Disruptions

Cooper is a baby that thrives off consistency in schedule and a set place for nap time. We have Cooper on a pretty consistent schedule. It varies slightly each day, but for the most part he eats, sleeps, and plays at pretty much the same time each day. Cooper also sleeps in his crib for all his naps and his nighttime sleep. We have a small condo so I did not see the sense in having him nap in a pack ‘n play that would take up even more room in our small condo. As long as we are on schedule and he sleeps in his crib (with minimal noise) than Cooper will nap fairly well (there are those occasional days though).

Then come the disruptions. Cooper does not do well to going down either to late or to early for his nap, eating at a different time, changing his bed time, napping/ sleeping in his pack ‘n play, being in someone else home for sleep/naps, and traveling. He is definitely a child who thrives off consistency and familiarity. This makes life sometimes hard. I have tried laying him down for naps at my friends homes or traveling with him to Texas, but he does not like the change. He gets very cranky and irritable which leads to less sleep and more cranky an irritableness.

I was talking to my step sister Kristy yesterday about all the disruptions and Cooper’s lack of flexibility. Kristy has a 2.5 year old daughter who travels with her all the time due to her job. Kristy says that her daughter can pretty much sleep anywhere and in anything. Maybe her daughter just has to get use to the disruptions because she did not have a consistent place to sleep.

I follow this woman’s blog, Chronicals of a Baby Wise Mom, and she wrote about how some babys become inflexible. She recommended that from the start you vary you child’s sleep locations so they can get use to napping and sleeping in different places. I think that is a wise suggestion. When I have my second child, I am going to defenently vary my child’s sleeping location to be other places other than in his/her room and crib.


Aunt Lizzy

Yesterday Chris, my sister Lizzy, Cooper, and I took my step mom Marge out for her birthday. During dinner Cooper was scheduled to take a quick cat nap, but we were not home. He will no longer sleep in his carseat so I was fretting over what we could do. Cooper was starting to melt down and cry (in public..oh no!). My sister started to rock him and after about 10 minutes he was fast asleep in her arms. He slept there for about 45 minutes. She never ate her dinner and just boxed it up and took it home. I was thankful that she did that for Cooper (and me) so that we could all still manage to enjoy our dinner together. Cooper woke up just in time for dessert, which meant Lizzy could at least enjoy her strawberry short cake! Thanks Aunt Lizzy!


Surviving the first 3 months

The nine months that a couple waits in anticipation for their new little baby is marked with excitement, expectations, and preparation. If it is your first child, then you have all these “ideas” about what having a baby will be like. Sure, you know you will be tired and sleep deprived at first. Yes, you know your baby will cry now and again- all babies do, right? You’re busy registering for the baby essentials and picking out crib bedding and room colors. But even all the books, stories, and advise can never truly prepare you for the unexpected adventure of caring for a newborn baby. You really don’t know what it is like until you experience it first hand.

The first two months seemed difficult just due to lack of sleep and Cooper’s refusal to sleep longer than 45 minutes at a time for the first two months. Nighttime sleep during those first two months was difficult having to wake up every 2-3 hours. Then magically around 8 or 9 weeks old, Cooper start to sleep 7-8 hours a night. Even though he was sleeping better at night, the crying did not stop. He still cried quite a bit. For me, Susanne, the crying was hard to block out. A newborn’s cry is like nails on a chalkboard for me. Kind of hard to ignore. Oh and then the growth spurts! Cooper seemed to hit a growth spurt about every 3-4 weeks. That meant marathon nursing, eating almost every 2 hours and sometimes less. Growth spurts also meant less sleep for mommy and baby. The newborn stage (0-3 months) also means that the baby still really needs help to calm him down and relax. Newborns need lots of rocking and holding. They lack muscle control so they really cannot suck on their fingers. I can remember times when I would put him to bed. It would sometimes take him an hour to finally calm and fall asleep. Then there was Cooper’s fussy peak from 5-9 weeks old. Then just as I thought we were out finally coming out of the newborn stage and on to easier more manageable days, Cooper (at 3 months) gets a cold, then gets an other cold, and battles gas (colic), oh and hits a growth spurt too- geeezzz!

