14 hours...

That's how long Cooper was up yesterday. Not one minute of sleep in that 14 hours... Just crying, screaming, whining, and fussing. So he has a mild ear infection, two HUGE bumps that you can see his top teeth through, and hadn't pooed in a couple of days. Stopping by the store to get the good old liquid gold formula, motrin, and oragel. I want my sweet baby back!!!

Test results

Good news and not so good news.
The good news is that Cooper is NOT allergic to eggs, which means he can for sure have any vaccine that was cultured in egg. The not so great, but certainly not bad news, is that he IS "moderate to severly" allergic to milk. I will have to discuss which end of the spectrum he is closer to with his Dr at his 9 month appt. to figure out what exactly that means...
For now we have been trying a little bit of a formula that is halfway between hypoallergenic and normal milk based formula. Middle of the road so to speak. SO FAR he has been doing okay, but with the bonus of teething and a cold he has been SO grumpy. It is hard to tell if the new formula is part of the grumpiness...He is so grumpy he is even scaring Jackson!

Happy Eight Months!!

Cooper's Accomplishments:

* rolling over ALL THE TIME especially when he is SUPPOSED to be sleeping...
* sitting up

* pulling up
* getting on hands and knees and rocking
* eating small finger foods, especially PUFFS
* shaking his head "NO NO NO"
* throwing full blown temper tantrums, usually over food
* got his second tooth
* jumps in his "Johnny Jump Up" like a maniac
* has Daddy wrapped around his finger

Rough Morning!

After dropping Jackson off at preschool, I had to take Cooper into the Dr's lab to have blood drawn to test for some allergies. I wasn't really sure how that would go, and asked Grandma Schiller ( "Ma" ) to go for help. Okay mostly so I wouldn't cry. They had a hard time finding a vein under all his chubbiness and had to keep poking around. They still didn't get anything so we had to start all over on the other arm. They did finally get it going, but by this time Cooper was beside himself and crying so hard he was shaking. At least he was sitting in my lap turned away from me so that he didn't think I was the meanie! We came home to a warm bottle and lots of rocking. He is totally crashed right now with his little Bugs Bunny bandaids falling off.
Next week we should get some results, so it will be worth it...fingers crossed!

First Day of Preschool

Wow, I thought this summer that we had so much time before this day would be here! He is such a big boy now. I wonder how many times throughout his growing up that I will say that? Jackson wasn't too thrilled to go this Tuesday to orientation for an hour ( complete with crying, screaming and clinging to my leg... ). But today, the official first day, he did GREAT! Just walked in, and went right to playing. I think a lot of it had to do with Daddy being there. He looked a bit lonely, but I know that probably only lasted a moment. There are 7 boys and 3 girls in his class, the "Pigtails". His teacher is Ms. Karen and seems very laid back. I am a little nervous about getting a call about a pee-pee accident. I have all this free time and I want to stay home near the phone, just in case!! I miss him, but I know he is having fun. I have to admit, it is nice not being a walking dictionary or playing the "why" game. And it was nice to come home and play with Cooper and rock him to sleep. As I type this I keep expecting the door to burst open and hear "Hi, Mommy!" and a request for juice. Nope just a sleeping baby, and wonderful silence!

Three Men and a Mommy

We spent the day at Old Settler's Park playing and enjoying the faux-fall weather. It was so nice to have a breeze...

I love watching Jason with the boys. He turns into a little boy himself, as you can see. Jackson eats up every moment with Daddy. His only real reason to finish any meal is to grow up tall like Daddy. He wants to do everything Daddy does- from standing up to go pee or ride horses and yell "hep cow"! Cooper is for sure a Daddy's boy. He is happiest in his arms. It's the only time he doesn't wiggle.

They are all content to burn as much energy as possible ( as I try to keep up with camera in hand ) or hang out doing nothing. Sometimes I find myself trying to make every moment with Jackson educational or instilling manners and morals. I feel like Cooper is getting sold short as far as one on one time with me these early months.

But I've realized that they both are happiest when we are all together. Even watching TV or making dinner. They don't care if every day is a Kodak moment and it's all in a scrapbook. They certainly don't care if lunch is always at 12:30. They don't care if Daddy gets a promotion and Mommy keeps the house spotless. They made us a family and constantly remind me of what's important.

Brotherly Love

Just wanted to share these...

Fun Weekend!

We spent this weekend with friends! We all had so much fun! On Sunday April,Ty and Kendall Keller came over to play. Mommy and April had lots to chat about. Although Ty and Jackson (okay, really just Jackson... ) weren't wanting to share too much at our house, they had lots of fun at McDonalds chasing each other and munching french fries. Cooper and Kendall were making eyes at each other- cute couple!

Monday we joined Daddy at "the ranch" and got good and dirty. Fourwheeler rides, feeding a baby calf, and yelling "hep cows" is all part of the gig. Jackson is in little boy heaven- and I think Daddy is too. Watch a video of Jackson feeding the calf!!