Nothing sweeter...

than an "after bath" baby!

And here is Coop showing me his...

Happy Face!!

Mad Face!!

18 months!!!

Someone is 1 1/2 years old! Craziness!

I'm a little late on this post, but it's been bonkers around here! Better late than never!

Whitt's 18 month Stats:

Weight: 23.7 lbs. (20 %). He hasn't gained a single pound in over 3 months.

Height: 32 3/4 in. (55%). He's grown about 1 1/4 inch in 3 months.

Head circumference: 18 in (5 %). Head hasn't grown at all in 3 months.

Coop's 18 month Stats:

Weight: 23.12 lbs. (25%)

Height: 34 1/4 in (95%)

Head circumference: ?

• You finally had tubes put in last Friday!!!! It has been over a week now, and you feel 1,000% better! You tricked us on your sleeping habits though. Right after surgery you gave us 3 good nights of sleeping 12 hours. You are now waking up several times again. However, the past two nights, we are stern with you and told you to go back to sleep. You kicked and screamed for a few minutes and then fell back to sleep. This happened 3 times last night. You are just wanting me to hold you so you can soothe yourself with my eyebrows! I'm so wishing you had better "self soothing" technique!
• Here is a picture of your little ear! You had been pulling and digging so hard that you dug a hole in the back of your ear!
• 
• You are teething big time! Along with giving us a few great nights of sleep after surgery, you decided you wanted to eat again as well. Well, that has all come to a halt and you are now back to your picky ways and wanting super soft foods. I'm blaming it on teeth for now! I see two lower ones breaking through and it looks like your first molar is trying to cut through as well.
• I am most certain you are going to turn into a chicken nugget because that is the only solid food you will eat. The rest is either yogurt or those new pouch things that have fruit and veggies in them. Your favorites are broccoli and apple mixed together and the other one is spinach, peas and mango! Gross! But at least your getting something nutritional. You like milk, but not as much as your big brother. I would say you get about 2 cups a day. Cooper used to BEG for it all day long. You really just want it in the morning and at night.
• You are still quite moody and are hard to cheer up when you are in a bad mood. I nervous about you!!! I think I need to finally invest in some parenting books! I haven't had to do that with Cooper (not that I shouldn't have....just haven't had a super great need to)! But I am going to need some advice on defiant children and how to handle temper tantrums! Because you can throw a mean one!
• That being said, you are soooooooo sweet and sooooo funny! You have discovered silly walks and waddle around trying out different ways to walk every day! You love to giggle, and when you are a good mood, you are in a very good mood! When you are in a bad mood...well, you know the rest!
• You love to snuggle up and rub on eyebrows...anybody's eyebrows will do.
• Your favorite shows are Mickey Mouse and Bubble Guppies. You could care less about any other shows. I've been trying to cut back on the tv watching! For the past 4 months, it was the only thing that made you stop crying when you were in so much pain. There were even nights that I would turn it on at 2 a.m. just to get your mind off being miserable and onto something....anything else! I guess you could just zone out on it and forget the pain. Now that you are feeling better, there is no need to watch 4 episodes a day! Did I just admit that!?
• You love books, but aren't really into the story yet. Just love pointing to pictures and "talking" about what you see. Any book with animals or cars is right up your ally!
• You are o-b-s-e-s-s-e-d with letters!! Go figure! So was Cooper! You can solidly identify "B" "K" "O" and "S". I have yet to get it on video, but will try to capture it soon. It's pretty stinkin' cute!
• Words-cat, car, mama (but now call me daddy), daddy, DeeDee, ca-ca (cracker), mo (more), soo (shoe), bee, NO, ou-si (outside), bubba (bubble), apple (clear as day), bye-bye. And my favorite...poo (Cooper). I'm hoping with your new tubes, your speech will pick up!
• Still the same animal sounds as last time. You are just more animated now!!!
• You LOVE the abc song and try to sing it. Precious.
• You love to dance to music.
• You love to clap for yourself and play "Where's Whitten?"
• You love being outside.
• You got your first major goose-egg on your forehead! The first one in our family! See...
• You are still so delicious and so very precious! I love you more and more each day!!! Happy 1 1/2 years sweet boy!

Coop at 18 months

Boys will be boys

Every once in a while, Whitten will get a little surge of energy and want to play!

Going under the knife

Whitt has his tube surgery set for March 16. It feels like a million years away considering we have been up ALL night for the past 5 nights. We've been working in shifts. Josh goes to bed early and sleeps 6-7 hours because he has to be able to function and make important decisions at work. I stay up with him until about 4 am before I hand him over to Josh. Sweet boy is in so much pain that his whole body will shake when he is crying. Before this horrendous episode, he was actually doing quite well! You would have never known that his ears were so infected...until he got this nasty virus and it exacerbated the ear issue to a new degree.

I will also be going under the knife on March 30. I had a breast check up with my doctor yesterday and he feels that it is time to go ahead and have a lumpectomy. The lump is not doing what he expected it to do and this is the next step. I've had a benign biopsy on this same lump, so I am hopeful that this is just part of the process and I will have a clean bill of health. This will be my second lumpectomy in 3 years. I say let's just cut them off and start over! Right?! Anyway, prayers would be greatly appreciated. For some odd reason, I'm not all worked up over like I thought I would be. Maybe it's because I'm so exhausted from taking care of a sick baby that I'm just living in a fog!!!

Cowboy Coop!

It was "Western Day" at school today, so of course we had to dress up like a cowboy! Funny thing is.....we had to borrow boots from his cousin Conner, the Wranglers and polo shirt were from his buddy Cole, and well....I had to go buy a cowboy hat! BUT...he was totally diggin' it!

He was in charge of the "letter bag" today and the letter was "W". Obviously, we had to put Woody in the bag, and he was soooooo excited because Woody was a cowboy, too!! Oh, and we sure did put a picture of Whitten in his bag! Cooper decided that was a better idea than actually trying to fit his little brother in his bag!

Whitt trying out the cowboy hat!

Cooper was about 18 months in these next pics! I thought he would just look so cute in cowboy boots! He thought differently!!!!! Poor boy couldn't stand up in them!