Halloween!

 These pictures are actually from the ward Halloween party, but I probably won't have time to get any good pictures of J before he heads out tonight...and Cooper will be in bed before any actual trick or treating commences, so This Is IT!

 

This year Jaxon was set on being Hawkeye from The Avengers. He hasn't seen the real Avengers, but has seen the cartoon.  Not really sure why he chose Hawkeye...except I think he REEEEEALLY wanted a bow and arrow.  We searched high and low for this costume, and luckily we found it (and Dave was willing to drive to get it) 40 minutes away in Scottsdale.  I'm glad Jaxon got to be his first choice, becuase he adores this costume, his bow and arrow, and...as you will see, he takes himself pretty darn seriously in it!

 

 

 

 

 

Besides Jaxon being the most handsome 6 yr old on the planet, look at that quiver I made for his arrows! YES! I MADE IT!

 

Next up- Cooper!  As we were online looking for Jaxon's costume, he saw this Captain America baby costume, and INSISTED that Cooper REALLY wanted to be an avenger too!

How could I resist? This is what being a brother is all about!

Another bonus?? I caught a couple half smiles from Coop!!!

(PS- these pictures kinda crack me up, because I can see what he would look like without that gorgeous head of hair...he's still cute, but I love that crazy mop of his!!!)

 

Lastly- Hailey came and went to the ward party with us, because two of her sisters were sick. Ryan stayed home with them, and Emily had to man a booth at her ward's party. SCORE FOR US! We love having Hailey with us!

 

Lastly, Grandma and Grandpa Ferrell- are these guys the coolest or what???

No seriously...this might be my favorite picture of all time! LOVE IT!!!

 

Cooper Lately

Since All of our non-esential stuff is packed, I can't check Jaxon's journal that I kept for him and then say things to myself like, "Oh, turns out this weird thing Cooper is doing that is giving me serious anxiety is not actually that weird, because Jaxon did it too!"
 But I thought I would try to keep up with what Cooper is doing. One- because I'm not keeping a separate journal for Cooper, and 2. You just never know if any other babies will join our family that I will also feel the need to compulsively compare to his/her older siblings!  :o)
  Let me start this post with- I have been having some post partum depression and anxiety.  It was pretty bad for about 3 days, but other than that is mostly manageable, and sometimes non existant. I say this because although sometimes I struggle, and sometimes things are hard for me, it's a ME issue.  Cooper has got to be the easiest going, quietest, sweetest baby God has ever graced this planet with.
So here is Cooper's usual schedule.  Well, I say usual, but he has not yet developed a "usual" daytime schedule which is one of the things that gives me anxiety.  His naps in the last two weeks have been completely erratic, and waaaaay to short! I'm not saying "too short" for this mom who needs a break, I mean, 45 minutes, TOO SHORT for a newborn who needs rest and wakes up almost as tired as he was when we went down!  BUT- I think I found the answer....more on that in a second!
So Coop has for the last 4 nights, slept through the night.  He usually wakes up sometime between 5 and 6 (usually closer to 5) at which time I feed him and put him back to bed. He usually has a short nap of 30-45 more minutes and is then up for the day.  If he wakes up for the first time after 6, I get him up and start his day, but I am going to change that now that I'm figuring him out a little...  Anyway, once he is up, he usually can only stay up about an hour and then goes back down for a nap. While his naps have been cruddy and short and unpredictable, he usually has 4 naps and 4 waketimes during the day. I try not to put him "to bed" before 5:15 in the afternoon, but depending on the time of his last completely inconsistant nap, it is either 1. Really hard to keep him up that long, or 2.  If he starts his last of the 4 naps anytime after about 3:45 he thinks he's down for the night!  After he goes to bed, we give him a dream feed at 8, and a dream feed at 11 (Dave stays up for this one so I can go to sleep early, and he will be VERY glad when we drop this feed in a month or so!) and then like I said, Coop will then sleep till sometime between 5 and 6!
  Well, after all these cruddy 45 minute naps I just reread babywise and was reminded about the 45 minute intruder! It says that at 6 weeks and about 4 months some babies start waking up after only 45 minutes because they are hungry, even though their last feeding in their cycle was a full feeding.  So you can either get them up, feed them, and restart their 3 hour cycle of eat-awake-sleep from there... or option 2, you can try a dream feed and see if they will go right back down and then when they wake up give another full feeding to not change the current cycle.  Or option three- you can top them off with a little more milk in the middle of their wake time (Not supposed to feed babies to sleep in babywise, so you gotta get a little more waketime in after that top off) 
   I have tried all 3 of those options in the last 2 days, and while not EVERY nap has been better, it has resulted in SEVERAL naps being better, including his current nap which is now at 3 hours and 20 minutes.  I will wake him up in 10 minutes to keep him on his daytime cycle and getting enough calories so he will still sleep through the night!
  Let's see, what else is new with Cooper?
~He smiles a lot at me.
~He hardly makes a peep.  When I'm talking and Cooing at him, he will maybe once make a sound the entire time.  Even when he "Cries" it is not a continuous cry. It's a few sad yelps and then some quiet to see what you are going to do about it before he does it again.  The exception to this has been twice in the car when I must have strapped him in when he was already hungry, and by the time we got to our destination 15 minutes away, he was crying pretty hard!  BOOO!!!
~He still has funny facial expressions, but doesn't do his shifty eyes anymore, which makes Dave sad.
~If for some reason he falls asleep in my arms, or drifts off while taking a bottle, the first thing he does while his eyes are fluttering closed is give a few big smiles.  I think maybe he is still dreaming about heaven and smiles as soon as he closes his eyes and starts those memories!
~He loves to wave his arms and legs at the hanging toys on his mobile.  He gets these huge eyes when he actually makes contact, and it seems like he thinks really hard about how he did that and trying to do it again.
~He has the crustiest eyes ever! Poor kid has two clogged ducts, and when he wakes up, he can usually barely (or not at all) open his left eye and the right eye is not a heck of a lot better!  He also has a rash on his face. It's not bad, and is probably just excema, which I had terribly as a child. He has a dr's apt. in two weeks, and as long as niether of these things get too much worse, I will just as about it then.
~He is turning more and more into a babywise baby. He just really can't get comfortable being rocked to sleep. When he's tired and ready for bed, he just wants his bed! Poor grandma- this is her worst nightmare!
~He still knows his mama.  I still love it!

