Once again....

I dropped the ball on the blog once again. I apologize. November was uneventful month though.

We have had one big major my milestone hit that is very exciting to everyone... At 20 months Cooper is finally TALKING!! Actual words that we can understand!! YAY!!! His vocabul

ary has grown very quickly over the past few weeks, he learns a few new w

ords a day. Some of his favo

rite words are -

Ball

Da-ee (daddy)

No

Wa-wa (water)

Ow (as in owie)

Shoe

Bee (as in honey bee - theres a picture of a bee in his room)

Mommy

While he does say "mommy" sometimes he says "daddy" A LOT more. Little stinker butt.

We had a pretty fun Thanksgiving. We went to Aunti Beth's and had lots of yummy foo

d. After dinner there we

came home and put the tree up. <3>

Paul finally go the playroom painted and we have started putting things in there. We made a trip to Ikea in the middle of November to get some toy storage for the room and are starting to get that put together. The room looks great! I can't wait for Cooper to see it Christmas morning.

Here are some pictures for you.

Updated Milestone list

1 hour - held head up for the first time
4 weeks - slept in crib
8 weeks - first smile
3 months - slept through the

night
10 weeks - first laugh
3 months - first tooth bud (below the gums)
3.5 months - started teething
4 months - stopped sleeping through the night
4 months - rolled over for the first time
5 months 1 week - pushed up on hands5 months 2 weeks - sat up with little to no support

6 months - started crawling, army crawl
6 months 2 weeks - first tooth popped through

7 months - Cooper reached out for me.

7.5 months - He is "talking" so much.

8 months - He cruised around the furniture.

9 months - He stood unassisted for a few seconds

9.5 months - He said "Mama".

9.5 months (Christmas Eve actually) - He took his first step

9.5 months - He's hand-knee crawling.

10 months - He stacks large

objects.

10.5 months - walking on his own without assistance

11 months - feeding himself with his hands

12 months - added "digga digga digga" to his vocabulary. No clue what it means but it's frikkin cute!

13 months - walks backwards

14 months - we have a runner!

15 months - holds hands up so we can undress him

15 months - knows where

mommy/daddy's nose, eyes, and teeth are.

15 months - we have a climber!

15.5 months - he's now laughing at his own farts lol

16 months - knows where mommy/daddy's belly button is.

16 months - bit me for the first

time

16 months - first real illness with a high fever (105.2) but he was a trooper and pulled through!!!

16 months - first skinned knees

16.5 months - first trip to the Detroit Science Center

16.5 months - day weaned from bottles

17 months - one year molars popped through

17 months - he can "click" his tongue

17 months - repeatedly says "I di dit" (I did it)

17 months - sticks his tongue out and pants like a dog when asked what sound a dog makes

18 months - knows where his body parts are (nose, eyes, hair,

feet, belly butt, hands, tongue, ears and penis)

18 months - says "mooooo" when asked what sound a cow makes

18 months - 12th tooth popped through

Milestone List

I realized I haven't updated Cooper's mileston list in a long time so here goes...

1 hour - held head up for the first time
4 weeks - slept in crib
8 weeks - first smile
3 months - slept through the night
10 weeks - first laugh
3 months - first tooth bud (below the gums)
3.5 months - started teething
4 months - stopped sleeping through the night
4 months - rolled over for the first time
5 months 1 week - pushed up on hands
5 months 2 weeks - sat up with little to no support

6 months - started crawling, army crawl
6 months 2 weeks - first tooth popped through

7 months - Cooper reached out for me.

7.5 months - He is "talking" so much.

8 months - He cruised around the furniture.

9 months - He stood unassisted for a few seconds

9.5 months - He said "Mama".

9.5 months (Christmas Eve actually) - He took his first step

9.5 months - He's hand-knee crawling.

10 months - He stacks large objects.

10.5 months - walking on his own without assistance

11 months - feeding himself with his hands

12 months - added "digga digga digga" to his vocabulary. No clue what it means but it's frikkin cute!

13 months - walks backwards

14 months - we have a runner!

