Yay for Sunny Days!

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Auburn. It was close to 70 degrees, so we decided to head to a park to enjoy the weather. I also decided to take some pictures since the scenery is so beautiful. Cooper loved being outside! I think we were there for a couple of hours. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather, but I know that as soon as I say that, I will be wishing for it to cool down! There is just no in between in Auburn!! After we got home, Cooper got to enjoy a nice long bath. He loves bath time, and I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of that in a while. Usually I am in a hurry trying to get him ready for bed, but last night we lingered in the tub for a while. Anyways, the pictures are in reverse order! Enjoy!

9 month appointment

Monday we went to Cooper's 9 month appointment. I usually look forward to his doctor's appointments. It allows me the chance to ask any questions that I have thought of and also I get to see how much Cooper has grown.





He is still growing like a weed. He weighs 21 pounds 15 ounces which is in the 70th percentile. He is 29 inches long which is in the 90th percentile. The doctor said he looks healthy and thinks he is right on track developmentally. He did say that we need to try to get him to fall asleep on his own for naps. He said that we can rock him until he is almost asleep and then go put him in his bed. This makes me very nervous, because usually he will just play in his bed instead of going to sleep. Also, sometimes we are not at home for him to fall asleep in his crib. For instance, Sundays we are at church and I can sometimes get him to fall asleep by rocking him. Another time is Tuesday mornings. I have my Ladies Bible Class, and Matt takes care of Cooper. Of course nap time is during class, so Matt rocks him to sleep. Anyways, I guess we will just have to work at it. As far as night time goes, that has been getting a little better. He is still waking up, but I am not going in to check on him. I have closed our door almost the entire way, so I can't hear him as well. It has taken him about 45 minutes each night to go back to sleep. He doesn't really cry, it is more whining than anything else. I think he just wants me to come be with him. But when I was going in there to pat him, it would only make things worse. Then he REALLY wanted me. So anyways, last night he fell back asleep and slept till 7:00! I was so excited. I thought he would wake up mad, but just the opposite! He was sitting up talking to himself when I went to get him. Even though he is still waking up, I feel like we are making progress since he is able to put himself back to sleep!



I forgot to mention in my last post that we got a "new" carseat for Cooper. You are supposed to replace your infant car seat when your child reaches 20 pounds, and Cooper had been over that for some time! Not to mention that his feet were hanging off the end. Well, my mom had an extra carseat that she let us have. It is a rear facing carseat that also turns around when he turns 1. It is so nice, and he looks like a big boy sitting in it. Of course, he would much rather be facing forward, but I think he really likes it. It's also much more comfortable and sits him up higher so he is able to look out the window as we are driving along.



Another item that I forgot to mention is that he is wearing 12-18 month clothes. I know many of you do not care what size my child wears, but I know one day I may wonder and will need this little note! :)

We also took Cooper's 9 month pictures Sunday afternoon. I love our photographer, so I am anxious to see them soon. I will post them as soon as I get my hands on them!

9 months old

Cooper turned 9 months on Thursday January 13th. I've been meaning to write this post, but just haven't gotten around to it. Anyways, I absolutely LOVE this age! He is SO SWEET! He just grins and loves on me. I feel like the most important person in the world whenever he smiles at me. I am definitely not liking the fact that we only have 3 months left until his first birthday. I never understood mothers that get sad about this, but I definitely understand now! Of course I am looking forward to all the things that come, but I am going to miss these days.

Here are some things that Cooper is doing right now:

• He started crawling a couple of days before his 9 month birthday. He is not getting anywhere fast, but if he is motivated, he will get there.
• He pulls up on everything. Even things that he really shouldn't pull up on. He LOVES to pull up on Matt and me. In fact, if I ever get tired, I just lay on the floor and let Cooper crawl all over me. It is his favorite.
• He can now go from his belly to a sitting position. I thought he would do this before he started crawling, but it happened a day or two after he started crawling. Thankfully, we lowered his crib two weekends ago in preparation for all of this. (Thanks Mom for the help!)
• He can clap, wave bye-bye, blow kisses all on command. Sometimes though we will ask him to clap and he will wave instead. :) But I'm very impressed that he knows how to do all of those when we ask him!
• He is saying "da" much more now. Thought he still says "ma" when he is upset or wants me to come get him!
• He is eating a lot of table food. Pretty much anything that we give him he will eat happily. He does still gag a lot, but just continues right along eating. So far he has eaten pickles, crackers, lemons, green beans, pintos, potatoes, broccoli and cheese, cube cheese, poppy seed chicken, roast, carrots, chicken parmesan, and kind of bread, peaches, tomatoes, and I'm sure there is more that I haven't mentioned. He is still eating a lot of baby food too. He usually eats about 3 Stage 2 and 1 Stage 3 a day. Hopefully we will move to more and more table food. I'm waiting for his 9 month appointment to figure out how to go from there.
• His sleeping has gotten a little bit better. He still will not nap on his own. We had been trying to get him to fall asleep on his own, and he would literally play and talk to himself in his crib for an hour! How was he still awake?!?! I tried this for a week, and sometimes he would fall asleep (after 30 minutes to an hour) and sometimes he wouldn't. So finally I have decided to rock him to sleep until that doesn't work any more. Usually it takes about 10 minutes for him to fall asleep when I rock him. He then will nap for an hour and fifteen to an hour and a half. Most days he takes 2 naps. Now, for bedtime, he will fall asleep on his own. I don't know what the difference is for bedtime and nap time, but apparently there is a difference. He is still waking up at least once at night. Thankfully it isn't till around 4:30 in the morning, but I would still prefer he slept all night. I am nursing him when he wakes up because I'm not sure if he is hungry (since it is so close to morning), but this is another question I'm going to ask the doctor about!
• He has 2 teeth!! It is so funny to look at though. He has one on the top right and then the other on the bottom left. Matt says he looks like a jack-o-lantern! The other two teeth are trying to come in, but so far have not made an appearance. I thought for sure his 2 bottom teeth would come in before the top teeth, but I guess not!
• Cooper is such a good baby! He is so good natured. He does not cry a lot, and almost always has a smile for me. He willingly goes to other people at church. I'm not sure if it is because he has been passed around his whole life, or if that is just his demeanor. But I am thankful for it! He has been such a blessing to our life. Bring on the next 9 months!
  

