Clothes, Bryan, R.Kelly, Jasper, Mimi, and Spring...whhhhaaaatt???

Hey there,

Click HERE for some recent photos of the little guy.

He's growing out of his clothes each day. Good thing I got a lot of hand me downs (thanks, Tanis!) and great clothes at the Fetal Festival (thanks, everyone!). I haven't had to buy much yet, but I can see how this could get old real quick (umm, when he's a teen he'll probably be tall and need different clothes than now - that's crazy!). Last weekend Bryan came to visit and we had fun going to James and Stina's baby shower for Jasper. Little Jasper is only a few weeks old so he looked small to us! But he was also a lot bigger than Cooper was at that age, so that's even crazier. Also, we watched this funny show on IFC with R.Kelly - it's a "musical" where he sings all the music and it's the same melody over and over. If you get a chance, check it out. It's one of those things where you can't stop watching but you can't figure out why. Just when you think it's the most ridiculous it can be, it gets ridiculouser.

Mimi's coming to visit today! I'm really excited to spend quality time with her and for her to meet Cooper. She's his great grandma! Wow. I remember my great grandparents very well, so I'm hoping he'll capture some good memories of her. Probably too soon this weekend but in the future. Her visit has made me think about my family. It's so small and we haven't had a baby in it in a long time. It's amazing to me that I was a baby and Mimi was my grandma, just like me and my mom. Whhaaaatt??? That just blows my mind. I'm 35 years old! My mom was once a mom like me, and hers before that. I feel a part of it now, in a way I didn't understand before - like I belong to a special "club" of moms in my family. Now if the next kid could be a girl...then we'd have lots of generations of women...

Enjoy the spring, everyone - everything is budding, growing, blossoming, developing, etc.

Quick, Write While He's Napping!

Hi Everyone,

Today's Patriot's Day so I have the day off. Coopie's taking a little nap so I have a few minutes to write. We've both been sick for the past few days. I somehow forget that Coopie is a HUMAN and that I can get a cold from him if he gets close. Of course he's feeding off my boob so you can't get much closer than that, so it's inevitable that we will share colds, just like we share smiles. Ok, that's cheesy. But true!

We think Coopie might be teething. Although I read in a book that parents say their kid is teething and use it as an excuse when he has diarrhea, drools too much, or tugs on his ear. So are we being paranoid or just insensitive? Nothing we can do about it anyway. We checked his gums and it looks like there's a white ridge there. He chews on his left hand a lot. Parents out there, any thoughts? I can't imagine what he'll look like with teeth. The day will arrive sometime!

Tonight we're planning to take a huge step: we're going to try feeding him rice (or oatmeal) cereal! Our hope is to fill his skinny little belly with heavy, filling cereal so he sleeps longer! I can't wait to see how he reacts. Will he allow us to shove spoonfuls into his tiny little mouth? Or will he resist, as he's resisted most new adventures (I'm not bitter)? We're planning to video tape this monumental occasion to show to him years down the road. Hey Coops, this was your first bite of food! Imagine if he became a chef. Then the video would be very important to him. You never know! If he did become a chef, I hope he goes on Top Chef. That would be so cool! Of course it would be in the future so there might not be any Top Chef on TV anymore. It would probably be Top Space Ship or Top Microchip Brain instead.

I got the Ferber book this week (thanks, Mom!) and I've begun to read it. Fascinating! If you'd asked me to read it a year ago I would have had no interest. But now, if it will get me a sleeping baby I will do anything. I would pay money to sleep more than five hours in a row, I tell you. For those of you who don't know about Ferber, Google him. So my plan is to keep working on a regular sleep schedule with him (i.e. get him ready for bed at 7:45pm, into bed by 8:30pm) in the next two weeks. Also, I'm going to try putting him into his crib at 8:30pm whether he's sleeping or awake. Now, he falls asleep on Matt after dinner and then we quietly transfer him to the crib. I've been reading in the book that this is the OPPOSITE of what you should do. Now that he's four months old, he needs to learn to fall asleep on his own and we're not helping him do that. So in two weeks, we will try the actual Ferber method. On a weekend, of course, because I am expecting it to be heinous. But like I said, I will do anything to improve this situation. It's better for him, and it's better for us. Probably better for the kitties, too. And the house. And the woooorld! I will report back on our progress.

Other than that, the usual cuteness persists, with smiles and laughs and experimenting with his mouth. So adorable, that it makes the sleepless nights worth it. He's doing great at daycare. The other day I saw him reach out and touch another kid for the first time! No restraining order necessary, just a nice little pat. I think the daycare is helping him socialize, and he smiles at the ladies that care for him which warms my heart. I'm enjoying being back at work. I've taken to a second cup of coffee in the afternoon (usually I'm a one cup a day gal) in order to plow through the day. I spend time in the car commuting, but to look on the bright side, I love my Sirius satellite radio (thanks, Brain) so if it weren't for Howard Stern or Fresh Air, well, I'd be in a worse mood. The drive is really pretty, through Belmont, MA (where Mitt Romney is from) - lots of big gorgeous houses and now it's spring so everything's blooming. I guess that's the advantage of going back to work in the spring! Puts me in a better mood.

Ok, he hear him chattering (Ezra? Google?) so I'm off like a prom dress!

New Things Cooper is Doing

Ok so my mom asked me if we're going to continue calling him "Coopie" and I realized his name is "Cooper" so I should use that name, too. He's doing lots of new things all the time!

1. He touches his hands together. It doesn't sound like much, but he didn't do that before. I think he's learning that they are his.
2. I make a motorboat sound with my lips and he's been trying to imitate it. But he can't seem to figure out that he can't have his tongue between his lips to make the sound. When I make the sound he interacts with me and tries to imitate it!
3. He's learned to use the pacifier. Sometimes he makes that face like what the heck is this thing in my mouth, but sometimes it helps him. Like if he's on my boob for too long. Take him off, put the pacifier in, and he doesn't know the diff if he's tired enough.

That's it for now. He's crying so I gotta go!

Three and a Half Months Old

Hello Everyone,

CLICK HERE to see some recent photos of Coopie - see how fast he's growing up?:

It's been a busy month with me returning to work and Coopie starting daycare. It's been a fairly smooth transition, I think. The hardest part is that I'm still not getting more than three hours in a row of sleep, and now with work it's even harder. By about 2pm I'm ready for bed! But it's great to be back at work and using a different part of my brain.

Coopie seems to be adjusting to daycare very well. He loves the ladies that care for him: Naveen, Ana, and Jessica. It's fun for me to share things with them about Coopie and to hear about his day. It sounds like he's a good feeder (on the bottle!) and he's napping a lot. Bringing him to daycare has doubled my commute each way to work so that's more difficult. Thank goodness for Howard Stern! Coopie usually sleeps on the way there and sometimes on the way home, too.

We're getting him into more of a routine at night. We bring him upstairs to get ready for bed between 8-9pm. I'm usually in bed by 9:30pm. He's doing well in the crib. The next step will be trying to get him to fall asleep on his own. We're reading up on different philosophies and will start sleep training soon. Oy!