Cooper Thomas: Two Months

Oh my sweet Cooper! I don't know if I think you're sweet because you are my last baby or because your brother is extra ornery right now, but you are just a doll and I can't believe you are 2 months old (8 weeks and 6 days).

You still love smiling for us and just this past weekend you started laughing. It completely melted my heart. Your daddy and big brother were away in the mountains so it was just me and you. We were having our normal playtime and "talking" to each other when you just let it out! You love your playmat and looking at the toy bar on the bouncy seat. Oh daddy says you like watching football (but mommy just thinks it's the TV, and it just so happens there's ALWAYS football on, or as big brother says SOCCER...he's still learning the difference). Your sleep is getting a little better, in the sense that every other day you like to give me a good 4 hour stretch at night. But you are a sleep fighter, especially napping. 10pm seems to be your bedtime but you never fail to be up every 1.5 to 2 hours after 3/4am. Sometimes you just want to be held back to sleep, are STILL hungry, are ready to be up or just needed to get a burp out. Speaking of burps your spitting up has been fairly non-existent the past few days (knock on wood). I realized awhile back you might have a dairy intolerance so I've done my best to keep that out of my diet. It has been working pretty well. Even the past few days I mistakenly had some dairy but it didn't seem to phase you. But I think I'll keep it out for a while longer because it is no fun watching you squirm and be uncomfortable.

I've decided schedules are out of the question for you right now. It's so much more difficult trying to put you on a schedule with big brother being loud all the time and you having no consistency at all to even try and figure something out. Some days you will sleep ALL DAY LONG and others you are more routine with a morning, afternoon and lots of evening cat naps. I know one day it will all come together, so for now I'll let you do your thing! You are a growing boy and are getting in to 3 month outfits. You are in the 50th percentile for height and 25th for weight. The nurse said you will be a peanut like your mom! Big brother is finally coming around to you more and more. He asks to "try" which means put the binkie in your mouth, he likes to tickle your belly and the other day he pointed out your toes. You love looking at what he's doing whenever he's nearby and he even makes funny faces for you to try and get you to smile. I know you guys will be best buds before too long.

Birth: 6lbs 11.1oz and 19.5in

Leaving Hospital: 6lbs 3.9oz

Five Days: 6lbs 10oz

Two Weeks: 7lbs 10.5oz and 20in
One Month: ~9lbs and 21in
Two Months: 11lbs and 23in

6 Week Shenanigans

I have hit the 6 week postpartum mark and it was a busy week for our family. Mid last week we travelled to Kansas to celebrate Reid's grandmother's 80th birthday. It was particularly a special time since it basically was a big family reunion with people traveling from 7 different states to celebrate (Reid's immediate family alone made up 5 states). His mom was so happy to have all her children and grandchildren together for the first time in 2 years.

This also happened to be Cooper's first trip (of many I'm sure) to Kansas. He did great traveling and slept through both flights. Carson did great as well and had fun using his new headphones to watch a movie. While we were back we made a trip to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. I wish there was something for kids like this place in Denver. We took Carson last year for his first birthday and he was able to do and enjoy so much more this time. It was a whirlwind weekend, but it always is when you have two sets of families and high school and college friends to try and see.

Another component to our 6 week shenanigans is an update on Cooper. He is smiling and making cute baby noises. It's so fun to have him interacting with us. He loves a picture we have hanging behind the couch. Whenever I go to burp him while sitting on the couch he looks up at it and gets the cheesiest grin. He also loves to smile when you talk to him. He is beginning to "tolerate" the pacifier if you hold it in his mouth. Sometimes he'll even keep it in himself for a little bit. But he has found his hands and if the pacifier falls out he will start chomping on his fists. I have also noticed him starting to drool. He is still not the best sleeper but I'm hoping it's because I haven't had the time to adapt him to a schedule. Things were a bit hectic with big brother around. But now that he is back in daycare I'm going to make that my focus before I go back to work. He is a little less fussy now and his spit-ups have seemed to taper off a bit (which I think was the culprit of his fussiness). He doesn't seem to be a fan of the rocker or bouncer seat so that might make work fun! Hopefully that changes. He makes the goofiest faces and is very noisy in his sleep. I still can't believe how much he looks like Carson and I do catch myself having to make sure I say the right name ;) If only he would sleep like his big brother!

To wrap up our week I had my 6 week check-up and got the all clear. My body didn't bounce back like it did with Carson which I expected because the last couple months I scaled back (and by scale back I mean did not do any) my workouts. I'm looking forward to figuring out a good routine where I can regularly work out and start getting back in shape again. Also Carson went back to daycare this week to give me a little break before I start work on September 3rd. I'm hoping to try and catch up on some sleep and spend some time with Cooper and really figuring him out. So far we are doing great and I started him on a bedtime routine. We will see if this helps him sleep better at night!