Nana & Pop's Visit

It’s been about a week and a half since Nana’s and Pop’s visit, so it’s been back to normal at the ol’ Thompson house lately. We had a great time during their visit and really miss having them around. During Nana and Pop’s visit, Cooper got to take his first long roadtrip (3 hours) and his first trip into a new country when we went to Singapore for a few days. It was also his first hotel experience. He did really well given only being 2 ½ months old. We did one of those hop-on / hop-off bus tours so we could show Nana and Pop the whole city. Evan had a fantastic time and enjoyed the part where he got to ride outside of the double decker bus the most. Cooper slept in the Baby Bjorn the majority of the time, but I think he enjoyed being outside for awhile, given that it was such a nice day….cloudy and windy and not so hot. We also did a few days in Kuala Lumpur, where we did some “major shopping” in Chinatown getting all of our knock-off goodies….always a good time!! Pop, Andrew and I also had the chance to get a great massage at the hotel while Nana pulled babysitting duty while the boys napped. I don’t think I’d had a massage since before we left Houston nearly a year and half ago….it was heavenly!! I think Nana and Pop enjoyed seeing how very different things are in this country. When they arrived from the airport the first day, they could not get over how nice the airport was and how beautiful the country was, with all the mountains and palm trees…and beautiful flowers lining the highway. They said they had pictured it much differently from our description....how could a place that looked like what they saw be considered a third world country…..and then we took them through a drive of Melaka on their second day. “Ahhhh, now we see what you’ve described”. The drive through the small villages in Melaka really gave them a feel for exactly how impoverished the country really is in some areas. We did a few other sightseeing things in Melaka, like taking them down to the famous Jonker Street (another sort of Chinatown with a lot of “junk” for sale), but that was about it….other than a day at the pool and some relaxing days just hanging at home. I think more than anything they enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with both boys! They actually said they wanted to come again next year for another visit. We were sure they would see the place and think one time was plenty! We sure hope they do visit again and maybe we can travel to one of the nearby countries next time since both the boys will be at a fun age then.

Here are some pictures from their visit:

This is the sign Evan was holding up for them at the airport when his Dad and him went to pick them up (Nana couldn't get her camera to work at the airport, so she had E hold it up for her again to get a picture of him!).

David and Nita at Jonker Street in Melaka

Everyone ready to "hop-on" the bus to take a tour of Singapore

Evan sitting like a big boy on the tour bus...he enjoyed the top level of the double-decker bus even more!

Cooper on his 1st sight-seeing tour in Singapore

Cooper poses in one of his new monogrammed outfits

Nana and Pop in Singapore's Chinatown

Evan and Cooper hangin' in the hotel in Singapore

Hangin' at the pool at our clubhouse in Melaka

Nana, Pop, Cooper and Evan at our hotel in Kuala Lumpur

Pop in front of the KL twin towers. Nana missed her photo op because she was at the mall helping me shop for a new swimsuit...sorry Nana!!

Pop and Evan hangin' before leaving for the airport

Nana, Pop and Cooper saying their goodbyes....as you can see, Cooper was sad to see them go!!

Evan says his goodbyes as well

Home for the Holidays!!

It's official....we are booked to go home for the holidays! After much debate, we finally decided that this Christmas is probably the best time for us to go home for various reasons. For one, this is one of the only times of year where Andrew can take more than 2 consecutive weeks. The next possible time would be next summer, and rather than going home then and going from one hot place to another, we thought we'd really enjoy the nice cold winter weather instead. And also, the biggest reason we didn't want to travel back home this Christmas...or at all for that matter.... is because we didn't want to endure a 25+ hr trip with 2 kids. But after discussing, we figured if we were going to make the trip at some point, it might be easier to travel with a 7 month old in Decemeber rather than with a 15 month old and 2 1/2 year old, which is how old the boys will be if we wait until next summer. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic and can hardly wait for our trip....although, I'm not sure how we are going to survive it....wish us luck. We've also started organizing a get-together with my mom's side of the family for New Years, so I'm really looking forward to that and having everyone get to meet the boys....one of my aunts and my uncle have never even met Evan. It's always a party when you get all the Robledo's together, so it should be lots of fun!! Hopefully, we'll also get a chance to meet up with some of our friends since we weren't able to last Christmas. We are going for 3 full weeks this year (Dec 14th - Jan 6th) instead of 2 weeks like last year, which didn't leave us much time for getting around to visit everyone. Andrew and I both absolutely love Christmas and spending the holidays with our friends and family....so it was going to be a huge bummer if we would have decided not to go home. What a great Christmas present this year!!

Here are a few of our latest pictures...

Mom and her 2 most precious boys

Evan wants to try on a onesie that John and Kathi Swanson sent for Cooper, but didn't like it once he decided it was too "tight"...which is what he says all the time when his shoes don't go on easily or we have trouble getting a shirt over his big head :-)

Cooper tries to find his thumb to suck on

Cooper is starting to enjoy his playgym more each day....especially after his long afternoon nap. He is also smiling alot more lately, but I've yet to catch him on camera.

