Owen & Cooper

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner. Now that Owen is older and understands a little more, he's starting to get a excited about Santa's visit. We went to visit Santa last weekend and Owen told him he wants books and a blanket. Wow...I guess our list to Santa could have been shorter! Owen absolutely loved his visit with Santa. Cooper, on the other hand, not so much. He was wailing and shaking. Needless to say, we did not get a decent pic. Oh but the one we did get....it'll be one to pull out and show Cooper's first girlfriend! LOL

Owen's birthday was on the 16th so we had a party on the 15th and then celebrated again on his "real" birthday. He was a little miffed to find out on the 17th that we were done celebrating. He also attended a classmate's party in November so I think he was starting to think that parties are now a weekly occurrence. He'll be disappointed this weekend when it's just the four of us! One of the other moms told me that her daughter says she's going to marry Owen. Really? They start early now! I think O might be saving himself for Gabby...wink wink Joey....

Owen is really starting to express himself these days. The other day, I was apparently not listening to him as intently as he wanted and he says (not so nicely) "Mommy, yisten to my words!" Huh? I wasn't sure whether to scold him or laugh!

Cooper had an excellent month sleep wise. He's consistently sleeping until early morning (5am). I say this as I note that he was up from 3 o'clock on last night...but I think that may have been the result of some discomfort from his H1N1 shot yesterday. A lot has happened with Cooper lately. He's still primarily army crawling (but he has crawled on all 4's). He seems to prefer the army crawl in spite of my repeated assurance that crawling on all 4's is less labour intensive. He's now pulling up to a stand and just starting to cruise a little. Although he's a pro at getting up to a stand in 1.2 seconds, he hasn't yet figured out how to get back down so that means several trips back and forth to the nursery for nap/bedtime. Funny how you forget about these things! He's also waving bye bye now and we're starting to venture into some real foods. Hands down, yogourt is his favourite (cracker and bread are close behind). He would eat it all day long if we would let him. He's taking a bottle once in a while but it seems to be whenever it suits his fancy. Not enough for Mommy's liking...I'm ready to wean him.

That's about it for now. We're decorating the tree and house this week so we'll post more pics soon. Owen has been talking about it for days! He's also been asking me when winter (snow) is coming. He thinks penguins will be coming with the snow no matter how many times I explain that they won't be coming here.

That's all our updates for now. Missing you all in NB, especially now that the holidays are near.

Lots of love,
Michelle, Doug, Owen & Cooper

Germs...germs...germs. My house is apparently full of them. Over the last two weeks, I had strep throat, both boys got sick and Doug had/has bronchitis. It's going to be a VEEEEERY long winter.

So do you suppose Cooper will figure out that it's much faster to crawl than to drag your 22lb self across the room? He really is too funny....and stubborn! On a very happy note, we're into our second week of sleeping through the night. He's going down around 7:30 and waking between 4:45 and 5:15 and then back down again until 6:30 or 7:00. I'll take it! What a difference a full night of sleep makes. Oh....and we've managed to get a few ounces from a bottle into him on a few occasions. It doesn't sound like much but it's huge progress for us. Mommy even got away for 5 hours one day (albeit for a very sad occasion...a funeral).

Owen is doing well. His breathing seems better now that we're on daily treatments. He's just getting over a bug but you would never know it. Amazing how resilient kids can be! He's enjoying school and we've been asked if we're interested in moving him to the Casa (JK equivalent) room a little early so it looks like he'll be moving to the big kid class in January. He'll be moving with "my Gabby" as he so affectionately calls her (and a few other current classmates) so I'm sure they'll do well together.

Hard to believe he'll be 3 in less than 2 weeks. Sniff...sniff.... He told me he wants a blue party. What? Hopefully, a cake with some blue will do.

That's it for now.
Michellle, Doug, Owen & Cooper

What did I (Mommy) get for my birthday this year? 3 full nights of sleep this week! Yay Cooper!!!!

October already? Things have been busy over the last couple of months. We've had some visitors and had loads of fun (Nanny, Denise, Ryan Brooke, Grandma and Grandpa). Having company and so much to do made August and September just a blur. We won't know what to do with ourselves now that the house is more quiet. Actually, who am I kidding? There's never a quiet waking moment with 2 boys in the house!

Owen is back in school full-time and he seems to be really enjoying his new classroom and teachers. They now visit the library on a weekly basis, which he loves. They also have a big field trip coming up. Mommy is going to help supervise. We'll see how that goes!

Owen is now talking a mile a minute and his vocabulary has really expanded over the last month or so. Maybe a little too much? He's even starting to get a little cheeky, which sometimes leaves us wondering why we were in such a hurry for him to speak more. LOL

O has been having some respiratory issues over the last 6 months or so and we finally saw a pediatric respirologist last week. Unfortunately, he has been diagnosed with asthma. On the bright side, at least now we know and can treat it properly. It seems to bother us more than it does him...he's a trooper!

Cooper is...well...still not sleeping through the night. He's doing a little better but he sure is giving mommy a run for her money. Not one single full night of sleep in almost 8 months. Mommy is starting to hear the tick tock of the back to work clock, so we're really getting antsy about this sleep thing (or lack thereof). I'm sure it doesn't help that he seems to be getting a new tooth every time we turn around. We're at 5 now (2 new ones just cut the gum this week) and we're pretty sure there will be another one in the next couple of weeks.

Cooper has been sitting on his own for quite a while and has just recently learned to put his arms out to cushion the fall when he loses his balance. He's not crawling yet but he's already trying to pull himself up on furniture, etc. Maybe he'll be one of those babies who skips crawling altogether? He's still not a huge fan of being on his belly so who knows how you learn to crawl if you're never on your belly!

Personality wise, Cooper is very different from Owen. He's much more serious and he definitely doesn't give smiles away to people as easily as Owen did at this age. He does have a good belly laugh though and it warms our heart every time we hear it. He's also very inquisitive (the polite way of saying that he's going to be our baby who gets into EVERYTHING). LOL

Now that Cooper is getting older and interacting more with Owen, things are getting interesting. Cooper is no longer content to pass over the toy in his hand as easily, much to Owen's dismay. We can just see how this is going to play out a few months from now. LOL. Still, it is awesome just watching them together. Owen's new favourite saying to Cooper is "nice job Cooper!" or "look at you big boy". Cooper loves the praise from his big brother. It makes me smile just to write this down. They really are very cute together.

Doug turned 36 today. When Cooper and I picked Owen up from school and told him we had to go get Daddy's cake, he said "I'm going to Daddy's party". Unfortunately for Owen, it was a party of 4 but still, we had lots of fun getting the cake ready and surprising Daddy with Owen's very own rendition of the Happy Birthday song. "Butterfly, Butterfly, Happy Birthday. Butterfly, Butterfly, Happy Birthday." Seriously, where does he get this stuff?! Happy Birthday Doug. We love you! XOXOX

Lots of love to everyone back home,

Michelle, Doug, Owen & Cooper
xoxox

Lots of milestones this month..Cooper started rolling from back to belly but still refuses to roll the other way. He has now started sleeping on his tummy. Mommy originally kept flipping him back over but then started to wonder if that might help him sleep longer at night. Nope! We finally moved him to the nursery. Maybe THAT will help with the sleeping. Nope! Wishful thinking! He also sprouted his first tooth this week and a second should be making its appearance any day now. So that hasn't helped things either.

He has started sitting on his own for very brief periods (15-20 seconds). Before we know it, he'll be crawling around. All this growing up is too much too fast for Mommy and Daddy!

Personality wise, Cooper seems to be a little more reserved and serious than Owen was. When he smiles and laughs though, it lights up the room. Owen is loving it. He is hands down Cooper's favourite person these days and that's made him a very proud big brother. It really is great to watch.

Owen is doing really well too. Without intending to be, he is hilarious. The things that come out of him have us in stitches on a regular basis. This is a great/fun age for us. He's been perfecting his rough-housing skills and Daddy's convinced that he'll barely be able to keep up with them once both boys are at it!

Nanny is coming for a visit next week so we're really looking forward to that. Hopefully the weather will hold up!

So that's all the updates for now. We're missing you all in NB.

Lots of love,
Michelle, Doug, Owen & Cooper

Out of the mouths of babes... Here is a conversation between Owen and Daddy:

Owen: Daddy, I brush your hair?
Daddy: Where's my hair?
Owen: There (pointing to the sides)
Doug: What about here (patting the top of his head)?
Owen: No hair there
Doug: What happened to it?
Owen: Broken

Hilarious!

I can't believe it's June already. Thank God for nicer weather! We've been out to the zoo a few times and went to the Brooklin County Fair this week (a sure sign that summer is around the corner). Owen loved the fair....maybe a little too much (hello meltdown when it was time to go. The joys of having a 2 year old!). He actually went on a couple of rides for the first time but was scared of all but the pony ride. Still, he kept asking to go on more. His favourite, as always, was the animals.

