Busy Boy! Part 1

It is difficult to believe Cohen's first birthday is quickly approaching!  It seems like yesterday and yet a lifetime ago that we were putting the finishing touches on the nursery, I was waddling around, and we could hardly wait to meet our little boy!  But now Cohen is at such a fun age.  His emerging personality is amazing to watch each day. We have been able to do so many fun things recently.  Cohen has experienced many firsts as of late; his first haircut, his first Sesame Street Live show, and his first trip to the zoo to name a few. 
First of all, I learned the hard way not to leave Cohen in his crib for even a few minutes if he is at all in a disgruntled/mad mood.  A few weeks ago, I came back only to find him with dark brown flecks speckled around his sheepish grin.  I attempted to stay calm while I searched for the source, fearing it was dried blood somehow.  Luckily and not so luckily, I quickly found teeth marks on the side of his crib.  It really didn't bother me too much, which surprised me.  Maybe motherhood is mellowing me out, yet!  When I told Chris of the matter, he just laughed and said it adds character to the crib.

Anyway, he has only done it once since and he was pretty mad.
February 25th was also a momentous occasion! Cohen had his first haircut.  It was a little sad, but his hair was so long and Cohen was even getting food in there, so we gave in.  Chris held out a little longer than me, but finally caved when I pointed out how it is always in his eyes and we were finding oatmeal and other traces of meals in there.  Cohen was so intrigued by the goings on around him that he sat fairly still on dad's lap.

Before (Completely thrilled)

Snip, snip!

After! (Still thrilled)

We weren't too sure what Cohen would think about Sesame Street Live, but decided to go ahead and buy tickets.  Cohen has seen a little bit of the show, but not much.  We thought in any event it would get him accustomed to crowds and would be a fun family outing.  Unfortunately, Cohen has recently adopted the habit of waking up earlier on the weekends. So by the time we got to the morning show he was tired and ready for a nap.  Cohen was pretty solemn about the whole ordeal. Pretty sure he didn't smile once.  But, I think he was taking it all in and thinking about it.  He even watched quite contently until intermission when we decided to go.  The funny thing is, Chris refuses to pay to park by the arena.  So, of course he called around to see if the shuttles were running and they were.  We were the only ones to ride the bus from the baseball stadium!  So, our bus driver was ready and waiting to take us back to our lone car in the parking lot at intermission and was pleased to call it a day early!

First Bus Ride

Not sure about this!

Cohen's friend is way more excited and Cohen is more interested in his friend!

Hanging with Oscar

We are in the nest

Watching

Happiest on the way home

 Next, we went to the zoo on a nice day a few weeks ago.  Chris took off from work early.  Cohen was definitely taking it all in.  At this stage, it is a challenge to point out the far away animals, but he enjoys the close up animals.  His favorite would be the otters, because they came up really close to the glass while he could pound on it.  He also enjoyed the free-walking geese as much as anything! The really neat thing was the bears were down in the water fighting up against the glass. Chris and I were more interested because it was at the very end of our trip and Cohen was ready to go home.  Fortunately, Cohen received a family membership as an early birthday present so we can go back any time!

About to go in

Watching the monkeys

Figuring out the ape

Trying to snag dad's sunglasses

Getting the goose

Excited about the otters

Wrestling bears; close to the action

Check back soon for Part 2!

Crawling Right Along

Wow! I wonder if I can adequately sum up the last several weeks. It is amazing how much growth and development takes place in such a short time.  Mr. Cohen definitely keeps us on our toes.  And since he is approaching ten months old I guess I should give the 9 month report!  I breathed a sigh of relief to know this appointment didn't involve shots, but they did take blood to check Cohen's iron levels.  Cohen tipped the scale at 21 pounds, 4 ounces in the 55th percentile and is 29.5 inches long in the 75th percentile.  Most people think he is already a year old, so I guess he's a big 'n'!  Also, his iron level came back great, so I guess he is eating enough.

