Cooper is Six Months Old!

It's a little tricky getting our blog started because I can't decide how much to write about... So I decided I would start with - what else - a Cooper update. Over the next couple posts, I will share about some of the big events of the past few months. In no time, I'll be all caught up from the beginning of 2011.

In Cooper's six short months of life, he's been up to some pretty amazing things! These days, here a few of the tricks he's up to:
-Rolling over from belly to back and back to belly (and no more favoring the left shoulder anymore!)
-Smiling all the time
-Having laugh attacks... the good open-mouth, gummy, chuckles that you can't help but smile at yourself
-Pushing up on his arms during tummy time (although tummy time has a new meaning now that all he wants to do is roll)
-Eating a few solids: rice and oatmeal cereal, applesauce, bananas, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Carrots are not on the top of his "like" list just yet!
-Learning to drink a little water from a sippy cup
-Wobbly sitting up for a few seconds
-Putting everything in his mouth and CHOMPING on it... I think those teeth are right around the corner
-Sleeping for about ten hours on an average night (and learning fast how to not have mom or dad rock him to sleep)
-Jabbering up a storm!
-Learning how to 'whine' (if you ever thought girls could whine, you should meet Cooper)
-Took his 1st Camping Trip to Lanesboro with the Grandma and Grandpa Kalal, Aunt Jackie, Uncle Adam and his friend Chelsea
-Loving the bike trailer (still inside his infant seat, but it works just the same)
-"Swimming" in a little pool that Grandma Lori bought him... he's getting pretty brave: grabbing for toys and face-planting in the water don't phase him!
-His six-month check-up has him weighting 18 lbs., 2 oz. (70th percentile), and stretching to 27.5 in. tall (80% percentile)

Now that summer is in full swing, Jeremy and I are taking turns spending lots and lots of time with Cooper. I've been working part time at the Fair office once again, and Jeremy is picking up side jobs here and there. The afternoons and evenings when we all get to hang out together are the best--RELAXING has a different meaning in the summer time.
It is pretty amazing how much "easier" (and I use that term loosely) it gets as a baby gets a little older. It wasn't all that long ago when we were taking turns bouncing, swinging, doing laps, and rocking Cooper to sleep, only to have him wake up hungry in fifteen minutes. Now, he's so much more predictable, and we know what those different cries sound like and mean! We often wonder how time goes so fast (even though everyone says it, you really don't 'get' it until you're living it!), and what life was like pre-Cooper. Parenthood is crazy but so much fun, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Here's a peek at The Little Weed's crazy growth over the past six months...



One Day Old

One Week Old

One Month Old

Two Months Old

Three Months Old

Four Months Old

Five Months Old

Six Months Old