Happy 1/2 Birthday, Cooper Nash!

Posted by Kaitlyn Kambestad March 12, 2013

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Cooper Nash!

6 Months with Cooper Nash.
He's perfect. With some minor health and sleeping issues. ;)

But so perfect. And I love him. And he's MINE! And Eric's too, I guess.

Our 6 Month Old Rock Star: Cooper Nash
Weight: 19lbs 4.5oz - 78th Percentile.
Height: 27 1/4 inches, 75th Percentile.
Head: 47.5cm - Off of the charts, literally.

So much has happened this past month+, like the other months we've been blessed with this kiddo, so I like how I broke the blog down last month - just by category. Ish.

Illness...Yes, still: We've all been so sick. I even got to the point where I was desperately searching for a night nurse / nanny - with no luck. Poor Coop had a pretty rough run for a while there. Barfy, high fevers, permanent low grade ones even with Tylenol, so much congestion, coughing, not being able to breathe, ear infections...I mean..This kid could not catch a break. The doctor finally put him on Augmentin, and told us we may need to consider tubes so she gave us her recommendation for an ENT (Ear Nose Throat doctor). Luckily, it seems the ears have cleared up for the most part - FINALLY, so we're going to see how he does through the Spring, and go from there. The doc thinks that he's just one of those kids who will frequently get ear infections and he'll likely still need tubes. But..his 6 month check up went great. He's {hopefully} on the mend, even though we cannot get rid of the cough or runny nose / congestion, growing well, and looking awesome. :) He was soooo good during and after his shots, too. Brave lil' man.

Eric and I have had it...pretty dang rough too. He had some sort of infection, I had one too - and then strep. We even had to cancel our Valentine's plans, which was such a bummer. He booked them weeeeeeks in advance and was so proud. Sorry babes. Then, right when we finally started feeling better and thought we were going to get a break... Eric and I got what we thought was severe food poisoning, but may have actually been a stomach virus. Eric is finally getting better, however I am on my next round of antibiotics {this is the 4th round in 2 months} for yet another infection. So over it. Pray for us. I really hope that this cold/flu season is over soon... I'm not sure how much more I can take. And even though work has been very understanding, I just can't afford to miss more. Probably same with Eric. Geesh.

Misc: We're trying to figure out a way to make it to Maui for a family vacation this summer, and spend a week in California. Right now, flights would be $2200+...yikes. We also got hit hard by taxes and other misc. expenses recently, so we'll see how things go. We could really, really use a vacation though. I am hopeful.

Visitors: We're so blessed with wonderful friends and family! We had an amazing long weekend visit from The Schell's who came up from Baton Rouge. They are some of our best friends and they have loved Cooper from afar, but finally got to meet the little dude in person. It was a fun weekend...different from the one's we used to have...but so much fun. I just adore Erin {so did Coop!}, and Chad and Eric are like 2 peas in a pod.

Chad, Cooper, Ukulele, Eric and Banjo.

We also got to see one of my best friends {"Pumpkin"} from Los Angeles {USC}...the fabulous Ms. Katie Stuart...and got to meet her new fiance, Marley! They drove from NC where they were visitng people to Nashville JUST to see us for 1 dinner. How incredible is that? That's Katie for you. She's the best. They brought Cooper some sweet new clothes, and we had a great dinner out. I wish she could have stayed longer. I love her, and miss her so much. Truly...the definition of a best friend. Her fiance isn't so bad either. ;) They were darling together and Katie looked {and is} wonderful.

Marley, Katie and the Coop...
who couldn't get enough of Marley's finger, apparently.

And finally...Gigi. My mom. Super Mom / Grandma. Ahh, I love her. She came and rescued us on Valentine's Day, and was going to stay until the 25th but extended her stay until the 4th of March because we just needed her so badly. She was SO good to us. She would help with Cooper during the tough nights, and even took over a few of those nights! She always took him in the mornings so Eric and I could get ready for work on our own time. She took him during the day to get him out of day care (ew, germs) for a while so he could, I dunno, recover...? She took him to THREE doctor appointments during her visit. She helped with the basement. She cooked. She cleaned. She hung out with us. She was awesome. She was fun. I just love having her here. I tried to talk her into moving in...we'll see how that goes. Ha.

