yucky

i have a terrible cough and cold right now so that pretty much sucks. i am worried that i will be getting Cooper sick because i can't cough or sneeze comfortably or hold it in since it hurts my stomach so badly. so i end up just coughing all over the place and i'm sure germ droplets are landing all over him. I hope that my milk is keeping him healthy - hopefully.
He is doing really well though and getting quite plump. We went and had his 2nd blood test today and he didn't even cry - he was more annoyed with taking his warm socks off than he was with the pin prick in his heel.
Cash is really, really funny. His new thing as of this week is "lip synching". When a song comes on he'll mouth "words". Not really the right words but he just moves his mouth to make it look like he is singing.
Last night Addison and her little sisters came over so we had 5 kids ages 3 and under in the house and everyone did fine! We had take out and mostly Addie and Cash played together with his fire truck and coloring books. The babies ate and slept. It was a lot of fun to have our visitors.
Chandler and I have been having a really nice time together paling around. We don't get to do that a lot so when we have the chance it is really nice. we have long conversations about things other than our kids and do things together that we would normallly have to do alone - like go grocery shopping - sounds fun, i know!

my boys

the boys are doing really well. and really well together.
Cash is less enthusiastic about Cooper now - i guess little brother has lost his new toy smell - but he is still sweet and loving toward him. Cash is getting smarter by the day. We call him our little parrot because he repeats everything we say. He likes to do puzzles and continues to surprise me with how he can figure out where the pieces go. He is getting taller but not gaining any weight recently. Probably because he is too busy to ever sit down and actually eat a full meal. Cash never really stops moving or talking unless he is sleeping - it exhuasts us but its fun to watch him growing and learning at the same time.

Cooper is getting bigger every day. I get sad when i think about him getting so big so fast but i know there's a lot of fun stuff to come so its ok. He's getting pudgier and has quite a double chin. He is doing great in the eating department although he gets a lot of gas bubbles and he doesn't eat all at once. This effects his sleep a little and its hard for him to get comfortable at night sometimes. I think i remember this from Cash and it will get better so i'm not making a bigger deal out of it than this.

We went on a nice little walk today as a foursome and hope to continue to do so each day to get back into an active lifestyle.

Christmastime

We had a wonderful Christmas but i must say that i'm glad its over. We had Grammy, Grandma (louise) and Poppy (larry) in for Christmas. It was nice to have everyone here and celebrate with the boys. It was actually the first time that the boys - either one of them - have had their grandparents around for Christmas. We got lots of presents (too many) and it was pretty hard to keep Cash from opening all of them before Christmas morning. On Christmas eve we had Grandma Vegas over for dinner and Grammy made excellent Paella for everyone. After dinner we Skyped with Pop and Cash told him all about how he was excited for Santa to come. Cooper continues to behave himself. Christmas morning Cash woke up and we opened presents and had breakfast - the rest of the day was pretty lazy until we started cooking dinner. Cash got some great stuff - some of which we even put aside for later since he has far too much to play with now. His favorites so far are a fire engine book, ernie and elmo police station, bath toys, train set, and the dry erase easel. Cooper got a few new outfits but slept through most of Christmas.
Again, Grammy treated us to a wonderful holiday meal for dinner. We were able to talk to Pop again that night (Boxing day for Pop). Larry and Louise left on Saturday afternoon so we visited with them a little in the morning. Chandler took them (and Cash) out to lunch for Louise's birthday before they left. Grammy left today amidst a boatload of tears. Cash was not happy that she was leaving and it threw him into a tailspin for a while. He has slowly stopped asking where Grammy is throughout the day. Beside everyone being upset, only one tragic event came out of grammy leaving - we were weighing her suitcase and Chandler got his toe in the way and now has a really bad situation with his toenail. Hopefully he'll go to the doctor to get it removed or something.
Overall we had an awesome Christmas. We were so lucky grammy came to take care of us for so long and now we miss her but will get along fine as a family of 4.

