Chocolate Party!

The girls went to a fun birthday party - at a chocolate factory!  They got to make chocolate pizza, chocolate suckers and everything else that can be turned chocolate!  So many cool ways to celebrate a birthday!

Happy Birthday, Sarah & Tristan!

Cooper got a Tooth!!

This morning Dave and I were playing in bed with Cooper.  We felt his mouth and kept saying how he is NEVER going to get a tooth.  The boy is nearly 9 months old - he should have a tooth, right????

Well, fast forward 4 hours and I am giving him watermelon for lunch.  He opens wide for a bite and I see something white......  I feel in ... and it is sharp...........  Little guy got a tooth!!!  He didn't cry, winse or fuss at all!!  Just popped one through.  Let's hope this is how my little guy teethes.  Erin was a champ - Ev ... not so much. 

It's about time!!

A big wet kiss...

This morning Dave and I were hanging out with Cooper in bed.  Cooper grabbed my cheeks and pulled himself toward me to give me a big wet kiss right between my nose and lips.  So wet and so cute!!

Summer Fun to Remember

Somehow I know in about 9 years, Erin and Evelyn will be too embarassed to hang out with us. When that day comes, I think Nancy and I will have to come read this post again. Ah, the good times. Summer fun in the yard with the hose.

We love you girls!

Cooper is 8 Months Old!!

Hard to believe, but my little man is 8 months old! He is still the best little guy ever! Really, there is nothing little about him. He is so long and although not pudgy, he is not little. He is solid and strong! He loves to sit and play with his toys. He scoots around in circles to see what's around him. And, if he'd give it a try, I am certain he could crawl or scoot around! He seems to want to have tracks, but just not the patience or energy to give it a try. I am sure any day he'll just get to it!!

We think he finally has the 'sleeping all the way through the night' thing under control. He goes to bed around 7pm and wakes areound 5 or 6. If he wakes at 5, he'll chug a bottle and sleep till 7. Life is good!!

He is also a great eater. Though peas are not his favorite food, he really does seem to like most everything else. He is not a big fan of much texture yet, but loves the purees I make. I just made him a spinach, lima bean, corn, carrot, green bean mix and he is all over it! Sometime I mix it with yogurt or applesauce - but he loves it!! He is also pretty good at putting food in his mouth - nicely developing pincer grasp!! In fact, he just ate his first teeting biscuit - what a mess.............

Coop smiles a LOT. He loves to laugh when the girls dance for him. He smiles back at you when you smile at him. He also gets the biggest kick out of splashing in the tub. He can sit in the tub now all by himself without a seat and can navigate pretty well with bith Erin and Evelyn bathing with him (so far, only 1 incedent of sibling to sibling peeing).

A bump in the road.....

Well, Cooper had his hat taken off a few days after surgery and has been recovering well.  Unfortunately, we had a bump in the road - and, thankfully although it was frightening, he is doing just fine now.

Tonight we had a wonderful time at my cousins home.  We got to spend time with many family members we don't get to see often.  Family from near and far... Arizona and even Japan!

We got home and quickly wanted to get the kids to bed - it was well past their bedtime.  Dave took the girls and I was in charge of Cooper.  I sat in the glider and gave Cooper a bottle - the usual drill.  I noticed he needed a diaper change, so took care of that stinky mess and back to the bottle we went.  Quickly, he got fussy - and started screaming.  I took out the bottle and tried it again - thinking he is tired or not wanting it or ... just not sure what's going on.  The room was dark, so I could not see anything.  I tried to give him his bottle again and he screamed again - and then I felt a strange feeling on my elbow.  His head was resting on my elbow and all of a sudden it did not feel "normal".  I saw a bump from the very limited light in the room and screamed for Dave.  He came in the room and I told him to turn on the light...  He did and boy did we see a bump.  More than a bump, it looked like he had a golf ball under his skin (literally that size).  I passed him to Dave and called 911.  He ran to get help from the neighbors.  By this time there were 2 bumps that were merging into one.  Probably about 3 inches long - stuck out like a golf ball - looked like something out of this world.  Something I never want to see again.

I rode in the ambulance with Cooper while Dave drove behind so we could get home from the hospital.  My parents met us at the hospital, where Cooper had an MRI to ensure he was no longer bleeding internally.  The ER doc spoke with Coop's surgeon and she said to make sure the MRI showed no bleeding and give some time for the bump to go down.  All in all, we were there about 3 hours - and then were sent home once the bump got a bit smaller. 

The next day I was back at the doctors office so she could check him out.  She has only seen this twice in her 20 years as a surgeon.  Normally, it would have happened within 48 hours of surgery - not 7 days which is why he was wearing his funny bandage hat.  This doesn't normally happen at all but when it occasionally does happen in the first 48 hours, the hat keeps everything in place and doesn't let things bulge out like this. 

So what everyone believes happened is that Coop may have strained a bit with that last diaper and popped a blood vessel that was still healing from the surgery.  The internal bleeding caused these bulges that stretched the skin.  It was absolutely amazing (looking back at it now) and scary (at the time) how much the bumps protruded from his head and how quickly.  It was like an alien was trying to climb out of the back of his head.  We didn't take any pictures because we were just too frightened and focused on what was going on, and if you hadn't seen this I don't think words can really convey how this reshaped his whole head in a matter of minutes.

Thankfully, he is fine.  His head could use a little reshaping, but time will heal it and get it back to "normal" in the next few days.

Cooper's Melon...........

Okay, from the beginning...

A few days after Cooper was born, his doctor showed us a small mark on the back of his head.  He never made a huge deal of it, but monitored and measured it.  Well, as his head grew, so did the mark.  When Coop was 4 months, we had a referral to a pediatric dermatologist to confirm that the mark is a nevus sebaceous.  That means a collection of oil glands.  The mark was not very noticeable - flesh colored, slightly textured, raised a bit and would never grow hair.  Not a big deal today, but some day has a likelihood to turn cancerous - especially due to the size of Coopers.  Currently, it was about the size of a nickel with a tail - looked like Idaho - upside down.

So, the ped derm wanted it to be removed immediately.  Her rationale for removing it when he is so young is that he has more skin on his head than he'll ever have - and his recovery will be easier now than if he has it done later in life.  Two weeks later, we are at Children's Memorial Hospital having the mark removed. 

He handled everything like a champ!!  The hardest part was not eating when he woke and until everything was complete.  This was a long stretch for him.  He was a champ until about 9:40 and then got pretty mad about not eating.  Thankfully they took him away and finished in about an hour.  I got to hold him while he was in and out of sleep and thankfully, we were finally able to feed the little guy!

He even got to wear a silly hat!  When Ev saw him, she said "Hello my little unicorn!"  So cute!!!   We got a lot of funny looks about his head - he looked like he had brain surgery - not just a simple mark removed.  We felt very lucky to be leaving Children's Memorial Hospital and not needing to return.  So many other parents are not that lucky...

My girls are 4!

It is hard to imagine that my baby girls are no longer babies.  They are 4 years old - so confident, so beautiful, so funny, so different and just wonderful little people.  I really do find it hard to remember back to the days when they were babies or even toddlers.  Sadly, everything is such a blur - that's why I enjoy keeping the blog - it helps me remember the little things... and the big ones!

We had a few parties to celebrate their big day.  A family party, playgroup party and friend/classmate party!  Each was very different - simple family, bounce house and gymboree - but each was also just wonderful.  The magical thing is that the girls enjoyed our family party that had no outstanding bouncie or magician or anything crazy just as much as they did the party at gymboree or with a bouce house.  They just love to have fun - and don't compare things to a standard of what fun should be.

We are blessed to have these little girls in our lives and it does make me nervous knowing all the different things I need to teach them and expose them to so they can grow up to be productive, moral, successful, women.  But, I already know that each of them is both special and beautiful inside and out.  I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the next 4 years - heck, in the next 4 months!

Happy Birthday Girls

Four years have come and gone. What wonderful years they have been! We have come up with some pretty strange nick names for you in this time. So far we have cycled through

Evelyn = Ev, Evie, Peanut, Pippie
Erin = Pumpkin, Air-bear, Pedro

Erin, you are very responsible and take care of your dog, Buddy, every morning. Most mornings you will go into the garage, get a cup of food and pour it into his bowl. After a few minutes you let him out into the back yard too. Ev, you have come to accept Buddy T. Dog and might I dare say even like him a little bit. You help feed Buddy in the morning when Erin decides to be on the lazy side.

In just the past few weeks you have both really taken to your "big girl" bikes and love your training wheels. We go around the block either walking or riding almost every night after dinner and you ALWAYS wear your helmets. In just the last day or so you are now comfortable riding this new tandem contraption I can add to my bike. Now all three of us can ride together on one bike without any training wheels. Erin, you were pretty freaked out by this for several days but then suddenly almost like it was a mental decision you said, "I think I am used to it now. Can we try it again" and it was like you were riding it for years. I think it had something to do with the fact that you saw Ev and Kate Hamilton ride it without crying the other day.

Let's see, what else? You two are adorable with Cooper. You love him so much and treat him so gently and kindly. Never a word of jealousy or meanness towards him, even though he sometimes takes a lot of our parental attention. You always run and get diapers and wipes for us. Pretty soon you may even be able to feed him all by yourself.

Both of you started summer camp this week. Erin and Ev, you two have been split up and are going to two different schools. Erin gets dropped off and picked up by Mom, and Ev gets to take a shuttle-bus. Ev has remembered some of her friends from last summer like Isiah, and Erin has already made a new friend and set up a play-date with someone called Winnie. How that's going to happen we're not sure since neither set of parents know each others address yet, but I guess we'll have to figure that out.

We are both so proud of you. You both are smart, kind, considerate, funny and most importantly happy children. It's been a pleasure so far being your parents. Hope your birthday was the best one yet, and may your next birthdays be even better!

Love,
Dad

Cooper is Seven Months Old!!

Hard to believe that little Cooper is already 7 months old.  He is still the best little guy ever!!  Our girls just love him to pieces and he is so good natured.  He is right about 19 pounds - and super long!  Not the chunkiest kid ever, but he has a good double chin.

His newest skills are:

• Rolling - he can no longer be left on a bed.  He'll roll off so quickly you might not catch him!  Thankfully, he has yet to hit the ground.
• Sitting - he is a good sitter.  Of course, he does fall on his face occasionally - and he does not like that one bit!  But, he has come a long way!
• Sitting in a high chair and grocery cart!!  That's right, my little guy sits in a restaurant style high chair and the grocery cart!  I try very hard to make sure he is not sucking all the nasty germs off the chair/cart.  

Coop loves to eat!!  We just started puffs, but he mainly eats our homemade baby food - and enjoys it!!

He will be having surgery on Monday June 28th to remove a nevus sebaceous from the back of his head.  Basically this is a birth mark - or collection of oil glands.  As he matures and hits puberty there is a good chance it would become cancerous.  Therefore, it needs to be removed.  Due to its large size the surgeon wants it gone immediately - while he has ample skin on his head and would be bothered least by surgery and stitches.  Say a prayer for him!!

Nothing else to report. We just love him to pieces!