New Website

We've moved. With the birth of Sullivan we didn't think it fair to keep just Cooper's name on the blog. We hardly have time to keep up Cooper's let alone create a seperate one for Sully! Sooo we've created a new blog. Please visit it at www.monihan.blogspot.com

"Can I Come In? I Am Anyways"

It's a short post, but its a cute one.

Abbie and I were in the kitchen tonight cutting food for dinner. I was at the counter, and she was behind me at the sink. She had one arm around me and I was holding her hand.

All of a sudden, there's this pressure on my leg.

Yup, it was the boy.

He was backing into the space between Abbie and me. Not forcefully pushing in while fussing like he's done in the past. Just slowly pushing his way. Leading with his arse.

And when he squeezes in, he just stands there with a hand on each of our legs, enjoying the family love fest.

Anyway, it was cute, and I felt like I needed to put it out there.

Easter Bunny

Little Drummer

The Baby

Cooper has a few words in his repertoire- Mom, Dada, Hi, and this morning he woke up saying "the baby". He's been saying baby but "the baby" was a first today. Cooper has no idea what's coming (I don't think we do either).

Old MacDonald

Two new doctor appointments later we have been out and about visiting farms getting to know everything that the animals are eating. While it was a lot of driving it was actually pretty cool to see how the animals were being raised and to get to know the farmers. We got a grand tour of one- although we probably spent more time looking down to avoid the poo piles. Turns out some of Cooper's allergic reactions could be from what the animals are eating- not the animals themselves. There are no farms that only grass feed their chickens so he's most likely breaking out to the corn and soy the chickens are eating. Makes sense since he's very allergic to corn and soy! We have found 3 farms in the somewhat local area that have grass fed beef and lambs though. Come summer when the pigs and chickens can roam outside we should be able to try them again.

Anyone who knows me knows I haven't eaten beef since high school after watching a 20/20 special about the horrors of the meat industry and watched a slaughter. Honestly the images still haunt me. I know I would never eat if I knew how they slaughtered chickens and other animals but I prefer to live in the dark on those. Although after I have the baby that could be a good diet technique :-)

A few weeks ago I could barely stand to smell beef cooking and now here I am cooking it up for Cooper!! (The things we do for our kids!)Jim still has to do the things that involve a lot of the blood but I'm proud to say I even had some beef jerkey last weekend. Don't anyone go getting their hopes up, I'm not ready for the t-bone yet!

What We Found Out

Poor, poor Cooper.

I know you want to know what's up. I won't leave you in suspense. The M.D. said he has a staph infection in his foot/ankle.

As any of you that read this on a regular basis are aware, Cooper has eczema, and has been battling it since he was three months old. His eczema has been flaring up a lot lately. Naturally, he scratches. The only places he's normally able to get to are his upper back/neck, and his ankles (when not socked up). He's managed to scratch his ankles raw, to the point of them bleeding a bit. According to the M.D., the staphylococcus aureus bacteria entered Cooper through a break in his skin along his ankle. Websites I consulted tonight said that the bacteria can be present on our skin without causing an infection, and that those with compromised immune systems (like Cooper) that have skin conditions are at risk of infection.

With the way the infection was going, and the obvious pain Cooper was in, we immediately said we needed to take him to Urgent Care. Well, let me tell you this adventure.

We got there and signed in. It was around 10AM. There were three people ahead of us. We sat there for over an hour before finally being seen. I got phone calls from work. Abbie had to go outside several times to get some air because it was stifling in the waiting room. F-ing doctors.

So we finally get in there. The M.D. shows up, looks at Cooper's foot. Moves it a bit. THEN pushes the foot upwards at the ankle (dorsiflexion), and Cooper didn't like that one bit. The M.D. wanted to see how much range of motion, and b/c there was so much fluid in the ankle, the skin turned white from the pressure, and Cooper started to scream in pain. Yeah, that wasn't pleasant for us. F-ing doctors.

So he orders X-rays even though he doesn't believe Cooper's ankle's broken.

Now, X-rays are radiation at a certain level to move through soft tissue, but not hard tissue. A toddler exposed to radiation isn't, in my mind, a very good idea. And don't tell me that one gets more radiation driving through Fairfax County than they get from an X-ray. If that's the case, then everyone would be exhibiting symptoms of constant radiation exposure.

So, I have to be in there with Cooper getting his X-rays since Abbie's preggers. They laden me down with those derned heavy lead aprons, and I put Cooper on the X-ray table. To get the right picture, Cooper's foot has to be sole down, which means putting it into an uncomfortable position. He don't like that much. So he starts to cry, and scream. And as we continue on like this, he gets louder and louder. And as the tech lines up the machine over his foot using the cross-hatch light, he screams louder still. He's obviously hurting and scared, and getting more and more scared what with this crazy thing over his foot and Dad holding his leg with some force to keep him from moving (by the way, he's a strong little bugger). Blam, one X-ray down.

The next one is simple...his foot is lying down just as it does when he's sitting. Easy as pie, right? Noooo. The tech turns on that light, and he sees it over his foot, and starts to scream again. I have to hold his leg steady again, and its hurting him. And he's screaming. And Blam, the X-ray is done. The tech takes the film back to have it processed.

