So Cooper turned one a little over a week ago. It also seems that with the entry into toddler hood, also came the napping problem- one nap or two? Haha, sound like I am having tea, “one lump or two?” Anyways, Cooper is having trouble taking two naps, they seem to be too much for him, but one nap is still a stretch. I use to freak out when we had trouble with naps, but I am starting to relax and Cooper is becoming more flexible, thank God! He is awake for 3 hours in the morning and needs a nap. But come afternoon, he is awake for 4 hours before a nap. Making for a very late afternoon nap and an even later bedtime (not good!). So for all you mamas out there, how did you make the transition from one nap to two?

Just woke up from his nap

Here is how our little man is growing:

Head 48.2 cm (92%ile)
Height 31.5 in (86%ile)
Weight 23lbs 12oz (64%ile)

Yesterday evening, the phone rang while we were eating dinner so we decided to let the answering machine get it. Cooper was sitting on the floor as the phone was ringing. He put his hand to his ear as if he was talking on the phone and then pointed to the phone on the counter. He repeated this twice. It was as if he was saying, “Hey, mom and dad, are you going to get the phone or what?” Smart kid!

Cooper is turning 1 on Tuesday September 22. We had a birthday party for him this weekend. He loved his cake and ice cream and got lots of presents. Here are some pictures from the day.

I made the monkey cake for Cooper.

Cooper is digging into his cake.

Cooper was yelling "yea" as we all clapped for him. Too Cute!

More of cooper clapping and saying, "yea" as he ate his cake.

Happy Sugar High!

Cooper is having his first birthday party this weekend. He turns one on Sept 22. We are just having family and some close friends. Nothing big. I have decided I was going to make Cooper’s birthday cake, a monkey cake. I am not sure how it will turn out, but I will make sure to post pictures once the cake is done. I am going to bake it this evening. We have company coming in tonight and tomorrow so I have to also finish cleaning the house. I HATE to clean. When we am rich one day (haha), I am going to hire a cleaning staff to clean my house every other week (Keep dreaming, right!?!) We bought some decorations, a birthday banner, and some cups and plates. I know that Cooper will have no idea that it is his birthday, but I am so excited to celebrate this huge milestone with my family. I will post pictures of his party this weekend!

Have a good weekend everyone!

We have a video monitor is Cooper’s room that is sitting next to his crib on top of boxes. We have been too lazy to actually mount the monitor to the wall. Cooper has recently discovered that he can pull himself up in his crib and along with this he has also discovered the monitor next to the crib. This morning I turned on the monitor and watched Cooper stand up and his little face was smack dab in the middle of the monitor. He then got this mischievous grin that slid across his face. In a matter of seconds he pulled the monitor down and was giggling uncontrollably. Guess we need to finally mount the monitor.

Cooper has been waving at everything lately. He waves at cars. He waves at walls. He waves at people. He waves at doors. You get what I mean. Today, I went to the grocery store and a man says to me, “friendly little fellow.” I had to laugh. Friendly yes, but truly Cooper has no clue what he is waving to or why.

I have been doing baby sign language with Cooper since he was 5 months old. He has not attempted any signs up until just this week. I am so excited that he is starting to communicate with me, even if it just a sign.

He is signing “all done” at meal time now! He has his own twist or variation on the sign, but he is doing it. This makes meal time less stressful because he just tells me he is done and does not have to scream to get out of his high chair.

He is also waving and pointing, but they are really not signs. However, all this gesturing is just another attempt by Cooper to communicate with me.

Now, I am just waiting for him to pick up on more signs and perhaps a few words.

Cooper is 11 months old. On September 22 he will be one. Where has the time gone? Honestly, has it really been a year? He is not an infant any more, more like a toddler than anything. We are slowly weaning him off his bottle and onto whole milk from a straw cup. I started replacing one of his bottles this week with a cup of whole milk and he drank it like a champ. No tantrums, no crying, just major sipping! He is such a big boy!

He is crawling all over the place as fast as can be. He pulls himself up on everything and is able to get down with ease. He loves to walk, but only holding onto your hands. He has not really attempted to stand on his own yet and is still pretty wobbly so I think Cooper has a few more months until he walks. He is self-feeding himself for the most part. I still feed him with a spoon for things like yogurt. He babbles up a storm, points to things he wants or wants me to look at. He is still not talking, except for mama, dada, and the occasional “dog” which sounds more like “gdag”. He loves dogs still and just goes nuts chasing after them or laughing at them when he sees them.

I love that little guy. He is growing up so fast. I wish I could slow down time and freeze this moment because I absolutely love this stage he is in. He is learning things all the time and he is so easily entertained. His laugh and giggle can light up a room.  I am just trying to soak up these last few days before he turns to big One.

I know that I have not been as faithful to blogging as I should, but now that Cooper is crawling and pulling himself up on everything and anything, it is hard for me to have a moment to get to the computer.

House Update: So far we have painted the master bedroom, master bathroom, cooper’s bedroom, cooper’s bathroom, and the laundry room. We are also mostly done painting the living room and we are going to work on painting the hallway and entryway this week. Still have a long way to go, but eventually, little by little we will get there.

Church Update: We found a church! Yippy. I am so happy that we found a church that we can sink our feet into and grow. We attend morning service and then following the morning service we attend a small group. The small group is comprised of a lot of young families with young children. I love it. I am hoping to make some good friendships with these people. Best part about this small group, I am really challenged by the teaching and study that we are doing. Cooper goes to the nursery for 8:30-11 while we do our church thing. He seems to really enjoy being around other kids. There are 4 other babies who are his age in the nursery from our small group. I think that is neat. If you want to learn more about our church click here: http://www.themetonline.org/

Cooper Update: Cooper is crawling, pulling himself up on everything. He is babbling away. Cooper loves to eat finger foods cut into small pieces. He enjoys drinking water from his big boy cup that has a straw. He is really not a little baby any more. I look at him and it is hard to imagine him as a tiny little baby. GEE, he did grow up fast. He is just a few days shy of 11 months and in one month he’ll be one. His new claim to fame is picking up his toy telephone and holding it up to his ear, too cute! He takes two naps- one hour nap in the am and 1.5 hour nap in the pm. He sleeps about 11-12 hours a night. I love all the sleep I can get at night.

Vacations/ Travel: We are getting ready to head back to Maryland for a family vacation with the Tumolo’s at my father and Step-mom’s beach house. That should be fun. I will make sure to take a ton of pictures. The week following that we are going to be in the Columbia area visiting with friends and family while Chris returns to APL for a week of work on site. For those of you who did not know, Chris is still working for APL remotely in Texas. Chris plans to make the switch to his family’s insurance business in the middle of September.