Vroom Vroom!

We had a friend from high school who owns an excavating business come out and do some work around our house. Drew was gone on another business trip to Utah all week, so each day I would drive Griffin up the hill with Cooper in my arms and let him spend 10 minutes with Riley "pushing trees". It was the most exciting thing he has done in a while. 

 

he even drove the semi once the equipment was loaded

And here is a before and after:

Monthly Update

First month as a family of four is down! It has been interesting. 

I'm enjoying every minute of it, since now I know how fast time will go. Cooper and I have spent our days relaxing and also running around doing things never possible while I'm working. I get a little cabin fever if I don't get out of the house, so we have gone to Branson, got my car worked on, had my yearly eye exam, got a massage, had the well water tested, and several trips to Springfield for doctor's appointments (for both he and I). It has been really nice. 

Griffin wins 'brother of the year' without a doubt. He has not been upset or said/done one bad thing to Cooper yet. Instead, he wants to kiss, hug, hold, or rock him so much that it often leads to a meltdown when we don't let him every single time. I know that we should be glad. 

This week Cooper had his first non-well child doctor visit. He has been throwing up/spitting up more than what we thought was normal and just acting very fussy and upset throughout the day. He also made a lot of gagging faces followed by cries that were pretty pitiful. His doctor determined acid reflux is to blame and now we will be giving him Zantac twice a day until he is at least 9 months old. The medicine is terrible and it's breaking my heart to watch him scream in disgust. Let's pray he outgrows it. 

He is still growing like a weed, so that makes me happy. He's gained almost another 2 pounds and an inch in the last 2 weeks.

Weight: 9lbs 10 oz
Height: 21 inches
Diaper Size: Newborn but getting snug
Clothing Size: Newborn is tight, 3 months are a little baggy
Eating every 2ish hours
Sleeping 3-4 hours between feedings at night

And so begins the first year of calendar pictures:

very tired and done with pictures by the time Bucky joined us

no chance at getting them both looking in the direction of the camera

Griffin gets smarter by the minute. The PAT instructor was very impressed at his visit this week, at one point asking if he could already read and write his name. I laughed and she said she wouldn't have been surprised. 

He is so witty. I heard him say to Drew one night "I don't have time for this!" There is never a dull moment around here. 

Griffin's likes: Power Rangers, chicken nuggets, not wearing clothes, playing in mud,                                   bulldozers/backhoes/tractors/fire trucks/trains, getting what he wants when he                       wants, taking showers, A Bug's Life movie
Griffin's dislikes: naps/going to bed, car washes, picking up toys, really loud noises

Since he doesn't care to wear pants most of the time, I decided to leave him that way for this month's photos:

And here are a few snaps from the last 4 weeks:

A Bittersweet Goodbye

Our sweet Mamaw passed away on Monday, September 15th after a week long hospital stay. She had not been feeling well and sadly, developed pneumonia. Although she's been ready for a long time to go to heaven, it still hurts to lose such a wonderful lady. I'm so thankful for knowing her and wish that my boys could have had memories to go along with the pictures. 

5 generation photo when Griffin was a baby

an autographed photo of Brad Pitt for her 100th birthday

first time meeting Cooper

She was a saint, a wonderful example of how to treat others and live each day. We knew that but the outpouring of love and comments from those who knew her proved the same. She had the best sense of humor. Before I left the hospital one day earlier in her stay when she was still speaking well, I told her she looked good. Her response was that at 100 years old, you can't be choosey. The day before she passed was especially emotional because she was having a hard time getting words out and we struggled to understand her. She had asked to see Cooper for days so we loaded both boys up and took them to see her. Before we left that day, she was able to look at me and say "take care of them"......to say she will be missed is an understatement. 

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Daddy needs hearing aids!

Griffin is taking a bath this morning and Drew is supervising. 

I yell from Cooper's room, "did you check for buckeyes?" Because I asked him to yesterday while he was at the farm. 

Thanks to years of shooting and selective hearing....I yell it, he says "what?", repeat twice.
 
Thankfully I have a translator. Griffin pipes up, "did you check for bad guys???" He sounded just as frustrated as I was. 

He is really into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Power Rangers right now.... and also very aware of bad guys!

Do they look alike?

I had been curious my entire pregnancy about how similar my kids would look. 

At birth there were some obvious similarities. The only thing that stood out as completely different in my mind was their noses. Shasta and I made sure to take a picture of Cooper's face in the same setting as we previously had of Griffin (and used for his announcement). Turns out, they were both taken at exactly a week old. 

As Cooper grows, I'm starting to think they are going to have common features but look quite different. We will see!

Birth Announcements

Shutterfly makes it very easy to create birth announcements. 

Here is Cooper's:

And because I don't think I posted it at the time, I will now.....Griffin's announcement was dual-purpose. I had such a hard time with carpal tunnel at the end of his pregnancy, that I couldn't write a few words without my hand going numb. Sadly, I didn't actually write thank you cards for all his gifts. 

I did what I had to and sent these: