Cooper is 5 months old!

1 month old
2 months old3 months old4 months old5 months old!!

Wow- we're getting dangerously close to half a year!! Each day gets more fun as Cooper continues to grow.

She is now EXTREMELY interactive.

She gets really upset if you leave the room--especially if she's having an off day.

She loves loves loves her brother. If he is standing in front of her, she is happy.

She's getting a lot better at holding her head up and can sit comfortably now in the Johnny Jump up and Jumperoo.

She's figured out how to grab her pacifier and will pull it out of her mouth and hold it in front of her face studying it, just like she does with her hands.

The hair on the back of her head is slowly starting to grow back in.

Cooper had her first set of pigtails this month. They were more humorous than cute as they had to be right on top of her head because of her lack of length on the sides. :)

She eats babyfood 2-3 times a day. She has now had apples, pears, cereal, sweet potatoes, and plums. (in that order) She nurses 4 times a day.

Still on Donnatol and Zantac.

She has found her feet!!

Open House and Harvest Party

I took Axl to the his open house at Great Escape and we had a pretty fun time together. He showed me some things in his classroom and then we headed down to the gym where he played with a lot of the equipment they play with on the days they have PE. For the most part we have been happy with his experience so far at Great Escape and he is definitely getting a little more used to it.

The pumpkin we made together was on display in his classroom.

Axl had a Halloween party in his class that I was WAY more excited for than he was. They were to dress in their costumes, the parents signed up to bring in party goodies, and we were supposed to join them at 11:15. Well...by the time we got there at 11:15 they had already done all the party stuff...it was a pretty big let down for me, considering Axl acted like a crazy person the whole time, too, lying in the floor, whining, and trying to leave. Happy Halloween, Mom. The night before the party I decided to make little treats for his friends. This would not have been a big deal had I not made an entire batch, realized I may not have washed my hands after I used some cleaner with bleach before I rolled them out, had visions of a classroom full of two year olds passing out and frothing at the mouth, forced to make an entire new batch at, oh, about midnight. Yeesh. Axl did look adorable in his Mickey costume, though, and he really enjoyed his treat on the way home. :)

Rolling!

Cooper rolled over (from back to front) for the first time TODAY! I was out and Tyler actually got it on video...the FIRST TIME! He's pretty awesome.

Absurd amount of cuteness+Halloween Sneak-Peek!

The other night at Jay and Brooke's we realized it was time for the Johnny Jump Up when Coop had a blast in her cousin, Lola's. This is her first time in ours and she, again, loved it!

Also--this hat is the cutest and we can't wait for Halloween--I love how her little ears stick out below it and this smile is just too much!

Boyd Orchards

We went to Boyd Orchards to pick out our pumpkins this year! Fun was had by all, especially Axl who LOVED the inflatable train that you crawl through, the many slides, and the goats. He was pretty spent by the time we actually picked the pumpkins, but we survived the trip and will definitely do it again. :) ...and somehow we didn't get even one picture of Granny...she joined us :)
I included the following picture because it REALLY makes me laugh!

Feeding the goats

For a short time Axl thought pumpkins were apples...

Gickey and Ninnie

Epic fail finally trying to 1. squeeze Cooper into the pj's (they are 0-3 months), 2. get a decent picture.

Looking like they can't stand to sit beside one another.

Dancing a jig.
Post-head bonk.
sweet little hug.

Fall?

Despite the mid-80's in mid-October, we've been trying to get into a fall-y mood. Yesterday actually cooled off just a little bit and that was enough to motivate me!

It started two days ago when I had been looking several places for flower pots--nothing fancy, just small, simple flower pots that I wanted to plant some mums in. I talked to Tyler about how expensive they are! Nothing to break the bank or anything, but a flower pot is not something I feel justified in spending a lot of money on at this point in our lives. On the way back from dropping Axl off from school that very day I saw a pile of flower pots on the curb!! I went to the door of the house they were in front of and talked to the owners and they told me to help myself! I got two small, very faded, but usable pots and one large, nice pot! So yesterday I got to work. I bought some spray paint and painted the faded pots black and haven't decided yet what I want to do with the large pot. When Axl woke from his nap we got to planting!

Also two days ago, the LONG AWAITED sewing maching arrived! (my birthday present from Tyler) I've been waiting so long that I have tons of ideas for projects that I want to try from some investigating on the Internet. I started with something very simple, and though it's not by any means perfect, I am considering it a success!

Axl is supposed to wear black or orange every Wednesday in October to

school, so that was the motivation for this shirt.

Conference Weekend

We took a fairly short trip up to Tar Fork for October conference, which really ended up being just the right amount of time. We had just about sworn off weekend trips for the duration of Axl's toddler years, but once again, we decided to give it another shot. All in all, it was pretty enjoyable, though neither of us were really able to enjoy the conference talks. It seemed the kids were always napping when conference wasn't on, and when Axl is awake, well, it's just not an option to sit down. ...that's why they print them though, right? When we left, nobody really felt like their head was going to explode and we all survived. :)

And I guess this is the only moment I deemed photo-worthy.

It is pretty cute. Axl sure does love these girls;

enough to watch Strawberry Shortcake, ha.

Back in Baby Food Business

When we left Cooper's 4 month appointment a couple weeks ago, I was supposed to start babyfood. He asked if I wanted to start food or just continue breastfeeding, and I most certainly was NOT ready to start food, but I responded with the fact that we had started cereal now with Axl because of the diarrhea the Zantac caused (which Cooper has had as well since we started it). I guess he took that as me wanting to start it and gave me instructions to begin with fruit because starting solids either helps Donnatol babies or makes them worse and fruit is the easiest food to digest. Well, with that info, I just decided I was going to wait anyway. If everything is going well with her (weight gain, colic, reflux, etc.), I'd rather not mess with it.

Then, I just got completely tired of the blowouts. (I realize that's too much information, but I'm just stating the facts.) The problem at this point is that I think fruit will probably make it worse. But I have to do the fruit before we can move on the cereal...so we're just going to try and stick it out.

Cooper really LOVED the apples I made this morning. I was so happy to see that she kind of knew what she was doing. I was hoping Axl would like to be involved, but it just so happened that Abby's Flying Fairy School was on at the time and he was just too busy. :)