Our lives lately

Let's see- here are my super awesome cell phone pictures as of late, in no particular order.

 

 

The reason I included this first picture is 2-fold

1.  This is the closest I've come to capturing a smile, but he DOES SMILE! (mostly for his mama, and yeah, it makes me really happy!!)

2.  This is a really cute Thanksgiving outfit that was lent to Cooper by his good friend Jonathon, but I will say, the Orange and leaves are a little gender confusing.  I took Cooper to Target in this outfit, and between the Orange and leaves, and his gorgeous head of hair...two people commented on my gorgeous daughter.  I was having a rough day, and I didn't even correct them. Bah!



 

 

 

I don't know what Jaxon was trying to butter me up for in the picture...but it looks like he has already taught his brother a thing or two...

 

This would have been a lot cuter comparison If I could get this picture to be right side up...BAH!

 

 

 

Cooper's daytime naps are straight up crap! But this week he woke up from a 45 min. nap, had a bottle, then slept on me for 2 hours! So sweet, and I'LL TAKE IT!!!

Here is Cooper in his cute halloween shirt from Grammie. Both the shirt and pants are too big for him, so he looks a lot "puffier" than he actually is in this picture!

Just thought this next one was funny...note the Thanksgiving Jammies-

Just pondering life...

Grandpa get's babysitter of the year-

Especially because when I came home I found that he had rocked Cooper to sleep adn was holding him while playing wii with Jaxon. WHAT A GUY!!!

Keepin' it real

COOPER-
So, when Cooper was born I was not struck with debilitating postpartum, and life with a newborn pretty much rocked. 

Now he is 7 weeks, and not sleeping round the clock like newborns do.  My postpartum is creeping back. NOTHING like with Jaxon, but bad enough.

 Just thought I'd keep it real.

I adore Cooper, he is the sweetest baby ever. But he's still a baby. And as it turns out, babies still freak me out.