And a late Happy 4th of July from Evan and I!!! Cooper was napping and Dad was taking the picture, so hopefully we'll get a family picture soon! We still don't have one of the 4 of us and Cooper is already 2 months old!

Evan Update

Where to begin about my little Evan....or should I say my big boy! He is the absolute most fun right now, saying or doing something new everyday. I'm going to have to start capturing his new little sayings daily. He has been the best big brother, loving and kissing on his little brother all the time. Don't get me wrong, Cooper gets the occasional bonk upside the head every now and then when E gets a little too excited, but for the most part is very gentle and always trying to be a big helper. He automatically goes to get "Cooper diapers" when I lay Cooper on the changing pad, without even having to be asked! Wonder how long he'll keep up the big helper act?!?! He did go through the transition phase in the very beginning where he wanted to do everything and be everywhere Cooper was...like the pictures below where he wanted to be swaddled and lay in Coop's moses basket to sleep. He also tried to sit in his bouncer and lay on his playgym...he even made the occasional attempt to stick Coop's bink in his own mouth. But after a few days, he adjusted and realized there was a new baby in the house and he was now the big boy of the house.
I think part of the reason he adjusted so well to having Cooper with us is that his BeBe and Boss spoiled him from the moment the arrived (giving him everything he wanted and doing everything he wanted to do....just like grandparents do!!), so he never felt like the attention was ever diverted elsewhere. They had the best time together. Evan spent more time outside in the 3+ weeks they were here than he had in the whole time we've been here. They would take a walk each day...sometimes even 2 or 3 a day. By nap time, he was always completely worn out. They even chased each other around the driveway in the rain. They played with his new water toys. They chased butterflies and watched the monkeys, squirrels, and birds. Actually, my dad nearly killed himself when he fell off a ladder while trying to get up to a bird's nest to show Evan the bird eggs! They cleaned the back patio one day, went to the bird park once and then to one of the museums by the mall. They also went to the pool a few days. Needless to say he got quite the tan while they were here...guess his Boss wanted him to look even more like him!! He also managed to get a few nasty mosquito bites (which he is totally allergic to, just like his mother!)...one to his eye that swelled up so bad it looked like he had been in a boxing match! I tried telling Boss he was a "bubble boy" and couldn't play outside without managing to get bitten at least once every other outing. Even though they kept him lathered in mosquito replenant he stilled managed to get bitten about 4 other times. He also got one of his first "real ouchies" by falling in the road while running....skinning up his knee and taking a small chunk out of his thumb. But my little E is a real macho...he only cried for a bit and then it never phased him again. He even seemed enjoy putting on the antibiotic ointment and the Thomas and Friends bandages. I don't think he'd ever had as much fun as he had while his BeBe and Boss were here and we were very sad to see them go. Here are a few pictures from their adventures....and I'm sure my mom would like everyone to know she did all these things with the boys too, but she was the one always taking the pictures!!!

Saying Bye to BeBe and Boss before the leave to Singapore to catch their flight the next morning!

So after the grandparents left, it was life back to "normal"....or as normal as we are going to get for now with a newborn in the house. I started taking Evan to my artist friend's craft day she holds weekly for the expat children. There were 4 other children there plus Evan. He was the youngest in the group, but had a great time with the other kiddos, which ranged from 3 to 4 years old. They would run around chasing each other while yelling and E just stood there and took it all in...as to say "what are these crazy kids doing!!" The craft of the week was to make a mask to wear. E had a good time and enjoyed coloring his. It kept his attention for a good 20 minutes...I was really surprised. He usually can't sit still on one project for longer than 5 or 10 minutes when we are at home. It must have been because all the other kids were sitting there with him. We plan on trying to make it as often as possible from now on since he seemed to really enjoy himself. It looks like we could potentially have a "lefty" on our hands!! He uses it way more often than his right hand to color with and eat with.

Taking a break from coloring to pose with Mom for a picture!

He enjoyed making the mask, but not so fond of actually wearing it!

I managed to get it on him long enough to take a picture at home....note: the coloring near the mouth was his actual work, the rest Mom had to help with!!

We'd been considering enrolling E in a Montessori school and even went and scoped it out back in January to see if it was a place we'd feel safe sending him to. After checking it out and talking with one of the teachers, we decided we would send him, but would wait until he was a bit older (they start accepting children at 18 months, but most usually start at age 2). Since he seems to be enjoying spending more time around other kids lately, I thought it might be time to get him started. He will be the youngest at the school, but I only plan on sending him 1-2 days a week for now...and only for half a day. I just really want him to go for the social aspect. Anyhow, we went back last week to see about getting him officially enrolled, but they now said we had to wait until the new school session starts in September. He seemed totally stoked about going when we asked him if he wanted to go to school and play with the kids. He kept saying "kool...kids". So needless to say, he was a bit disappointed when he couldn't stay and play with the kids. I told him they said we had to wait a bit longer before he started going, so it then turned to "wait...kool...kids!" It was too cute. As you can see in the picture below, he was all ready to go and check it out with his back pack, sunglasses and sippy cup. He'll be off to pre-K before we know it....and this picture will be in front of his elementary school door instead...oh no, my baby is growing up way too fast!

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