Say Cheese

Today I borrowed Finn for a while and took him and Cooper to have pictures made together. I have been wanting to do this for a while and just now was able to pull it off. I picked up Finn at 8:30 this morning and when we got to the house he started crying. I picked him up and he stopped, I leaned down toward the floor and he started crying, I stood up and he stopped. Hahah, so that was how the morning went. I layed him in Cooper's crib and he took a nap while I got ready. Then I got both babies in the car and headed to Murfreesboro. Erin met me there so that she could witness Finn's first photoshoot. Lets just say the session was a disaster. Finn hated it, and when he started crying, then Cooper started crying. We had two bawling babies with bunnies climbing on them. We did manage to get a good picture though. Then I packed the boys back in the car and headed back to my house. Cooper was asleep, so I put Finn in the laundry room and let him play with Mr Bojangles. He liked him!! Yay, Finn had a happy moment while with his aunt Em. See Finn...I'm not all bad. Then his daddy came to get him and Cooper is back asleep now. I survived taking care of two babies. It can be done.

Mr Bojangles

Yep..I got Cooper a bunny. HA. I took Cooper to the bunny farm in Nashville today and we brought Mr Bojangles home. He is a dwarf bunny, so he won't get very big. Cooper loves playing with him but is very rough on him. Mr Bojangles likes it better when Coop is asleep and it's just me and him. He is staying in the laundry room (which is my domain anyway) and he is working on litter training. Supposedly they take to a litter box pretty quick. So far that is not the case with Mr Bojangels. Sox is mesmerized by the bunny. He follows him around and they touch noses.

Cooper's Heart Surgery

It is hard to believe that it has been one year since Cooper's heart repair. It actually seems like it has been a lot longer. And like all milestones, I am going to tell the story of his surgery here in my blog.

I started worrying about surgery and getting nervous and nauseous on friday the 27th. The regular staff and Drs were all leaving for the weekend and Dr Christian (Cooper's surgeon) came in on friday and said "NO FEVERS" (she's a very blunt woman) She said keep socks off of him and don't bundle him. She went through all the risks and told me how surgery would go and then she left. I had heard those risks a hundred times having worked on the cardiac floor. I did not want to hear them being said about my child. Zac and I laid around in the room all weekend. I couldn't sleep well. Everytime I thought about surgery I felt sick. So, sunday night I took Cooper's socks off, layed a light blanket on him and kept the air pretty low in our room. I sat my cell phone alarm for 4:00 am. I ended up staying up and rocking Cooper though. If something were to happen to him the next day in surgery, I was not going to have one regret. I was going to rock my baby all night. I ended up rocking him until about 2:00am and then finally crashed. Anastesiology was going to come for Cooper at 6:00am. The nurse came in and took vitals and Cooper's temperature was very low. ( Well of course it was low, I froze the poor child all night so that he would have "NO FEVER") We swaddled Cooper and put warming lights on him and his temp was not rising very well. So then they started doubting that Dr Cristian would do surgery. I was torn up about this. I had waited for this and now he might not get his surgery?? Dr Christian finally called up and said low temp is fine, bring him down. So anestesiology came to get him and me and Zac kissed Cooper and stared at him silently for a few minutes and then we let him go. I started to get tears in my eyes and as we walked out of the room, Ashley one of the nurses hugged me and said she was praying for us. We stopped on the 3rd floor and that was where we went to the waiting room and Cooper went the opposite way to surgery. That moment was like slow motion for me, I looked at him again and they said, we will treat him as if he was our own, and I started to cry. So we turned away and went to the waiting room. Our family was already in the waiting room, so me and Zac took a minute to ourselves before we had to go be social. I saw dad first and he hugged me and said how are you? And I said scared and cried more. Then I saw that classic look on moms face of sheer terror. I went over and hugged her. I didn't even try to hide my feelings or be brave, I just let it out and cried. We sat down and waited for the 1st phone call. At 8:00 am we prayed. I had asked everyone to pray at exactly the same time. I prayed outloud because I wanted to pray and he is my son. I could see that Dad, mom and Greg were all crying. It took them 2 hours to call us, so I was a little worried, but they were just running a little behind. They called us and said they were making the incision, and so far everything was going fine. I was able to relax after this. We got a few phone calls, had some lunch and had several visitors. Our pastor and associate pastor came, a lady from our parents church came, Gina's mom and dad came and Kristin came. At around 1:30 we got the call that they were closing him up. Surgery went much quicker than planned. He had a balanced av canal which made things better, but they patched a hole and created two valves out of his own tissue. We waited for the surgeon to come talk to us. First, her nurse Kelly came and talked to me. We have known her parents for a long time and so she was really great about talking to us and trying to keep us calm. They wouldn't let us in the ICU for about an hour, so we waited and then went in a few at a time to see him. He was completely zonked. They warned us not to talk much because he would hear our voices and get real aggitated and also warned us that he would get really puffy. So we all left and went to eat at Sportsmans grill. Then Zac and I went back to be with Cooper. I had not slept, so I went home and Zac stayed in the ICU. I came back the next morning and Cooper had already been extubated and was doing really well. The next night I stayed in the ICU and Zac went home to sleep. Then after two nights in the ICU we were transfered to the cardiology floor. Once we got to the floor, Cooper caught a stomach bug. He was throwing up and it would get all over his incision which was so gross. I caught the stomach bug and Zac drove me home that night and I threw up until around 2:00 am. At 5:15 I got a call and Zac was throwing up and needed to come home. So I was still sick but headed back to the hospital and let zac go. Those few days were rough, It was so hard to take care of a baby when you are that sick. The day before we were discharged, Cooper discovered his hand. He stared at it for a long time. He has had a fascination with his hands ever since. Dr Young came in and asked how we felt about going home. I told her I was totally comfortable taking care of Cooper and that we wanted out...So she wrote the orders and 7 days after open heart surgery...Cooper was HOME!!! The horrible nightmare of a 2 month hospital stay was finally over. One of the things that sticks out most in my mind was how everyone commented on how much I hold my baby. Everyday someone would say, my goodness, you just hold him all the time don't you. Then another nurse, said you sure do hold him a lot, you need to put that baby down or your spoil him. REALLY?? There is no possible way you can spoil an infant. I never said it but I thought, you know..I just had him a few weeks ago, and of course I want to hold him.Wouldn't you hold your baby every second you could if you didn't know what was going to happen to him. I didn't want him to be scared or feel lonely. After all...I can only hold him for so long.

