a morning with cooper

this morning cooper and i were having fun just hanging out in our pj's. so here is cooper checking out play-doh for the first time.....he was very excited about it initially

i showed him how to smash it and roll it and he only tried to put it in his mouth once :)

i think his favorite part was the smashing...go figure

little hands hard at work

cooper has also really been enjoying cars or as he calls them "trucks" his two favorite cars are two little tonka fire engines. he puts them inside his big wooden truck and wheels them around

he also thought it was super fun to push his matchbox cars across the coffee table back and forth with me and also just watch them crash

and of course the cooper "cheese" face

week 21

here are ultrasound pictures of almost week 20... i took pictures with my phone of the ultrasound so the quality is not the best...sorry!!!

face shot of baby looking at us...really cool and a little creepy too

my favorite the profile shot

so i have been quite terrible about posting pictures and blogging about this 2nd pregnancy...so here it is!!!!

i feel great!!!! my 1st trimester i totally had the dry heaves and felt really tired...which i did not have at all with coop.....also this baby is a lot lower, likely because all my uterine ligaments and abdominal wall muscles are much more stretched out then before...also, now i have a small umbilical hernia. as a result, i need to use the bathroom a lot more frequently so i don't wet my pants when i sneeze or cough....so fun right? i've been terrible about exercising this pregnancy mostly because i work FT and then am home with coop when i'm not at work. nonetheless....excuses...so pray for me to be more organized with my time. the baby is doing awesome!!! all bloodwork and 20 week ultrasound were normal! mike can now feel the baby move and you can see little kicks if you watch my belly for a while. i started to feel the baby move at 17 weeks which is 2 weeks earlier than with cooper. the baby is about 10 1/2 inches long and weighs about 3/4 of a pound.

my growing baby bump

cooper's first stitches

so i uploaded the pictures backwards...the 2nd two are the day after they were put in and the first two pictures are 3 days after they were placed

so here is what happened to my poor buddy.... he somehow decided to get into the recycling and pull an empty can out. it was the only can in there and i specifically pushed the lid all the way down so the sharp lid wouldn't be sticking out. apparently, cooper thought he needed to dig the lid out with his chubby little fingers. he promptly ran over to mike with the can on his hand and yelling "stuck, stuck!" i was at work so mike was able to remove the can and off to the ER they came after mike sent me a picture of the injury. cooper was very brave and i put 3 stitches in his finger. he only cried during the "needle" parts and kept saying "up" because we had him wrapped up in a sheet. he was so good and stopped crying as soon as the suturing was done. he's been super good about letting us change the bandage. he actually would get worried and say "uh-oh" repeatedly if the bandage would come off. as you can tell it's healing well and he's completely fine with showing you his "ouchie"!

maritime aquarium

so these pictures aren't the best...but cooper had a great time visiting the aquarium with his buddy liam and checking out all the cool fish

creepy shark

coop loved running around these tortoise shells and looking for liam

scary eel

the turtles were really cool and quite large ...difficult to photograph with the glass and the darkness

oooh!!!! fish!!!!

we also watched the seals do tricks and get fed

and they had a special meerkat exhibit

look liam look!!!!

best buds!!!

the boys cheesing it up for the camera...we had a great time staying at the sullivans...thanks for having us!!!!

visiting babcia and dziadziu

cooper absolutely loved going to the park with dziadziu everyday......he would just stand by the door and ask to go outside

on this day, mike joined them and as you can tell cooper is having the time of his life!!!

doesn't he look like such a big boy?

here is our traditional "wigilia" (polish christmas eve). we always dress up a little, and start dinner by finding the first star out that evening (signifying the star of bethlehem) as kids this was really fun...now we kind of eat when everything is ready. next my dad read's the story of Jesus birth from the Bible and we give thanks for the one gift that truly matters.

as you will notice, there is always an extra place set at the table just in case someone should knock on the door and not have a place to go for christmas eve (signifying knocking at the inn)

my mom then serves the first course "barszcz" polish beet soup with "uszka" dumplings stuffed with wild mushrooms...this soup is a huge favorite

cooper's cheesing it up and ready to eat

and yes.....he loves beet soup...my little polish baby!

the whole family minus phill who was not able to join us this year

michael....cutting up the ham

and the turkey of course....our American part of Christmas

some other traditional polish foods include herring, some kind of fish, and "salatka" polish potato salad...of course we also have mashed potatoes, bread, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole etc. it's tradition to have at least 12 different foods on the table (for the 12 days of christmas...i guess)

after everyones eaten their 12 different fods...and my dad is finally finished...everyone anxiously awaits to be dismissed from the table by the sound of a ringing bell. my dad rings the bell and then it's time to open presents!!!!! in our home we always opened all our presents on christmas eve...now we save one for christmas morning too!!!

cooper having a blast in his new gator tent from uncle mike

more presents

picture with babcia "bab" and dziadziu "dziu"

we were also able to celebrate my dad's birthday with him....he turned 30 again this year!!!!

happy birthday!!!!