Mother's Day to Now

I celebrated my first Mother's Day this year (last year I was 4 mos pregnant on Mother's Day). I didn't ask for much, just a day with my boys. Justin made me pancakes for breakfast and got me a hilarious card and then the boy and I took a nap while he went to get a haircut. When he came back home the 3 of us walked to the park for Coop's first time on the swings and slides and then came back home to take another nap while Justin went to the store to get stuff for dinner (which he made also). It was a very nice, relaxing day!

Daddy pushing the boy!

Mommy and the boy!

I LOVE this picture!

First time on the slide!

Shirtless nap time!

The park was pretty fun, but of course was a short trip b/c it was so hot outside and the boy is so little. His little face was so rosey even though he was slathered with SPF 50.

My mom came for a visit 3 days later and stayed a week (the 16th-22nd). It was so awesome having her here! She originally planned to come for Memorial Day weekend, but came this past weekend instead so that Justin and I could go a military ball and have our first date in almost a year! We also got to sneak in a motorcycle ride, dinner and a trip to the mountains for the eclipse. We did our usual, Starbucks in the morning followed by running around the city/shopping and some home improvement projects. I'll have to post pictures tomorrow when I have time to upload them (and tell more about her visit).

This weekend coming up is a 4 day weekend b/c it's a holiday and it just so happens to be our anniversary on Saturday!! This will be the first time in 3 years that we've celebrated an anniversary together (the first one he was in Korea, the 2nd one he was in El Paso preparing for deployment and I was in IN)! We just might get to celebrate every holiday/anniversary/birthday in a year, we've never been able to do that before!

Anyways, it's late and I'll post more tomorrow (with pictures)!

7 months!

It's been almost a week, but our little dude is 7 months old! Where does the time go?? It feels like just yesterday I was bringing a little 5lb, 7oz baby boy home from the hospital and now, all of a sudden, he's 7 months old and weighs over 20 lbs!

10 days old

7 months!

*sits by himself
*can scoot backwards on his back
*can scoot backwards on hands/knees
*wants to play with mommy and daddy's cell phones or laptops
*likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sesame Street, Little Einsteins and Bubble Guppies
*has 2 small white dots under his gums, but no teeth breaking through yet
*raises his arms when he wants picked up

We don't go back to the doctor until July for his 9 month well visit, so I don't know any measurements for right now. At 6 mos he was 19 lbs, 6 oz so I'm pretty sure he's broken the 20 lb mark! He still mainly nurses but has also been introduced to Gerber Puffs, Mum Mums, and Arrowroot cookies. He's still not sure about all of the solids (I think it's a texture thing), but we keep introducing new flavors. I think what he really wants is to get his hands on the food to play with it, not eat it!

Mr. Inquisitive

5 & 6 months

It's been almost 3 mos since I updated the blog...slacker central over here! We've been busy around the Hise house so I'll try to recap what I can!

5 & 6 month pics & stats:

Definitely a smiley boy!

Laughing at Daddy

 

 

At 6 mos, our big boy weighed 19 lbs, 6 oz and was 27 1/2 in long! Wowzers! He's growing like crazy...sadly we don't go back to the doctor until 9 mos, so I won't know stats for 2 more mos. On the bright side, he won't get any more shots until 12 mos!

*sits with little to no support
*likes carrots and sweet potatoes, hates squash and is not too sure about bananas or sweet peas
*has rolled over from front to back and back to front-now he's working on crawling
*loves to laugh and rough house with his daddy
*takes baths in the sink and likes to suck on the washcloth (gross!)

Those thighs just keep growing!

 I have decided to take on the task of making C's food for a couple of reasons; 1. it's cheaper and 2. I know exactly what's going in his little body. I bought a book "Blender Baby Food" and have The Magic Bullet so it's really not that hard. I mix the veggies with water, bring it to a boil, let it simmer for 15-20 min and then let it cool. After that, I run it through the bullet and pour it into ice cube trays to freeze. After they're frozen I put them in a freezer zip-lock bag and name/date it. When it's time to eat, I put 1 cube in the fridge to thaw out and then feed it to him! I have to say, I love the faces he makes when he tries something new, lol!

Carrots

 

 

Squash

 

 

We also celebrated our first Easter as a family. Not only as a family, but it's the first Easter J and I have had together as well! Our friend Joey's family had a cookout for all of our Army friends and a small Easter egg hunt for the babies!

My little bunny

Confetti in his hair, and checking out the loot

Nom Nom Nom

First family Easter

4 months

I can't believe my sweet baby boy is 4 months old already!!

His facial expressions crack me up! He refuses to smile when he sees my phone or camera b/c he's too interested in what's in my hand. He always looks so serious! We haven't had our 4 month appt yet, so I'm not sure on length and weight...but we can tell by those thighs that he's growing! Here's what's going on with the boy:

*he reaches for his toys and grabs them (he just learned how to shake is rattle!)
*he wants to have interaction ALL of the time
*he moved his walker last night for the first time
*he jumped in his Jumpy Johnny for the first time today (w/o me bouncing it)
*he is going through the 4 month sleep regression so his sleeping habits went from great to  poo...we're about 2 wks in and we're hoping it ends soon!
*he does not like rice cereal, but will eat oatmeal for me

That's all the big ones I can think of at the time. He gets his shots on Valentine's Day and I'll update with weight, height and percentiles!