So, Abbie's outside of the X-ray room with the door closed...she has no idea what's happening. Imagine your most precious loved one stuck in another room that you can't get into, and all you hear is screaming in pain and fear. That's what she had to deal with. We went out there, and she was a wreck. She just held Cooper and he held her. Hope we don't have to go through that again anytime soon.

BUT!

The M.D. looks at the film, and decides that there's not a good enough picture. That we need to take the X-rays again. Okay, are you kidding me? I'm not happy with that. Abbie's not happy with that. Cooper's not happy with that. So we go through it all again. And no, Cooper didn't take it easier this time. If anything, he was worse. Now, I looked at the first X-rays, and I could see the bone without hassle. The second X-ray wasn't any better. I told the doctor that I'd prefer to not have to take anymore X-rays. Dunno if he heard me or not, since most M.D.'s don't really listen to their patients or their patients' guardians, but we didn't take any more. His ankle was not broken. F-ing doctors.

But it was interesting to see the spacing between all his bones, even his petatarsals (toes). None of his bones touched each other, which explains why a baby doesn't break anything along the joints....they just bend.

So Cooper got antibiotics and as of today, he's walking again. Unfortunately, the antibiotics have side effects, unlike more natural remedies. Cooper doesn't sleep well at all...awakening about every hour to hour and a half. In addition, [squeamish stop reading now], his poo is very runny and...how do I describe it...stinkier than it ever has been and with the consistency of marshmallow cream. That means its harder to clean up and it sticks to his body like glue.

F-ing overpaid doctors.

Can I tell you what's happening? Of course I can.

With the impending arrival of our next baby boy, *******(name withheld to protect the innocent and unborn) in May, we've started taking steps to get Cooper used to seeing another baby around so he won't be jealous with Momma's time being taken away from him. The best way we could figure was to bring in another baby. We tried seeing if our neighbors who have an infant would loan us their baby for the next month and a half, but that didn't work. I mean, c'mon, it ain't like we're going to sell their baby on the black market.......yet. Our compromise was to buy a baby doll. Cooper's fascinated by this baby doll (Abbie will post a pic of the two when she gets a free minute, which nowadays is about as common as a monkey flying outta my butt). He says "Baby" and strokes the baby's head, and takes its pacifier, and is getting playful with it. We do need to continue to tell him to be gentle and that the pacifier is the baby's and not Cooper's. Too much fun. Can't wait for the real thing to arrive and start screaming...let's see how the toddler handles THAT. :-)

Okay, now that you've had a chuckle with that, let's update y'all on his health. We noticed this morning that Cooper wasn't standing and wouldn't put his right foot down when we tried to get him to stand. As the morning went on, his right ankle has puffed up...really bad. Abbie remembers that on Wednesday when she picked him up from Cheryl's, one of the boys there was telling her about something. She couldn't understand a word he said, so she asked Cheryl to translate. And she said that the boy was talking about getting his own leg stuck in a drawer and hurting his ankle. Um, okay. Sure. But we noticed that Cooper was limping that night. The next morning, he was fine...no limp and walking around like usual. Last night, he barely walked around and stayed in Abbie's arms or on the couch with her. Which brings us to today. We're going to take him to Urgent Care and see if there's anything they can tell us. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ear Infections, Fevers, Naked Baby...Oh My!

Soooo, Mr. Cooper's had an eventful past two weeks. Well, okay, we've had an eventful past two weeks...Cooper's just had a very integral part of it. Let's start at the beginning.

Back on the 5th of March, I got sick. It was like the flu and bronchitis and a fever all rolled into one. I attempted work on Monday morning, but came home after a couple of hours and went to bed. That eve, my fever got really high and I was totally shivering (Abbie loves to tell this story how she got home from work, and I was shivering and sobbing saying, "soooo coooold." Yeah, ha-ha, very funny.) Anyways, amongst the fever and chills and headache and body aches, I couldn't breathe (Abbie likes to laugh about this one too b/c I said one day, "I think I might have lung cancer." She's not very nice when it comes to these things). I wasn't able to take a full breath.

Anyways, on Wednesday, the fever and chills and headache and body aches were gone...just needed to beat the lung problem, clogged head and throat tickle. Well, that night, Cooper gets a fever. Over 103. So he didn't go to day care on Thursday. Instead, Abbie stayed home to be with Cooper that day while I went to a morning job interview (not very easy to do when you can't hear anything and your chest is tight and you've got a throat tickle). I get home and stay the rest of the day with Cooper so Abbie can do some work from hom. His temperature stays over 103, bordering on 104. He slept the entire day away (like a limp noodle), but had a very difficult time sleeping that night.

Friday, I stay home with Cooper. His temperature hovers between 101.5 and 102 all day long. Friday's different in the regard that, while he's still a limp noodle, when he's not asleep or lifeless, he's crying and crying and crying. It was loud! We discovered the day before that the only thing that would distract him and keep him from crying was PBS Sprouts. If you don't know what PBS Sprouts are, its a PBS station on digital cable that plays nothing but kid shows, including Barney, Noddy, Thomas the Train, Teletubbies, and Dragon Tales. When he didn't get to watch Sprouts, he was fussy. Put on the boob tube, and the boy began to drool all over himself.

