Utah Blaze Game

A few weekends ago we went to a Blaze game with Brad's Cousin and his wife. My cousin is a dancer for the Blaze so my 2 aunts, cousins fiance, grandma and grandpa were also at the game. We were able to sit next to my family because there were a lot of empty seats. Cooper was a trooper! The game went until 10:30 and he is usually in bed by 8. He got a little restless towards the end because he wanted to crawl around. The Blaze lost but it was still intense and really fun. The second he hit the car seat he was out! I love being able to experience fun family activities like this. It is even more fun now that we have a baby. I kind of make a point of doing fun things where he can go with us. Yes that means not as many movies as we used to. Brad doesn't like this. Going to movies is probably one of his favorite things to do. I think he will like when Cooper gets a little older and we can go to the kid movies and take him.

The noise didn't even seem to bother him. I got ear plugs incase it was too loud for him. But he would not keep them in. He was happier without them.

He refuses to keep shoes or socks on his feet so he always looks like an orphan baby.

Dancing Coop

Every time Cooper hears music he starts dancing. It doesn't matter if he is in the car, high chair, in the middle of playing, he stops to notice the music and then dances. I have been horrible at catching it on camera. I love that he dances so much. He is such a happy baby and just has fun with everything. I swear my child really usually has clothes on for most of the day. Although you wouldn't guess that by how many pictures we have of Cooper not fully dressed. This just happened to be after dinner and he had gotten too messy....yet again. So the shirt had to go. I love that when he noticed we were laughing at him dancing that he got even more into it and so proud of what he was doing.

Shirt???? No Thanks!!!

Cooper is a true boy and loves to not have any clothes on. Lately he has been the messiest eater. Even when he has a bib on he manages to get food everywhere. Dinner is by far the worst. So he usually ends up without a shirt after dinner. It is so close to pajama time that I don't fight getting it clean. Besides he is happier when he doesn't have to wear a shirt. Here is some of the mischief that Cooper gets into shirtless.

In Training

Cooper is OBSESSED with the treadmill. The door to the computer/treadmill room is always closed. So every time he catches the door open he crawls in there as fast as his little body will move. He loves all the cords and forbidden things in that room. His favorite is to get on the treadmill. He seems so amazed by it (even when it isn't on). The other night we decided to turn it on with him and see what happened.

Us and T.V.

Brad and I have a serious addiction to watching TV shows. We usually have at least 1 show a night that we watch. I look at it and don't know how I successfully did school, homework, worked and had time to watch all of my shows. Now it is nice having shows to watch because we usually sit down together after Cooper is in bed. It is our way to just relax for the night. Now that all of our shows have come to the end of the season we don't know what to do with ourselves. I hate how all the shows end at once. I would look forward to certain nights in the week because of a particular show. There are some summer series that are about to start. But there isn't nearly as many.

I really hate our addiction to tv though. I feel like the tv is always on when Brad is home. I have made it a goal to not have the tv on during the day. I feel like it takes away from Cooper time and there are a lot of other things that I could and should be doing. However once Brad is home it comes on. As Cooper is getting older I am going to make it a point to not have the tv on all night once Brad is home either. It is a very bad habit to get into. It takes away from family conversation and just together time. If it ever warms up and gets to be nice weather we can start spending more time outside. Usually by this time we are doing walks and playing catch outside. But we really haven't been able to do it yet this year. We also are going to get into hiking more this summer. We want our kids to be used to being outside and doing active things. Not just sitting home on the couch watching tv. Don't get me wrong, tv has been great with a young baby. It helps us get through the days and sleepless nights. But I am ready to not watch as much tv. It makes me feel lazy and tired! Besides our regular tv shows (listed below) there are the random shows that we will flip through and watch if we see they are on. The ones below are the ones that we record every episode and have season passes set on the DVR. Yeah I know it is RIDICULOUS. Writing all the shows out I see how ridiculous it is that we have SOOO many shows. I am sure I missed a few too!

Our Shows:

• Coming Home
• House
• Lie To Me
• Hawaii Five O
• Chuck
• Gossip Girl
• Glee
• Modern Family
• Entourage
• Community
  
• The Office
• The Big Bang Theory
• Friday Night Lights (ending)
• Human Target
• Leverage
• The Cape (ended)
• Real Housewives of New Jersey
• The Voice
• White Collar
  

My shows:

• Greys Anatomy
• Private Practice
• 19 Kids and Counting
• Kate Plus 8
• Quints By Surprise
• Desperate Housewives
• Ellen
• Oprah :(
• The Vampire Diaries
• Chase
  

Brad's Shows:

• Iron Chef America
• Ghost Hunters (Along with a ton of other Ghost story shows)
  
• Cake Boss
• Chopped
• Challenge
• Top Chef
  
• Real Time with Bill Maher
• Spartucus
• Dexter
• True Blood
• Hell's Kitchen
• 30 Rock
• River Monsters
• Shark Tank
  
• Okay really every cooking/competition show out there. I can't even think of them all to name them.
  

Cousin Photo Shoot

A couple of weeks ago we got pictures taken of Cooper and Holden. Ha ha it was easier said then done. We got a ton of cute ones of just Cooper or just Holden, but we only got a few of the both of them. Either Holden was crying, Cooper was crying, or Cooper was just trying to crawl away. Pictures are much easier when babies aren't mobile. Here are my favorites. Sorry I couldn't choose just a few so there are a lot! (FYI-If you click on the picture it makes it bigger)

I would drop him on this bean bag and he would giggle like crazy

Cooper has always LOVED being upside down

Just a glimpse of how crazy and fun my little Coop is.

Cooper is obsessed with mirrors. You put him in front of one and he starts to cheese and kiss himself and loves it.

Sleep Training......SUCCESS!!!!

Well since Cooper is almost 10 months old (tear) and not sleeping through the night I decided it was time to sleep train him. I had contemplated doing it around 6 months because that is when I hear most people start, but I didn't because of him still spitting up. Cooper was still spitting up constantly all day long. It didn't matter if he had eaten more or less solids, or nursed less and more frequently. I tried everything and nothing made a difference. And since spitting up didn't bother him there really wasn't anything we could do about it. I felt like he was waking up because he was starving because he hadn't kept much down all day long. Well 4 months later and him still waking up usually twice a night I was ready. He went through a long period where he only woke up once and it was early morning (3:00-5:00 am) so I thought he would just slowly start sleeping longer until he woke up for the morning. I was wrong! It turned into him waking up twice a night. He has stopped spitting up as much (still happens daily but less often). Naps and bedtime aren't a problem it is just the waking in the middle of the night. I have always been big on self soothing. So he has learned how to put himself to bed and down for naps. He always goes to bed around 8:00 pm and is up anywhere between 7-8:30 am. He will sleep that whole time, just gets up to eat then is right back asleep. I had read about all these different methods and asked a bunch of moms what work for them. The majority of people said to just LET HIM CRY IT OUT. Cooper has got stamina and can scream for as long as you will let him. So I decided on the Ferber Method. It stills involves crying. But you don't leave the baby all alone for the whole time they are crying. There are times when you try to soothe.

The Ferber Method in a nutshell. Where to start.....umm the main thing is not picking them up to soothe them. The first night when he woke up I went and laid him back down (he is always standing in his crib), gave him his binky and rubbed his head for a few seconds and tried to calm him down a little (didn't ever really calm down even when I was in there). Then I let him cry for 5 min, repeated the routine, cried for 10 min, repeated routine, cried for 15 minutes, repeated the routine, cried for 20 min (longest interval for crying), repeated routine, then finally fell asleep after crying for a few minutes. The first night was by far the hardest. When it was all said and done he had been crying for about an hour and half. Each night you up the first time increment by 5 minutes. So I would start at 10 minutes the next night but never go longer than 20 min of him crying before I go in to calm him a little bit. But remember NO PICKING HIM UP!!!! Here is how the rest of the week went:

Night One: as I mentioned above he cried for about an hour and a half, but only woke up once that night (12:00-1:30 am).

