Monday, August 15, 2005

Reporting Live From Cooper D's Crib

Micole has that natural mother instinct. Within just a split second of expelling the large ball of human flesh now known as Cooper D (aka The Mini Cooper), and despite the great pain and chaos she had experienced, she had the wherewithal to ask the nurses if her baby was alright. The whole time I was in the emergency room, I was just trying not to pee down my leg without much success.

For the first 4 months and 3 weeks of young Cooper's life he slept in his cradle in our room, but that has changed. We've been slowly moving him over to his crib in the nursery. At first we put him in for naps here and there and then a little more and a little more, until Friday night when I put him to bed for his first night away from our room. The first night was a bit difficult. I didn't want to fall asleep for fear of not hearing him on the baby monitor.

It was difficult for Micole, too. She's used to leaning over and checking on him, replacing the binky in his mouth, and trying to get him to relax. Now she's got to walk across the entire house just to put the binky back in his mouth. So last night I set up our video baby monitor. Now Micole can see her little boy and it gives her a little relief. She still needs to have our bedroom door open, just in case she wouldn't be able to hear him on the monitor, the power went out, the sound stopped working or there was an alien invasion where the aliens hijacked our baby monitor frequencies (just think of the movie "Signs"). That's the mother in her. She's so beautiful when she's like that.

There's one MAJOR problem with the video baby monitor. It is EXTREMELY bright. Like I slept the whole night with a pillow over my head kind of bright. I'm trying to come up with an idea to reduce the brightness. My thoughts are to find some tinted glass or plastic to put in front of the screen or put some kind of see through cloth over the monitor that would reduce brightness, but where you'd still be able to see what's on the monitor. I've already tried to adjusting the settings on the monitor with no luck.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Cooper on the video baby monitor.

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Maybe he absorbs the nutrients through his facial pores, because not much is getting down to his stomach.

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This is my mood today.

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Sunday, August 14, 2005

Weekend photos

It's been a quiet weekend around here.

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Cooper ready to pass out Friday night while Mommy was at Bunko.

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We found this Bengals outfit for Cooper. It's 6-9 months, so its a little big. At the start of the regular season he should be able to wear it.

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Grandma Stella and Cooper's cousins, Logan, Mason, and Thomas came to visit us today.

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Cooper and Thomas. Unfortunately, we forgot to get a photo of Cooper with Grandma and all of the boys.

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The boys thoroughly terrorized the dog during their visit, though Dobie warmed up a little to Mason.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Ebay Auctions - Similac

I have some Ebay auctions for Similac coupons and some formula, if anyone is interested. The auctions last 2 more days.

$10 dollars in coupons for Similac Infant Formula

(2) 8 ounce containers of Similac Isomil Advance Soy Formula with Iron

Friday, August 12, 2005

Happy Birthday, Aunt Kelly!

Happy Birthday, sis! I know it's probably tough as all holidays and birthdays seem to be without Mom, but just remember that you are truly loved. We even got you a Birthday Card!


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SAHD Day Pics

Here are some pictures from Daddy's experimental day as a Stay At Home Dad. I have to say it was a very pleasant day (except perhaps for Cooper's annoying habit of grabbing and squeezing my eyeball), though I could not do much other than hold him, feed him, hold him, change his diapers, and of course, hold him. He definitely likes to be held a lot, which can present a problem when I have to go to the bathroom.

Cooper gives peas a chance. (A few weeks ago when Mommy was feeding him, I said that I could do a better job of not making a mess while feeding him. I stand corrected.)

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Having fun in the Exersaucer. One of the few times where he didn't complain about not being held.

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It's fun to watch him consciously decide what he wants to grab and play with. Just a few weeks ago, he would randomly grab the toys just because they were in his field of vision. Now, he seems to focus on a toy for awhile.

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I tried to get him to sleep in his crib, but everytime I put him in it he would wake up.

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"When's Mommy coming back? Why did she leave me with this freak?", thinks Cooper.

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Thursday, August 11, 2005

I'm a Stay At Home Dad

For a day.

Micole has to go to school to get it ready for next week. They have a little day called Ready Fest, so I took the day off to care for Coop. I'm typing with one hand while holding Coop in the other arm, so pleas excuze any tipos.

Grandma Stella got mad with me for not posting photos yesterday, so here are a few that we missed.

A photo from Tuesday.


We got in late last night so here is one of the few surviving photos from Day 139 of Cooper's life.

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Mommy gives Cooper a hug goodbye this morning.

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Cooper grabs her hair and tells her not to leave.

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I've already changed a poopy diaper this morning. It's been awhile since I've had to and it's changed a lot. Much more solid and way more stinky. Whoo!

Speaking of stinking... How about that IRS? Aren't they just great? I got a letter from those brainiacs saying that I owed them a bunch of money plus interest. They said I didn't report a debt cancellation, which I didn't. BUT... Under certain circumstances a student loan cancellation can be tax free. AND... Micole meets all of those circumstances. Did they even think that we might qualify as the exception to the rule or did they just have a computer spit out that we didn't report the debt cancellation as income? Did they even notice that she works as a teacher in a school district in the state of Kentucky, so she is likely in a group that is eligible for tax free handling of student loan cancellation?

I almost think it's some kind of harassment practiced by the IRS. They're thinking is that you don't know the tax law, so you might just pay it. However, I've got a Master's in Accounting, I've passed the CPA exam, and I have taken numerous courses on tax law. They're not getting this one by me.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Little Champions

Something you hope you don't hear in a nursing home when you're 100 years old: "You look really cute when you're getting your diaper changed."

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Helping Mommy beat Daddy in game of Halo 2 on the Xbox. Yeah right.

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Cooper's working on a book reviewing different baby foods. No title yet, but one idea is "You Made Me Eat This?!?!" . An excerpt of the reviews so far:
  1. Beech Nut(tm) Butternut Squash: Seems somewhat bitter to the tongue and though edible, the nose soon begins to curl with a sense of repugnance.
  2. Beech Nut(tm) Carrots: A likeable, yet not loveable mound of gooey orange mush.
  3. Beech Nut(tm) Tender Golden Sweet Potatoes: Wins the Mommy's Little Piggy award hands down. If only I could calm down and get more of this delicious nectar in my mouth!
  4. Beech Nut(tm) Peaches: The worst of the lot. I certainly do not want to shake this tree.



Cooper feels like a champion tonight.

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Stop resting on your laurels.

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Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Just as I was about to blog about how Cooper was almost rolling over, he did it. Then he did it again. And again. And again. Luckily I got to record a few rollovers with the digital camera and the Handycam.

I added some 2 minutes of music to about 10 seconds of video, which you will see over and over and over, but a little differently each time.

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This video was shot on our Kodak digital camera. For some reason the video seems to speed up and the sound doesn't match the action, but I find it strangely interesting.

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Sunday, August 07, 2005

Blogged Out

Daddy's been a little blogged down and out lately. I haven't posted in 4 days. That's probably a record for me. Perhaps I'm coming to terms with my blogging addiction.

Cooper's been fairly normal lately. He's laughing more and he's becoming more aware of his surroundings and his ability to control things. In his Exersaucer, he's learned that if you pull on a few of the toys music will play. At first I thought it was cute, but after about 10 straight minutes of this now annoying music I went over to turn the volume down. He didn't like that, so he started crying.

The other day Mommy called to tell me that he was sitting up in his chair to watch the TV. Jessica Simpson was singing. So he either likes Jessica Simpson or music. According to my co-worker he's "heard her sing, so Cooper doesn't like music."

Getting ready for some baby food.

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Passed out after eating.

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The letters are finally on the wall.

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With Mommy on Saturday.

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Sleeping this morning.

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Wednesday, August 03, 2005

A Few Pics

There was a whole poop saga thing going on today. I won't bore you with all of the details. Simply put, it involved a lot of grunting and some crying, a call to Daddy every hour on the hour from Mommy with the latest details, a call to the doctor's office, some apple juice, and in the end very small results for all of Cooper's hard work.


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Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Sweet Potato

Not much to say tonight. Cooper ate his sweet potato baby food and he loved it. Well at least the part that wound up in his mouth he liked.


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He's just getting warmed up.

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I don't how Mommy made Cooper so messy. I'm certain that if I tried to make a mess like this with his baby food, it wouldn't be this bad.

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All cleaned up after bath time.

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Monday, August 01, 2005

I owe you one...

Yesterday Cooper puked on me, just after I had taken a shower and put on fresh clothes. It was the first time he's ever fully puked on me. He's spit up many a time, but this was much more than that. And much more humiliating. Micole starts laughing, because it's happened to her many times (of course I never laughed when it happened to her*). Anyways Micole laughs and then Cooper just has to join in. He thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen and probably was because he hasn't seen much yet.

How humiliating! A 4 month old baby laughing at me. My self esteem is permanently destroyed. Or at least until I get Cooper back one day...

Some pics from this fine evening.

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*She's also the one to smash the wedding cake in my face. I didn't do it to her until she did it to me.