We went through the weekend like this. Very sluggish during the day, unable to sleep during the night. Lots of screaming and crying. We were coming to wit's end.

Finally, on Monday, we noticed Cooper pawing at his ear. Well, eureka, we got it figured out. He has an earache, if not an ear infection. So we pull out the ear drops, and wouldn't you know it? It helps with the constant crying. His pain has subsided, if only briefly. We give him some Children's Tylenol for his fever, and wham-o, he's now feeling 100% better. So we keep him on the drops. Monday night, he sleeps much better, with one exception...he gets up at 4:30...a habit that he has yet to break. He stays home on Tuesday as usual with me and stays home with me on Wednesday. His temperature these three days was still over 100.

Thursday, he goes to day care, but he was still lethargic. When he got home, he was still fussy and Abbie began to question whether or not he was now crying just to get picked up. It is, after all, that time of his life where he's pushing and pulling, wanting to be with us, yet wanting to expore all at the same time. Friday, he wakes up at 4:30 again, but manages to go back to sleep until about 5:30-ish, so we were able to get some extra sleep. Amazingly, Friday, he's a whole different child. We have our fun-loving Cooper back.

Since he was sick, he's been a bit more assertive when he wants us to pick him up, and he's throwing tantrums now. I mean, bona fide, stomp the ground, fling himself backwards tantrums. Mounds of fun, let me tell you.

Saturday, we visited Cooper's GiGi and Papi in the morning, then went to get him some top of stairs gates. Abbie, Cooper, and GiGi had a good time jamming on the drums and Cooper had a great time chasing Wolfie around the house. I spent a good portion of that afternoon after we got home putting up the first of the two stairwell gates. Y'see, he now has a tendency to go to the top of the steps and peer down. That's not the scary part...its when he turns around and attempts to take a step and then loses his balance and instinctively sits back on his butt that's scary...particularly since he's at the top of the stairs.

I spent some time today struggling to get the second gate done at the top of the main stairs. Cooper tried to come up to me once while I was doing it, and, with Abbie behind him, he turned to look at her, then to me, and voila, he fell down the stairs. Thankfully, Abbie caught him before he fell more than 1/2 step. Just went to show us how important it is that we're there with him when he's on the stairs. Oh, and I didn't mention it, but he's also figured out how to go down the stairs as well as up them. Today, he came down the entire staircase. Yay, Cooper!

He also got a visit from his friend Emily Milton. They had a good time playing, although, at first, they seemed very shy. Amazing the differences in children from just a month prior.

And finally, his last "adventure" today. I was changing Cooper's diaper, and gave him some "naked baby" time. Needless to say, that didn't work out well. I always have a fear that he'll pee everywhere whenever we give him "naked baby" time. He has yet to do that...until today. The little booger squatted down to pick up some toys, and Abbie looks down and asks, "did he pee?" Well, he sure as heck did. Imagine that. But, it gets better. In addition to that, she picks him up, and I look down to find a turd on the floor...then another, and another. Turns out, he's dropping turds like a C-130 dropping paratroopers. So we clean him and the floor up. Then he disappears in the kitchen to play...still "naked baby". He's quiet. Then comes sauntering into the living room where we are. Hmmm. Then Abbie drops the hammer..."Is that poo on his hand?" Well, s**t, it is. He crapped in a jar in the kitchen, and stepped in some and grabbed some. Needless to say, we were laughing so hard that it took some time to clean it up.

How fun, huh? And we're going to do it again really soon with our next baby. :-) Life don't get any better than this.

How Are You Feeling?

As we move into week 30 of this pregnancy everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing. This picture pretty much explains it all! Cooper hasn't given me the luxury to give in to being too tired. I take advantage now every chance I can!! The morning sickness came and went quickly and things have just been too busy that sometimes when I say, "Wow I'm really tired," or "I'm really hungry!" Jim and will say, "Well you are pregnant!" No major complaints to speak of although that will probably be different in a few weeks. While pregnant with Coop I didn't have any braxton hicks contractions but I seem to have been having those happening this last week. More than anything I've just noticed that my hormones have allowed me to cry at most everything and anything. I knew it was bad when I was literally hiccuping and swallowing back the tears on an episode of Scrubs. Now Jim just looks at me when we are watching any show that could even potentially bring tears and he knows I'm crying!

Cooper's Women

Cooper meeting Sam for the first time. (Abbie and Sam's mom, Lauren, were friends in high-school. Lauren lives in NJ now so Coop will have to settle for a long distance relationship.)

Cooper and Emily on a play date. (Abbie and Em's mom Katie also go back to high school and Camp Grimm. Em can count on Coop for her back up prom date!)

It's a ...........

We can't keep it in any longer! We just had to share with everyone the news about Baby M. We just had our 28 week appointment everything is measuring right on time and the heartbeat is nice and strong. (Although for one brief moment the doppler faltered and Jim swore he heard two heartbeats. If I could have had a picture for the first time I've ever seen his face pale!) In case you can't tell the gender in the picture Jim has circled the evidence :-) No names yet we can't seem to decide on anything.

