Olsen Family Photos

We had a family photo shoot today. Cooper, Bob, me, my folks. It was a lot of fun. Here are some of my favorite shots.

A fun weekend

With lots of not-so-fun stuff happening we decided it was time for a fun weekend to get everyone's mind off the icky stuff (especially mine LOL). Friday we picked up my dad, Cooper's grandfather, at the airport. Saturday we attended a fantastic block party on our street and had all of Cooper's grandparents under one roof for the night. Today we all went down to Disneyland for the day - me, Bob, my parents, Cooper, and our dear friends Kristy & Addie. I'm slowly regaining my strength back and getting less sore, so it was nice to get out for some walking around the park and it was wonderful having my folks with us to share it with and they helped with Cooper tremendously so that I wouldn't break any of the post-surgical recovery rules. Thank you, mom & dad!

It really was a wonderful weekend.

Here are a few pics from today -- there's lots more but I'll need some time to upload them from the camera - stay tuned, I'll get them posted. ;)

"Truck!" and other utterings

As Cooper played in the living room today with the nanny by his side, a big truck drove down the street. Cooper heard it coming, stood up and looked out the window and yelled "truck!" Wow! Then the nanny told me that he said "thank you" to her three times this morning while I was out at an appointment. While we were discussing that, he threw his leg over a ride-on toy so he was straddling it and proceeded to use his feet/legs to move himself forward!

It's a shame there wasn't some video camera set up and pointed at me during all of this, it probably would have made for some great entertainment as my jaw hit the floor and then cheered and clapped for Cooper and then he yelled and clapped too!

I'm glad he's home and not in daycare - it's moments like these that keep me going through this very challenging time.

Sleep success and sneaky teeth

So far, so good, on the sleep training front. Marked improvement from one night to the next - almost unbelievable actually. Of course, now that I've "documented" it I'm sure it'll fall apart ;/ - OK, no, this time I'm not permitting that - this time I demand the success to be sustained! LOL

Anyway, while playing with Coop yesterday and he let out a huge belly laugh with his mouth wide open I noticed two more teeth working their way through his upper gums. One has even poked through slightly already. Sort of explains why the sleep thing fell apart on us last week, huh!? Pulled out the teething tabs and infant Tylenol and voila, a happier, calmer baby. Gotta love that.

Cooper had fun this weekend, eating new foods (turkey meatloaf, fresh broccoli and green beans) and hanging out today at Venice Beach with me, his grandma, and my "little sister". He also got great stroller walks/jogs down to the pond to watch the ducks with our friend and neighbor, Clare, both Saturday and Sunday morning. Thank you, Clare! :)

Ferberizing...again.

We had one blissful night last Friday night when Cooper managed to eek out a 7 hour stretch in his crib. I was so hopeful and excited that our troubles in the sleep department were over. Not quite. Ever since, he's been up every 1-3 hours (mostly every hour or two) all night every night. Keeping me from getting sleep that I need now more than ever before. Finally, this morning I called the pediatrician, hoping they'd offer me some magical supplement or cure for this issue. I knew better though - I knew as soon as I started describing what we'd been doing (inconsistent like crazy b/c we have 3 adults doing it differently all the time out of desperation), I knew what he was going to say. We need to be consistent with the method until it kicks in.

So, I handed my mom the book with the pages of rules marked so she could get right to it, and we talked about how it will work and we decided to start with 10 minute intervals since we already exhausted the 5 minute mark and it wasn't effective anymore. We decided to put him to bed an hour or more later than usual to ensure he was tired, and we took him out in his wagon for a ride up and down the street after dinner. He got lots of attention from the neighbors and we got some much needed fresh air. Then we put him in the car and ran a couple errands. We didn't want him to fall asleep but he did. So when we got home we got him out of the seat and started the bedtime routine (diaper, PJs, brush teeth, read book, bottle, then bed).

Mom placed him in the crib awake but very tired and he started screaming immediately. I patted and rubbed his back and told him "night night" and we left the room and started the clock. At 10 minutes, I walked in, rubbed his back, said "night night" a few times and then walked out. Within 5 minutes of that he was asleep! Since then, he has woken 2 more times but has fallen back asleep on his own in less than 10 minutes so we haven't had to go in there to console him. We've stuck to the 10 minutes since we haven't had to go in more than once but if we did have to we'd go up to 12 and then 15. Tomorrow, if we're still at 10 min tonight, we'll start with 12 minutes and go from there.

We all need a lot more sleep around here - including Cooper. Right now, I especially need it - I need to nurture my body and my mind for improved immunity and health. There just isn't a choice anymore due to our circumstances. I hope it works quickly but it will probably take some time. We'll see. Wish us luck! :)

Happy birthday, Cooper!

Happy 1st Birthday, Cooper!

We love you so very much!

On this day, June 21, 2008, at 5:52am, Cooper Mitchell Olsen blessed our lives with his early birth. It was a difficult, complicated and stressful pregnancy that included a rescue surgery at 16 weeks, and 19 weeks of strict bed rest, millions of prayers, the talented and compassionate care of two amazing doctors...and by the grace of God he arrived safely at 35 weeks and spent no time in the NICU. Every nanosecond of time spent in bed and every sacrifice made was worth it. He's the pride and joy of our lives. Today, we celebrate his entrance into our lives, on his late grandfather's birthday, on the Summer Solstice, which also happens to be Father's Day this year. We love you, Cooper!

Holy sleep!!

We have a record! Last night, Cooper gave us 7 consecutive hours of sleep - in the crib!! The last time he slept more than 3-4 consecutive hours was when he slept 5-6 hours one night and 8 hours the next after coming home from being hospitalized when he was 4 months old. Since then we've suffered through wakings ranging from every hour to every 2-3 hours. This past week since I came home from the hospital we've only needed to go into his room 3 times each night.

As many predicted, I was awake every 2-3 hours, laying in bed wondering if he was OK and then snuck into his room to confirm he was breathing. haha!

I'm so proud of my little man! Great job Cooper!!

He went to bed at 8 pm and was up crying twice before 9pm but then slept from 9 pm - 4 am! At 4 am I thought he might go back to sleep on his own (b/c a couple times before that I heard him wimper for a few seconds but fell right back to sleep on his own) but he got more and more upset as the 5-6 minute mark passed by and I knew from the type of cry that he was hungry. My mom brought a bottle in, picked him and and fed him in the rocking chair and he drank the full bottle and fell right back to sleep and slept 2 more hours after that!

Yay!!!