Owen is doing really well with potty training. At home, he's pretty much got it mastered. He's even waking dry most mornings but Mommy hasn't been brave enough yet to get rid of the pull-up for nightime. We're also still working on getting it down while at school. All in all, he's doing quite well with it.

Owen has a new pet in the backyard (see pic), who drops by on a regular basis and Owen has taking quite a liking to him. We'll see how much Daddy likes him when he sees the nice "piles" he leaves behind.

Cooper is 4 months old today. Developmentally, quite a bit has happened over the last month. He's now grasping and holding toys, he's doing much better with head and limb control. We also kicked the swaddling habit (not like it helped much anyway...he's still up every 2-3 hours through the night.) He has started to get a few 4-5 hour stretches in but they are from 7pm-12am. That doesn't help Mommy much! Oh well...in time. He's also babbling a lot more, particualrly when he wants us to know he's not happy. :-) Good news, his umbilical hernia has pretty much healed on it's own. It just looks like an "outy" now...yay!

Unfortunately, we've decided that we won't be able to make it home to NB this summer...sniff..sniff. The flights are just too pricey right now and the thought of driving all that way with and infant and toddler is just too much for Mommy and Daddy. But we'll make our own fun here. Owen will only be in school part-time this summer so we'll spend lots of time together.

That's it for now. Hugs and kisses to everyone in NB...we're missing you!

The boys are both doing well.

Cooper turned 3 months old this week. He's babbling a lot more but Mommy can never seem to catch it on video. Much like his brother, he refuses to perform on command. His 3 month MD appt is tomorrow so we'll know just how much he's grown then. It sure seems like he's getting heavy. Mommy is already tired of lugging that carrier around. Good news, his umbilical hernia seems to be getting better on its own (though I'm sure it probably looks alarming to someone who did not see it at its worst). The surgeon wants to wait until after he's 6 months old to see him as she's confident that it will heal spontaneously before that. Other than that, there's not a lot that's new...still refusing the bottle, the 23 different pacifiers Mommy has tried (he's very close to finding his thumb and Mommy was hoping to avoid that). We're still nowhere near sleeping through the night but he's done three 4 hour stretches this week (baby steps, right?!)

Owen has turned into a little man virtually overnight. We catch ourselves just watching him and looking at each other in amazement at just how much he looks and acts like a little boy...no more baby here. Over the last couple of weeks, Owen seems to have turned a corner with his sleep issues. Thankfully, he's back to going to bed on his own (which he had not done since we brought Cooper home)and he's only waking through the night on the odd occasion. Hopefully,it lasts. O turns 2 1/2 this month and since he seems to be well adjusted to having Cooper here, we've decided to throw in something new yet again. We're officially going to start potty training this weekend. He actually peed on the potty last weekend but has refused to get on the potty since. So...we're in in for the long haul and we're thinking it is indeed going to be a long haul....wish us luck!

Owen and Cooper are both growing like weeds.

Cooper is now 9 weeks old. He was 14.5 lbs at his 8 week appt...MD says there's no doubt that he's healthy! LOL On the downside, Cooper was born with an umbilical hernia, which typically resolve themselves but his seems to be getting worse so we're being referred to a pediatric surgeon. They will likely just monitor it for now. Luckily, he doesn't even seem to notice it's there! He's now smiling all the time and starting to babble...which makes up for the every 2 hour wake up calls through the night.

Owen is doing really well. He seems to have adjusted to having Cooper here although he's still going through some sleep difficulties since Cooper's arrival. He absolutely adores his brother though and has become a great little helper. When Cooper cries, he yells out "sec Cooper" (as in wait a sec Cooper) drops what he's doing and runs over to soothe him. It melts a mother's heart! Owen is now talking a lot more. He's also a pro at mimicking us now and he thinks he's hilarious. His new thing is to get a rouse out of Mommy by calling out for her saying "Chelle" (as in Michelle). Mommy's inital reaction no doubt reinforced the behaviour so he thinks he's telling the best joke ever! He's also starting to take a little interest in the potty. He asks to go but has yet to actually stay on the potty once we get him there. Now that things have settled down here and he seems to be adjusted to having Cooper here, we might take a serious crack at potty training within the next month or so.

Other than that, there's not a lot new. We're just trying to enjoy every minute because we know just how fast it goes.

We've been home from the hospital for a week now....it's all been a blur. How quickly we forget the sleepless nights! Cooper and Owen are both doing well. Owen's a great big brother and helper...even if he is unsure about the crying. When his teachers ask him what the baby's name is, he says "cry". Too funny!