Coop Loves Fat Tire

As many of you know, Cooper is teething. He's getting tooth number two and the little guy has been so miserable! Last weekend we were up in the mountains staying at Lake Arrowhead Resort (Patrick was working, Coop and I were relaxing). Friday night, friends of ours that have a cabin in the area invited us over, along with a group of friends, for dinner and drinks. Mind you, Cooper has already seen beer bottles, and surprisingly, he seems to get excited every time he sees them. On this occasion, Patrick was holding Cooper in one arm and the beer in the other hand. When Coop got sight of that bottle, the kid grabbed for it and pulled it to his mouth. Once he realized it was cold and felt good on his poor gums, it was all over. He wasn't sharing that beer with his daddy!

Interestingly, the next night Patrick tried to help the kid out by sharing his beer bottle again, but Coop really wasn't into it. Apparently he doesn't like Sierra Nevada, only Fat Tire and Pacifico. The kid already has good taste!

BTW, the video was shot with my new Flip video camera, which I LOVE. It's about the size of my cell phone, I figured out how to use it in about three seconds and it can plug directly into my computer to charge and download the videos. The other camera that Patrick spent a bunch of time researching and shopping around for is still sitting in the box at home. He has yet to figure it out. Yay for the Flip!

My Newest Favorite Thing

We recently bought a jogging stroller in the hops that jogging could be my new "I don't have time to go to the gym and need an exercise I can do at home" exercise (this new stroller has yet to be used for jogging). We shopped around online and visited Babies R' Us to check some out on more than one occasion.

The weekend before we committed to making the purchase, Patrick had stopped into REI with his brother, Uncle Billy, who was visiting from Japan. There he found the BOB Revolution. Mind you, I was all too familiar with the BOB, it is the best-of-the-best. Super smooth ride, easy to fold up, light weight, great sun protection for Coop, somewhat off-road capable and lots of possible add ons and attachments and can accommodate kids from Coop size up to 70 lbs. ...and a hefty price tag to match.

I figured Pat would never go for it, so I never even showed it to him or brought it up. But, after testing driving it in the store, he was sold. :) Luckily we got a 20% discount and now have a stroller that will last us until Coop is old enought to not need a stroller. So now, the BOB Revolution stroller is my -- and Cooper's -- new favorite thing!

Strange? I think Maybe Yes

I love when Cooper plays with his feet. This is a relatively new activity for him. When laying on his back, he puts his legs in the air and grabs his feet. It's very cute. The other night we were having dinner at a friends house and, although it was well past Cooper's bed time, he refused to go to sleep. Luckily he wasn't in a bad mood and kept us entertained by doing this...

The boy was committed. He got a good grip and sucked on his big toe like it was a binky for a long time. Crazy Coop!

Gals & Guppies

Tonia and I both had less than stellar experiences with a couple of mom's groups. So, we decided to create our own group, Gals & Guppies, and gather some of our favorite mom's and their kiddos.

Our first "event" was a picnic last Sunday. We had six moms and six kids attend and we had a great time, even though it was blazing hot. It was great to sit and catch up with friends, meet new moms and hang with our favorite little people!

Coop & Landon hanging out

Sarah & Isabella

Tonia and Landon

April and the youngest guppy, Mila

Anna and Kyle

Cooper's Big Happenings

Cooper had quite a weekend. Not only did he spend a ton of time outside at multiple parks and hang with his best bud Landon, but he also figured out how to hold himself up, so he can pretty much sit up unassisted now AND he got a tooth! Or, at least the start of a tooth.

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At our mom's picnic Sunday Coop was sucking on Tonia's finger and this is how the whole discovery went down:

Tonia: Ouch! I think he has a tooth!
Me: No way, I just check two days ago and there wasn't anything there.
Tonia: I swear I felt something sharp [Tonia proceeds to pull down Coop's bottom lip and there it is]. Oh my gosh, he totally has a tooth, look!
Me: No way. OMG! Let me see! [kisses Coop]. Let me see again. No way. Coop, You're growing up! OMG! I'm such a bad mom, I didn't even notice his first tooth. I guess this explains why he's been crabby.

It's hard to see, but if you look really close, there's the start of a tooth there.

Saturday in the Park

This past weekend was all about being outside. Coopie LOVES to be outside. Sometimes if he's cranky before his bottle is ready, I tell Pat to take him outside and stand in the patio. It always calms him down. I guess the new things to look at and the cool breeze relax him.

