Trip to the Zoo

This weekend we went to Tacoma to visit David's friend, Cortney. We did some shopping on the way there on Saturday and went to the zoo on Sunday. We had a good time playing some games and made Taco Pie for dinner, which is always a big crowd pleaser. Cooper did so good at the zoo. His favorites were the monkeys, the sharks, and the walrus'.

Here's Cooper, ready and excited to go to the zoo. He had to bring his Lightning McQueen car and his Ducky along. He literally takes them everywhere! You'll see them in most of the pictures. 

Looking at the bears outside the zoo entrance.

Playing in the Kids Zone

He loved the big fish.

Sharks!

Trying to get a better view of the seals.

This walrus was so cool! It kept coming up to Cooper and just hanging out. 

After the zoo:

He slept for more than 5 hours! He was a tired little boy.

No Smiles for the Camera

This is the best face I get when I pull out the camera. Cooper either looks down at the floor, runs away from me, or growls at me (he likes to pretend to be a Monster). It's a bummer too, because he has such a perfect smile when the camera is not around, but this face still melts my heart.

Not much has happened in the last couple of weeks. The weather has been so nice lately, so we've been outside a lot. We take walks most nights of the week, Cooper in his wagon and Rocky right alongside us - usually pulling us to go faster or slowing us down so he can smell/mark his territory. Rocky get's overjoyed when we grab the leash. He's generally a pretty calm dog, but he can hardly contain himself when he knows he gets to go for a walk. In a couple months it will be warm enough to take him to the river and let him swim. He is a seriously happy pup when he gets to swim in the river. 

Cooper is starting to play more and more with Rocky, who outweighs him by more than double, so Cooper usually ends up on the floor when he plays tug-o-war with him, but he still doesn't let go of the rope. He lets Rocky drag him around the living room and he has a smile on his face the whole time. It sounds sorta bad, but if you know Rocky, you know he'd never hurt Cooper. They are pretty cute together.

We bought Cooper a super awesome wagon, and I can't decide what he likes better - the wagon or the box it came in! The wagon has been so perfect for walks. He brings along all his favorite toys and his choo-choo train blanket and we are set to go. We were storing the wagon in the basement when we aren't using it, but Cooper insists that it be in the living room. The majority of the time that he's awake, at home, and not outside, he's either playing in the box or sitting in the wagon in the living room.  

This was him at a softball game.

This face makes me smile!

Cooper has been going to bed so good lately! No more fighting, crying, rocking, or laying down with him forever. But we usually find him like this:

We just move him into bed and he's good for the night. He even let us sleep in both days last weekend, which was really nice!

This weekend we are heading to the west side of the state. Shopping, friends, and the zoo. We are excited!

Our Little Talker

t's almost like Cooper has been having a speech therapist come and tutor him while David and I were sleeping the last couple of nights because he wakes up talking better and better every morning. It is so awesome to hear him using full sentences and saying more and more words. It amazes me how much better his talking gets every single day. And he's started singing along with the songs in his favorite movies. It's the cutest thing ever! He doesn't really know all the words, so it's more like he is mumbling/humming, but it makes David and I get really quiet just so we can listen to him. Awwww, so cute!

We had a lot of visitors last weekend. My sister and her family came into town from Spokane, so we got to hang out with them a little bit. Cooper had a blast playing with the girls at the park. He always gets so excited to see them, but he is so used to having all of the toys at Grammy and Bumpa's house to himself, so he struggles with sharing them a little bit. Especially the hot wheels! He thinks they are all his, and so does Becca. There were many fights over those cars. The funniest thing was watching Becca pull car after car out of her pockets, where she had hidden them so Cooper couldn't take them away. She must have had at least 3 in each little pocket! So funny! I think Cooper may have learned not to take cars away from her though. Don't let the sweet, innocent appearance fool you, she's one tough little girl! haha. But even after their fight, which ended with Becca in timeout and Cooper crying with marks all over his face from where Becca hit him a couple times with the car, he still wakes up asking to go see Becca today. I'm sure this is just the beginning of the many fights that will happen between those two, but they still love to be around each other. I'm really glad that he has so many cousins his age to grow up with.

How many different ways can Bumpa attempt to get Cooper on his bike with him?

Well at least they are wearing helmets right? Ha, like I would let them do that.

David's niece, Missy, and her son Logan were also in town this weekend. We don't see them nearly enough! Logan is about 5 months older than Cooper, so it's really fun to watch them play together. We went to a birthday party for David's niece, Aiva, who turned 1 this weekend. Look at all the Gussenhoven toddler cousins! We don't get them all together very often so I'm really glad we were able to get a picture.

