It's here! It's here!

We pulled up to the house today and there was a beautiful brown package sitting on our doorstep! I was immediately excited because I knew what it had to be! I ran to the steps and sure enough... not even a week after ordering... my book arrived! After frantically getting the box open, I saw the beauty! I'll be honest, I cried a little. I can't wait to actually sit down and read it. It's a beautiful book of so many memories that we cherish. Especially that I cherish. Writing while Cooper was in the hospital is what kept me from going crazy. I love it!

Smarty Pants

We might as well call Cooper "Mr. Smarty Pants" because he is so smart! He had his annual IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) this month with the Early Intervention program. We have specialists in hearing and development see him at our house each month. He blew us away! He is 15 months (12 adjusted for his prematurity). He is at 12 months in one area and 14 in another. He is 15 months in the others areas... which means he is caught up! And, he is even 16 months in one area. That is unheard of for a 3 month preemie who had a Grade IV brain bleed! He is amazing! We laughed at the part that says he needs to have more temper tantrums. He's such a good kid, but this is happening more!

First Haircut

It was a hard decision to trim Cooper's hair, but I know how annoying hair tickling your ears is. The sound of the scissors cutting through the first patch of hair made me tear up. What was I thinking?! It was hard, but looks great. He sat still and ate snacks while I cut his hair. He was curious what I was doing and what I was holding in my hand (scissors). My sweet baby is a little boy. Sniff sniff.

Learning Like Crazy

We're finally all on the mend around here. Cooper seemed to get better before the rest of us and Chris has had a lingering cough. It's nice to be feeling better again.

Sometimes we aren't up for cleaning out the tub so we use Cooper's little tub to give him a bath. Tonight he realized he can climb out of it and so he did... a few times. He thought it was funny. He's such a cute kid. He's doing so many fun things and has learned so much over the past few weeks. Early Intervention thinks he may be caught up to his actual age. It makes me a proud mom. They say it's because of what Chris and I are doing with him, but I say it's all him. He's just a smart kid. Some things about Cooper:

• He discovered his nostrils with his little pointer finger. Hilarious! (For now.)
• He will sometimes point to his nose. 
• He's great at mimicking what you are doing and sounds you make.
• He can say "baby." I've told Chris this means it's time for another. He doesn't believe me. 
• He's walking more and more, but still getting the hang of it.
• His laughs are contagious. We LOVE to hear him laugh. We probably tickle him too much!
• He still only has 4 teeth! 
• He is still throwing up many times a week. For some reason he can't keep a meal down sometimes. An occupational therapist will be coming to visit with Cooper and see if we can figure out the problem.
• He knows how to open his stack cans by biting the edge and popping it off. When he dumps them out I go to pick them up and he tries to pick them up as fast as he can. It makes me laugh every time!
• He's great at putting a ball in a hoop and is getting better at putting shapes into his shape bucket.
• He can unlock my iPad all by himself. Even take pictures of himself with it. 

I am sure I'm forgetting something. It seems like he learns so many things every day. He truly is such a smart kid.

Can you tell...?

We've been sick around here. It makes me kind of sad because we've done everything we can to prevent Cooper from getting sick and he got sick and then gave it to us. He's in the early stages of RSV, which makes us so sad because that's why we kept him away from people until May of last year. We laughed as we were making a grocery list this morning because you could tell we were sick. We aren't big on medicine, but it's the only thing keeping us moving at the moment.