Two x Tardy Tuesday

It's been a couple weeks since my last post.  Life pretty much got the best of my time.  We've been having family fun and also visiting with Cooper's new cousin Parker...what a difference 6 months makes -

I'm excited to for them to be the best of friends :)

Parker's house is in Grand Rapids so we have about a 45 minute drive to get there.  Cooper usually spends the first half of the ride looking out the window and enjoying the scenery.  But by the time we get there he is almost always sound asleep...

Last Saturday, Cooper and I visited and we got to watch Parker for a couple of hours so his Mom and Dad could get groceries and have dinner out.  He and I had a little cuddle time while Cooper napped.



Such a honey!!



We were able to visit for so long because Richard was away at Winter Camp with the middle schoolers from Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake.  We both missed his dad and Coop had a fun time playing with him when he got home.  Listen to all the giggles...

In all the days since my last post, Cooper continues to grow and learn.  Tomorrow we have his next doctor's visit and I am excited to find out just how big he has gotten.  He is sitting up very well, rolling both ways, starting to rock on his knees so crawling isn't too far off, but for me by far the most fun times have been high chair times.  He is enjoying eating new things - like whatever we will let him put in his mouth, learning to click his tongue, and playing on his tray.  Check this one out - don't miss the tongue clicks at the beginning :)

That should pretty much catch you up and maybe daddy will post an update after the doctor visit tomorrow...

Mommy Monday

Now that Cooper is 6 months old, he is able to try a few new foods.  A couple of weeks ago he tried rice - not rice cereal - but actual rice like what you get with Chinese food.  He loves it!  He had some again this weekend when I ordered shrimp tacos.  We have expanded his baby food to include mangos and strawberries over the past week.  We also purchased a mesh teething bag - he has already enjoyed canned pears and banana.

His newest experience is baby puffs.  He isn't quite big enough for a whole puff, but if I break off a small piece he can handle it.  Tonight he was being so funny with them.  I showed him how to pick them up, but he is still getting the hang of it.  I put the puffs on his chair tray and every once in a while he would get one stuck to his hand.  But he isn't quite coordinated to then get it in his mouth.  But just once he happened to get one stuck to his thumb which he doesn't have any problem getting in.  Now everytime he gets one on his hand he puts his thumb in his mouth thinking that he will get it in his mouth.  It is also super cute to watch him "chew" on each little puff!!  I had a fun little video, but am having technical difficulties.  I'll save it for another day :)

So his love for food continues...

Mommy Monday

Growing Like a Weed

With Cooper coming up on his half birthday I thought I would share how much he has grown.  All of the pictures are of him in his car seat...

July 12th - 2 days old...the day we took him home :)

 

August 18th - just over 1 months old



September 14th - 2 months

 

September 28th - 2.5 months



October 6th - 3 months



October 21st

 

October 28th - 3.5 months



December 1st - almost  5 months



Today - big boy!!

We are getting close to him being out of this seat all together - it was fun to look back and see how much he has grown!!  Now if he would just get back to sleeping through the night :)

Happy 2013

When I got ready to post today, I realized that December 17th was my last post.  That is a long time.  But our family said farewell to 2012 with the head/chest cold that is going around!!  Richard brought it home from work a couple Saturday's ago and we are all still fighting symptoms.  The worst is that Cooper has a stuffy head and bad cough.  That means when we put him down for bed he can't suck his thumb and breath too and he coughs like crazy.  He usually only lasts an hour or two before he's up crying and trying to fall back to sleep.  After the first few nights of trying to sleep upright, we discovered that if he lays in bed with me on another pillow or the Boppy, he can fall back to sleep with a little prodding.  Plus that means, I don't have to jump out of the nice warm bed 5 or 6 times to get him up and rock him back to sleep.  However, it also means that Daddy gets relegated to the couch for about half the night.  The doctor at Urgent Care told us the cough would likely last around 14-days...so thankful for a loving husband who does not mind the couch because it helps us all rest just a little better right now :)

So over the past 14-days, there was Christmas Eve (when Richard was down)...Christmas morning (when we opened gifts as a family)...Christmas Day (when I was down)...Thursday (when I was still down, Daddy took Cooper to Urgent Care with Great Grandma Dot, he blew out his diaper, and ended up having his first sleep over without me even hugging him goodbye)...my birthday (when Cooper and I were both down)...and finally New Year's Eve (when we all went to bed by 9 pm).  But through it all we've grown closer as a family and Richard & I have come to the realization that we really need to take better care of our bodies for our little guy's sake!!

Looking back on 2012, there weren't any ups or downs that could outweigh the great joy and we had in receiving the gift of Cooper James into our family.  So thankful for the sacrifices made by his birth families that allowed us to bring him home.  So thankful for our family who supported us through the process.  So thankful to our church family for all the prayers.  Just plain THANKFUL for our son.

