"Hi"

Yesterday, Cooper gave what I think may have been his first real attempt at speech. It wasn't "mama" or "dada". I think it was "Hi". Here's the story.

Abbie was playing with him on the bed yesterday morning. She's talking to him in that way that we all talk to babies, and she says (very high-pitched, slightly squeaky and drawn out), "Hi", to which he replies, "Hi", exactly the same way. Now, normally this would be a fluke sound that he makes because he's learning to use his vocal chords, and we would just be like, "awww, how cute", which we were. But, when Ab did it again, and he repeated it, we figured we were onto something. Four times in a row he does it. So I grab the video camera. Guess what? He clams up. The boy could've just spouted off the Gettysburg Address, and the only proof we would have would be mine and Abbie's words...and parents all think their kids are gifted, so why would anyone believe us. I video him for about two or three minutes. Finally, we give up. And so what does the little fella do? He repeats Ab's "Hi" again. Go figure.

Some parents tell me to not be in such a hurry for him to talk, because once he learns to talk, he don't stop.

Smileys

Well, it was interesting last night. Abbie was trying to get some sleep since she had been up almost all night the night before (she was giving me a chance to sleep since I had to be up early to drive to Fredericksburg for a real estate conference), so I was trying to calm him down and get him to sleep. He's really be resisting sleep lately. I was with him in the glider chair in the nursery, and just rocking him and rocking him. I was putting myself to sleep quicker than I was putting him to sleep, that's for sure. I now know what I'm going to do with my life when Abbie and I are rich and retired...I'm going to have a glider chair on the front porch facing West so I can watch the sun go down while sipping iced tea and rocking old self to sleep. My brother once told me that I could power a small city with the amount of rocking I do in gliders and rocking chairs. Anyhoo, he's drifting in and out. And he opens his eyes, sees me, and smiles. I mean, its not one of those fake smiles where its just an involuntary reflex of his, this was a bona fide, big-ass smile. And he did it not once, not twice, but three times. He even smiled as he fell asleep (I think he was dreaming, to be honest). But it is a sight to see your baby smile at you with a big smile like that.

It's Called...

The Moro Reflex. That's what the jerky movements he has when he sleeps are caused by. I guess my theory isn't correct. I wonder if the crazy squealing he did last night was a part of the Moro Reflex. I wish I had a recording for everyone on this, because it was odd. I mean, three loud high pitched squeals from him, all while he was sleeping. Maybe he's finally starting to dream. Man, I wonder what he's dreaming about to be squealing in his sleep.

By the way...Abbie seems to think the picture below looks more like Kermit the Frog. I say Homer Simpson. What do you think?

Tell me that he doesn't look like Homer Simpson! DOH! 

C'mon, how cute is that? 

Getting ready to talk to Mommy and Daddy. :-)

Grunts and Wails to...Talking?

I've noticed with Cooper that his grunting and cooing and all those cute noises a baby makes (no, not THOSE noises...although, those are funny, too) are starting to sound a lot like he's actually trying to communicate. Today, I noticed it on several occassions. Abbie or I will ask him a question, knowing full well that the little tyke won't answer, and I swear it sounds like he's trying to answer us in his primitive, limited vocal command of the English language. It merely sounds like words are starting to form for the little guy.

On another note, its so cute to hold him while he's sleeping and to have him have one of those jerky movements. It's almost like he was falling in his dreams and jerked awake just as he was about to hit the ground. Admit it everyone, you know exactly what that's like.

Also, if any of you out there want to contact Abbie or I, here's our contact info in case you misplaced it or never had it.

5870 Clarendon Springs Pl
Centreville, VA 20121
Home phone is 703-830-4487
Abbie's email is abztha@yahoo.com
Jim's email is jim@homeswithjim.com

Cooper's First Snowfall

Whoa, Daddy! So, when we finally roll out of bed this morning around 9:30 (we tend to sleep a long time now b/c of his crazy night schedule), there's talk on the news about snow in our area. Well, lo and behold, we don't make it downstairs before its snowing. We're in the nursery, changing Cooper, when I look outside, and wowsers! It looks like The Day After Tomorrow with snow blowing all over the place. So we start rushing around like kids in a candy store; where's the video camera, the digital camera, what snowsuit to put him in, where are my shoes, where is Abbie's hat, go out front or out back, etc? It's mass chaos. And here's the best part. While all that is going on, Cooper falls asleep. Right after we get him into his snowsuit, he's down for the count. He doesn't even stir when we get him outside in the snow. Dead to the world, he is. He missed his first snow. BUT DADDY AND MOMMY GOT IT ON VIDEO AND PHOTO! heheheheh. This is too fun.

