Wicked Cute

Had to share these photos of Coop in his first Red Sox t-shirt (thanks, Nana and Grandpa!)


Wicket Cute



Hey look, Mom, feet!


Uhhhh....I didn't do it....

Ok...it was me. Sorry, Mom, I just spit up on my shirt like 30 seconds after you put it on me...are you mad?

You can't be made at this! I'm too cute!

Huh?

Yikes! Flash!

I want that camera, Dad! I'm coming to get it.

Is it baseball season yet? Go Sox!

Cooper's Milestones - 4 months

Cooper will be 4 months old tomorrow. Wow--crazy! The last month has been a whirlwind of milestones for him.

• Just after Christmas (like 2 days after we got home), he started giggling. Here is a video or two of it (sorry it's sideways, Nathan turned the camera up, not realizing we couldn't rotate the video later.) Such fun to make Cooper giggle.
  

• Baby Talk - Cooper has found his voice. And boy does he LOVE to talk. When he's awake and not eating or spitting up, he's usually talking. Having his fingers in his mouth, which is also about as often as he's awake, does not stop him from his constant stream of baby language. Him being awake in church may now pose a problem...How do you get a 4-month old to be quiet without a pacifier, which for some reason he only likes when he is nearly asleep, or between the hours of 7-8 pm before bath time. Yes, I ended up with one of THOSE kids who doesn't really like a pacifier.



• Squeals - Along the lines of giggles and goos, add to the mix the occasional squeal. When Cooper gets very excited about something, he squeals a very high-pitched squeal of delight. Cooper also squeals when he wants your attention, and he has a much lower-pitched squeal/scream of frustration or anger. He is already learning how to get his way and how to throw fits when he doesn't get what he wants. I have already started using the word "No" on occasion when he's doing something I REALLY don't want him to do. I say it short, succinct, and in a low tone of voice, and he understands now that that means to stop whatever it is he is doing. Now if only he remains so obedient....hah!


• Rolly poly - Cooper is a little roly poly. Before Christmas (which was his 3-month b-day), he started rolling consistantly from belly to back. Back then if I put him on his belly, he would endure it for no more than 2-3 minutes after which time he would loudly protest. Last week, after a week or so of trying and trying, he finally mastered rolling from back to belly. He thinks this is great! Now when I put him on his back, he almost immediately rolls to his belly.


• Army-crawler...but only in circles - Cooper is learning to push with his feet and pull with his arms in a sort of army crawl to get to things he wants. He's not as consistent with this yet, but there are occasions where he will do this over and over, but not really go anywhere except in a circle. It's hilarious because you can see what he wants or where he wants to go, and he tries so hard to do it, but can't quite. I'll usually let him try for awhile and then help him when he gets mad that he can't do it yet on his own. He is very stubborn, but also persistent.


• Eating solid foods - I know you're supposed to wait until your baby is at least 4-months old to give them solid foods. Well, 2 weeks ago Cooper was clearly ready, and I figured 2 weeks was close enough. The first few bites he was unsure, but ever since I can't seem to shovel it in fast enough. He LOVES it. Tonight he was fussy and hungry. I was feeding him a bottle, but then decided to give him rice cereal before he got too tired. I stopped the bottle just as I was opening the cupboard to get out his bowl. He started to protest the taking away of the bottle until saw the bowl. Then he just watched in quiet anticipation until I walked over to the counter where the rice cereal was, and poured it into the bowl. He squealed in delight. What a kid.


• I have feet, Mom! Yes, Cooper recently discovered his feet. He most often plays with them sans pants. For some reason when his pants are on, he thinks his feet don't exist or something, but the second his pants come off...voila! Feet! [This outfit seemed to be the exception, so I snapped a shot.]

• Just tonight Cooper mastered holding his own bottle. I have not tried to teach him to do this. Maybe the baby sitter did? In any case, I was surprised and a little sad. Thank goodness he still nurses in the mornings, evenings, and on the weekends so I can still have my baby for most feedings. He's growing up too fast.



• Cooper wants very badly to be able to sit on his own. The bumbo chair only frustrates him because he can't reach things he wants. He is in heaven if we sit with him and hold him up while he plays. My guess is that he will be sitting within a few weeks. He's nearly there...

Other noteable Cooper-isms:

• Cooper is an awe of the camera. The second we get it out to snap a shot of whatever cute thing he is doing, he instantly gives us this face....and stares at the camera....

Getting the right shot is SO HARD with this kid!

• Cooper's favorite song is "Do as I'm Doing." A lot of times in the car he is loudly expressing his opinion about being in his carseat. No matter why he is crying or fussing, singing this song will very nearly always stop him mid-cry. Today in church I was helping Nathan teach the 4-5 year old class. During singing time Cooper was sitting on my lap, and they happened to sing "Do as I'm Doing." He immediately burst into a wild grin and flailed his arms around. He was too excited to even giggle. The chorister noticed it from the front of the room and commented. Too funny. Hey, he may not take a pacifier, but "Do as I'm Doing" works pretty darn good!


• Cooper also loves "The Wheels on the Bus" song, especially if you make his arms go "round and round."


• Cooper LOVES Julie Andrews' singing. I have an old Disney CD box set from when I was young. (I admit that I bought it when I was in my early 20s, hoping to have it for my kids someday.) I usually pop in a CD while Cooper takes a bath. He'll be playing with his toys, and not making any indication he's listening to the music, that is until Julie Andrews comes on singing one song or another from Mary Poppins. As soon as he hears her, he will stop what he's doing and just listen for a minute or two. He's even cracked a big smile a time or two. He especially loves "A Spoonful of Sugar" and "Stay Awake."


• Cooper loves to read. OK, not really READ, but he loves books. Every night before bed we read at least one, and sometimes he'll sit and let me read 4 or 5 in a row. He has figured out how to help turn the pages of his baby books. [He also likes to EAT the books as much as look at or listen to them being read.]
• To fall asleep Cooper MUST be swaddled tightly, arms included, and the blanket MUST be touching his face. If the blanket is not next to his face, good luck getting him to sleep! I did not encourage this behavior. Sometimes if he's in his carseat and I don't have a blanket readily available, I'll put his burp cloth around his face/head and fake him out. He instantly snuggles down.
• When he's really tired and wants to go to sleep, he's waiting for swaddling. The minute I lay down the blanket, lay him on it, and pull up one corner, he smiles. When entirely swaddled, he usually gives me a very happy and thankful grin. Speaking of which, I'd better end this blog and go do my swaddling duties. He's very loudly letting me know right now that I am neglecting his bed time.

Lunchtime thoughts about women

As I was stuck in traffic this morning on the way to work, I heard a story on Morning Edition on NPR (see story here) that spurred many thoughts about womens' rights, women who work outside the home, women who work in the home, dual-income households, single-income households, and a bunch of other thoughts. So as I sit here eating my lunch, I thought I'd jot down a few of the thoughts this story provoked, hoping that I don't offend any of you with my thoughts.

Many stats in the beginning of the news story caught my attention (taken directly from article referenced above):

• Until 1964, a woman could legally be fired when she got married. Even a woman with a college degree likely made less than a man with a high-school diploma.

[My thought on this...holy cow, really? We sure have come a long way for womens' rights.]

• For the first time ever among those age 44 and younger —-more women than men have college degrees.

[That's right girls--way to go!]

• "We found that increasingly, women are more likely to marry husbands who have lower education levels than they do, and lower income levels than they do," says D'Vera Cohn of the Pew Research Center. From 1970 to 2007, husbands whose wives earned more than they did jumped from 4 percent to 22 percent.

[Anectodally I know of three women at work who make more than their husbands, and all three have more formal education than their husbands. ]

• Stephanie Coontz, author of Marriage: A History. Coontz says that in a 1967 poll, two-thirds of women said they'd consider marrying a man they did not love if he had good earnings potential.
  "Now, women have a completely different point of view," Coontz says. "They say overwhelmingly — 87 percent — that it's more important to have a man who can communicate well, who can be intimate and who will share the housework than to have someone who makes more money than you do."

