Update on the past couple of months!

I know I've been absent from the blog... whoops!  I feel like we've been busy these last few months with the holidays, travel, and just general life stuff.  If you're reading this, I assume you want to know about sweet Cooper.  I missed a 4 month and 5 month update....and we are less than a week away from having a 6 month old.  So here's a quick recap and some pictures (more for me to remember down the road).

In December, we took a trip with my mom's side of the family to Branson for a weekend. It was fun to all be together and the big kids loved Silver Dollar City. My dad wasn't able to come and we sure missed having him there.

Clara & Grandma at Silver Dollar City

Cooper and his daddy at SDC

Uncle Bill, Eric, Cait, Rob, Sadie

Kaylen, Caitlyn, & Sadie

Kaylen & Rob

We also got the chance to act as Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus at a walk-thru nativity at church in our association. Cooper was a champ during his 2 hours in the spotlight!

We spent Christmas in Kansas City and Green Ridge this year.  We celebrated with my immediate family in KC at my brothers' house and then with Eric's family in Marshall and Green Ridge.

Cooper with his big cousin Drew

Eric's immediate family

A few days after Christmas. we had Coop's 4 month appt and he weighed in at 11 lbs, 8 ounces and was 25 1/4 inches long.  Our pediatrician was happy that he is continuing to grow (slowly....yes) but continuing to grow and we added fruit to his diet.  Coop is now a big fan of pears, peaches, apples, and bananas.  At 5 months we went in for a weight check and Cooper weighed 12 lbs, 5 ounces and we began adding in vegetables.  So far, we have had squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  He's not always sure what to think of mom's homemade squash and carrots, but we can usually get him to eat in combination with some pears. {fail on no eating pictures}

At the first of the year, we packed up and headed with a couple of students to Atlanta for the Passion Conference.  He was such a trooper during our walks back and forth to the Georgia Dome and the main sessions at Passion.

Our first time at The Varsity!

Some play and snuggles with Ashley!

Some other big milestones have been the first two teeth!  It was completely out of the blue one day that I asked Eric, "do you think he's getting teeth in?"  Eric stuck his hand in there to feel around and sure enough, you could feel the top of a tooth.  And about 2 days later, the one right next to it popped up as well.  We sure have a teething champ!  We never would have known.  Maybe he woke up a little extra in the night, but he didn't seem fussy or anything. 

Tooth #1 at 4 1/2 months

Tooth #2 was quick to follow!

He's also been doing really well as we practice sitting up.  We have been using the bumbo for a while now, and he can stay in it for a while before he begins to slide since he is lacking the chunky legs to help keep him in.  The last couple of weeks, he has been doing great as we practice just sitting on the floor.  He can usually sit there for several minutes before the slow lean and fall happens!  Before six months, we were watching for rolling both ways (check), jibber jabber (check), toes in mouth (check- ALL THE TIME- soaking wet socks or eventually just takes them off), close to sitting by himself (check), and rocking back and forth (not sure that we have much progress there- if he's frustrated laying on his tummy in his crib, he will kind of get up on his knees, but not anything any other time).

Cooper also got to meet his new friend Leah!  She just turned one and they hadn't been able to meet yet!  We can just picture the trouble that these two are going to cause in the future!

We love Leah, her mommy Natalie, and their whole family!

I know I missed a lot that happened during that time!  I kind of just went off some pictures I had to replay a little of what's been happening!  Another "first" we had last week was Cooper's first ear infection.  Yuck!  He had a cough and so we finally took him in and found out that he had bronchiolitis and an ear infection in his right ear.  We had no clue about the ear infection...just wanted to check on the cough that wasn't going away.  The cough has cleared up though and he tested negative for RSV.  Thankfully we've only had to deal with a little winter cold!  Thanks for reading the fast track through the past couple of months!