15 months - holds hands up so we can undress him

15 months - knows where mommy/daddy's nose, eyes, and teeth are.

15 months - we have a climber!

15.5 months - he's now laughing at his own farts lol

16 months - knows where mommy/daddy's belly button is.

16 months - bit me for the first time

16 months - first real illness with a high fever (105.2) but he was a trooper and pulled through!!!

16 months - first skinned knees

16.5 months - first trip to the Detroit Science Center

16.5 months - day weaned from bottles

17 months - one year molars popped through

17 months - he can "click" his tongue

17 months - repeatedly says "I di dit" (I did it)

"I di dit!!!"

Cooper has said a few words before but has never said them again. Once he said "all done" and "fish" but just once.

Today he repeated himself. He stacked a block and I said "You did it!" and he shouted back "I di dit!!" (I did it). He was so proud of himself, it was so wonderful to see that.

After reading this Alfie Kohn article we don't use the words "Good job" here. We say "You did it" or "Yay! Look at what you did" or we just repeat back what he did. So it was really great to hear him being proud of HIMSELF not looking to me for praise but looking at himself for it.

So proud of my big boy!!!

We have a toddler

It's official... our baby is walking! Very well I might add. He took his first step on Christmas Eve and less then a month later was walking all over the place. He says "Mama", gives kisses, high fives, claps, points, and signs "milkies".

I've started planning his first birthday party. March 14th btw. It's going to be an Under the Sea theme. I ordered his birthday gifts on Saturday.

He's still not sleeping through the night. Beginning to wonder if he ever will!

He's into EVERYTHING. Loves to pull things out of the kitchen cabinets. We re-arranged the living room so he's trapped in the living room... literally he can not get out! It's great! Lol. It's like HUGE play pen full of toys. Of course when we go anywhere else in the house he goes with us so he does get to explore other areas.

Yesterday we actually left him with a friend so we could go out for Valentine's Day. I of course had a harder time then Cooper did. We got to Janice's around 12:30 and hung out for a while to make sure he was comfy and everything. Of course he was great... tons of new tosy to play with, new things to explore, etc. I tried giving him a kiss good bye and he pushed away from me!!! ;-(( I felt like crying.

Paul and I got some clothe shopping done while he was at Janice's. We also went to dinner at Bahama Breeze... Yum!! And then I got my hair cut before we went to pick him up. Cooper was excited to see us when get went to pick him up but he still wanted to play with all the new toys.

Janice said he did great. Only cried a couple of times and took a good nap for her. I was very happy to hear that!!

Well nap time is over so I gotta go!!! I'll try to write more often!

~Amanda

My BABY is walking

The past week or so Cooper has been taking 3-5 steps when you let go of his hand...

Well, on Saturday night he took 12 steps in a row!!!!! I just keep thinking that it won't be long before I'm running after him.

We're still working on the walking but he is letting go of the couch A LOT more and will walk between dad and I during the "go get daddy/mommy" game...

It is very bittersweet. Such an amazing thing to see him learning so much on his own and so bittersweet to see him taking his first steps toward independence... literally.

More Milestones

These milestones just keep rolling in. In order....

7 months - Cooper reached out for me.

7.5 months - He is "talking" so much.

8 months - He cruised around the furniture.

9 months - He stood unassisted for a few seconds

9.5 months - He said "Mama".

9.5 months (Christmas Eve actually) - He took his first step 

9.5 months - He's hand-knee crawling.

10 months - He stacks large objects.

It's so wonderful to see him grow and learn. The things he is doing amaze me. He's developing so quickly. In 10 short months he went from a blob that did nothing to doing so much. 

A full milestone list - 

1 hour - held head up for the first time
4 weeks - slept in crib
8 weeks - first smile
3 months - slept through the night
10 weeks - first laugh
3 months - first tooth bud (below the gums)
3.5 months - started teething
4 months - stopped sleeping through the night
4 months - rolled over for the first time
5 months 1 week - pushed up on hands
5 months 2 weeks - sat up with little to no support

6 months - started crawling, army crawl
6 months 2 weeks - first tooth popped through

7 months - Cooper reached out for me.

