For the last two weeks or so Cooper has been crawling around and around, basically wherever we're at in that moment. In the last two days, he's taken to doing some exploring on his own, including little ventures out from the living room into the kitchen and even out the double doors to the stairway. He's SO not content to sit and play anymore. The chase is on!
Today, John saw him quickly bolting for the open door leading upstairs, then watched him (very closely) climb up three steps. Oh, let the joys begin!
Cooper is traversing the couches and getting more confident holding onto something with one hand and turning just a bit to let the other hand free to wave and bounce around in delight. He also has started to making grunting and growling noises, particularly when he's excited about something or wants something. Unlike Thomas, everything is into his mouth, which is difficult now with all the tiny Lego pieces everywhere around this house. With Thomas my biggest challenge was to keep him from drowning in the lake. With Cooper I have to not only keep him from drowning, but keep those blastest Legos out of his mouth as well.

Christmas pictures

Christmas at the King Farm 2007

Cooper's 1st Christmas at the Kings! It was a hard fought drive over the pass, but after 8 long, nerve wracking hours trying to get over, with only two stops to show for it, we finally made it. The sounds of delighted cousins made it all worth it, and so began a short weekend of non stop play. They tore through the mounds of presents, jumped on beds, played smash em up cars and generally wore themselves into exhaustion. Cooper is fighting an ear infection, but that was the only trouble to be had the whole time, and while I hurried Tommy out of the North Bend Starbucks after spying a snotty nosed and crying toddler in line ahead of us, I couldn't help but be grateful both boys are feeling relatively healthy as we head into the Christmas holiday week.

Tommy's Top 10 for Christmas-2007

1. Being upstairs with Grandma and Grandpa
2. Shop time with tools, power saws, sawdust and the sander
3. "Jump me" with Daddy
4. "Roll", "Lil' Biscuit" and "Rubberband" wrestling
5. "Who Let the Dogs Out?" dancing
6. Writing letters on the computer
7. Funny stories with "poop" as the punch line, lots of imaginative stories involving poop as the punch line, and stories that start with "When I was a little boy..."
8. Building Legos
9. Making coffee early in the morning, lots of creamer overflow and one sugar pack.
10. "You want to pway with me?" over and over all day long

Cooper's Christmas Top 10-2007

1. The intro music and animation to Jack's Big Music Show
2. Teething Biscuits and Teething Cookies
3. Bathtime with Tommy
4. All of Tommy's toys
5. Cuddling with Mommy and Daddy (especially during the wee hours of the morning
6. Early, early mornings with Mommy. We wait impatiently for Tommy to wake up to entertain us for the day
7. Standing naked in my crib
8. Crawling and standing
9. Anything that will fit in my mouth

10!!!! Riding in the Baby Bjorn all day long with my daddy!!!!

Nooksack Falls

Sledding at Mountain Baker

"Will we see "hot lah-bah from the vohlcaino?" he asked, more than once on the way up the mountain this morning. We set out with my "big adventure" plans of skiing with Tommy and hiking with Cooper, only to once again realize the best days are ones with no plans at all. It was blowing snow, essentially a blizzard up at the top. It proved too challenging for little Cooper to breathe in and within minutes of exiting the car in great excitement, Tommy wasn't too eager to continue with the snow blowing in his face and blowing down his coat and shirt. It took us a lot longer getting geared up outside the car than actual sledding time, and skiing was out of the question. Hiking at the top changed to hiking down to Nooksack Falls, which was spectacular in the winter snow and ice.
After gross cookies at Glacier and refuel with hot chocolate for Tommy, it was off to our usual Christmas tree cutting farm. I gave up my annual hunt for the perfect Christmas tree and agreed to hide out inside the heated shed while entrusting John and Tommy to the Christmas hunting. It was pretty easy to do, as Cooper was quite delighted with the huge Christmas tree inside, the ceiling fan whirling and the biggest Chow dog I've ever laid eyes on sitting like a big fat Santa's helper in the corner. It was a lot of fun to spend the day to other things besides tending sick kids and feeling like you're missing out on everything Christmas.

Not so sure about this snow stuff!

C'mon Dad, let's get moving.

7 Months, Crawling, Sick and Standing

Cooper had about a week of wellness after a round of antibiotics, then fell ill to what appears to be the dreaded stomach flu. And it's hit us all pretty hard this week. I think that the exhaustion has finally caught up with us, and our immune systems must be broke and busted right now, because we just can't seem to get much of a break these days. I was chuckling and crying the other night when after a day long struggle with vomiting and diarrhea with Cooper, Thomas projectiled (my new word!) twice kneeling in his car seat at the grocery store. Shaking my head in wonder, I drove us all home soaked in more than tears.

Amidst it all, Cooper has finally figured out that his hands and knees can coordinate, and he's moving forward in a crawl instead of backwards-although he still looks like a drunken turtle most of the time!! He will also now pull himself up in his crib and wants to hold hands to walk around the house and stand by his toys. Now I just hope that his immune system can somehow find its way from the darkside and we can have our happy and healthy boy back.

Night-Night Prayers

Tonight, like every night, I asked Tommy if he wanted to help me say our prayers. Like each night before, I expected an emphatic "No!". "You do it." Tonight, though, was our first prayer together. He started.
"Dear Jeeshus," he said, through his dubbie (binky/pacifier) and his sniffing dubbie. "Now you," he said, curling into me.
I thanked Jesus for our beautiful day and asked that He watch over all our loved ones through the night.
Tommy said to me, "Wait! You must pray to Jeeshus for taking Grandpa and me to find Frankie-Four Wheeler today."
"Thanks you Jesus for grandpa who drove all over the county with Tommy looking for his Chevron Car Frankie-Four Wheeler," I prayed. "In Your name....."
"Amen," he said.

It was one of the sweet, beautiful moments (with a chuckle tucked in!) that I won't forget.

7 month comparison