But We survived! No amount of warning, advise, or reading can ever really prepare you for those first 3 months. But I remember my friend Annie telling me that when a baby hits 4 months old they become so much more fun! Man was she right!! The crying stops, they have learned to self-sooth, they interact with you more, and they sleep longer and better both in the day and at night. Yes there were fun moments when Cooper was a newborn…but I am enjoying my days with Cooper more so now. I think it also helps when the parents is able to finally get some much needed sleep and rest. Also Cooper does not eat as fequently now, which makes it so much easier to get things done. So to all your new parents out there just trying to get through the first three months, hang in there. You will sleep again! He will stop crying eventually!


Say Hi

I was video taping Cooper yesterday babbling. I swear one of his babbles sounded just like he said hi. Thought you all might enjoy this!


It’s not his thumb but…

Ever since Cooper was born, we have really wanted to him to learn how to self-sooth himself so if he wakes up in the middle of the night or early from a nap he can calm himself back to sleep without our help. I must say that he has done a pretty good job of getting himself to go back to sleep without our help. Sometimes he cries for a few minutes, but usually falls quickly back to sleep (now).

Cooper usually falls asleep for naps and bedtime with a combination of three things- swaddling, rocking, and sucking. We swaddle him, rock him for a few minutes, and put a pacifier in his mouth. The sucking on the pacifier is the icing on the cake!

However until he was two months old, he did not have enough muscle control to figure out how to get his hand in his mouth. He would try, but every attempt seemed in vein as he would end up whacking himself in the face or something along those lines. Then even at three months old, he could get his fingers in his mouth, but it was more or less like he was trying to stuff his whole hand in there. So we used a pacifier for the first three months of his life. The only aggravating thing about a pacifiers is the adult has to reinsert the pacifier if it falls out. This is not convenient or helpful when Cooper is in his crib without us.

Because we swaddled him, both of his hands where tucked in tight under the blanket wrapped around him. Therefore, he did not have access to his hands anyway.  Cooper is 4 1/2 months old now, and swaddling is not necessary anymore. Swaddling is useful for the first three months of life. Young babies have a startle reflex and lack of muscle control. So while they are sleeping, they might jerk or hit themselves with their arm and suddenly wake up. We were reluctant to unswaddle him because our few attempts of unswaddled sleep results in shorter naps and disrupted nighttime sleep. Just about 2 weeks ago, Chris and I decided to start phasing out the swaddle. We are on step one- leave only one arm swaddled and the other arm out. The first few days he had some adjustments to his new sleeping arrangement, but he seems to be doing great now.  Leaving one arm out has results in, actually, better sleep! Now when Cooper awakes on his own from a nap early, instead of crying for a little, he just sucks on his fingers instead. Yes, his ringer finger and middle finger in tandem. I desperately wanted him to be a thumb sucker, but this is even better. I think it is too cute!

When I get him up from his naps now, he is happily laying there sucking away on his two fingers. He is even trying this new skill out in other places besides his crib. I found him doing it yesterday in his carseat. I took a picture of him sucking away on his two fingers. That is the picture shown. Unfortunately, just as I snapped the picture, he started to grin. But you can at least see his two fingers in his mouth.

I know there are a lot of people out there that say thumb or finger sucking is a bad habit to break. I will cross that bridge when I get there. For now, I am glad he has found a way to self-sooth himself that does not require a pacifier or adult help!  And the other added bonus is it is unique and way too cute!


Sneeze!

This is my first attempt at putting a video on our website. I have to down load more recent videos of Cooper, but for now here is my first addition. When Cooper was a newborn his sneezes were so cute. Here is Cooper sneezing when he was a day old. I cannot believe how much he has grown and changed since then.


New Pictures

Just to let you all know, we recently added two new albums of pics.

Sorry for the delay! Click on pictures at the top right hand side to view them.


Just a “jeneric” blog

Yesterday evening Chris, Cooper, and I all went over to our friend Eric’s house. Eric is an amazing blogger. He has a very well kept up website which he blogs on almost daily. He also has several friends who have websites and blogs that he follows on a regular basis. When we started our website in September 2008 he “bookmarked” us so that he could keep up with out postings on our website and see how little Cooper is growing. But I was informed yesterday evening, that we were no longer “bookmarked” on his computer. Oh the travesty!! So I in order to earn our status back on Eric’s list of note-worthy websites to “bookmark”, I have to write more entries more frequently. Hopefully over time I can earn our bookmark back.

