Two small ones

Snow dog. She loves the snow.

First joint bath. Paige has been waiting for him to be big enough.

Stare down. Piper trying to get one of his toys; and Cooper tring to figure out what this crazy thing is.

A hard day's work on Sunday. Tired boys.

An interesting way to chew on his Nuk. Hopefully a tooth will pop soon.

Its been a busy week at our house getting adjusted to this new small furball; as well as incorporating her schedule into our already fairly busy one. I am sort of having visions of two babies--I am up with one and Ryan is up with the other. Until he got sick about Thursday night and I have been doing most of the dog duty. Not loving that too much. However, he is feeling better and at least able to move around now without too many aches and pains. Speaking of things that aren't fun--this weather and trying to get a puppy to go outside in the middle of the night. The neighbors have to love my attire at these various hours. I am grabbing my cowboy boots, Ryan's boots or whatever is by the door and bolting.

We have a lot going on in the next few weeks--Miss Paige is turning 5; we have kindergarten screening this week; a party of some kind to plan; a baby so close to crawling its frightening as he rolls and pushes everywhich way but forward; and much more.

Meet the newest member. . .

So she's finally here. I think Paige has thought she was never going to be here. Paige and Ryan met Grampa Keith on Thursday night to get her. They got home at 9pm; so we had a short time with her before Mom was mean and wrangled Paige to the bathtub and bed. Bless my husband, as he dealt with the puppy all night long while I dealt with my baby (who is still up at night); but that night Ryan learned what a newborn is like! She cried a lot. The kids and I ventured that next afternoon to Williston and got home this afternoon about 2pm; so Paige finally got to get some Piper time in. Ryan reported that the crying is much better and she was quiet until about 4am this morning. The two of them have gotten some major bonding time in; and that's a good thing. She's had a few accidents in the house--most on the cement where her 'area' is; but hopefully we won't have to be watching her every move so closely hoping she doesn't go on my carpet! She had her first run in with a neighborhood cat this afternoon; but Paige reported that they 'didn't even tackle' so it must have went okay!

Cooper pics

Cooper has a pretty hard life. Dad must have had a hard day; as the both of them were tuckered out together pretty early the other night.

Cooper has discovered his toes and how fun they are to chew on in the bathtub.

Oh the wonder of baby food--the joys it can bring. . .

and the sorrows. . .

6 months

Okay, the picture is 3 days prior to the offical 6 month timeline, but what's 3 days! We'll take the horse picture later. Cooper had his 6 month check up today. He weighed in at 16lbs 9 oz; so he has doubled his birth weight by a few ounces. He is 25.5 inches long. I don't know where that falls in the percentiles; we don't worry about those. He's sitting up fairly well and drooling like a mad man today. I expect teeth soon. He had his first few bites of baby food last Friday; and much to his dad's dislike, Cooper liked squash. Ryan is convinced its evil; Cooper was happy to have something with flavor. So he is happiliy going to go through the orange and yellow vegetables in the next few weeks. The last few weeks have involved lots of tummy time, and the occasional scooch backwards. Its common to put him in one spot on the floor and if you come back one minute later, for him to be in a completely different position and over a few feet. He also mastered the log roll last weekend and went from back, to tummy, to back again. I fear he will be a crawler sooner than later! He'll probably decide to start crawling next month when the puppy gets here and then we'll have double destruction!

Smiles and hands

This is what we see of Cooper. Big smiles, usually aimed at Paige. Or just hands and fingers shoved in his mouth. He has had super red cheeks the last few nights, and is sorta irritable. He could just be channelling Mom, but I think he has a tooth trying to poke through. Paige didn't cut a tooth this early, so I will be shocked if he does. However, he has been nothing at all like Paige when she was a baby, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has one way before she did. He turns 6 months old next week. He has almost mastered sitting up unattended--we still put some support around him as the tip still happens. He has started reaching for things, his goal is the TV remote, but I don't think its going to happen! Its amazing how you can see his coordination developing--his reaching and grabbing levels over the last two weeks have been jumping by leaps and bounds. He's a tempermental little man, and we are having a hard time convincing him that cereal is okay to eat. So far its been pretty hit and miss, so we'll just keep trying and I am sure it will work. I have a hunch that baby food will be his true love and once he gets something with a real flavor, there will be no going back. He has his 6 month appt on Tuesday, and I am anxious to see what he's weighing in at. All I know is he is getting too big for his infant seat and I would love to quit lugging that heavy thing around!

Paige annual Valalentine pics

2007

2011

A Cowgirl's first

Paige had a big weekend. She got to pick our her puppy, and she got her very first real cowgirl had! She has a few random hats, but they are toys and originate from various strange places and are cardboard. Her daddy has started spoiling his cowgirl and today he got a new hat, and so did she. I am sure a pony isn't far behind! Here are my two cowpokes modeling their new purchases.