Happy Birthday Coopy!

Cooper celebrated his 1st Birthday with what I think is a major milestone. He fed himself with a grown up fork! After he fed himself he then promptly picked up a pen, found a piece of paper and proceeded to act like he knew exactly what he wanted to do. It was quite a celebratory day. And just as an fyi, he used his left hand. So wht are the chances of the son of two lefties being a lefty himself? I guess we'll see.

His birthday party was just as lovely as his actual birthday. The weather was beautiful, a bit windy, but at least no rain. I think Coop was a little overwhelmed by so many people at Nana and Pappy's because he as a little clingy and quiet but he was certainly wound up by the end of the night since he pushed his bedtime back by an hour and a half even with only 1 short nap the entire day. Here are some pics of our wonderful 1 year old and a classic 1st birthday video....enjoy.

Uh oh na nas

I've been on a little hiatus from the blog lately. But thanks to Steve for keeping us updated with great pics. Coop has been growing and changing by leaps and bounds in the last couple of weeks. The other day he was desperately screaming for na na. I thought maybe he was looking for Nana since he can't seem to get enough of her. But along with the screaming he was lunging toward the kitchen table where I keep a bowl of fruit. And magically Coop has identified his favorite fruit by name finally....na nas are bananas of course!!! Then yesterday he all of a sudden started saying uh oh...he drops something...uh oh! He falls down, uh oh! Toys that he had grown tired of he has taken a new interest in. The walkers he used to learn to walk he now likes to play with because he's learned how to walk backwards. Cooper turns 1 next Thursday and it's gone so fast. I was recently going through some pictures of the last year and here are a few that you may not have seen. I'm also posting a video of Coop form today that I think is my favorite video ever of him.

Friday at the bike trail.

When we had Cooper, one of the first things I did was run out and buy a bike trailer to tow the little guy around. Although we did use the trailer a couple times, it really wasn't the greatest for an infant. He was too small to use the trailer seat, so I just put him in his carseat and strapped the seat down in the trailer. It was ok, but he really was too young to enjoy it, plus I quickly noticed that the crushed limestone on the trail was kicking up and hitting Cooper. So we haven't yet really enjoyed the trailer.

This past Friday it was 70ish and sunny. I was off work so we decided to hit the Arrowhead Trail in Peters Twp. Steph and I decided to pick up a bike seat, thinking Coop would enjoy that more. I go to Walmart and they had 2 types of kid's seats....the traditional seat that goes behind you and they had this neat one that goes infront of you. I had seen them online and thought it was neat, but never seen anyone use one. I was skepitcal, but I thought what the heck..it was 50 bucks and if it didn't work, I could return it.

The non-traditional seat is AWESOME! I highly recommend it. Coop gets to sit infront and see what is going on instead of looking at my back and missing everything. He laughed, pointed at every dog we past yelling "duug". I was able to keep an eye on him, point out different things to him, and enjoy him much more. Not only did Coop and I enjoy it...I'm pretty sure everyone on the trail commented on it and how cute Coop was being. He seriously had a blast. He even tried to bounce up and down when the trail was to smooth....so sometimes I would ride in the grass to give Coop the bumpy ride he was looking for.

A few pictures from the farm this weekend

Here are a couple pictures from this weekend that were on my phone. I'm sure Steph will put more pictures up of Coop's 1st Easter.

.

.

Pap, Cooper, and Buddy playing in the barn.

Dad, Coop, and the Donkey.

Coop and I went for a walk...but we had to stop to play with some rocks.

What's Black, Blue and Red All Over??

That would be Cooper Jay and the red all over part is a bit of an exaggeration. Cooper is a smidge of a mess this week. I failed to mention that on Sunday I was a horrible parent and I didn't put sunblock on his precious little face while we were in the park and by Monday morning he looked a little like a lobster. But it was only his face, not all over. Now for the black and blue. On top of the lobster look he was walking around daycare on Monday with a toy crate/block-type object and he fell face first into it. Initially it looked like just a scraped up nose and bruise on his forehead but by this afternoon it spread to another bruise on his cheek and a black eye. I cringed when I had to take him to the doctor today b/c he still has a really bad ear infection. Thank goodness the sunburn is gone but I still had to explain to the doctor what happened to his face (sigh). Mommy's nerves are pretty much shot these days. Despite all the bruises, scrapes, burns and ear infections Coop is in a pretty good mood. He is a little extra whiney but wouldn't we all be if we had an ear infection for almost a month and starting a 3rd round of antibiotics. I had to take a picture just so you all could see why my nerves are shot. He just looks mad b/c the flash hurt his eyes (yes, I know that's something else).

Silly Philly

This weekend we were in Philly for one of Steve's bike races. The weather initially looked like it was going to be really nice but Saturday was a bit of a disaster with extremely high winds that were so bad Coop really could hardly stand up. Aunt Jo met us in Philly since Baltimore isn't a far drive. On Saturday morning Aunt Jo called to see what time we were going to meet up but she sounded really tired so I asked if she was ok. She said yea she was fine, just tired b/c her and Kelly (her friend who she was staying with in Philly) went out Friday night to help close off some roads so that toads could cross and mate. Yep, you read it right. Aunt Jo and Kelly didn't go out to bars and party it up. They stayed out until 2am to ensure that toads could properly cross the road and mate. I asked if she was drunk. She said no. Typical Aunt Jo.

So Cooper met up with his Aunt Jo for fun on Saturday. He's definitely having some major separation anxiety lately and has really gotten into the stranger danger phase so I wasn't sure how he would handle Jo since he hadn't seen her for about 6 weeks. But Jo and Coop have a bond that's been obvious since he was a teeny tiny baby b/c he pretty much greeted her with open arms. Aunt Jo is a lucky lady. While Daddy raced we went to a neat-o kids museum that Coop seemed to enjoy. I didn't take pictures b/c he was a bit of a handful but Kelly is sending me a funny one and I'll be sure to post it when I get it.

Sunday was a beautiful day with a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. This time we got to watch Steve race and Coop had a good time playing in the park where the race was. Every time the racers would go by Coop would laugh and say DaDa.......still no Mama (grrrr) :). Coop's schedule was kind of nuts this weekend so naps came whenever he would allow them. I'm posting a picture of Cooper when he passed out eating goldfish crackers and watching Mickey Mouse clubhouse in our hotel room. Saturday night he woke up from a long nap in a complete fit. I'm pretty sure it's because he was starving and we couldn't get the food in him fast enough. You'll see what I'm talking about on the video....it was even more hilarious before we started taping.....

Sunny Days

Coop has only taken one 30 minute nap today so my time on here will be brief since he is currently throwing peaches at me. We spent most of our afternoon outside today. We went and got an oil change, went to the montour trail for a nice long walk, played in the grass, ate some dirt, went to the grocery store and then came home.

By the way, Mrs. Shoos if you are reading this I may need you to come for a visit everyday for the next week. It seems Cooper Jay will not, under any circumstances, take his medicine for me (he has two horrific ear infections) and based on stories about my mom bringing me to your house just so you could get me to take my medicine, you could be the answer to my prayers :).

Coop snacked on leaves and dirt....