Summer 2009

To

 blog or not to blog...

 Cooper is growing by leaps and bounds! I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue keeping a blog since no one really reads it and it takes up a lot of time. But as Cooper gets older and changes every day, I am realizing how important it is to document everything for myself. On the plane ride back from California this August I was watching Cooper staring out the window, then playing peek-a-boo with the woman sitting behind us through the seat, and those sweet, small things are what I especially do not want to forget. So here again I will attempt to keep a consistent blog of our life! So here's a quick update since May:

May:

I finished up the school year, sad to be leaving for good, but glad to be back home with my Coopie! Grammie came to stay for a few days to give Jeff and me a break for our 6th anniversary! She was so happy to see her baby!  We went to Austin and went kayaking, out to a nice meal, and caught up on our sleep! Auntie Mish kept Grammie company for the weekend.

June:

I am officially a stay at home mom! Although, it just feels like summer break kind of.  Cooper spent the summer with lots of friends. We had a weekly play dates with Brandon, DJ, and Lily. We also got to see Leila, Kate, Ben, and Braden! I can't 

wait till they can all actually play with each other! Cooper finally sat up and learned to roll over in June!

July: 

We took week long trip to California to attend my Dad's retirement party. We were so proud of him and were so happy to be there celebrating his 30 years with the California Highway Patrol! Then we took a drive to Altadenata to visit with Jeff's grandmother. Cooper enjoyed meeting his only great grandmother and Great Aunt Suzanne. We also visited Josh and Christina and got to see their new condo. After a quick stop in Long Beach to see Jeff's cousin Erica, we got to Dana Point to spend the week with my family at the beach. Cooper is officially a beach baby! He LOVED sitting under the umbrella watching the birds go by and feeling the sea air on his face. He certainly has California blood running deep through his veins! Soon after we got home from California, Cooper started crawling! So he is now a man on the go and into EVERYTHING! I am so tired trying to keep up with him, but it is so fun watching him discover new things... like how doors open and close and how the door stops spring back and forth. Cooper absolutely loves or kitten, Kit Cat. He chases him all over the house and loves to "hug" him and pull his tail and ears. We are learning what it means to be gentle... hopefully! We celebrated Jeff's 31st birthday this month. I wanted to do something special for him so I decided to attempt to cook his favorite meal... Now, I am not much of a cook, but I just followed the recipe, and it worked! Who knew!!?? Michele and Coleman came and celebrated with us, and we all really enjoyed the meal.

August:

Well shortly after we left California in July, my mom was having Coopie withdrawals and asked if we could come back out in August... so we did. I was so nervous because Cooper was such a mess on the plane ride back last time. We was twisting and turning and wanted to be anywhere but on my lap. It was exhausting with Jeff, Michele, Coleman and myself trying to appease him, I was so scared to attempt a round trip by myself!! Luckily, both flights there and back were empty, so Cooper and I had the whole row to ourselves! Cooper really liked the airplane and flirted with all the ladies around us. While in California, we took a trip to the mountains and to the beach! It was a lot of fun! 

Four Months...

We had a great Easter at the farm with The Grays, Martha's family, Michele and Coleman. Cooper was a good boy and enjoyed be outside in the fresh air. He's drooling all the time now... I am not looking forward to him getting teeth. I want him to look like a gummy newborn for a bit longer. If only he would start rolling over though....

Cooper is 4 months old today!

So I should really get better at blogging just in case anyone really starts reading this blog...

It has been a long 4 months, but we are in such a good place now! Cooper is sleeping through the night (7:30pm-7am) most nights! He is very pleasant and smiley during the day and is growing like a weed!

I went back to work a few weeks ago, so it is very sad that I do not get to see him for most of the day. But he is being taken good care of by his Texas Grammie while I am at work, which makes his Cali Grammie so jealous! :)

Here are some random pictures from March and some from the Gray Family Reunion, where Cooper received a certificate for being the "Youngest Gray!" He was a hit in his shades!

Cooper is 7 weeks old!

It has been a long 7 weeks since Cooper was born! I would not classify him as an "easy baby," but we've certainly come a long way! We had some definite feeding challenges at first, but after 5 formula changes, we've settled on one that Cooper has taken to. He is now on a predictable feeding schedule and is only waking once or twice a night, so mommy is getting plenty of rest! Daddy is still afraid of the poopy diapers after a "never ending poo-poo" one fateful night! He had to be rescued from that diaper change because "it just kept coming!" Cooper is starting to smile, so that makes it very fun for us now to watch his personality come out. He loves staring at the fan and he loves to pump his right leg back and forth. He is always wiggling and we are certain that he thinks he has some place to go! I am thinking he'll be an early crawler!

Christmas

Cooper arrived exactly one week before Christmas, so we had a nice quiet dinner with both sides of the family. Dad and Gabe flew in Christmas eve and were very excited to meet Cooper! It was a little exhausting having a newborn and hosting Christmas dinner at the house, but it turned out to be a very nice day!

Cooper's Arrival

It's a boy!!

The big day

Cooper arrived Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 8:13 p.m.
I made an appointment to be induced on December 19th, but thankfully Cooper decided to come on his own! Grandma flew in from California Wednesday night, so we said that Cooper was waiting for her to get here to make his arrival!

I had a very smooth labor. I woke up Thursday morning having some contractions, but did not realize that is what I was feeling. After a few hours I could tell this was not just cramps! Jeff came home from work and we drove to the hospital about noon.

When I arrived at the hospital I was dilated to a 5! I immediately asked for my epidural and received it about an hour later. That drug is a God-send!

I labored all day and Cooper made his debut around 8:00pm. Mom and Jeff were my coaches while Michele and Grandma Billie were watching from the wings.







He came out looking absolutely perfect! No cone head or funny marks! My first thought is that he looked like his Uncle Ben, while others thought he looked like Uncle Gabe!