Yesterday was my mom's birthday so we went to Applebee's for dinner with the family. The meal went fine, everything was wonderful until my mom and Tabitha got their desserts. Cooper had eaten cherries from our drinks earlier in the evening and saw that Tabitha had one of her dessert and of course wanted it. He started eating the cherry from her dessert and began choking. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life. My mom swooped him up and did the Baby Heimlich before I could react. It wasn't coming out so I did the finger sweep and still nothing. Shortly after he started screaming bloody murder and then he could breath. I'm sure he was just as terrified as I was, and I hope that never happens again. We took him to the doctor just to make sure he didn't aspirate it into his lungs and the doctor said he sounds find and we should just watch him closely for a few days. He better not ever scare me like that again.
Today he is doing exceptionally well! He's been running around like usual being his crazy little self. I was putting the dishes away and Cooper saw his green bowl and started saying more. I tried to tell him the bowl was empty but he still wanted it. He started running around putting the bowl over his face and pulling it down screaming like he was trying to scare us. He thought that was pretty hilarious for about half an hour. Running around screaming like crazy. This is when he finally started to wind down.
This is the adorable outfit he wore today when we went to Wal-mart. The slippers aren't very manly, but they are adorable none-the-less.
And Cooper thinks it's funny now to go in his room and shut the door when I'm talking to him...
Like you have probably read previously, Cooper has become quite the little helper around the house. I continue to enjoy his wonderfully good intentions despite the extra work load it provides me! He's such a joy to have running around the house. He never ceases to make me smile!
Here is his attempt at helping me do the laundry. He's not quite sure which ones go where so he just throws them on the floor!
He also wanted to try his hand at mopping. I don't think he realized you can't do that on carpet.
He loves to run up to the computer and help Fritz type. Unfortunately this has resulted in the closing of web pages, downloads in progress, etc. So Fritz came up with the clever idea to put an unconnected keyboard where Cooper can reach it and the real keyboard out of harms way. Here is Cooper helping Papa with "computer stuff".
I believe I also wrote previously about Cooper's new found love for laying on pillows whenever he sees them. Here he is caught in action!
Here he is practicing his sigh as he lays down.
These are just a few things that Cooper has learned as of late.
When you ask about nose he usually points to your nose, but he's got his ear down!
He really likes this new found ability!
Every time I try to catch him dancing he stops. This is the best I've been able to get so far. He does a head bob and occasionally a knee bounce usually! He doesn't need prompting either, as soon as he hears music he starts swayin'.
Yesterday was Ashley's daughter Evelyn's birthday. It's so insane to think that she is already four years old. Then again, Cooper will be one next weekend. Time is flying by so unbelievably fast I often find it hard to keep up. Evvie's party was at The Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake City. I had never been there but I have a feeling I will be going back! Cooper had so much fun running around looking at all of the toys and seeing all of the other kids. Of course he also loved the nummy cupcakes and ice cream! I only wish I had gotten more pictures and videos while I was there.
Coop liked this fun wheel to spin!
Then he realized what the wheel was doing!
He also found this totally cool police car that he spent lots of time just sitting in. Cooper didn't quite get the moving your legs part, so Issac helped with that! Then he just sat some more and played with the horn and the car walkie (neither worked, but he didn't mind). The drive home was so beautiful! He was very very tuckered when we got home. He relaxed with his bottle in my lap. Fat feet! Cooper took a break to make a phone call to his papa. (He does this quite frequently when Fritz is at work. He holds the phone up the his ear backwards and says "Papa" over and over.)
Then he went back to his delicious bottle and off to bed! What a jam packed day of fun!!
Cooper hasn't gone to the park since he's been able to walk on his own and since the weather was so lovely today we decided to make it a family event! We decided to fly a kite, however, the wind didn't really cooperate on that one. And when put in the grass Cooper wasn't to excited to be there anymore. :-( I'm sure he'll get used to it in the future!
He was very excited on the walk and leaned forward the whole way!
Up,
up,
away!
I was very disappointed that the park didn't have a baby swing but Cooper and I had fun anyway!
Fritz wanted him to ride this blue blob!
Then it was onto the slide!
But I think this will always be Cooper's favorite!
On the way home he was super pooped and leaned back in his stroller sippin on some juice!
Cooper is turning into quite the little smarty. It's insane how incredibly fast he catches on to every day things. He's getting into the age where he likes to do whatever you're doing. I was going to post cute things he does daily on the sidebar but I got a little behind. Here are a few things that happened last week.
*We were eating lunch and I dipped my steak into A-1 sauce, so Cooper thought it would be a good idea to dip his fry into the A-1 as well. Apparently he liked it because he kept doing it with all his fries.
* Now that Cooper has found his way of telling us what he wants to eat he is getting pretty picky. My dad had made chicken for dinner, and I was holding Cooper in the kitchen while my mom was opening some applesauce for him. He started signing/saying more and pointing at the chicken on the counter. I guess applesauce isn't going to cut it anymore.
*Cooper likes to lay his head on pillows all the time now. He was playing in our bedroom where Fritz and I have our "decoration" pillows on the floor at the foot of the bed. He walked up the them and laid his head down. Later on I was working with him to try and get him to sigh when he does it.
*When Cooper is eating in his highchair he likes to sit and point at things. I decided that was going to teach him face parts. I started leaning into his finger and letting him touch my nose saying "nose". Now when you say "where's my nose?" he touches your nose. He won't point to his own nose but we're working on it. I've also started trying ear and toes!
*Tabitha (my sister) moved from my parents house into her own apartment this weekend. While we were down there helping her out I hung up some pictures. Cooper laughed the whole time I was hammering. They he grabbed his little hammer and was walking around hitting the wall and the fridge.
*Today in Wal-mart I set Cooper down to walk with my dad and I. He gets very excited when he gets to walk. I said "come on, let's catch up to grandpa. come on bud" and he said "hi grampa" It was adorable!
Lately Cooper has been doing this incredibly annoying, ear piercing squeal that kills. He's been driving me absolutely crazy! However, I've come to the conclusion that he is just to smart for his own good. He knows what he wants he just doesn't know how to express it. He can tell us he wants more and sometimes point to what he wants if it's in sight, but he can't communicate other things yet. I think he just gets really frustrated when I don't know how to help him. I guess I'm going to just have to start feeding him more and more information daily to keep him up to speed so he can communicate without squealing!
To my amazement time has flown by. Fritz and I celebrated our one year anniversary last month. The year went by so fast it was insane. Being married to him is amazing! He treats me so well and spoils Cooper like crazy. We have so much fun together and I can’t believe how happy we are.
Cooper’s birthday is fast approaching, and I am conflicted as to where to celebrate it. Ideally I want to do it at the duck park in Layton. It’s a wide open space, kids can play on the playground, and the adults won’t be crammed in our little apartment. The only problem is of course, the weather. Utah weather is so unreliable. It can be so nice and sunny one day and then it will snow the next. Last year it actually snowed the night Cooper was born. My mom suggested having it at McDonalds in the play area, but I’m not sure if you have to reserve it, or pay for a party there or how it works. I want to plan this and get it all set but it’s proving to be more complicated than I anticipated. Hopefully I can get everything all figured out and stop having anxiety over it.
In the mean time, here is my little man being a little Indian!
Fritz has been, dare I say, nagging me for probably a month to cut Cooper's hair.
Personally I love his hair. I think it's cute how it's starting to get curly in the back.
Fritz and I made a deal that if I had to cut Cooper's hair he was going to have to let me give Cooper a mohawk for at least a week. Here are the results!
When Cooper was born he had really bad jaundice so he had to be under lights. We had to bring a bed home for him to lay in. Here is my little tan man!
When he was four weeks old he had Pyloric Stenosis and had to have surgery at Primary Childrens. It was horrible seeing him laying there so little and so helpless.
After his surgery he caught up on much needed sleep at home!
When he was three months old we went to Washington to visit family for the Fourth of July, and he got baptized in the church I grew up in.This was the first time he ever rolled over also! Sadly he was also having bad ear infections and had to get tubes put in later in the month.
At four months old he received his first hair cut to even out his wild hair that grew longer on the right. He later received a buzz cut to match his Papa. He likes to get on his knees and rock back and forth.
At six months old Cooper was doing great and being a happy little baby! He pulled to stand up on his own and loved standing against things. Unfortunately this month Fritz's parents moved back to Germany, and we moved to Sandy to be closer to Fritz's work. :(
For Halloween Cooper was a little devil. Don't be fooled by that smile!
We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house. Cooper got a kick out of getting to hold the turkey leg. He also enjoyed all the yummy food he got to eat!
Christmas was also spent at my parents house due to Fritz's being out of the country. He loved opening his presents and riding around in his new sleigh and on his rocking horse!
Cooper is a great sport and loves going out shopping, as long as he gets to ride on Papa's shoulders. He is also a huge fan of Elmo. He points at everything and says "mo".
