Holiday Happenings

Cohen has had four new teeth, his first Christmas, his first New Year, many sleepless nights, his 9 month check up, and many more milestones since I have posted!  Things have been crazy, as I am becoming accustomed to, but blogging also presents a new challenge.  Cohen is obsessed  with the laptop!  Even if he is playing quietly by himself or Chris is playing with him, as soon as he gets a glimpse of me opening it, he is all over it! So, with that challenge and just my attempt at keeping up with things around the house and sleep, I am afraid blogging has fallen to the bottom of my long list of things to accomplish.  This could be a long one, so here goes!
The big story around our house is still teething!  It seems as if he has been teething for 3 straight months!  He has 6 pearly whites to show for it and we are certain there are one or two more about to make an appearance.  Sleeping for everyone has been rough for awhile now.  We wake up several times through the night due to Cohen's longing to be comforted or to chase our crazy cat. (More on the latter subject later.)  Ironically, Chris researched and ordered a white noise machine hoping Cohen wouldn't sleep as lightly, but we are in the beginning testing stages and it is not looking good! We are guessing he wakes up two or three hours in and hears the "whirring" noise and it scares him, so he is too upset to go back to sleep.  Strange, but he is also afraid of a large plastic banana from the fair!  Anyway, we are trying to work it out. But, our beloved feline is the reason we bought the white noise machine. Every night she comes strutting around with her tail in the air with this horrific moaning, crying, and meowing.  Every night as soon as we are cognizant of what is going on, Chris jumps out of bed and stumbles down the hall to capture her.  We have no idea what she wants.  She is old-I have had her since I was about 12. So, maybe she is senile.  In any event, Chris tells Cohen to enjoy the last cat he will ever have.  And Cohen does.  Just last night, he crawled over and yanked her tail without letting go while laughing hysterically.  Maybe trying to wake him up at night is payback?
I am really getting off topic....Cohen's first Christmas.  The week preceding Christmas I came down with the stomach flu and Chris tried to help me out on the busiest week of work for him to date.  It was challenging for all, but thankfully Chris and Cohen stayed healthy.  So, being sick set me back a little, so I was scrambling the last few days.  Cohen was overwhelmed at first at our extended family get-together since the "stranger anxiety" stage is in full swing.  But, he got over it and enjoyed watching everyone and playing with wrapping paper and boxes.  He was a little wary of our familiar tradition of waking up on Christmas morning to check under the tree. We got him a dinosaur ball pit since he loves sitting in my parents' round foot stool filled with balls.  We opened his presents for him and he checked them out for awhile, then started crawling around everywhere as is our new routine.  All in all, Cohen made out better than anyone we know this Christmas!
 We had a good New Year's. We took Cohen over to some friends' house and he played with their little boy his age.  We ate and hung out and played games.  We stayed as long as Cohen would let us and probably even longer, so we could finish our game!  Then we had to say our goodbyes before 9 PM!  Cohen was fairly exhausted, so he went to sleep fairly easily when we got home, so Chris and I watched a movie. Since we didn't plan to stay up to ring in the new year, because that is just not smart to surrender sleep these days, Chris insisted we watch the ball drop at 11.  Unfortunately, it somehow escaped our memory that folks 'round these parts set off a lot of big fireworks at midnight and we received a warning at 11!  Dogs went crazy, neighborhood dogs went crazy, and Cohen's monitor went crazy!  He was wide awake.  So, take two of getting him to sleep and Chris and I stewed about how to handle it at our "real" midnight.  We got Cohen back down again and turned the movie back on.  At 5 'til Chris jumped up grabbed his car keys and ran the dogs out to the car.  He drove around for the first twenty minutes or so of the New Year so if our dogs barked, they wouldn't wake Cohen.  I sat by myself listening for fireworks, dogs and for Cohen's stirring.  I guess it was fitting.  You wouldn't believe the crazy things we have done in the last year and I am sure continue to do to ensure Cohen stays asleep once his eyes flutter closed.  Welp, looks like I will need to post a second part to cover his nine month check up and everything. Although late, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! 

And now, here are some pics of Cohen's very first Christmas:

Checking things out!

He really wasn't too interested in the tree or the presents

Mesmerized by this special snow globe

Having a good time hitting his present

Family photo

Tasty Dino Ball Pit

Overwhelmed by his first stocking

Now he is excited!

Santa Cohen and Grandma

"Are these really for me?"

Sitting in the foot stool, his favorite place!

First ride on his Rody horse

Until next year!

All I Want for Christmas....

Is my two front teeth!!