Pick Me Up

Sorry but this is just too cute. This is the look we get when he's screaming for us to PICK HIM UP!

Cooper's First Snowstorm He Could Actually Enjoy

Little Stinker

Feeding Himself

Cooper is getting pretty good at feeding himself although it doesn't always end up in his mouth!

Asleep At The Wheel

Like Father Like Son

We can all see where Cooper gets his hair tips from :-)

Cooper's First Hair Cut

We were really worried that Cooper would cry through his first haircut as we've been told to expect. As is his norm now whenever we expect him to do one thing he does another. He pretty muched watched Elmo or giggled through the experience.

Cooper's First Hair Cut

Cooper's First Hair Cut

Cherished Moments

Last weekend Cooper started to enjoy rocking in the rocking chair in his room. So early one morning I tried to catch a few more zzz's while we rocked and he snuggled in over Baby M. He started babbling and then suddenly Baby M started to kick. Cooper started to babble and then started to pat my belly. I listened to him coo and felt Baby M kicking and then to my amazement I hear Cooper say something that sounded like, "hold on." I felt my eyes start to tear and he said it again, "hold on." So I sat there rocking Cooper and Baby M crying with tears of happiness hoping the moment would last forever.

Super Bowl Sunday

As Cooper FINALLY goes to sleep and Abbie and I watch the Steelers up on the Seahawks and I attempt to ignore the Rolling Stones geriatric halftime show, I got to thinking about Cooper and what he's going to be like and get involved in as he gets older. More on that in a sec.

This week, Cooper has been a walking mo-fo. He started walking a bit last week with GiGi, and has been really going at it since then. This weekend, I had a cheer competition in Baltimore on Saturday and Sunday so Abbie had Cooper pretty much all weekend (y'know, coaching pre-teens really helps me see what we've got ahead...and I dread it). When I came home on Sunday night, he was walking all around the kitchen.

From Friday night walking four or five steps at a time to Sunday where he's walking around the kitchen, and then walking into the living room. Of course, he gets tired and plops down, but damn, I can't believe how quickly they grow up and mature...at least until they reach their teenage years.

I'll say this, though....there's nothing better than watching your own child grow and hit milestones. Its watching those points occur that really makes being a parent special.

Anyways, I was saying about what he's going to do when he gets older and his walking around was making me think about it. Y'know, I'm not one to be a "typical man" and want my boy to just be in sports. Whatever Cooper wants to do, Abbie and I are going to support him 100%. Would I love it if he played football? Hell yeah! Baseball? Hell yeah! Wrestling? Cheerleading? I'll coach him myself. But we're also of the mindset that if he wants to be a theater nerd, we'll be at every play. If he wants to do music, we'll be at every concert. If he wants to do ballet, we'll be at every recital. We just want to be there for our children at anything they want to do.

Okay, enough being schmaltzy. Go STEELERS!

Them Bones Them Bones

As some of you know we've been working hard to get Cooper to gain weight- we thought we'd get him in touch with his cave man roots.

Birthday Party Helpers

Cooper was lucky to have Emily, Brianna, and Bethany helping him open all his presents!

Wok Woh

Poor Cooper! He found his way into our wok and couldn't quite figure out how to get out. He looks like he's scared we might cook him up doesn't he!

Birthday Boy

Cooper was extremely lucky to be surrounded by his family and friends to help celebrate his first birthday. He had his own special pumpkin pie that he tore into and we had to physically seperate him from it as he just kept eating and eating!

Thanks to everyone for coming out and helping Cooper celebrate he knows he is well loved.

Extra Credit Questions

We created these really as tie breaker potentials for the Cooper Trivia game. Congratulations to Chris D'Addario (Poppi)and Dawn Richling for knowing so much about Cooper!

In case you are curious the questions were-
1. Name one of Cooper's doctors
2. What eye did Cooper get pink eye?
3. Our current favorite nick name for Coop.

Extra Credit Answers

Dr. Shahin or Dr. Gennaro

Right Eye

Cooper Do

The Holidays

Hey all!

I'm not the biggest fan of resolutions because I tend to kick myself hard when I fall off the bandwagon. However, I resolved to try and update this blog at least once a week (we'll see how long THAT lasts), so I'm here to give you the first post for 2006.

The holidays were crazy this year with a 1-year old. We didn't really have the holidays last year because we were so focused on Abbie's pregnancy, so this year, we were able to decorate the house with Christmas stuff. Well, allow me to clarify. Abbie decorated. I pissed and moaned because I had to get the crap out of the attic, put it back up, and then get it back down to put all the ornaments away after the New Year (I really need to work on being more cheerful during the holidays). Cooper got a "Baby's First Christmas" stocking that was too cute. He started what I surmise will be many, many years of trying to snoop into the presents. We got all our gifts wrapped and, since we didn't do an actual Christmas tree (space allocation fell short this year), we stored them on the couch ottoman off to the side. EVERY day, that boy was standing up next to the presents and tried to pull them down, open them, etc. Oh boy, now its my turn to come up with the creative hiding places.