Reading books - one of his all-time favorite things to do!

On the move!

Brushing his teeth for the first time.

Toomer's Corner

After every big win, Toomer's Corner gets rolled. There are two trees on the corner downtown, and thousands of people throw toilet paper on it. I'm not sure how this tradition got started, but it makes for an interesting story. Since last night was the National Championship, we knew that this rolling had the potential to be very big. And it was since Auburn won! We got up this morning to go downtown to see it and to take pictures. Matt was so excited to experience this with Cooper. Who knows when we will see a National Championship again for Auburn, so we definitely had to get some pictures. I put on Cooper's jersey, but since it is so cold, you can't really see it very well. Matt unzipped it because he wanted people to know what Coop was wearing. Anyways, even though I'm not an Auburn fan (Roll Tide!), I do enjoy going to see downtown after a game.

On another note, Cooper started crawling yesterday! He had been taking one or two "crawls" (don't think that's a word), but nothing really more than that. Well yesterday, we kept moving items further and further away and he would go get them. He won't really just go for anything right now. We kind of have to coax him with something forbidden, such as a cell phone or remote. So right now I can put him down, and he will still be in that spot when I come back. But I know that probably in the next couple of weeks, he will be everywhere. I am going to post video of him crawling, but it just takes SO LONG, and I'm very lazy! :)

The second thing that has happened is that Cooper is getting his two top teeth in! He got one of his bottom teeth in not too long ago, and we have been waiting on his second bottom tooth. Well, this morning, on the way to Toomer's Corner, Matt saw a tooth peeking out of the top! I thought for sure his bottom one would come in before the top, but I guess not. Right now you can only see a part of one at the top, but the other top one is definitely ready. His gums look huge and swollen! I know they have got to hurt. He has been drooling like crazy and choking on it a lot. Ugh! Teething has definitely been a lot harder than I thought! Baby Orajel and Tylenol have become my best friends, especially at night!

Nashville Christmas 2010

After our Christmas in Memphis, we headed to Nashville for Matt's side of the family. We got there on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, Daniel and Julie showed up. Cooper loves his Uncle Daniel and Aunt Julie. They play so well with him! At home, Cooper has to fend for himself, so he was glad to have some company! :)

Uncle Daniel reading books with Cooper

On Friday, we had the extended Tignor Family Christmas. Everyone came over to Tom and Suzanne's house (Matt's parents), and we celebrated there. It was the first time we had it at their house, and it went well. Lots of good food to eat and presents to open.

Papaw playing with Cooper

Coop liked to eat his presents before opening them!

The next day was Saturday which was Christmas morning! Usually Tom and Suzanne cook a big breakfast and have everyone back over to their house if they can make it. Well Friday night it had snowed. We weren't sure if anyone was going to make it. Thankfully Papaw, Mamaw, and Aunt Wanda were the brave ones! We are glad they could come!

I love Julie's face in this picture! It shows how excited she gets with Cooper. She is so good with kids!

Coop and all his stocking stuffers!

Coop and Aunt Wanda

Enjoying Christmas breakfast

Papaw and Coop. Love that smile!

Uncle Daniel is trying to teach Coop how to walk before he even crawls! :)

Since it snowed Christmas day, we definitely had to get out and take a couple of pictures. Since Cooper was not feeling great (check out the previous post), we were only outside about 5 minutes. He also did not have appropriate snow gear, so I didn't want to keep him out too long. I think he really enjoyed it though. The snow was falling in his face and he just kept blinking and looking around. Too bad he probably won't get to enjoy too much of this in Auburn!

After Mamaw, Papaw, and Aunt Wanda left for the day, we got to open presents! We let Cooper go first and enjoy all of his goodies. He got so many wonderful things!