Night two: slept through the night (8 pm-8 am)

Night three: woke up once (1:00 am), repeated the sequence from the first night. But started at 10 min. He cried for almost as long but would calm down when I went in there.

Night four: woke up at 1 am, I went in laid him down and he made one whimper and then went right back to sleep. Didn't wake up until morning.

Night five: slept through the night

Night six: slept through the night

Night seven: slept through the night

I have been in heaven getting 3 NIGHTS UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP in a row!!!!! Now that I know he can go all night without eating I don't feel so bad making him cry. Don't get me wrong, I HATE hearing him scream bloody murder. Especially when I know if going in and feeding him will make it stop. But I know we both need to be sleeping through the night. When he wakes up in the morning he is ready to nurse. But isn't screaming because of hunger. He is still his happy morning self. I know that the Ferber Method doesn't work for everyone. But I can honestly say it has been a success for me and Cooper. As you can see it only took 3 days and we were skipping the middle of the night crying! If I would have known how quick he would catch on I would have tried doing this months ago. Now I know for my next baby that I don't have to go 10 months of middle of the night feedings.

Side Note: I even checked out "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Richard Ferber, M.D. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet but I probably still will. Now that I know his method worked. I want to know what else he has to say.

No No No

This is Cooper's newest discovery. He does it all the time now. Especially when you say "No no no". He did it for the first time on Saturday. He looks even more like a monkey than he normally does. I have said it before but his nickname "Monkey" fits him PERFECTLY. He has many mannerisms and does lots of things that make him look like a monkey. Whether it is a facial expression or something with his body. He crawls all over and up EVERYTHING just like a monkey. He truly is our little MONKEY.

(Sorry for the crappy quality of video. Something with the lighting made it go all weird.)

My Little Laundry Helper

Cooper has an obsession with the laundry baskets. It doesn't matter what he is doing, if one gets put on the floor he charges for it. He loves to push them around, sit in them, stand in them, tip them over, etc. He seriously could be entertained for an hour if I let him just play with one. He does however get them stuck in the corner and can't figure out how to get them out so he screams for help. When I am doing laundry I can't carry the basket of clothes and Cooper up/down the stairs. So he gets to ride in the basket. He thinks it is the funnest thing ever. He giggles the whole way up/down the stairs. He is amazing at emptying a laundry basket too! He and Indiana will both grab a sock or something small and run and crawl around chasing each other. All the while Cooper is giggling hysterically. They are best buds and have so much fun together!

Coop In The Box

Since we moved Cooper into his new big boy car seat we had the big box that in came in. My mom was over and said we should try to let Cooper play in it with his toys. It was one of my little sister Aspen's favorite things to do when she was little. Great idea because he LOVES to play in his box. We have toys in it and he can just crawl in there and play. Yesterday we decided to stand it up and see what he did. He still had just as much fun in it. He may have had even more fun because he would stand up and peek at you over the top, then would sit back down and play. He kept doing it over and over and made a game out of it. I love my little monkey and how much fun he always has!

First Play Date

The other day I watched my friends little boy for a few hours. Cooper was in heaven having a baby close to his age around to play with. Cooper is always around little babies but none that can crawl or really play back with him. When Milo first got to our house Cooper attacked him with kisses and was pulling on his jacket with excitement. It was hilarious watching how excited he was. Milo on the other hand wasn't too sure. Cooper gets a little intense when he sees other babies. It doesn't matter where we are he shakes and squeals and giggles every time he sees another baby. His new thing is he gives all babies kisses. Church is interesting because he is crawling around kissing all the other babies. He is definitely a social little guy and I love that about him!

Eating Strawberries

Last night we went over to Brad's cousin Ben's house for game night. Cooper was sitting in their bumbo eating strawberries. He couldn't pick them up with his chubby little hands so this is what he resorted to. He honestly makes us laugh so much every day!