Cash's new interests

Cash is really into his little brother. its cute and great that he is embracing Cooper instead of rejecting him. He asks about him first thing when he wakes up - usually Cooper is in the bed with me and Cash will come in and snuggle for a few minutes before he gets ready for school which is really nice. He loves to watch me change Cooper's diaper and when he sees me lay him in the pack and play he drops everything and scrambles for a chair to drag over and stand on to watch me change the diaper. He is so curious about everything and asks so many questions. which is also good because he is learning so much. He can walk me through Cooper's diaper change and hand me wipes and tell me, "legs up" and hand me a clean diaper.
He's also really interested in how Cooper eats and wants to see mommy's bobbies. He likes to sit right next to me when i feed Cooper and i can just see his wheels spinning.
Cash's vocabulary is just amazing and he can speak in complete sentences. He now knows a lot of animal sounds and is starting to work on the alphabet.
We had a really rough time getting Cash to sleep tonight and lately the bedtime routine has been hit or miss with Cash settling into sleep easily. Cash cried for mommy and daddy for over an hour tonight and Chandler and I both spent time in Cash's bed trying to get him to go to sleep. Eventually he fell asleep but i'm not sure why he was fighting it so hard. maybe he was overly tired.
Tomorrow is his last day of school for the week and we will share lots of fun family time together over the next few days with Grammy, Grandma and Poppy.

check up

cooper went for a check up today. He did very well and the doctor is really happy with how he is doing. Cooper's weight was a bit of a mystery...he was weighed at first and came in at 8lb 5oz, which is 1oz less than he weighed 5 days ago. Dr. Goebel was surprised by this because she said he looked like he had put on a little weight, not lost an ounce. so we fed him and reweighed and he was a whopping 8lb 9oz. Now, he probably didn't put on 4oz from one feeding and we surmised that the first weight was wrong. He measured 21 inches as well. All in all a very healthy little boy. Dr checked his circumcision and it is healing really well and we can stop putting the neosporin on it after tomorrow. Also, his belly button fell off on 12/21. She cleaned it out and we can start giving him baths tomorrow night. The best news of all is that his little testicle has come down, it is still high but it has dropped and just needs to settle into its new home. this is actually a really good thing because if little boys' testicles don't drop by the time they are 2 they go in and get them surgically because they can turn cancerous - and if they don't come down by then they are probably "defective" anyway.
I'm going to start keeping track of Coopers eating and sleeping a little more. I have just had him on me since he was born without noticing how much, long or when he was eating. Now that he is healthy and gaining weight easily I think i'd like to keep track of when he is eating so we can plan some things around that.
I also went to the doctor today because i have had some pain and swelling around my incision and i'm not sure if that is normal or not. my doctor doesn't think i have any infection but i need to keep a close eye on it and if anything changes i need to call right away.

Cooper - day 6

Cooper went in for a check up today and to get circumsized. He is doing very well. He is back to his birth weight, plus some (8lb, 6oz). His measurements, temperature, color all look good and he seems to be very healthy. His left testical has been located and is on its way! we'll just keep checking it to make sure it comes down. His heart still murmers but it hasn't changed - so that's good. His little surgery went well. he hardly cried and recovered quickly.
We are getting used to having a new baby at home and might venture out of the house next week. I'm in no hurry since it is cold season and we don't need any of that around here.
I'm also recoving well - i think. I still get sore if i don't keep up with my medicine but i took a nap and slept on my side today which was good because yesterday that hurt too much to do.

There aren't too many differences between newborn Cash and newborn Cooper. I think they'll have very similar personalities but only time will tell. Here are a few of the differences that they do have:
Cooper has more hair and its darker than Cash's was. Although Cash had more hair on his back and shoulders than Cooper does.
Cooper eats well but he doesn't eat all at once like Cash did. Cash would suck down his entire meal in one sitting. Cooper eats in 2 or 3 sessions. He'll eat, back off, burp, squirm and then want to eat again.
Nursing hurts more with Cooper. I never had blisteres or bleeding with Cash. Its probably because Cooper started eating sooner and and more often than Cash did. I didn't have a chance to "ease" into it.
Cooper also had no jaundice whereas Cash did.
Cash was born with very blue eyes - they barely changed color at all. Cooper has very dark grey eyes.