Brothers

There is no mistake about it, these boys are definitely brothers!

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero." ~ Mark Brown

This is Cooper when he was a baby:

This is Carter:  

At first glance, they look so much alike and they have so many other similarities, but they are also so different and completely opposite in so many ways.

Similarities:

• They both make this face a lot. We call it the "Zoolander." I haven't been able to get a great picture of Carter doing it, so this one that I took with my phone will have to do.
  
  
  This is Carter:
  
  
  
  This is Cooper:
  

• They both were born with LOTS of dark hair. I love it! 
• They both sleep with their arms up and don't want to be swaddled.
  
  This is Carter:
  
  
  
  This is Cooper: 
  
  
  

Differences:

• Cooper didn't like getting bathed when he was a baby and Carter loves it from beginning to end. 
• Cooper loved the pacifier. He used it from the time he was a tiny baby until we finally took it away when he was 2. He wanted it all day and all night for those 2 years and it was quite the battle for us to get it away. Carter refuses to let us put one in his mouth. He doesn't want to have anything to do it. We've tried several different kinds and he hates them all equally.  
• Cooper was born with dark, thick eyebrows (actually it was a uni-brow) and super long, dark eyelashes. Carter has very light, barely there eyebrows and really short and light eyelashes. 
• Although they look so much alike, Cooper's baby pictures look just like his Mommy's baby pictures, while Carter's baby pictures look just like his Daddy's baby pictures. It's crazy how alike they look at first glance, but when you look really closely at them you can see how much more Carter looks like David and how much Cooper takes after me. They are both a good mixture of the 2 of us though. 
• Cooper was not a good nurser and ended up on formula pretty early on. Carter has been a great nurser from the get-go.  
• We used a bassinet with Cooper because it had a vibration feature on it that he really liked and it would always put him to sleep right away if we were having a rough time in the middle of the night. Carter absolutely hates the vibrating, both in the bassinet and in the papasan bouncer chair.  
• To fall asleep at night, Cooper never wanted to be rocked or held. He wanted to be layed down in his crib and left alone. He always went to sleep so great and really seemed to love having that quiet, alone time. He hated music, the sound spa, lights on the ceiling, or any other sort of stimulation when it was bed time. Carter wants to be held, rocked, and nursed to sleep. If he isn't in a deep sleep, he wakes up right after we put him down and we have to hold him until he falls asleep again. He loves to be held and doesn't want to be put down when he's awake. He's very needy in that sense. I don't remember Cooper wanting to be held that much. 
• Cooper used to pee on us right when we'd take the diaper off, so we learned quickly to take it off and quickly put it back to catch the pee. Carter waits to pee until after we've already cleaned everything and are applying the diaper rash cream. We get peed on quite often. 

Carter is 1 month old already! Time is seriously flying by. His 1 month check-up was great. He is as healthy as can be and is growing like a weed. He has grown an inch and a half (23" now) and over a pound (10 lbs, 9 oz). He's a big boy and is wearing 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. He had his nights/days switched around until this week. I was averaging about 3 hours of sleep from when he was born until this week. I have no idea how I was functioning because I wasn't getting any naps during the day either. Now I'm getting a lot of sleep. And by a lot, I mean stretches of 5 solid hours at night, and only being up for 15-30 minutes to nurse when he wakes up. Then he's back down for almost 2 more hours. I feel like a whole new person! Now if I could only get them to nap at the same time during the day then I'll be set!  

Cooper is soooo great with him. He is the best big brother! Carter doesn't like to be in the car seat unless it is moving. Thankfully, Cooper loves to rock his car seat while I run around like a crazy woman locking the doors, turning off the lights and loading up the car. It always makes Carter stop crying and Cooper just loves it. It makes me so happy that Cooper isn't jealous and actually likes being a big brother. He can't go to bed without giving Carter a kiss and a hug and telling him how much he loves him. He wants to be wherever Carter is and is very concerned when he cries. Cooper likes to help burp him and is constantly rubbing his hair. He sings him songs, shows him all his toys, and reads to him throughout the day. He tells me all the time how much he loves his baby brother and that he wants a baby sister too. I am 99.9% sure that this will not be happening. I love my two boys and I think two is the perfect number for us.

Cooper has discovered David's iPod and loves it!

He puts all of his toys on his bed and then sleeps with barely any space for himself. It can't be comfortable and I don't know how he doesn't fall off the bed, but he takes 2-3 hour naps and I'm not about to mess with that so I just let him sleep how he wants to sleep. 

The weather has finally gotten a little warmer out so we've been able to play outside.
Here's Cooper driving his truck that Santa got him for Christmas:

Some great news: David just got a continuing contract! YAH! We are so relieved that he won't have to apply for a new teaching position after this year is over. He loves the school that he's teaching at and is very happy to be staying there. 

My schooling has been a little more challenging this semester than it was last semester. I only took 1 week off from class after I had Carter, so I've been going to class 4 nights a week, for 3 hours and it has been going well. Finding time to do the homework is the challenging part, but somehow I'm managing it. I stay home with the boys during the day and run out the door shortly after David gets home from work, leaving him with the boys in the evenings. It's quite the busy schedule for us, but we are making it work. We sure do love the weekends though! 

Tara did the following pictures of Carter for us. She does great work!