Notes about Cooper and Kellar

 


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Tuesday, 17 May 2005

We're horrible, awful people.  Really.  We very much apologize for the lack of information and photos about Cooper lately.  All you out-of-state family must want to kick us.  Again, sorry.

Anyway,  Cooper is no longer a baby - he's a full on BOY.  He's running around the house, climbing on everything, getting covered in bumps and scrapes, digging in the dirt, stealing books off the shelves and pens out of the drawers.  He's one.  But, even with all that, he's a real angel - and we know how lucky we are to have such a good, well-mannered, even-tempered boy.

He got 7 new teeeth - just in the last week or so.  It's a whole mouth full, and he loves to use them.  Don't get your finger too close to his mouth or he'll be happy to show you his chomping strength.  He loves to eat anything crunchy now - ice, carrot sticks, bean sprouts, crackers, whatever.  As long as it crunches, he wants it.  And he still loves the Kraft mad and cheese, of course.  And he drinks out of his sippy-cup almost exclusively now, but whenever he sees a pop can or one of our cups, he has to drink from it.  He's gotten much better about drinking - and usually even remembers to close his mouth after he takes a sip! He giggles like mad after he swallows, as he's very proud of his accomplishment!

Other than that...not much else to tell.  His health is fine.  His heart tests went fine.  he dos have a murmur, which the infant cardiologist suspected, but it's nothing he's worried about.  so we'll go back in a year, and assume that nothing changes in the meantime (he's likely not to grow out of it, as he has it past his first birthday already).  He's gained a lot of weight in the past few months, and has grown taller, but he hasn't been sick enough to go to the doctor, so we don't know exactly what he weighs.

We will really try to be better about updating notes and photos.  Really!

 

Wednesday, 12 January 2005

We've been slackers lately - it's been a full 3 months since we put photos up on the site.  Not that we don't HAVE photos, mind you, we were just really busy.

So - let's see...  what's new with Cooper?  He now has 8 teeth:  4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.  He must be getting some more, though, as the crabbiness and drooling has come back in the last couple of days.  He no longer eats "baby food" - at least not any that is pureed and fed to him.  He really can't stand being fed, and wants to do all his own eating.  Mostly we let him do just that - and make a huge mess.  It's great fun, and Maddie very much enjoys the chance to clean up his highchair, the floor, his face, etc.  She's gotten so demanding that when he doesn't eat fast enough for her liking, she paces and whines and circles around his chair, sticking her head entirely into his lap under the tray.  She's very pushy.

Maddie is just as in love with Cooper as we are.  She is very tolerant of him, and doesn't mind when he pulls her hair or ears.  His latest trick is to "give" - so he'll take her bone or chewy toy right out of her mouth, then give it back.  Maddie usually looks like she's saying "come on, kid - I was chewing that!" but plays along.  Sometimes when she gets fed up of his game, she moves to the couch - where she is almost always followed by Cooper.  She's a good dog.

Christmas was full of festivity for the Coopster.  He raked in the present like you wouldn't believe - and we had to rearrange the livingroom to make room.  It was a lot of fun, though.

Presents Cooper received:

He also received a few books, a couple of outfits (a White Sox jersey/onesie, a denim fireman pant/shirt/jacket set, and a Tasmanian Devil shirt/pant set), several wood block sorters (a mailbox, set of stacking cups, etc.), a football/basketball/soccerball set, a few DVDs and CDs, a couple of small stuffed animals and his first "baby".  All in all, it was a fruitful couple of days for Cooper - and he mostly enjoyed the wrapping paper! 

A couple of months ago, he was given the Baby Playzone Stride-to-Ride Walker by our now-former neighbors Mike and Dana (with twins Braxton and Dalton)- and Coop spends at least an hour a day walking back and forth with it across the living room and kitchen.  He refuses to walk behind it if the seat is split (meant for walking, not riding).  He's a wee bit stubborn that way!  He was also given another couple of toys from the Baby Playzone series that we don't think are made anymore, but he really loves.  You'll see MANY photos of these toys in the pictures from the last several months.  Mike, Dana, Braxton and Dalton just moved to Tennessee and we miss them a LOT.

We have no idea how tall he is right now, or how much he weighs (his 1 year appointment is scheduled for 2/4/05), but we just switched out all his clothes to 18 month size.  They're a little big, but all the 12 month clothes were way too small.

 

Sunday, 1 August 2004

Cooper has a tooth.  It's just barely through the gum, but it's there, and it's sharp!  It's in the bottom gum, just right of center (his right).  We've tried taking pictures, but there's always a lot of tongue, lip and drool in the way - so you'll have to wait until it comes in all the way to see it.

 

Friday, 30 July  2004

Happy Birthday Auntie Erika!

Today, Cooper had his 6 month Dr. appt.  All was well, except he was tired and hungry and teething - so SCREAMED the entire time he waited with Mom.  It was a VERY long hour for the Dr. to come into the room.  He didn't stop then, either.  However, the Dr. DID finally see a tooth, just about to pop through the gum, so at least there's a good explanation for all the shrieking.  Cooper now weighs in at 15lbs-14oz, and is 26" tall.  He's dropped to the 25th percentile in height and weight, but the Dr. said that with all his movement, that's not surprising.  His head was measured (with much difficulty, because he was turning it back and forth trying to see the Dr.), but I forgot what it was.  The Dr. also said today that he has a slight heart murmur, but that it's probably nothing, and just a result of him being so active.  He'll just keep an eye on it and check again at his next appointment in 3 months.

Other notes:

 

Saturday, 24 July 2004

 Here's a few updates from Grandma, Cinda's Mom.  