Can you see them?  That is what we have been working on!  It has kept us all very busy and exhausted.  It's kind of embarrassing, actually.  Cohen's chiropractor had to tell us his teeth had come through. How could we miss such a monumental moment? I mean, we'd been rubbing his gums with a wash cloth every time after he ate.  We now know why he had been so fussy the previous days and hadn't slept very well.  So, he officially got his first teeth on November 15th!  It has been kind of tough since then because he has also been working on his top two. That is why not too many people have heard from us or seen us and why I have been so silent in the blogging world.  I am a walking zombie!
It seemed like all of a sudden, Cohen was doing so many new things.  He had his teeth, then he started officially crawling and pulling up on things.  It scared me to death when I came in his room only to find him standing, hanging over his crib oh-so-casually!  The look on his face told me he was so proud, but my reaction scared him. Then, as soon as Chris came home, Cohen graduated to the very bottom of the crib.  To add to that trick, I guess Cohen was sick of his fast army crawl and became inspired to take on the more traditional crawl!  I get quite the workout now.  Cohen is either attempting to pull up on various furniture pieces or he is crawling away after the dogs, cat, electric outlets, or the floor vents.  Needless to say, baby-proofing is our top priority over Chris' Christmas break.
Cohen turned 8 months old on Chris' birthday earlier this week.  I think Chris enjoyed sharing the spotlight, even though Cohen opened Chris' presents a little quicker than he was ready for!  I guess it was just a little preview of what Christmas might be like.  You know, we labor over the perfect presents to buy Cohen and in the end he is more interested in the tissue paper and bows.  Still should be fun!
Cohen is intrigued by the Christmas tree.  He spends a long time looking at it and feeling it. He enjoys touching the ornaments when we let him, but he must get an overwhelming urge to throw them, so it doesn't last long.
Chris and I have talked about joining a small group at our church for awhile now. I have been reluctant to commit to anything because of Cohen's schedule, but knew it was perfect timing when Chris ran into someone he had met in his "Boot Camp for New Dads" class and he invited us to join his group.  We meet Sunday nights with five other young couples with babies or young kids and we bring Cohen with us.  We have snacks and a Bible study while Cohen plays with the other babies.  We feel blessed by this new group of friends who are going through similar stages in life as we are.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and can really enjoy this time with family and friends! I know we are looking forward to experiencing Cohen's first Christmas with him!

And now to catch up on pictures:

One of our Christmas photos taken by our good friend Justin Ochs

Helping with the laundry

This is one where Cohen is pondering things

So excited to see each other at the end of the day!

Little smile

Hanging out

Kind of smiling

30 Weeks

Cohen cannot stand for the little man to be in the driver's seat of the bulldozer. Must be his current pet peeve!

How could this face not make you melt?

So big!

He has now started tossing things to Tucker

31 Weeks

Happy little guy

32 Weeks

 

33 Weeks

Our Own Ice Cream "Cohen"!

Although not a huge fan of Halloween, we couldn't let Cohen miss out on his very first one! Even though our participation only consisted of ordering the desired costume, stuffing him in it, taking him to his grandparents', taking a few pictures, then getting him out of it before he had a major meltdown!  You see, we knew before he was born that we wanted to get a costume to play off his name. We also knew it would only work this one time since the true and actual "cone" part could be worn only as a semi-non-mobile infant.  As it is, Cohen is pretty active and not excited to have his legs tied up for any length of time. So, we (or I ) really wanted to get a red hat as cherry to complete the ensemble, but those are really difficult to find and since we sensed a huge lack of cooperation on Cohen's part, we scrapped the hat.  But, he did have sprinkles-arguably the best part!

Cohen is clearly thrilled about his festive outfit!

Still excited!

We didn't bother to Trick or Treat since Cohen can't eat candy and we really don't need it for ourselves.  We also didn't  hand out candy since a sleeping baby and three dogs plus parading costumed kiddos were a little much.

As far as other developments, Cohen is so close to crawling!  He gets up on his knees and rocks.  He is also enjoying standing up with help.  His voice and laugh have changed. He is "talking" more with more syllables and his laugh is heartier.  He attempts several conversations with the dogs and our cat every day.  Cohen has decided he does like his activity center since Chris fixed his twirling bird and he can no longer pull it off.  I have made peas and bananas and he likes the latter not so much the former.  Cohen absolutely loves the baby oatmeal and looks forward to it every morning.  We are excited to experience his first Thanksgiving and Christmas together.  We'll need to figure out what Santa will bring this year to such a perfect baby boy!

Playing around

getting better in the Bumbo

27 Weeks

One of our new favorite activities-pushing our own swing!

Hello

Checking out the cat

Laid back at 28 weeks

Fun with the Activity Center

29 Weeks

Getting better at smiling or at least not making weird faces!

A Lifetime of Letting Go

 "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.' "
Psalm 91:2

 As I reflect back on these last 6 amazing months of Cohen's life, I keep hearing one of my nurses in the back of my mind saying, "You're worrying is only beginning!  Just wait 'til he's here!"  She said this as I was a few months away from giving birth and we were lightheartedly discussing my propensity to worry about the pregnancy.  At the time, I couldn't imagine being more worried than I had been over the last several months.  I imagined all my cares melting away as soon as they  placed little Cohen in my arms at the hospital.  I was so focused on getting him here that I failed to contemplate very far into the future at all!  This nurse was right. There are new worries at every stage of Cohen's life for me to look forward to.  Little did I know then that all my anxiety and trouble leading up to April 12th was preparing me for the rest of my life!

