Christmas.. and updates

Christmas came fast and furious for us this year. We spent Christmas Eve morning visiting Brett and Kendra and their new baby girl at the hospital. On the way home, both kids fell asleep in the car and so Luke and I took a couple of hours to feed cows while the kids slept in the truck. After feeding cows, we decided to give Cooper his first hair cut.

That evening we went to my dad's side of the families Christmas where both kids got spoiled by their Great Aunt's and Uncle's. When we got home it was time for bed so the kids got dressed and then put out cookies for Santa.

The next morning we woke up and the kids got to open their presents and play for awhile.

Next we went to my parent's house where the kids were spoiled with lots of presents.

That evening we went to Luke's parents house where the kids were once again spoiled like crazy. Josie had a blast opening up presents all day long and finally got tired and wouldn't open the last several presents that she had. She was too busy with her aunt Casey putting her play makeup on and strutting around with a new purse, new barn boots and a new hat. I somehow played switcheroo with mine and my parents camera, therefore I don't have any pictures from the evening to post.

This last week has been very crazy as Cooper got sick and was not sleeping well. Last Wednesday Cooper started to get a fever, which I just associated with teething. Well, after giving him tylenol and his fever still getting worse I had to give him ibuprofen as well. That night he would not sleep unless he was upright, so I spent part of the night in the chair with him, not getting much sleep. I took him to the clinic on Thursday figuring he had an ear infection but his ears only had clear fluid behind them. So, after another bad night I ended up back at the clinic on Friday where again, the doctor wasn't sure what he had. Finally, early Saturday morning his fever finally broke while sleeping on Luke in the recliner. Then Saturday, he broke out in a rash. I figured he had gotten Roseola, but after talking to the doctor this morning he just had a virus. The rash should disappear within 1-2 more days and he is no longer contagious. He is finally starting to feel better, now let's just hope Josie doesn't get this.

It's Almost Christmas

Again, the last several weeks have been very busy for us. Cooper continues to work on cutting teeth. He has also gotten up on his hands and knees multiple times but ends up sprawled out on the floor. He's becoming much happier and smiles all the time. Josie is also working on cutting in her 2 year molars. She has been keeping herself very busy taking care of her babies. She spends most of her time nursing and rocking her baby.

Josie just loved spending Saturday morning outside in th fresh snow.

She had a visitor the other night. Santa came to do a preliminary check on what she wanted for Christmas. She was scared of him and clung to daddy but had no problem telling Santa that she wanted a Baby Stroller. Cooper also did not like Santa and screamed while being held by him.

Here are some recent pics.

Catching up

The last several weeks have been crazy. Both kids were not feeling well last week, but were both recovered for a fun and eventful weekend. Friday night, Josie spent a couple of hours with Grandma LeJeune while Luke, Cooper and I went to replace Luke's cell phone. While Josie was with Grandma they were talking about what Josie was asking Santa for for Christmas. She told Grandma that she wanted a "stroller for baby." So, on Saturday morning the Stoddard legion was hosting Breakfast with Santa and we took Josie and Cooper there. Cooper sat on Santa's lap but Josie would only go up to Santa with mommy. Here are the pictures:

On Sunday, Kendra and I baked our Christmas cookies all day. Josie loved having her cousins come over to play with and help bake.

The last several weeks Josie has been all about feeding her babies. She always tells me that she is nursing her babies, which means holding her sippy cup up to them. Cooper has loved sitting on the floor with all of his toys around him. He is even managing to pull and push himself around the floor while in the sitting position.

Another tooth and 6 months

Cooper cut another tooth through on Sunday, so he's up to 2 teeth. He had a very rough weekend but we were up early and not much routine due to deer hunting. Cooper also hit his 6 month milestone on Sunday. He had his 6 month checkup and here are his stats:

Weight - 18lbs 13 oz - 73rd percentile

height - 26 inches - 16th percentile

Josie had another big oops last week. She fell off of her chair in a meltdown and bit her lip. She had a fat lip for several days. Luckily she didn't have to go to the doctor.

Luke shot a 10 pointer on Sunday morning. Other than that his dad was the only person to shoot anything, and that was an 11 pointer but 3 tines were broken off. Hopefully next weekend brings better luck to the hunters!!

A tooth!!!

Well, yesterday Cooper cut through his first tooth. I new it was coming as he has been a drool monster lately. I had to resort to putting a bib on him all day as otherwise he would be soaking wet within just a few hours from all the drool. He cut through his lower left tooth sometime in the afternoon yesterday. Cooper is still rolling all over the place and pushing himself backwards but no crawling yet.

The other day Cooper was rolling around on the floor when he started to cry. When I finally had a chance to go get him, I realized that he was no longer crying but laughing. Josie had brought her chair over by him and was reading him a book. It was one of those moments that I realized that Josie is really growing up. She knows how to entertain her little brother, what a big girl she is getting to be.

Josie is still working on the potty training but it is slow going as we haven't been home much. She did however spend the day at Grandma and Grandpa LeJeune's last Friday and she wore underwear almost all day until she had an accident during nap and then also pooped. When she does go in her diaper, she tells me right away.

What's new!!

Well, I can't believe it but Cooper is making tracks around the house. He rolls all over the place and pushes himself backwards. He spins in a lot of circles attempting to get places. He does eventually make it to where he wants to go but sometimes it may take quite awhile. I think that if we had carpet or a big area rug he would be up on his knees crawling already or if not, soon.

To my dismay, I am slowly discovering that Cooper does not like/need as much sleep as Josie. This will mean that we need to finish off the third bedroom sooner rather than later so that Cooper can start napping in his room. Currently he is only sleeping downstairs in the swing but I do need to try and get him to sleeping in his crib. At what age is a good time to start making him cry himself to sleep? Josie was such a different baby and loved her sleep where Cooper could care less about sleep.

Josie is always doing very well with the potty training. She even went all day yesterday without going in her diaper although we were on the go quite a bit of the day. She just told me whenever she needed to go!!! Her only problem right now is #2. She has gone a couple of times on the potty but now seems to be scared of going on the potty. Any suggestions?? She is also starting to interact even more with Cooper now that he likes being down on the floor.

Halloween 2011

Well this past weekend was a very busy few days. Friday night my parents came down and we carved pumpkins. Josie had a blast drawing on the pumpkins with marker but did not want to stick her hand in them. In all, we carved out 4 pumpkins. Saturday, I got to get away from the kids for a few hours which turned into overnight as the kids stayed at my parents house.

On Monday, we took Josie to Luke's parents house and did some trick or treating around their neighborhood and then we also went to my Aunt Sue's neighborhood. Josie absolutely loved trick or treating. She would knock on the door and say trick or treat, Happy Halloween and then say Thank you. She did so good, especially considering we did't even think she would go. Josie was a monkey, although everyone thought she was a mouse, and Cooper was a cow.