's starting to get better control of it. Now when he lifts his head it doesn't flop back down or to the side. He can hold his head up and look at you, or look around the room. It's amazing. 

He's getting much better at tummy time as well, still doesn't like it very much, but he's getting better. 

We went to Barnes and Noble yesterday and got a couple books. One is on baby signing... we are totally going to do this with Cooper. The benefits are amazing - higher IQ, speaking sooner and with a larger vocabulary, speaking complex sentences soonger, less frustration in the "terrible twos" because they can communicate much better what they want/need, etc. It's great! So we're totally going to do it! 

The other book is about teaching your baby to read! Yep, you read that right! So we're going to give that a go as well. Can't wait to see if it works! 

Right now Coopy is laying in his boppy, looking worried just like his daddy usually does. He takes after Paul so much, he is such a worrier! He has that wrinkled forehead, eyebrows furrowed, shoulders tight and raised... Just like Paul does when he's worried. Lol... Like father, like son! 

We are going to Old Navy today to get me some clothes. I've come to the conclusion that these last 10 pounds aren't just going to fall off in the middle of the night, and I only have 1 pair of comfy pants that still fit, and only a couple shirts... My boobs are bigger then they were before pregnancy, so my large shirts are really tight, which makes it hard for nursing or pumping. So we're going clothes shopping today. Plus I've also heard that my preprego clothes may never fit me again because my hips are wider after giving birth... So time for a new wardrobe!!! Woo hoo!! I don't know whether to be excited about the shopping trip or not! On one hand I'm getting new clothes and can spend money (a favorite past time LOL), but on the other hand I have to try on clothes, which means I will find out what size I really am... Can't hide in my sweats and maternity jeans forever!!! Yikes!

Mom was supposed to leave today but she had to leave on Tuesday. Andy had a heart attack on Sunday night and Tuesday was the earliest flight we could get for her. Andy is doing well from what I understand and should be at home actually. So since Mom left early, Paul took Friday off. He also has Monday and Tuesday off. So that gives us a nice, long 5 day weekend to spend as a family. And it's supposed to be a nice weekend... it's the 60's I believe!!! 

We can't wait for Spring weather. Can't wait to take Cooper for a walk through the neighborhood. Can't wait to take Cooper to the park and walk the trails. Can't wait to just sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. 

Paul just sat Cooper up in his Boppy. I took pictures and will post them in a minute...it's so cute. 

Well, it's Coopers bath time and then off to Old Navy for some serious retail therapy!!!

I hope everyone is doing well!!! 

Love, 

Amanda, Paul, and Coopy!!!