7.5 months - He is "talking" so much.

8 months - He cruised around the furniture.

9 months - He stood unassisted for a few seconds

9.5 months - He said "Mama".

9.5 months (Christmas Eve actually) - He took his first step 

9.5 months - He's hand-knee crawling.

10 months - He stacks large objects.

The best gift ever!!!

Cooper took his first unassisted step last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        

We were hanging out in my in laws dining room last night and Cooper was standing holding onto the couch. I was sitting right next to where he was standing but wasn't close enough for him to transfer from the couch to my knee. He let go of the couch and took a step towards my leg!!!! He of course lost his balance after his foot touched down but had a hold of my knee so he didn't even fall!!! 

He's been letting go of stuff lately and holding his balance for about 3-5 seconds before he falls over but last night was the first time he tried taking a step when he let go. 

It's a great feeling to know that his first step was towards me!!   And on Christmas Eve!!   

My babies growing up *sniffle sniffle*

Our first trip to the E.R.

Yesterday was quite possibly the scariest day of my life. We had to take Cooper into the E.R. I took CRP and infant first aid but was hoping I'd never have to actually use it. We've decided we're taking a refresher course to be safe.

Cooper was playing in the middle of the floor, there was NOTHING close to him and he started choking. He started off crying but then started coughing really bad. It sounded like he was choking and couldn't breath. I scooped him up and sat on the couch with him. I flipped him on his stomach on my legs and began back thrusts on him. He calmed down a little so I flipped him over and looked in mouth to see if there was anything in there - nothing. I did a very shallow, quick finger sweep and nothing.

He started coughing again. A high pitched, gagging, screaming cough. I flipped him back over and started again with the back thrusts. This time he started vomiting. When he stopped I cuddled him again but he started gagging again so I started with back pats this time. He started vomiting again but this time I saw little red spots mixed in with it - blood. That's when I really started panicking.

He calmed down again so I snuggled him to my chest. His face was bright red and he had a look of pure terror on his face. I will never forget that look. He was pleading with me to help him. When he was cuddled he wasn't crying, he had a very serene, calm demeanor to him. He gagged, vomited, snuggled off and on for at least 10 minutes, but it felt like hours to me.

Every time he got calm I would call Paul, desperately trying to get a hold of him. He wasn't at his desk and wasn't answering his cell phone. Finally on my 9th call he answered, I relayed what had happened and he rushed home. We now only have one car so I had to wait for him to get home before we could rush to the E.R. I called the Pediatrician and they said to take him straight to the E.R.

As soon as Cooper was done with his coughing, gagging, choking spell he was perfect. He snuggled up in my arms, sucked his binky and just laid there staring at my face. I was terrified to put him down so I held him until Paul got home, we snuggled up on the couch together.

Paul made it home in record time and we headed to the E.R.

When we got to the E.R. they took his temp and weight and then we waited... and waited... and waited. Let's just say we got to the E.R. at 2:30, went back at 3:45 and left for home at 6:15. TONS of waiting.

They did an x-ray to make sure he didn't have anything lodged in his throat or tummy. That is what we were so worried about and why we took him in. They found nothing. phew! The dr. said that he most likely spit up and then inhaled it which caused him to choke. The blood was a result of popped blood vessels in his throat because he was coughing so hard.

Every time he coughs I freak! I rush to him to check on him. I'm sure I will do this for quite some time.

Oh yea, Cooper weighs 17.32lbs now!!!

Standing up

On Oct 31, 2008 my baby pulled himself up for the first time without my help. :-(

Don't worry, daddy caught him before he bonked his head!

Toothie Woothie

After 4 days of teething HARD (up most of the night, fussy all day, etc) a tooth finally popped through today!!

I woke up this morning and stuck my finger in his mouth to see about the tooth situation and I felt it! It's just a little nub, but it's there, and it's gotten bigger as the day has gone on. Woot!!!

