Another Christmas present

On Christmas day Donna, Diane, Grandma Charlene and I went upstairs to change Cooper's diaper. They weren't coming up to watch me change his diaper, they were coming up to see if I could get him to giggle. He almost always giggles when I change his diaper on his changing table and he actually did it! I was so glad they all got to hear it, it is one of my favorite sounds. So then I was telling them about how much he moves when he is in his crib so we tried to see if he would do that. Of course he wouldn't do that but he did do something he has never done before - he rolled over! I had put him on his tummy and he rolled over to his back. He has been moving and rolling over to his side but never from his tummy to his back. I just stood there and couldn't believe it. I only wish Rob would have been up there so he could have seen it as well.

Christmas

Every year at Christmas I always get so stressed out and end up not enjoying Christmas as much as I should. This year I have to say was really different. We did all the same things we always do but it was different, I don't know if it was because of Cooper or just seeing things a little differently. I made 9 different kinds of cookies, baked banana bread, made Krumkaka with mom and made two batches of Chex mix. This did stress me out a little bit because I had a deadline of Wednesday night because Rob was giving some of the cookies to his employees for their presents. But I still enjoyed baking them, the late nights got to me though. Dad, Christy and I did our tradition of going shopping for mom on Christmas eve morning. They came out to our house at 6:00 and Rob watched both babies while we had breakfast at Perkins, shopped and wrapped the presents. We stopped at my aunt Anne and Uncle Denny's house for a short visit before we headed to mom and dad's for our Christmas Eve tradition. We have oyster stew, read the Christmas story and open presents. James and Natalie always stop over with their boys so we can exchange Christmas presents with them. Having the boys over gave us a glimpse of what our Christmases are going to be like in the future with two kids running around. Christmas morning I got up made us a nice breakfast, we opened stockings from Santa and just relaxed. Then got ready for all of Rob's family to come over to open presents and for dinner. We opened presents for about an hour and a half before Cindy, Doug and Brian came over and we still weren't done. I always enjoy watching people open the gifts we bought for them. This year was no different. When ever we asked Tim what he wanted for Christmas he only said one thing. An Vikings Adrian Peterson jersey. So to be funny Rob made him a Peterson Jersey from an old t-shirt and told him that we couldn't afford the real thing. So after he didn't have any presents left to open I brought out one last present that we forgot to give him - the real Peterson jersey! At least we thought it was funny. Dinner was great! Everyone brought something and thankfully Grandma Charlene helped with the gravy. I was nervous to make the gravy by myself, I have never done it without my mom's help.

So even though we did a lot for Christmas it was probably the best one I can remember. Even though Cooper had no idea what was going on and slept most of the time, it was so amazing having him there with us. He did attempt to tear at a couple pieces of wrapping paper and seemed to enjoy all the attention he got.

Reflecting

As I am sitting at my desk today, I realized exactly one year ago today I found out I was pregnant. Where does the time go? I remember not feeling right all day at work so when I got home from work I went upstairs and took the test. I waited and waited and then I saw the little lines forming. I was so shocked at first I was speechless. If you ask Rob this hardly ever happens. Anyway when I found my voice I started screaming for Rob over and over. I made my way downstairs to where Rob was sitting on the couch watching TV. I couldn't tell him I just stuck the test in front of his face and then we sat and stared at each other. Neither of us could believe it was real, we were so shocked, terrified and excited.



Now a year later I can't imagine what life would be without Cooper. He has changed our lives in so many ways and is such a blessing. I enjoy every minute I get to spend with him.

What no Christmas Card?

I have been feeling really guilty about not sending out a Christmas card this year. We have done it every year since Rob and I started dating. Especially now with Cooper I thought it would be fun to send out a Christmas card. Well with sending out the birth announcements late we kind of ran out of time. So I took these pictures today and figured I could at least add them to the blog so people can see how much he has grown since the announcement picture where he was 6 weeks old. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

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Crib

Last night Cooper moved from his play pen in our room to his crib for the first time! With our cats and how many times I get up to check on him it made me feel better having him in our room. Rob kept pushing me to have him sleep in his room, he kept saying "he is going to be in our room until his is 15!" So I finally gave in. Of course he was fine but boy did he move! When we put him to bed he was in the middle of the crib with his sleep positioner and wrapped in his blanket. When I went to get him ready for daycare he was at the end of the crib with his face against the bumper pad and is body sticking out at a 90 degree angle. It didn't look to comfortable to me.