Abbie, Cooper and me went to Charlotte this year for Christmas after spending Christmas Eve with Abbie's mom and stepdad. Long drive. But the horror stories that people give about the baby in the car...nonexistent for us. Coop slept over 2 hours of the 7 hour drive. And was quiet the rest of the time. We drove down on the 25th, visited with her relatives on her Dad's side on the 26th, tooled around Charlotte's suburbs and the surrounding counties on the 27th, and drove home on the 28th.

When we pulled in to Abbie's grandmother's house, it was an interesting site to see as Ab brought the boy in. A large number of Abbie's relatives were crowding the door to see Cooper. They formed a...how do I put it...hallway from the back door to the kitchen. One of the husbands appropriately called it the Gauntlet. Cooper was the talk of the town. He clung to mom for a bit, but once he realized that he got lots of laughs when he gave the Bynum call, he started to ham it up. Ain't nothing like having 20 women surrounding you and paying rapt attention to your every move and every word. We spent Sunday the 25th there visiting with family.

Before I forget, thanks to Jean Bynum for letting us crash at her house. Abbie and I essentially invaded her house what with all the food we had to bring down for us and Cooper. She's an awesome hostess and we had a wonderful time. Mexican train doesn't get any better than when you beat the person who taught you (nooo, I didn't beat her...I got my ass handed to me...twice).

On Monday the 26th, we drove around Gaston County for a little bit. Then we went into Charlotte to her paternal grandmother's house for lunch and to visit with her two paternal aunts. Again, Cooper was center stage. It was a wonderful lunch, and nice to see her aunts. We followed her aunt, Susan Briggs, up to Concord (around the Lowe's Motor Speedway) to check out that area. We would've had more time to investigate with Susan, except we left Cooper's cooler at Arzella's, so we had to trek back to her house to get his food...with him screaming the WHOLE way. It was awful...and it was about 30 minutes from Susan's to Arzellas. Egads! We headed back to Jean's after that b/c it was getting late.

Tuesday the 27th was spent driving all over creation checking out the communities around Charlotte. We saw more of Gaston County, mostly Belmont which is a beautiful little town...we just didn't see where the new developments were even though Jean assured us there were a bunch. We jumped on the beltway and headed South. Saw Southern Charlotte and determined that it was really the first area that both of us were agreeing on. We went into Union County and saw the "million dollar homes" in Weddington, drove through Monroe and Indian Trail, and all the farmland in between. Some farmer's getting rich by selling off land, I'll tell you that. We looked in the Town of Concord and Abbie fell in love with the quaint ness of the main street. It's a real possibility for us should we go down there. We even found a fixer upper that was a five minute walk from the town center. Ooooh, the possibilities. :-) The drive back to Jean's took a long time because we kept getting distracted by sight seeing.

On Wednesday, we drove home. Man, I'm not sure that's a drive I'm going to be wanting to make more than once or twice a year. Everyone, let's move to Charlotte.

We think Cooper's going to like North Carolina whenever we get down there. The hope is that he'll not adopt any of those southern accents though. And dammit, he may be a Panthers fan, but his daddy will always be a Redskins fan, regardless if his mother decides to join the Panther bandwagon.

By the way, if you didn't hear it yet...Cooper's going to be a big brother this summer. :-)

Pick It Up

Tip to all that are going to have children.

You know how we toss things into the trash can? We'll be about four feet away, and basketball toss it over there, hoping we make it in? You know how that doesn't always happen? Well, now, imagine what you do when its a small piece of something...oh, say, a small piece of that plastic tag holder you get on new clothes...and it hits the rim and falls out. Do you leave it there? I know I usually do until I have to put something bigger in the can and then I'll pick it up.

Those days are over. The next time you see that little piece of whatever-it-is, it'll be in your baby's hands making its way to his mouth.

So, my tip is this...take the extra effort to put that little doohickey into the trash otherwise it'll become lunch for the little tyke.

It Was Just A Trim

Soooo, if you've seen Cooper in person lately, you know that he's got a lot of hair on the top of his head and the sides of his head. When it gets wet and sticks out, he looks like either Bozo the Clown or Young Einstein. Abbie's been telling me that he needs a haircut for some time now.

So, I cut it this Saturday. Abbie had wet his hair to comb it, and i snatched up a pair of scissors and proceeded to hack away.

I didn't get any hair while hacking away.

If you've never tried to cut a 11 1/2 month old's hair...it's impossible. He was looking around the entire time, constantly moving his head. And I have this habit of snapping the scissors open and closed, which would unfortunately cause Cooper to look around for the noise.

All I wanted to do was trim around his ears so it didn't stick out so badly. Well, it was a failed experiment...nearly impossible to make it look good. It'll grow back in time. For now...keep yer yap shut unless you say "Hey, his haircut looks great".

Now I know why so many parents just stick a bowl on their child's head and cut around it...it turns out to be an even and straight cut.

Are They Words Or Just Sounds?

We think he's truly talking now. He says "Mom-Mom", "Dad" & "Da-Da", and "Hi". At least, we're sure that he's saying that, but one can never be too sure. :-) For all we know, he may have just discovered a new way to make sounds that stop us cold b/c we think he's actually talking.

