Crawling is so last week

So, last Saturday Coopie started to crawl. My mom asked me if I was sad, because up until now every milestone he hits or pound he gains makes me realize I'm never going to get those tiny baby moments back. I've been know to shead a tear or two [or sob, but whatever]. But, the crawling didn't make me sad because it was so exciting. This is definitely the best age. He's cute, cuddly and super fun. He laughs when I tickle him like it's the best thing he's ever experience in the whole wide world and it melts my heart every time. But I digress...

Anyway, the day before yesterday, while sitting on my lap, baby Coop decide to to pull himself into a standing position using the toy music center, that's bigger than he is and sitting in front of us, to hold on to. This was exciting and scary. He was so proud of himself, looking back at me like, "Look what I just did, Mom!" But, this meant we were going to have to move the crib mattress down another notch [didn't we just do that a few weeks ago when he started sitting] and a realization that the crawling phase was going to go quickly. So, I was back to being sad when my baby boy starts to move ahead faster than I want him to or am ready for. I haven't had enough time to soak in the crawling, slow down, kid!

So, last night, I'm telling the hubs that we need to move the mattress down, he tells me I'm crazy, no way he's going to pull himself up, and if he does, no way he can fall out of the crib. Literally, right then, we look at the monitor and he's standing in the crib, holding onto the sides [yay for video monitors]. I RUN up the stairs to find this:

The hubs conceeds and at 8:30 p.m. we are moving his mattress down a notch. Now for the best part, as we are doing this, the hubs tells me that a guy from work just told him how their kid fell out of the crib because they didn't move the mattress down!

Me: Wait, you just had this conversation with Mike at work and he told you that his kid FELL OUT OF THE CRIB and you still didn't think Coop could do it?

Hubs: Well, he said his kid was fine and I still don't think Cooper could get himself over the rail.

Me: He has a big, heavy head! I don't think he's going to throw a leg over or anything, but he's going to lean over and that noggin is going to take him down and then, thud.

Hubs: Okay, okay.

I still theink we need to go down one more notch on the mattress, however, because this morning, when he decided not sleep for his morning nap, I went in to find this:

Please note that his mellon is higher then the top rail and he's only on his knees. What am I going to do with you, Chupie! :)

Babyfood Making Day

Sunday was baby food making day for the Coopster. I busted out the BabyCook and the organic peaches and apples I bought the day before [BTW, four organic peaches and four organic apples cost me about $10. Good thing it'll take him two weeks to eat it all]. I went to work steaming the peaches and apples, separately of course, and peeling the skin from the warm fruit, just like the baby cook book said to do. Yes, I have a baby cookbook, two in fact. Of course, I had to taste these tasty treats to make sure they were good enough for my little monster. It turned out so good! I told the hubs that we should steam the fruit and then put it over ice cream, YUM! The apples reminded me of apple pie and the peaches tasted like some kind of dessert tart. No wonder you are supposed to feed kids veggies before fruit. If I ate peaches first, I'd probably never eat peas either!

And he's mobile

So, This weekend was the official beginning to the end...Cooper has started to crawl. He is mobile. It is now 100 times more difficult to get dressed AND watch him in the morning. Check it out for yourself. This is from Saturday, when he finally figured out how to move his arms to go forward.

Now, just a few days later, he's a machine and getting around like nobody's business. Of course, he only crawls to objects that he wants that are out of his reach. He's not exploring yet or crawling to me, but I know that's coming soon enough. Right now, his favorite thing to check out is the dog bed in our room. I just know one day I'm going to find him curled up in there. Gross.

Trip to Costco

A month's worth of Similac Advance Early Shield formula = $112.00
206 Huggies Snug & Dry Diapers = $41.00
1,000 Huggies Wipes = $24.00
Having Happy Kick, Kick Cooper as your shopping companion = Priceless

Sorry for the poor quality video and no sound, it was shot on my phone...but look how happy he is!

Better Late then Never -- NYC

Yes, I know this is late, but at least it's here now!

A few weeks ago we were in New York for a biz/visit with family trip. We took the red eye from LAX to NYC. Coop woke up as soon as we got to the airport and I got worried. Then we got on the plane and he started to cry and the guy sitting in the next row asked the flight attendant for ear plugs and I really started to worry that this wasn't going to go well. But, come on, this is Cooper we are talking about! He fell asleep within 10 minutes and slept curled up on my lap the whole way. Best baby EVER! :)

In New York we spent lots of Time with Grandma and Grandpa B, Uncle John, Uncle Steve and Aunt Kristy. We played, went to the park and visited Great Grandpa John in Long Island. Cooper was a trooper through the long car rides and time changes. Gotta love this kid!

