All About Cooper - Before I forget!

I print out these blogs and keep them in a binder. They are like a journal/photo album for me and I'm excited to be able to look at them in the future. Since I started this blog right before Cooper turned 2, I didn't get to keep track of his first 2 years and all the major milestones as they were happening. I wanted to get them in here before I completely forget them, so this blog is all about Cooper's birth and his first 2 years.

Thursday, January 10, 2008:

We went in for a normal weekly checkup with Dr. Morrison (our due date was January 16th). He told us that he was going to be heading out of town that night for a conference and he would be gone all weekend. He wanted to check me to see if I was dilating or anything, but he was worried that checking me might put me into labor. He decided to check anyway, and then scheduled me to be induced that Sunday night when he returned. I was miserable and ready to not be pregnant anymore, so I was totally excited to be getting induced. I was 2 cm dilated and Cooper had dropped like 2 or 3 weeks before then, but I wasn't feeling any contractions. We already knew he was a boy and we had his name picked out for months.

I went to work in Prosser after the appointment and busted my booty to get everything in order and ready for me to be gone for the next 3 months. When I got home, we ate huge chicken salads for dinner, then went to Dairy Queen because I just had to have a Peanut Buster Parfait with no peanuts, and then we played some ping pong. It was the first and last time I ever beat David in ping pong and I'm really surprised I could even play with my huge belly. Then I had a surge of energy and a desire to clean. I even swept the stairs, which is not an easy job when you are a huge whale! I really hate sweeping the stairs. I miss that nesting phase! Our house was always so clean towards the end of my pregnancy. David finally got me to stop cleaning and lay down to relax for the night. We started to watch Grey's Anatomy, with me laying on the couch and David sitting on the floor in front of me, because I was so big that I hogged the whole couch. 

I was completely surprised when my water broke!

 I swear I hadn't been lying for more than 15 minutes - it was 9:30pm. I hear of women who aren't sure if their water has broken because it's barely leaking, but that was not the case with me. I was scared I was going to flood our entire house. It was like a tidal wave of water rushing out. David and I both jumped up, laughing from the excitement and the shock, and we frantically ran around getting ready to head to the hospital. David took Rocky over to his Mom's house while I stayed in the bathroom and made some phone calls.

We only lived about 8 blocks from the hospital, so we were there by about 9:45pm. They got us in a room immediately and started me on Pitocin right away. Pitocin is a medication used to jump start or speed up labor. They also gave me some pains meds that weren't necessarily supposed to take the pain away, but were supposed to make me loopy and help me sleep through the pain. Loopy I did get, but sleep I did not get. My Mom and David fell asleep on the foldout bed, snoring away. I have no recollection of this, but at 4am, I got really mad that I was in pain and couldn't sleep while David and my Mom were sleeping, so I grabbed the phone and called my sister in Spokane. I don't remember the conversation, but I'm surprised she didn't give me an earful for calling her at 4am, when she had a 23 month old and a newborn of her own at home. When I hung up the phone, I yelled at David and my Mom loud enough to get them both to jump up. I wanted the epidural. I didn't want to feel any pain and wanted whatever they could give me as soon as I could get it. My Mom got a nurse to come in and they gave me more loopy meds while they waited for the anesthesiologist to get there. I eventually got my epidural and was a much happier lady after that.

Friday, January 11, 2008

After 2 hours of exhausting pushing, Cooper was finally born at 10:01 am. He was 7lbs, 14 oz., 19.5 inches long, and had lots and lots of dark brown hair. In the delivery room with me waiting to welcome him to the world were his Daddy and both of his Grandmas (my Mom and David's Mom). Both of Cooper's Grandpa's were waiting in the lobby along with many of his Aunts and family friends. We were so happy and so tired! Being up all day and all night and then all day again is just crazy, on top of the exhaustion that comes from delivering a baby. We received a ton of visitors over the next couple of days and I was so glad that we had to stay at the hospital an extra day because I was not ready to go home and have to do it all by ourselves. We were released on Sunday evening and Cooper screamed the entire way home. He really hated being put in the car seat, so I was thankful that we only lived 8 blocks away.

