September 2016

Happy Birthday Cooper!! We made it through your first year. You are turning into such a sweet little boy with a big love of life. You love to dance and be a part of the action no matter what is going on. We had a little party for you with the kids and they were so happy to celebrate you becoming part of our family!

We drove out to Grand Junction to celebrate Grandma Minnie's 90th birthday. It was so special to have the whole family there together. It was also the first time Grandma Minnie got to meet Cooper who is in part named after her late husband, Charles. She made sure to introduce him to all her friends -- it was so sweet.

We started soccer with both kids this fall. Aurora is hysterical because she can't be convinced to participate in the practice, but you get her in a game and she starts knocking heads and pushing kids to the ground. I know who she is related to ;)

Well, we got our car tires slashed... I have never had anything like that happen before. We caught it on video with our security cameras, but I'm sure it won't matter. With all the car windows that have been broken and our neighbor's car getting stolen I am starting to not like living in the city as much as I once did.

Aurora went to her first Broncos game!! We were worried it would be too loud for her -- but we could not have been more wrong. She had a blast!

-- Cooper at 11 months --

Cooper is crawling around everywhere, especially the stairs...

He also loves to watch and play with whatever the older kids are doing, which often causes tears all around - the big kids don't want to share and Cooper ends up hurt.

Cooper just started cruising. I don't think there is any chance he will be walking by his first birthday like Connor but he's definitely moving around.

He's a good eater and has started signing MORE and I think sometimes he signs ALL DONE.

He loves bananas, yogurt and grapes.

He can say Mama and Dada.

Cooper loves being outside. He knows when we put the dogs out, comes crawling and cries if we close the door.

November 2015

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Christmas Jammies

Connor Man is two! How does this happen? This boy is crazy and sweet all rolled up into one adorable pint size ball. He is always on the look out for things to jump off of but also loves his cuddle time. He has recently started to tell us he loves us and asks for snuggles when he is tired or sad. I couldn't feel more lucky to be his Mama.

After Connor's birthday dinner we headed off to the Botanic Gardens to see the lights. It was freezing that night so we all bundled up. We ate roasted nuts, drank hot cocoa and saw the first snow of the year. Magical :)

Our nanny situation has been totally crazy. We lost Maddie right after Cooper turned six weeks old. I can't express how thankful I am to have had such amazing help though those first few weeks and we were so sad to see her go. After that we tried another girl that turned out to be a disaster because she couldn't show up on time... or at all sometimes. We are now working with a woman named Nicole who is very sweet with the kids. She is a bit older than any other sitter we have had and more mom like as she has kids of her own so we will see how that goes, but overall I like her a lot.

 

I had Aurora's Parent Teacher Conference at school which was good and I came out of it with some things to work on. Somehow we ended up talking about Aurora's "phone" a lot. She was never meant to have it at her disposal and has ended up being a point of contention a lot in our house. We started using it as a way for her to have "sounds" when on vacation. Then it became something for her to have music stored on but she has started using it up in her room to watch videos etc which she is not allowed to do. Her teachers suggested we take it away because at this age we can't expect her to not look at it if it is there and just go back to a good old CD player. I was very thankful for this exchange because it has been something that has weighed on me -- I knew we needed to make a change I just wasn't sure exactly what to do. So we got her another CD player to replace the one that broke and I am going to burn music CD's for her and also give her Matt's old first generation iPod to store her books on tape. This way she won't have the lure of a screen at her disposal.

Aurora's square of the Inspire Thankful Quilt

Thanksgiving was quiet. We were supposed to go to Farmington but we needed up canceling that trip because I just couldn't face 7 hours in the car with Baby Cooper. Aurora and Connor would have been fine but I was afraid Cooper would end up screaming and it would be a total disaster. So we stayed home and ordered Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods.

Dad took Aurora on a super special date to see Lion King the Musical. She was ecstatic and behaved very well at the theatre. She hasn't stopped talking about it since :)

Dad and Aurora going to see The Lion King

-- Cooper at one month --

We finally have Cooper smiles! It is so nice to see him recognize faces and be entertained by things. I will say though its pretty funny to watch him break out in a huge smile when he is staring at a wall or something. Sometimes I can't figure out what it is that he likes looking at.

 

The crying is starting to decrease, which I am sure is related to him being so much more aware and engaged in his environment. He is also eating less frequently. I don't know how often he is nursing because I let him eat whenever he wants but it no longer feels like he is eating every two seconds.

He is still napping whenever and wherever but will pretty much only sleep while being held or bounced in his seat by dad. We are getting a 4 hour chunk in the beginning of the night from about 9 or 10 until 1 or 2. Then it goes way downhill to usually with a 2 hour sleep until 4 and then I'm lucky if i ever really get him to go back down.