Catching up: The Boys

Now that the September panic is over with I can catch everyone up on what’s been happening in my life for the past month. There have been lots of milestones with the boys.

August 30th was Colten’s first day of 2nd grade and Carson’s was September 7th was Carson’s first day of 4-year-old preschool. Both boys have been doing well in school and are having a great time. This summer Colten was diagnosed with ADHD and we started him on some medication to see if it would help. While he still has issues, the medication has helped lots and homework isn’t such a battle anymore. Colten continues to get good marks on his assignments, we still need to work on reading fluency with him. Another new thing for Colten is he is in cub scouts this year. We went to the information night last week and our first official meeting was Friday. Saturday we helped the local Lions Club (the cub scouts sponsor) collect canned food for the Tenino food bank. This was Colten’s first time going door to door and he did a great job explaining who he was and what we were collecting. We got enough food to fill a banana box and then took it back to the Lions and got hot chocolate. At the next meeting we will be getting rockets to assemble and fire off at the end of the month! Colten is very excited for that.

Carson’s class visited the Tenino fire station last week for a field trip. He got to see all the trucks and ambulance and the firefighters gave all the preschoolers a bag with goodies and talked with them about fire safety. This next month Carson’s class will be going to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.

Cooper has had a busy month also. He now has seven teeth and the dreaded molars are starting to push through. We are still waiting on one last incisor on the lower left side, but I think that Cooper may just have a strange teething cycle. I’m sure we’ll be paying for it later on in his life with orthodontia. Cooper also got his first hair cut! I held Cooper and my mom cut his hair with the clippers. I thought he’d freak out or cry from the strange vibrations and noise, but he just laughed and giggled the entire time. He looks so much different with shorter hair. He’s a little boy and not my baby anymore.

Cooper has also started walking!! It started with just a few steps to my cousin while in Wenatchee, but now he his walking just about everywhere! What’s really interesting is to watch him try to run, but he doesn’t have the coordination for it yet. We’re all still waiting for any real words to pop out of Cooper’s mouth. He is getting more and more frustrated with the lack of understanding what he wants, and I’m hoping he’ll start talking soon so some of the tantrums can stop. I never thought I would still be nursing Cooper at 14 months. He just doesn’t want to give it up. He’s fine during the day while I’m working, and he did pretty good while I was at outdoor camp, but when I’m at home and he’s upset, he knows what he wants. He’s certainly not nursing for nutrition so I’m content to get snuggles a few times a day for now.

Tough choices ahead

One question every pregnant woman is asked is if she is going to breastfeed her baby. I've been fortunate to be able to breastfeed all three of my boys. Colten self-weaned at 5 months, Carson at 11 months, but Cooper is still going strong on nursing. I've been so lucky to have made it to one year nursing him, and he's a great nurser. He doesn't pull annoyingly at my shirts, doesn't have a name or word for nursing, doesn't nurse sporadically. He's really a great nurser. The only annoying thing is that he is still up at least two times a night.
So now that I've hit the major milestone of nursing for a year, everyone is asking me when I'll wean Cooper. It's a tough choice to make and it's one I haven't HAD to make with my other boys. Some changes are certainly going to happen to the nursing schedule when I return to work. I'm not going to be pumping bottles for Cooper any more which will be a huge relief for me because I now have more time to actually do my job and not stress about milk supply for the sitter. Another change is that the third week in September I will be at outdoor school for three nights, and while able to bring Cooper along last year, he isn't going to come up to camp this year. That is three nights of no nursing! I might sleep better at camp than at home!
I'm not sure when I'll completely wean Cooper. A part of me wants to wean him soon so I can lose the last ten pounds hanging on from being pregnant. I want to fit into my clothes again and not have to wear nursing bras and tops all the time. I know my husband would like to see me own my body again. But.....
I really enjoy the time I get to spend with Cooper. He's my last baby and a part of me wants to get every minute of snuggle time I can get with him. Once I stop nursing there is no other chance of nursing again. That part of my motherhood experience will be over. Forever. Don't know if I'm ready to force Cooper to quit.
What am I really hoping for? I'm hoping that once I go back to school Cooper will start to lose interest in nursing so much and will wean himself. It is sad, but easier if Cooper sets the pace.

One year later

Cooper Alan,
You are one year old today. You started out at 8 pounds, 6 ounces and have grown to 21 pounds, 4 ounces. You were a small 20 inches long, and are now 30.5 inches long. You've changed so much in the last year and it has gone so fast.