To Stay At Home or Not To Stay At Home

Have I ever told you that staying at home with your infant is probably some of the hardest work I've ever done? Have I ever told you that it's also one of the most rewarding types of work?

This week, now that Cooper's healthy and not communicable, he went back to day care. I know I speak for Abbie when I say that we miss him so much. Being at home with him for the past two weeks really made me feel the wish to no longer work (or to at least work from home). I feel sorry for my broker because he relies on me to be at the office for four of the five days of each week...and quite frankly, I'm just not feeling it. I'd much rather stay at home and be with my child. Ain't that right, Abbie?

For those of you that don't have children but plan to in the near future...work hard at your job now...put in those late hours...because you're going to want to be at home with your child. This is why I tell Abbie every week that we need to retire by 35. Of course, her answer always is, "Well, make it happen." Oh sure, I'll just snap my fingers and a pension will just fly out my butt. Mmm-hmmm.

Fun Stuff

Granted the last few weeks haven't been the easiest. We think Cooper must be teething because he's biting like crazy and wouldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time last night. But lost of fun stuff has been happeneing! He climbed up 2 stairs yesterday trying to reach me. He got distracted by a pair of shoes or I'm sure he would have climbed more! He's also starting to stand by himself. Almost by accident he'll just be standing there looking at you not even realizing he isn't holding on! He drinks out of your cup now like a champ. You would die watching him chow down on a peice of turkey. He will eat the entire peice! He actually ate turkey, broccoli, and mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving :-) He is talking up a little storm. Cooper loves to scream out "be-be" sounds like baby and "gwey" and a few times he's even said "mom-mom". Of course we have no idea what he's associated any of these words with but he sure does like to scream them. The other thing he loves to do is to stand in front of the mirror and talk to himself. He may be covered in chickenpox and have his eyes covered in goop but he's still smiling and having a good time!

Can Cooper See What's Going On?

Well, his chicken pox cleared up. Some remaining scabs that may leave scars, but nothing too bad. Thankfully, he didn't have a bunch of pox on his face where he could scratch and leave big pitted scars for kids to call him crater face when he's a teenager. :-)

By the way, A BIG SHOUT OUT to Dawn! She saved Abbie and I on Saturday the 26th when Abbie and I had to go to her company holiday party. She babysat Cooper for the night as last minute assistance. Abbie's mom, who was originally our babysitter for the night, had to bow out b/c of Coop's illness, and so we had to brainstorm. It was probably going to be me that would have had to stay with him, and normally, I'd be okay with that. But they were doing a casino night, and I love casino nights. So Dawn came to the rescue. She had the Pox before, so she wasn't going to get it. And she was willing to come to our house. Thanks, Dawn.

So, now there's something else.

On Monday, Abbie and I noticed that he had some goo in his eyes. We thought it was just sleep in his eyes still. But, when it came back later on, we got a bit curious. Turns out he has conjunctivitis. Both eyes began to "ooze", for lack of a better term. Goo in each eye. When he'd sleep, they'd get all crusty. And as Monday wore into Tuesday and then Wednesday, his right eye would seal shut as he slept. The goo would essentially turn into glue. Nothing a washcloth and hot water wouldn't take care of. But, of course, he absolutely can't stand having his face and eyes wiped down. Maybe its because I have to almost scrub his eyelids and eyelashes to clear the goo off. We researched, and concluded that it was definitely pink eye.

To be sure, Abbie took him to the pediatrician on Tuesday night. Result: bacterial conjunctivitis (which explains why both eyes are gooing). We got drops for him. It's taking time. I've had to take another week of working at home...which during this time of year, isn't that big a deal since the market is SLOOOOOW!

He's getting better at letting me clear his eyes, which the best way seems to be to flush them with warm water. And while he hates the drops, there are ways to get them in. Best way seems to be to wait for him to close his eyes while screaming...he can't see the drops, and if I put them on the corner of the eye, they drip in when he opens them. Ta-Da! Simple.

So, we're expecting it to clear up soon. I'll keep you posted. But damn, what's next? I'm just glad he's a baby now and won't remember any of this.

This was Cooper on Wednesday after giving him some drops. You can see the redness around the eyes where the conjunctivitis is causing irritation.

This was Cooper on Tuesday. You can see the puffiness on his right eye where the conjunctivitis hit the surrounding tissue. Our research had said that bacterial conjunctivitis will spread into the surrounding tissue and cause reactions such as this...this was our first clue of what type of pink eye he has.

Poor Cooper. On Thursday, 17 Nov, Abbie noticed a couple of bumps on him, but she didn't think much of it because they didn't look like hives or anything to really get concerned about. Well, Friday, he had more bumps. So I took the day off and took him to the doctor's to be sure of what it was. It looked a lot like his roseola he had before, but something was different. The doctor said he thought it was most likely > Chicken Pox. Soooo, I've gotten the pleasure of staying home since Friday with Cooper because of his chix pox. We had to cancel our trip to Charlotte for Thanksgiving and we can't even spend it with any other family because of his contagiousness. As you can see, he didn't have it hard on his face, but his back had some pretty big pustules which have turned into very big scabs. He didn't itch until the pustules burst and scabbed over. On top of that, his eczema really flared up because his system was putting so much into fighting the Pox. Hopefully, he'll be better next week.