December & January

The last time I blogged Cooper was 1 month old...he's now 17 wks old today. Where has the time gone?? A lot has happened in the last 2 months and I'll try my best to remember the highlights...no promises though, baby brain is worse than pregnancy brain! We'll start with Dec 3 and Cooper's 2 month old picture:

My friend Molly got me these cute owl stickers to put on his onsies each month so that we can track how much he changes, I just love them! And by coincidence, we got that blanket as a gift from one of my showers and the leaves just go with the owl theme so well! He grew so much from month 1 to month 2...wait until you see his 4 month picture! His rolls have rolls :)

December 10th my hubby came to IN to meet Cooper for the first time (Coop was 10 wks old)! In July my husband deployed to Iraq for what was supposed to be a 12 month deployment. Lucky for us, the President pulled all of the troops out of Iraq and my husband's deployment was shortened to 4 mos! We originally weren't sure when he would get to meet Cooper, so this was an amazing surprise! Here is our first picture as a family of 3:

Justin had never held a baby or changed a diaper before Cooper came along, so it was quite entertaining to teach him everything! The first poopy diaper change, Justin had his shirt over his nose b/c he swore it smelled so bad! It's been so amazing to see my hubby and son interact with each other, Justin can get some great smiles and laughs out of Coop!

We also had some family pictures taken while we were together in IN (we've never had any professional photos done before). Here are some of my favorites:

I think Justin just looks so happy here <3

Cooper, Mr. Serious

A REAL smile from Justin!

That face just has mischief written all over it!

Justin's smile cracks me up in this one!

I can't wait to get our full disc of pictures, they should be here any day! Our photographer is absolutely AMAZING and I'd be more than happy to pass on her information!!

This was also our first Christmas as a family of 3!

After the holidays we had to pack to get ready to go back to TX with Justin. I don't think any of us realized just how much stuff we had accumulated for Cooper. Wow! We ended up renting a 14 ft Uhaul truck and towing the car behind it. I was a little nervous for a 24 hour drive with a 3 month old, but it honestly wasn't that bad. The first day we left around 5 pm and drove until 3 am where we spent the night in Joplin, MO. We just so happened to stay at the exact same hotel that Justin and I stayed in when we moved to TX the first time! Cooper did great! Since we left in the evening he slept the majority of the time and even let us get about 6-7 hours of sleep in the hotel before we left again. The second day we drove from Joplin all the way to El Paso. I think we were ALL ready to be out of the truck by the time we got to our house. By the way, I'm totally loving having a house this time instead of an apartment. Once I get the house all organized and decorated I'll share pictures :)

Here's Cooper's 3 month picture:

He's definitely not starving! LOL

This last picture brings us to today. I'll have a new post with pictures on Feb 3 when Cooper is 4 mos! Speaking of, how do you count how old your baby is? In weeks or on the actual date he was born? He's 17 wks today (so 4 mos and 1 week), BUT Feb 3 will be 4 mos (to the day) since he was born...hmm?

1 month

Cooper 1 month

I'm a week late in getting this post up, but I can't believe we have a 1 month old on our hands! I just love this miniature man so much and I can't remember what my life was like without him (nor do I want to)! He's a sweetheart the majority of the time, but he can sure throw a fit when he wants to!

*when he's hungry he wants to eat NOW, not in 5 minutes
*he fights sleep like a toddler
*he loves his swing, the birds on it and the music w/ the nature sounds
* he likes his butt pat, hard..none of that soft tapping!

He definitely is a little boy that knows what he wants! I can't wait for Justin to get to IN to be with us and meet his little man in person. They've seen each other via Skype and Cooper recognizes his voice and smiles whenever he hears it! I think they're going to be totally smitten with each other <3

Introducing...

Cooper Lee born 10/03/11 at 8:44 am 5 lb 12 oz and 19 1/2 in long!

The newest love of my life! I never knew it was possible to love someone as much as I love this little guy <3 Here's the story... On Oct 2 I had to work from 10:30a-7p and woke up feeling very sore and super tired. Something about that day just didn't feel "normal". I really didn't want to be at work AT ALL that day and had even told Justin that I was whiny and to forgive me. Around 3:30p I was contemplating asking the managers if I could go home early to rest and even talked to a couple of co-workers about starting maternity leave early because I was so tired. I got up to go to the bathroom and refill my water bottle and when I got about 5 steps from the bathroom door I felt an uncontrollable "leak". I went ahead to the bathroom and then called my mom to tell her what happened and ask if I should leave work. I called my friend Molly on the way home and told her, but she said I might have peed my pants and to just go to the ER to get checked out. I went home, changed clothes and then we went to the hospital. This was around 5p. They did a test and it came back that my amniotic sac had ruptured!! I was admitted and got to my room around 6p. From this point it's kind of a blur, but luckily my mom took notes, haha! At this point I was dilated 2cm, 50% effaced and baby was -2. They decided to let me progress on my own and Dr S came in around 8p to check me again. No change. He said that if I didn't progress by midnight they would start pitocen...I didn't progress. Once I got the pitocen I was hooked to the monitors, iv, and blood pressure cuff at all times. This sucked because any time I needed to go to the bathroom I had to call the nurse. At 3a I was dilated to 4cm, 75-80% effaced and baby was -1. I got a shot of NuBane at this point to take the edge off the contractions and that medicine hit me FAST! I felt wasted and started falling asleep. Around 5:15a I asked for more NuBane because my contractions were harder and closer. At 5:40a I asked for my epidural. Dr M came in at 6a to start the epidural process. He was done at 6:30a and around 6:45a it felt like my body was involuntarily pushing the baby out. They checked me and I was 100% ready to go! Since I just got the epidural they decided not to waste it and let me sleep for an hour. When they woke me up it was time to push and w/in 45 min to an hour Cooper was here!! I really am lucky because it was a very easy process for me. I joked with my husband afterwards that we needed another one, lol! It might have been the drugs :)