Anyway, Saturday after I went to the physical therapist and Pat took his three mile run we were lazy. No chores were going to get done in the Biolsi house and, the next day I had a mom's picnic (more on that later) and Pat was playing golf, so we wouldn't spend much time together Sunday. We decided to head to the park and spend some quality family time.

Of course, Coop loved it. He loved playing with his toys, practicing sitting up and pulling on the grass. Here are a few pics from our afternoon at the park.

1, 2, 3...UP!

Coop's newest milestone is that he can hold his own weight (and that's a lot of weight) when you pull him into a standing position just holding his hands. He's such a strong little stinker! And, he'll stand for a long time! When he's done standing, he just bends his knees and down he goes! But he loves it.

He can also pretty much sit up on his own. He "tripods," holding himself up with his hands on the ground, but he can sit without support from mommy or daddy for the most part...sometimes he falls over, but he thinks this is funny. My kiddo is growing up!

Grandma Segal

Grandma came to visit last weekend. She seems to be smitten with her favorite grandchild (well, her only grandchild) and he seems to find her amusing, so it's a win/win situation. Here we are in Easter...Rudy just had to be in the pic, too. She jumped right up and got into position as Pat got ready to snap this.

Things I Love About Chuppie

I am so in love with my little man, but tonight when I was getting him ready for bed -- this is my favorite time with him. He's so much fun while I get him lotioned up and in his jammies then feed him his final bottle of the night and then we cuddle before he goes to sleep for the next 11 hours -- I was focused on all the little things that make Cooper, Cooper and how much I love all those things. Here's a few of my favorite Coopie things...

1. His fat legs. I love those fatty legs!

2. I love how he giggles and laughs when I nibble on those fatty legs.

3. Old man hair -- the hair on the back of his head gets all fuzzy, like a little old man.

4. He loves to get undressed. As you pull the shirt over his head, he smiles.

5. I love how he smiles at me from under his binky and when I pull the binky out to see that cute smile, it gets even bigger (this kills me)

6. I love that I can can calm him down, if he's upset, by singing to him. As soon as he hears me singing, he gets really quiet and listens and smiles at me.

7. He loves to play with his feet, it so cute!

8. He smiles every time I pull his socks off. That's always funny to me.

9. I love that he knows his bottle and as soon as he sees it in my hands and leans his whole body forward, with his mouth wide open, to get to it.

10. I love his new ability to make motor boat noises with his mouth and how slobber goes EVERYWHERE when he does it. If we're lucky, he'll do it while he's eating and milk goes flying.
11. I love to watch him jump in his Jumparoo.

12. I love how he smiles every time he sees his favorite toy, Quackers the duck.

13. When he talks to me and makes funny noises and I do it back, it makes him so happy.

14. I love how he nuzzles his head into my chest when he's tired.

15. I love that he's a good sleeper and a good cuddler.

16. I love that when he's done jumping and wants out of the jumparoo, he complains and fusses but can't quite stop bouncing, which only makes him more angry.

17. When he's mad, he doesn't cry, he makes a mad face and yells at you.

18. I love that he watches the entire episode of Baby Einstein and laughs at the TV.

19. I love that he loves the dogs. He could watch them all day.

20. I love to watch him roll over.

21. I love that he's figured out how to creep -- but only backwards. He's like an inchworm that can only go in reverse!

22. I love that you never know what position he's going to be in in the morning. He's such a wiggle worm that he's never in the same position as he was at bedtime.

23. Love how he squirms when I lotion him up.
24. And I love the smile he gives me when I go to get him in the morning. He's so happy to see you after a long night of sleep, it's a great start to every day.

Happy Landon

Just a quickie because I love this pic of Landon. He's one of the most smiley babies I know. Love it!

My Buddy

As most of you know, Cooper's best bud is Landon, who is about 6 weeks older than the Coopster. Over the last few months, they've spent some quality time together. The last two times, they decided to hold hands (this melts my heart every time I look at the pictures). I decided to go back through the pics of them together...my how they have changed in just a few short months!

January 2 -- Not the first meeting, but their first pic together










January 11 -- Coop doesn't have much head control, looks like he has no neck

Holding Hands :)

February 24 and March 28 -- Coop finally has a neck