Adventures at the Pumpkin Farm

Last weekend we visited Riverbend Farm again for some Fall fun.  Right off the bat, Cooper enjoyed seeing all the animals, especially the squealy piglet...

 ...and OF COURSE the tractor!

 Shootin' apples with the air gun.

Our traditional tractor tire photo:

Cooper (4 years)

Hudson (almost 5 months)

 Driving the wagon

with the fake mules.

Daddy and Huddy as we headed off to the silo slides.

At first Cooper was a little unsure about the slides.

 Then he got a little more brave, and couldn't get enough of them.

 Daddy and one of the new slides.

 That was AWESOME!

 And he's off!  We could barely keep up with Coop as he ran from one slide to the next, and on and off again.

 OK maybe he got a little OVER confident about sliding down.

 Daddy and Cooper on the tractor-pulled wagon ride to the pumpkin patch.

 Mommy, Hudson and Cooper on the wagon.

 How about this one, Mom?

 Thankful for a big, strong Daddy to tote our loot home.

 Huddy fell asleep, but Cooper helped pick out a Hudson-sized pumpkin.

 Gotta try out the REAL combine harvester one last time before we leave.

 It was a beautiful morning at Riverbend Farm.  Can't wait to go back again next year!

One Coop on Two Wheels

Cooper is really quite good now at riding a bike with no training wheels, which he will tell ANYONE who will lend an ear, and even some who don't.  He is so excited.  Tonight we went on our regular walk down the street to the cul-de-sac and back, and he rode his bike the whole way unassisted.  It's something he's quite proud of, and we are too.

Cooper's 4th Birthday

Cooper was anticipating his 4th birthday for months. He thought it would never arrive. The night before when I told him the next day was his birthday, he was full of delightful giggles.

We started the day with singing Happy Birthday, and blowing out candles in his breakfast pancakes.

Then he opened some presents...a big John Deere dump truck and soccer ball!

...a superhero outfit, which Coop called "Captain United States of America."

Cooper had spiderman cupcakes at school with his classmates.  That afternoon when he came home from school, we gave him his big present.  He said this is how he felt about it, even though when we gave it to him, he showed almost no emotion at all.

Our little John Deere driving on his new Gator.  We spent the affernoon outside as he drove around. It took him about 2 minutes to put dirt in the back bed.

That night we had a birthday dinner. At Cooper's request, we ate chicken, macaroni & cheese, canned green beans, and juice. Is my boy a Southerner or what? The salad was my own addition.

We had a small chocolate cake to sing Happy Birthday...

...and let him blow out candles again, which he did every time before we even finished singing. Silly boy.

The kid got presents and cards every day in the mail for about a week, which he loved.

That following Friday afternoon we hAd a party with 11 of his friends, John Deere-themed, of course.

There were a few finger dips in the frosting before the party even started.

Friends who were at the party: Ethan and Adison Davis (mom Stephanie), Rachel and Daniel Lucas (mom Allison), Braden (mom Tammy), Julia and Amelia Gleaves (mom Natalie), Miles Staples (mom Candace), Veronkia Wilson (mom Maurilia), and Weston Larsen, plus Daddy, Mommy, and Hudson. It was a full house!

The kids played in the dirt with trucks and John Deere equipment in the backyard for a bit.

Cooper

Cooper and Weston

Amelia, Julia, Veronkia, Rachel

Miles

Julia & Amelia

Veronika

Ethan, Cooper, Weston

Rachel

Daniel

After playing in the dirt, we played "The Farmer in the Dell", had cake / ice cream (chocolate cake and rainbow sherbet), opened presents, and then the kids played a bit longer. At the end of the day, Coop said it was a great party.

Cooper has had a lot of fun riding his John Deere Gator every day since. Some mornings it's a struggle to keep him in the house, and I end up chasing him in my pjs. He's had a lot of fun showing gis friends.

He's also been really good about sharing the drivers seat.  Happy 4th Birthday, Coop!

Hudson--4 Months Old

Hudson is already 4-1/2 months old.  It's about time I post about him being 4 months before it turns into 5.

Huddy continues to be a very happy baby.  He has had a few really great nights of sleep, his longest being 7:30 p.m. to 6:15 a.m, eating and then going back down for another hour.  Wish he'd do that every night, but he's still pretty good, and getting better all the time about sleeping long stretches at night.

At his 4 month checkup he weighed exactly 16 lbs.  (75th percentile), was 24.5" long (50th percentile), and his head had a 17" circumference (75th percentile).  He's a chunky little monkey!