Christmas Concert

Tonight to help us get in the holiday spirt Rob and I went to see the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus' (http://www.tcgmc.org/) production of Homespun Holidays. I was kind of surprised Rob said he would go since normally when I ask him to go to something like this, he tells me no. I think the reason he agreed had something to do with the fact that his co-worker and friend Terry was in the chorus. I love Christmas music and was so excited to go. We dropped Cooper off at the Peterson's and headed to the U of M campus where the concert was. Of course before the show I figured I had better run to the bathroom just in case. I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't a line for the women's bathroom, only the men's! The first act was very serious and formal. During the intermission Rob and I walked around and then we called to check on Cooper before the second act started and of course he was doing great. We had both been away from Cooper separately but this was our first night out together since he was born. The second act started and it was great! The last song is their signature song they sing at every show called Walk hand in hand with me. They asked everyone to hold hands. It was really amazing to see a whole auditorium filled with so many different people holding hands and singing together. I had to wipe my eye when it was done I was so moved. If you have never been to see the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus I highly recommend you do so, we really enjoyed it.

Rob FINALLY joins me in the 30's

After hearing old jokes for the last 2+ years Rob has finally joined me in the 30's. We couldn't let this milestone birthday quietly pass by so partied like we were in our 20's again. We were lucky to have so many friends and family come during the busy holiday season. We had three babies in the house under the age of 4 months. They were passed around like little footballs. Everyone wanted to hold them. I finally had to cut the night short at 3 am because I know Cooper wouldn't sleep in and would probably be up at 6 am. I think the last person went to bed around 6:00 am. Needless to say everyone seemed to have a really good time and Rob was welcomed into the 30's with a bang.

Doctor

Today I took Cooper to the doctor. He has been fighting a cold since about Thanksgiving and three of the kids at daycare are also sick. I was sure it was just a virus and there was nothing they could do, but I had to be sure. I was starting to get worried about him being dehydrated and if I should continue sending him to daycare. So after my 2 hour commute home in horrible traffic because of a snow storm; Cooper and I headed out. Thankfully traffic had cleared up and the roads were much better. When we got to the doctors office we were the only patients there! I guess no one else wanted to brave the weather and the roads. We luckily were able to see Cooper's regular doctor, I swear she is always working. She checked him out and said what I thought she was going to say "it's a virus and continue what you are doing". A $20.00 copay is totally worth my piece of mind that he is going to be ok and we were doing everything we could for our little guy. Also a little fun fact - even with being sick he gained another pound since his two month appointment so he now is 15 pounds and 8 ozs!

Grandma Charlene turns 88

Today we met Rob's grandma Charlene, Di, Rog, Donna, Ron, Nate and Tim in Rochester to celebrate Grandma turning 88. Thankfully the weather held out. There was talk of rescheduling because of Saturdays snow. We rented a hotel room and had a potluck because grandma doesn't like going out to eat. Everything was super good and we had a great time.

Fingers

Cooper found his fingers this week! Instead of trying to shove his whole hand into his mouth he is using just his pointer finger. It is so amazing to watch him. He changes so much from week to week.

Daycare

Today was Cooper's first full day at daycare. I got up early and was able to change him, feed him and put him back to sleep until Rob got up. Rob drops Cooper off at Ms. Christie's and I get to pick him up. I was really proud of myself, I only called Ms. Christie once today but I thought about calling all day. When I did call of course Cooper was doing just fine. After watching the clock all afternoon it was finally time for me to leave. I rushed to the car and I have to say it was the longest ride home ever. I am so glad I don't carpool because anyone else in the car would have smacked me. I was tapping my fingers and yelling at people to get out of my way. Thankfully with my new hours traffic wasn't to bad and I was able to get to Ms. Christie's in 25 minutes but that was 24 minutes to long. When I got there and Cooper was in the swing sleeping and content. When we got home I took him out of his car seat and stood in the kitchen with my jacket on and held him for 10 minutes before I would let Rob take him so I could take my jacket off. Here are a couple pictures I took after I finally put him down.