Cooper almost a year ago

Cooper last week

In the last month you have grown even more. New skills this month: waving good-bye, playing peek-a-boo and hide and seek, climbing stairs, and walking pushing things. You are *almost* walking without holding on or pushing something. You just need a little more time for some confidence. You really enjoy being outside and getting into dirt, rocks, or bark. You've only got four little teeth, but you will try and eat anything put in front of you. You aren't talking at all yet, which is surprising. You do have two older brothers to interpret and talk for you, but I'm eagerly waiting for you to utter even a simple "Mama" or "Dada" or even the dreaded "No". That is a word you know very well and despise hearing. You do manage to communicate with everyone around you through giggles, grunts, and the ear-slitting scream.

One thing that hasn't changed much in a year is your sleeping habits. You still are waking up several times a night for nursing and snuggles with mommy. It amazes me how much you've changed in the last year, and I can't wait to see the boy you'll become in the next 12 months.

My mom made the perfect cake for Cooper. He didn't know what to make of the candle so Colten and Olivia helped him blow it out.

One of the best things about a summer birthday: eat outside for easy clean up! Cooper sure did love the chocolate cake!

Camping trip #2- Dosewallips State Park

Last weekend the family went camping at Dosewallips State park. It is located up on Hood Canal. This place was a favorite campground of Tony's grandparents and it has been 10 years since we've camped there. I love that it has the river and beach all in view of the Olympic Mountains.

The boys all had a great time roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. Cooper loved his first marshmallow, though it wasn't roasted.

Our second night there the ranger program was about fire prevention and the local group of national forest fighters brought their pump truck and gear. The firefighters even let all the kids have a chance spraying water with the hose. You can see the joy on Colten's face.

Smokey the Bear showed up at the end of the program and passed out goody bags and gave hugs to all the kids.

The river was running fast, high, and was very cold, so we didn't do much swimming, but we sure had a great time biking around the campground with the boys.

We returned to a BBQ at Ed & Melanie's. All the boys had fun with my cousins.

To-do-lists

I have seven days with only my youngest child at home. My two older boys are camping with my parents and I have some time to get things done at home. I figure if I post my things to do on the blog, then by publishing it I'll be more motivated to get it all done. I've been blessed with lots of hand-me-down clothes, but that means I take time to sort out the too-small clothes to store, get rid of worn out clothes, and unpack the bags of clothes they boys have had passed on from other family. It takes time, but now is the perfect time to do it so I know exactly what shape the boys wardrobes are in when gearing up for school clothes shopping.
I also need to sort through all the boys toys and give many of them away, take pictures of all Cooper's little outfits so I can start passing on the baby stuff, clean out and set up the guest room/office, put the new(er) dresser (thanks Lena) in Colten's room, move Colten's dresser to Carson's room, move that dresser to the guest room, and get rid of the old broken dresser in there. I also want to do some dusting and cleaning of the house, and of course I want to get some time to relax a little. I'm also wanting to catch up on my blog and get some pictures put in albums.
Lots to do, nothing but time.... but Cooper is still a pretty demanding baby so all these plans may just be plans. I'm hopeful for nap times and a cooperative Cooper for these next few days.

Catching my breath and catching up

School's been out for a week and a 1/2, but yesterday was really my first day of summer. Of course I was lazy and relaxed yesterday, but I realized I haven't updated my blog in a while. I've always looked forward to summer vacation as a time to sleep in, stay up late, and get all those projects done. It's also a time for me to visit family and friends and spend time with my boys. I know that summer started late for me thanks to those four snow-make-up days, but there is lots to catch up on. Last week was vacation bible school which I volunteered at, because if I volunteered, then Carson could attend. What did I do with the screamer (aka Cooper) you might wonder? I had him with me the entire time in the nursery. It worked out, but wasn't as great as I'd hoped because Cooper has some strange fever, but no other symptoms every day so he was super clingy. I wound up taking him to the doctor just to be sure I wasn't missing something, but he was all healthy, except for the fever. Naturally, the fever was gone the next morning and he's back to normal.
I'm pretty sure I posted pictures about our new kitten Blue, but the second week in June we adopted his brother Flash as well. Flash is all black but for a white spot on his chest. He was the last kitten left and our friends' dogs were scaring the poor guy and cornering him under their porch. So we decided to help him out and adopt him. He is so cute, but is still very skittish, especially around the kids and dogs. He remembers Blue and they are always wrestling and playing together. I happened to catch the cuddled up one time to get a picture. It's taken a while, but Flash is finally putting some weight on, though he is still smaller than Blue. He has also started snuggling with me in bed in the mornings. I didn't expect it at all, but he's a really sweet kitten and is becoming more settled in each day. Tony and I also bought a tent trailer to go camping in this summer (and hopefully many summers, springs, and autumns after this one). It doesn't look it, but it is big enough to sleep 5 people, has a kitchen and small bath. It also has a cargo rack on the front to hold our three quads. Tony and I were looking for a toy hauler (RV that holds quads) but were stuck because our jeep (which we're keeping) only tows a small amount of weight. All the bigger toy haulers were our of our price and weight range, but then we saw this. Being a tent trailer it is light enough, but still fits our size family. We took it camping over the 4th of July weekend with some friends and had a good time. There are still a few kinks to work out and some calls to the dealer to make, but over all it was comfortable. It isn't big by any means. The fridge, stove, and sink in the kitchen are tiny, but work, and the toilet works, but the shower is more of a sitting shower than a real shower. The biggest challenge for me was how to fit everything we need to camp into the small space in the trailer when it is down. I managed it and it'll get easier each time we camp. We've got several other dates for camping already planned later this summer and I'm hoping to schedule a few for the fall also. The weekend before the 4th of July our family went camping with some friends at their vacation cabin on the Satsop River. It was great for the kids to ride quads and play on the beach down by the river. Tony tried catching crawdads, since we'd seen tons of them there last time, but he only caught one. The boys also played in the dirt, played games, and were typical boys. I liked that Colten and Carson each had a friend their age to play with and do things with. It was also great to sit and visit with our friends. Things have gotten so busy these last few months for us.The boys enjoyed 4th of July at my parents house. My brother and sis-in-law bought lots of fireworks and had a great time setting them off. Colten was super into picking out which fireworks to set off next, but Carson was scared and stuck close to Tony and I. Cooper was scared by the noise, so he spent most of the time cuddled up with my mom or me while we were setting things off, then went home early with Tony and went to bed.

Tomorrow I'm leaving again for Oregon where my Dad's family is all (me included) walking in the Smith Rock 1/2 marathon. I'm pushing Cooper in the stroller for the 5k. The boys and I'll be back Monday and then we have a going away party for some friends, more camping, Cooper's birthday party, more camping, more camping, then school starts. I'm trying to find time to see movies I want (Cars 2 and Harry Potter) also sorting through all the boys clothes and getting more baby stuff packed up. I also need to get my office put back into a guest room and purge through my closet. So much for sleeping in!

11 months

Dear Cooper,

You are now eleven months old! This time your day coincided with the 4th of July. You decided the fireworks were too loud and went to bed early that night.

Many things you still do the same: you still get up several times a night to nurse, you race for the bathroom if the door happens to be left open, you love to play with everything your brothers have. You are constantly "blowing raspberries" so you often have drool dripping down your chin.

Some new things you do: you like to stand up in your car seat and look forward while mommy is trying to get you buckled up. Sorry, but you've got another year to go before you can face forward. You have started to babble and though words aren't understandable yet, you are talking using tone and volume to express your wishes. You enjoyed camping and was disappointed I wouldn't let you play in the dirt pile like your brothers. You also enjoy bike rides. You are big enough to sit in the bike trailer so we've taken several bike rides now that school is out. You really like watching the scenery and bugs. Separation anxiety has hit the worst it's ever been this past month. I love you dearly, but I can't hold you every minute of every day. You scream for me even when you just hear my voice or if I walk out of the room really quick. With summer comes fresh fruits and veggies. You really like peas, cucumbers, and strawberries, but mushrooms you don't care for. As the warmer weather hits, we'll keep trying things from Grandma's garden. You've stopped being scared of the grass and now enjoy crawling around to pick my flowers, though they don't taste as good as they look. Daddy keeps threatening to cut your hair it's getting so long, but I'm holding out as long as I can. You don't like that your hair is long enough to get in your eyes, but you don't mind it otherwise.

It's hard to believe that in less than a month you'll be one year old. That means I need to start planning your birthday party! Each day you show me how much a little boy you are, and how you're not a baby anymore.