In 2013...we look forward to his first tooth...his first steps...his first birthday...Richard's 39th...our 12th anniversary...his first words (other than dadadada which he loves right now)...his third haircut...his first visit to the beach or maybe the Children's Museum...our first Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, and 4th of July together...plus we get to welcome a new nephew/cousin in the very near future.  So many moments to choose JOY!!

Happy 2013 :) 

Mommy Monday

Baby Dedication

This was a very special weekend for our family.  Sunday morning at Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake, we were part of the Baby Dedication ceremony.  Much of our family was able to attend and support us in this act of obedience to God's Word.  For those of you wondering, a dedication is not a baptism service...this will come later if/when Cooper makes the decision to surrender his life to the Lord.  The dedication service is about the commitment Richard and I are making by God's grace -

-to recognize that Cooper is God’s gift to us for a season;

-to raise Cooper in a Christian home;

-to train him the discipline and instruction of the Lord;

-to through our words and actions encourage him to one day trust Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord

 

As believers we are called to recognize that Cooper belongs first and foremost to God. God in His goodness gave Cooper as a gift to us. We not only have the awesome responsibility of caring for this gift, but also the wonderful privilege of enjoying His gift. Because Cooper belongs to God and was given by grace as a gift to us, it is only proper and appropriate that he be dedicated back to God. So Sunday morning,  Richard and I and our families presented Coop before God and our church, asking for grace and wisdom to carrying out our responsibilities. And to pray he might one day trust Jesus Christ as Savior for the forgiveness of sin.

 

Raising our child in the Lord was something that Richard and I committed to before we even started the adoption process.  So making this pledge in front of our church family was really just a way for us to proclaim publicly our already intentions.  For me the most meaningful part of the service was when our church family was asked to stand and commit to encourage Richard and I to be faithful to God, to assist us as we teach and train Cooper according to God’s Word, and most of all that they would pray for Coop, that God would show him favor and draw him to Himself, that he would one day repent of sin and place his hope and trust in Jesus Christ, through whom we have forgiveness of sins.  How awesome to know that we have the support of our Body helping and guiding and praying with us for our little guy!!

 

The Lord is faithful and during my time with Hime this week I was reminded of when the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her "For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:37-38).  May I remember to be a servant to the Lord in the years to come...

 

In keeping with his regular style...here are a few of the pictures I took Sunday morning...

 

Hey...

Arrhh Matey...

Open mouth...

Hey what's that over there...


After 15 tries I finally got this one of him and Daddy...


 

What did I do to deserve the 2 cutest guys in the whole world?!?

 

Mommy Monday

One GREAT Morning...

This morning I knew that I wasn't taking Cooper anywhere too early.  So we got to do one of my favorite things...sleep in together.  Cooper slept straight through past 6 am and then started to fuss.  Richard was in the shower so I crawled out of bed and brought Coop in to cuddle with me.  By the time Richard finished Coop was getting hungry, so Daddy came and got him for his breakfast bottle.  After his bottle Richard brought him back in to me for some more cuddle time.  I wasn't sure if he would fall back to sleep, but after not too long his thumb went in and he went sound asleep.  So I took the liberty to fall asleep right along with him :).  We both slept til after 9 am.  What a nice way to start a long crazy holiday week!!  Probably later in the week we will take an afternoon nap together - hopefully he enjoys it as much as I do...

PS...for all the worried moms and grandmas out there, I have a cervical pillow with one core on each side.  That is where Coop sleeps in the big bed so that he can't role out and I can't role onto him.

Tardy Tuesday

The Outtakes

Not sure about your kids, but Cooper is not fond of us taking pictures of him!  In order for us to get one good picture, we usually have to take 5 or 10 or 15 shots.  Because we have so many of them, I decided I would share some...



Eyes closed and lots o drool



Droopy eyes

Hey...what's that over there



Mitten in mouth even though Mom just pulled it out







What? I was supposed to look at the camera?

Half a cry

Oooooo what's down there?!?

Hi Grandpa...

Ooooo look there's my foot

Wonder what's over there



My cousins looked but I saw something more interesting!





Hey Dad what's that on the TV

 

Not sure I like pumpkins :-b





You wanted the top of my head, right?



Could I look any more HUGE!

 



 

I moved everything...



Please don't take anymore pictures!!!!!





finger in nose



hand in front of face



stay still...impossible!



Yo, can you put that in my mouth



 



Haha...moved my hand



There were many more along the way...usually we delete most of them.  I think I will keep more in the future and give you another set of outtakes sometime soon :)