Cooper and Sleep

A years worth of sleeping pictures and not one of me and Cooper sleeping together!  But every night he was in my arms or his crib right next to my bed.  I so wish I could make this collage even bigger because some of these pictures are hilarious.  I may end up posting them individually on Facebook.

We moved!  If you read one of my recent posts, I mentioned that we would be moving and that Cooper was finally going to get his own room!  This was bitter sweet for me.  Mainly sweet.  Sad too, because my baby boy and I are attached at the hip.  I got very comfortable being able to peek on him while he slept and also had a love/dislike relationship with him sleeping in my bed for 1/2 the night.  I LOVE cuddling with him, but staying in the same position for hours on end is not comfortable!  I would strain in one position to keep him safe if he were sleeping with me.  Mmm, but the smell of his hair and breath and his sweet little sounds were priceless.  But this co sleeping thing needed to end.  It was very draining and I wanted us both to get better sleep at night and also at nap time for him.  To recap on that post, I mentioned that my other boys slept through the night much sooner.  Cooper had not slept through the night for the 13 months of his life and we were very convinced that it was because he was in our room.  It was also all too easy to just pull him in bed with me when he woke up throughout the night because I was sooo tired and he knew we were there; and crying it out was something I was trying to avoid and I don't think that would work when we were in the room anyway.  SO we moved.  Cooper baby has his own cute room now!  I love it!  I thought the transition was going to be a little rough, but it wasn't!  We were right, he needed his own room.  He needed to be in his own space that was smaller and mom and dad were not there!  Since we moved (a month ago) he has slept through the night almost every single night!  We have had a few nights that he was up with gas or teething, but for the most part he is sleeping SO much better!  Also, another improvement is that I can put him in bed while he is awake and say, "goodnight Cooper, I love you," and I shut the door and he puts himself to sleep.  I tried this so much at the other place and he would scream his head off.  Every once in a while he will refuse and I rock him for a bit and out comes a big burp.  He is so stubborn with his burps and he won't lay down until they are out. I don't mind rocking him every once in a while.  In fact, I cherish every second of it. He is growing up too fast and I can't get enough of him.  But for his sake I have to let him put himself to bed the majority of the time.  It's so much easier too, since I have 2 other kids to tend to.  He loves his room!  Around nap/bedtime when he starts to get sleepy, I say, "lets go nigh-night," and he waddles down the hall to his room, turns on his sound machine, gets his binki and kiki (blanket) and I put him in bed.  He seems so content and I just love that!  So in celebration to Cooper sleeping better, I made a collage of the first year of his life of all the sleeping pictures I had of him.  Actually, there were more, but I tried to limit myself to one per day for the collage, except for a few of those days that were hard to choose from.  Going through all of those pictures made me choke up.  I also found myself talking to my computer in the voice I talk to Cooper in.  He is in bed right now and man I miss him!  I have a hard time going through old pictures and videos sometimes because it reminds me how fast this amazing thing called motherhood is going by.  Anyway, I'm so proud of my little boy!!

The Witte Museum

My dad got some VIP tickets to the Witte Museum.  The current exhibit there is "Amazon Voyage: Vicious Fishes and Other Riches.  Doing something different is always fun and we knew the kids would love it!  Unfortunately, we couldn't use flash photography inside so I didn't get much of that, but outside was fun too.

Since we were VIP we got to enter in a different way (oooh!!) and that lead us into a room with free snacks and drinks.  My kids probably would have been cool with just that.  They thought they were in heaven.  As they were eating, they were already saying "this is the coolest museum ever!"  And Cooper who very rarely has crackers started laughing every time I handed him one!  It was too cute!

Before entering the Amazon exhibit.  Dinosaur bones!!!  Can it get any better for these two?!  Actually, Jonah did look up at me and whisper, "they are dead, right Mom?"

My camera=no good without a flash.  But can you sort-kinda tell they were having a blast?!  (Not a real snake folks).

Boy Heaven!

 The H-E-Buddy Skycycle

 This is how it works (quoted from website):

The counterweight on the bottom of the cycle lowers the center of gravity making the cycle stable. The weight below the cycle is heavier than you are and pulls the cycle firmly on to the rail.

You can't tell in this picture but this is pretty high up and is over a river. 

