Time Flies...

Whew, has it really been almost 3 months since our last post!?! So sorry everyone. Needless to say there has been a lot going on in the Meade household. Cooper has grown into a little boy right in front of our eyes. Chris has been swamped with appraisal work and will be applying for his license before the new year. And I have found a new job. Yes, after seven years with Neulogic I have found an opportunity that was too good to pass up. I will start work January 7 as a Senior Systems Consultant with the Center for Knowledge Management at The Ohio State University Medical Center. It's very exciting and scary at the same time. I haven't been the "new kid" in quite a while. My role will be similar to what I did at Neulogic (Coldfusion application development.) I'm really excited about working for the university and all the benefits it has to offer (sorry everyone, I can't get football tickets until I've been there 3 years.)

Enough about Chris and I and on to the real reason you are here...Cooper. It's hard to believe the little guy will be one year old in just a few weeks. It still feels like yesterday that we brought him home. He has changed a lot in the last few months. Here are some highlights...

Here's Cooper doing some stretches to celebrate being 9 months old. This is about the time he started working on crawling...



Then it was time for a trip to the doctor for his 9 month checkup. It was really cold that day so we broke out the coat and winter hat.


Dr. Jen said Cooper was doing great and was right on track. He grew a little over an inch and gained almost 2.5 pounds. The doc said it was a good time to start trying solid foods like Cheerios. Cooper was not impressed...


Shortly after that Cooper's first teeth started coming in. Both bottoms at the same time.


Cooper was a lion for Halloween. He didn't seem to mind the costume at all. Chris helped him check out his new look in the mirror.


This is early November and is purely gratuitous cuteness. He's wearing one of the shirts Aunt Carole got him. She gave them to us right after Cooper was born and at the time it seemed like he would never be that big...now he has almost outgrown them.


This is Cooper fresh out of the bath. He's doing his best Cosmo Kramer impersonation.


This is Cooper at 10 months old.


We went to Grammie and Papa's the weekend of November 9 and celebrated an early Thanksgiving. This is around the time Cooper really started crawling. His technique is more of an army crawl. It ain't pretty but it gets the job done. Cousin Kaylee showed Cooper around the playhouse.


And then he hung out with Uncle Eric.


And cousin Logan showed him how to play Nintendo


and how to be cute


We also took some family pictures with Grandad.


And before we left we had breakfast with grandma.


The following week was a big one for Cooper. His top teeth started coming in, 3 at once. He was a little cranky but not too bad. He also figured out how to sit up on his own and within a day or so was also pulling himself up to standing. These new developments meant it was time to lower the crib. He also learned to clap his hands.


We got a booster seat to take to Mamaw and Papaw's for Thanksgiving. Cooper seemed to like it but liked the box even more.


And so we were off to Portsmouth for Thanksgiving. Mamaw and Papaw couldn't wait to see Cooper.


After a superb dinner Cooper and Uncle Steve had a wrestling match.


Of course there was time to love on grandma too.


Shortly after Thanksgiving Cooper was standing up every chance he got. He really like to pull himself up on his LeapStages. It plays different sounds and songs when he presses the levers. Chris and I find ourselves singing these songs at the most random of times.


Before we knew it we were in December and Cooper was 11 months old. Grammie came to stay with us that weekend and Monday and Tuesday so Chris and I could go to the annual Dull Christmas Party and so Chris could go to Cleveland to take his continuing education classes. Saturday we went to the library to meet Santa Claus. Cooper wasn't afraid one bit and sat on Santa's lap as if he were an old friend.


Cooper started getting his fourth top tooth while Grammie was here and so the nights got a bit long. When Chris got back we decided it was time for some tough love and made Cooper start putting himself to sleep so we implemented a "cry it out policy". The first few nights were very hard because I'm the first to admit I don't like to hear Cooper cry. But after a few days and introducing a plush puppy dog as a comfort object there has been little crying and three nights in a row of Cooper sleeping fully through the night with barely a peep! In the mornings he wakes up and just plays in his crib until we come and get him. It's a really amazing transition and only took a little over a week. Thank goodness for the little blue puppy that Linda and Laura gave Cooper right after he was born. Now all we have to do is get Floyd to sleep through the night (or learn how to flush).


In the past week Cooper has also really started to "cruise" by pulling himself up on the furniture and using it to support himself while he moves from one end to the other. He's also started licking everything. This is pretty strange and a bit disturbing. Especially when he licks things like the edge of the table at a restaurant. Most unsanitary. He's been saying "da-da" a lot and also "daaa". Not sure if this is another form of "da-da" or possibly dog. Anything Floyd does really makes him giggle. He really knows the meaning of the word "no" because he's been hearing it so much lately. My know is moderately effective where Chris is overly effective. Just the other day he made Cooper cry by just saying it in a very stern voice. He still isn't eating much "real" food. The stage 3 baby food includes chunks and he will sift through it in his mouth eating the mushy part and pushing the chunks of carrot back out. We've also tried things like canned peas and he does the same thing.

This past weekend we went to Mitchell's first birthday party. It was pretty fun to see Cooper interact with other kids. Once the gifts were opened there was a mini melee of all the kids playing with them. Of all the flashing and beeping toys Cooper's favorite was a miniature orange traffic cone. Go figure...simple just like his dad.

And last but not least here is his 11 month picture.