Baby Kalal #2

We are thrilled to officially share the news with the world!  We will welcome Baby Kalal #2 into the world sometime around October 25, 2012.  I am now into the second trimester, and everything about baby looks and sounds healthy! 
After Cooper turned one, Jeremy and I decided we were ready to stop preventing the possibility of a baby.  Since things took so long to get pregnant with Cooper, we accepted that it could take a while again.  So although it wasn't a complete shock to find out after just one month that we were expecting, it was certainly a thrilling surprise.  I had a couple gut feelings before taking a pregnancy test, but I just pushed them out of my mind, thinking I didn't want to take yet another negative pregnancy test again in my life... but I finally took one.  Lucky for us--it was positive!  I waited until our sixth anniversary to tell Jeremy, which meant I had to hold in the news for two days.  It was torture, but also kind of fun :) 
I wrapped the positive test inside a baby bib that said, "Baby's First Halloween," and gave it to Jeremy that evening.  We just sat for a few minutes and laughed.  Laughed about how easy it happened this time; laughed about how completely surprised we were; laughed about how Cooper will adjust to not being an only child anymore; laughed about what our parents would say; laughed about how different life will be.  Needless to say, we were walking on Cloud Nine for the rest of the night and the rest of the weekend... and the weeks that followed.

9 weeks, 4 days - Our Little Peanut!

At the first doctor's appointment, we got to see baby and hear his or her little heartbeat, which was beating at a strong 168 bpm.  We could even see the little arms and legs moving.  The actual size of baby in this ultrasound photo is about one inch long.  So far, so good... everything at this point is looking just fine!

Our family is about to grow, and we're just hanging on--enjoying the ride :)

Easter and First Twins Game!

This Easter was a lot more eventful chasing Cooper around... and he loved the Easter egg hunting!  His grandmas filled his eggs with money, but he actually seemed to prefer little goldfish crackers.  I guess they didn't realize they could get by so much cheaper for this year :)

Easter morning, Cooper found a trail of eggs from his room to his Easter basket.  He thought the first two eggs were cool, but apparently the bunny's trail didn't impress him.  Once he saw his basket, though, he got pretty excited :)  After playing for a while, we headed off to church, brunch at Grandma Dawn's, back home for nap time, then off to supper at Jeremy's aunt Karen's house.

What's this?!?

Cool!  I can put stuff in here!

Family Photo-Easter 2012

The Easter Egg Hunt at Karen's house was pretty fun.  She had the big kids hide tons of eggs for the little ones to find.  Cooper didn't really 'get' the concept of collecting eggs in his basket, but he still had fun!

Look what I found!

Forget about the eggs!  I found the rocks!

This weekend we headed to the Twins vs. Rangers game.  Although the Twins didn't look very impressive, it was a perfectly beautiful day for a baseball game.  We joined a bunch of other fourth grade families for "Oak Crest's Fourth grade day at Target Field."  Cooper followed our plan perfectly for once, sleeping for a solid hour on the way up to the game!  He loved seeing all the people, hearing the cheering, and walking in between the seats.  He also worked his flirting muscles--he spotted a girl a couple rows behind us who made lots of funny faces at him.  He loved peeking around our shoulders, then 'hiding,' and then laughing like crazy at her.  I should have taken their picture together.  It might well have been his first love :)
Cooper got a "First Twins Game" certificate, got to sit in the Golden Glove, AND he only picked up one new bruise all day!

Go Twins!! He didn't exactly watch much of the game...

Cooper's First Twins Game - April 14, 2012 - Twins vs. Rangers

We have a busy week ahead!  Garage sale Monday night, softball game Tuesday night (Go Tigers!!), fun Weds. and Thurs. nights hanging out with daddy two nights in a row (yah!!), and Cooper's first date Friday night.  He'll be escorting Olivia and Abby Endres to the Eden Prairie Mall for a nice stroller ride and a classy dinner in the Food Court.  He is currently busy choosing his outfit and practicing his manners.

15 Month Update

Weight: 24 lbs. 1 oz. (45th percentile)

Height: 31 inches (50th percentile)

Head: Still Big-95th percentile... must be all those brains!!

Wearing: Size 3 diapers, size 4 shoes, size 18 mo. clothes

Teeth: 12 teeth!  His two bottom 1 yr molars are completely through, and the top two have just a little skin left on them.

Words: Mommy, Daddy, Puppy - all consistently.  He also can say baby, cookie, and he is SO close to saying Jackie.  Auntie Jackie is so proud!

Sleeping: 10-12 hours per night.  One good nap between 2-3 hours.  Knows to leave his Nuk in his crib when he wakes up... that Nuk will probably disappear this summer!

Eating:  Pretty good eater, in general.  His loves are broccoli, peas, cheese, rice, almost all fruits, and hot dogs.  He is also learning to 'dip' foods.  He loves ketchup :)  Loves to use a spoon or fork, and is getting pretty good if we can load it up for him.  Drinks whole milk, loves cold water--especially if it has a splash of apple juice in it. 

Books, Books, and more Books:  His favorite is The Animals of Farmer Jones.  It is literally an obsession.  We have to hide the book sometimes!  He also loves I Love You, Daddy; 10 Little Ladybugs; Five Little Monkeys;  Peanut Butter Rhino; and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. We pretty much read him the same 8 or 9 books over and over and over and over again!  He is starting to grab for his First 100 Words book more and more--he loves when we find the puppies :)

Likes:  Reading books. Pushing around the popper, the toy lawn mower, and the CAT truck.  Pulling magnets off the fridge. Banging things on the windows.  Getting the neighbor puppies to bark.  Watching the KARE 11 forecast--Belinda Jensen in particular.  Bubbles.  Emptying the entire toy basket only to crawl away to something new. Putting shoes on his hands.  Being in his diaper only.  Going for stroller rides.  Watching kids play at the park.  Playing in the grass and rocks.  Bopping and bouncing to music.  Climbing up the stairs.

Dislikes:  The vacuum cleaner.  Being separated from mommy (we're to the scream-your-head-off freak-out phase).  Doing any one activity for 'too long' (and by that I mean five minutes!).

Other News: Cooper's personality is still pretty cautious, although he's starting to get more brave as his walking improves.  He likes to kind of check things out before he gets in on any action.  All in all, he's very smiley and just plain goofy.  He gives open-mouth kisses-and a lot of them!  He's now also into grabbing our face or ears (for handles) and bonking foreheads.  He loves chasing around the house and playing peek-a-boo.  His forehead is rarely bruise-free these days.  He's taken some pretty good tumbles!

Lately:  We've been going to softball games... Cooper loves being at the fields, seeing the girls, and hearing the cheering.  He loves hanging on to the fence and screaming at or chatting with the outfielders.  He also loves watching for puppies there.

Next big things for Cooper: Getting a bike helmet for riding behind in the bike trailer.  Learning to stand up from a sitting position (weird, right?!).  Learning some new words so he can stop calling everything 'mommy.'  Learning to smile on cue... we need to start getting some family pics will everyone smiling!! 

Wee!!  The slide is fun!!

Pushing around my popper!!

Future senior picture pose :)

Walking around like he owns the place!

Big smiles on the lawn mower ride

Not so sure about riding on Grandpa Randy's scooter...