One of the greatest things about living in San Antonio is that there is so much to do!  The kids had a blast at the museum.  I guess we kind of raced through the exhibit a little too fast because after we left, Julien said, "I didn't learn anything."  Maybe next time we will spend a little more time reading the displays and exploring.  They were just so eager to see what was next!  A big thanks to my dad who not only got us the tickets and spent the day with us, but also spent too much time trying to help us jump start our van, only to find that it wasn't fully in park and didn't need to be jumped!  Good times.  My ghetto van is still giving me trouble, but at least that day we discovered the real problem and now when I'm sitting in the parking lot and it won't start, I just give it a good shove into park and we're off!  Gotta love it!  Thanks Dad!!!

Uncle Robbie

 We were blessed to have Rich's brother Rob come for a visit!  The kids call him uncle Robbie.  Rob had a friend who was buying a truck off of Craigslist and the truck was here in San Antonio.  Since his friend was injured while deployed, he could not drive alone yet.  They live in Georgia, so it was a long drive.  Anyway, his friend and him jumped on a plane and bought the truck and stayed at our house for a night.  It was a short visit but we were so glad he was able to come!!  I love his brother Rob.  He is such a great guy.  We don't get to see him very often since we've always lived so far away but it's always good to see him.  He is a Ranger in the Army.  Okay, he's like big time, and has a better title than that, but I can't remember.  All I know is this guy an amazing soldier and deserves all the respect in the world!  His best friend Kevin, that came with him, is also big time too.  Forgive me for sounding so ignorant with their correct titles, I don't mean any disrespect!  (I'll have to get back to you on that).  These guys are the real deal and the sacrifice they make is one that leaves me ever so grateful.
   So we had fun.  The kids loved them and the day went by quickly.  But at night, once the kids were asleep and Rich was finally home from work, all of us stayed up late talking.  They told us stories of being in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I noticed at one point my jaw was on the ground and I must have looked like a very ignorant and naive American.  The things they were saying about the hate these people have for Americans is so disgusting, it's hard to wrap your mind around it.  I just sat there listening, feeling like I no longer had any problems.  Life there (in Iraq and Afghanistan) is just so incredibly night and day different!  Of course I knew that, but after hearing stories, it made me really contemplate my reality vs theirs.  What an amazing life we live, here in America!  I just find it so fascinating how everyone living on this earth has different realities and perspectives.  It's easy to get so wrapped up in our own reality that we forget how others live.  It also made me appreciate everything I have, especially the people I love, and was a great reminder of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.  His friend, Kevin, had a grenade blown up under his feet.  He was in a coma for weeks and had to relearn how to walk and talk.  He still has some issues with his brain and has seizures from time to time.  I felt so humbled to have these brave soldiers in my home.  Kevin just kept thanking us for letting us stay at our house and for Rich to have taken the time to check the truck out before they came out.  I'm sitting there, as he is thanking us, feeling like a jerk that they were sleeping on my living room floor; these people that put their LIFE on the line so I can live a life of freedom!  So in debt to these heroes!!    I have so much respect and appreciation for them and their families.  Why is it so easy to take this life for granted?!  Rob is now deployed for 6 months again.  I'm so glad we got to see him before he went out.
   Now, here are some pictures from the visit.  I must write that Rich is definitely Rob's little brother.  What I mean is he looks up to him soooo much and loves to be in his presence.  The way he talks about Rob today (at 33 years old), leaves my imagination to visualize a little Richie trying to be so much like his big brother Rob.  It's really that cute how he still adores him.  And since my husband doesn't read my blog anyway, maybe I can throw in a little funny story about the two of them.  :)  When rob was here he went in the bathroom and changed into his p.j.s.  He came out wearing a t-shirt and some really short running shorts.  It surprised me a bit and made me chuckle inside, but Rob wore them with pure confidence.  And on a side note, his friend Kevin changed into some flannel p.j. bottoms with reindeer on them...super tough guys with silly p.j.s!!!  Anyway, Rich made some poking-fun-comments about Rob's short shorts that night.  I told Rich he should go get his short (and I'm talking SHORT) running shorts that he has had for years that he used in a triathlon (? or something) when we first started dating.  I begged Rob to please take the shorts home because they've always been something I don't care to see Rich in and they are just taking up space because he only used them once!  The next day, Rob left and I found the shorts on our chair.  I mentioned to Rich that Rob must not have wanted them and Rich said, "Yeah, these things are just really short." (They weren't too much shorter than Rob's).  ANYWAY (to the point), a few days later, Rich gets home from work, showers, and comes out wearing THE short shorts.  He's dead serious and is feeling super cool in them because his big brother sports these things at bed time too.  LOL.   Let's just say they get worn to bed quite often now.  So you tell me, is he Rob's little brother or what!?!