Cooper's Giggle

Here is a little video from tonight. We just love Cooper's little giggle!

I LOVE CANDY CANES!

I love eating those mini candy canes this time of year. The other day I was eating one and Cooper grabbed it and stuck it in his mouth. He LOVED it! I had to get a video of what he does when he gets some candy cane. He takes after his mom and loves eating anything but especially candy :)

Cooper's First Christmas

I can't believe that Christmas is already over. I had been looking forward to Cooper's First Christmas since he was born. December seemed so far away in July. I can't believe it has come and gone and that Cooper is almost 5 1/2 months old. I hate that time flies so fast!!!

Well to start off with the things that we didn't do that I am really sad about. I am the worst mom and didn't even think about taking Cooper to see Santa until it was really close to Christmas and by that point it was just soooo busy. We did attempt the week of Christmas. Yeah I know we were crazy even trying but we were going to the mall anyways. Needless to say Cooper didn't get a picture with Santa this year :( Next year I am going to be more on top of it and will take him at the beginning of December. We didn't go to Temple Square to show Cooper the lights or even drive around to look at how people had decorated their houses. I don't know how but Christmas really sneaked up on us this year. At least I got our Christmas cards sent out and neighbor gifts delivered!

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. We went to my Grandma's house for dinner. Then my family all came over to our house and we opened presents. In my family we all open presents from each other on Christmas Eve and then Santa comes Christmas morning. It has always been my favorite to be able to open all of that stuff early. I have to say it was a little chaotic this year with Cooper and our family is just getting bigger. My brother is having a baby in March so it will be even more chaotic next year :) We will either have to get an earlier start next year or just do presents on Christmas day. I have to say that Cooper got so SPOILED!!! I am obsessed with books so wanted him to get mostly books for Christmas. He ended up getting a TON of books, some toys, and clothes as well. It will take over a month to get through all of his books if we read one a night. I was more excited to see what Cooper was going to get then what I would get. Cooper even helped open every single one of his presents. He just sat in his bumbo and helped the whole time. It was really fun having him be so interested. He loves books so each one he would grab and look at or put into his mouth. After all the presents were opened it was time to get Cooper in bed. He had been awake for almost 7 hours with no nap....he has never been awake that long ever and was exhausted but surprisingly happy for being so tired. My mom had bought him some "Baby's First Christmas" pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. I had wanted him to wear them more than once so I had him wear them earlier in the week but FORGOT TO WASH THEM! I felt so horrible because he didn't even get to wear them to bed on Christmas Eve. I started his laundry that night though so he was able to change into them and wear them Christmas morning. I changed him before we even brought him down stairs.

Christmas morning was one that I will never forget. We slept in until almost 9:00. I was surprised because I usually am awake really early on Christmas. We got up and opened presents and stockings with just Brad, Me, Cooper and Indiana. Yes even Indiana gets a stocking! Brad and I didn't do much for each other for Christmas because a week ago we had to get new tires on my car. It really stinks having to spend $700 right before Christmas and on something so boring. (I will blog about this fun little adventure later). Oh well Cooper still got fun stuff so that's all that mattered. While we were opening presents I started getting a migraine. I was so upset! After we did presents I spent the next 3 hours miserable and throwing up. I tried napping to get it to go away but just couldn't. Finally the migraine went away but I still felt kind of icky all day long. My family came over and we did lunch and watched a movie and just hung out. It was a relaxing day and was really nice that we didn't even have to leave the house at all. I didn't even shower until 6:00 pm :)

I started a few new traditions this year now that we have Cooper. Brad's mom sent us this book she had put together. It has a scripture, story, and Christmas song for everyday of December. It is awesome because it helps keep in mind what Christmas is really about. I was so grateful that she had taken all the time to put all of it together and copy it all cute for us. It is definitely something that we will keep and do every year. Another thing I started was we bought "The Polar Express". This will be the book we will read as a family every Christmas Eve. There are a few other things that I wanted to start and won't do until next year. Because like I mentioned earlier Christmas really sneaked up on me and I just ran out of time.