The very first night in the hospital I couldn't sleep because I was intent on making sure everything was ok with Cohen.  As soon as we got home, I started worrying about SIDS and the common newborn rapid breathing patterns and whether he was sleeping enough, eating enough, being held too much etc.  After my exhaustion bottomed out and things slowed down a little and I actually had time to think, I began to analyze my thoughts. Wow! Had I not learned anything the last 9 months?  God clearly communicated to me after my visit to the ER that I needed to trust him and hand everything over to Him. Concerning not just Cohen, but everything in my life.  All these balls I was trying so hard to juggle, were falling.  I hadn't been doing such a great job micro-managing my life.  It was as if God was saying "Let it go!".  After all, why would I insist on holding all these things in my life ever so closely to me when I could drop them at any time when all along I can hand them over to an infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing God with steady hands?  I have been working on this my entire life, but now for real!  This little baby was my world from the moment we found out about him, sight unseen!  So, every day, every hour and even every minute of bed rest, I had to consciously let go of all my fears and worry and control of the fate of my unborn baby.  Hardest thing in the world and I wasn't very good at it.  Although it was one of the most challenging times of our lives, I look back on it with fondness and I cherish it because God walked the difficult path with us and showed me so many things about who I need to be and how I need to grow.

So as Cohen is growing up way too fast, it is as if God is saying. "Here we go- Trust me and let him go!"  Because life will be filled with sickness, bumps, bruises, going off to kindergarten, life-threatening sports, driving, dating, going off to college, getting married and leaving me!  But as much as I love him, and it is crazy how much you love your baby, I must hand him over to a God who loves him even more than I do.  And because I know this in my heart of hearts to be true, I am so thankful to God for that dark season in our lives that prepared me for a lifetime of letting go.

I trust God because He grew Cohen from this....

to this!

6 Month Report

Time sure does fly and Cohen loves to, also!  At least he thinks he is when dad helps him soar Superman-style all over the house!  Whether it is soaring, rolling, army-crawling, or attempting to maneuver out of someone's arms, our Cohen is a mover!  I am going to need a lot more sleep to keep up with this one! Cohen just gets quicker each day.  He will move 10 feet in 10 seconds. I literally cannot take my eyes off of him for one second.  Which makes it quite a challenge again to fit in a shower any where or household chores for that matter! The  activity center thingy he has is still too tall and he is far too unstable in it. He is fitting into his Bumbo quite well these days, however. We are continually amazed at all Cohen can do and his emerging personality. He has quite the sense of humor. Lately he throws things off of his changing station behind the dresser then laughs at himself.  Grandma Johnson, Aunt Jen and I all make fools of ourselves trying to get a giggle out of the little guy, but Grandpa Johnson or Chris come along and he immediately breaks into a grin at their presence. They are just funnier, I guess.

Another huge milestone has been eating actual food!  Cohen has really taken to it well. We started with rice cereal then graduated to carrots and squash.  Cohen was oh so privileged to try my first attempt at making baby food! I started with sweet potatoes.  He seems to like it all amidst the grunts, groans, and contorted faces. He even tries to take the spoon and feed himself.  Cohen is also drinking a smidgen of water from a more mature bottle with handles, but mostly plays with it.

We think Cohen had his first cold a couple of weeks ago when Chris got a sinus infection and passed it on to me.  Cohen was stuffy and had a difficult time breathing at night. Of course the night I was the most miserable, poor Cohen woke up about every hour and a half.  But it really wasn't too bad overall and luckily babies' sinuses are not developed enough to get infections until they are 5 or something. The pediatrician said it is probably just dry air and teething drainage at night.

Cohen's 6 month check up went well. Cohen weighs 18 pounds and 2 ounces placing him in the 55th percentile and 27 1/2 inches long and in the 75th percentile.  He received a handful of shots including the first part of two flu shots. That one must have been a doozie because Cohen was pretty fussy the following days. Awesome! We get another one in a few weeks. The nurse was very impressed with how well Cohen handled it all, but his eyes welled up with huge tears and he cried his most heart-wrenching sobs, but they are quiet and don't seem so bad to an outside observer. The doctor said he doesn't feel any teeth coming, but he sure is chewing everything in sight and drooling like crazy. 

Now some snapshots:

22 weeks

23 weeks

Why hello there!

Mr. Flexibility

24 weeks

25 weeks

More sports!

Gotta love that hair!

This one always makes me laugh!

Family photo with little guy sporting a double chin

We love Sophie!

Hanging out with best friends Jackson and Caleb!

Helping with laundry

Excited dad is home

26 weeks