Working Mama..

So I started my orientation this week and will be starting my training as well! It's so tiring! I will be working the night shift once I start my scheduled hours, but until then I'll be working mostly days, and some evenings meaning that I'm away from my babe. I have never spent this many hours away from him this many days in a row, so it's been super tough! He's been bouncing around from being watch by Daddy and AJ's mom, so when I finally get home all I want is to nurse this babe and get in my snuggles <3 I cannot wait to start my hours so I don't have to be away from him for any extended amount of his waking hours. I will miss bath and bedtime, which really sucks, but it'll give Daddy and CJ a nice time to bond, as I have always done bath time since he was born. 

Cooper's 10 Months Old!

So very late with posting this.. Sorry! We were out of town for Cooper's actual 10 month birthday, and then I started my orientation for work and then training for work.. so I'm a bit late! 

I cannot believe how big our little man is getting! We haven't gotten him weighed or measured since his nine month appointment so I'm not sure exactly how much he weighs but he hasn't seemed to put on much weight! He really is getting tall though! He is a speed demon when it comes to crawling, and will pull himself up on absolutely everything, but seems to have regressed a bit from walking. He used to stand up and take steps when you held his hands and now all he wants to do either either crawl or do the kangaroo hop while you hold his hands. Eh, it'll happen sooner or later I suppose! I'm sure once he starts walking I'll be begging for the days that he was crawling, stationary, etc., to come back, haha. 

Here's to you Cooper James, Happy 10 Month Birthday my little love bug <3 

How old: 10 months

Looks like: Mama's eyes.. Everything else still Daddy

Weight: Not sure.. probably 21-22 lbs

Height: Definitely over 30 inches by now! So tall! 
Teeth: 5 Teeth! 2 top & three bottom! I can see a bunch more top ones starting to drop down.. but that other little bottom one isn't showing any signs of popping through anytime soon, so he looks a little goofy, haha. He has such a big gap between his two top teeth! It makes me laugh! Although, I did some research on it, in fear that I will be paying for braces in the next decade or so, and it's actually a good thing for them to have a gap so that their adult teeth have room to come in and are not squashed together! So for now, we'll just laugh off the tooth gap! 

Likes: crawling, pulling himself up on things, eating eating and more eating, clapping, gives high-fives and kisses. 

Dislikes: Not too many dislikes these days.. We've finally conquered his sleeping issues and he's sleeping through the night in his own crib! AWESOME SAUCE! 

Milestones:We're still waiting on the walking, but we have hit a major milestone! Cooper now sleeps through the night in his own crib in his own room! Wawho!! He has been so much better with naps, and we are all so so much happier since we're all sleeping! Kicking myself now for not giving him his own room months ago! We have also completely night weaned him, so after his 8 pm feeding he doesn't nurse again until at 5:30 am at the earliest, but he'll normally sleep until at least 6:30 am, sometimes even 8 am! 

My Sweet Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day! I have made foot/hand print artwork for Cooper each holiday since he was born, so I had to continue the tradition with a Valentine's Day print <3 I made AJ a basket full of scratch offs and a lotto ticket. Unfortunately he didn't win the big bucks.. but won on his scratch offs! Cooper got a bag filled with goodies, a big boy cup since he loves drinking from ours, Ninja Turtle bubbles, a stuffed dog and Hot Wheels. I mean, what else do you get a 10 month old for Valentine's Day.. a day built on chocolate and candy. Hope you all had an amazing day, filled with love and sweets!

Winter Wisconsin Trip!

We went up to AJ's family farm this week to celebrate AJ's mom's birthday, get some snowmobiling in, and let Cooper play in the mounds of snow they have up there! Of course, the temperature bottomed out right before we got there, so we were stuck inside most of the trip. The guys did get to take the sleds out for a long run on Thursday and Cooper got to go out on his sled for a bit too. Friday AJ's mom watched Cooper for a bit so I could go out riding for a bit =) We also celebrated Cooper's 10 month birthday up there, so Grandma let him help blow out her birthday candles! This kid LOVES fire.. like in an almost creepy way.. hence the scary fire worshiping face in the photos. 

