Birthday Party

It was so fun to be able to throw Cooper a birthday party this year.  I was so sad that I missed his birthday last year, but it just made this year even more special.

Cooper had an airplane birthday party and lots of family members came to celebrate with him.  I think Coop had a blast!  We all had fun watching him.  He’s getting so big. I just can’t believe he’s two!

Cooper just loved having so many people who loved him all in one place on his special day.  He had fun opening his gifts.  One of his favorite gifts was the box that his new rocking horse came in.  It was played with a lot :)  He was also really excited to blow out his candles.  After he blew the candles out the first time, he excitedly proclaimed “One more!”.  Mommy lit the candles again and let him blow them out one more time :)  I can’t resist that cute face!

Here are some pics from the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

                                  

We love our little guy!

Happy Birthday Cooper!!!

Our boy is 2 years old today!  We are so grateful that this year on his birthday he was home and was celebrating with family and friends.  We had a great time at his airplane birthday party this weekend. Pictures and details to come soon!

Still here…

We’re still here.  I just haven’t made the time to post lately. 

Cooper’s been loving the tiny tot swim at our local pool.  Wonderful idea.. its only for the “tiny tots” and their parents.  It costs $2 to get in and it is in the morning, which is the best time because its before nap!  We love it.

Isn’t he the cutest little swimmer?

 

 

 We also had a fun 4th.  Cooper liked the fireworks. He was a little overstimulated and it was way past bedtime, but he did pretty well.  I love the pic of him with Josh.  He just adores his daddy.

One year ago today…

One year ago today my life changed forever.  One year ago today I saw the sweet face of a child living an an orphanage in Vietnam and fell in love. 

After receiving an e-mail from our caseworker that there was a 9 month old baby boy available for adoption, I logged on to our agency’s website to view pictures of him.  I felt an immediate connection that I couldn’t explain.  I thought he was the cutest child I’d ever seen.  I spent the next 24 hours looking at his pictures over and over again, researching his condition and e-mailing our caseworker about him.  We had a lot of information to think through and pray through, but I think Josh and I knew in our hearts the moment we saw him that he was ours.  Nothing in my life has required the amount of faith it took for us to make the decision to adopt him with such limited information on what his medical progonsis would be.  Nothing in my life has ever been more rewarding. 

One year ago, I saw his face for the first time.  Now I know all of his many facial expressions and what each one means about his mood or what he’s trying to communicate.  One year ago, I woke up wondering when God would give me a child.  This morning, I woke up to the sound of Cooper in the baby monitor.  One year ago, I spent all evening researching his diagnosis and learning about all the serious effects it could have on his health.  Tonight I played, giggled and cuddled with my perfectly healthy little boy.  One year ago, I only knew him through pictures.  Now, I love him more deeply than I ever knew possible.

Lots of fun!

Cooper has been a busy boy lately. 

We went to spend Memorial Day Weekend with Grammy and Pops in KC.  Cooper experienced his first boat ride and first picnic at the park while we were there.  He also went to a petting zoo and a children’t music festival while we were there.  I was completely exhausted by the time we got home and I’m sure my parents were tired when we left. 

I forgot my camera charger on our trip and haven’t gotten pics from my mom of the 2nd half of the weekend but here are a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also spent a day at the zoo with our cousin Megan as we celebrated the day she became a part of our family forever!  Cooper and Megan LOVE each other. He has so much fun every time we see her.

 

 

Cooper was really excited to be on the train and kept saying “Choo! Choo!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The children’s zoo has fountains to play in.  I didn’t bring Cooper’s suit or a change of clothes but we let him play in his diaper.  He loved it!

Good Video

One of the best things about our adoption journey is how much God has taught me about Himself. He has adopted us into His family. He is our adoptive Father.  I know I will never fully understand His love for me, but looking into the big brown eyes of my baby has certainly taught me a lot about God’s love.
This is a great video by John Piper, who is also an adoptive parent. It touches on a lot of things that God has shown me through my journey of becoming an adoptive parent.

