business as usual

its business as usual around here. nothing exciting is going on right now. the boys are great. Cooper is adorable. he is so happy. he eats really well (anything really). sleeps 12 hours at night. laughs at everything Cash does. will push away from you (in a very dangerous way so hold on tight) if he wants you to put him down so he can get into something. don't even try to change his diaper or get him dressed if Cash is in the other room. you might as well just put cooper in a spot where he can keep an eye on Cash. crawls around everywhere and gets into everything!
Cash is doing well too. he is totally potty trained and hasn't even looked back. he had to poop in the desert the other night when he was with his daddy taking the dog for a walk. he has quite the sense of humor. today he asked chandler if he thought he was cool. he understands humor too and when he does something funny he tells us to laugh! he likes to play hide and seek. and he is now counting things out on his fingers and showing me how many [of something] on his hands. his bedtime routine is really pleasant. he loves to watch aladdin and cinderella.

Cooper is 9 months old

Weight: 21lbs Height: 28.75" Head Circumference 45cm

Dear Cooper,

Its hard for me to articulate my mamma-gush and tell you how great you are. but here goes...

You are a tremendous baby and are so loved by all 3 of us. Every single day of your life you are happy. You happily babble and talk all day long. I can count on my hand the number of times you have actually cried. I think back to the earliest days when we brought you home from the hospital and we were banished to the guest bedroom so daddy could sleep. We considered returning you because you were fussy but soon you turned the corner and adjusted to life on the outside and have been an absolute joy ever since.

You had your first "off" day last weekend. You had a high temperature and just wanted to lay around and snuggle with your mommy and daddy. you slept most of the day and the next morning you were happy again. you didn't even cry. you just whimpered and sighed. you're amazing.

You are sleeping really well and, like your bro, you love to take your naps and sleep in your own crib. you're not one for snuggling too long and would rather be in your bed so you can get comfortable on your own. Like the rest of your family, you love a routine - i could set my watch by you. You eat a lot and have definite favorites. You really like yogurt and blue berries. You do not like your veggies but mommy is determined to get these into your belly one way or another. You have given up on baby food. you like to feed your self and will slug down a sippy cup full of milk faster than i can say refill.

A couple months ago, right after you started to crawl, you started pulling yourself up onto the future and standing. i think you were really eager to do this so you could see what your big brother is up to. Now you will stand in between the coffee table and the sofa and i can see your wheels spinning in your head. Thinking, "should i go this way? or that way?" Now you are standing up against the walls or mommy's legs. I was a little concerned because you stand on the outside of your foot. Dr. Gobel says that its probably just that your feet aren't ready to be flat yet and by 12 months we should know what we're dealing with. Nothing slows you down though. Last night we were outside playing in the back yard and you were putting rocks in your mouth. i came over to try to stop you and you crawled away so fast i couldn't keep up. You're getting the drill.

I can see the difference between your personality and the personality of your brother. I can already tell you are going to be my "goes with anything" kid (while Cash will be more sensitive and a little stubborn). You do love to watch your brother playing and have started joining in. one of your favorite things to do is to crawl into the sandbox with Cash. He covers up your toes with sand and you give him a good belly laugh. When you are done patiently waiting for someone to pay attention to you and start to make a little noise, your brother is the first one to come to your rescue. i hope this is always the case. stick with each other and make good choices.

I love you little Cooper. I worry that you've spoiled daddy and I. Daddy mentioned to me the other night that nothing could ever be better than what we've got right now. i'm so glad you are part of our family.

Love,

Your mommy

Captain Underpants

well, i guess i totally underestimated Cash and his enormous bladder. he has no problem wearing underpants to bed and staying dry the entire night. he doesn't even have to go right away in the morning. he will lay in our bed for almost an hour before he has to pee.
what a champ

Cash slept in underpants last night and didn't have an accident. I debated for a long time on whether or not i should wake him up to let him go to the potty but i didn't. he has a huge bladder and i wanted to see how long he could go. he crawled in our bed at 6am dry. i asked if he wanted to go potty and he said, "no, i don't have to". he eventually pee'd a river.
Cooper is feeling better today but not perfect. he is a lot cooler but still warm. i am keeping him on medicine.

