Spring/Easter Pictures and Cooper's 9 Month pictures

Today, my wonderful photography friend who took Cooper's newborn pictures,

took Hunter, Paizlei and Cooper's spring/Easter pictures.

She also focused a little more on Cooper

and took more photos of him for his 9 month pictures.

I LOVE how they turned out.

Cooper wasn't a happy camper though.

He was super fussy all day.

I'm pretty sure he is getting another ear infection.

Poor Little Man.

Hunter and Paizlei did AMAZING!

I learned the best thing to do to get Hunter to take good pictures,

is for me to not pay attention to him...

or pretend I'm not paying attention to him.

Here are a few of my favorites from today's photo session with Amanda.

 LOVE this image of Hunter.

LOVE his smile.

LOVE that you can see his ADORABLE freckles.

LOVE his cute little scrunched nose.

LOVE his beautiful curls.

 LOVE those freckles, my Hunter!

 LOVE this image of Paizlei.

Her personality is totally shining through in this image.

I love her stance.

And, I love her beautiful eyes.

 My little Mama!

 

 CANNOT. GET. OVER. THIS. PHOTO.

 LOVE this image of Cooper.

I love his little tongue sticking out.

I LOVE that you can see his ADORABLE Achon hands.

LOVE those baby blues.

 And, I LOVE this image of my happily ever after.

LOVE these 3 kiddos with every part of my being.

Could not image my life without them.

My greatest blessings in life.

9 Months

Cooper is actually almost 10 months,

but I am a little behind on my blog

due to more sickies in our home.

Cooper turned 9 months on February 24, 2013.

I am still having a VERY difficult time believing

he will be one in almost 2 months.

Blows. My. Mind.

A few things about Cooper at 9 months:
~12 pounds 7 ounces (12% on the achondroplasia growth chart)
~22.5" long (20% on the achondroplasia growth chart)
~19.5" head circumference (just below the 50% on the achondroplasia growth chart)

~He can roll over and gets around by rolling

~His favorite word is "da da"

~He started meeting with a feeding therapist with Early Intervention

~He is eating solids like a champ

~His favorite foods are:

~Pears

~Sweet peas

~Sweet potatoes

~Bananas

~Applesauce

~Green beans

~Sweet carrots

~Oatmeal cereal

~Rice cereal

~Mix grain cereal

~Ice cream

~Yogurt

~Mango's

~Biter biscuits

~Yogurt melts

~Puff melts

~He is still in size 1 diapers

~He wears size newborn and some 0-3 month

~He LOVES Hunter & Paizlei

~He LOVES interacting with everyone

~He is afraid of any toy animal that makes sounds

~He is cries if anyone talks to him or holds him

~He has had his 10th ear infection

~He loves playing with his toys

~He is so curious about EVERYTHING he gets in his hands, and studies it intently

~He is very ticklish

~He giggles

~He still meets with PT Kelly with Early Intervention

~He met with an peds orthopedist at Shriner's for his kyphosis

~His all-time FAVORITE person is Mommy

Every day I find myself asking,

"How did I get so lucky to get 3 of the most beautiful, special children?"

Truly, 

I feel like the luckiest,

most blessed Mommy on the planet.

Cooper is truly that missing piece in our family puzzle.

We love him more than we can put into words.

We have been blessed in ways I didn't think was possible.

Happy 9 Months Little Man!!!!

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

On Wednesday, March 5, 2013, 

Hunter's kindergarten class performed the play,

Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

My Hunter played the part of a chicken.

Most likely a part they made up so every child had a part.

I was SOOO PROUD of Hunter!

Instead of sitting up on the stage

rubbing the back of the scared little girl sitting next to him,

or picking his nose,

HE PARTICIPATED!!!!

He recited his part without any problems!

He sang without any problems!

He sat up there like a good little boy.

Zane was in St. George for CIT certification for work,

so it was a little hard for me to get really good video and pictures,

and take care of a sick baby and a wild little 4 year old.

So, here are a few pictures I did get that are good.

 Before the play started...still waiting for all the kids to come in to watch.

Hunter is on the top row, right in the center, leaning forward.

 "Mrs. Silbestoh, LOOK!  Theoh my Mom and Sissy is!"

I heard him yell that when he found us sitting with the rest of the parents.

 He wouldn't be Hunter if he didn't stick his tongue out at me!

BTW...don't you think he is THE. CUTEST. CHICKEN. EVER?

 Towards the end of the play. 

He was starting to get really bored. 

I am so proud of him for sitting up there and sticking it out.

The chicken's part was at the end of the play.

Seriously, SO PROUD OF HIM!!!

Hunter participating the way he did in this play,

was HUGE for him!

He usually freezes when there are a lot of people staring at him,

so for him to stand up there and sing,

and recite his part, and participate...

YES, this Mommy was smiling, laughing and crying.

I LOVE my Hunter!!!!

February (NOT) Fun...and Phone Dump

The only post for February.

February has been full of sickies for our little family.

In all honesty,

I cannot wait for it to be over.

The first part of the month,

all five of us got the stomach flu,

some worse than others.

Cooper, some how, came down with influenza A.

AWFUL.

It seemed as soon as we were over the stomach flu,

we all came down with the fevers, chills, ear aches, body aches,

yucky colds, sore throat, chest congestion, head congestion

bug that was going around.

It was miserable.

Poor Hunter seemed to have it the worst.

I think probably because of his asthma.

He missed 4 days of school.

He had to have an antibiotic shot because he had strep throat.

He was miserable.

Two weeks ago today (2/12/2013),

I took Cooper in to the doctor for another ear infection.

He was coughing, sneezing, yucky runny nose.

Little did I know within 24 hours, it would turn into RSV and pneumonia.

I ended up taking him back to the doctor on Wednesday (2/13/2013),

because he had a fever of 102.3.

No matter what I did, I could not get it to go break.

I got desperate on Wednesday morning.  

!hank goodness we have such a great doctor, and was able to fit Cooper in right away.

When we were called back, his oxygen was at 87,

his fever had jumped from 102.3 to 103.1.

His RSV test came back positive.

Cooper was admitted into the hospital right from the doctors office.

After 5 pokes to start an IV, they finally decided to start one in his scalp.

I was already heartbroken to see him so sick.

But to see him have absolutely NO fight in him when the nurses were sticking him

trying to get the IV going, to see it go in his head, broke me.

I couldn't help but cry with him.

Once he was settled, we walked to radiology,

where they did an x-ray of his chest.

That came back positive for pneumonia.

Cooper and I spent Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday day in the hospital.

He was getting IV fluids and IV antibiotics.

We were FINALLY able to come home about 9:30pm on Saturday night.

Although, he is still fighting ear infection after ear infection,

and is starting to get over his NASTY cough,

he is doing much better.

Now that February is over...well, almost!

Here is a February phone dump...

My Little Man was in the hospital for his first Valentines Day!  Poor Little Man, you can tell he didn't feel good at all.

This was taken when Hunter was sick.  Poor kid was miserable.

Again, this was taken when Paizlei was sick.  She just wanted to sleep all the time.

We played Legos!  LOTS AND LOTS of time spent building things with Legos.

Hunter and Paizlei were ALWAYS playing dress-up!  Yes, that is Hunter in the top right corner dressed as Princess Belle.  Silly boy!

Playing around...taking pictures of my GORGEOUS baby girl!

This was taken at church.  Cooper was being a stink nut and wouldn't be quiet.  This was taken the same day he was hurt.  One of the MANY people who held him in church was a little too rough with him and ended up bending his tailbone, causing him to be in excruciating pain.  Broke my heart to see him hurt like that.

Paizlei wanted her hair "spikey-messy".  When I showed her this do in the mirror, she responded, "Not like that Mom!  NOT LIKE THAT!"

Goofing off with my Handsome Hunter while we waited for Paizlei to get out of school.

I LOVE how peaceful he is when he sleeps!  Such a sweet Little Man.

My messy eaters!

This one was in the group a few pictures up, but I LOVE it!  I laid him in his crib, he rolled over like normal and grabbed his monkey and brought it close to him.  It was so cute!

Hunter and one of his MANY Lego creations.  This one is from Grandma & Grandpa Black for his birthday.

I WON...AGAIN

There is this AMAZING company called 4moms!

It was started by 4 moms, hence the name.

They invent and make 4 of the

COOLEST,

AWESOME,

MUST HAVE

baby gear!

On their website, they have a place to "Share Your Story".

A couple weeks before Cooper had his surgery,

I shared Cooper's story, as a means to help raise dwarfism awareness.

The next week I got an email with the subject line,

"YOU HAVE WON A mamaRoo!"

I COMPLETELY forgot I even shared his story.

Winning a mamaRoo was the VERY LAST thing I expected.

As you can imagine,

seeing that email,

I was beyond excited!

I didn't say anything to Zane when I shared Coop's story,

so he was completely shocked that I won.

He kept asking me what a mamaRoo was.

I went back on their website and chose which print I wanted,

and placed my order.

My mother-in-law found the box on my doorstep

the morning after Cooper had his surgery!

Once we got home,

loved on Hunter and Paizlei for a while,

showed my Mom Coopie's incision,

we got down to business putting the mamaRoo together.

Cooper LOVES IT!!!!

So what is a mamaRoo?

A mamaRoo is not a baby swing,

or a baby bouncer.

The seat adjusts from a reclining/laying down setting,

to a sitting up setting.

It has the movements like what a Mommy makes

when she is standing up bouncing her baby,

or rocking side-to-side.

It also has these other settings:

car ride,

kangroo,

ocean wave,

tree swing,

and rock-a-bye.

It doesn't move like a swing.

It doesn't bounce like a bouncer.

It's movements are soft,

they don't aren't "jerky".

They are "natural"

Here are some pictures to show you the mamaRoo I won,

all because I "Shared Cooper's Story"!

 It is electric powered, has nature sounds, and an iPod dock.

 Can you tell he LOVES IT?!

Me, my sweet Cooper, and the mamaRoo!

Piggies

Someone is getting so big!
He discovered his little piggies!!!

Nothin' better than a little baby toe-jam!

Hunter Turns 6

I still cannot believe my Hunter is 6!

6!

Where did that time go?

He turned 6 on January 4, 2013.

To celebrate,

on January 4 we had a little family birthday party for him.

We had cuppiecakes and ice cream.

Hunter picked out which cuppiecake he wanted his candles in.

We sang Happy Birthday to him.

After we sang to him,

he opened his BIG birthday present!

The night before his birthday, I hung this crepe paper up on his bedroom door.  He was a little surprised when he opened the door on the morning of his birthday.

My BIG birthday boy!  LOVE HIM!

He was SOOO EXCITED with his BIG present!  We got him a Ford duellie pulling a BIG camp trailer, it also came with some boats, fish, fishing gear, and people.

On Saturday, January 12, 2013,

we started the day off with Hunter's very first friend birthday party.

We delivered 8 birthday invitations.

3 friends showed up.

For Hunter,

He was in HEAVEN!

His friends that came were

Brenley, Teagon, and Austin.

We tried to play some games,

but Hunter wasn't too into playing.

I think there was too much going on for him to get involved.

We sang Happy Birthday to him,

then had rainbow cuppiecakes and ice cream.

Once they were done eating,

he opened his presents.

He was so excited with everything he got.

 Hunter, Paizlei, Teagon, Austin

Hunter wanted rainbow cuppiecakes with blue frosting.

 His haul from his friend birthday party!

 Austin, Brenley, Hunter, Teagon

FUNNY FACE!!!

After his friends birthday party,

we had a BIG family birthday party for him.

Those who came to his family birthday party were,

Grandma and Grandpa Young, Grandma and Grandpa Black,

great-Grandma & Grandpa Despain, uncle Travis, aunt Shaunna,

cousins Bridger and Kanyon.

Zane ordered the coolest Batman cake from the market!

We sang Happy Birthday to Hunter...AGAIN!

Then had cake and ice cream.

Then he got to open his presents from everyone.

 His present from Grandma & Grandpa Young.

 His present from great-Grandma & Grandpa Despain.

 LOVE this photo of Hunter and his great-Grandma Despain!

Hunter and Bridger playing with the gift Bridger & Kanyon gave him.

All-in-all it was a super fun day!

Thank you everyone for coming out and celebrating Hunter's 6th birthday!