Tuesday, July 29, 2014

We officially have a 1 1/2 year old

WHERE OH WHERE IS THE TIME GOING!?

People always say,
"Cherish it while you can, they grow up so fast"
BOY OH BOY ARE THEY RIGHT!

Some times it feels like it has been YEARS since the day our precious little boy emerged in the world.
Other times it feels like just yesterday.
Today is much more the latter.

It feels like just yesterday that Cooper was born.
His entrance into this world was a long and labored one.
 After being induced, it took 37 hours for him to be born.
Best and worst 37 hours of my life.

Today marks Cooper's "half" birthday.
He is 18 months old
We started the day off with his 18 month well check up.
He is still a little guy, no surprise there.

He is:
19.10 lbs (< 3rd % )
31 3/4 inches ( 30th %)
and his head circumference is 47 cm (25th%)

I am enjoying everything about this age,
Well.... ALMOST everything.

Temper tantrums are no joke.

But in general he is so much fun
He is really starting to pick up words quickly.

he says:
Doggie (Da- gee)
Ducky (du- kee)
Daddy
Bye bye (dunk ka) and waves
Mama
Kitty (keek tee)
please (pee)
uh oh OR uh uh ohh

We are currently working on thank you (donk ku)


He can tell me what sound a cow makes (muu or sometime bbbooooo)
what sound a kitty makes (mao)
what sound a lion makes (he growls)

He listens really well majority of the time.
He understands a lot of what we say.

He climbs into his car seat and can turn around and sit down.
He plays "Where's Cooper?"
He picks up his pinwheel in the car and tries to blow and asks me to make it spin.
He opens the pantry door and pulls out the boxes of food he wants and asks for them.
He makes his toy cars vroom.

He can point to many things in his first 100 word book:
ball
shoes
ducky
flower
fish
teddy bear
fork
banana
apple
grapes
orange
keys
frog
kitty
doggie 

He dances to music.
He picks up our phones and puts them to his ear and talks.
He shakes his head searching for items in his book and gets really excited when we ask him to look for them or when we open the pantry.
He has his mouth open and arms out (like when you say "what?" and you put them out in front of you) and flaps them up and down when he is searching for both of the above.
he picks up my hair brush and brushes his hair ( even though we have never used on with him)

He can point to his/mamas and his Toy Story woody doll's:
head
ears
eyes
nose 
mouth

He also runs to his giant bear while carrying the remote. sits down and points it at the TV ( which is strange, because it is a very rare occasion that we have the TV on for him)

He is just so much fun and I am beyond grateful that I haven't had to miss any of these moments.
I am grateful that I have been able to be a stay at home mama for his entire life so far.

Enjoy some pictures from his "half" birthday

Morning waffles

Nothing to see here mama.. Just dunking my hands in syrup

Just hanging out at the Doctor

vrrrrrooooommmmm



"Is the Doctor ever going to come in mama?"



Really mama? Another picture?


<3

No pictures mama

"I'm going to get you"









Saturday, July 26, 2014

BIG NEWS!!

BIG NEWS!!

As promised via social medias, I am sharing super exciting news for our family....


WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!
WE ARE OFFICIALLY HOMEOWNERS!!!!!


We are beyond excited!!

For the past 7 months, 2 weeks after the hubby got back from Afghanistan, we moved in with my parents while Jeff searched for work and we searched for the perfect home to start our life as our awesome little family. 
We are so grateful to my parents for letting us stay with them during this time! 
I can't even put into words how thankful we are to them for letting us take over there house while we figured everything out!

But now we will officially have our own home! We have moved so many times in the past few years (5 moves in the past 3 years!) and we are so excited to make our 6th and final move!!

It is 2 stories,
4 Bedrooms plus a loft,
2016 sq ft,
Huge backyard,
All stainless appliances and upgraded washer and dryer included,
and it's our dream home!

Check it out below!

Headed out to sign the papers!

Signing the papers!


We did it!

Celebratory drinks and lunch at our favorite restaurant!


In our living room!

Just standing in front of our new home. No big deal...

Happy little family!

Front of our house


Half bath downstairs

Laundry room

Family room

Family room looking into kitchen

Family room looking into kitchen and front hall

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen looking into living room

Kitchen!

Upstairs guest/Cooper bathroom

Upstairs loft!

Cooper's Bedroom

Man cave/craft area

Extra bedroom for future child if we decide to have one

Upstairs loft

Master bedroom

Master

Master

Master bath

In love with our shower!

HUGE WALKIN!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAY!!!

Backyard doesn't have much so it will be a project

Back yard


Friday, July 25, 2014

Update

So we have officially seen all the specialists! YAY!
However we are still not sure what is going on with the kiddo. BOO!

This week we had the Barium swallow study to see how Cooper was taking his liquids and if he was aspirating when eating/drinking. He rocked that one! Zero issues!
No limitations there. 

Then we met with speech therapy to do an evaluation for feedings.
They want us to completely change how we go about feeding him.
Right now since he won't eat many things, the therapist is concerned that he will start to be more picky and refuse to try things for most of his life because we are feeding his pickiness (pun intended)
We have been going about feedings in the way we thought to be most logical
i.e.  giving him whatever he will eat just to make sure he gets calories.
Apparently with my child...
Wrong way to go.
The therapist thinks part of Coopers feeding issues are actually sensory issues with the textures so she wants us to do Occupational therapy (at least an eval) as well as speech therapy.
She wants us to start feeding cooper 6 meals a day,
cut out all the snacking,
only allow water between meals,
and split his meals into 1 thing he loves, 1 thing he likes sometimes, and 1 new thing.
What does that equal??
ONE CRANKY ONE YEAR OLD!
Fun...
So after 2 days of that we saw the GI doctor and he has different opinion.
He wants Cooper to focus on gaining weight and getting calories in through formula and Pediasure and focusing less on solids.

So what the heck do we do?!

He also ordered an endoscopy so we can see if Cooper has any food allergies since he really hasn't been exposed to many things since he won't try anything.
Also, the formula he has been on is completely hypoallergenic so he hasn't had any different kind of proteins or anything that can be an allergen for most of his life.

So we are thankful that we have some more information and ideas of how to move forward.
After the rest of these tests, and seeing the ENT again in a few weeks we should know more!
Fingers crossed! 

Check out some pictures from our Doctors visits.
( I apologize, these aren't the best quality or the greatest shots)

In the main waiting area waiting for the swallow study




In the 2nd lobby of the swallow study

Cooper playing with mama's phone while we were waiting

Sitting and playing like a big boy

It's Mr. Potato Head!


getting ready for the X-ray of his neck

Starting the Barium swallow study! It's crazy how big he is compared to the last time! ( Check out the previous post to see the difference!)

Swallow study

just "hanging" out at the Doctor's office

No Cameras mom!