Cooper's Baptism

Cooper was baptized on Sunday September 21 in Louisville at the Episcopal Church of the Advent.  The Reverend Tim Mitchell who also married us performed the baptism.  It was a great day!  Cooper did wonderful and didn't even cry the whole 1.5 hour service.  He did let out a nice loud burp after his bottle in front of the congregation!  Typical Cooper!  He loved having the water poured on his head and smiled at me the whole time.  He also loved it when the reverend carried him around the church to show off the newly baptized.  The boy does love being social.

Cooper's Godparents are Emily and Dan

 The whole family

 My parents held a brunch at their house afterwards.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

We actually got to town on Friday night (makes all this travel easier if we space it out some) and spent the weekend with the Holemans.  My sister had planned for us to go to the balloon glow in Jtown.  Cooper loved it and even got to stay up a little past his bedtime.  Luckily he made up for it ok.  I'm trying to be flexible these days!  He proved to me its ok to bend the rules for some fun every now and then.

I'm one lucky lady to have these handsome boys in my life!

3 Months (better late than never!)

Well, this 3 month post is tardy to say the least.  The third month proved to be a tough one for both Cooper and his parents.  As a result, this blog was totally abandoned!  I want to catch up and hopefully moving forward we will continue in a positive way.  Cooper, Mommy, and Daddy are all in a great place now!  Long story short,  Cooper was struggling with lots of spit up, poor sleep and fussiness.  As I've mentioned before, he suffers from reflux which we felt came back with a vengeance.  After multiple trips to the doctor and our 3rd medication change to no avail it was time for desperate measures.  I tried everything possible to help poor Cooper feel better, but everything we did only gave us short term fixes. Finally, we tried to stop breastfeeding and went to a hypoallergenic formula (I vowed it would be our last resort, as I really love and am pro breastfeeding).  This change was just what Cooper needed, though we still aren't exactly sure what the issue is, possibly a food allergy.  Whatever the reason, Cooper's little body is doing great with formula.  He is sleeping through the night and is so happy during the day.  It makes figuring out what he needs so much easier.  It's like we can all breathe again.  Here is sweet Coop at 3 months old.

at 3 Months:

weight:  13lbs 3ounces

was exclusively breastfeeding 6x/day (every 2-3 hours)

taking 4-5 short naps a day (vary in length from 30 min-2.5hours)

sleep was inconsistent at night (poor uncomfy boy) but mostly was waking every 2 hours :( 

on good nights he would go about a 6 hour stretch before waking to eat then wake every couple hours after that til 6-7am.  He loves to wake up at 5am, too, and say hello!

wears 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers

loves:  Laughing, "talking", smiling, his play mat and stretching when he wakes up

See this cute smile!  Melt my heart

You wouldn't know from these smiles that he was having a rough few weeks!

enjoying some time outside in this nice weather

by far my favorite picture of us yet!  We don't get many together since I'm usually the one taking the pictures.  This was after a night of good sleep, we both were having a great day!

We spent alot of time this month at my sister's house so she could help me and let me catch up on some sleep.  What would I have done without them?!  Thank goodness I am not living in Florida for all of this!!! Harrison wanted to get in on the action of teaching Cooper to take a bottle.  I'm still mourning the loss of breastfeeding, but so glad to have a happy baby again (and to be sleeping!)

our first bottle in the car was a success!  Notice the sleepy eyes, he fell asleep about half way through the bottle :)

In other news, we also had our first anniversary this month on August 3!  What a year it was!!  We went to dinner at Bone Fish Grill right across the street from our townhouse to celebrate.  In a risky move we decided to bring Mr Cooper along with us.  We bathed him and drove around in the car to put him to sleep and he was an angel during the whole dinner.  We ate outside and were prepared to leave early if need be, but he allowed us a night out!  I even had my first martini since pre pregnancy! 

 the top of our wedding cake was preserved (thanks, Papa!) and it actually tasted pretty good!

Also, we met the builder at our house for our first walk through.  We are still hoping to move in around mid to late October.  We can't wait!

 this picture is with our realtor, Adam.  Oh and Cooper fell asleep to the sound of hammering?!  He's such a mess :)

Month Two!

Cooper is two months old and he's growing so fast!  It seems like overnight he will change and start doing something new.  He loves to smile at Mommy and Daddy and "talks" to us with the sweetest cooing noises.  He was started on a schedule and it seems to help his sleep some.  He is happiest in the morning when we play after his first feeding.  He averages about 14 hours of sleep now with 3 daytime naps and 1 catnap in the evening before our bedtime routine...assuming he stays on schedule.  Most days there is some variation to that.  He still likes to sleep at night (thank goodness) and gives us a good 6-8 hour stretch before he wakes to feed and then goes back to sleep.  He exclusively breast feeds and has 5-6 meals a day.

At 2 Months:

Weight:  12lbs 3 oz (50th percentile)

Length:  23.5inches (75th percentile)

Head:  39cm (50th percentile)

our big boy

here are some favorite photos from the last month
 
this is the face I get when I lay him on my chest after he eats.  melt. my.heart.

one of our first days laughing and smiling. he gets camera shy so it's hard to capture!
                                    Cooper at 6 weeks old

 hanging with his brother

 Loves being outside

 Daddy and Coop

 Scott's Favorite photo...working on his "L" hand

 out to lunch with Mom and Dad at McCalisters Deli

 First trip to Target (my favorite store) with mommy! First of many :)

Fourth of July

We had a great weekend over the fourth of July.  Scott and I managed to get a night out just the two of us to start the weekend.  My friend had a wedding in Louisville July 3rd and my sister was kind enough to watch Cooper for the evening.  Of course, I was super worried about how it would all work out, but we managed to get him fed and to sleep for the night before we left for the wedding.  He was a good boy and slept til 2 am that night!
Mom and Dad night out

The next day we made our way to my parents lake house for the holiday.  We lucked out and the weather was PERFECT!  I was even able to take Cooper down to the dock and sit under an umbrella.  He loved loved loved being outside.  He had been a little fussy that day but as soon as his little face hit the sunlight his whole body relaxed and he closed his eyes happy as can be.

It felt great to the whole family to be out of our townhouse for a weekend...Speaking houses, we finally bought a house in Lexington!  It is being built in an area called Andover which is a great area surrounded by lots of shopping!  Scott is excited we will back up to a golf course.  Wilson is gonna love the yard.  We are having fun choosing some of the interior and exterior options and hope to have it complete this October.  I am counting down the days!

here are some progress pictures.  We are renting the townhouse just a few minutes away so it's easy to stop by and check on it. 

It's going up fast!