The Great Boondini Predicts...

this is gonna be a long day. Cash woke up with some extra sass and Cooper's temperature is still high and nothing seems to be making him happy...
here's to some serious Sunday teamwork. I hope Chandler wasn't planning on watching football and baseball today.

totally boring update

everyone is doing really well. Cash is perfectly potty trained during the day. we still put him in a diaper at night but i think we only have a few more diapers left in the small pack i bought when we started potty training so we'll be starting night time potty training soon. i have some anxiety about this because i am not sure how to do it. pee before bedtime and hope he makes it through the night - this feels what i want to do but Cash loves his night time milk and that is not going to allow him to make it through the night dry. or i could wake him up before i go to bed and let him pee but i'm so afraid that if i wake him up he wont go back to sleep. i guess we'll find out soon enough.
Cooper is totally going through some teething pain right now and had a fever all day long. he wasn't terrible but he was definitely not our Cooper. Cooper is the happiest baby alive and today we felt like we won the lottery when we got him to smile in the late afternoon. almost the whole day had gone by before our happy little baby smiled. we kept him pretty well medicated to keep his fever down and his pain under control. he wasn't into eating so he took a couple bottles and not much else.
we have had a couple of really boring weekends in a row. time for some fun.

i'm so over baby food

if i were a different kind of person i would make my own baby food. but i am not that kind of person so i feed Cooper regular, store bought baby food. when i am feeling really bad about stuff i buy only the organic baby food. anyway, i am really sick of buying it and Cooper doesn't need it! tonight he ate for dinner: black beans, macaroni and chicken with a sippy cup of milk. and he absolutely loved it. he ate every last bite and downed the milk.

update on the scary man

Cash just said, "'member that man scared me." "where'd that scary man go?"

i used the opportunity to ask Cash about it. he answered all the questions right, "mommy told him to stop scaring Cash", "mommy told him to go away," "he went back to his house, far away."

i can't see this being a problem at bed time. damn it.

That scary man

my usually stoic son, Cash was totally and utterly freaked out today. its no secret that he is a shy boy and it takes him more than a minute to warm up to people. but if you give him enough time he'll charm your socks right off. i know i can't expect complete strangers to know this but most people either realize he's a shy kid and move on or are sensitive enough to give him a little time.

today we encountered a very scary man. we were at Costco, i was sitting with the boys while Chandler was getting us some lunch. Cash and i were sitting on the opposite sides of a picnic bench and the man behind Cash seemed harmless enough (an older, white haired man) but it all changed when he opened his mouth. he was so creepy. its better if you can here my impression but imagine a very scary Halloween witch voice. he said, "eat your pizza little boy". Cash turned around and looked at me like he just saw a ghost. i just smiled because i didn't want to freak Cash out. the man continued in his witchy voice, "eat it before i get it". Cash got even more freaked at which time i said to him, "ok, that's enough". He didn't stop "i'm gonna get your pizza" at which point Cash screamed and started a complete melt down. he ran over to my side of the table and clung to me like a baby gorilla to its mamma. Chandler came back from getting napkins and Cash just started crying harder so i removed him from the situation. i thought when Chandler sat down Cash would calm down and we would be able to go back to the table and eat our lunch. no way. if i even thought about walking back to the table Cash would grip me harder and beg not to go. Chandler gathered everything up and met us by the door. i went back over to the man and said, "i'm not sure what you were trying to do, or if you were trying to frighten him but he is very scared of you. you are a very scary man." the man looked at me like i was crazy and said in a very dismissive tone, "of course not." and i said, "well you did and i would have appreciated it if you had stopped teasing him when i asked." i then turned and walked away. i was happy i said something.

poor baby. he kept asking in the car where the scary man went and he told Chandler that "that man scared me". we had to tell him that mommy yelled at him to "stop being scary" and "go away from Cash" and that he went far, far away. we haven't heard about him since we have been home. i kind of want to talk to Cash about it but don't want to bring it up. i think i'll just let it go because i told him on our way home that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't let that man get him and that we were around to keep him safe. i know he heard me.

its the kind of moment that you wish your husband was there to yell at the guy - but that isn't Chandler's style so i'm glad i gave the guy the stink eye.

pain in the ass

the other day the bank called and said that someone had gotten a hold of our account number and tried to cash a check (a check they had generated - not one from our checkbook). unfortunately the guy (we know your name) grabbed the check before the bank could do anything about it so he still had it and was still out there. so we went through the whole process of locking down and flagging the account and changing everything over to a new account. they locked everyone and everything out of our account for 24 hours. very bad timing to have this happen since it was at the very end of the month and all the direct deposits/withdrawls happen on the 1st of the month - and we were locked out for 24 hours. so we finally got back in to the account today and have some cleaning up to do with all the stuff that went through at midnight BUT the bank just called and the dumbass just tried to go back and cash the check. they stalled him, called the police and arrested him on the spot! yes! justice!

nice little rhythm

we've fallen into a nice little rhythm. Cash is sleeping well in his own bed from 8pm-6am without shedding a tear. Cooper is still fine. Chandler is enjoying his new job. but Labor Day weekend is coming up and i have such an urge to get out of dodge. i wish we were going somewhere. i know we are going to be so bored all weekend. womp, womp.