Lookin' For An Update?

Thanks to Dawn and Katie for "reminding" me that the blog wasn't updated. As if Abbie telling me that every week wasn't enough. Okay, we've got a month to cover. Here it goes...rapid fire...in no particular order.

Cooper's clingy. Can't get him to stay on the floor without chasing you around so he can be picked up. He screams in his car seat in Abbie's car. And he wants nothing to do with me if Abbie's around.

He doesn't get as distracted as he used to....can't just give him a piece of paper and he'll play with it for an hour. Nowadays, its either pick him up, or give him something he truly wants...which as this very moment as I write this is an extension cord. Should I be worried?

He's had a constant elevated temperature for a couple of months, and we found out why. He finally had a top tooth break through his gums. Ouch. Especially for Abbie when nursing.

No, he's not talking yet...at least, not until he says "momma". He makes noises very similar to "the day" and "dad", but they're not words. He ain't speaking until he says "momma". Hmm, the boy could be 2 years old before that happens. :-P

His separation anxiety wakes him up at night. Whereas he had a few nights before that indicated he was going to be sleeping through the night in no time at all...he now wakes up at least 3 hours after he goes to bed, and then at elast once after that. Oh, and because of his separation anxiety, Abbie can't put him back to bed...I get to. Put him in the crib and the results are the same as putting him on the floor during the day. Crying. Did I mention he's having some serious separation anxiety?

The boy is starting to hit. I mean, I'm sure he's not aware that what he's doing hurts like hell and is sooooo rude, but he'll smack Abbie and me while we're holding him and he wants to play. Ain't nothing like trying to put your son down to sleep in the middle of the night, and all he wants to do is smack your fat belly b/c it makes a funny noise. Hmph.

He's walked a few steps with help. He will walk along the couches as long as he's holding on. One day, I went to pick him up at daycare, and what did he do? He looked at me, and stood up without any assistance and without holding onto anything. I was flabbergasted.

And all he does when he's standing next to you is want to chew on your leg. Guess there's no need to get a puppy, we have Cooper.

Crawling and Crying

Cooper's been having a slightly productive September. :-) Wanna hear it, here it go.

Abbie saw earlier this month that Katie & Bruce's daughter, Emily, was walking with the aid of her walker. She came home and mentioned it to me. I think Cooper was listening, because the next day, you know what he does? He pulls himself up on the couch from sitting to standing.

Holy shnikeys! Now we need to worry about him getting ready to walk. Baby gates? Well, we have one that's portable, and thank God for it. Coop can make some tracks when he crawls. Get him focused on something, and he'll make a fast beeline towards it. Without the baby gate, he'd be going down the steps.

Which leads me to the scareist potential moment we've had up to this time. Cooper had just really become mobile...I mean long distance mobile, too...and we were all in the living room. Well, darned if it suddenly got quiet, and Abbie took a look for Cooper. All I heard was a frantic, "HONEY!", turned and saw Master Cooper sitting at the top of the basement stairs, leaning over, checking out whether or not he should go down there. I jumped up and snatched the boy from certain doom.

Oh, I also wanted to say thank you to Kristi and Bill Snyder. When we got home from the Outer Banks, we had a small package sitting on our doorstep. In the box, was a toddler survival kit. It contained duct tape, screws and nails for repairs, latches for cupboards, and a set of screwdrivers for Cooper to play with...all of them provided as a result of years of experience with nothing but little boys. Thanks K & B. That was, in my opinion, the most thoughtful gift we've recieved yet.

We've started getting Coop to learn to go to sleep on his own. I know, I know, it sounds silly, particularly to those of you without chilluns, but here's the deal. Cooper wants to be connected, as do all babies. For Cooper, if he's not with his partents (especially his mother), he fusses. And I think its the same for most 9 month olds. When we put him in his crib for naps or nighty night, he screams. He used to not be able to sleep on his own in his crib for longer than a 1/2 hour. He used to scream for hours when left in his crib, unless we put him to sleep by holding him and rocking him. Then we hit the point (twice) where the only way he could sleep was in his swing (such a great contraption...I hope the inventor made billions off that b/c it's a great thing to have). We've finally gotten to the point where he's understanding that when he's in his crib, and lights are off, its time to ride the sleepy train. And he's typically only fussing about 10-20 minutes before finally face-planting and falling asleep. Must mean the planets are aligning and the universe is coming together.

Now if we can get him to start baby signing.

We'll try to have pics soon.

Cooper's Day On The Beach

Say Cheese

Hey, Little Cooper! Where Ya Goin?

Oh man, let’s talk. (By the way, happy Patriot's Day! Never forget!)

It’s been almost a month since our last post (yeah, yeah, I hear it all the time from Cooper’s fans…”Update the blog” “What’s going on with Cooper” “We want more of Cooper”). In less than 30 days, it never ceases to amaze me about the development of our child and how quickly it happens when you’re NOT paying attention.