Our Substitute Santa Claus Picture

Cooper getting ready to read The Polar Express

Our little family on Christmas Eve

Daddy's turn for presents

Cooper wanted to eat his presents

He loved everything about opening presents

So happy hanging out while we opened presents

Coming down Christmas morning

SO HAPPY IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!

Our Stockings

Cooper's Christmas outfit that my mom bought him

Loving on Daddy

Cooper playing with Grandpa on Christmas

We had a great Christmas and really were so blessed to have so many people celebrate with us and give us gifts. Between family and neighbors our counter was covered with yummy treats and we definitely gained some holiday pounds! But it was definitely worth it! I hope that everyone else had an amazing Christmas!

Christmas Card!

I was so excited to be able to do a Family Christmas card this year. I had been wanting to do one in previous years, but I didn't think people would be too excited just seeing a picture of me, Brad, and Indiana. So this year I was not going to miss the opportunity. It was a last minute photo shoot because of weather, our trip to Washington, and among other things. But I was just glad we were able to make it happen. Cooper and Indiana both did amazing. They both just sat there and posed for the camera. It was Brad I was worried about because he can't smile for pictures. I'm sure he could if he tried but he always claims he can't so just doesn't try :) But I was so happy we were able to get a good picture of all of us.

Our Christmas Card....I had to scan it so the coloring is a little weird

Look at how long my hair was :(

This was the picture we put on the calendars for some people. I love how we caught the drool on his chin. He is constantly drooling so it catches this age perfectly!

We hope that everyone has an amazing Christmas! We love you all!

3 1/2 Years For What????

As many of you know I chopped my hair off 2 days after I got married. I have been growing it ever since, so for 3 1/2 years. I absolutely loved my long hair, but with a 5 month old it just wasn't working. Saying he loves grabbing my hair would be an understatement. Also every time I went to nurse I had to put my hair in a pony tail and it was just a pain. Not only that but the postpartum shedding has been going on for a few months. So since I'm practically balding, well kinda :) I decided I was going to cut my hair. I chopped 5 inches off. To some of you that might not seem like that much, but with how long it took me to grow it out, it was a little traumatic. I actually love my new hair cut though. It's still kinda long so that's good. I am definitely a pony tail girl so being able to do that is a must! I loved the long hair so I will grow it out again. But right now just wasn't the time to have really long hair.

I didn't tell anyone that I was going to be cutting my hair or that I even had made a hair appointment for that matter. I wanted to test Brad and see if he would notice. He completely FAILED!!! He was home for almost an hour when I finally had to tell him. And he said "Oh yeah, you did!" He is such a guy with some things and totally isn't with other things.

The New Haircut

(Look at our Christmas Card post to compare the before and after)

Craft Me Some Christmas

So since I have been a stay at home mom I have gotten the itch to craft. It started out with me sewing some skirts for Young Women's and it has kind of just escalated. I have made burp clothes, bink links, wipe case covers, a car seat cover, and some other things that I can't think of right now. But once Christmas hit I got the itch to make some cute decorations for my house. Christmas is our absolute favorite holiday in the Harline house. We have to get the house decorated the day after Thanksgiving because we are so excited. Two years ago we actually decorated Thanksgiving night :) Brad is cute and gets SO EXCITED to decorate for holidays, but Christmas tops the list by far. And we went all out this year because next year we know we will be limited with what we can do because we will have a 1 1/2 year old walking around!

If you know me real well you know that I am not by any means creative or crafty on my own. So luckily I have a lot of friends that are and I can steal their ideas and have them help me! I really love how everything turned out.

Here is my advent calendar that I made with my friend Codie. This took us probably 5 hours to do. It was a ton of work but so worth it. I made one for my mom and mother-in-law as well.

The GRINCH....some sisters from the ward I grew up in started a craft day and this is what we made for December. It was a ton of fun and my sister Aspen got to go and make one as well.