Milestones so far -

1 hour - held head up for the first time
4 weeks - slept in crib
8 weeks - first smile
3 months - slept through the night
10 weeks - first laugh
3 months - first tooth bud (below the gums)
3.5 months - started teething
4 months - stopped sleeping through the night
4 months - rolled over for the first time
5 months 1 week - pushed up on hands
5 months 2 weeks - sat up with little to no support
6 months 2 weeks - first tooth popped through

6 month check up

Yesterday was Coopers 6 month check up. He weighs 15 lbs and is 26 inches long. My boy is growing!

Anyone who knows me knows that we don't go to well baby visits. We're not vaxing so it's not necessary IMO, *I* don't need a doctor to tell me that my baby is growing just fine, getting big, doing what he's supposed to etc. when I can see this for myself. But I decided to do the 6 month check up just to see how much he weighs... literally that's all I wanted to know lol...

So as I was saying - 15 lbs and 26 inches long!!! WOW!!! He tripled his birth weight in 6 months! His weight puts him on the low end of percentage (10%) and his length is perfect (50%). I really don't give a crap about the percentages though. I can see that my baby is growing, thriving and developing just fine. And last I heard these percentages were based on white formula fed babies in the 1950's... yea that sums up every baby in the country... what a joke lol. (I don't know if this is 100% true or not, it's just what I've heard. So don't bombard me with emails calling me a liar please! If you've heard differently I am interested in hearing what you've heard)

Anyways, Cooper is doing great. Dr. Margolis wasn't concerned at all about his weight... he's a little chubbos with rolls anyways lol. He said we should try to get him to eat more solids (we're working on that) but isn't too concerned. He said we're doing everything right and to just keep feeding on demand and following his lead... which is what we've been doing all along!

We've been trying to get Cooper to eat some solids for the past week or so now; he could be more intersted in watching paint dry! LOL. He'll take a few bites (usually 5 or so), spit most of it back out, make the cutest funniest face, and then he's done lol. Which is fine with me. I know his body won't digest or absorb anything from the solids anyways so we're just going through the motions, trying to get him used to swallowing something other the milkies and getting him used to the spoon... so far it's not working lol.... but we'll keep trying!

Cooper has had baby rice (whole wheat organic of course lol) with milkies and avocado mashed up... He did okay with the rice the first night but after that wasn't interested, and he's not too fond of the avocado. We'll do the avocado tonight and then tomorrow we'll switch to carrots or sweet potatoes, haven't decided which one yet.

We are making all our own baby food... all organic of course! lol... So when I get ready to do the carrots I'll steam them, mash them up with a little coconut oil or milkies and give it to him that way... Must remember to ask Dr. Sandie about this today... When I do the sweet potatoes I'll bake them and then use coconut oil or milkies to smooth it out... we'll see which I do next... it'll most likely be carrots.

Anyways... moving on....

I called my Mother In Law (MIL) on the way home from the dr. to give her an update on C's weight and stuff and was met with a wonderful surprise! After telling her that he was only in the 10th% for weight and that I wasn't concerned and neither was the dr. she told me she wasn't concerned either. She said that Coop is obvioulsy a growing, strong, happy baby and there's nothing to worry about. Then she went on to tell me that she thinks I'm a wonderful mother and am doing a fabulous job with Cooper!!! It was great to hear that. I told her how much I appreciate her saying that to me. Thank you Fay!

I know I'm the *crazy* parent to a lot of people and I know that not everyone agrees with the way we parent, I am okay with that. I've come to admire the quirky looks I get from people in the stores when I'm wearing Coop or they realize he's in a cloth diaper. I know we're different then most parents, we are in the minority and I like it that way!!!

Okay, I'm outta here, I've written enough!

xoxoxo 

Amanda

We're still here

I know, I know I need to be better about posting. Sorry about that, but we are still here and everyone is doing great....

Cooper continues to get bigger day by day. I'm amazed at his growth and development. He's a baby now, no longer an infant, that's for sure.