Cooper's first snowfall. 

Cooper's first real posed photo session. Who needs those derned portrait places when you have a baby, a digital camera, and a changing station with a green blanket! 

Happy Grandpa with his first grandchild. It's so much fun to see Gene with Cooper because Coop brings a BIG smile to Grandpa's face. AND, everytime Gene holds the boy, he has an assplosion, and we all get a great laugh. 

Our team of doula's that helped with the birth. They stopped by to check on baby and parents. They did a wonderful job and we thank them. Margaret's on your left, and Wendy's on your right. 

The purpose of this blog is to detail Cooper's firsts. Well, here's his first booger. Enjoy. 

We have to keep the mittens on his hands at night when he sleeps because he has a tendency to scratch his own face alot. Even after we trim his nails, he still scratches...like a dog with fleas. :-) 

Wolfie, Abbie and Wanda's dog, finally got her first meeting with Cooper. 

Znar and Mary, Abbie's coworkers, stopped by recently to see Cooper. 

If you don't have children, then you don't know the love between a parent and a child...it's the greatest feeling. 

Too cute not to share with y'all. 

Auntie Kat with Mosby and Cooper 

Mosby trying to adjust to Cooper's presence. 

Cooper in his first meeting with Emily Milton, Bruce and Katie's six week old daughter. We're already prepping them for the pre-arranged marriage. 

Grandma Goat with Cooper. We're going to call her Gigi (G.G....get it, Grandma Goat?). It's a long story. Needless to say, Wanda used to be Old Goat, so sayeth Abbie. When Cooper was born, she became Grandma Goat. 

Before Cooper would latch onto Abbie, we had to finger/syringe feed him. Abbie's using her pinkie to stimulate his sucking while Jim is pumping in the colostrum (Got Milk? Not yet). 

Little Cooper snuggled up with Mommy. This was taken at the beginning of the month.

Haley, Abbie's cousin, along with Beverly, Abbie's aunt, came up from North Carolina to give the parents some repreive and to help clean the house. That was sweet of them and it was nice to see them again.

Growth Spurt

Well, he's going through the three week growth spurt, albeit a week earlier. How do we know this? Because the little bugger ate for two hours straight last night before bedtime. He did take short breaks to get his second wind, but man, that boy can put some food away. He is soooo a Monihan man. Then, on top of that, he ate at least 45 minutes each time he awoke last night. This must be where they get that baby fat from, because until now, he's looked relatively thin. Maybe this is where he transforms into the Michelin Man, with rolls all over. Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, anyone?

Today, Abbie's Aunt Beverly and Cousin Haley are over to help us out with cleaning the house. Needless to say, the place is a shambles. I'm going to finally get the X-mas tree down...might give us some room in the living room now. So much to do, so little time, so little energy. I'm about to call Molly Maids to come help out. Oh wait, we've got Beverly and Haley to help out today. Okay, maid service next week. To Abbie's boss, Mary...how the hell did you do this with four kids, let along one?

Cooper heading out for his first trip.

Cooper's First Trip Out

Well, Abbie finally got cabin fever and had to take Cooper out of the house. Two days in a row, no less. Yesterday she attempted his first outing to...drum roll, please...Target! She said that Target was empty until she got into the baby section...and then it was packed. Mothers with their babies. And the only baby that was wailing bloody murder was Cooper. Of course, in addition to all the mothers giving Abbie the evil eye in hopes that Cooper's caterwalling wouldn't wake their precious ones, they were all peeved at her that she had the presence of mind to carry him in one of those little "mini-me, use your hands clone" type of carry thingees (the type you wear on your front) while they all were carrying those clunky, heavy baby seats. They lasted through Target and that was it...Abbie returned to home base to try another day.

Today's outing was much better. She managed to take him over to Herndon. Stopped at the nutrition store. He was good. Stopped at Deltek. He was really good. Didn't get overstimulated at all. Everyone thought he was the cutest thing. They stayed for about two hours with Cooper schmoozing everyone there...which meant he stayed awake the entire time...which means Momma gets a quiet ride home and some quiet time at the house. Good job, Abz.

