Seriously, how cute is this?

Lisa dropped of this beautiful throw the other day for my birthday (yes, it is a little late, but sometimes she gives me my Christmas present in July so this was fantastic!)

I had to bundle up the bambino to see how great he looks in green. It is really his color, doncha think?

Cooper's First Easter

It has been a rough couple of weeks for us. Cooper and I got another nasty bug (on top of the other one we had) and then he got super sick with an ear infection. It was so scary since he has never been sick and he had a 104 temperature. Luckily, Grandpa brought Grandma up to calm me down and take care of my sick baby so I could go back to work. Then last Friday I drove Cooper and Grandma to Burley and then Grandpa came up to pick up Brandon (yes, we love to drive:).

Here are some highlights:

Cooper helped Grandma, Toni, Tasia, and me color Easter eggs. His job was to check the structural integrity of each egg with his two razor sharp teeth. Then he had a delightful gravity test that most of the eggs failed. Suffice it to say, we had very few eggs that weren't cracked by the end of this event.

Cooper and his Grandpa are now best friends and Cooper has lost all fear of the hairy bear-like Grandpa.

Cooper is loving standing up and likes to walk whenever someone will hold his hands and help him get moving. Lucky for him, Grandma likes to do just that.

No One Puts Baby in the Corner

He puts himself there...

And underneath every wood chair where he customarily knocks his head every single time.

And at the base of the precariously perched lamp where he likes to give it a good shake for Mommy's blood pressure.

And at every sharp edged piece of furniture we own so Brandon can then say, "Why aren't you watching him?"

This new crawling thing is WAY more fun than I thought. Cooper is banged up and bruised several times a day, Brandon doesn't think I am attentive enough (umm, hello I have to blink sometime), and my anxiety is at a new all time high as I wonder, "WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO NOW??"

Ready for Spring

It was so nice today we had to take the kid and the dogs out for a walk. Here is Cooper's first swing ride, he loved it and laughed and laughed. I am laughing as well, but more in a maniacal sense because I realized that my rear didn't remotely fit into the swing and my legs were two feet from touching the ground.
Apparently as I am getting older my butt is expanding and I am shrinking excessively. Brandon was nice and pushed our big butt so we could get airborne as there was no way we were moving otherwise.

Ready to rumble!

We Have a Crawler!

As promised, here is Cooper's new video! He can crawl!! Whew! It is about time (no pressure or anything, but I was getting a little worried).

He finally found the motivation in a water bottle on top of his stacking cups. Cooper loves him some water bottle, and when it is a Water Tower, it is absolutely irresistible. Getting him really thirsty helps too;)

And Jer, those things are his knee pads, and he's also got his stylin' headband (this is sweaty, hard work, you know?) Richard Simmons has nothing on this kid. And I know all of you are asking, "where can I get such snazzy workout accessories??" Don't worry-they will be part of our apparel line when we come out with our workout DVD-'Gettin' your water bottle on!'

New News

Grandma, Grandpa, and Mitch went for a ride today and came for lunch, so that was fun. It's been a very busy couple of weeks for us.

• Cooper past the 8 month mark last Tuesday!
• He popped out another tooth just like that, so now he has two he likes to bite me with.
• Since I have this food phobia I had to take him over to Jamie's and let her feed him a cracker (she thinks she is a Dr. so I thought if anyone could manage a choking episode, she could), and guess what-he does know how to chew! Whew! I guess he won't be eating smoothies and bait bag food when he is twelve after all!!
• He has been getting more mobile (check back for video) and he can stand against the couch when we help him up there (until he realizes we aren't holding him and then he shakes uncontrollably and falls down).

Coop's Trip to the Real Zoo

So last weekend Grandma Gloria came up and we went to the zoo. It was a beautiful seventy degree day and we had a lot of fun; but truthfully, I think Cooper liked his indoor zoo just as well as the real thing.