JAXON-
Saturday Jaxon and I took Cooper for a walk.  Our first stop was at Circle K across the street for a Slurpee for Jaxon.  The manager looked at Jaxon and said,
"Hey! Where's your grandpa?"
Jaxon- "Las Vegas"
Manager- "What? He's gambling away your Slurpee Inheritance???"
Jaxon- "Tell me about it..."

I thought it was pretty funny that he totally recognized J, and knew that he gets a slurpee with Grandpa every visit!

Cooper "1 month"

I say, "One Month" because even though that's what his shirt says, he is actually 6 weeks in these pictures. I blame the c-section, sleeplessness, motherhood, inflation, and the deteriorating ozone layer!  ;o)

  None the less, I think they turned out pretty darn adorable...mostly because I think my 6 week old is completely adorable!

The blanket underneath him is his very special homemade blanket from Grammie. All the grandkids get one, and Jaxon STILL sleeps with his in the winter!

 

 

And this one- I think it's just funny!

 

Funny Cooper

Not Funny- When Coop wakes up in the night for no apparent reason and won't go back to sleep without his pasi in his mouth, thus, I have to go in and give it to him.

Funny-  I swear he knows I'm a sucker, and he refuses, REFUSES to open his mouth for me to put the pasifier in unless I pick him up.  Eyes open or eyes closed, he purses his gorgeous little lips together and won't open his mouth for ANYTHING, even though needing his pasifier the REASON he's up in the first place!  Then I pick him up, hold him in my arms, and tickle his lips with the pasi and he opens right now. He doesn't smile yet...but I think he's laughing on the inside...

Fall Break "fun"

Poor Jaxon.  Fall break is not in fact a big barrel of monkeys if your newborn baby brother is on a 3 hour revolving schedule that looks like this-
1. wake up
2. eat
3. Mom tries very hard to keep baby awake for one hour total including eating
4. Sleep for 1.5-2 hours.

What that means is, if we keep on his nap schedule, (Which I REALLY LIKE TO DO) Jaxon, Cooper and I have about 1/2 hour every 3 hours to do something out of the house.  Including driving time.

Yah....doesn't work so well.

So, I tried to ditch a teensy tinsy bit of my A-type personality and get out and do one thing a day with Jaxaroni, and have Cooper take one nap out of the house.  This results in the rest of his schedule that day being completely indesipherable, and gives me a little anxiety, but I am taking one for the team this week!

So, Fall break officially started on Saturday with General Conference.  I was really looking forward to it, because I haven't been to church in over a month, and when I went to the General RS broadcast last weekend, the spirit was so strong and I really have missed that feeling.
  We did General Conference Bingo again with Jaxon.  This was just a whim last conference, and has turned out to be GENIUS!  (Can't take credit for it, I just copied it from Pinterest.  Bless you Pinterest. 
  We print out a Bingo card that has lots of words or phrases that are sure to be heard at Conference.  Jaxon has to actually HEAR THE WORD/PHRASE himself in order to color it in, thus- he is listening to Conference! He doesn't understand a lot, and was often heard to say, "WHAT is he talking about??"  but it's a good start. There was also a fair amount of messing around, jumping, whining, and even attempted cheating to color in squares that weren't heard yet, but hey...he's 6!!

 

 

I had taped 7 envalopes to the fireplace mantel, all with things like, "Way to go!" "You Rock!" "Keep it up!" Etc. written on the outside.  When he got a Bingo Row he could pick an envalope and open it. Inside were all sorts of different "rewards" like "15 minutes added to bedtime" "30 minutes outside play with dad" "Walk to circle K with Mom and Coop and get a treat" "Two dollars to spend at the dollar store or save" (he choses SAVE everytime!) etc.  He gets so excited to pick an envalope, and if you can believe it, I'd say he watched about 85% of 3 sessions of Conference.  (The other session- Saturday afternoon, was spent playing with his Cousin Hailey...a better option by any 6 year olds' standards!)

 

   Saturday evening during the priesthood session Amber and her kids came over and a good time was had by all...except that me, Mom, and Amber got sweet pork salads from Costa Vida...and they left the SWEET PORK off mine! LAME! 