Thankful

This year as Thanksgiving weekend rolled around it made me realize how thankful I really am. We started out the long weekend on Thursday by having a fantastic dinner at Rob's parents house. The house was full of Petersons, Englers, Dittmans, Hansons and Gelderts. Cooper enjoyed spending time with his Great Grandma who took him down stairs and rocked him where it was quiet. He also got to meet his future fishing buddy Abby who was born a month before him. After leaving the Peterson's I had to drop our dogs off at my parent's house so Cooper and I were able to see my parents and the Duran's as well. Kaylin looked so cute in her Thanksgiving dress. I had Friday off from work so Cooper and I hung out while Rob worked half a day. After being away from him on Wednesday, I have to admit I didn't put him down much. When Rob got home we packed up the truck and headed down south to Freeborn for the night to visit James, Natalie, Jordan and Jake. Jordan was so good with Cooper, he wanted to hold him all the time. Jake helped me feed Cooper and entertained Cooper while I was changing him. It was really good to visit with James and Natalie as well. Especially since the last time we saw them James was still in the hospital recovering from his fall so it was really great to see him up walking around. Saturday on the way home from Freeborn we stopped at the Peterson's again to spend more time with Rob's parents, Grandma and Aunt Di. We played a fun game of Hand and Foot and had another great meal. On Sunday my parents, Christy, Adrian, Kaylin and Brandon came over to our house to watch the Vikings game and visit. We have been trying to get together for all the Vikings games to catch up with each other and see the babies. Of course we had to take pictures of Cooper and Kaylin together, here is one of the kids playing on Cooper's baby Einstein mat.

So even with all the running around it made me realize how lucky we are to have our incredible son, great family and wonderful friends to spend the holidays with.

First day back to work

Today was my first day back to work. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I had the hardest time when I was driving in. I had to keep telling myself that I couldn't turn around and go back home. I had to keep thinking of other things besides Cooper so I wouldn't cry. Once I got back to work it felt good to be back and it wasn't that hard. Everyone wanted to see pictures of Cooper and I was able to spend most of my day talking about my favorite subject. I am really glad I have Thursday and Friday off though before I go back to work for real. The test run went well.

Giggles

Cooper had his first giggle last night while I was changing him into his pajamas. It is the cutest thing! I tried to get him to repeat it so Rob could hear it but of course he didn't cooperate. He is also starting to be ticklish and smiles when you tickle him. Tonight I had Rob come up with me when I changed Cooper to see if he would do it for Rob and he did! I will try and get it on video and upload it.

Bath time

Cooper loves taking baths and is all smiles while he is in there. Rob gave Cooper his first bath 2 weeks ago, here are some pictures from it. I love how Diego got in there to see what was going on.

Santa!

Last night we took Cooper to Macy's for the 8th floor holiday display. I know it's early but we wanted to beat the crowds. It was fun to watch him look at the lights and stare at everything. After going through the display we stopped to see Santa and Cooper got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time. He just sat there and stared, it was so cute.

Back to work

Now that I have some time since Cooper is hanging out with Rob, I feel I should apologize for the delay in posting lately (starting with Nate's wedding and up). We were having computer problems and I couldn't log in to update the blog. I finally figured out the problem after mom almost driving me crazy by saying "You haven't updated your blog yet" every time I talked to her. So now it's updated and I will try and keep updating it as much as possible. It might become easier when I go back to work since I can do it on my lunch breaks. Speaking of going back to work. I had planned on going back to work the Monday after Thanksgiving. After doing some thinking I realized if I went back to work the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I could work for one day and get holiday pay for Thanksgiving and Friday. Needless to say it was a no brainer - so I will be officially going back to work on November 21st. I am kind of excited to go back and get into the swing of things again, but I am not sure how I feel about leaving Cooper for that long. Our daycare lady is pretty amazing. She offered to take Cooper twice for 2 hours for free. So he could get used to going there and I could ease into being away from him while he was at her house. Last Tuesday I did drop him off for 2 hours and it was easier than I thought it would be. It was almost harder to leave the diaper bag (my new purse) than it was to leave him there. Weird huh? The two hours just flew by and I was excited to go back and pick him up. When I was getting him back into his chair all the little girls surrounded his chair and were touching his feet and face, it was so cute. He will be the only boy there so that might get interesting when he gets older.