But that’s enough about that…on to more interesting topics… Like the word “Jeneric”. Webster dictionary defines the word as:

1 a: relating to or characteristic of a whole group or class : general b: being or having a nonproprietary name <generic drugs> c: having no particularly distinctive quality or application <generic restaurants>2: relating to or having the rank of a biological genus

Our friend Eric recently started to date a girl name Jen. We were able to finally meet her last night when we stopped over for dinner with the two of them. We really like Jen and think that she seems to be a good fit for our friend Eric from our first impression of her. Chris and I were discussing the two of them yesterday evening and Chris says, “They are generic.” I did not pick up on this right away and Chris started to chuckle to himself. As usual it takes me a while to figure out the pun. But yes, Jen + Eric = Jeneric. However, if you know our friend Eric you know he is nothing close to generic. And after meeting his girlfriend Jen, I am pretty sure she is not very generic either. Actually, we asked them what their V-Day plans were. They said they were going to go Geo-Caching. I had never heard of this before, but apparently you go and find hidden treasure and trinkets that people hide and then you use GPS coordinates to find this hidden treasure. I would say that Geo-Caching is not your typical Valentine’s Day activity. Generic? NO! Jeneric? Yes. So I guess Jen and Eric give a whole new meaning to the word “Jeneric”.


Gas???

So Cooper is 4 months old now and he finally got his first cold. It started when I (Susanne) got a sinus cold in Texas over Christmas. Then Chris got the cold a week later. Then Cooper got the cold. Cooper was congested and a little fussy because of the cold, but nothing we could not manage. The cold lasted about a week. Then the cold seem to come back and Cooper developed a low grade fever. He became super fussy. He would not nap, he would not let you put him down (required a lot of holding), and he stopped sleeping through the night (waking sometimes 6 times). He pretty much went on a hunger strike too. It was painful trying to get him to nurse. He would nurse, but only for 3 minutes and then pull off screaming. Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted. I took him to his pediatrician twice in a week and made at least 4-5 phone calls to his pediatrician. I was convinced that there was something else that was wrong with him other than his cold. But every time we took him to the pediatrician, she said there was nothing wrong with him other than he was a little congested. I felt pretty helpless and was starting to lose my mind with Cooper crying pretty much all day long. Finally, I was talking with my step-mom and she mentioned he might be a little colicy. It dawned on me that he may have gas. My step-mom told me to buy gripe water which is suppose to help with fussiness, colic, teething, and gas. I bought gas drops (mylicon). Within 36 hours I had a different baby! Who would have known that gas could cause him so much discomfort. I am just glad that ordeal is behind us. It is so hard when your little one cannot tell you what is wrong. I wish I would have figured out that it was gas in the beginning. But at least now I know what to look for! Still not sure what caused his gas, but in an attempt to prevent the gas from coming back, I am eating the blandest diet. I would rather forgo my favorite foods in order for Cooper to feel good and be happy! Now… the next thing to tackle is getting him to sleep through the night again. Hopefully it will not take too long to get back to 9 hours of sleep at night. Thanks for all your prayers and support!


Merry Christmas 2008

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!!

Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

This past month has been very busy for the three of us with visiting family and friends and Christmas parties. We have enjoyed having a little more freedom now that Cooper seems to have settled into life a little more. He is such a social baby and enjoys all the attention he gets from all our friend and family. He only wants to be held so he can see out. If you obstruct his view he becomes very frustrated. Cooper is 3 months old now. He just started to laugh last week and Chris and I think it is the cutest thing to hear him giggle. He continues to grow like a weed. We currently weighs 13lbs 13ozs. It is hard to believe that he was only 7lbs 8ozs when he was born.

Chris and I are excited to spend Christmas with our son. We will be in Houston visiting with Chris’s family. We are looking forward to waking up on Christmas morning and sharing Christmas as a family. It is hard to believe that just over a year ago Cooper was only a twinkle in our eye. We look forward to watching Cooper grow up and experience Christmas each year as he gets older. While we plan on celebrating Christmas with presents under the tree, Chris and I feel it is very important for Cooper to know that this holiday is about Jesus Christ, and he was born on Christmas day. While Cooper is still young, we plan on baking a birthday cake and singing happy birthday to Jesus. I think it is a shame that with all the commercialism and Santa emphasis the real reason for the season is lost. I think this is true for children and adults. Without the birth of Jesus Christ, we would all be without hope. For the bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)” It is my prayer that you would all believe in Jesus. God offers us the best Christmas present of all- his son.