3 months

Dear Cooper,

Today you are 3 months old! We are starting to see bits and pieces of your personality and it is so exciting!

For you photo shoot today I set you in the swing. You LOVE the mobile on the swing and refused to look at me because of the darn thing. You were smiling and happy...but not to the camera!


I tried to catch a glimpse from up high, but you were still mesmerized by the swing mobile!

So I covered it with a blanket...then you looked depressed!

You perked up when I started talking to you (holding the camera out to the side to get a grin shot)! You are such a happy little guy!

Caden is still crazy about you! He loves to feed you...though he only lasts about 2 minutes before he complains that his arm is tired. I love this photo because you are giving him the stink eye...you must have known he was going to interrupt your meal just when you really started enjoying it! You looked at him like this the whole time he fed you!

On Father's Day you and Caden dressed alike! Some day you will HATE dressing like your brother, but right now he thinks it's cool and you can't tell me to stop...so I bought you guys some more matching outfits!! Your shirts say "I dig my Dad!" Caden kept explaining to Dad that it meant y'all like him...not that you are digging in the dirt for him...it was really funny!

You are wearing a size 3 diaper and you weigh about 17 lbs and 6 oz. You can still wear some 6 month clothes, but 9 month things give you plenty of wiggle room! It feels like your growth has begun to slow a bit...but I'm not sure that is true! I am having a really hard time trying to figure out what size you will be when the seasons change! I am not sure if Caden's baby clothes will work or not!

Last night you slept from 11:00 pm to 7:45 am! It was awesome! I am totally hoping you keep it up, but it's no big deal if you don't...I don't mind our 3:00 am chats!

You have really started to smile and talk a lot. Below is a picture of you talking. You are probably telling me...ever so sweetly... to stop taking your picture and uncover the swing mobile! You are very expressive with your eyebrows when you talk and you get so excited about what you're saying! Your squishy little face is so adorable I could just eat you up!

You have several nicknames already, too! Your sister calls you "pooper" (although it sounds like poo-peer). She mostly says it because she can't say Cooper, but also because you do poop a lot! You are also called "Super Duper Cooper," "Cooper-dee-pooper" and "Super Duper Cooper Pooper!" Occasionally Caden gets upset and corrects the pooper part of your nicknames...he reminds me that poop is not actually a part of your name. Sorry son, but you really do poop a lot...pooper is very fitting!

This is what happens when I get wrapped up in our conversation while trying to capture your huge grins! That would have been an great shot!

By the way, I did uncover the mobile and let you get back to gazing at it. You sat there for another 20 minutes or so just smiling and cooing at it! I really don't know what is so fascinating about it...but I'm glad you like it!

You are such a good baby and we are so blessed to have you in our family! We can't wait to see how you change over the next month!

Happy 3 months, Cooper!!

End of school program

The kids had an end of the year program at school. They each sang a few songs with their classes followed by the preschool graduation for the 4 year olds.


I was not sure how Carinna was going to do. She had been singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for weeks before the program...but she did not even open her mouth during the actual performance!
She was pretty distracted by this little girl next to her!
Caden had been sick the entire last week of school and had not gone to class. He really wanted to sing in the program so we asked his teacher if it was okay for him to come anyway...even though he had missed two practices! It would have been strange for him to sit in the audience while we watched Carinna and not be able to get up there with his class.
He did a great job! He didn't know the hand motions, but he knew the words! The kids on either side of him are his besties...Ethan and Avery. They are quite the little threesome!
This was Caden's teacher Mrs. Cindy. My real camera had died at this point so this photo was taken with my phone. Mrs. Cindy was retiring this year and won't be back, but she was a great teacher and Caden really enjoyed her!

Carinna's Birthday...continued

Back tracking a bit...I wanted to finish telling about Carinna's birthday parties...yes, as in more than one!

Here at home on her birthday we celebrated with some Elmo cupcakes. She was very excited about them!

Blowing out her candles was not an easy task! We had to force Caden not to help her because he had been sick all week. We didn't want him to share his germs!

Her first gift was an Abby Cadabby book. Elmo and Abby have suddenly become her favorite characters! It's a book about Abby using the potty...hint...hint!

Next was the BIG gift...

oh the joy...it's Abby & Elmo!
This girl did not stop smiling for hours! She was so excited about Abby!
The next weekend we went to Grandma & Pawcaw's house to continue the celebration! Everyone was in town to celebrate Mimi's 90th birthday so we were all able to get together! We started the celebrations at Jumpin' Apes with the cousins!

Carinna was pretty afraid of this place last time we were there...but this time she was all about it! It helped that daddy devoted all of his attention to her and took her on all the bouncers!

Later that night, back at Grandma & Pawcaw's, we had pizza and cake.

We shared the celebration with cousin Hope who was turning 16! We were glad we were able to celebrate both of the granddaughters together!
This little girl was about worn out from a long day of fun!!

Cooper - 2 months

Cooper, you're two months old!!

You have really started smiling lately. Sometimes you just have a happy look on your face...especially when you are on the changing table! I don't know what it is about the changing table, but you LOVE it! You don't cry while laying on it, you just look around with your happy face. I often think about just leaving you there all day!
You aren't very fond of your sister! She's a little too rough for you and usually squashes your belly or slaps your head. It's pretty sad...she's trying to love on you...I think.
And sometimes your brother screams a little too loud! It makes you cry pretty hard. He's trying to stop screaming...sort of.
You are a pretty big guy! You weigh 14 lbs 12 oz...and you're in the 95th percentile for your weight and the 90th for your length. You are wearing size 2 diapers...though that may not last long. We practically skipped right over size 1...only using one box of them! I have even had to pull out 6-9 month clothes because you have jumped right over 3-6 month clothes!
We are so excited to watch you grow! We can't wait until you start to interact more with us!

Happy 2 months!