Pound puppy

So our dog Tucker has been really lonely and has been acting out since little Sophie (our pomeranian) passed away. He seems to really miss having a companion during the day. He's been very withdrawn and sad, and he's also been acting out and peeing in places he's not supposed to : ) Call it stupidity, or a moment of weakness, or just plain crazy...Nick went to the pound one day (about a month ago) and found Tucker a new friend. Not the smartest choice, since we still live in a two bedroom condo, and we need another animal like a hole in the head. However, Tucker loves him, and his behavior and personality have actually returned to normal. His name is Charlie, and he is some sort of Austrailian Shepard mix. The vet thought he was about a year and a half. He's wonderful with Cooper, very gentle and sweet. He's a well trained, mellow dog, we got very lucky! So, anyway, here's our Charlie boy : )

11 months old

Cooper turned 11 months old on May 14. Time is just zooming by, and our little baby boy is really not much of a baby anymore. He is very much a little boy, and we continue to enjoy watching his little personality develop. We can't believe we'll be celebrating his first birthday in less than a month. These are some things Cooper is doing right now:

Cooper learned to give kisses the other day. This is about the sweetest thing I could have imagined, he's so pleased with himself every time he does it too, it really melts your heart. He's still just doing the army crawl, he seems to be just fine with that, since he gets around pretty well. He has started doing a lot of mimicking, he loves to watch facial expressions, or hear sounds and try to repeat them. We think his first "official" word is dada, though its still kind of hit or miss whether he actually uses it to mean daddy, but it seems to be his favorite word/sound right now. He is cruising around on furniture, and races around the house in his walker. He loves books with flaps or something on the page that he can manipulate, and he has to turn all the pages himself. He also loves books with real pictures of babies or other children. He's starting to enjoy playing a little more independantly, figuring out how toys work on his own and whatnot, though he still likes to know that mom or dad are closeby. He's decided he doesn't much like many solid vegetables. He'll eat pureed green beans all day, but put whole ones on his tray and he'll feed them to the dog, I think its a texture thing. Oh and yes, he's totally figured out he can just hang his little hand out over his tray and give his food to the dog, another trick he's quite proud of himself over. Okay, well I could probably go on for days on all the little things he's learning and doing right now, but I'll stop myself there. I think these are a few fun ones to remember. Overall, Cooper is a really happy, curious, and funny little 11 month old. A few pictures of our big boy:

First Mother's Day!

It was a very special day for me, getting to celebrate being a mama! Nick and Cooper gave me a card and Nick had one of our family pictures framed for me, and also made a little shadow box frame with Cooper's footprints, very sweet! Then we packed up and went out to Caffe Ladro (my favorite little coffee place is Issaquah) for breakfast and a mocha, and then we headed out to the zoo. It was a beautiful day, and lots of fun checking out all the animals with Cooper. Here are a few pictures of our day.


Checking out the CheetahLooking at the penguins in the new penguin exhibitCooper and Daddy with the GorillasHaving some lunch in the zoo garden

First Easter

We spent Cooper's very first Easter in Maui. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time! We got up early and gave Coop his Easter basket, and then our condo had a little Easter egg hunt out on the lawn. Then we went the Fairmont Kea Lani hotel (where we stayed on our honeymoon) and had Easter brunch. After that we took Cooper back to our room for a much needed nap. After Coop woke up we played at the beach for awhile. Then that evening we went out to the other side of the island, to Lahaina for dinner. It was a great first Easter with our little man.

A few pics:

Checking out his Easter basket

Easter brunch, such a goofballCooper and Daddy at the fairmont Dinner in LahainaView from our table at dinner

Maui Trip ~ April 2009

We went on our first vacation since having Cooper in April. It was wonderful, and surprisingly relaxing even with a 10 month old in tow! We went to Maui, and one of my best friends Hilary came on the trip with us, so we had a built in babysitter : ) We stayed in a condo in Kihei, which was a great find. It had a nice pool, and was oceanfront with a beautiful sandy beach. It was so nice to get away and play! The flights were a little long with Cooper, but overall he was a trooper! Cooper seemed to love it there, he could be barefoot and practically naked all the time. What more could a baby want? : )



We got to introduce Cooper to the ocean, though I think he enjoyed the pool more. We also went whale watching and saw tons of whales, which was very cool. They also seemed to hang out right off the beach outside our condo, so we watched them splashing around everyday. We went hiking a bit, and explored the island, and also played a lot at the pool/beach. Hilary and I tried paddle surfing, very hard, but so fun! Cooper got to see where mommy and daddy got married, and we also took him to the Old Lahaina Luau where we had our wedding reception. We also spent Cooper's first Easter in Maui, so that was pretty special ( more on that later) It was great trip, and as always, hard to come home. I took A LOT of pictures, (like A TON, as in 300+), so it was hard for me to narrow down just a few, but here are some of our favorites.



View from our roomPlaying at the poolWhale taleAt the Maui Tropical PlantationMe paddle surfing, I actually got up!!Our little surfer boy : )Coop and mama at the Old Lahaina LuauPretty Lahaina sunsetwatching the showFirst Easter!Visiting our wedding siteCooper at the beach house where mom and dad got married

First Haircut

So I'm playing catch up for the last few months, and this actually happened at the end of March, so bear with me : )

We finally had to take Cooper to get his first haircut. Mommy was a little stressed about this. For some reason I feel very sentimental about his hair...go figure? Its just hair right? Anyway, I'd been putting it off repeatedly, until finally one day Cooper actually put a scratch on his own ear (because the hair was growing so long down over his ears) I decided it was time. So, Nick and I took him down to a little kids cut place down in Issaquah. Cooper wasn't too sure what was going on, he kept turning his head try to see the hairstylist, so I don't think it turned out very even, but oh well.

Here are a few pictures:


BEFORE ~long and shaggy

AFTER~so handsome