  I hadn't really even remembered it was Fall Break until Sunday night when Jaxon was cheering that he didn't have school the next day....

WHAT???

I was totally unprepared for this.  What the heck was I going to do with Jaxon all week?  His cousins, our best and usual go-to playmates both had school all week. AHHHHHH!!!!

  So this is where I decided on one outing a week-

Monday- After Cooper's first nap we went to the mall to go to the Spirit Store to get Jaxon's Halloween Costume- Hawkeye from the Avengers. (I think he just wanted a bow and arrow...) Well, they and everyone around here was OUT of Hawkeye, and he was seriously bummed!  We went into the mall and saw a kiosk where you can rent an "animal-type-power-wheels- type thing for $5 for half hour and ride it all over the mall-

SOLD!!!

This kid was in heaven!

 

 

I liked it because I got a half hour of "exercise" pushing Coop through the mall at a nice leisurely pace keeping up with Jaxon, and Cooper liked it because he got to do what he does best-

SNOOZE!!!

 

 







We then at lunch at the mall food court and headed home. I was exhausted, and Cooper was completely DONE being in his carseat.  Aside from playing outside in the backyard for a bit, and going for a treat with Grandpa, that's all that Jax got out of the house...but it was better than nothing.

 

Tuesday- Jaxon went to the Gym with G & G to play in the kids club and had a blast!  Then in the afternoon he went with G and G to Amber's house and got to play with cousins for an hour.  Two outtings today- WOO HOO!!  Double Woot? Me and Coop got to stay home and stay on schedule!

 

 

Tuesday I called around to ALL the Spirit stores within an hour drive and found ONE Hawkeye costume in Scottsdale.  I put it on hold and after work Dave and Jaxon drove out and got it.  Jaxon ADORES IT, and has actually gotten pretty good at his toy Bow and Arrow!

Tuesday we got a Woombie that I had ordered for Cooper- it's a swaddle blanket that allows their arms to be in front of their body instead of swaddled at their sides like a normal swaddle. Cooper LOVES to have his hands by his face or up under his chin (where they ALWAYS were during his ultrasounds) so I thought he would love it... WRONG!! Worst night sleep of our lives. seriously.  Score one for the Woombie- zero for mom and dad...never going to use that again!

 

Wednesday-

  I had texted pictures of Jaxon on the ride on animals to his aunts, and Amber thought it would be a great idea to do with all the kids on Wednesday when her kids got out for their modified Fall break.  We met at the mall, let the kids play in the play area while Amber Fed Koda and we chatted, then headed over to the rentals.  Jax and Oakley chose a Rhino, while Kalle and Brennen chose a Cheetah. They each got 15 minutes to drive, and we did a circle around the entire bottom floor of the mall.  Those things are such a good idea, but I tell you what, letting kids that small drive is always a little dicey!  My favorite was when Amber left Koda in the stroller to go help Kalle and Brennen and Oakley came up behind the stroller and forgot to take his finger off the Gas. He pushed Koda in the stroller for about 5 seconds screaming for Amber the whole time.  It was pretty funny!

 

Jaxon and Oakley only cared about one thing- STAYING AHEAD OF KALLE AND BRENNEN.  To these guys, it was nothing more than a glorified half hour race, and they were happy to say that they stayed in the lead pretty much the whole time!

 

Cooper actually slept almost the whole time, but during lunch at the food court he decided to try eating his hand....if only he could figure out exactly how he got it there, and how to keep it there once he got to his mouth!

OH I ALMOST FORGOT!!!  I think this was such a hysterical example of how Jaxon is a daredevil and Amber's kids are more cautious.  We each had a stroller, so we had to go between floors on the elevators and not escalators.  Jaxon, Oakley, and Brennen got on the elevator first but took their sweet time doing it and the door closed before we could get on.  We knew they wouldn't push any buttons inside so all we had to do was push the elevator button again and the doors would open.  All in all they were probably in their 7 seconds total, but when the doors opened again, Oakley and Brennen were crying their eyes out- real tears, serious hysterics,  and Jaxon was laughing his head off.  Oh heavens!!

