Cooper-9 months

Cooper's 9 month official stats:

Height:  27.5 in. (10-25%)

Weight:  17lbs 8oz (10-25%)

Head:  18 in.  (75%)

So, as you can see at 9 months, Cooper remains just a little peanut!  He's growing at a steady rate on his curve, but he's still on the smaller side for other babies his age.  We are just on the verge of outgrowing his 6 month clothes, and the size 2 diapers are still working for now.  We are hitting the new size right at the change of seasons, and we are matching up with Cousin Chase's & friend Graham's handmedowns perfectly!  (Sorry to cousin Parker!)

Cooper is so active these days it's crazy!  I cannot for the life of me remember Delaney being this active!  He's all over the place crawling up a storm, and starting to pull up on things and stand.  His favorite "toys" are the houseplants, dog bowls, and bathroom cabinets!  He's all boy...  He is starting to play with the Little People Farm and Princess Castle (sorry Daddy!) that were Delaney's.  I think we may have some more boyish Little People toys on our upcoming birthday & Christmas lists!  He is also a fan of the stacking cups and the foam numbers and letters!  (I had to pick those up because the crazy kid is obsessed with flip flops!)

Coop is trying new foods all the time.  I think we could be on all table foods by 10 months, but we'll see.  Some days are better than others!  His "real food" favorites so far are Cheerios, grapes, bananas, and peas.  He's starting that stage where he wants to eat whenever anyone else is.  The addition of more solids has made him a bit of a lazy eater when it comes to nursing and bottles.  We are getting by, and I'm hoping we can stretch it just a couple more months to avoid formula!  Our pediatrician said that if we can make it to 11 months on breast milk, we can start whole cow's milk vs. introducing formula for just one month...so that's the goal!

I discovered last week that I was starving my poor kid at bedtime, and that's why he wasn't sleeping very well.  After making a full adjustments to make sure he gets around 6-7oz. of milk at bedtime, he has sleep all night for a week (knock on wood!)!  This is a huge improvement!  I feel very guilty that it look me so long to figure it out, and I still think teething has contributed to his poor sleeping, but I'm happy to find something that works!  We still only have 2 teeth on the bottom, but the 4 on top could pop through any day!  

Cooper is quite the character these days!  There's a lot of personality in that tiny little body!  He is full of smiles and laughs, and he is starting to babble all the time!  Da-da is a favorite!  He also has a bit of an ornery streak.  He still doesn't know what "NO" means, but he's hearing it enough these days he'll figure it out soon!  He will take his cup and hold it over the edge of the highchair and just look at you with a sly little grin until he drops it!  Little stinker!  He still adores his big sister, although he's been very "hands-on" with him lately.  She is a nervous-nelly, helicopter sister!  She is so worried he's going to fall or get into something that she will manhandle him at the slightest opportunity!  

Cooper brings our family so much joy and he just fits in so perfectly!  It's hard to remember what life was like without our little man!  

August-The month of roadtrips

I swear we were on the road for the entire month of August.  I know that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it does hold a little truth!  We celebrated Craig's Grandpa's 90th Birthday the first weekend with a surprise birthday party/family reunion.  He was so surprised and was the life of the party!  He kept going until late into the evening!  It was so fun to see him.  I don't know if I've ever seen him smile so big!  He is going to be honored as part of the Veterans' Day Salute at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln for the Nebraska vs. Purdue game on November 1st.  The entire family is looking forward to that day!

Here's the whole Wortman family!  

The following weekend, Craig and I escaped on a getaway to Kansas City to celebrate our 6th Wedding Anniversary!  We sent the kids to my parents and we took off.  It was my first night(s) away from Cooper, and he decided to be a bear for Grandma and finally cut those first two teeth he'd been fighting for months!  Other than that the kids had a great time.  We did too!  We enjoyed some great food, did some shopping, and I got to attend my first MLB game and watch the Royals beat the SF Giants at Kauffman Stadium.  It also happened to be Husker night, so that was pretty fun!  We hadn't been on an actual date night since November, so it was long overdue and much enjoyed!

The next weekend, we loaded up the kids in the car and headed out to visit out to Cheyenne, Wyoming to visit some of our favorite friends and neighbors that moved out there about a year and half ago.  The kids did remarkably well in the car.  It was Coop's longest car ride to date, so I'd say he was a rockstar!  We had a lot of fun catching up with Craig and Katie and their puppy Capone!  We miss them so much, so it's always fun to see them!  They are the type of friends that we haven't known all that long (only about 4 years), but it seems like they are family!

After that trip, our traveling was done!  We spent the next weekend trying to take back our storage room that had completely gotten out of control over the summer.  We have been selling/getting rid of a lot of our baby stuff we have outgrown and the massive little girl wardrobe Delaney had.  I swear she had the most extensive wardrobe of any little girl!  Since she grew so fast, we literally had 6 years worth of clothes in storage for our 4-year-old.  I have sorted it all out, given some hand-me-downs to our cousin, and packed 2 totes full of the cutest favorites for (yet-to-be) baby girl cousins!  No pressure, Jess & Lauren!

We also bought a new truck that weekend!  6 months ago the total miles between our 2 vehicles was over 200k!!!  So, now we are back to 2 car payments again!  Not at all what I wanted to do, but since we send a lot of time on the road with the kiddos we needed vehicles that were more family friendly and reliable!  

Last weekend was Labor Day.  We actually stayed home and minimum plans, it I have to admit it was so nice!  August was lots of fun, but totally exhausting!  The Huskers kicked off their season with a big win, so that was the highlight!  Here are the kiddos in their Big Red gear!