Thursday, November 29, 2012

Rough Week

I apologize for the last of posting this week, but it has been a ROUGH one.  

Last Saturday night (late), we had to rush Cooper to the ER because he was having trouble breathing (post to come), so that means I started out the week absolutely exhausted.  Luckily, he's on meds and is fine, but I've barely been able to sleep at night for trying to listen to him breathing.

Then, on Tuesday my step-dad was rushed to the ER because he thought he was having a heart attack.  Again, luckily, he is completely fine, but he gave us all a good scare.

Today, Matt's dad was rushed to the ER with a really bad seizure.  He has seizures in his brain, and this is the worst one he's had in about 6 months.  He's still there now and they're running all kinds of tests.  

Please pray for my family!  They say things come in 3's, so hopefully we're done for awhile!  Please pray that Cooper continues to get better, that I actually REST at night, and most importantly, that Matt's dad is okay and that they can get all of this under control.  

Hopefully I'll get back to my normal posting next week!

Photobucket

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Cooper - 5 Months Old!

I don't know how it happened, but another month has gone by!  My sweet man is now 5 months old, and I am loving EVERY second of it!

Here is how Coop is doing compared to the milestones in What to Expect the First Year:

Stats:
Weight: 17 1/2 lbs
Diaper: Size 2, but we only have about 20 left before he'll be in size 3.
Clothes: Very few 3-6 month, mostly all 6 month, and just starting to get into 6-9 month stuff.


Schedule:
We've moved to the 4 hour schedule!  Yay!  Here's what his day looks like:
7:00 up and eat (7 oz)
8:30 down for nap
11:00 up and eat (8 oz)
12:30 down for nap
3:00 up and eat (7 oz)
4:30 down for a cat nap
5:00ish up from nap
6:30 bath
6:45 bottle (8 oz)
7:00 bed time
He still gets up once (sometimes twice, but it's not as often) around 1:30 - 2:30 to eat.  He eats 5 oz and goes straight back to bed.



Cooper can do most of the things that a 5 month old baby should be able to do:
-hold head steady when upright
- squeal in delight
-reach for an object
-smile spontaneously
-smile back when you smile
-grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers
-keep head level with body when pulled to sitting


There were a few things that Cooper can not do from the "should be able to" section:
-on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms {he has done this a few times, but I don't really count it unless he does it on a regular basis.  He lays on his stomach supported by his arms, he just doesn't extend his arm and raise up his chest}
-pay attention to an object as small as a raisin {again - we never do this!  When do I think to show him something that small??  Never.}



Cooper can do all of the things that a 5 month old baby will probably be able to do:
-roll over (one way) {he still goes belly to back, but not back to belly yet}
-bear some weight on legs
-say "ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combinations
-razz
-turn in the direction of a voice


Cooper can not do what a 5 month old baby may possibly be able to do:
-sit without support



Cooper can do some of the things that a 5 month old baby may even be able to do:
-stand holding on to someone or something {he can't do it for long, but he can stand holding onto my fingers}
-object if you try to take a toy away
-work to get a toy out of reach


There were some things that Cooper can not do from the "may even be able to" section:
-pull to standing position from sitting
-pass a cube or other object from one hand to the other
-rake with fingers a tiny object and pick it up in fist {why would I try this?!}
-babble, combining vowels and consonants, such as ga-ga-ga, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da




Here's how much my little man has changed in 5 months:


And here's how much he and LL look alike!



Photobucket

Monday, November 26, 2012

Cooper's 4 Month Well-Baby Check-Up

We got a little "off" with Cooper's well-baby check-ups, so we didn't end up taking him to his 4 month appointment until November 13 - when he was only a week and a half away from turning 5 months.  Here's how our visit went:

Here are Cooper's stats from this month:
Weight: 17 lbs 6 oz - 80 % + 2 lbs 10 oz from 2 months (95%)
Height: 26 3/4 inches - 84% + 3 1/4 inches from 2 months (75%)
Head Circumference: 17 1/4 inches - 75% + 1 1/2 inches from 2       months (50%)

Here's what he looks like compared to LL's stats at 4 months:
LL was 13 lbs 12 oz - so he's 3 lbs 10 oz heavier
LL was 24 1/2 inches long - so he's 2 1/4 inches longer
LL's head circumference was 16 inches - so his head is 1 1/4 inches bigger.