We also got to stop & see my grandma on the way home, as her home is Wisconsin isn't too far off the route home. She hasn't been able to see him since his christening and that was when he was 3 months old. It was awesome to get to see her again, and to have her see all of Cooper's new developments. 

Love this photo of Cooper with the house and barn that AJ's grandpa grew up on

Baby in a bar.. 

Cooper loving on Uncle Andrew

Already dancing on the bar.. 

On the road again to go see Meme! 

Bribery lol

Mars Cheese Castle! 

The big 7-0, Happy birthday Daddy/Papa!

Today was my dad's 70th birthday. We will be celebrating on Sunday with my sister and nephews, but  we had dinner with my parents tonight and gave him his gifts. AJ was able to find him the gun that he carried in Vietnam and while he was a Chicago and Berwyn cop. He got rid of the gun somewhere along the line, and has been talking about it for weeks. Since Illinois passed the concealed carry law, he has taken his class and is now allowed to carry and really wanted this gun again. They are very rare and hard to find now since they are no longer in production. AJ was somehow able to find out and after talking with my mom, we decided we were going to get it for him. He was beyond excited when he open the box and saw the gun. I literally think he was about to cry. He even said that his life is now complete, and this was the best birthday EVER. I think that means we did well. =)

So here is to an amazing 70th birthday, Daddy. I love you to the moon & back! You are my first love, my hero, my role model, the man who set the bar to which ever other man in my life must measure up to and showed me what a perfect father is. The only thing better than having you as my dad is Cooper having you as a grandfather. I love you, Daddy. 70 years young!

Cinnamon sugar cookies. Nom.

SO amazed with his gifts! 

CJ just really loved the box.. 

But first... Let me put on my nurse hat

Holy mother of all chaos. When it rains it pours, right? So, Sunday night after we finished cleaning and reorganizing Cooper's nursery we all went to bed to get some much needed sleep. It was the first night that I've been in a separate room than CJ, so I had such a hard time sleeping. Well, come 11pm on the dot per usual, Cooper woke up. I am trying to night wean him so after trying to give him back his paci to put him back to sleep without holding/feeding him to no avail, I picked him up to rock him back to sleep. I noticed that he was burning up, so I took his temperature and of course it was 102. I immediately got the Tylenol, as he is never this warm. I figured it might be the teething, as he just recently cut two more teeth, but I couldn't stomach putting him back in his crib when he wasn't feeling well. We put one of our couches in his room when we rearranged so Coop & I snuggled up on the couch and fell asleep. He actually slept pretty well, on top of me, but I think he only woke up once to nurse for about 30 second and fell back asleep. Normally he does not enjoy cuddling, he wants to lay next to us, but have his own space. So, I knew he wasn't feeling well when he literally couldn't be any closer to me. We woke up later than usual, called AJ to say good morning like we always do, and found out that he was feeling horrible as well.

Of course, Cooper's fever did not go below 100, and I had to go into my new work to fill out paperwork and get my health screening done before I have orientation. Zibba was set to watch Cooper for me while I went, and when he wouldn't nap in the morning, I knew it was going to be a rough day. Cooper was hysterical once Zibba walked in the door, and it only got worse as I handed him off to finish getting ready and then all hell broke loose once I tried to leave. He sobbed for 20 minutes after I left, and then finally decided that Zibba was a decent snuggle buddy and spent the next two hours showing her some love. I was able to get him to take a much needed nap once I got home from work, even though it only lasted 40 minutes. I couldn't get his fever to break at all, and at this point he was fighting me every step of the way when I tried to feed him his solids, which he normally loves. Thankfully he was still nursing well. AJ came home and was sick as a dog, and so began my week-long nursing shift. Cooper's fever finally broke Tuesday night, but he is still pretty crabby/clingy and picky about eating. AJ finally went to the doctor today and got medicine, so he should be feeling better soon, fingers crossed.