He's walking around on a regular basis now. It's so crazy that he has grown up so fast. I wonder where all the time has gone!
I think you are basically caught up on everything that has happened up until now. I will continue to keep everyone posted on his progress into becoming an amazing little man, and things that are going on with our family.
Welcome to the story of Fritz, Brittni and Cooper Groothuis! I wish I had thought about keeping a family blog when Cooper was first born. Then this would be updated with all the things that have happened in our lives thusfar. However I can’t change time so I will just start with the story of his birth. It is a long one, but the best journey we could’ve been on.
On Wednesday March 26 I was having contraction every 6-10 minutes, they weren't horrible, but they were continuous. I had a doctor's appointment that day also so we had him check to see how dilated I was. Dr. Healy said I was 2cm dilated and 65% effaced. I had plenty of time to go, but I wanted Cooper to come now. The next day I was still having steady contractions so my mom and I decided it was time for a little castor oil. We went to wal-mart to get the last few baby essentials and headed home to try and bring this baby into the world. Before I even drank the castor oil we decided to just go to the hospital to have them check me since I had steady contractions all day. Around 8:30pm I was checked by the admitting nurse. She told me I was still only 2cm and 65% but she was going to see what the doctor wanted to do. My mom and I started planning what other at home remedies we could do to induce labor when the nurse came in and said she was getting my room ready. My mom asked if they were monitoring me for the night and the nurse said no Dr. Healy is going to induce. Needless to say I was a little bit shocked and started to get scared. I wanted him to be born but suddenly I didn't know if I was really ready.
At 11:25pm the nurse came in to do my IV and start the potocin. Despite how veiny my arms are she missed the first try which hurt like a bitch. Then she got the second one in which hurt even worse. It was in but it felt like it wasn't right. I didn't say anything because I didn't want her to try again and have another painful spot. The IV was the least of my worries. At 12:24am Friday Dr. Healy came and broke my water. Fritz got to the hospital and we began our long day. Knowing that it would be exhausting we tried to rest. Unfortunately I was woken up in the middle of my rest by sudden pain. I decided that I was ready to finally get my epidural. At 4:57am the nurse came in and started to get things ready. He was a complete asshole. Fritz wasn't able to make it to the hospital before my water was broken so I wanted him to be able to take part in me getting my epidural, however, when he woke up the nurse said I had to pick one person to stay; my mom or Fritz. I didn't know who to choose. Before I could decide Fritz got pissed off, gave me a kiss, gave the nurse a dirty very threatening look and then went to go smoke. The epidural wasn't even painful at all. My other nurse said she had never seen anyone take it so well. I'm sure it was because I was absolutely furious that that asshole made me choose between my husband and my mother. Shouldn't I be able to say who stays and who goes?
Now we just had to wait for things to progress. At 7:00am I was 3 almost 4 cm. The whole process was going very slow. At 9:10am I was finally 4cm and 70% effaced. We tried to get as much rest as we could, napping here and there, but I really don't remember me actually napping, only watching others nap. At 10:50 I was still 4cm but 95% effaced. Finally at 2:00pm we started to see some progress. I had jumped to 7cm 100% effaced and was at a 0 station. Poor Fritz isn't the most patient of people and was starting to question why he had to come the night before if this was taking so long. I just told him it was for moral support and assured him he looked good sleeping on the couch in my room. At 2:30 I was 8cm and finally by 2:50 I was 9cm. The nurse came again at 3:20 and said I was complete and ready to start pushing. My mom, Fritz and Tabitha (my sister) stayed in the room with me for the labor. The pushing wasn't so bad. I just kept telling myself he would be there soon. Any minute now I could have my baby in my arms. Any minute turned into any hour and things just didn't seem to be progressing. Around 5:20 my epidural machine started beeping. Apparently my nurse was sure that he would be out soon. Unfortunately she isn't the one who gets paid the big bucks. My doctor finally arrived at 5:40pm and according to him and how long I had been pushing he decided that I needed to do a c-section. While everyone was sitting around deliberating I think they all forgot that my epidural ran out. See the reason I got it was so I wouldn't feel pain, but by the time they decided I needed to go to the surgery room I could feel everything. I was in incredible pain and started crying. For the first time since I got my epidural 12 hours earlier I could feel pain. Now I did have to decide between my mom and Fritz. Since it was a sterile area I could only have one person come with me. Fritz wasn't really sure how well he would be able to handle seeing me cut open so we opted for my mom to go with. I said goodbye to my wonderful husband and they rolled me down the hallway.