He sat up once with very little support, it won't be long now until he is mobile. He rolls and scooches all over the living room, soon we will have to baby proof. There's a few things we'll most likely need to remove from the living room, and we definitely have to put up a few gates; the joys of owning a 3 story house with a basement. *snicker*

I have run out of storage space on the website so I can no longer add photos. I will figure out what to do about this and let everyone know what we decide... Our choices are stopping the site all together, starting a new site, deleting all the old photos to add new ones... we'll figure it out... 

Rolling with the changes

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't updated the blog in a while - Thanks Nicole! So here I am, attempting to update. Who knows how long this will take. As you can imagine I have TONS of free time now that Cooper is mobile.... (insert sarcastic voice here)

Yep, that's right, the Coop Man is on the move! On July 8th he rolled over for the first time on the floor; just one day shy of his 4 month birthday! He has been rolling over in his crib for about a month, but last Tuesday was the first time he rolled over on the floor and it scared the beejeezes outta him. I did not witness this miracle happening, nor did Paul, but I put him on his play mat on his tummy and went into the kitchen to wash bottles (fun times) when about 60 seconds later Cooper screamed like crazy. I of course ran like a mad women into the living room to see what was wrong and there he was on his play mat on his back crying and crying. I suspect that when he rolled from his tummy to his back he might have bumped his head on the floor, not sure though. I picked him up and comforted him and when I put him back down he promptly rolled over again. Now everytime we put him down he rolls over... I must remember to get this on video (I have it on my phone but it's not very good quality). 

This is a bittersweet milestone for me. It's exciting to see him progress so wonderfully but it's sad to see that he is well on his way to independence. I imagine that a lot of first time mother's struggle with the bittersweetness of milestones, but I'm not ready for him to do things on his own yet! I liked having to get up 50 billion times to roll him on his tummy/back when he wanted. I liked having to hand things to him. I liked having to hold things in his mouth so he could chew on them.I liked being the only thing he could see... I'm not joking either! I really did like doing those things. Now he can grab things himself and bring them to his mouth to chew on. The links are his favorite, he can knaw on those all day long. Everthing he gets a hold of goes straight to his mouth (I suspect he's teething - another milestone I am NOT ready for!). He has his full range of vision now and he notices everything! When I hold him now he doesn't just look at me, he's looking all over the place at the colors, objects, sounds, etc. 

I am not ready for my helpless infant to become a somewhat independent baby!! Complete with teeth and the ability to crawl... I'm just not ready for! It's not fair! lol At the same time it's exciting to see him thrive in the enviroment we have provided for him. I love that he can see the different colors in our house (and we always tell him what they are ). I love that he can roll over on his own, and everytime I see him do I get this huge feeling of pride (with a little sadness thrown in). I love seeing him bring things to his mouth, his hand eye coordination is improving. 

I am not ready for teeth though! Any way we can stop this from happening? I'm open for suggestions lol.

We finally ordered for our cloth diapers! We decided to get 12 BumGenius One Size diapers (giving us a total of 16 diapers). I wash diapers every other night so that's not bad. I would like to get more at some point though, but that will take time. I also mailed 10 receiving blankets to my mom so she could make them into cloth wipes for us. She cut them into 7x8 peices and sewed the edges so they don't fray on me. They should be here sometime this week!!! 

Coop has been in cloth diapers for almost a week now and he seems to like them. I know I'm liking them, and so it Paul. I have to believe they are more comfy then disposables for him. 

I am still pumping away here. Breast milk is doing good for him so we're not going to change that (plus formula kinda creeps me out, no offense to anyone who uses it). I weighed him on our bathroom scale the other day and he is currently at 13 lbs! Big boy! I gotta get the tape measure out and see how long he is. 

I also ordered an Ergo Baby Carrier... I LOOOOOVE it! Coop likes it a lot too, he usually falls asleep in it. hehe. It's so much more comfy then the Baby Bjorn and better for Coops spinal developement too. 

Let's see.... what else has been going on? Hmmmmm..... 

Right now Cooper is napping in his crib and Pebbles is laying behind the glider in his room and I of course am pumping. I can't really think of anything else right now so I'm gonna sign off! I hope everyone is doing good!

Love to all! xoxoxo

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