We also got to see Coop's Colorado peeps -- Brody and his mom Pam and dad Jed as well as the rest of the NY crew -- Billy, Dave and TJ for a BBQ at the lake house. Next time we go back Coop will actually be able to eat something that Dave, TJ and Billy cook up! Much love to our NYC family and friends! Can't wait to see everyone again in August.

I'm a big boy now!

Yes, my updates lately have been too few. May was busy! We've had many visits by family members, a trip to NYC, a mini-trip for mommy and daddy to Santa Monica and lots and lots of work. And, somehow the plane trip back from NYC put Cooper's development on fastforward. Anyone who knows me knows that with every milestone he meets I'm both excited and sad, so when he decided to do a bunch of stuff at one time, I was overwhelmed. Here's a recap.

1. Coop started eating. The boy loves to eat. They say it takes a few times for them to get the hang of swallowing food and having the new taste and textures in their mouth. Not Coopie...the first time he totally got it.

2. He is a sitting machine. He can go from belly to sitting like nobody's business. So much so that it is now unsafe for him to be in his bouncy chair because he can use his massive baby ab muscles to sit up.

3. He's so close to crawling. He's up on all fours, he's rocking back and forth, he's so close and gets so mad when he can't go forward.

4. He can hold his own bottle. He also drinks water out of a sippy cup. It's all too much!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Okay, I've been slacking on the blog front, but it's been a busy few weeks. Patrick's dad was in town then we were in NY then this past weekend was HUGE for Coop [more on that later]. This was my first Mother's Day as an actual mommy. I had made Patrick buy me Mother's Day cards when we just had dogs and last year when I was preggers, but this one was different. It was an actual holiday that I had always celebrated as some one's kid, but this time I was some one's mom. It might quite possibly be the best holiday ever now.

My darling husband, that I love dearly, isn't really known as a planner. He often goes shopping for me on Christmas Eve and is pretty happy when I shop for my self and tell him, "Honey, you got me this purse for my birthday." For Mother's Day he did good! He got me a ring with Cooper's birthstone [noting that they are stackable so I can get another one when we have another baby] and a pendant with a "C" for Cooper and his birthstone. I love it and have been wearing it everyday.

On the morning of Mother's Day, we were in NYC [I was there for biz and he and Coop tagged along to see Grandma and Grandpa Biolsi. However, I would have taken Coop with me anyway, no way I'm leaving that kid for more than 12 hours -- that's the longest I've been away from little man so far...and it sucked]. Anyway, as I laid in bed Patrick brought me Coop and we cuddled [I love that] and gave me my gifts. I was so impressed. I have the best little family ever. :)

More on our Weekend in the Mountains

So, the night that Coop decided that a cold bottle of Fat Tire was his favorite teething toy, we were at a friend's cabin in Arrowhead with a bunch of other friends and their kids. We had a great time catching up, telling stories and throwing back a drink or two. One of my favorite parts of that night was Mike & Melanie's son, Jonathan, feeding Cooper. Jonathan is almost ten and just a really sweet kid. He also loves babies and jumped at the chance to feed Coop his final bottle of the night. The kid's a natural!

The girls...Back: Melanie & Tonia. Front: Jennifer, Me & Nicole.

The boys...Travis (belongs to Nicole), Steve (Tonia), Patrick (Mine) & Mike (Melanie)

Top 10

As I listened to the hubs talk to Cooper earlier today, I realize that we say a lot of things since Coop arrived that we never really said before. He's my top 10 list of things heard around the Biolsi house since Coop joined the family...

10. "Rudy, NO!" Okay, that one we did say a lot before. Now it's more like, "Rudy, not his eyes; you can only lick his hands."

9. "I think I smell poop."

8. "Give me those feets!"

7. Multiple renditions of "The ABCs" each and every day.

6. "I'm gonna get you!" Followed by lots of tickling of the little man (which he loves, BTW)

5. "Jump it out little man, jump it out!"

4. "I'm sorry you're hungry; it's Daddy's fault. I know, he doesn't make bottles fast enough."

3. "Ouch. Stop pulling mommy's hair."

2. "When did you _____ last?" Fill in the blank with feed him, change him, put him down for a nap.

1. "Binky Down! Binky Down!" We say this a whole lot as Coop has figured out how to pull the binky out and toss it across the room. The kid's got an arm!

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!