The Move

So most if you probably know that my blog break was due to the fact that we moved.  Josh got a new youth ministry position and we have been in our new city for about a week now.

Cooper has done amazingly well with the move.  I think Josh and I have had a harder time with it than he has!  I worried so much about that we would be confused when we said “bye, bye” to our house and didn’t go back but he has done great.  He’s so resilient! 

Our first day at our new church was Mother’s Day.  We also took part in the Parent/Baby Dedication at our new church last Sunday.  Here are a couple pics from the day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will try to start updating more often now!  There are many good friends that will no longer be seeing Cooper on a regular basis, so we’ll try to keep  you up to speed through the blog.

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.  We had a great day celebrating our first Easter with Coop!

Cooper’s day consisted of waking up to his Easter basket at home, going to church, and Easter dinner with an indoor egg hunt at Grammy and Pops’ house.  (It was raining here.)  He was a little more focused on opening the plastic eggs than he was with collecting them. 

Cooper’s favorite part of the day was that Uncle Storm drove home for a few hours to have dinner with us.  This picture speaks for itself, but Cooper adores his Uncle Storm.

 

Happy Easter and may the focus of this day be on the TRUE reason that we celebrate!

M-I-Z-Z-O-U

18 month update

For those who haven’t heard the update on Cooper’s tests, we did get the results of his MRI last week.  It was very good news!  The doctors found NOTHING concerning with his little brain at all.  We were so excited to receive that news!  Thanks to all who have been praying for him.  His story has been such a miracle and we feel blessed to be a part of it.

Our baby is 18 months old!  I can’t believe how much he’s grown and changed since we brought him home 5 months ago.  Here is a little about Cooper at 18 months.

PHYSICAL:

- He’s about 35 inches tall and weighs over 30 lbs.  We haven’t been to the doctor in a few weeks, so I don’t have exacts but he’s a big boy and continues to get bigger all the time!

- He’s walking very well now and has been for a couple months.  His balance gets better all the time.  Recently, he has started trying to run.  Sometimes he’s successful and sometimes he falls on his face.  He’s also learned to walk backwards and thinks that’s pretty cool!

- He has 8 teeth and seems to be working on about 8 more.  He’s got little teeth peeking through his gums all through his mouth but hasn’t cut any more just yet.  Poor baby has been pointing to his mouth all the time for the past couple weeks trying to tell me that it hurts :(

LANGUAGE:

- He understands A LOT of what is said now. When I speak in fairly simple terms, I’d say he understands about 75% of what I’m saying.  

- His vocabulary is growing all the time.  He says 10 words really clearly and has about 10-15 more words that he says and Josh and I can understand.

-He has recently started responding with “No, No, No” when he doesn’t want to do something.  Josh doesn’t so much think this is funny but I have a hard time not laughing when he does this.

- He still uses about 5 signs for words that he can’t yet say. 

-Can identify head, hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, lips, belly, hands, feet, fingers and toes when asked.

SOCIAL:

- Plays peek-a-boo all the time.  He covers his eyes with both hands and and quickly removes them from his face while yelling “BOO!!!” This is how he greets people these days.  I bet he says “boo” over 100 times every day. I’m not kidding…

- He also greets all people and animals with a “Hi” and a wave.  The first thing he does in the morning after getting out of bed is search the house for Lilly so he can say hi to her. 

- He tickles.

- He’ll pretty much do anything to get a laugh out of you.  Nothing delights him more than to catch someone off guard by doing something cute/funny and make them giggle.  He squeals with delight when he gets a laugh from someone. Here’s our little clown trying to make us laugh one morning by sticking part of a blueberry pancake to his forehead. 

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Yo Gabba Gabba

FAVORITE FOOD: Toss up between scrambled eggs and mandarin oranges

FAVORITE ACCESSORY: Hats.  He will make anything into a hat.

FAVORITE TOY: His basketball..no joke..he walks around the house saying “Ball..Ball..Ball”  and bouncing it up and down.  I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how happy this makes Josh.

We love our Cooper!  He’s only been with us for 5 months and I don’t know how I ever lived without him!  He’s such a joy!