Cooper Update

I took Cooper in for his 6 month checkup yesterday.  He's nearly 7 months now, but at least we made it!  He's 15 lbs, 3 oz (6 %tile) 26.75 inches (36 %tile) and head circumference is 17.75 (86 %ile).  I have been worried for the last couple weeks that he's not gaining enough weight, and the doctor confirmed my suspicion. So I'm back on the Tyson route, amping up the feedings and adding more solid foods.  So hopefully at his 9 month checkup he will be a little chubbier!

Cooper is sleeping so much better these days.  We've had quite a few nights that he's slept through lately (hooray!) and I love that for the most part I can just kiss him goodnight, turn on his white noise and shut the door.  He's sitting up when he feels like it, though he's still pretty wobbly.  He gets sad when I walk by him and don't pick him up.  He is starting to really like Alex and enjoys being held by him now.  He loves the exersaucer, and gets very excited when he sees a spoonful of baby food.

We love this sweet baby!

Ice Cream Sandwiches in the Front Yard...

Turned into a mini photo shoot and lots of laughing (and then some tears from a tired baby).  I sure love these kids of ours.

Bear Lake 2013

We've come to love this fun annual Stoddard Family tradition of Bear Lake over the July 24th holiday.  We love time with cousins, late night games once the kids finally all go to bed, and lazy afternoons playing in the lake.  I realized about an hour into the drive that I forgot my nice camera and it made me so mad!  Luckily my phone takes decent pictures so I was able to capture a few moments.

The lake had a huge beach area this year, so there was a ton of super shallow play area for the kids. 

Grandma Liz playing with Tyson, Jill, and Libby. 

Brynne, Porter, and Garrett. 

Brandon and Porter taught the kids how to catch frogs, and Brynne had a great time chasing them. 

Sure love this cute baby, even though he was a big stinker with sleep the first two days.  Luckily the last full day and night he did much better!

These girls, along with a couple other cousins, created the frog doctor where they tried to help sick and injured frogs by covering their wounds with sand, and deciding if the reason for them not using one leg was due to a broken leg or a stroke.  

Mud bath time!  With Ella, Brandon, Keira, Alli, Libby, Callie, Holly, and Abbey.  We love these cousins.

Sunday 10

1.  What a week!  I like these holiday weeks that Alex doesn't have to work as much.  We got to spend lots of time together.  Sunday night we went to Spanish Fork for Becca's birthday dinner.  We were a little late getting there because I was getting Cooper ready to go and thought he looked too cute to not do a little photo shoot.  

2.  Monday was a big day around here: the start of potty training!  We had done a countdown the whole week before, so we were all mentally prepared for such a dreadful transition. Day one wasn't too bad, day two was also pretty good, day 4 had a rough start but was good in the afternoon.  I'm relieved and happy to say that Tyson has exceeded our expectations!  He tells us when he needs to go, occasionally just pulls off his pants and goes in the bathroom without telling us, and actually likes wearing big boy underwear.  We have the occasional accident but he's really doing so well!
3.  Monday night I chopped my hair.  I think I probably got about 9 inches cut off.  I miss it a little, but mostly I'm enjoying it being short.  We went out to Coldstone afterwards and got ice cream.
4.  Tuesday the girls had piano.  The younger 3 and I went to Target to grab a couple things.  Tyson stayed dry the whole time and even told me he needed to use the bathroom.  I was really impressed!  Afterwards we met up with Alex and his coworkers for birthday lunch at Costa Vida.  That night Alex took the girls swimming at the outdoor pool.
5.  Wednesday morning I went to Chelsea's for roommate breakfast because Debbie was in town!  It's always fun to get together with those girls. 
6.  We went swimming at the Legacy Center that evening and got a redbox so the girls could have a late night.
7.  Thursday morning we went to the parade in Provo.  We sat with Cindy and Chad and all of Chad's family, and Steven was there, too!  We brought Steven back to our house after and we hung out for a couple hours until it was time to go to the annual crashing-the-Clark's-4th-party lunch.  It was a great time, as usual.  The kids all loved the slip-n-slide!

8.  We came home afterwards and crashed for a little, then went across the street to do some fireworks with the neighbors.  We all just had the little ones, so we were grateful to the people nearby that bought the bigger ones that we could watch.  The pop-its were a huge hit with Tyson!
9.  Friday we just chilled at home for the most part, and Alex and I went on a dinner date with the Gardners that night.
10.  Saturday was another fun one!  I broke away from the kids for an hour and a half and ran some errands.  Then we met up with Liz and Betsy and her kids at the dinosaur museum and spent 3 hours playing.  They had their new "tinkering" exhibit up which was a hit!  We all loved it.

Tyson Turns 3!

Tyson turned 3 last Saturday!  We spent a fun day together, and even got to spend a lot of time with Suzi and Martin who were in town.  

 We made a big deal about this being his last sippy cup of milk.  He still asked for one a couple times this week, but he has done great without it!

We had pancakes for breakfast and let him blow out the candles.

Alex went golfing with Martin in the morning, and the kids and I hung out with Suzi at our house.  After golf we all went to Chick-fil-A for lunch, and then our family went to the Dinosaur Museum, which is Tyson's favorite place to go.  After the museum, Alex took the kids to Scheels and picked out a cool shirt for Tyson. When everyone got home we had some family and friends over and did dinner, cake and ice cream, and presents.

He got this little UPS truck from my parents and has been obsessed with it ever since!

I can't even express how much we love this kid around here.  He is so funny and sweet and moody (whoever told me that girls were more emotional lied.  Tyson is way more emotional than my girls so far!).  We like to say things like "bloodle bloddle" and "smeecher smocher" to each other, which always makes him laugh.  He loves to tickle, tackle, body slam, tell jokes (knock knock, who's there? Banana, banana who?  Toothbrush.) ride his bike and scooter, watch Little Einsteins, talk in a screechy high voice to Cooper, and play whatever game the girls want to include him in.  His favorite phrase these days is "I'm a little bit more hungry!"  He runs across the house to greet Alex when he comes home from work. He is a little charmer and we are beyond grateful for him.