As it has become more and more difficult for families to live on a single-earner income, this makes sense to me. [The discussions of WHY this is, and the fact that many over-spend and probably could live within the means of one earner if they lived on a budget is a topic for another blog.] As a working woman, I understand the importance of a husband who is willing to cross traditional gender roles when it comes to housework, who is as involed in raising our son as I am, and who is loving and caring and can communicate with me. With both of us working full-time, we are both spread too thin to try and take on many of those traditional roles.

While I feel this is not the most optimal situation for our family (both of us working), based on my own tiredness and stress levels alone, there are some positive things that have come from it. For instance, Nathan makes a huge effort to spend time with Cooper, just the two of them, every day as I commute to/from work. I think Cooper has bonded with his father much more than your average baby since he has had much more time with him.

In addition, Nathan and I have always been a great team, not conforming to many traditional marriage roles. Many in my generation seem to be the same way in their marriages, and I think those 1950s stereotypes are somewhat a thing of the past--at least in homes where husband and wife are both formally educated. The more the education gap/lower education, it seems that the roles fall back into more of a split. I'm not talking about out of home vs. in-home work, I'm talking about household chores, child care, etc., which now that I think about it, probably does stem from the fact that the lesser educated person usually stays home with the kids and does more of the household duties....hmmmmm...

Well, this is a bit of a stream of consciousness as I write without editing since my lunch break is nearly over. Hope this hasn't been too choppy to understand what I'm trying to say.

One more point and then I gotta get back to work. Another stat in the news story said that women still only earn 77% of what their equal counterparts make in the workplace. It makes me a little upset to know that a man in my same position probably makes nearly 25% more than I do. I am not a big womens' libber or anything, at least not as far as saying that women should be given EXTRA rights or EXTRA opportunities when compared to our male counterparts, but I DO believe in equality. If I am doing the same job, with the same skill set, and doing just as well, I should be paid the same. However, I do understand the difficulty from an employer's perspective of having your female employees constantly come/go due to maternity leave and child care. But as more and more companies start offering paternity leave, and as men share in child care more and more, I hope th gap in our wages begins to close a bit more.

As I reflected on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. yesterday, the things he stood for, the movement he started, I also reflected on my own human rights, some of them being related to being female, and I am glad to know that things have improved greatly, but I think we still have a ways to go...

That's MY opinion anyway. And since this is MY blog, well that's all you get. :)

Bless this Child

Months ago we decided that while we were with family in Utah for Christmas, we would bless Cooper (similar to christening for those of you who are more familiar with that). We chose to do it there so we could have family with us for the occasion rather than being alone in GA. Baby blessings in our church take place on Sunday at the beginning of the other meetings. So our last day in Utah Cooper was blessed by Nathan in my parent's ward. It was a beautiful blessing and I was reminded that my husband and my son are mine forever. What a wonderful thing.

After the meeting, we had limited time before we had to go to the airport to catch our flight home. My Dad had meetings he had to attend to as bishop, so we took pictures in the hallway of the church.

Here is Cooper with his Papa and Grammie (my parents) after his blessing.

Papa, Dad, Momma, Grammie and Cooper
Momma and Dad with Cooper on his blessing day

Nathan thought the outfit was cheesy, but what other time does a mom get to dress her little guy up so cute? (Thanks, Grammie, for the blessing day outfit!)

Cooper's First Christmas

We were fortunate to be able to travel to Utah for Christmas. It was wonderful to be together again with my family. Cooper did pretty well with the travelling—as well as can be expected for a 3-month old. We had such a great time, and Cooper met lots of family for the first time.

Aunt Cassady and Cooper

Aunt Camyll and Cousin Calvin (10 months)

Cousin Tyler

Cousin Aspen and Cooper

Great Grandma & Grandpa Christensen & Cooper

After 2 days in Utah we thought we had lost our new camera. You can imagine our happiness and surprise to find it the night before we were to leave--in the bottomless depths of my purse. So my current pictures of Christmas are few until I get copies of the pictures I took with my sister's camera. (Not rushing you, Mom. Know how busy you have been! Just mentioning why we don't have pictures of Christmas morning, etc. on here for the rest of the family to see yet.)