Cooper's First 2 Years in a Nutshell:

That first night home, I couldn't bare to have Cooper sleep by himself, so I slept with him in the recliner in the living room, and David switched me halfway through the night. The next night he was on his own in his bassenette right by his crib in his room. The crib just seemed so big and the bassinette had a vibration feature on it that really helped when Cooper was having a tough time going back to sleep, although he was always a really good sleeper. He never wanted to be rocked or held though. He just wanted us to lay him down and let him be. We never had to let him "cry it out" because he actually liked having his alone time. He was that way until he was 2! We felt so lucky. And he enjoyed his quiet, alone time in the mornings too. We would listen to him giggle and babble to himself for at least 30 minutes before we just couldn't take it anymore and had to go spoil him with kisses.
He was always happy and a very easy baby. 

By July he was quite the crawler (only 6 months old!) so we entered him into the annual Diaper Derby at the fair. He did great! He won his first heat, but then was so mesmerized by a giant bouncy balloon thing that he was frozen in his tracks during the 2nd heat. By 9 months, he was walking and trying to run at full speed. Yikes!

His wild-man hair was cut 3 or 4 times before his 1st birthday and every doctor visit brought praises of how well he was growing. During our very first ultrasound, they said he'd be tall, and they have been right so far. At his 9 month checkup, Dr. Sean listened to Cooper talking from outside the door and then came in to see him walking around the room. He said that if he didn't know any better, he'd think that Cooper was a year old judging by his growth and the way he was talking and walking. He would babble non-stop and giggle to himself. He was also clapping, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, waving goodbye, and even trying to snap his fingers. He was mimicking all of our sounds and saying a few words, including "Mama", "Dada", "Hi", and "Duck." He had a complete obsession with ducks! He has a stuffed animal duck that we got him when he was really young and he still insists that it go everywhere with him. It's in almost every picture we have of him. He won't sleep without it and he puts up a dang good fight when I have to pry it from his hands to give it a "bath" because it's starting to get a funky smell and I'm afraid things are going to start growing on it.

By the time he turned one, he was keeping us running around in circles. He is a true, natural athlete and at that age he wouldn't sit still for more than a couple seconds at a time. He wasn't interested in books or tv because it meant he had to sit down and couldn't be running around or throwing something. If there was a chance that he could be outside, he was out there. He loved to dance and didn't even care if there was music or not.

Throughout the next year, he really started developing a personality. He was such an easy baby, but has not been the easiest toddler. He is very independent and more stubborn than anyone I've ever known. He can throw one heck of a tantrum and will absolutely refuse to do something that he does not want to do. Timeouts have been super effective with him.

He started to really like books and loves to read before bed every night. He also started to love movies, especially Cars, which he would watch all day, every day if we would let him. Along with his obsession with his duck, he has also grown completely fascinated by airplanes, trains, cars, and boats.

He loved his binky and wanted to have it all the time. After he turned 1, we only allowed him to have it in bed, so he would try to climb into his crib so that he could have his binky. He never tried to climb out, but he managed to climb IN a couple times, so we decided that we better switch him to a toddler bed. He LOVED this transition and would often go lay in his bed by himself so that he could have his dumb binky. When he turned 2, we tried to take the binky away. This was a horrible experience for us and no one in our house (or maybe even our entire neighborhood) slept for 3 weeks. Our doctor told us that "sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take a step forward" and said we should just give it back to him and try again later. We gave it back and then took it away again a couple months later and it was like he never even had one in the first place. He never cried about it and never asked about it. He must have just been ready to give it up.

Some other things about Cooper before he turned 2:

• He loves the water, whether it be the river, the little plastic pool in the back yard, or swimming in the big pool with Mommy and Daddy.
• He hasn't been an illness-prone kid. He's never had an ear infection and he's hardly ever sick.
• He isn't scared of mascots and Santa or the Easter bunny, unless they try to hold him. He loves to give them high fives and wants to follow them around. 
• He doesn't like Pizza! What kid doesn't like Pizza?!
• He has always loved Rocky and isn't scared of any other animals. 
• He's always been a "Mama's Boy" but he really likes his Bumpa, too.
• He'll sleep pretty much anywhere if he's tired.