Love, Grandma Lester

 

Wednesday, 22 June 2004

Friday, 4 June 2004
There are lots of notes I should make about the Coopster from the last 2 months, but today's will have to do.  We just got home from his 4 month check up (hard to believe he's that old already!) and the Dr. says he's perfect!  His weight is 14 lbs, 7 oz (which is less than I thought), and his length is 25".  Both of those are the 50th percentile.  His head size is 41.25 mm, which is the 25th percentile.  Dr. Bhaskar said "so you don't have to call him big-headed, because the size is on the low side."  I commented, "YOU didn't have to push that head out - so don't talk to ME about not being big-headed!"  Even Cooper laughed.  He had 3 more shots today, which he cried for, but only for a minute.  The Dr. said that he was a very tough guy and had a high tolerance, because he didn't cry nearly as much as some other babies.  He's also got the OK to start on real food now - so he'll be having his first bowl of cereal when he wakes up.  Fun!  We'll be sure to take lots of pictures...

Saturday, 27 March 2004
Cooper had his first trip to a restaurant (Applebee's) this afternoon, and slept the whole time.  His 2 month Dr. appt yesterday went well - he's now 10 lbs-11 oz, and 23" long.  So he's on the light side (25%), but that's likely because of all the switching of formula we've had to do.  We're hoping that the new formula will help and he'll eat a lot more from now on.  He also had 3 big shots, which were traumatic for all involved, but quickly fell asleep afterward.  Unfortunately, he's starting to get a cold.  Ugh.

Monday, 15 March 2004
A whole month since I updated last.  Shame on me.  Aunt Amy has demanded larger (and more!) photos of Cooper - so here you go.  We hope you don't mind the longer download times.  Cooper is growing a lot now - he's almost out of all of his newborn clothes.  He weighed 7lbs-14 oz. at birth, 7 lbs-10 oz at 6 days old, 9 lbs-1 oz at 4 weeks old and 9 lbs-10 oz at 5 weeks old.  He's definitely over 10 lbs now.  We had to switch him to soy formula (which is too bad for us - we were getting the milk-based formula for free from our neighbors), but at least he's eating better without getting such a bad rash.

Monday, 16 February 2004
Uncle Gary and Shelly were very kind to babysit Cooper on their day off so we could go to a movie (we saw "Miracle" and highly recommend it!).  I think it's fair to say that everyone enjoyed themselves - especially Jackson with his pudding.  Things we have to look forward to!

Friday, 13 February 2004
Friday the 13th.  We found out we were pregnant on Friday the 13th - in June, 8 months ago.  There's not much new to report, we've mostly been around the house, getting used to sleeping and eating schedules.  His jaundice is almost entirely gone, so he's much more pink now.  Luckily, the whole inking/bath time fiasco last night wore him out, so he slept pretty well overnight.  Good thing Henri's so good at getting up in the middle of the night, though (usually only a few minutes after I've finally gone to bed!).

Thursday, 12 February 2004
Today is Cooper's original due date.  And while it would have been nice to have him on the 12th - my lucky number - we sure are glad he came early.  
    Today was just another day at home (except for the first ride in the swing), until Henri came home.  First, we attempted to get his hand and foot prints for the baby book and wall hanging that Aunt Shelly gave us.  This was certainly a much more difficult task than any of had anticipated.  We got a great print the first time around, and it went downhill from there.  So, if anyone ever sees these prints, please don't think that only his right foot is perfect, has extra toes on the left, has 3 fingers on the right hand and 8 fingers on the left.  It was a chore that we will NOT be repeating anytime soon!  It's too bad that there wasn't anyone around to tape the event - it surely could have won some kind of prize on America's Funniest Home Videos.
    Also, because his umbilical cord fell off this afternoon  (which is also good, because that crusty black thing was looking pretty gross), he could now get a real bath in the baby tub (instead of the sponge bath on the counter).  He seemed excited at first to be in the warm water - but then quickly decided it was too cold to be naked for long.

Sunday, 8 February 2004
Sonja came to visit us and Cooper, and also to pick up the crate she lent us for Maddie last year.  She brought drinks for us, and Cooper's first Chicago Blackhawks memorabilia - a cup/bowl/plate/silverware set that he'll get plenty of use out of once he's not attached to a bottle anymore!

Saturday, 7 February 2004
Grandma Lester came to visit - bringing some furniture from Great Grammie Guthrie's house...but really we know it was just to see Cooper.  She stayed just long enough to feed him, let him spit up and make a messy diaper.  Such is the life of a Grandma.  Afterward, we all had a trip across the street to Mike and Dana's (and the 9 month old twins Braxton and Dalton) house for dinner - his first night out!

Friday, 6 February 2004
Yesterday, he had his first Dr. appointment - weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz.  He has some less than lovely jaundice now, and is a lovely shade of yellow/orange.  The Dr. says it's ok, unless it gets worse in the next couple of days, and it's almost assuredly due to all of his bruising at birth.  Immediately after the appointment, he has his first trip grocery shopping, as we had absolutely NOTHING in the house to eat.  He slept the entire time - smart boy, as Jewel is hardly worth waking up for.

Wednesday, 4 February 2004
You can see from some of the photos how bruised and cone-shaped his head was.  The bruising is almost entirely gone now, and his head has returned to a semi-normal shape; now it's a perfect little pumpkin head.  He has blue eyes and brown hair, although his eyebrows and eyelashes are very light blonde.  Aunt Betty came for a visit, too - she was very happy to hold him while he slept for an hour or two.

 


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