Cohen is not exactly the adventurous type with food.  He has his favorites with several cereal types (oatmeal being his favorite), sweet potatoes, apples, squash, bananas, and a few meat dinners.  He is also picking up different flavored puffs with more precision each day.  Lately Cohen will pick up puffs, stretch out his hand, look at me and smile, and just open his hand and drop the puffs on the floor for Tucker.  That is a good indication he is full, at least!  Lately, he enjoys small pieces of soft bread and really throws a fit if I have food and he doesn't.  So, if anyone eats, we best have a handful of something ready for Cohen, too!

Cohen is babbling and talking more, too.  He has been saying "ma, ma, ma, ma" alot, usually when he is upset or in the middle of the night, of course!  I have been working with him on saying "da da", mainly so I can nudge Chris awake in the middle of the night, telling him Cohen wants him!  He is also entertaining himself for longer periods. We just watch as he plays in his crib or pack n' play with his toys or talking to himself.  His newest trick is to throw every toy out of the crib or pack n' play one at a time and wait for someone to get it for him.  He also pulls his socks off every chance he gets and throws them some where!

Cohen is also really pulling up on things and walking around them.  He has taken a few steps with his walker, but I am not in a huge hurry for him to master this huge milestone because I know it will mean a lot more work for me (if that is possible) to keep up with him.  He loves to lean over his toy box and throw things over his shoulder, but a lot of the time he will fall over into it because he still has no regard for his own physical safety.  We catch him many a times teetering over the edge.  The child can not be left alone for a second!

Nights are tough.  I would say since Thanksgiving we have really been struggling with teething and separation anxiety and most recently a cold.  It is just so challenging since he started out being such a good little snoozer.  Now sometimes he wakes up a handful of times a night. Most of the time he'll be back to sleep quickly, but those occasional two-hour stints when he doesn't are brutal.  I crave sleep...and when he is having a good night it is difficult for me to sleep.  The cat may be extra loud or just insomnia.  Last week was really difficult since Cohen came down with a cold and then I had a sinus infection that overlapped.  One night I held Cohen all night so he could breathe more easily and because he would wake up five minutes after I would put him back down. Poor guy!  We struggled all week, then Friday looked promising.  Cohen went to bed fairly early and so we followed a short while after.  We barely laid our heads down and we were out.  Then a couple hours later which felt like a couple minutes, we were awakened by a continual, loud beep.  We were freaking out! We both jumped up and Chris sprinted down the hall to the carbon monoxide detector.  He pulled it from the wall and started ripping the batteries out.  When we were finally awake enough, we ascertained we either have a carbon monoxide leak (one lingering fear in the back of my mind for years now) or it has lost its mind and has a faulty sensor. There were a few things around the house we could think of that would cause a leak, so it seemed possible.  Then I was googling things that said you could fall back asleep and not wake up, etc.  Chris loves when I google things, by the way!  So, since we both wouldn't be able to get back to sleep anyway, we opted to call 911 and they said they would send the fire department.  Chris asked if they would call when they got to our house since we had a sleeping baby. Amazingly, Cohen slept through the alarm.  We put the dogs out to bamboozle them, and it worked.  Two firemen came in with their little sensor thing and measured the carbon monoxide level in our house and in our blood.  None to be found. Whew!  Oh, well. Better safe than sorry. Back to bed.

We are trying to be flexible and figure Cohen out and hopefully get back on a regular sleeping schedule. Things are always changing and we cannot believe he is almost a year old! Although, exhausted, we are enjoying every moment with our little guy!

34 Weeks

A rare still moment

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

So happy!

So excited about his bigger car seat that he is lounging in it inside

37 weeks

38 Weeks

39 weeks

"So serious" about a jog with dad

40 Weeks

Happy and full after lunch

Huh? A bath? Me?

Kinda fancy in his tie

See you next time!

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