Cooper Update

Wow, I can't believe my little Cooper is 7 weeks old today and I haven't posted a single picture since his birth...sorry about that! I do have a bit of an excuse though - for nearly 3 weeks afterwards we were computerless due to getting some sort of virus. What a pain, but I hardly missed it since I've definitely been keeping busy with two little ones. It was nice to have BeBe and Boss in for a visit shortly after Cooper was born. They definitely kept Evan entertained so I didn't feel too bad about neglecting him a bit while trying to tend to a newborn. Cooper was an absolute angel the first 2-3 weeks, sleeping alot during the day and being a fairly good night sleeper. And then somewhere around 3 weeks he decided the only person that he was going to let comfort and soothe him was his mother and not only that, his mother had to have him in her arms all the time!! So, while that has made it almost impossible to do anything else, we seem to be managing and I'm trying to enjoy this time as much as possible. I do have to admit I love cuddling with him in the glider and watching him sleep. I just keep thinking that I'll never get this time with him again and I want to take it all in right now. Evan just seemed to grow up so quickly and that time with him seems so long ago now. I can't believe how much he has been growing lately either. My little baby is definitely not a little baby any longer. He is learning new words and phrases everyday....but that is a whole other story. I'll have to write a separate post about my E later....he is such fun right now and is being such an awesome big brother!

So even though Cooper seems to be a bit more needy than I ever remember Evan being, he is an angel. He is growing much faster than I'd like. While I'm looking forward to him getting to an age where he starts to get around and be more fun, I do enjoy the baby phase and how much he needs me right now. At his 6 week appointment, the little guy weighed in at 9lbs 11 ounces and was 22 1/2" long. It was also determined that he was able to have his circumcision performed and we wouldn't have to wait until 8 months (like the pediatric surgeon originally told us) when he would have to go under general anesthesia. So on Friday, we checked into the hospital in KL for Cooper's day surgery. She wanted to do it in the hospital just in case there was any excess bleeding - which she said was more likely given him being over a month old. Everything went smoothly and we were able to go home a couple of hours after the surgery. He seemed to be in quite a bit of pain shortly after the local anesthetic wore off, but we kept him on baby Tylenol (or the equivalent prescribed here) for a couple of days and it doesn't seem to even bother him any longer. It's still quite painful for me to look at, but she said it should be fully healed in 7 to 10, so only a few more days now. And oh yeah, they actually gave us the foreskin they cut off for us to bring home....why, you ask....I have no idea.....GROSS!! I didn't realize he had that much extra skin for her to cut off!!!

As for how Cooper is sleeping...he is actually a great sleeper. His longest stretch of sleep has been about 5 hours thus far, which was really nice, but that was only a couple of nights. He typically sleeps from about 9pm to 1am, up for a feeding until 2, and then back asleep until about 6am. He'll then sleep from about 7 to 9am. During the day, he normally takes a long afternoon nap (rather than short ones throughout the day) about the same time Evan does, which makes it nice to be able to get things done while both of them are sleeping...like showering! No seriously, while it does take a lot out of me with 2 little ones, I'm not sure what I would do without having Marte around. She has really been an amazing help with Evan. She is the one who gets him up in the morning and feeds him breakfast so that I can catch another hour or so of sleep with Cooper after his early morning feeding. She also feeds him lunch and dinner and baths him at night. While I'd love to be able to keep doing those things with him, it's almost impossible when the only way I can keep Cooper pleased is to be holding him or keeping him entertained somehow. That is why I can't wait for the age when he gets a little less needy, so that I can shift my focus back onto Evan a bit. So when Cooper is in a good mood, I try to let Marte tend to him so I can have my "Evan bonding time", so I don't feel like I'm not paying enough attention to him. I definitely respect those mothers who are able to juggle more than one child. I guess you eventually find a way, but it's a learning and growing process that is for sure. Even with help (and my mom and dad being here for over 3 weeks), it still seemed like a circus around here sometimes. Like bath time, that was an event when we tried bathing both of them at the same time. Cooper would cry...or scream rather...the entire time and then Evan would start his whining for whatever reason. So we originally thought Coop was going to always loathe bath time (and not be a total water baby like his big brother), but we figured out it wasn't baths at all that he didn't like...it was the time of day we gave it to him. We decided to try to bath him in the mornings and found out that he actually loves to be bathed...not one whimper! Problem solved. So guess he is going to be a morning bather until we can start getting him to like night baths as part of his bedtime routine. One thing I have definitely already determined it that about the only thing that is similar between my 2 boys is their looks because other than that, they have been complete opposites. I'm really going to have to work on not constantly trying to compare them. Both Andrew and I find ourselves always saying "but Evan didn't do that" or "Evan did this" or "Evan never cried this much...or this loud"....so hopefully we can work on that early on.
So I guess that is about it for now on Cooper. We go back for his 2 month vaccinations on the 21st, so we'll see how that goes! He does seem to be growing like a weed, so I'll be curious to see how much he has grown at that time. His Nana & Pop are coming in for a 2 week visit on July 19th, so we can hardly wait for them to get here. Hopefully, Cooper will be more into a routine by then and out of this "needy" phase and let his Nana hold him a bit. He sure wasn't in to having his BeBe or Boss comfort him. But I know they were more than happy to spend those few weeks with him regardless. We sure did enjoy having them around and miss them tremendously!

I'll try to be better about posting more current information now that I'm caught up so that I don't post such a lengthy update next time (of course I say that every time!!). I sure do miss everyone and wish you could meet this new little man of ours...he is something else! Be sure and check back for an Evan update in the next few days....


So here are a few pictures of my two precious boys:

Evan and Cooper the day we arrived home from the hospital

E loving on his new little brother

Cooper meets his BeBe

Coop at one week old

Taking a siesta while we watch Evan play outside

Both my precious boys

Cooper hanging with his Boss

Cooper turns 1 month old!

Hanging out on the couch

A little (or actually big) case of baby acne...my poor little guy's face

He's definitely a bink baby...just like his older brother was!

We see this face a little more often than we'd like sometimes!

On the hospital bed before going in for his surgery