What this means is, he's growing great, but is growth is slowing down a little, and his percentages are evening out some.  At two months, he was wider than he was long (and he was at the top of the charts).  This month, he's longer than he is wide, and his percentages are lower.  Don't get me wrong, he's still a really big baby, he's just not topping out the charts like he was before!

Here's what we talked about at his appointment:
-I expressed my concern with how much he's eating.  On a typical day, he eats between 32 - 35 oz.  There are rare days when it's less, and he's eaten up to 37 oz. before, but this is his normal range.  She said that since he's eating so much, we can go ahead and start trying some cereal with him (from a spoon - not in his bottle) at around 5 months.

-When she was doing all of her routine checks, she heard a slight murmur.  It was a PA that was doing our appointment, so she said she would have Dr. Blache come and check it out since no one had ever mentioned hearing one before.  Dr. Blache came in and said that she heard it, too.  She said it's "in the back" (??), so more than likely, when his valves were forming, the just formed at more of a right angle and the blood just makes a murmur sound when it rounds the corner.  She said she didn't want to do any more testing and that we'd just listen to it again at 6 months.

-She looked at the spot on his arm again.  I let her know that it is more of a red color when he's warm, and more of a purple color when he's cold.  She said that maybe it's something vascular.  She didn't say much else about it, so I guess we'll see what she says at 6 months.

He got 3 shots and an oral vaccine.  The girl that did the shots was SO. SLOW. with them and he let us know about it.  About the time the he got over one stick, she did another.  He HATED it, I HATED it, and it was just terrible.  Hopefully next time we'll get somebody faster.

Other than that, he's doing great and is a perfectly healthy boy!  We go back in January (around the middle of the month) for his 6 month appointment!  I'm actually going to call and see if we can go ahead and do LL's 4 year appointment then, too.  Killing two birds with one stone, right?

Photobucket

Friday, November 23, 2012

Cooper's 4 Month Pictures: LL

It's no secret that LL is not in the most picture-taking stage lately.  Honestly, getting a good picture out of her is a pretty big chore!  While the purpose of these pictures was to capture Cooper at this age, it's also inevitable that pictures of LL will be taken, too (which I'm so happy about).  While she wasn't in the most cooperative mood, I do think that Lindsay managed to get some good ones of my best girl.  :)

{1}

{2}


{3}
Goldfish make everyone happy, right?  :)

{4}
She is the BEST big sister.  Her love for her brother just melts my heart!

{5}

{6}

{7}

{8}

{9}
I LOVE this one.

{10}
I am so blessed to be married to a man who takes his job as a father seriously.  His love for his kids just pours out of him!

{11}

{12}

{13}
While this one isn't posed and is very candid, I love it.  This is a real picture of motherhood.  :)

{14}

{15}

{16}


Another big thanks to Lindsay at Captured By Colson for these beautiful pictures!  We are all so happy with them!


Photobucket

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Cooper's 4 Month Pictures

Obviously the whole point of this shoot was to get pictures of Cooper.  For LL's first year, we did pictures at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.  We wanted to stay on that same schedule for Cooper.  So while I wanted to get some family shots (and a few of LL), I wanted the main focus to be on Cooper.

Lindsay at Captured by Colson did a GREAT job of getting pictures of my little man.  He was pretty tired (as we ran over nap time), but I still think he did really well.

Here are the best shots of Cooper!

{1}


{2}


{3}


{4}


{5}
Seriously, one of my favorite pics.  I LOVE how much he looks like his Daddy!


{6}


{7}

{8}
I wanted to make sure to get some pics of just the three of us, but that ended up being easier than I thought considering LL wanted NOTHING to do with any more pictures.  When she's 20 and wonders why we don't have many pictures (or happy ones, at least) from this year, she has no one to blame but herself!


{9}


{10}

{11}

{12}
I ADORE this one!

{13}

{14}

{15}
He looks nothing like his Mommy - haha.

{16}

{17}

{18}

{19}

{20}

{21}

{22}

{23}

{24}

{25}
I LOVE this one.  Especially how you can see Matt and LL in the background. 

{26}

{27}

{28}

{29}
My favorite one of Cooper from the entire day!

{30}

{31}

{32}

{33}

{34}

{35}

{36}

{37}

{38}
I love this one, too.  :)

{39}


I just can not say enough how happy I am with these pictures!  I love them so much more than going to a studio like we did with LL.  

Which ones of my little man do you like the best?

Next up: the few pictures we got of LL - :)


Photobucket