What a Difference a Year Makes

I was looking at our Christmas pictures from this year trying to decide which ones to post. I finally decided there were just too many to choose from. So instead I have decided to take a look back over 2008. Drew has changed so much. This first picture was taken January 2008, the second in December 2008! He looks so much older now, all the baby fat is gone! He is totally a little boy now, no longer a toddler! This year he had his first trip to the ER, and his first set of stitches, he started wearing big boy underwear, played on a soccer team, started Mission Friends and choir, and most importantly, he became a big brother! He loves Cooper so much. Drew gets so excited when Cooper smiles at him, or holds his hand. Drew has really turned into a little boy, which for me is a little sad. But I am excited to see what type of big boy he becomes.

This time last year Andy and I were about to start trying to have a baby again. After a long and difficult 2007 we took a break from trying and were going to start back in January. By the end of the month, we knew we were expecting again! In May we found out it was a boy, and we finalized the name Cooper James! He was born on September 23, 2008, needless to say, in the 3+ months of his short life he has changed a lot too.

He is such a sweet baby. He smiles, and babbles, and coos all the time. He looks so much like Drew did as a baby... but we are already starting to see personality differences. I can't wait to see how this little baby grows up!

2008 has really been a great year for us. I can't wait to see what changes 2009 brings!

Happy New Year Everyone!

A Belated 2 Months

The time has flown by the last few weeks. Just before Thanksgiving Cooper turned 2 months old. This is one of the pictures from when we had our Christmas pictures taken. He has really started to smile a lot, and usually only wakes up once a night now. He got a great report at his 2 month doctors appointment. He is up to 11lbs 12oz, and is 24.5 inches long, For those of you wondering... Drew was 24.25 inches and 14lbs 3oz at this point. Yep, same height, but Drew weighed almost 3 lbs more than Cooper does. They look so much a like, but we are already seeing personality differences.

Drew is such a good big brother . He loves Cooper, and really likes to be a helper. He is getting to be such a big boy. This morning he got dressed pretty much all by himself, including shoes and socks! He is becoming increasingly independent, and likes to have his own "jobs" to do. His favorite thing right now has to be helping daddy with the "stinky trash". He told us the other day that he wants to be a garbage man for Halloween next year! I am sure that will change a million times before next year, but it sure is cute!

A Look Back

I was looking through some clips to night of Drew when he was "a little bitty baby" as he would say. I found this one and can remember it vividly. He was about 1 1/2 at the time. He had gotten into the cabinets you can see if the background and found our old wedding napkins (we had a bunch left). We came in to find him playing with them, and having a ball.

Enjoy, we sure did seeing it again tonight.

One Month Already

I can't believe that Cooper is already a month old! He is already getting so big. I put a 0-3 month outfit on him today and the onesie fit just right in the length, but there is not a lot of room to grow for the next 2 months. Cooper has settled into a pretty predictable nighttime feeding schedule, he usually only wakes up 2 or 3 times in the night, and has started giving one 4-4.5 hour stretch. He almost always goes right back to sleep, so it is really not to bad. I take the first shifts and Andy takes the last one of the "night", since he is usually up getting ready for work anyway. I have a great husband, don't I? Drew continues to be a great big brother, he always wants to hold Cooper and even tries to give him his pacifier if he gets fussy. He really doesn't seem to have much jealousy towards him yet! I hope it stays that way.

One night Drew was holding Cooper (like he always does before he goes to bed) while watching a movie, he got really quiet so I looked over and saw that he was totally asleep. Luckily I was able to grab my camera before he woke up.

I think we are getting settled into our new routine. Life seems to have gotten so much busier, but I don't think we can blame that on Cooper. I really think life did get busier just around the time he was born. Drew school, soccer practice and games, as well as Mission Friends and choir at church. Andy and I have social events and commitments at FBCA as well. So we are on the go a lot more than we were with Drew at this age. I know this is just the beginning, soon Andy and I will be taking 2 kids to all these activities, and probably in 2 separate cars.

Cooper is Here

Tuesday, September 23rd at 5:08pm Cooper James Milliorn finally made his entrance into the world, weighing in at 8lbs 3oz, with a length of 20 inches. Drew is absolutely in love with his little brother and wants to hold him all the time. Well, almost all the time... when he cries Drew usually covers his ears and says "what's wrong with Cooper?" So far Cooper has been a pretty mellow baby. He usually only cries when he is hungry or undressed. He really likes to be swaddled.

Everyone is adjusting pretty well to having a new baby at home. I am recovering well and feeling pretty good. I even made it to Drew's first soccer game yesterday. I just couldn't miss his first game... and after seeing how cute they all are, I know I can't miss any games. His favorite part was playing goalie, I think most kids like it because they can use their hands. He did pretty good, and actually stopped several balls. It was a lot of fun to watch, and they all look so cute in their uniforms.

I will try to post more pictures soon.

It Finally Clicked...

Several months ago, I posted about the adventure of potty training we started with Drew (see The Adventure has Begun... ). After that weekend he showed absolutely no interest in using the potty, so we decided to back off until after our cruise in early June. Once we got back from our cruise Drew started swimming lessons, so we (and by we I me "I") decided to wait until after swimming lessons to start trying again. Swimming lessons ended 2 weeks later and we sort of half-heartedly began potty training Drew again. He still wasn't real interested, so we tried not to push it, but still took him to the potty regularly. He would go when we made him, but never told us he needed to go. Like all boys, he loved using the potty targets we had bought him, and like all kids, loved whatever the latest bribe we were trying, but really didn't ever initiate going to the bathroom on his own.

Then, about a week ago, something "clicked"! We were at dinner with some good friends and Drew said "I need to go potty!", so Andy took him! Not only did he go in the potty, but he was still dry too. That was a Friday night, and by Monday he was staying dry most of the day, with only a few accidents. By Thursday he was waking up dry in the mornings, and going to the bathroom by himself without even telling us throughout the day. Last night, he even woke up at 3:00 am and called for me because he needed to go to the bathroom. He hasn't had an accident during the day since Tuesday! What a difference a week makes. Someone told me about a month ago that one day it would just click, and that he had to decide he wanted to do it... and boy were they right.

Right now, he is still wearing a pull up, because he likes being able to see that his designs are still there, but we are planning to make the jump to "big boy underwear" on Monday. So say a prayer for us and him as we take this next step.

We are so proud of our little boy. But also a little sad that he is growing us so fast.

Technology is Amazing

Last week Andy and I were able to go get a 3D sonogram of Cooper. It was so cool to get to see him in more than just shadows like in the regular sonograms. The sonogram tech said that he really cooperated well, so we got some good pictures. They turned out much better than Drew's did.

Cooper @ 30 Weeks

For your comparison here is one of Drew's 3D sonograms. To be honest, when we had Drew's done, it really didn't mean too much to us... yeah, there is a baby there, but it could be any baby. But once Drew was born and we looked at his pictures compared to the sonogram you can totally see how much the sonogram really looked like him.

I don't think Cooper looks like Drew did at this stage, but who knows if they will look alike when they are older. We can't wait to meet the little guy! Only 8.5 more weeks, if I make it that long!