Baby Laughter (the BEST sound ever)

Cooper laughed at his "Aunt" Stacey a lot during our trip to St. Louis the weekend before last.  Stacey got this cute video of Cooper before he went to bed one night!

After Cooper ate his cereal today, he started laughing at the weird noises I was making.  I took a video of him on my phone, and everytime I replayed the video he laughed at it.  It was too cute not to capture it on the video camera too!  Who knew I was so funny?  :)

Lovin' the solids!

We started Cooper on rice cereal 6 days before he turned 4 months.  The pediatrician said this was ok to do, and he was acting like he was starving all the time, so we figured this was the perfect time.  Well, since then, Cooper had his 4 month appointment and the pediatrician told us we could start introducing solids.  The day after his appointment (July 12th) we gave Cooper applesauce, and he LOVED it!  You're probably wondering "where's the picture?" and I can't believe I'm actually saying this but I forgot to take pictures of this!!!!  How in the world did that happen?!?  I was very upset with myself, but I've taken several pictures and videos since then of him eating his applesauce, so I think I've made up for it.

He makes the cutest like "AAAHHH" sound with his mouth wide open when he's waiting for you to stick the spoon in his mouth.  Check out this video we got of him eating his cereal and applesauce yesterday.

He ate his first sweet potatoes on Sunday, and he loved those too!  I DID get pictures this time! :)

It's so much fun watching all of the faces he makes when he tries new food.  I think we'll try something new tomorrow, but I'm not sure what yet. 

I wish there was some instruction booklet for this stuff (and I'm sure there is somewhere) because I feel like we're just kind of making some of this stuff up as we go.  I'm not sure what's best, but I've been giving Cooper a bottle when he wakes up in the morning, and then he'll nap for about an hour or so, and then I'll give him a fruit and veggie (so far it's only been sweet potatoes and applesauce or prunes).  After his afternoon nap, I give him a bottle, and then about an hour or so later I give him cereal mixed with applesauce.  Since he's been trying different foods, he doesn't like just the plain rice cereal anymore so I've got to trick him into eating it! :)  I think the cereal works best in the late afternoon because this is the time when he's the most hungry.  It's worked so far the past couple of days, so I guess we'll stick with it for a while.

140 days

140 days---that's how long I will get to spend at home with my sweet little boy before going back to work next week.  Yes, I went back to school the last 2 days of the year in May, and I went to a couple all day professional development meetings, but other than that, I've been home with my little guy everyday, and I have LOVED every minute of it. Over the past couple of days, it's really hit me that I have to go back to work.  I've been trying to think of what I can do to stay home....win the lottery, ask Brad to get a second job...but then I realize that I don't even play the lottery, and I would sure hate if Brad had to work another job because he'd never be home with us.  So I guess I will suck it up and head off to work next Thursday because I know it's the best thing for all of us....even though I know Cooper would rather have me home everyday! :)  haha

Brad and I are VERY lucky that his parents are going to keep Cooper everyday.  We know he will be in great hands, and we won't have to worry about him at all as we head off to work everyday. 

I also know I am VERY lucky that I have gotten to stay at home for as long as I have. It worked out perfectly that I had Cooper in March, and I was able to stretch my maternity leave out until summer break.  (Thanks to all of my wonderful co-workers who donated days to me, I only had to take a few days without pay!)

I must admit that I am excited to start a new school year with 23 new students, but I know the first few days leaving Cooper will be rough.  It does make it so much better to know that I will have 23 kids at school that are depending on me everyday, and I know it's going to be a great year!  I know Cooper will have a great time with JuJu and Pops everyday (and playing with Beck 3 days a week).  

As the summer comes to an end, I am going to enjoy the next 7 days I have at home with my little man.  BUT, for the next 7 days I will also still be secretly hoping I win the lottery or Brad gets a second job...but only because I want to be able to see this face as much as possible...

Cleaning out the cellphone!

Since the day Cooper was born, I have taken at least one picture of him everyday.  Some people probably think I'm crazy with the camera, but I'm pretty proud of myself that I can say I have a picture of everyday of Cooper's life so far.  I TRY to take at least one picture or video on my phone everyday to send to the grandparents.  I cleaned out my phone today, and I realized I have a lot of cute pictures and videos that haven't been seen, so I wanted to share some of these! Sorry...I had a hard time picking my favorites, so I attached A LOT of pictures and several videos!  Oh, and sorry some of the videos are sideways...I don't know how to flip them! :)

4 months old!