I feel like I have been a single parent this week since I have been keeping Cooper quarantined from AJ because I don't want him to get sick as well. Let me tell you, it is not fun. All you single Mamas, I have a new found respect for you.

Sick Snuggles with my babe <3 

Cooper's Nursery!

So, today we spent literally ALL DAY cleaning and organizing and reorganizing. We moved our bed out into the living area and our bedroom is now Cooper's nursery. I am thrilled to finally say that he has his own nursery. I had so many plans for Cooper's nursery when I was pregnant, and when getting our own house got put on hold, so did those plans. While we are still searching for our dream house, I am planning on getting Cooper's nursery together little by little and putting it together here, and then will move everything over once we move and hopefully expand on it. For now, all of his toys and play mat will stay in his room. We have a giant TV in there, and we can close the door to somewhat contain the beast who is on the move 24/7. One of my requests in our house search is an upper level with a loft that I plan on making Cooper's play area.. (I SO want a loft). We are going to do a hunter/outdoors theme for the room. Mostly all of his decorations will be DIY things that I've found on Pinterest, etc. We already have the antler letters for his name, which we are keeping. I will keep you all posted on all of Cooper's decorations as I do them! I'm thinking of making videos on how I make some of these things, in case others want to make them for their little ones! We have some photos/artwork to hang on the walls still, but by the end of the day, we were all so pooped that it just had to wait. Cooper took two 20 minute naps all day because his crib was on the other side of the room while we cleaned the floor, and I think he was just super over stimulated with all of the commotion. Hopefully everyone gets a good night's sleep tonight and we can finish up the room tomorrow and work on organizing our living area/bedroom.

Here are some photos on how his nursery is now.

Up-cycled mason jar from Cooper's baptism that we now use as a paci jar 

"COOPER" Letter Tiles 

That face gets him out of a lot of trouble when he's being bad 

My awesome down slippers from Ikea that AJ got me because me feet are always icicles! SO. Freaking. Comfy! 

Big things happening around here!

Well, Cooper slept decent last night, except for waking up at 4 am and thinking it was time to be up. It. Was. Not. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to get him back down, but finally at 5:45 am, we both went back to sleep until 8:30 this morning. AJ spent some quality time with our living room couch, unfortunately. Hopefully tonight he'll join me in our bed again. It's very unsettling to not have him in bed with me, even though I know he's only in the living room. Morning nap started promptly at 11:00am per usual, and last about an hour. Can't complain there. When CJ got up, we got ready and waited for Auntie Zibba to come over so we could go out to lunch. There's this awesome pizza place not too far from our house that lets you build your own pizza from like a buffet of stuff and then they fire grill it. A.W.E.S.O.M.E I put things on that pizza that I would never usually order on a pizza, but it was delish. Cooper enjoyed watching the people around us, and making friends with the lovely ladies sitting at the booth across from us. He really is quite the flirt. We took a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond so Zib could get some new bed sheets, and then headed home to meet up with AJ. We had a pretty chill Friday night, ordered some Chinese and watched the Hawks game. Bedtime thankfully wasn't too bad and he's only woken up once thus far. Keeping my fingers crossed for an easy night, with Cooper in his crib & AJ in our bed. =) 