Dad's First Shopping Expedition

Today was the first time that I had to venture out to do the shopping chores. Normally, Abbie takes care of it all. But with her being tethered to the baby who can't leave the house right now, the duties fell on me.

So, at 08:00, I awoke, after a long night with Cooper and Mother Abbie. I went through the routine of preparing to tackle the beast called Whole Foods Supermarket. When I arrived there just after 09:30, the vultures that normally populate this savannah weren't out yet. Thankfully, that meant a more prodigious selection for me. I approached the market with shopping cart in front, and wife-generated list in hand.

Dad tip: When you have to go to the supermarket, make sure you've eaten first. Whole Foods has a tendency to leave food out to sample for its patrons. I could've shaved off at least 15 minutes of my time there if I wasn't so hungry that I was whipping that cart around every corner looking for free goodies.

An hour+ and almost $200 cheaper later, I left. Then it was onto the next big challenge...diaper shopping.

I hit BJ's Wholesale in Fair Lakes around 10:45. Went straight in and headed down the first aisle. Okay, no diapers here. No baby anything here. So where the heck were they? They were on the other side of this huge warehouse...at the front of the store. I could've made a simple beeline for them when I came in, except I'm a guy, and I didn't ask where they were. Instead, I just went walking down the aisles.

So when you find the diapers...then you've got a choice. Do you get Luvs, Pampers, Huggies, or the generic brand? Well, we don't know anything about the generic brand, so I discarded those immediately. The wife mentioned two brands to get...but which was it? Which is Cooper wearing now that we didn't like? Did you know that all diapers look the same with the exception of whatever cartoon characters they put on the waistband? So now I've got to figure out which brand Blues Clues is on versus Sesame Street. Fine, I choose the Pampers b/c I'm almost 100% certain those are NOT what he's wearing now. Now, you've got to get the right size. #5 diapers are for 30-40lbs, #3 diapers are for 22-28lbs...oh, damn, there's no #2 or #1 diapers. Cooper would wear the #1 or #2 diapers. Any mother that would've walked by the aisle and taken a glance at me would've known immediately that this was my first attempt at buying diapers. I was walking up and down the aisle, as if I'd find a baby diaper guide hanging on the metal racks that would make it that much easier for me. So I look closer at the boxes of diapers next to the #3 boxes of diapers.

Eureka! They're #1-2 diapers, for up to 15lbs! That's it! I've got game, baby! I grab a box and head on out. And for the record, Pampers have Sesame Street and Luvs have Blues Clues.

Attack of the Flakes

Holy smokes! Y'know, I knew that a baby's skin would be dry and flaky once they're born so they can shed the outer skin they had while in the submerged state, but this is ridiculous. Cooper's been shedding like a 50-ft python since he was born. If I didn't know better, I'd say that within a month, he'll be a totally different baby. He's got more flakes than Kellogg's. But you know that once that skin is replenished, he's going to be as soft as, well, as a baby's bottom! :-)

Trouble With Cooper's Brother

So, it looks like Cooper's brother, Mosby, is having a difficult time adjusting to him. We saw this when we first brought Coop's sister, Maggie Moo, home from the pet rescue. We're finding a lot of cat vomit around the house. This is exactly what we found when Maggie Moo came home. Mosby's just going to have to adjust, I'm afraid. I've taken to giving him less food until he adjusts, and trying to ensure that all ribbon, string, rubber bands, etc that he may eat to force a vomit fest are out of his reach.

On a bright note with him, he's coming up and rubbing on Cooper a lot more now...not sure if he's taking Cooper in as family, or merely sizing up the enemy. I know what's going to happen, once Cooper can walk, Mosby's going to lie in wait and ambush the boy whenever he walks by. I think Mosby's smart enough to know that Cooper can't do any harm to him now, but come one year from now, it'll be war. And you know what Daddy's going to do about it? I'm going to have my video camera at the ready for when it happens because I want to get something funny on America's Funniest Home Videos!

Spoke Too Soon?

Y'know, sometimes I think I speak too derned soon. Cooper's been being a bit more of a handful than previous. He's starting to cry more often. He's discovered that he gets some sucking satisfaction from mine or Abbie's little finger, and that nursing on the breast is too much work, so he'll just not take to the breast, and instead, hope that Mommy or Daddy will "syringe feed" him. (We're not doing the bottle yet b/c we want him to fully develop his little chompers and jaw first, then we'll give him the bottle).