 

 Today- Thursday.  We have to start with Last night! It's the first time that Cooper didn't wake up at 1:45 just because.  His internal clock has really been set because we stopped feeding him at 1:45 almost 2 weeks ago, but he still wakes up crying so I have to go in, reswaddle, and give him his pasi.  LAST NIGHT HE SLEPT RIGHT PAST IT!!!!  He woke up at 3:30 for his middle of the night feeding, and because Dave had done his 11 feeding and let me sleep, I HAD 6 HOURS OF UNINTERUPTED SLEEP.  It was heaven. Heaven I tell you!!!

  This morning Jax went to the gym with Gramps again, and after Cooper woke up from his first nap, he and I went on a walk.  It was pretty nice weather, and Coop stayed awake and alert the whole time!  We listen to music on Pandora on my phone, and I think it's so cute when he gets his arms and legs waving!   G and G are currently out on errands, Coop is sleeping, and J is watching the electric Company while I blog.

  Tomorrow all we have planned is a playdate for Jaxon, but Saturday he going to be a redletter day for that kid! He doesn't know it yet, but I got he and Dave tickets to the Live Disney Phineas and Ferb show coming to Phoenix.  Phineas and Ferb is his VERY FAVORITE show right now, and I think he is going to absolutely die of excitement! We won't tell him until Saturday morning because the wait would kill him, but I'm so excited for he and Dave to do do this!

That's our Fall break in a nutshell...not as fun as spending the week in Minnesota with Tyler, AM and fam like we have the last 3 years...but as good as it gets for now!

Jaxon Lately

I know I'm not the only one who worries, when a new child comes, how will it affect your relationship with your other child/children? I was worried about my relationship with Jaxon, because it had just been he and I for so long.  How will you have enough love for both? Will you love one more than the other? 
 
  Dave and I were talking last night about the sweet changes in our family since Cooper has joined us.  It's like there is even more of Jaxon to love because we love beyong measure the new role he plays- BROTHER!  Even though having a baby around has been an adjustment period, and we have had our fair share of tantrums, "NO!" and misbehavior, he has NEVER taken it out on Coop. Jaxon JUST ADORES HIM!  It is so precious to see the way he treats Cooper, the things that he whispers to him, etc.

   Before Cooper we KNEW our family was incomplete.  We aren't sure if now it is "Complete" but it certainly is not incomplete anymore.  I think (hope) that Jaxon is so much older and has wanted a sibling for so long, that even when Cooper starts moving/walking/terrorizing Jaxon's things, that Jaxon will be very patient.  I can't wait to see them interact more together!

   Jaxon's life has just continued to zoom right along...I guess I'm the only one that has really made any huge significant changes to daily life...as in...I don't do anything right now! (Which is a pretty huge change for me, because I always like to be on the go!) He loves first grade, but some days more than others.  He has lots of friends in his class, but doesn't seem to gravitate towards one particular person.  He loves to play tetherball, so instead of sticking with one particular friend at recess, he hangs out with whoever is playing tetherball.  I had his first Parent teacher conference last week and his teacher said he is very social, he loves people, and makes friends with everyone. Yup- we knew that!  She also said he has a hard time not talking to everyone in class, especially someone who needs help. Again- not surprising!  She said he has great comments and obviously understands and processes the things that she tells the class, which she really enjoys.  Lastly she said she wants him to work on not talking in class, and better handwriting.  I didn't bother to tell her that I was working on not talking in class my entire life. I wasn't a bad kid either...I JUST REALLY LIKE PEOPLE!  We are working on it, but there are a lot worse things to be struggling with!

   Jaxon is in his last year of Let's Play Music, and he is really excelling this year. For some reason, he adores practicing on G & G's REAL piano, vs. the keyboard we had at the old house.  Not sure how we are going to keep the momentum up once we move!  He is doing great though, and really enjoying it! 

 

Jaxon still has as much energy as ever, and luckily with it cooling down a little at night here these days, he has been playing in G & G's back yard, which is about 7 times bigger than ours was. I am really looking forward to living right across from the park, so he can play there all winter! He adores playdates with his cousins- namely Hailey or Oakley.  He loves to go get treats with Grandpa, and watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy with Grandma.  He loves playing ANYTHING with daddy, and since I'm still having lots of pain, I mostly read and snuggle with him.  But I have started going outside and pitching a ball to him while he swings wildly at it with a badmitton racket- whatever works! 

Here he is a with a cup-pyramid he worked incredibly hard on. Grandpa was stunned that it stayed up at all because it was VERY crooked! Jaxon was so proud we left it up on the middle of the kitchen for 2 days...then grammie couldn't handle walking around it any longer!

  Jaxon still wakes up nice (not-so-nice) and early around 6am or a little before. (he's not allowed to come out before 6)  Somehow this must run in the family, because Cooper does the same thing. (Clearly they got this from Dave, because that is TOO EARLY FOR ME!!!) Too early or not, that's when our days start around here.  Cooper usually comes into our bed for a few minutes and has a bottle, and then Dave gets in the shower for work and Cooper Joins him.  Now that Jaxon is hip to the schedule, he makes sure to hop in too... it's a regular party! Jaxon loves that he gets to help soap up Coop, and mostly that they are doing a "guy activity." He is just so anxious to be interacting with Cooper in any way!
  Jaxon still reads before bed, but is usually so exhausted he only reads for about 10 minutes vs. the half hour we allow him.  Then he comes and gets us to tuck him in.  He is now reading easy chapter books and is so proud of himself! He switches between Junie B. Jones and The Magic Treehouse, and I LOVE that he is developing a love for reading! 
  The other day he got into the car, didn't say a word to me, and started reading. I got out of him that he had started his new Junie B. Jones book that morning and was so into it that he even took it out to the playground to read at recess. Some parents may be alarmed at the "nerdiness" of that statement, but I LOVED IT!!!  He said, "Do you know, they TOTALLY LET YOU bring books out to recess? Can you believe it? It's SO AWESOME!!"  He only had one chapter left to read and finished it before we got home...he was so proud of himself for finishing a chapter book in just one day!

 

 

 

I'm sad to admit that I'm still working on my patience at the end of the day.  But I really am working on it. Jaxon is a great boy, with TONS of energy, but who rarely is naughty on purpose.  I am trying to remember how much he still needs mom time, so after Coop goes to bed (5:30ish) and we eat dinner. We try to do something fun together.  Immediately he starts holding my hand, hugging me, telling me he loves me, and generally wanting to be close. Obviously this is something he still very much wants and needs. I really do look forward to the days when I can pop Coop in the stroller and walk across the street to the park with Jaxon.  He will LOVE THAT! Or, when Coop is snoozing J and I can head over there and I will just bring the monitor! 

  Although I of course love our sweet sweet Cooper and wouldn't change our new family dynamics for the world, I do at times miss the foot-loose-and-fancy-free times Jaxon and I had.  We haven't had those times really, since I got pregnant because I was so sick, and then J started full day first grade, but long gone are the days where we could decide to take off and do who-knows-what on a moments notice.  No diaper bags to pack, no naps to plan around, to special bottles or baby food to bring. Don't get me wrong, I so love our new family and know with all my heart it is just perfect for us now, I do remember fondly those sweet times with Jaxon. Oh how I love my big big boy!