I could feel every painful bump in the carpet and seam in the doorways. I laid on the table and waited while they tried to get more fluid pumped into my epidural and get me all prepared for surgery. From here on I just remember being in severe pain. There was so much pressure on my stomach it was indescribable. I barely remember Dr. Healy holding Cooper over the curtain and saying something like "here is your baby boy". Then I was gone. The anesthetics kicked in and I was in a world of my own. I was having the weirdest dreams that I can't even describe. All I know is that they were the same ones that I had last time I was under anesthesia. They are incredibly weird and then I wake up and don't remember a thing. When I did finally wake up I was in my room again. There were people all around me and everyone was holding my baby saying how cute he was. I was so drugged up that I was afraid to hold him. I couldn't even see straight and I didn't want to risk hurting him. Fritz came over to me and put Cooper on my chest and held him with his hand to make sure nothing happened. It was the first time I got to hold my baby and it was the most amazing thing in the world. He just laid there curled up in his blanket completely helpless.
I found out that my nurse and her nursing student were supposed to get off at 5 but stayed until Cooper was born at 6:26pm. They had been with me all day and wanted to see him finally born. He was 7lbs 7oz and 19.75 inches long. Because I had pushed for two hours before the c-section Cooper was lodged really far down in my pelvis. My mom said that the nurse had to physically push his head out of my cervix while the doctor pulled his body out the incision. Because of all the trauma his head was completely bruised, he had a bruise on his left arm and even a bruise on the tip of his tongue. Because of all the blood that I lost during my surgery I had to get a blood transfusion with 2 units of blood on Sunday. Cooper was born on Friday night and we weren't released until Tuesday. It was a horrible stay in the hospital but I had an amazing support system that was there to support me every day, and I got the most precious thing out of it. My baby boy.
It makes me very sad to say that Cooper will be a year old at the end of this month. It's amazing how fast the time has gone by and how much he has grown into an amazing little boy. I only wish I had thought to include everyone in this journey through his life, but from here on out anyone is welcome to follow along! This is our life...
Cooper loves to dance when the phone rings. I just have the basic tone that came with the phone but he knows that means Papa or Nana is calling and he's used to hearing them. He also always holds the phone up to his ear backwards and babbles into it when he plays. Recently he actually started holding the phone the right way and loves to pretend to have conversations with no one in particular! Today Fritz called and Cooper and I were dancing away in the living room when Cooper suddenly stopped, put his empty hand up to his ear and said "hello". Apparently he was done with the dancing and wanted to get on with the chatting. 5/11/09
Fritz and I were standing in the living room talking when I felt something on my foot. I looked down and Cooper had put my shoe there. I took it and put it back then started talking to Fritz again. A few seconds later it was back on my foot. I picked Cooper up to ask what he was doing and he started waving bye bye. I said "where are we going?" and he simply pointed to the door. I guess that was our cue that we needed to check the mail we didn't check yesterday. 4/26/09
This morning Cooper was running around the apartment and grabbed one of my socks off the floor. I said "Did you take mommy's sock? Where do socks go?" and he held the sock over his foot! He's also starting to cooperate more when I dress him. It's so insane how fast he is learning. 4/4/09
For Cooper's birthday he got a Sing and Learn Mic and one of the songs it plays is Old McDonald. Cooper walks around holding it and pressing buttons, but when Old McDonald comes on he says "E, I, E, I, O". It's adorable! 3/31/09
Coop is turning into a dancin man! Whenever he hears a song or you sing to him he moves his head from side to side swaying to the beat! The radio, the tv, singing almost any song! Sometimes he goes forward and backward like he's head banging. And Fritz is teaching him to move his hand like rappers do. Of course as soon as I pull out the camera the dancing is over. I'll get it soon!
Cooper is becoming quite the little helper. Today I was making our bed and Cooper pushed the pillow from leaning on the wall towards the bed where I was standing. Then I started stacking Fritz’s shoes in the closet. As I reached down to get the next one Cooper was already holding it up towards me. I proceded to start loading laundry into the washer. Every time I turned around Cooper was throwing clothes out of his laundry bucket. He was really trying to help me out today! 3/9/09
Cooper learned how to sign "more" recently. He goes around signing and saying what sounds like "more" and sometimes "I want more". He does it so often that I wasn’t sure he knew what it meant. Today he was at my parents’ house and he kept pushing his bottle away. My dad picked him up and Cooper pointed at the pantry and said/signed more. My mom got out applesauce and he got all excited. I guess he does know what it means, and where the food is kept. What a smarty pants. 3/8/09
