BabyJ's Sweet Face

I have significantly less time to sit and stare at BabyJ than I did when Cooper was born, but I did manage to take 105 pictures of his sweet face (and toes and elbows and ears) yesterday. Here are some of my favorites:

Cooper's latest discoveries

Whole milk is yummy!

Daddy is magic and can blow on these beads so they make a noise.

And sometimes he blows in my face at the same time!

I have a tongue!

We have tons of pictures of BabyJ, but they're still in the camera right now. Stay tuned...

Generosity

Cooper shares his cheerios:

And is always ready with a kleenex if you need one:

He's loaned BabyJ some clothes and toys:

And lets BabyJ play with his friend Parker:

Cooper shares his Daddy:

And even his favorite doctor:

It's too bad, by the way, that the blog is having technical difficulties. It would be fun to flip back and forth between now and last February to see similar pictures for Cooper -- his first doctor's appointment, his first sponge bath. It's deja vu in this family.

One last one for today. I found a big stuffed puppy for BabyJ (not nearly as big as Cooper's alligator, but it'll do). Here's his Week 1 picture:

This week

Sweet Baby J's teeny, tiny feet

(with a bandaid from the hospital heel-stick, still)

Wearing one of our favorite newborn baby outfits, Blue Ducky!

Riding around in the sling, which he seems to love.

Cooper practicing piano

Too many cute kids = lots of blog pictures!

This used to be my favorite time of the morning. After Cooper woke up, he'd nurse, change clothes, and head downstairs to dig into a big basket of books. And he'd entertain himself there for 20 minutes or so until breakfast was ready. Now, he just crawls into the kitchen and starts eating whatever he finds on the floor.

Playing in "his" kitchen drawer.

All the toys we played with on Cooper's birthday afternoon:

A future career?

And now Sweet Baby J, wearing (or rather swimming in) a 0-3 month sized onesie.

Snoozing:

First sponge bath (in the kitchen sink, hence the toaster in the next picture):

Check out the curly hair! As soon as it dries and lays flat against something, it straightens out, though.

A new addition...

Since September, Alan and I have been in the process of becoming licensed foster parents. ("If we already have one," I remember saying, "it can't be much more difficult to add a second one." I may end up eating those words!) We've been through training classes, we've obtained first aid and CPR certification, we've childproofed our home to meet the State's standards, which surprisingly (or not?) are stricter than my own in some areas (and perhaps a bit more arbitrary in others). As of this week, all of the paperwork was turned in and the inspections completed, and we've just been waiting to get our official license.

We got a call Monday evening asking if we'd be willing to take a two-day-old baby, just released from the hospital. Panicked and terrified, we said yes. Will we ever be "ready"? Probably not, so it's now or never, I guess. So our social worker called the State (KDHE is the governing organization) to ask if they could please hurry on our license. Apparently tiny baby who need a place to be loved can cut through government red tape quite quickly.

So without further ado, please let me introduce the newest member of our household, Sweet Baby J:

He's so soft and sweet and teeny-tiny! He was born Saturday (the 9th) so he's only three days old!

Baby's First Visit to the ER

Cooper face-planted on a concrete floor out of one of those wooden restaurant high chairs. He screamed immediately (as opposed to losing consciousness, thank goodness) and was bleeding in his mouth. So we made our way out of the fancing dining establishment (*cough* Subway inside Walmart *ahem*), back to the car, and across Lawrence to the Hospital.

He checked out fine. He has a cut inside his mouth and under his chin, and a bruise below his lip. But he's ok.

First of many probably. But it still puts a lump in my tummy thinking about it.

Uh-oh... I think we may have a problem.

So Coopie was feeling better by his birthday, so we rounded up a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (the cake he tried at his birthday party was white).

Maybe he was a little tired? Maybe he didn't feel like eating cake? What else could explain this reaction:

I'm starting to question Coop's maternity, frankly.

The birthday boy is sick.

Thank goodness we had a big shin-dig last Saturday:

Because this is how Cooper looked by Sunday:

We took him to the doctor Monday morning for what was supposed to be a 12-month well-baby check, except that our 12-month-old baby wasn't well at all. The doctor said that he likely has RSV (respiratory somethingorother virus) -- it's pretty rough on infants, but most older kids and adults just get cold-like symptoms with it. And he has a mild ear infection too.

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So, this is our daily paraphernalia:

A nebulizer for breathing treatments for the RSV, ibuprofen for fever and general achiness, amoxicillan for the ear infection, pedialyte for rehydration, thermometer for frequent temperature checks, and kleenex for the perpetual runny/crusty nose. (The big girl bottle of Diet Coke is mine.)

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Monday was really rough, but he's doing much better now. And the promise of a cupcake for his birthday has lifted his spirits, I think.

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So... do you remember what you were doing one year ago? Man, I sure do. By way of a progress report, here is Cooper's first alligator picture:

And his most recent:

What a year it's been. Sometimes it's hard to believe he's already a year old. And other times it's hard to believe he's only a year old.

He's not one year old yet...

But he partied like a big kid this past weekend with the family.

We had a great day -- warm chili straight from the crockpot, sandwiches, veggies, a cake that matched the festive napkins (thank you amazing Walmart bakery), and presents too. But I'll stick with the traditional one-year-old-eating-cake pictures for now. And my how he did love cake!

And then he crashed pretty hard from the sugar rush: