Easter Weekend

It was fun to get ready for Easter. We've decided to celebrate with a hunt and basket on Saturday and focus on the real meaning of Easter on Sunday. The Easter Bunny made a trail of Easter grass and eggs from Cooper's room to his basket. The eggs along the way had goldfish in them. He stopped to eat them along the way.

 Then he saw his Easter basket! He loved all the goodies especially the chalk!

We also went to the city Easter Egg Hunt that morning and one at Aunt Johnnie's later. It wasn't one of my proudest moments. We woke up late and after getting there realized my undershirt was on wrong-side-out and you could see my tag. Cooper's outfit was too small and when he sat down for a picture it popped open at the diaper area. I couldn't help, but laugh. So embarrassing!

Dad and Cooper ready for church on Easter Sunday

Easter Pictures

Coloring Easter Eggs

I remember growing up and always coloring Easter eggs with my grandma. We made sure to do it while we were in West Virginia. Cooper enjoyed it. He got it all over! My grandma was so cute wanting to help all of us color our eggs. We had a lot of fun and it's a memory I will never forget.

Sweet Home West Virginia!

Going to West Virginia was more of an emotional experience that I thought it would be. I couldn't mention how excited I was for my grandparents to meet Cooper without choking up. When they announced we were minutes away from landing and I could see the trees, I couldn't help but cry. It had been almost 5 years since I had been back and two since I had seen my grandparents. I felt like I was home and couldn't hold back the tears.

Cooper traveled well. He loved opening and closing the cover on the window. He would press his face up against the window and look out. He would point out the window with his finger. He wasn't comfortable on the flight and and fortunately I caught his throw up in his blanket and prevented a major mess! The flight home was much better. We enjoyed our visit.

It was great to see family. Cooper loved his great-grandparents and they adored him. He would smack kissed at Great-Grandma. He would also try trading his toys for her drink. He loved sitting on Great-Grandpa's lap because he would feed him lots of food. They loved him to pieces and I'm so glad they got to meet each other.

Great Uncle Donnie feeding Chelsea peanut butter bread. 

Chillin' with Great Grandpa.

Sharing his lunch with Great Grandma Call.

I love how he looked at her. Reading with GG Call.

Grandma wanted to feed him everything. Of course, Cooper loved it. {The dates on the pictures are wrong.}

Landed back home. So sleepy.

He also loved Cousin Chelsea and wrestling with Chelsea's little dog. It was crazy to see Chelsea help take care of my little guy because I took care of her when she was a baby.

Eating angel food cake batter.

 My grandma went into the hospital our last day there and we almost lost her. At 2:15 AM we received a surprise knock on my grandparents door and there was my Aunt Dora and Cousin Kasey in from Tennessee to see grandma! They were so excited to be able to see Cooper!

Great Aunt Dora and Cousin Kasey

I have never seen the Grand Canyon. It was so cool to see from the sky. Left me in awe! The large crack made me speechless.

Hearing Specialist

As a parent of a three month preemie, the people in the NICU will always be considered family. They kept our baby alive. They took care of him AND us. The people that have come to our home on a monthly basis to check on Cooper will forever be family as well. Today we got a picture of Cooper with Jennifer Kite (Jen). It was her last day with Cooper. She is Cooper's hearing specialist. He couldn't hear much of anything due to the fluid in his ears because of oxygen until 9 months when he had tubes put in. He was slightly behind when she started visiting him once a month and now he is beyond what he needs to be. He is already saying more words than most his actual age. We're so grateful for all she has taught us and Cooper and all she has helped us with. We're eternally grateful.

Chocolate... yum!

I made some chocolate pudding to go on a dessert and decided to give Cooper the spoon. He was in heaven. I love his cute little chocolate face.

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.

The Best Dad

Chris truly is a wonderful dad. I always knew he would be. He got two paper rolls and he and Cooper sword fought. It's really cute. Cooper swings the roll and hits Daddy's sword. I love my boys.

We're all been sick the past two days and decided it was best we all stayed home today. We found out Cooper has an earache. Despite trying to keep a hat on him and him all bundled up, we couldn't prevent it. He's got a runny nose and a cough. You can tell by his sad little face, and the random crying, that he doesn't feel well. He has just wanted to be held and hasn't been sleeping well.

Gadget Guy

We have a feeling Cooper is going to be a gadget guy. He loves playing with my phone. He's been known to call and text people. He also loves the iPad. There is this game called Baby Finger that he really likes. Wherever he touches the screen a shape pops up and makes a noise. He knows if he touches it again it makes a noise and disappears. He's really good at it. He also likes one that makes animal sounds.

Let It Snow!

We've had a lot of snow this winter. I'm excited because it's going to kill all the bugs we had last year due to the lame winter the season before. I'll be honest though, I have spring fever! I can't wait to garden and plant flowers. I'm looking forward to playing in the yard with Cooper. I'm very excited! Cooper loves watching dad shovel while sitting in the window seat. Dad throws snowballs at him and waves at him and Cooper giggles. 

Our Little Walker

Cooper took his first steps last week. Yesterday he took 4. Today he began to do it more often. For some reason he doesn't like to do it at home, but he was doing it like crazy at my work today. It's bittersweet. So happy for him, but he's growing TOO FAST!

Reading

Cooper has always been fascinated with words on pages. He also loves being read to. He has this Halloween flap book that is his favorite. He is able to open every flap on his own and he already turns the pages of books, something many kids don't do until about 18 months. I sure hope he enjoys reading as he gets older because it's something I've never enjoyed much. I have always struggled with reading comprehension and I only like realistic fiction (for the most part). I hope Cooper finds a love for all books. I hope with my background as a teacher I will better be able to help him do well with reading comprehension. He also likes to take all of the books out of his book holder. He does it daily. Usually multiple times a day.

My mom made me a Hallmark Recordable book for my birthday when she lived in Tennessee. Now, it's Cooper's favorite. He's kind of taken it over. He loves to open it and hear Nana's voice. He gets frustrated if he can't open the book. He ends up opening it over and over again.

Some fun updates:

• Cooper started standing up from sitting, without grabbing onto anything, yesterday.
• He has started opening doors and drawers on his own. He gets upset when I close them.
• He makes all kinds of noises.
• He's started squinting when you squint at him.
• He's struggling with eating our food so we've gone back to stage 3 baby food at the direction of an occupational therapist and developmentalist.
• He loves chicken noodle soup, peas, and goldfish crackers. Whenever we eat, he wants some.
• Still not taking a sippy cup very well. We're still working on it!

Bath Time!

This kid LOVES being in the water. When he hears the water in the tub come on, he crawls as fast as he can to the tub and stands by it watching the water fill up. He gets so excited! He's even taken his own diaper off once. He didn't want to get out of the tub the other night. He ended up staying in for 45 minutes! Needless to say, he had cute little pruned feet.

Pruned feet!

He loves to chew on q-tips so we let him while we try to get him dressed in an attempt to keep him still.

Mommy taught him how to put bubbles on his face. My brother and I used to do this with the bubbles from dish water. He thought it was funny.

Loving his bath time!

It's a New Year!

The past year has been the best of our lives. I am super excited for a new year. There is something rejuvenating about it. I'm excited to watch Cooper grow and for all the fun things we will do together this year. We're hoping Chris will get to go full time and I'll get to be a stay-at-home mom. There is a chance we could get pregnant with our next child, but we aren't thinking about that until the end of the year. There are so many fun things to look forward to and enjoy this year. It's going to be hard to top this past year. Here's to 2013!