Cooper and I were both sick (still are) suffering from our second bug in three weeks of day care. He really liked the lions, but most of the animals were too far away for him to see. He did enjoy honking the horn on his stroller, looking at all the kids, and pulling off his socks on random trails so we would have to track our way back to find them.

Here are a few pics to chronicle our adventure:

Grandma is trying to choke Cooper for his naughtiness with the sock displacement.

Here's Cooper and his mom making the zoo rounds while sneezing snot rockets every few minutes.

And here is Cooper waiting to get into the zoo-honk, honk people-out of my way!!
Cooper was a little disappointed-all week I told him he would get to see an elephant, and when we got to the zoo, there was NO elephant! We felt cheated!!!

A Nugget of my Neurosis

Here is one of my favorite paranoid purchases. Brandon calls it a bait bag. This way you can put food in the bag for the baby to eat and it eventually dissolves through the bag (yes, I know it is gross; but really, what about babies isn't?) I have an extreme paranoia about anything being in Cooper's mouth, so this thing makes me feel much better.

I just can't figure out how babies learn to chew.

Brandon thinks it is all instinctual, but I would rather have my bait bag.

Cooper's Tooth

Here is Cooper's little baby tooth. This video kind of reminds me of a drunk celebrity attacking the papparazzi. Hope you enjoy!

Cooper's New School

Finally! Here is my favorite; I hope it was worth the wait!

Ok, so it's not really a school, but that sounds nicer than dreaded day care.

I had a mild breakdown when I dropped him off, but Cooper did good even though he didn't really take any naps (that will take awhile). I did get off work early and when we got home, I had to closely examine him for any signs of damage envisioning the nanny-cam I needed to buy. Finding no signs of damage, I promptly allowed him to fall into the door and get a knot on his head. So much for worrying about what they might do!! I had to spend the rest of our nap afternoon staring at Cooper as he slept to determine if he could be a concussion candidate (Did he act disoriented? Are those dark circles under his eyes or is he just tired? Was he actually sleeping or did he lose consciousness?)

So that was our first day!

Grandma Gloria's Favorite Picture

Here is one of our favorite pictures, notice the nice pool of drool.

The Grandpa Fear

Cooper got over his Grandpa fear this weekend after a candid discussion on their interactions. He still thinks Grandpa is a little overwhelming, but he can handle him now.

Cooper: "Grandpa when you talk in a baby-talk voice, it really freaks me out."

"And even though your beard is still spooky, don't worry; when it starts to scare me, I'll just pull it out!"

Other news: Cooper's little tooth is starting to poke through, so he has been a little grumpy and would wake up screaming a few times over the weekend. Also, much to my despair, he started saying Dada this weekend, and now he squeals in delight and says it when he sees Brandon.

I feel like chopped liver.

Cooper and His Cousins

Here is Cooper with playing with Toni. We went down this weekend to see her Bel Canto performance, and Toni rocked! They get to go to San Francisco next month to perform. Cooper thinks Toni is really cool he had tons of fun playing with her (and then he took a great nap because she wore him out!)
Cooper and Holden last weekend when we took pictures. I think Cooper is trying to steamroll his baby cousin!!

Hey, where's my caddy??

Here are a couple more pictures to get your daily Cooper fix.

And how cute it the grin on this guy?? I mean gorgeous, truly gorgeous. And I am not just saying that because he is mine. He is truly AWESOME.

I could have loved this picture if it would have been in front of Cooper, but oh well. Taking pictures of kids seems to have the technical requirements of herding a bunch of cats.

Cooper Pictures

Sunday we had a hectic photo session. We had a tired and crabby baby by the end, but we did get a few cute pictures out of the deal.
Yesterday he had to go back in for his shots and he now weighs 18 pounds 4 ounces and he's 26 1/2 inches long. He can roll over and pull himself up on his knees where he then rocks back and forth to propel himself forward. And tonight I noticed a tiny little tooth bud almost poking out! He is growing up so fast!!
Check back for more pictures!