Cooper celebrated his 1/3 of a year birthday yesterday!  We went for his 4-month well check-up today, and he weighs 13.1 pounds (15%-ile) and is 25 inches long (54%-ile).  The pediatrician said that Cooper was "perfect" and everything looked great.  He did have to get two shots and one oral medication.  If you remember back to his 2-month appointment and his first round of shots, I got to skip out of those because I had to go to a meeting for work.  Brad has been warning me for the past month a half that the shots are terrible and he will cry like I've never heard him cry.  Well, Cooper proved him wrong today because he did cry, but it wasn't bad at all.  It sounded like one of the cries/screams he does when you take the bottle away to burp him. 
We also had a little surprise at the doctor's office when she told us that he had a slight ear infection.  Brad passed a cold to Cooper a couple of weeks ago, and he's been kind of congested for the past week and a half or two weeks.  It started to get better, but toward the end of last week and over the weekend he was very stopped up and snotty again.  She said she saw a little fluid in his ears but it wasn't nearly to the point as most ear infections.  She prescribed an antibiotic and told us she thought it would clear up, but if it doesn't seem to then we should come back in three weeks or so. 
The pediatrician also gave us the go ahead to start solids anytime we wanted to.  I think we might start applesauce in the next day or two to see how he does and then maybe move on to carrots.  He loves to eat, so I'm sure he'll love trying new foods.  I can't wait to see how he reacts to different foods!
Our little boy is getting so big and he seems to be changing everyday.  Check out some of his 4 month pictures...

At 4 months, Cooper is...

• Sleeping from about 10:00-7:00 everyday (Some nights he goes to be a little earlier or later, and some mornings he gets up a little earlier or later.  He slept until 8:00 two mornings in a row last week!)
• Eating about 5 1/2-6 ounces of formula five times a day
• Eating rice cereal in the morning
• Rolling over from his stomach to his back
• Rolling from side to side when he's on his back
• Smiling ALL of the time
• Laughing out loud
• Grabbing for things
• Crossing his legs when he's sitting up
• STILL using his swaddle blanket at night and during his afternoon nap (I'm about to stop using it with the nap in the next couple of days.)
• Screaming and cooing more than ever

You can find me in St. Louis...

On Friday morning Cooper, Stacey, and I left Bowling Green and headed to St. Louis to visit Ashley, James, and Carson.  This was Cooper's first long trip (longer than an hour and a half) so I was pretty nervous about how he would do.  The kid rarely sleeps in the car.  Yes, I know this doesn't sound normal because everyone always tells me that their kids fall right to sleep as soon as the car starts.  Well, not Cooper.  He loves to look around too much, and he always has to see what's going on.  This little fact made me the most nervous about our 5-5 1/2 hour trip.  I was extremely surprised and very proud of my little boy because he did GREAT!   He took a few little naps on the way up there, and when he wasn't asleep he was busy smiling and laughing at Stacey or staring at his musical piano.  We left Bowling Green around 9:00 and got to the Harper's house about 2:30.  We only had to stop twice...once for a bathroom break for Stacey and I and once to feed Cooper.

Friday afternoon we spent some time in their backyard while we waited for James to get home from work.

Cooper still loves to be outside.

He worked on perfecting his laugh all weekend!

Carson never stops! I think this was right before he said "tree".

Carson worked on opening doors over the weekend.  Ashley said he finally opened one Sunday afternoon after we left.

That night, Ashley made a delicious dinner for us...Cajun Chicken Pasta.  We also took the boys and the dog for a walk around the neighborhood, and then we built a fire in the fire pit and roasted marshmellows and made smores.  I think we all got eaten by mosquitos too...I know I have about 15 mosquito bites on my legs. 

On Saturday, we woke up, Ashley fixed a delicious breakfast, and we took the boys to the outlet mall for a full 3+ hours of shopping. 

Ashley and Carson before we left for the mall.

Both boys did great, and I'm pretty sure neither one of them cried once.  Saturday night we went and ate at P.F. Changs and then stopped by the Cheesecake Factory for a little dessert. Of course we had to do a little photo shoot before we left for dinner because the boys looked so cute!

Could this get any cuter?

Best Buds!

Love them!

Carson held Cooper, but I don't think either one of them liked it too much.

The boys and their "Aunt" Stacey

Ashley and I with our favorite little boys!

It was SOO good to get to hang out with Stacey and spend longer than 2 hours with Ashley and that sweet little boy of hers. 
Oh, and I can't forget all of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse we watched.

I definitely could not have made the trip without Stacey.  She sat in the back with Cooper pretty much the whole trip there and back to keep him company.  He loves her!  We had a GREAT weekend, and Cooper did GREAT on his first long roadtrip.  Now I'm looking forward to our next trip to Florida in October! :)