Cooper's first time to church

As our pediatrician ordered, we didn't take Cooper to many public places where he would be in close contact with people until after he was 2 months old. This meant that his first time to church was in December. This was Cooper and Daddy ready for church that first time. Don't they both look so excited? I think they were both ready for a morning nap...

FRIENDS

December was very busy for us, but we did find time to have some fun. We had our friends over for a country shrimp boil one night. (Thanks Nathan Sr. and Michele for the shrimp!) My friend and I were pregnant at the same time. They had moved out of state for a short time, so we were finally able to get together with them in December when they returned. Cooper and their little guy, we’ll call him “M”, are about 9 weeks apart in age. M is HUGE compared to Coop, which is funny because Coop seems so big to me. It was fun to see their differences and similarities, and to see our friends again. Hopefully there will be time for plenty more play dates in the future.

P.S. My hair in this picture reflects the kind of crazy day it had been. Wow..that's all I can say...wow.

Aunt Denise & Uncle Jim Came for a Visit

In December Nathan's Aunt Denise and Uncle Jim came for a visit. Last time we saw them Cooper was just 1 day old. Cooper had such fun with them. And they brought us lunch and presents. It was SO great. We had a nice afternoon of visiting. Can't wait for them to come again!

I HAVE BECOME ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE

I have become one of those people...the ones you see sitting alone in cafes typing on laptops. I always wondered why people would want to sit in a cafe and surf the internet rather than be at home. Well, now I understand, even if my reason is a little unconventional compared to the rest of the people in here.
You see, today Nathan granted me a couple hours of FREEDOM, personal time to do whatever I want, while he volunteered to do the full taking care of Cooper. It was supposed to be 3 hours, but since Cooper didn’t cooperate this morning with his nap schedule, my 3 hours has been chopped down to 1 so we can get to an afternoon appointment on time. And what did I choose to do with my hour?
I knew if I stayed in the house I would be tempted to do things I HAVE to do or NEED to do, rather than what I WANT to do. So I left the house and drove to the nearest place with internet access that I know of—Atlanta Bread Company. It’s quite cozy sitting in here by the fire, eating my lunch in quiet solitude, and blogging—finally. So this is why I have become one of “those people.” [Blogging meaning typing several entries in Word to post tomorrow, because as luck would have it, I can’t get my laptop to connect to their internet. It SO figures.]
Being a mom and working full time are about the only things I have time for anymore. Back in November, just before Thanksgiving, I even went to the extreme of giving my dog up for adoption. I found Lola a very nice home with kids to play with her and another dog to run around with. I knew once I returned to work I wouldn’t have time to give her the attention she would need. Boy was I right! As depressed as I was about it, and as hard as it still is to think of her and not get teary eyes, I am glad I bit the bullet and just did it. Now when I come home from work I don’t feel guilty for not getting out to walk her or to play with her. It’s just best for everyone.
I had always heard that being a mom meant putting everyone else before yourself. It’s true. There’s just no way around it. And therefore, this poor blog gets neglected day after day. I often think of things to blog about, and just have to blog about it in my head while I’m driving or doing dishes or laundry, in between soothing or entertaining my little baby, of course.
I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but I am not a big fan of working and having a young baby. It is “possible” for me to quit, but if I do, it will take us at least 3 more years past our current goal to get out of debt, and it’s quite possible another kid will come into the mix well before then. So Nathan and I are both sticking it out for the time being. It really will be better in the long run, and won’t be for long. We can do it! Budget, budget, budget. That is the key.
So in the mean time, I’ll cherish my personal time once every few weeks when my husband takes pity on me; which means that every so often I’ll get on here and you’ll be blasted with about 20 blogs/updates, or a slide show of photos from the month or two prior. If I don’t respond to your emails/facebook notes, know that I only get to check those things about once a month now. They are even further down the list of priorities/wants than blogging…you get the picture. OK. Enough about me…I know what you really want is pictures and info on the star of the show…Cooper. More to come…much more. :)