Also in town were our friends Mica, Andrew, and their baby Maya, but we only got to see them for a quick second at another birthday party for our good buddy, Reid. Maya is so tiny! I want one of those so bad. I don't even care if it's a girl or a boy, just as long as he or she is healthy. It seems like there are babies or pregnant woman everywhere. It's starting to make David and I really sad about not being pregnant yet. If we hadn't had our first miscarriage, we'd be having our baby in about a week. I'm starting to get really bummed out that Cooper is going to be so much older than his little brother or sister. I wanted them to be about 2 years apart in age, but now they'll be at least 3. *Big Sigh* We've been trying to get pregnant for about 10 months now and I know the miscarriage slowed everything down, but it shouldn't have set us back this far right? I'm hoping there's not a fertility issue, so if we aren't pregnant in the next 2 months, I'll probably go see what my doctor can do for us.

On Sunday we went to the park with Cooper's cousins and came home just in time for lunch and a nap. After more than 3 hours napping, I finally decided it was time to wake Cooper up and he was burning up. He was running a 102.7 degree fever with no other symptoms at all. We gave him some Tylenol and he cooled down pretty quick. He was in a really good mood though and didn't seem to be affected by the fever. He went to bed that night with no fever, but I went to check on him before I went to bed and he was at 103.3! That's scary for me! We gave him more Tylenol and let him sleep with us downstairs in the basement where it's a little cooler. I set an alarm so I could check on him in an hour, and his fever had gone down to 101 by then, and down to 99.1 after another hour. In the morning he was good as new and hasn't had a fever since.

So we've been saving our pennies to buy a boat and we have even gone at looked at a couple. We picked one out and were so excited to get it. And then this responsible girl took over me and told me to put our money in savings and get a boat next summer when David is employed and has health insurance again. The thought of blowing our entire savings while he doesn't have a job or insurance scares me. Who is this responsible girl and how do I make her go away?! haha. I really wanted that boat! Hopefully we won't have to touch our savings and a good boat will come around next year when David is employed again.

Cooper was always a really good sleeper. Ever since he was a baby he has liked going to bed and didn't like to be rocked to sleep or anything. He just wanted to be put in his crib and left alone. That all changed right before he turned two. Bedtime has been a struggle since then. We didn't change anything in our routine, he just decided he'd rather stay up with us and since then bedtime has been no fun for any of us. We've had to rock him to sleep or lay down with him in his bed or listen to him scream and cry for about 3 months now. We tried a bigger bed and that's helped a little bit, but it's still a fight. Some nights he doesn't go to sleep until 11 or later, and he has to wake up at 6:30 so that he can go to the babysitter while David and I are at work. That's not enough sleep for a 2 year old and this phase has not been easy on us, but I think it's finally coming to an end. These days David and I are excited when he's asleep before 8:30 and we celebrate when he goes to sleep on his own, without being rocked or having to have one of us lay down with him and last night was one of those nights and so was tonight! WOO HOO! Hopefully he'll keep that up. It makes for a tired Mommy and Daddy when we have to fight with him until 11:00 to go to sleep, and then when he finally goes to sleep I still have to do the dinner dishes and laundry and everything else while David works into the wee morning hours on his homework. It's so cute that he has this whole big bed to himself and he sleeps in a tiny ball near the edge of it.

Ooops, okay, so don't laugh about his jammies not matching... I just grabbed whatever was in his drawer not thinking that anyone else would see him.

We had a really hard time finding sports-themed curtain rods, so we decided to make our own. We spray painted a wooden dowel, drilled some holes in some baseballs and glued them on. Ta-da!

This made me smile! In the bathtub last night, Cooper was drawing with his bath crayons and said, "Look Mommy, a snake!" And then he drew tons of snakes for me.

Whenever we go anywhere, Cooper insists on having his arms full of his stuffed animals. He wants to take his Duckie and his Monkey everywhere! And he has a couple trucks and cars that he favors for the road as well. This is what he looks like even if we are just going to the store.  

Countdown to some days that I'm really looking forward to:

15 days - We are heading to Seattle to visit our friend Cortney, do some shopping, and go to the zoo!

22 days - Easter weekend! Easter egg hunts, family, candy and friends!

35 days - David's last day student teaching! Hallelujah!

55 days - My Grandparents are coming into town from CA.

57 days - David's graduation! He'll earn his Masters ~ the most expensive piece of paper we'll ever pay for.

106 days - The Beach! I am so excited about this vacation!

148 days - David's Dad turns 80!