Cooper's 1st Birthday

Cooper is 1!!!!

Cooper and his NICU buddy Johannah!! She is so beautiful!

We decided to do cake anyway.....

Cooper's presents!

What a wonderful day!! Cooper had a blast hanging with family and a few friends! We were showered with gifts for this sweet miracle!! We debated and debated about the cake and I kept changing my mind...He barely eats solids and definitely has not had sugar yet. When the time came, we gave it to him and he licked his fingers a few times and was done! He got very messy, so everyone got the pictures they wanted!! After a short bath he rejoined the party and opened his gifts...Note to self: Save money; give wrapping paper and boxes!! What a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is Cooper 1 year ago!! We truly have A LOT to be thankful for!!

I am counting my blessings today:

1. My husband, Kevin, who works very hard and is a very "frugal" with money! I am thankful for his frugalness~it has allowed me to stay home with Cooper this last year!!
2. My son Cooper! He is a fighter!! He is stubborn!! He is loving! He is funny!! I am blessed!
3. Our friends and family! They have prayed us through this LONG year!
4. Doctors and nurses who really care!!
5. Military who fight for our freedom and sacrifice being away from their family!
6. Our Early Intervention teacher, Mrs. Sandy!
7. Our wonderful church family!
8. We have a warm home with all the comforts!
9. We have food in the pantry!
10. Too many to count!!

Most importantly, We are thankful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He died on the cross for our sins, even though we are grossly undeserving! Thank you Lord for our many, MANY blessings!!

Can it really be this easy??

Cooper and I with our glasses! He is too cute!! He has his Daddy's "serious" face! LOL

Cooper has been off oxygen during the day now for 2 weeks!! I cannot believe he is doing so well! He keeps his oxygen saturation anywhere from 97-99%; which is pretty fantastic! I am very much enjoying taking him places without the extra equipment! He is enjoying no nasal cannula attached to his face!!

I did have a moment of doubt and had to ask our pediatrician if he was really ok....It's kind of funny now! The monitor was saying that his saturation was good, heart rate steady, he was in good spirits, and was not breathing too hard. My thought "what if he is working too hard and won't gain weight". I had to ask:  if everything says he is ok...is he really ok?? Can it be this easy to FINALLY come off oxygen. His answer was yes! When they are ready, they are ready. DUH! I should have remembered this from the NICU, but I've had some time away and forgot! :) He reminded me to trust my instincts! Dr Bill  is WONDERFUL!

We have also found AWESOME child care for Cooper! I am going back to work in January and have been praying for the right person to come along....enter Mrs. Amy! She is wonderful! She has a 9 month old son and the boys get along so well! I am excited for her son to teach Cooper a few things! We have already done a trial run, and Cooper didn't even cry....not going to say the same for me! I feel very confident that we have found the perfect fit for Cooper, so I can focus on going back to teaching in January!! God is good!

NO oxygen and New glasses!!!





Our pediatrician told us to do room air trials for a few hours to see how Cooper does without oxygen. Armed with this knowledge, we visited the BPD clinic at Vandy on Friday. I told them what his oxygen saturation is without oxygen for 3 hours (he stays around 97% or better). They were impressed and agreed that if he continued to do well, we could have him off oxygen during the day. He still gets oxygen at night.

It's day 5 off oxygen during the day and he is doing great!! I am very proud of our guy! His saturation remains high and he is not showing any signs of working too hard. I even asked my pediatrician if we were doing ok...it just seemed a little easy...

His glasses came in on Friday and he looks so cute. He doesn't pull at them too much unless he is tired or just happens to find them with his hands. We are working on what the word "NO" means...He still laughs when I say it...Boy am I in trouble!!

God is so good!!!

Cooper's 1st Halloween!

Ok....So I'm a little behind. We have been busy busy busy!! The Fall season and Halloween are my favorite time of year! I love the cool, crisp air and the changing colors of the leaves! Oh yeah and the pumpkins!! I was looking forward to having Cooper pose with pumpkins and getting lots of smiling pictures... Let's just say THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!

He was NOT HAPPY and kept throwing himself backward refusing to sit up and pose for a picture. I couldn't help but laugh!! We bought 3 pumpkins and decided to try again at home where we could control the situation a bit better...

This is so NOT what I had imagined...But they made for a funny story!!

I found the CUTEST spider costume for Cooper for Halloween and despite the fact that I have an irrational fear of spiders; he was the cutest spider I have ever seen!!

We took him to our church's Trunk or Treat on Halloween night and then around to the grandparents. He was such a cutie and had so much fun looking at all the costumes!! Needless to say, he was a big hit at the Trunk or Treat!

We decided to pose for a few more pictures at home....

 Enjoying some candy...

 Posing with the Jack-o-lantern...

And posing with another spider.

Happy Halloween everyone!!