On another note, while Cooper was napping this morning, one of the jobs that I had interviewed for called me back offering me the job! I will be working the night shift in the ER after I do my orientation the last week of February. I very excited to get back into the medical field after being out for the past almost 10 months. I love love love staying home with Cooper and not missing one single moment with him, but I really feel like I need to do something for myself, give myself purpose outside of the house again, put my education to good use and not to mention contribute financially to our family. It's going to be super rough working the night shift and trying to find some type of sleeping schedule that will allow me to catch up on hours that I'll be missing while I'm at work. I'll be working the 7pm-3am shift three nights a week along with a 7pm-7am shift every other week. Like I said, rough. But, doable, I think. Haha. The way I think of it is, I will only miss about a half hour of Cooper awake time and will miss bath/bed time a few night a week. I will still be able to spend all day with him while AJ is at work. We can bond during nap time together. I think it will be good for AJ to have that bedtime bond with Cooper for a while. I have always done the bedtime routine, with the exception of undressing Cooper since AJ makes a total game out of it for Cooper and he just loves it. I'm going to start giving Cooper bottles togo to sleep 1-2 days next week, and working my way up to four nights a week by the time I will start my night time hours, hopefully making the transition easier for AJ. I don't plan on weaning him (putting him on pumped milk until he's at least 2 years old) until he's 12-18 months, so hopefully this one bottle a day at bedtime a few nights a week won't mess up his desire to nurse. I'm glad that I will be home by the time he wakes up in the morning, God willing he starts sleeping through the night. It'll almost be like I was never really gone! I will certainly keep everyone updated on how this new journey goes! 

Wacky Wednesday & Tapout Thursday

Oh. My. Lord.  I have about run out of energy, patience, and happy thoughts. Cooper decided that he wanted to wake up ~6 times from the time I put him down at 8 until 10, at which point he woke up and started screaming incessantly. I of course thought that it was his teeth, because he has two coming in right now, so I gave him some of his organic baby orajel. My efforts were unsuccessful as the child continued to cry. I tried nursing him, twice, to no avail. Rocking, didn't work.. Bouncing, forget it.. Finally at 11:30 I put him down on his play mat while I heated up a bottle since I clearly had not replenished my milk supply yet to try nursing him again. What do you know, the crying immediately stops and he's happy as a clam playing with his toys. Once his bottle was done, I tried giving it to him while rocking him, which typically works to get him back to sleep, and 6 wasted ounces of milk later he was still wide awake, screaming again. At this point it was 12:15, AJ had to be up for work in the morning, so he decided he was heading off to the couch to get some sleep after spending a few minutes listening to Cooper "Blah Blah Blah" his way around the bed and jumping while holding onto the headboard. I tiredly watched as he exhibited this level of energy that no human begin, especially a 9 month old, should have at 1 in the morning. Finally, at 2 am I had had enough and after another nursing session that did not put him back to sleep I decided to bounce him for 20 minutes, kicking and screaming in my arms, until he finally gave up and passed out. He was up again an hour later, and an hour after that, however, nursing him or giving patting his back for a while put him back to sleep until 7:30 am when he decided he was going to be up for the day. We went all of today with only a 20 minute nap in the morning. I. Give. Up. We went by AJ's parent's house this evening for dinner, where I was basically a zombie. 

Again, bedtime was an issue with him waking up 4 times thus far, but he has yet to not fall back asleep for me. AJ has conceded and decided he's just starting his night off on the couch, so Cooper will probably just end up taking his spot in the bed. I cannot wait until we move out, and Cooper has his own room. I really feel like once we get that separation between us bedtime will get so much easier. I am not a CIO mom and I love snuggling with my babe in our bed like we have since we brought him home and he hated his bassinet, however, something's got to give. I feel like I'm creating a monster, who will never sleep through the night, let alone in his own bed. I know I need to break him of nursing throughout the night, and I need to get him to sleep in his own bed.. It's just so hard when he won't go back down without nursing and when he's done nursing he just rolls over and snuggles up next to me. Bah, I need help. More importantly, I need sleep. 

Throwback to when my babe actually slept. 

Two Tooth Tuesday

Well, Cooper cut two teeth today! We're up to five teeth now! He is quite the little shark lately. I'm glad that these little buggers have finally come through, they have been giving him a lot of problems. We have started "brushing" his little teeth twice a day now, and he just loves it. He laughs when I brush his bottom teeth. I let him have the toothbrush for a while to let him get use to holding it, and his face lights up when he moves the brush and hears the brushing sound on his teeth like when I do it. 