This past week, we had our first true vacation with Cooper. It was an impromptu vacation to the Outer Banks. Abbie found this cute little cottage OCEANSIDE. You walked out the back door, down your own private gangway, and voila, there was the beach. I like the beach…I hate the ocean. Too many things living in there that can do damage (I have personal experience as a child that makes all this rational). I kept waiting to see a great white jump out of the surf and eat off the far end of the fishing pier as some unsuspecting fisherman and his little boy were hauling in their meager 2lb catch.

Anyways, we’re in Nags Head. It’s too windy to be on the beach. There’s a “No Swimming” posted because the surf is too strong thanks to the two Hurricanes out in the Atlantic and the one Tropical Depression sitting off the coast of Florida. Those were some magnificent waves…especially when they crashed up against the pier…Cooper will one day come to appreciate that type of guy coolness for it is in the the trials that my young Padawan must pass in order to be a Jedi Knight. Anyhoo, we happen to be inside. Cooper had a spot in the middle of the floor where his toys were and he could flop around, roll around, and pretty much do whatever he needed to do without knocking his noggin on anything hard or dangerous.

Riiiight.

The boy crawled, truly, for the first time.

Now, he’s passed the 1-inch, 2-inch, and even 1/2-foot mobility trials which Ab and I have blogged in the past. Well, check this out. We’re in our cottage, Abbie’s scrapbooking on the big dining room tables where she can spread her stuff out, and I’m on the couch with my laptop working on a screenplay. We both have views of him. One of the toys he has is a simple Baby Einstein® soft learning block. He rarely plays with them for long. I look up, and he’s playing with it. Okay, that’s cute. I look back down. When I look back up, he’s literally chasing that block around the room. Now, don’t envision him Jeff Gordoning it at top speed going after this little block, but rather, see this…he has the block in front of him. He leans over to grab it with one hand. That one hand hits the edge of the top of the block. It now FLIPS about ½ a foot away from him. Up until recently, he’d had a hard time going from his haunches to his knees…he’d get halfway, then sit back down. So, he deftly puts his hands down, supports his weight, lifts his butt up off the ground, puts one foot flat on the ground, and puts his other leg’s knee down to support him. From there, he pushes with that foot that he’s got flat on the ground (you knew it was coming into play later), and BAM! He’s right there behind the block, only to repeat the same futile attempt at grabbing it that got him started in the first place. I watched him go from the center of the room, chasing that block, to the other end of it. He ended up right in front of the coffee table I was using for my laptop, looking up at me like “Hey, Dad, whatcha doin? Anything I can play with?”

I learned really quick to NOT leave anything on the edge of the table that I didn’t want him to get a hold of. He ripped apart one of the magazines sitting on the table, and then went after the second one but I was able to rescue it. He managed to find my computer’s power cord, and amused himself with that for almost an hour. Sometimes, I wonder why we spend money on all these awesome toys for him when he just throws them aside and plays with the power cord instead. Needless to say, he now won't stop moving around. It is fun, though, to put him on the ground, and slide a toy across the room...it keeps him occupied for at least a few minutes because, let's face it, he ain't no Speedy Gonzalez.

My young apprentice has passed the fourth stage mobility trial.

Pictures will be coming soon...there are some great ones. By the way, if you like the blog photos, and want to see more, send me or Abbie an email telling us you want to be on the Ofoto distro list, and monthly (sometimes more), we'll send out all the photos we've taken of Cooper that month. Ofoto doesn't cost anything, but you will need to register in order to view the photos.

Where You Lead

When I was on maternity leave GiGi would come over every Friday and we would watch Gilmore Girls. (Re-runs are on every day at 5pm) I got hooked and started recording them. When I would get home I would watch some of the recordings and took to singing the theme song to Cooper. For the most part I catch up on them when I'm feeding Cooper. Today I realized I may have a problem. Cooper was eating and the song came on, I forgot to sing and he pulled away immediately to listen the theme song and when I started to sing broke out into a smile and giggled- like he was saying, "Good job mom." This kid is something else.


So to Cooper and GiGi:

Where you lead, I will follow
Anywhere that you tell me to
If you need, you need me to be with you
I will follow where you lead
If you're out on the road
Feeling lonely, and so cold
All you have to do is call my name
And I'll be there on the next train
Where you lead, I will follow
Anywhere that you tell me to
If you need, you need me to be with you
I will follow where you lead
Written By: Carole King and Toni Stern

Hey From Emily

First Kiddie Pool

End of July Cooper had his first foray into Emily's kiddie pool. We were expecting him to want out, but really all he wanted was to eat the little rubber duckies!

My Mom & Dad Are So Silly

Going To Crawl

Coop is now 7 months and any day now he is going to crawl. He holds himself up, rolls all around to get where he needs to be he just hasn' t taken that "first crawl". We'll be sure to post as soon as he does!

Where Is My Light Saber??

Bath Time

Bath time with Coop has become much more interactive. He enjoys playing in the water and doesn't freak out when water goes over his head. As for this picture well, I just had to include with that great look on Coop's face!