So he's been giving Abbie the run around during the day, and it finally got to her. Guys that are reading this...here's my tip; if you have to work (meaning your company's too neanderthal to give you paternity leave), then make sure you check in on your wife at least twice a day and if possible, have your lunches at home so as to give your wife a chance to rest, even if only for 30 minutes.

My brother and his wife, John and Kathy, gave us a book called "The Best Baby On The Block", and the lessons it gives in it for calming a baby are stupendous. I highly recommend it. Oh, Cooper's crying. My turn.

How Lucky Are We

Well, there's one thing that's a benefit to your baby being born almost two weeks after his due date...he'll sleep through the night longer and sooner. Last night, I think he averaged about 3.5 hours of sleep at a time. Anyone that's had kids knows that going this long inbetween awakenings is a blessing. And he's not as big a cryer as I thought he would be. We think its because of the "Baby Plus" thing Abbie did while she was pregnant. You can get information on it at www.babyplus.com. I truly believe that its one of the reasons he's a lesser fussy baby and is extremely aware of his surroundings.

First Pediatrician's Visit

Today was Coop's first visit to the Pediatrician. He was sleeping soundly for it until they moved us from the waiting room to the back room. Very nicely, they moved us to the back, not b/c the doctor was ready for us, but to get us out of the waiting room where germs abound with sick kids.

He was quiet until it was time for the nurse to take some measurements and weight, and all of a sudden, the floodgates opened. We think he was hungry, but you never know. Thankfully, Momma Abbie has the touch to calm him down, and managed to keep him calm enough for the visit until she could nurse him out in the car.

Dad Tip: When you leave the hospital with your newborn baby, ensure you get discharge papers and/or you know which they are. The Pediatrician will ask for them. And make sure you bring them with you to the doctor's appt.

Coop was deemed healthy and looking good, meaning his jaundice is subsiding (levels of billirubin are going down according to the hospital lab results), and his weight has gone up to 10lbs 2ozs. Methinks we need to not feed him so much now that the jaundice is subsiding...he's gained more than we thought he would in a week. He's going to be a huge adult if he keeps this up. They say that kids eat you out of house and home...well, its starting...and breastmilk is free (with the exception of Mom's sore, cracked, and bleeding funbags).

Cooper's First Weekend at Home

Cooper's first weekend at home was an eventful one. Once that baby was home, everyone came out of the woodwork.

On Saturday, Jamie Mitchell, one of Abbie's best friends, drove down from Delaware to spend the afternoon with us and Cooper. It was a very nice visit, and Jamie's always fun to have around.

Right after Jamie left, Bruce Milton and Katie Rivers popped over with their 1-month old, Emily. Emily and Cooper hit it off right away, to which point, Bruce began hitting me up for an arranged marriage. I told him to get the dowry ready to go b/c Coop ain't coming cheap.

Abbie's mom, Wanda, came over about two hours after B&K showed up, along with her husband Chris' sister, Angel and nephew Pierre, both visiting from France. Now, I know what some of you are thinking...how could Cooper let the French into our house. Well, we're raising our boy to be understanding of other folks and to forgive them for their government's actions, just as we would like the world over to forgive inidividual Americans for our government's actions. :-P Anyways, everyone visited for awhile until B-K-E took off. It was nice to see Bruce and Katie and Emily. We hadn't seen them since the day after Emily's birth. She's gotten big and she's adorable.

So Angel and Wanda made dinner for all of us. It was the traditional New Year's dinner that included black eyed peas and kale. If you don't know this tradition, its a Southern one; black eyed peas for luck in the coming year, and kale for money in the coming year. I ate a lot of kale, needless to say. Pierre was a rambunctious 5-year old that was enamored with our cats, Mosby and Maggie Moo. Mosby seemed to play well with Pierre and actually showed some actual cat tendencies such as playing with a mouse...something he rarely does (probably b/c he's always sleeping). Cooper was a very good boy and slept most of the evening while we had guests. It wasn't until we wanted to sleep that night that he finally woke up.

Mosby and Maggie Moo seemed to be torn about how they're reacting to Cooper. Maggie Moo's curious. Mosby's annoyed. I'll be interested to see how they take to him when they finally realize that he ain't going away in a week or two like we do when dogsitting Wolfie.