Gigi and Cooper at Opry Mills.
Clearly Cooper was interested in shopping. :)

Coop in his 5T PenGwynne hat that Gigi bought him.

Gigi's stylin' new haircut and baby boy.

Precious moment.
We love you, Gigi.

Now we are waiting for Eric's awesome parents to arrive this Friday, and they will be here for at least 10 days. :) We might even make up for Valentine's Day and go out on our 3 year anniversary while they're here. :)

Personal: I haven't done MUCH training at all for the Half Marathon. I ran three times (slightly over one, yes one, mile each time) while my Mom was here. But being sick sure doesn't make it easy to work out. I am always out of energy, I can't breathe...it's just not good. I am praying for some health relief soon so A) I can start freakin' feeling better but B) I can really train for this thing. We'll likely walk most of it since it's April 27th (SEVEN WEEKS AWAY)...but that's okay. It's something we'll do together, and that we'll finish together. That's all that matters. We don't care about the finish time.

I also went to the dentist, and he WORKED on me. That said, they lied and told me I was in-network when I wasn't, and now I owe over $1000. Yeah. I am fighting that. Geesh.

We hired a new cleaning person and love her. We also paid a professional organizer to clean our closet because we have zero free time, and it looks awesome. Extravagant, unnecessary things? Maybe. But we feel better about having them.

Eric is awesome, and seeing him with Cooper...makes me fall even harder for him every day. It's the sweetest, most beautiful kind of love.

He loves his Daddy...

His Daddy sure loves him...

And I cannot believe how much I love them both.
So lucky. So in love.

House: The basement is 98% complete. We even moved furniture down there, and it's starting to come together. After the cleaning lady comes, I think I will finally be ready to take pictures of the house and show it off. :) We're waiting on 1 final inspection from the bank, and for a few final patches to be taken care of, then...it's done. Now all Eric and I have to do is organize the garage, and then we can finally park in there. Progress people. Progress.

Pugs: They're cute and are enjoying each other more, now that Eric and I always seem to have our hands full with a baby. They try to play with him, which he is starting to like more and more. When they do get attention from us, they LOVE it. So far so good. We really have great puppies.

Ukulele and Banjo. Sisters.

They're favorite spot: The Fireplace.

Banjo and Cooper. Buddies.

Milestones: The funniest thing is...as I am sure you noticed...Cooper found his tongue. It cracks me up. He smiles with his tongue, he plays with it...I mean...it's out all.the.time. He also likes to, as Gigi funnily says, make the "motorboat" sound. He's a hoot.

Cooper and his tongue with Daddy at Hattie B's.

Coop and me sticking our tongues out at each other.

Seriously darling, and hilarious.

Cooper almost had a week long stretch...okay maybe 4 days...of sleeping until like 3 or 4 AM, and then going back to bed when we reinserted the paci until 6 AM. It has stopped and we're back to waking up lots and lots...but for a moment there, Eric and I were like, "Woah...we can do this." Ha. He tricked us. We have noticed though, that it is SO much easier to put him to bed at night than it was even a month ago. Now please Cooper...don't change that, too. :)

Cooper can roll over like a champ now. It's really, ridiculously cute. He's always so proud of himself. He'll roll over onto his tummy, then look up like, "Hey, who's watching...? Did you see that?" We're also working on crawling - which is an easy transition when he rolls over into his tummy.

Eye on the prize.

He loves it when we clap for him, too - which is any time he does anything cute...aka-all the time. He still LOVES bath time and splashes so much...like Shamu the whale, slamming into the water. We get soaked, but it's hilarious.

He can sit up on his own for minutes at a time now, which is also very exciting. It's such a fun time with him.

At Day Care, sitting up and playing in the Jumperoo.

Handsome lil' devil.

How you doin'?

He smiles ALL the time, but we really have to WORK for audible laughs. When he does laugh though...my favorite sound in the world. He talks a lot saying "Ohh, goo, Maaaaa, Oya" etc.. and we're talking back to him. I am hopeful his first word will be, "Mama" because I am ~~brainwashing~~ saying it a lot around him. We're also working on early baby sign language, but he hasn't caught on yet. Also, Gigi and Pop bought Cooper his own high chair! He's sitting like a big boy, and eating solid foods SOOO well. Yes folks, Cooper is eating stage 1, and soon stage 2 foods with rice and oatmeal cereal.