Hey Friends!
Wow - I haven't posted in like 3 weeks but things have been C.R.A.Z.Y. pants...like for real.
Crazy good though! So here's a bit of what's been going on...
First the big stuff...
COOPER IS 2 MONTHS OLD YA'LL!
What? We have survived 2 months...Whew...Everybody is still breathing...
So here's what has been up in Coop's little life this month
At two months...
Cooper is 10.5 lbs and 22 inches long.
This puts him in the 15-25%'ile not adjusting for his prematurity or right on the 50% line if you do adjust for his being 3.5 weeks early.
He has all his developmental milestones on.point.
He still eats pretty much exactly every 3 hours during the day with a few longer stretches at night.
He has dropped one night feed completely and now only feeds once between 3-4am then sleeps until at least past 6:00am when we are getting ready to head to work and school! Keep going little guy!
I will very literally throw myself (and Alex) a personal party once this kid is sleeping more than 5-6 consecutive hours. Lord Jesus let this time come soon...
He got his first set of shots but was a very brave boy and only cried for maybe 10 seconds then chilled out like a pro with his wolverine band-aids
Cooper had many new experiences and adventures in his second month of life and met some very important people on top of it too!
He learned to be slightly more tolerant of the bouncy seat in extreme situations where he must be put down and can't handle the floor.
He was all red, white and whales on a very low key 4th of July!
(ummm ya.... fireworks and babies are awful combinations by the way)
He learned about car dealerships as he sat in one for a very long period of time while Daddy got a new car! (details to follow)
A very big happening was meeting Pops for the first time!
Alex's parents came to visit together and he loved all the spoiling!
Yay for a Lolli and Pops combo!
Tummy time continues but many times turns into some supervised belly sleeping as our tummy has been uncomfortable lately....
Cooper loved getting to meet new people and explore the world from new heights!
He went on his 3rd big "hike" after we took Dad's new car out for it's first trail drive trial to Lake Lemond. It was beautiful!
He wore his first hat.
For this accessory queen mom - it was quite the moment.
Another very big milestone was that Mom went back to work which meant Cooper started daycare!
He goes to a daycare on the hospital's campus about 10 walking minutes from mom's office and has had a great experience so far! The staff is wonderful and so caring and everyone adores "the little baby" as he has affectionately become to be known around school.
He didn't really know what to make of his first day...
or his first report card (which was excellent of course!)
He has definitely hit a few short growth spurts in the last few weeks and has thought really hard (and then succeeded somewhat) in completely throwing off his sleep schedule despite all efforts to keep him on.
But don't worry...we still get some seriously cute and snuggly snoozes in.
How can anyone resist this cute little ducky!
Other than that we have been reading the classics,
napping with dad,
and today he went on a big hike with mom and dad to St. Mary's glacier!
Baby's first glacier!
Cooper James, we love you so much. You continue to rock our worlds every single day. You challenge us, change us, grow us and show us how to better love each other and the world by the way we love you. We are so thankful for you sweet little one. It is our greatest joy to see you grow and thrive. We love you with everything we have. Happy Two Months little guy!
Love always,
Mom and Dad
OK SWITCHING GEARS!
Aside from what's been going on with Cooper...Mom and Dad have been up to some pretty busy but fun/cool/crazy things too!
We had our first visit from Houston friends!
We miss our Houston people like crazy so this brief brunch as they were headed through town to vacation was truly a breath of fresh air to us! We will be making it back to Texas a bit this fall and can't wait but our hearts sure were happy after getting to put hugs around these two precious friends!
Hannah went back to work. Truth be told - that whole stay at home mom thing was definitely not up her alley (although the time off was nice for sure and major props to stay at home moms....that is some real work man) so when the those 8 weeks were up - she was totally ready to get back to loving on those NICU littles!
So we all survived her first full week back at work with no snags at all (with the exception of being SUPER tired)! Hannah REALLY enjoyed being back at work and Cooper seems to really enjoy school too! Win-Win!
Now only if those pants would start fitting again...that would make work so much easier to dress for!
And in BIG news..ALEX STARTED A NEW JOB! For those of you that have been standing with us in prayer over this - we are so grateful and the Lord is so faithful (although we not so jokingly have taken to calling him "last minute Jesus")! No offense Lord, we see the grace and provision in your timing but whew...to these limited mortal people we sure felt it cutting close! Alex accepted a new position a week before Hannah went back to work which was perfect timing! He is working as a project engineer for a local construction firm. Thank you to all who continue to stand with us in prayer for continued persistence and grace as we all settle into new routines! We are so grateful!
We are majorly thankful that with the provision of Alex's new job came the ability to take care of 2 major things that had been put on hold until he was employed again....
#1...NEW CAR!
This one had been a bit of "a long time coming...". Alex's old 4Runner ("Champ") was an awesome car but also had nearly 200,000 miles on it and we really needed one of our cars to be 4 wheel drive (Hannah drives a front wheel drive 5 speed manual Jetta...not exactly "mountain friendly") so we were so happy to upgrade Alex to a new 4Runner Trail Edition! It's been so fun to explore Colorado even more now that we have 4wheel drive! We can't wait for the adventures to come!
#2...NEW HOUSE!
So this one is not totally final yet but we are under contract to buy this cutie of a home and hopefully close by August 31! It is in the same neighborhood we are living in now (Stapleton) and is really close to Hannah's work. It's a great neighborhood and super family friendly. We are so thankful that so far everything has worked out great! Prayers for continued smooth sailing and an easy close and move are appreciated! We sure are ready to get out of our dinky apartment and back into a house where we can welcome friends and family and really make it our own! Super excited!
Well, that's about it guys. So this month has indeed been a crazy busy/awesome/tiring/growing one and while we have definitely had a few moments of
but we truly are pumped and are starting to definitely feel more settled and getting in a groove!
Thanks for continuing the ride with us!
So we will leave you with this cutie pie...always so curious...
stay curious little one...it is what will shape your world into one of wonder
See you next time!
Love,
Alex and Hannah