Sunday was another busy day. Gene and Kathy stopped by to visit on their way from spending boo-koo bucks outfitting their playroom basement. They visited for a little while, passing Cooper off to each other. It's very heartwarming for me to see Dad melting whenever he's around his little grandson. Amazing what a baby can do to a person. I've seen sides of my Dad in the past three years that I've not seen in my entire life. And of course, Dad's glad to be able to hand the boy off whenever he has an assplosion...just like he did on Dad's lap.

Kat and Jan stopped by later in the evening to bring us dinner. Cooper was grateful to see his Auntie Kat and Auntie Jan, especially since he hadn't met Jan yet. They doted and they fawned over him. And it looks like the presence of a baby is what's needed to really get another woman's maternal instincts started, because they both wanted to talk about having a baby. John, you better look out...make sure Kat's taking that pill when you return and not a Tic Tac instead. The dinner they brought from PF Chang's was great, but it was even better to visit with those two. An interesting thing that happened while they were visiting. We got a knock at the door, and this lady was standing there with all this food. "From the Church" she said. So we took it in and set it on the counter. Turns out, it wasn't for us, but for the Pastor of her church, who happened to have just had twin girls. He apparently lives in the next court over, and she made a mistake. Poor thing...she was so embarrased when she came back up to get the food from us. Good thing we hadn't dug into it. It was a funny story to tell, but it was nice to know that folks are being taken care of by their friends like that.

And with that, thanks to all our friends and family that have been willing to help us out with food and visits and future babysitting. This is so much fun.

Cooper's Big Day!

Let's start at the most important part of this. Cooper John Monihan was born on Wednesday, 29 December 2004 at 02:07 AM. He weighed in at 9 lbs 6.2 ozs with a measurement of 20.75 inches. He was a BIG baby. So, on to where the story really is interesting...onset of labor.

On Friday, 24 December 2004, Abbie and I had to go to Loudoun Hospital to get a stress test done on the baby, just to ensure that, since we were over 41 weeks, there wasn't any problem with the baby. The stress test showed the baby to be in good health and responding appropriately. The interesting thing that I noticed, and verified by the nurse, was that Abbie was experiencing minor contractions during the test. Later that day, she finally started to feel them. Saturday, the contractions were sparse. Abbie went to an accupuncturist to help her with the onset of labor. The accupuncturist said that Abbie would go into labor on Monday the 27th. Riiiight.

So, Sunday the 27th rolls around, and we still don't have consistent contractions. Shame. I thought they would start on Saturday in earnest or at the latest, Sunday morning. Sunday evening at 11:22 PM, Abbie started to complain about Power Surges (we didn't like the negative connotation of "contraction"). This was when labor started for her. She struggled throughout the night while I slept like a baby. Needless to say, she wasn't happy that I got to sleep. The next morning, I stayed home from work to be with her while she labored. It continued to get stronger as the day progressed, but nothing she couldn't manage. At around 07:00 PM, our Doula, Wendy, showed up. We went through the entire night with Abbie coping with the surges, until, around 04:45 AM, she couldn't handle it anymore, and had an urge to push. Wendy decided it was time for us to go.

We made our way to the hospital, getting there by around 05:30 AM. Guess what? Abbie was only 1cm dilated. We wanted to go back home. The nurse wouldn't let us without signing a waiver that we left against medical advice (they wanted to do a stress test on the baby, which would've left us there another 20-30 minutes). After some wrangling with the nurse, we reluctantly agreed to do the stress test. Mid-stream, Abbie commented, "I think I'm leaking." Her water had just broke. So, we were now stuck at the hospital with a 24-hour timeline that needed to be met...the baby needed to be born by 7AM the next morning or there was a very increased danger of infection to the baby.

We moved into one of the labor/delivery rooms and began the process of naturally inducing labor along, using things such as walking, birthing balls, baths and visualization. Around 12:30 PM Tuesday afternoon, I couldn't function anymore from lack of sleep. So we decided to have Abbie's mom, Wanda, take over for me while I got an hour of rest. Now, Wanda's a wonderful woman, but sometimes, Ab gets stressed out by her easily, so we were unsure as to how it would work out with Wanda in the room. To our surprise, she turned out to be a Godsend. She came in like gangbusters and got Abbie's labor progessing more. Her advice, coupled with that of Wendy, brought on stronger surges and closer surges...exactly what we were looking for.

Our doctor, Dr. Rashid, showed up around 01:00 PM to check on us. He did an exam, and said that, while she was still only 1-2 cms dilated, he wasn't worried about the labor progressing, and just wanted Abbie to keep doing what she was doing. With that, he disappeared. He came back at 6PM to check on Abbie, and we hit a turning point.

