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

New Pictures and Nine Month Stats ~ A little late

so I wrote this post back in March when Cooper was 9mos, but never posted it, I'm not sure why? I decided I'd post it now even though Cooper is now 11mos. I'll try to catch up on what we've been up to soon. Just have to find the time : )

Cooper had his nine month checkup on Monday and these are his current stats:

22lbs 6.5oz ~ 80%

29 inches ~ 75%

Since his 6mos check he gained almost 3lbs, and grew 1 and 1/4 inches

Our doctor says he is healthy and right on track, just what all loving parents want to hear!

Here are some current pictures of our big 9 month old

Nine months today!

Its so hard to believe that Cooper is nine months old already? I feel like I'm constantly saying that time with him just flies, but seriously I feel like it was just yesterday that we brought this tiny little person home and into our lives. Now he is turning into this little BOY that has such a funny little personality. He seems less and less like a baby every day. It won't be long now, and I will be chasing around a TODDLER!

Anyway, what is new with us? Cooper has his two bottom teeth in now, and he's working on a few on the top right now. They seem to be bugging him more than the others have. Hopefully they'll cut through soon, because its so sad to see him so uncomfortable. He still doesn't seem to be too terribly interested in crawling, he loves to stand up and play, but crawling still eludes him. I'm still just fine with that, I keep telling him to take all the time he needs to go mobile : ) I really am trying to appreciate how easy life still is without him crawling all over the house and getting into EVERYTHING!

We have been introducing lots of finger foods in the last few weeks. So far he loves most fruits, cheerios, cheese, rice, chicken, potatoes, teething biscuits, and gerber puffs. He's not crazy about the veggies as finger foods yet, though he still loves them pureed. He learned to feed himself the other day, and has been so proud to put the food in his mouth by himself, handfuls of it in fact : ) We have his nine month doc appt. on monday morning, so it will be interesting to see how much he's grown the last few months. He's already wearing lots of size 12month stuff, so he's definitely a big and healthy boy!

Aside from all that, we are counting down the days to our trip to Maui in April, we are so looking forward to some sun and fun. Should be an interesting trip with our little monkey in tow, but he is such a good baby, we're actually not too concerned, just hope it isn't too crazy with the time difference. Okay, I think that is all for now, I'll try to post some current pictures later.

First Tooth, and First word...well sort of : )

Its true, Cooper cut his first tooth yesterday! Its about time, this kid seems like he's been teething forever. He's been a trooper too, a tiny bit more needy for attention over the last few days, but mostly his happy self. He's finally gotten over the tummy tantrums, and is rolling like a pro now, so we are thankful for that! He'll probably be crawling in no time. Though we're sorta hoping he holds off till after mid April, since we have a vacation planned, and it will be much easier if he isn't mobile : )

Cooper's current favorite thing to do is blow raspberries, he thinks its the greatest thing since sliced bread. He does it all day long : ) He seems to have traded that with his teradactyl screech. Oh, and last week Cooper said his first word, at least the closest thing to a word so far. I was strolling around target (he is now sitting in the front of the cart like such a big boy) and all of a sudden he starts saying mamamamama, I was totally surprised, because nothing has really sounded this close to a word before. He is now also saying babababa, though he hasn't quite figured out the dadadada sound. Very exciting, he is inching closer to real language!

Another big milestone is that Cooper is now holding his own bottle (Nick gives him a bottle during the few hours I work during the week) and drinking it all by himself. One day Nick was getting ready to feed Cooper, and he set a full bottle down next to him and got up to go grab something, only to come back to find Cooper had picked it up and was drinking it down all on his own! He really is growing up so fast!

Nick and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Feb 5'th. Nick took the day off work, and we had Grandma Anderson come and babysit, so we could have a few hours to celebrate. We went to out to eat and to a movie, and we had a fun time reminiscing. We couldn't believe that last year at this time we were having our "big" ultrasound to find out we were having a boy, and now we have a 7 month old. Its hard to believe that we've been together almost 9 years, and all the experiences we've shared together! Time certainly does seem to fly by, but we are looking forward to many more years together!

The blog bandwagon

Ok, so we're finally hopping on the blog bandwagon. Quite a few of our friends have blogs, and have suggested it as a good way to keep in touch with friends and family. Not too sure how great we'll be at keeping up with the posting, but if we can, it will be fun for Cooper to have to look back on, as a sort of scrapbook.

We're starting this as Cooper is just over 7 months old, so right now he is sitting on his own, laughing, babbling, and has quite the little personality. He currently hates being on his tummy for any length of time during the day, and pitches a fit when he rolls over onto it (he can roll over from his back to tummy, but refuses to do so : ) Though he loves turning over and sleeping on his tummy at night, so try to figure that one out?? He also loves to hear himself screech, he does it all day long...Nick likes to call him a little teradactyl. Cooper thinks he's pretty hysterical! He absolutely loves to sit on the floor and play with toys, which is new in the last month or two. We think he might just skip crawling and just start walking, because he loves to stand and will even take a few steps if you're holding on to him. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Cooper is also eating solid foods now, he loves almost everything we've given him, though sometimes he's not crazy about peas or prunes, but it depends on the day. His new favorite is pickles. Who'd have thought? We went out to lunch the other day and let him suck on a pickle, and he LOVED it! Overall, Cooper is a really happy and laid back baby and we are very blessed by him. He definitely keeps us on our toes and makes our life more fun and rewarding. In the next few months he should begin crawling (if he ever learns to accept being on his tummy), and get a few teeth, so those are our next big milestones. Thanks for reading!

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