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: