Who needs a sippy cup?

Cooper says, "sippy cups are for babies, give me a straw!"

Just thought we would try this out tonight at dinner and he succeeded, loving drinking out of the straw!  

Loves his books

Cooper officially loves his books!  When put down in his room, he immediately crawls for the basket, where he proceeds to take every last one out and play with them.  He kept himself entertained for over 20 minutes while I cleaned his closet, awesome!  He really does love being read to and has a preference for a few books.  How do I know you ask???  Well, he kicks, waves his arms, and talks when I start reading them...so cute!!!

The basket before Coop attacks!  We keep most of his books in the rain gutter bookshelves, but keep a stash next to the rocker to read.

Just doing a little reading...

Caught in action!  Lola in her usual spot, checking out the neighborhood and staying out of Cooper's reach.

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands

For a few weeks, while sitting in someone's lap, Cooper will grab your hands and clap them together.  For a while, he has loved watching other people clap their hands.   He has finally figured it out himself!  He gets super excited and seems to be so proud of himself.  It has taken some time to get it on camera since he seems to stop every time he sees the orange light on it.

Da-Da

The timing was just priceless for Cooper to say Da-Da for the first time.  He was up way past his bedtime, watching a movie with us.  He was laying in between Adam and I, we were doing our best to ignore him but he kept grabbing at us and talking loudly until we would look at him.  Then, he would just flash that big smile that made us keep doing it over and over...  He had been quiet for a while when all of a sudden, he started babbling da,da,da,da.  Guess this is why is insisted to stay up past his bedtime, had something new to say... :)  This adds to ma-ma and na-na-na-na.     

We've got a crawler!!!

Lola's worst nightmare has come true, Cooper is mobile!!!  For about a month now, Cooper has been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth.  He would then collapse and push himself backwards with his arms until he was under furniture or up against a wall. :)  He has been getting real close to going forward, so we had not been taking our immobile baby for granted anymore lately.  

We got home Sunday evening from a weekend in Kansas City.  I was unpacking while Adam and Coop played downstairs.  I heard Adam laughing at Cooper and yelling for me to come watch Coop.  Just like that, he had started crawling!!!  In the past couple of days he has definitely gotten better.  Tonight, he crawled across the room to get my shoe and later in the night...the vacuum cord.  I guess it is about time to baby proof the place!

Headed for me

On a mission

He often gets stuck due to his left leg straightening out, Adam and I call it his kickstand :)

Reached his final destination, this time a piece of mail.

Playdate

Cooper's cousin Kellen joined us last week for a sleepover and a day of play while his mom and dad were out of town.  It was so fun to watch the boys start to interact.  They would take toys away from one another, watch each other, steal toys back.  Cooper thinks Kellen is pretty entertaining too, he would just watch him crawl all over the place and smile.  

Kellen trying to tell me he was ready for a nap by laying down, Coop giving him kisses (or trying to bite him???)

thumb sucker

Yep, we have a serious thumb sucker on our hands!  Not long ago, it was just an occasional thing to soothe him.  These days we are pulling his thumb out of the serious grip his mouth has on it. :)  I suppose the nice part is it really does soothe him, if he wakes up from sleeping he puts himself back to sleep, and for right now, it is super cute!!!  Check in with us in a few years, when we are doing every bribery trick in the book to stop it :).

8 months

Here we are, 8 months!  Here is what Cooper has been up to the last month...

- trying out new foods like bananas, squash, avocados, peas, and many more!

- Coop scoots around the room on his belly, going backwards only

- when sitting up, he can turn all the way around and goes from sitting to belly and back up

- his second tooth appeared, right next to the first bottom one

- said his first word, Ma ma, ma, ma 

- no more evening snooze, still taking morning nap and afternoon nap.  going to bed about 8 and getting up between 7 and 8

Wedding season has begun...

We have many close family and friends getting married this year and we are super excited for all of them!  This past Friday kicked off wedding season in a great way with my uncle Greg (my mom's youngest and only brother) and his fiance Jen.  I wonder how many masses we will be carrying Cooper out of so that he is not "that kid screaming during the vows?"  We are one for one, he was getting a little too vocal and I couldn't get puffs in his mouth fast enough, so Adam took him outside where he could talk away :). 

don't know why this is so blurry, but Coop slept through the first hour of the reception.  he must have known it was was going to be a long night!

A wink?  No, just gagging a little on his peas. :)

A family photo.  The statue behind us is in honor of my Grandpa, Cooper's middle name William came from him.

Our last family pic was taken at Christmas.  How did we miss Cooper's baptism and Easter???

Is this a look of guilt or what?  Going after Uncle Bryson's Coors Light...

 

Deanna Rose Park and Petting Zoo

During our visit to Kansas City this week, we ventured out to Deanna Rose Park and Petting Zoo.  It was a beautiful day, a little windy, but nice and not crowded at all.  I haven't been there for years and they have greatly expanded, it is so nice!  Coop wasn't sure about some of the animals and didn't really get it, but he seemed to like the baby calves and we all had fun with him!!!

Cousins Olivia and Will joined us.  Here they are with a longhorn, we called it our Texas Longhorn :)

Trying to get a picture...Coop not wanting to cooperate.  However, I love how it turned out, shows how big he's getting!

These picture cut-outs just never get old!  Coop was featured in multiple at the zoo, but I thought this was the funniest :).  Thanks to Aunt Alli for always being the "invisible holder" behind the screen.

Cooper's First Easter

We had a great time with Cooper on Easter.  We went to church in Washington and had lunch at Cooper's Mamaw and Papaw Jones' house.  Coop and I hitched a ride back to KC with Maggie and Kyle to surprise Grandma and Grandpa Souders...mission accomplished!  The Easter Bunny did visit Coop, of course his favorite part was the fake grass and empty eggs :). However, as the pictures show, Cooper's grandparents were much more generous than the Easter Bunny.

the easter bunny is quick...assembled in less than 2 minutes, if it would only stay this easy

pulling all the grass out

Dad having fun with the grass too

Thanks Mamaw and Papaw Jones...first bowling set, toys, fun summer outfit and not pictured is Coop's first pair of Crocs!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Souders for my first swing and an outfit for the pool and first pair of flip flops!  I love Lola in the corner of this picture, totally explains her attitude on life now..."what about me?"

St. Louis Zoo

Last Friday, we took a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo with the McCormacks, Maggie and Kyle.  In my two years prior to Ft. Worth, we somehow never went to visit the zoo.  It is a great zoo and best of all...it's FREE!  The zoo was packed, not sure that word even describes it.  All the schools were out for Good Friday and the weather was beautiful so everyone else had the same idea.  We had four kids and three strollers, sounds fun doesn't it??  Actually, it worked out well and we really did have a good time!  We saw brown bears, black bears, penquins, reptiles and many more!  Coop's least favorite part was definitely the train ride.  We sat close to the speaker and he did not like the train whistle, which seemed to sound off every 10 seconds.  He also was not a fan of the dark tunnels, but it made for funny pictures, see below :).  The zoo was a cap to a busy few days for Coop.  We went to the park, storytime at the bookstore, Little Gym class, an egg hunt at the neighbor's house and finally the zoo!

Cooper and Kellen watching Emily on the carousel, don't they look entertained???

In front of the black bear exhibit

And the train whistle begins...

The thumb makes everything better

Aunt Maggie doing her best, Coop still not sure

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!   No dying eggs for us this year, but I do think the Easter Bunny will still make a visit :).