Our baby is on the move, rolling all over the place.  The other day I'd laid him on a blanket in the kitchen with some toys.  I stepped to the washer/dryer about 15 feet away to do some laundry.  When I turned around a few minutes later, he'd completely rolled off the blanket and rug onto the wood floor.  He was still happy, just a little surprised, as was I!  He's also learning to sit up on his own, and can do so unsupported for about 10-20 seconds at a time.

Hudson has also recently developed a sense of humor, treating us to the occasional baby giggle.  It's still hard to figure what he finds funny enough to laugh at, but when he does giggle, it's about the cutest thing ever.  Can't wait to get that caught on video.

Hudson also recently went from sucking his thumb to more often sucking his fingers like this (just like his cousin Kate).  He also has started refusing the pacifier when going to sleep, preferring to chew on his hands/lovey.

There's that unmistakable "Hudson look" with eyes wide as can be, taking it all in.

Hudson has learned the joy of playing with toys.  He likes to figure things out though, not just play.

 Huddy has learned his name, but will only turn his head to "Hudson," not "Huddy," which surprises me because we call him Huddy more often than not.  He also knows Cooper's name, and will look for him when you say "Cooper."  Hudson also LOVES his Daddy.  Any time Daddy's voice or footsteps are heard, Hudson immediately starts looking for him.  He often does this when nursing too, which drives me nuts.  Actually, just about any sound or light will get his attention when he's nursing and distract him from the task at hand.  Feeding him is getting challenging.

 Here he is watching Cooper play outside.

The last month has been a challenging one for feeding.  For a solid two weeks I struggled to have enough breast milk for him, which was an emotional roller coaster for me.  I finally caved and started supplementing him with formula as I took drastic measures to regain my milk.  It was such an awful two weeks, being home bound, feeling like all I did was nurse or pump.  It took nearly all my time, but it was worth it.  The only residual from that is that now sometimes he refuses to nurse and wants a bottle.  He'll scream and cry and pull away when I try to feed him, but the minute I take him to the kitchen and pull out a bottle, he quiets and gets excited, watching intently as I make it, whether breast milk or formula.  He's too smart for his own good sometimes.

I've enjoyed the few hours we have alone together three days a week while Cooper is at preschool.  It's been fun to get to interact with Hudson one-on-one without a big brother crying or pestering for attention.  Hudson has seemed to enjoy it too.

We love this little guy!

Cooper Is Growing Up--Preschool and Milestones

Cooper is growing up so fast. Every day it seems he's doing something more and more grown up.  After we returned from our trip to Boston, Cooper started preschool.  The first day of school was actually while we were on vacation so he was a week late getting started.  I was concerned whether he would cry when I dropped him off, but neither he nor I shed a tear, a testament to how ready we both were for him to be in preschool.  He was excited to wear his new camouflage backpack,which hangs down to his knees, that he and daddy picked out.   I asked him what he wants to be when he grows up, and he said, "a worker guy."  I asked what kind of worker guy, and he said, "You know, a guy that goes to work, and does work."  Good 'nuff.  We'll leave his future career aspirations at that for now.

His favorite part of school continues to be handwriting.  Last year I tried and tried to get him to learn/write letters, and he refused to the point of throwing fits, throwing things, crying, screaming, and showing absolutely no interest.  So I backed off after several friends who are former teachers telling me that he'd eventually show interest and be ready.  It was about a month after Hudson was born that Coop started showing signs of being interested in learning to write.  But having a newborn and recovering from a c-section, I was not able to capitalize on that interest, but didn't worry too much, since I knew he'd be starting preschool.  Each week as they've learned a new letter, he's been excited to tell me and to demonstrate how to write the letter.  Yesterday he learned letter "D", and having learned "A" a few weeks ago, I showed him last night to write and sound out the word "DAD."  He was so excited to know that these letters he loves to write are also going to help him learn to read.

On our trip to Boston, Cooper slept in a twin bed at Nana and Grandpa's house without the use of side rails.  So when we got home, we removed them from his bed.  "Now I have a BIG BOY bed for real!" he exclaimed.  He's only fallen off a few times since then.  I love having the rails removed too.  So much easier for him to make his bed, and for us to put him to bed.

One night I went to get Cooper from the bath, and he was proud to show me that he'd taken all the bath toys and sorted them into piles, separating by color.  This was something he did completely on his own.  It was pretty cute.