A great baby

Okay, you guys. I am just going to say it. Cooper is an awesome baby. A dream baby. SUCH a great baby. I'd go into detail but I don't want to totally screw myself over.

He LOVES his little baby gym-- loves it!

He hung out like this almost the whole time I made and frosted a caramel apple cake that I pinned and then actually MADE (it kind of sucked, though. the apple cider icing had 8 CUPS of powdered sugar and was too, too, too sweet even for me). (note the abandoned stool-- Jack was helping. the most helpful thing he did? leave the room for a minute).
He always looks really interested in the gym, too-- the toys, the mat, the yellow circle on top-- he loves it all.
In his quest to once again be the baby, jack likes to take a turn in the baby gym. Here he is demonstrating the finer points of tummy time:

Cooper does not get to spend as much time on the floor as I'd like him to and as he would probably like to because his big brothers are SUPER FREAKING DANGEROUS around his spongy little baby head. (look at Jack)

We did some home improvements this weekend. Ben finally hung up his favorite baseball, football, basketball and hockey cards in the basement, and he has big plans to mount some autographed balls, too. We even put up (sports) pictures in the downstairs bathroom. We also rearranged some furniture in the guest room, but that was more like a home unimprovement-- it looks like hell, but now we have room for our elliptical machine to be delivered. (seriously the whole room is crammed into half the room, so we have plenty of room for the machine). I let my gym membership lapse and was reluctant to join a new one because I can't really take Cooper to the daycare during cold and flu season. So, we decided to try working out at home. I'll let you know how it goes.

iPhone iphoto idump

I wish I was short enough to do this-- it looks relaxing.

Jack is really into setting up elaborate scenes for his guys. He's adjusting something at Joker's house here, and you can tell from his expression that he's not messing around.
I posted most of my pumpkin patch pics on FB, but here they are enjoying a snack.
Bought a totally stupid amount of random crap at Costco yesterday and scored this gym for Cooper. He loved it!
It even has a cute little tummy time pillow.
Hated this. He noticed the mobile for the first time and HATED IT.
I think he was over stimulated-- he needed a swaddle and a pacifier ASAP.
Harry did his hair for school pictures this morning. I forgot to take a picture of him in his tie. It was epic.
Exercise is hard for a baby.

One month already???

Cooper continues to be The Best Baby Ever, and we love him so much. Harry says he loves him the most because he's the cutest, which is true. Not much cuter than a baby. Except maybe a baby dog. Or a baby chicken. A kitten, maybe.

I am going to a meeting tomorrow, and I have no angst about it at all because I am just leaving the kids with Ben-- how fantastic is that? (Plus I might actually take Cooper with me).

Gotta go-- it's family movie night, and we are watching The Lion King, which I haven't seen since I was in high school.

Oh! For comparison's sake, here are links to Harry and Jack at one month.

Stream

I should be putting laundry away, but for some reason it didn't get all the way dry, so my towels and pajamas are being tossed around in the dryer again. The big boys are sick with strep (but can go back to school tomorrow! or at least the biggest one can-- the bigger boy doesn't have school on Fridays) and are geeking out to Star Wars movie 3 of 3-- it has been a long day, and they have marathoned their way through the first 3 episodes. The baby is sleeping and has been all afternoon, which is good because he did not sleep all morning. But oh did he keep trying! Finally at Old Navy he slept like an angel in the Moby while I bought $300 worth of crap that looked horrible on me. Ben returned all of it on his way to class today except for a pair of tights, a button down, and a cardigan, which would be a cute outfit, but I feel like something would be missing. Oh yeah. Pants. Because I am too wide for any pants in any size I am going to buy. Also not a good look for me right now? Tunics and leggings. Also Old Navy has these awkward skirts -- sweater skirts-- that are cute on the hanger but dreadful on me. So stretchy cotton skirts and yoga pants and baggy t-shirts it is. But I need to go to a meeting on Monday, and I would very much like to NOT wear my jammy-clothes. (Although I am seconds away from ordering Pajama Jeans.) So maybe Cooper and I will troll the mall later tonight. It has to be less germy than my strepped out house. I would love to be outside right now. It's 75 and sunny and perfect and should be just like this until next Wednesday when it is supposed to rain, at which time it will turn gray and bleak and cold. Until April. But the baby is sleeping, and I can't move the sickies from the couch. I may have to wake the baby, though, because he needs to eat soon for both our sakes. Speaking of, a lovely neighbor just brought us a fantastic dinner. The dinners we have gotten from neighbors definitely put my nightly cooking to shame. As soon as the baby is a predictable sleeper, I swear I am going to be a better cook. Also, I will exercise, clean out my dresser drawers, and paint my nails. Someday.

Not his best angle.
Jack's school has a kid-sized nest in the yard. It was their community art project this term.
Jack is dancing like a chicken, or so he claims.
So sweet.

Think They're brothers?

Jack, 4.5 weeks old

Cooper, 3.5 weeks old

Assorted

I have been trying to get Cooper to take a nap for 40 minutes, and it just occurred to me to tuck his arms into the swaddle. He's out like a light. Unfortunately because it took me 40 minutes of rocking and popping his pacifier back in to figure him out, he'll not be asleep for long because the kid likes to EAT.

We have gotten our first round of school viruses. Harry was sick last weekend, but he was fine to go to school on Monday. Jack also went to school on Monday, but he was sick last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. He started to feel better on Friday, but he was a huge crabby crabster because when he was sick he got all the iPad and TV he wanted, but as soon as he felt better, we made him limit his screen time again, and this DID NOT GO OVER WELL.

Ben came down with whatever they had on Monday, and he seems to have it way worse than the kids-- high fever, sore throat, cough. I keep telling him he is so brave, which cracks us both up. He has been fever free since Monday night, but he is still grimacing when he swallows and can't touch the baby.

See how brave?

Right before he donned that blanket, he said how much he regretted mocking and eventually trashing his birthday Snuggie from a few years ago. It would be great when you have a 102.8 degree fever. Also, with 3 kids, no adult really get to be sick, and Ben has been awesome this week. I know it is easy to complain about sick men being big man babies, but he hasn't been at all.

Jack and I have been playing lots of Zingo

Today after kindergarten drop off, we ran to the store to get something to bring to Jack's preschool welcome potluck tonight. Because I wanted to fit our trip into one of Cooper's naps, we went to the store closest to us which is a plain grocery store, not our usual TJ's or Whole Foods. Jack was so excited to see the snacks he normally only sees in friend's lunches or at his grandparents' houses. And I said yes to the kind of crap he never gets to buy like Milano cookies, Oreos instead of Joe Joes and Scooby snacks instead of $8 organic grahams. He even got Dora soup and delighted in a whole aisle with "Soup just for kids!" I drew the line at yogurt with hormones and HFCS and made him get Stoneyfield farm or whatever the hell it is called, but still! A red letter day for him.

Now Cooper is sleeping, and we are going to play outside.

Oh look! Somebody likes Sophie!

Sloven

I have been shopping all day, which was way less fun than it sounds because I was wearing the baby the whole time and had Jack with me part of the time. Also, I am way too fat for all my real clothes, and I am not spending tons of money on fat clothes, so I limited myself to Old Navy and H&M, which are not in the same mall. I went to ON twice and will be back on Thursday when Ben is home and I don;t have to wear the baby. I'll also be returning to H&M to return pretty much everything I bought except for one floral dress and slouchy cardigan, which will be awesome with the boots I got at Old Navy-- I got some flat brown boots for $25, and at that price I don't care if they fall apart after 5 wears. I am also keeping an ON denim pencil skirt. And that's it. I bought and returned (or will return) 3 dresses, 3 camis, a cardigan, 2 skirts, and 2 blouses. Eff.

Can I just tell you that my personal standard of grooming/beauty has taken a nose dive since Cooper was born. My house is still clean, and my kids look great, but I have been wearing saggy nursing tanks and yoga pants for 3.5 weeks. Sometimes with a faded hoodie or a baggy t-shirt. OMG. I am so over it. I shower at night and slather my stretched out self with Bio Oil. In the morning after I pump and before the big kids need breakfast, I have 7.5 minutes to flat iron my hair, french braid my bangs (oh yes! you read that right! I am growing out my bangs since I already look like shit, and I have been french braiding them into a little bang head band everyday except those days when I jam them into clips and force them straight back into a messy frizzed out ponytail-- DREAMY), and apply moisturizer, concealer, blush, eye shadow, and mascara. I keep a tinted lip balm in my diaper bag, but since I rarely go anywhere besides Harry's school for 30 seconds in the morning and 30 more in the afternoon, I almost never use the lip balm. Shit.

Okay, the baby is swaddled, pacified (neither of my other kids took a pacifier, but this kid does, and it is the best thing EVER), and in his Rock and Play cradle where he is neither rocking nor playing-- he's sleeping! So I need to sleep, too because babies suck at sleeping.

But that's okay because they are adorable!