We all put away all of the big boy baby food that we made the other day! I like to make big batches every few weeks, and then freeze it in little bags. Since Cooper is eating "finger food" these days, I haven't been using my Infantino storage packs as much. I just store them in the snack size ziplock bags. It makes for easy grabbing when looking for his lunch or dinner. Pick two, place in bowl under hot running water, and enjoy watching your 9 month old smoosh and smash every bit before he actually puts it in his mouth. This batch we made apples, carrots, sweet potatoes and yellow potatoes. We always have blueberries, bananas, yogurt, applesauce and other fruits and veggies in the fridge but these things require the most cooking/prep so I like to do this before hand. I look forward to the day where I can just make him a plate of whatever we're eating and watch him chow down =) Chicken parmesan, anyone? 

Cooper's new favorite thing to do it say "blah blah blah blah blah" over and over and over again. AJ taught him this by sticking his tongue out and making the noises and so Cooper picked up on it and it's just the coolest thing to do apparently. We literally had a whole conversation with just the word "blah" this afternoon. We're secretly working on changing the "blah blah" to "Mama" =) 

Blood, Band-Aids, Tantrums, Headaches.. How was your week?

By some grace of God, we survived last week. I'm honestly not sure how. I have had a horrible headache, going on a week now, which sucks by anyone's standards, but when you're a mom it's like the worst, EVER. When it rains it pours, right? Well, Cooper was a mess last week. He is cutting two teeth at the moment, and he is letting everyone know that he is NOT happy! Whiney, crying, needing to be held All.The.Time. He has also started throwing tantrums. Not like I'm going to whine a bit when I don't get my way.. but legit kicking, screaming, air flailing kind of tantrums. I thought I had a few more years before this started.. Aren't they called the Terrible Twos, not the Terrible 9 Months? Leave it to Cooper to be super advanced. He also wants to get into EVERYTHING, including the empty pop can that I was carrying to the garbage while simultaneously carrying him (since he doesn't want to be put down, see my dilemma here?). This lead to him sticking his finger in the pop can hole and slicing his finger open. Splendid. Thankfully he didn't cry, until I had to pin him down to put a Band-Aid on it because it would not stop bleeding and he was making my house look like a crime scene. After a bit of a struggle, we were able to put on our first official (not from a shot at the doctor's office) Band-Aid. The first of many, I'm sure. 15 minutes later, I realized I am going to have to invest in some tougher Band-Aids because CJ had already gotten the Band-Aid off and was trying to eat it. Again, splendid. Thank the Lord that it was bedtime at this point so with the blood massacre coming to a halt, Cooper beyond exhausted, and this Mama needing a glass bottle of wine, I put the munchkin to bed and we called it a night. 

We finished the week off with a pretty chill weekend. We visited AJ's grandparents and the hung out at home the rest of the weekend, watching the NHL All Star skills competition and game and trying to keep the kid amused with his 2304834058203 toys that are so not entertaining in comparison to crawling all over the house and finding every bit of fuzz/dog hair/ crumb that could possibly be on the floor and trying to ingest it followed by attempting to pull himself up on any available wall/piece of furniture/human being/pet. I swear I could hibernate for a month after this week and I could still probably use more sleep. 

Poor Babe

Yes, that dog moves. No, he doesn't care. 

