He Plays with Toys.

Good Morning,

It definitely feels like summer around here! Today it's supposed to hit 90 and Matt has to put in our new air conditioner for the upstairs. Hot air rises, as you all know, so it's a sauna up there!

Matt's been putting in extra hours at work since it's his busy season. Cooper's been eating solid foods at daycare. I've been attempting to do more stomach exercises. All is good in the Mascolo household!

Mitzie (my mom) bought Cooper some great new toys, like blocks, plastic rings on a stick, a fake telephone, and a fake cell phone that lights up and makes noise. He's practically sitting up himself, occasionally wobbling to one side and appearing to be really drunk. After a while he's had enough, but it's fun to see him "play." We've also been "watching" Sesame Street, which gosh, brings back amazing memories for me. And there's new characters now, and more technology! But even with some new bells and whistles it is still the same old wonderful Sesame Street. I hope Cooper (Andy told me I can't call him Coopie for much longer) learns from it and loves it like I do (I mean, did).

Wanna see some new photos? Click HERE.

Oh, and I encourage you to post comments to this blog! Otherwise, I feel like I'm talking to myself which I do sometimes, but it's just not as fun as interacting with others. Let's get some dialogue going!

Visits, Vermont, and Other Stuff

Hello Everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted. Here's what's been happening:

1. Visit from Dad, Dana, and Lucy. Two weeks ago, Dad, Dana, and Lucy (the dog) came up for a visit. We had fun hanging out at the house, going out for brunch, walking around Harvard Square, barbecuing, and going to see Avatar/out to dinner (just me and Matt). Good times!!
   
2. Trip to VT. We took Cooper on his first overnight trip, up to Vermont. We had some great highs (two nights of sleeping with only wake-ups once, fresh mountain air, fun at the farmer's market), and some stinky lows (constipation followed by a gigantic crap, acting "bad" at flatbreads, first night waking up every hour). We can't wait to bring him back again! It was our first family vacation.
3. Visit from Lou. Matt's dad, Lou, came to visit us for a weekend. We had a wonderful time! We went out to dinner and brunch, had Katie and Manny over for a BBQ, walked around town, made a fun trip to Target, Costco, and Babies 'R Us, and hung out at the house. Cooper got to meet his grandpa and spend some quality time getting to know him.
4. Vocalizing. In the last few weeks Cooper has learned to "vocalize" - he's making interesting sounds. It's very amusing to us and him. It almost sounds like he's trying to talk. Very cute.
5. Update on sleeping. He's learning how to fall asleep on his own. We begin the bedtime routine at 7:30pm and put him in bed in whatever state he's in, sleepy, sleeping, or awake. Even if he's crying we say "Good night, Coopie," and walk away. If he's still crying in 15 minutes we'll go to him and pat him and say it again. He usually falls asleep! However, he's still waking me up about twice a night to nurse which is really annoying. We need to wean him off these night feedings! There have been a few instances where he's only woken me up once and they have been miracle nights of joyous slumber from the Goddess of Sleep.
6. Eating. We're feeding him either rice or oatmeal cereal in the evening. We've also fed him some baby food like squash, carrot, and prune (hello, poop!). It's amazing how quickly he's learned to open his mouth to the spoon.

Click HERE to view recent photos!

Conjuntivitis...Mucous Monster!

So Cooper has conjunctivitis. The word definitely sounds like a disease. It also looks like a disease - I don't recommend Googling imaging it. Gross! There's yellow mucous coming out of his eyes. Very attractive! Also he has a cold. So he's pretty gross.

Here's a funny photo Matt made into an Obie Wan reference.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello Everyone,

Today's my first Mother's Day! Very exciting. Matt took Coopie and me out for a wonderful surprise brunch to the West Side Lounge. He behaved himself pretty well. And so did Matt! Just kidding.

It's so different to celebrate Mother's Day as a mother, instead of just as a daughter. I've thought today about what it means to be a mom and how different my life is now than last Mother's Day. Umm, I slept a lot more before. The only poop I "interacted" with was...my own. I had so much more time to do whatever I wanted to. I went to bed after 9:30pm and enjoyed a good buzz from a cocktail after a few (as opposed to just one). I also didn't get to watch a little human from the start of his life. I didn't get to enjoy his adorable smile. I didn't get to hold him while he fell asleep on my shoulder. I didn't get to share funny stories with Matt about the little guy and have a good laugh. So much has changed!

So for all you moms out there, Happy Mother's Day! Take a moment to think about your life without your child, and how lucky you are. Then go stop your child from crying because he has a poopy diaper!

PS: New photos HERE of our fun visit with Mimi!

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!