First Football game at the dome

Yesterday we took Cooper to his first football game at the dome. My cousin Wayne's son plays football for Bemidji State (Jake Anderson #24) and they played their last game at the dome last night. A lot of my family showed up for the game: my parents, Christy, Kaylin, my cousin Brandon, my cousin Wayne, his wife Jackie and their daughter Laura. It was a good game, Bemidji won 56 to 28. Now if only the Gophers could do the same.

Wayne, Jackie and Laura were also in town for another reason. Their daughter Kayla's volleyball team won their region and came to the Xcel Center to try for state. Unfortunately they didn't make it, but what a great season! So Cooper also had his first trip to the Xcel Center on Thursday for the Volleyball game. So it was a big weekend for sporting events for Cooper, he is still sleeping now after all the excitement.

2 Month Doctor appointment

Yesterday we had Cooper's 2 month doctors appointment. They told us what we already knew - he is a perfect baby. Rob hasn't stopped calling him that since we got home last night, it's kind of funny. I tried really hard not to cry when he got his three shots, but I have to admit my eyes did get tears in them. He cried so hard until we could pick him up and console him. He is off the charts in most of his measurements, here they are:

Height: 25 inches - 97 percentile
Weight: 14 pounds 8 ounces - 95 - 97 percentile
Head size: 41 centimeters - 75-90 percentile

He is growing so fast! At two months he is already in 6 month clothes!

Uncle Scooby

Since Uncle Tim wasn't able to see Cooper in his Halloween costume he came over last night to see Cooper. Rob thought it would be a good idea to have Tim dress up in his (Rob's) Scooby costume and take pictures of the two of them together. It was a lot of fun.

Cousin's

Every time we see Kaylin we take pictures of the kids together. They are just so cute. Of course it never seems to work that the kids are both awake and happy together. One of them is either crying or sleeping. When they are both awake one of them usually ends up hitting the other. Good thing they are too young to know what they are really doing. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Halloween

Every year for Halloween we take the Hester kids out trick or treating. This year was no different, OK maybe a little different. Our day started out with having Grandma and Grandpa Peterson come over for lunch to see Cooper in his Halloween outfit. They brought Cooper a Halloween book for him to read every Halloween, what a great gift. Then it was time to put on his costume from Uncle Tim. It was a little small but it looked so cute on him. After lunch we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Boie's house for pizza and tricker treating with the Hester kids. Cooper didn't go out tricker treating with the kids but they really enjoyed seeing him again. Christy, Adrian and Kaylin also came to mom and dad's house, so of course we had to take pictures of the cousin's together.

What a beautiful flower!!

It's amazing how fast the night went. We headed out around 6:30 and then all of a sudden it was 9:30 and we still needed to sort candy and then take the kids home. It was a long exhausting night, but a lot of fun.

Cooper's first trip to the lake

This past weekend we took Cooper up to my parent's lake cabin for the first time. We had to winterize the boat and take it into storage before the snow falls. Since we didn't get up there when it was still nice here is Cooper dressed for his first boat ride up at the lake. Can you say Christmas story?? I was amazed that the 3-6 month snow suit I had bought for him right after he was born was almost too small for him already. We couldn't button the first button. Unfortunately Cooper slept through the entire boat ride, but we did get some cute pictures.

My parents really enjoyed having Cooper up there for the weekend as well. I can't wait until Cooper gets older and can't wait to go up there like I do.

Nate's wedding

We took Cooper to his first wedding this weekend. Rob's cousin Nate got married in Viroqua Wisconsin. Cooper was such a great little guy as usual. He hardly fussed the whole way there and then got to meet his Great Grandma Charline who was so excited to meet him and rock him. Rob was an usher in the wedding so Grandma Donna and Grandpa Ron watched Cooper at Great Grandma's house while Rob and I went to the rehearsal. After the rehearsal we drove to Lacrosse where the reception was to check into our hotel and to go to the rehearsal dinner. We had a good time at the dinner and the food was great. It has been raining for what feels like the last week or so and thankfully Saturday was beautiful! All the family that was in town for the wedding met at Grandma's house for lunch before the wedding, she is such a great cook. The ceremony was beautiful and Nate and Greta looked so happy. Cooper didn't make a sound during the whole wedding even though he was awake for part of it. After the wedding we took some family pictures and then headed back to Lacrosse for the reception.

We had a great time at the reception as well. Here are a couple more pictures from the wedding.

And lastly our handsome boy in is big boy outfit.