All About The Coopster

I thought I would write down my thoughts about Cooper right now. He changes so much everyday, and I don't want to forget the little things. I also have a million more cruddy pictures from my phone to upload, because I still haven't gotten out either other camera...and I don't even feel sort of bad about it!
1. I love Coopers feet, they are adorable. They are super long, and so are his toes, and when he has gas he spreads all his toes out wide in a way that Dave can, and I cannot.
2.  Coop doesn't cry. He grunts, mewls, and occasionally lets out a single squawk, then he looks extremely surprised as if to say, "Where the heck did that come from??"
3.  He LOVES HIS MAMA!  I am sad to say that I'm sure that Jaxon spent twice as much time with Dave than with me in the first 6 months of his life. Dave was a student with only a couple classes, and I was a mama with severe depression recovering from a c-section. Thank Heavens for Dave.  But this time, Coop knows and loves his mama. He will stop wiggling for me, take a bottle from me, and sleep in my arms better than anyone, and I ADORE IT!!!!
4.  Cooper has the funniest expressions.  When he is tired and trying to fight it he gets the most hilarious shifty eyes...that's Dave's favorite.
5.  Dave's time with Coop is precious to Dave, and it is beautiful to me. Dave is working hard, and it's busy season. It's nothing like with Jaxon when they spent all waking hours of the day together. It's life, and Dave doesn't say much about it, but I know it makes him sad.  So when he can, he loves to take Coop in his arms and just chat and snuggle.
6.  While I get ready in the morning Cooper lays on his blanket and just flails about. Occasionally he accidentally gets ahold of his hair on the back of his head, and then I have to help him let it go- because it hurts!
7. Cooper really struggles with gas. It is so so so sad.  We thought it was constipation, but are pretty sure it's just painful gas. We are doing everything we can to help eliminate it, but it is so sad to see him struggle and whimper!
8. Cooper loves his brother, and keeps a close eye on him when he is within distance.  I think that he will find Jaxon absolutely hysterical, and I can't wait to see how they interact. Right now Jaxon loves to lay next to Coop on the ground (Holding a wiggly baby is usually too much work!)  He gets right in Coop's face and talks in a voice about 6 octaves higher than normal. He ALWAYS starts out with, "Hi Cooper! I'm your BIG BROTHER, and I LOVE YOU!"  It absolutely melts my heart!
9. Grandpa and Jaxon still think that if Cooper is even BREATHING LOUDLY, it means he is awake and wants to be picked up. Jaxon knows he is not allowed to pick Cooper up, but he will start rubbing his head or belly and yelling to one of us to come get him...despite the fact that Cooper's eyes are still tightly closed. Same thing with Grandpa, if Coop let's out a squeak and I don't immediately go investigate, Grandpa WILL! And the verdict is always the same- Cooper was "awake" and wanted Grandpa to pick him up! 
 That reminds me of a funny/tender/sad story about grampa and Coop.  (Back story, Grandpa NEVER had enough to eat growing up, ever. It haunts him to this day, and he goes OUT OF HIS WAY to make sure everyone around him is ALWAYS well fed!)  So Dave was making Coop a bottle because Coop was grunting and mewling and ready to eat.  We always change him first, then feed him, so Dave was walking over with the bottle and grandpa said, "Is he hungry?" I said, "Yes, but we always change him, then feed him!"  Grandpa snatched the bottle so fast out of Dave's hands you wouldn't believe it, went and picked up Cooper and said, "Not on my watch! He eats first!"  It was shocking, and darling, and also very tender. 
10. Grandpa considers himself the #1 expert on bicycling Cooper's legs to help expel gas, and also loves to move Cooper's chin up and down to make it look like he's talking.... ONLY GRANDPA!!!
11. Cooper can always fall asleep on Grammies chest....but this is nothing new! Grammie has the magic touch with all her grand babies.
12.  Cooper loves the water, just like Jaxon did.  He loved his first few sponge baths, and really REALLY loved the shower that he took on Sunday morning with Jaxon and daddy.  It was pretty cramped in there, but Coop just snuggled on dad's chest and loved the water. Jaxon got to use the special duck-sponge and wash Cooper, and everyone was happy- except mom who was left out!  So yesterday Coop and I took our first bath together (Much more manageable with a slippery little baby!) and again, he loved it!
12. When I'm feeding Cooper a bottle, he looks me straight in the eyes the whole time. I can talk, sing, or just gaze back, but he only has eyes for his mama! HURRAY!!!
Now, for a barrage of pictures!

First- you never met a more adoring brother than Jaxon- I guarantee it!

 

Next- Cooper LOVES to snooze, anytime! Anywhere...although I have to say...Mama's arms are his favorite!


This is how Cooper sleeps at night- We borrowed Ryan and Emily's nap nanny, because sleeping flat makes Cooper's gassy issues worse, and he grunts and squeaks all night!

Cooper has met a lot of his sweet cousins!

He loves the water just like Jaxon did-

And is most wide awake and calm right after a bath/shower

 

 

He adores Grammie and Grandpa- and clearly the feeling is mutual!

 

And last but not least- COOPER LOVES HIS MAMA, AND I COULDN'T LOVE HIM MORE!!!