Abbie had been in labor for about 42 hours. She was exhausted, and ready for the baby to come out. Dr. Rashid told us that she was only about 3cm's dilated. This is when we had to make a decision. Dr. Rashid was concerned that the labor wasn't progressing fast enough, and we needed to have the baby by 07:00 AM the next morning. We decided to get the Petocin and an epidural. The epidural was administered around 06:40 PM, and the Petocin drip started at 07:15 PM. It calmed down considerably then in the room. I managed to get another hour's sleep, while Abbie attempted to rest. The power surges started getting stronger and more frequent. Doula Wendy, having spent over 43 hours with us, finally began to shut down, and she had to leave to get some rest. She called in a relief pitcher for us, and Doula Margaret arrived about an hour later.

At 12:00AM, Abbie had dilated 5cms. Not fast enough. The nurse went to get consent from Dr. Rashid to up the dosage of Petocin. She got it, and the dosage was upped to the maximum amount. By 01:00 AM, the epidural started to wear off, and Abbie began complaining about pain during each surge. Dr. Rashid was called in to evaluate the pain Abbie was having around 01:30 AM. There wasn't anything he wanted to do with the epidural. From his vantage point, Abbie's best pushes were coming now that the epidural was wearing off and she could feel it. "You wanted to do this naturally, remember?" was his question to her. I could see the look in her eyes that said, "Screw You Doc!" Abbie was now at the point where she was asking to have the baby cut out. I had to hold her left leg up (she was on her right side for the end of labor), and man, she's a strong woman. Dr. Rashid disappeared at this point.

Abbie continued to push until the baby's head was fully visible. This is when it gets comical. The nurse is yelling at Abbie to stop pushing. Abbie's telling her to "f*** off", and decides to keep pushing, in spite of the nurse's orders. The nurse runs out of the room to find Dr. Rashid...and I can hear her yelling at the top of her lungs in the hallway, "DOCTOR, GET IN HERE NOW!" She returns to suction the baby's nose and mouth, and I switch sides to get out of the way of the nurses. Now, I've got an even better view of what's going on.

Let me diverge and say this...if you've never seen your wife give birth, it's a site to see. For me, seeing that head hanging out of her nether regions was surreal. And then, to see it come out fully, that's unbelievable. I have a newfound respect for my wife.

I announced that we had a little Cooper John right after he came out, and then it was mass chaos again as the nurses went into action. I didn't get to cut the cord like we wanted, but what can you do? Dr. Rashid took cord blood for us to ship off for storage. I highly recommend storing cord blood in case something happens to your baby later in life. Full details on the benefit would require a whole 'nother blog, but needless to say, we believe in it and its potential. We used Cryo-Cell (www.cryo-cell.com).

After all this excitement, it was time to relax and recover. We spent the next two nights (Wednesday and Thursday nights) in the hospital. Abbie, while still numb from the epidural, ended up taking a walk around 06:00 AM on Wednesday morning trying to find Cooper (he was in the nursery). She was walking around saying, "where's my baby?" We finally got Cooper in her room, where he pretty much stayed the entire time, with the exceptions of the designated times he needed to have his check-ups.

On Thursday evening, I brought Cooper to the nursery for his check-up, and was told he'd be brought to our room later. Well, he wasn't back in 1.5 hours, so I went to find him. He hadn't been checked yet, because he was moved to the "special care nursery". Turns out, the little bugger had jaundice. Tests were run and it was verified that he had levels of bilirubins that indicated low level jaundice. Unfortunately, his bilirubin levels continued to rise thru Friday. The pediatrician at the hospital gave us an order to bring him back to the ER on Saturday, 1 January 2005, to get his bilirubin levels checked. And unfortunately, they were back up. This means returning to the hospital the next day to check on it.

All in all, it was an experience. I do have an Ofoto album set up that I'll continue to add pictures to. If you're interested in viewing it, send me an email and I'll send you a link to it. They'll ask you to sign up, but it's free and doesn't obligate you to anything. I hope that you enjoy this blog for Cooper, and if you ever think of anything you want to know, please let us know.

This was Cooper on his way home from the hospital. This is without a doubt, the most adorable picture of him.

The happy mom and son getting ready to head home.

Cooper J Monihan

Proud papa goofing with his son. Note: son is already not happy with his dad.