For a more recent update:

Cooper's mitral valve and tricuspid valve are leaking and he has narrowing of the aortic valve. He takes blood pressure meds to help with the leaking and they are just monitoring the narrowing. He see's the cardiologist about every 6 months.

Mamahood

Dear Cooper, do you know how much I love being your mama? Not just a mama, but your mama. I love your crazy hair and how it makes you look like Jack Nicholson when you get out of the bathtub. I love how you crawl away naked when I am trying desperately to get clothes on you. I love that when I try to take your picture, I usually only get your nose because you have lunged at the camera to get the strap. I love that when I walk anywhere near you, your arms go straight up wanting me to lift you. I love it when you get sleepy and suck on your chewie and just stare at me. I love that I love you so much that sometimes I just cry...just because.. just because you are so precious and I have so much love for you. And this has all been in just one night, I just wanted to write it...just for you. By the way, in that top picture..you look like your daddy. I think it's the nose..hahaha. Love mommy.

Cooper the Cleaner

Everytime I vacuum Cooper gets really excited and starts yelling and smiling. I'm surprised the noise doesn't scare him, but he gets happy everytime I clean. I'm afraid I have passed on my brain sickness of being a clean freak onto Cooper. I did vacuum a whole lot while I was pregnant with him, so maybe he likes the sound. I also put a picture of Cooper cruising in front of the couch. He is doing pretty good at cruising, and as of yesterday, he will hold my hands and take steps toward me. Yay!! Hopefully he'll walk sooner than I expect.

SO BIG

I was laying out in the sun the other day and I had brought the pack and play outside so that Cooper could be outside with me. I heard him yelling at me and I looked up and he was standing in his pack and play. He has been to short to reach the top bar to pull himself up, but now he can reach it. I didn't have the camera, but I caught him again the other night, so I finally got a picture of that peanut and that smile of accomplishment on his sweet face. He was very proud.

15 Month checkup

I took Cooper to the Dr today for his 15 month checkup. It was an awful morning because he decided to wake up at 1:15 last night and play/cry until 3:30. Lovely night. I was exhausted. Cooper's appt went well, he weighs 22 lb and 4 oz and is 28 1/2 in. long. Which if I'm not mistaken are his cousin Finn's exact measurements at age 6 months. Cooper got 2 shots and screamed and held his breathe. Even with me blowing in his face, he would not take a breath. He did not appreciate those needles. But the bandaids were fun. He ripped those off when we got home and was flying them through the air. The Dr said he has two upper teeth coming in. But it's not the front teeth, no...it's the side teeth. He'll either look like a vampire or an old toothless man. What a snaggle tooth.

Weekend of family fun

This weekend we took Cooper to Phillips Toy mart because we heard they had bunnies out for the kids to play with. We went and Cooper was not interested in the bunnies, but instead he liked the decorated eggs hanging from the ceiling. Which is funny because when he had his pictures made professionaly with bunnies for easter the other day, he loved the bunnies and kept sliding them around the floor like they were toy cars. After that we took him to the park to swing. He is going down the slide now and crawling around on the ground. After that Nana and Papa came to babysit while me and Zac went to see Shutter Island. Then today we are celebrating World Down Syndrome Day. We picked Cooper up from the nursery and they said, he really talks a lot. Yes, we know...constant jabbering. He must have someof his aunt Erin in him somewhere. Anyways, to celebrate Coopers extra chromosome, I made some cupcakes. Cooper of course can't eat cake, so I fed him frosting, and even though you can't tell from the pictures..he really liked it. A few minutes later he threw it back up though. Hahha, must have been a little too sweet. Now we are all sitting in the living room enjoying a Harry Potter Marathon.

Cooper's 1st Trip to the Zoo

We had a beautiful trip to the zoo this morning. Cooper was in a great mood and loved the fish and waterfalls the most. The animals all blended in with their surroundings, so they were pretty hard for Cooper to see. But we had a great time as a family and we also ran into some friends of ours, Aaron and Lindsey from our old Memphis church. We were surprised to see them, so that was neat. Once we got back to the car Cooper fell asleep and we brought home some burgers for lunch and now Zac is back at work. The last time we were at this zoo, I was toting Cooper around in my belly and got a little dizzy toward the end of our day, it was a neat little trip down memory lane.

Knee crawling

Cooper has been "frog" crawling for a long time now, but last week his teacher showed me how to help him knee crawl. Well that was all he needed, because now he is crawling on his knees. And he moves a lot faster like that. He also took 4 steps today!!! That was the first time he took any steps, but he hangs onto the couch and just cruises along beside it. He looks a little wobbly, but we will keep working with him. Big day for SUPER COOP!!