(Yes, we're still wearing Christmas jams because nothing else fits right now and Mama needs to go jam shopping) 

Confessions of a nurse-aholic

So I am by no means one of those people who will sit down in a public place and whip out the boob and start nursing Cooper. I don't push breast feeding onto other women, and I'm not all about the "Breast is Best" motto. That being said, I do believe in the benefits of breast feeding for both Mama and Baby. It's great for Baby's immune system, growth, and development and it's fast, easy, and not to mention (basically) free for Mama. I always had envisioned myself breast feeding my babies until they were at least one year old, then continuing to pump for them until they were 18 months to two years old. However, as Cooper is quickly approaching his one year birthday, I somehow am having trouble seeing how we're going to stop this. I've read countless articles on how to wean a baby, and I understand the science and mechanics behind it, I just can't grasp the emotional changes it's going to bring about. Nursing has always been mine and Cooper's special time together. Especially the past few months, he won't even latch if anyone (and by anyone I mean Adam, because he's pretty much the only one who I'll even try to feed in front of) is in the room. It's like the rest of the world is put on hold until he is full. I feel a certain sense of pride knowing that I (with AJ's contribution) created this tiny human, grew him within me for 9 months, and am still that vital source of life for him. Not to mention, it's so much easier to nurse rather than have to pump, or warm up a bottle, which saves us a lot of time and energy in the middle of the night when Cooper wakes up and feeding him is the only way to get him back down (which I know needs to stop..) With all of this being said, I have begun constantly thinking about how long I can carry this out. I am not being judgmental to anyone who does this, but it really creeps me out on a personal level to see a toddler, walking & talking, go up to their mother, pull up her shirt, and start nursing in public. I know it's natural, but ugh I don't know, I can't get over that. 

Since deciding to forgo medical school, and instead taking the Doctor of Nursing Practice route, I have been applying for part-time jobs in the hospital realm. Since we're not moving out of state we will finally be moving out of my parents home, which means we will need another source of income. I don't want to put Cooper in any sort of daycare until he's at least two, at which point I just want it to be more of a source of social development than a needed thing, so I am sticking to a part-time job, which allows me to work nightshift hours, so I will only be missing mostly sleeping hours with Cooper. As anyone working in the hospital world knows, most night shifts are 7pm-3am or 7pm-7am and sometimes 11pm-7am, which means that I won't be here for bedtime routine (which has always been mine and Cooper's thing, except AJ always undresses him because he makes a game out of it and Cooper just loves it) on days that I work. Now, Cooper is no stranger to bottles, we started him on bottles when he was 1 month old, and he takes them like a champ. However, unless it is one of those rare occasions that AJ and I leave to go out before Cooper is sleeping for the night, I always nurse him to sleep. I have this unwarranted fear that I will leave poor AJ with Cooper for bedtime and the child will not go to sleep and I will receive frantic phone calls begging me to come home to nurse him to sleep. While I will only be working maybe 3 nights a week, I cannot get over this irrational fear. I mean, he's gone to sleep with a bottle from my mom before when we've gone out.. what would be the difference if AJ had to give him a bottle, right? Then comes the fear that he will get so used to the bottle at night that he will self-wean and not want to nurse anyone and there goes our special time together.. Are you beginning to sense the irrationality of the whole situation yet? But these are the things that go through my mind during 2am feedings, yet another reason to at least start night weaning this child.

Nursing mamas... any advice would be greatly appreciated..

Our weekend

We took advantage of the decent Chicago weather this weekend & took Cooper out on his new sled that he got from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa for Christmas. He had a blast letting AJ pull him around! We tried yogurt and pancakes for the first time this weekend, and watched the championship game with AJ's family, who are very upset Packer fans right now. I cherish the moments that I get to see Cooper play with his grandparents and great grandparents.. It reminds me of all of the memories I have playing with my grandparents. He is a very lucky boy to have two wonderful sets of grandparents and thee great grandparents!

We are also happy to announce that Cooper finally cut his asshole of a top tooth today! It has been causing so much trouble the past few weeks! Now onto the next!

Pull Faster! 

I think he has enough toys for a while 

Mama & Munchkin morning yogurt date

Wheat bear pancakes! 

Wheat pancakes & bananas 

Until next year, I suppose. 

Cooper playing with Great Grandma Fran