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One Year Old

As I am writing this, I now have a one year old. It is so hard to believe how fast a year goes by and how much a child grows his first year.  We had Cooper's first birthday party this Saturday. It was a great success and we were glad most of our family were able to come celebrate with us. Cooper is now walking. He probably started 2 weeks ago. He is now officially into everything and is so excited to explore. He now has enjoyed spending more time outside now that he can walk around more. He also is eating regular food. This is nice that we can all have meals together. I also started giving him whole milk in a straw sippy cup, which he loves. He really put on a show for our guests this weekend by showing them all his tricks. He would do them all in order for them: Clap his hands, point his finger for I am 1, raise his hands in "yeah" position, blow kisses and wave. They of course loved this and Cooper loved all the attention.
It was a great birthday and then 3 days later, was my birthday. I also had a great day where I got to go our to lunch and Kyle kept Cooper for me to go the store (I know, who thought I would be so excited about going to the store by myself). We are having a friend watch Cooper this weekend so we can go the the Cheesecake Factory to really celebrate...yum.

11 months

Sorry this post is a little late. We lost power with Irene, so I am just now getting to updating the blog. Cooper is now 11 months old and is now doing all sorts of things. He has taken steps. He just takes one at a time and then realizes he is walking and usually sits down. Cooper likes to play "peek-a-boo" and what we call "ring around the ottoman" with Kyle. A game where Kyle chases Cooper around the ottoman. Cooper loves this and laughs and walks very fast while holding onto the ottoman. He also loves to play with water bottles and remote controls. He likes to take things apart like his gate by unscrewing the bolt and  undoing his car seat buckle. He definitely has a mechanical mind. We bought him a tool bench for his birthday.
He also loves to roll balls, clank them together, walk behind his dino toy, and drum on anything with his hands.

In other news, Cooper is eating all kinds of things and likes just about everything. He loves mandarin oranges, black beans, apple sauce, chicken, and tried cucumber recently and also liked it.  He has a bad habit of rubbing his dirty hands in his hair when he thinks he is finished. This leads to bath time immediately.

Cooper is talking more and has said "dog" and has repeated things we say in babbles. Today we thought he said "I love you" back to Kyle!

We are gearing up for the first birthday party and are excited about seeing family traveling for the big day! Cooper is keeping us busy, but he is a lot of fun. We are thankful we did not get that much rain or damage from Irene. We just had the inconvenience of loosing power for 36 hours. I had to throw away much of the food from the refrigerator and restocked at the grocery store today. I am thankful this is all we had to deal with and are praying for others who have much more damage.

10 months

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted, and ohh what a difference a month makes! Cooper is now crawling and into everything! We have baby proofed as much as we can and then I bought gates this week, which should arrive today. I will be putting those up ASAP. Cooper is saying more these days. He has learned "no," he shakes his head when he says it and sometimes stops doing the thing he is not supposed to be doing. He also said "bag," since he loves anything crinkly. He is also giving high 5s on a regular basis and waving and saying "bye."

As for the rest of us, we enjoyed a Church Staff Retreat at the beach this month, which was a blast and a good time of fun with some of our favorite people. We had a good 4th of July and enjoyed hanging out with neighbors for a cookout. This weekend we have our church planting friends from Vermont visiting and we are excited to see the Conyers and thier kids. Then our church takes a trip up to see them!

9 months old

So, today Cooper is 9 months old. It is hard to believe. Time goes by so fast when you have a child. They really do grow up too fast. We took Cooper to the Dr. today. He had a good check up and now weighs 17lbs and 4 oz, is 28 inches long, and his head is in the 90th percentile. He has a big head. I also thought he HAD to weigh more than 17 lbs. He feels so heavy when I pick him up. He is getting more and more active though, so he is burning off a lot of what he eats. He has been eating only 1 baby food item at each meal. Recently he started eating 2 at breakfast, so we are going to try 2 at other meals and see he is hungry for them! I borrowed our friend Daniel's camera (his is nicer than mine), so I am going to try to get some good 9 months pictures of him. I will post them if they turn out ok.

I also bought some more fabric to make covered small baby wipe holders. This is something I have been trying to make as well as Name Frames and bow holders for people having babies. I eventually want to start a business selling them. I can atleast make them during nap time!

The Teeth Keep on Coming

In my last post I mentioned Cooper was getting one tooth, now I have spotted 3! I guess it is good to just get these over with at one time. He is doing really well considering. He only has trouble going to sleep at night, so we have just given him some Orajel and Tylenol to help.

In other news Cooper is talking a lot more as he said "Cluck" to the chicken on his toy, "Moo,"  "Quack, " "at, at" at our kitty cat Lucy, "Ma ma" and I think he said "Debbie" after she kept him in the nursery at church last month.

He is still standing up on everything and I am busy keeping up with an almost 9 month old who is getting very mobile! He is eating more and more baby food and is growing. He is already in 12 an some 18 month clothes.
I can't believe he will be 9 months on Friday, and we go back to the Dr. I am excited to see how much he measures and weighs then!

What is Cooper doing now?

Ok, so I said I would post more about what Cooper is up to these days. We went to the beach last week, so we are recovering from our vacation this week. We had a wonderful time of rest and relaxation. Cooper is getting his first tooth. It is the bottom middle tooth. Finally! We thought this tooth would never come through. Cooper is also pulling up on to chairs, ottomans, tables and whatever else he can. I think he will be walking soon, as he is not much of a crawler. He is also "wrestling" with his dinosaur pillow. I am amazed at how he just started doing this one day, with no one showing him. It must be innate for little boys to know how to wrestle. Cooper and I also went to visit the school where I used to work, and all the ladies there loved him. He especially liked Mrs. Sally, who he said "hey" for the first time ever to! Ohh and he has started to wave at everyone!
Kyle and I are also doing well and are just enjoying being parents to Cooper, who brings us a new adventure everyday!