My gumball wreath

So Many New Adventures

Well Cooper is now 4 1/2 months old. He is still a little peanut though. I just started putting him in his 3-6 months clothes because I am so sick of the 3 month clothes that he has been wearing for the past 3 months or so. He still fits in them though so I still have him wear a few of my favorites.

Cooper's pediatrician had me start him on cereal at 4 months. She said do cereal for a week, then move to oatmeal for a week, then start introducing fruits and vegetables 3 days apart so I can watch for how he reacts to the different foods. Well he has conquered cereal and oatmeal like a champ. He now opens his mouth and goes for the spoon and usually eats it all. Sometimes he gets angry if you don't feed him fast enough, it's hilarious! Well yesterday was the day to start fruits and vegetables. The pediatrician recommended starting with fruits and the yellow/orange vegetables then move on to the green veggies. So his first thing he got was squash. He absolutely LOVED it. I just put a little in his cereal to get him used to the taste. Then today I just fed him straight squash. It is hilarious after every bite he makes this "Mmmm" sound. I am lucky that this transition into food has been really easy. It hasn't upset his stomach at all and he has been great and learning how to eat it. The only downside is that now his spit up is colored. Great visual I know!

All the yummy foods Cooper gets to try

Cooper loving his new foods

I don't have the tray on his high chair and he always puts his feet like this when he is eating

Another new adventure has been that Cooper has decided he wants to wake up 2-3 times a night :) I thought it would get better with solids but it hasn't. I think that it might be because he is teething. He has the bubbles on his gums and so his pediatrician said he will probably be getting his first tooth by 6 months. His bubbles are on his top gums though so it will be interesting if he gets his top teeth first. He is slobbering up a storm. But I would take slobber over spitting up any day. He chews on anything that he can get in his mouth and really loves his cold teething ring. His new thing is that he chews on his bottom lip. It's really cute.

You can kind of see him biting his lip here

Cooper has found his feet. I love it because anytime he is on his back he grabs his feet and they go into his mouth. Keeping his socks on was already a chore and now that he has figured out how to pull his socks off it's going to get even harder. It's funny though to watch him try to pull his pajamas off his feet. I love the look he gets when he is concentrating really hard and trying to figure something out. I just love my little monkey!

Cooper is a very observant baby. He watches everything that is going on. If he's on his stomach he lifts that head and looks around and if he's on his back he will roll to his side and arch his back so that he can see behind him. He is getting really close to rolling over from his back to his front. He will turn in complete circles on his blanket so he can look all around the room.

Everyday with Cooper just gets better and more exciting. I can't believe it is December already and he is about to have his first Christmas. When he was born Christmas seemed so far away and now it's almost 5 months later. I can't believe how fast time flies.

His adorable owl hat that my friend Nikki made

Our little family at my grandma and grandpa's house on Thanksgiving

Indiana has started paying more attention to Cooper lately. Cooper also notices Indiana more. When he gets close Cooper sticks his hand out and tries to grab Indiana.

He decided Cooper needed some kisses while he was watching football :)

Cooper and Daddy Time

Cooper is getting to be so big. He can now sit up if you are supporting him. It's nice not having to hold him like a new baby anymore. He only wants to be held like a baby if he is tired and wants to go to sleep. Because he isn't so fragile anymore Brad has gotten way more comfortable holding him and playing with him. Which means more tv watching time for Cooper :) But no it is amazing to watch their relationship grow. I love when I walk in to the room and find Brad on the floor playing and talking with Cooper. I never knew how special it would be to see your husband interacting with your own child. Brad is loving being able to play with Cooper more. His only complaint and one that I also share is that we can't wait for when Cooper stops spitting up. It makes holding and playing with him hard because everyone always ends up covered in spit up :)

These are just a few pictures I have caught of my boys.

Cooper absolutely loves being naked and since he is constantly spitting up on his outfits we usually get to a point of letting him hang out with nothing on

The other day they were watching football and I came downstairs and found this

Look how precious and content he is.....he always is doing this with his hands and I love it!

The three boys hanging out watching tv

He looks so old here!

We are pretty sure he's teething because he is always chewing on his bottom lip

My 3 boys