Cooper John 9 months

9 months. 3/4 of a year. He's been around as long as I was pregnant (if you don't count the 4 early weeks of pregnancy). Another milestone and another month of incredible growth.  This month I am in utter amazement of what this boy is learning to do.  

How does he know what to do next???? 

I am baffled. 

  

I have found a new admiration for creation and the God who designed it all.

So last month he started crawling.  From there he learned to push himself up to a sitting position when he wanted a break from the crawling. Then he started pulling himself up on things!  It all happened in a matter of weeks.  

How does he know what to do next??? 

Still baffled. 

But totally in love with watching him figure it all out.  

He approaches these new skills with such determination.  He has a sense of freedom with his newfound skills too.  And boy is he brave!  He pulls up without any reservation of possibly falling over.  He goes for things out of his reach without fear of losing balance.  He looks over the edge of the chair at his toys below and is ready to dive down and get them. He crawls down the hall and into rooms looking for us if we have left the room he was in.  Not afraid.  I wouldn't mind if he was just a little more cautious.  But the Lord is giving me another avenue to say "I have placed this precious boy into your hands Lord and I trust You."  

Other fun tidbits about the boy this month.  

He started clapping the day he turned 9 months.  He was on his changing table and just started clapping.  He does it with such gusto too!  Very purposeful about his claps.  

He had his first round of antibiotics for an ear infection.  He had his first fever that lasted about 5 days stemming from a throat infection.  He was one sick boy.

He traveled to Lake Arrowhead to hang with our friends from Compass for one last hurrah!

And this one is huge..are you ready for this... he stayed overnight without me...twice!!  The first time we left him with his Grammie and Gramps overnight. Then the next weekend I escaped with the ladies from North Coast Church and he had his Papa all to himself for two days! He did great.  I don't think he even missed me and it was easier than I thought it would be.

And finally..the photos.

It is getting so hard to get these photos!  This next series is me trying to get him to look at me, but as you can see so many other things are more interesting.  Like eating the chair of course.

 He has pulled up!

 Are those some delicious legs or what!!

Here we go..start to finish of pulling up!

He is so sweet with his books.  He loves to crawl into the closet and pull them out.

Nope. Not afraid.

 Look, I'll just use one hand!

...and I'll climb all over Papa

 But wait.. he is bigger than me..and can tackle me!!!

Thankful for another month of giggles.

Cooper John 8 months

Here we go with another month to report on!  I'm sitting here typing, watching him on the monitor move about in his bed instead of taking his nap and smiling because it seems like Cooper has always been part of our family.  Our days without him seem so distant when in reality less than a year ago we didn't even know we were having a boy!

The big news this month is CRAWLING!!  Just a few days after Cooper passed up the 8 month mark he figured it out.  Moving the hands and legs together to move forward.  What a feat!  For the past month he had been trying so hard.  He had the legs down for a long time before he got the arms moving.  But all the pieces have been put together and he is on the move!  He still prefers to get up on all fours and fling himself forward..he can get there faster...but I can be sure by the 9 month post I'll be able to report about a little man crawling all over the place...and a tired mama chasing after him.

He continues to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables...not turning his nose up at too many.  His definite favorites include avocado, sweet potato, apple sauce and banana. The next up in his cue to try are proteins and dairy!  Yogurt, tofu, chicken..yummy!

He is so curious and interested in what is going on.  We pray that curiosity stays and leads him to an understanding of what Christ accomplished on the cross.  That he remains interested in other people and has a heart to love them.  He is sweet and playful and rough and tough all at the same time. 

He is precious to us. So precious.  

He experienced his first trauma this past month.  We were driving out on the toll roads in Orange County when we were hit by a car running a red light.  It was loud and spun us around, but by God's grace we were both unharmed.  Cooper charmed the Police Officers and Paramedics as well as two passer-bys who stopped to help. The car is in the shop, Coop has a new car seat and I am ever so thankful it wasn't any worse. 

And of course... a photo gallery of our big boy!

This face with the bed head cracks me up..and yes I took the photo into the sun :) 

This next series is so typical Cooper. Fingers in his mouth and rolling around! The only thing missing is grabbing his feet and putting them in his mouth.

And lastly, our crawler.  So proud of him! 

This month I am counting my blessings and praising God, who before time began planned the course of each of our lives and decided Cooper should be part of ours.

Cooper John 7 months

I LOVE this face!  I especially like this picture because this is a look I get often throughout the day.  One finger in his mouth, a toothless grin and big happy eyes.  This kid brings such joy to his Mama!  

The 7th month of Cooper's life brought a lot of growing up.  Is that true for all youngsters?  

He plays well independently.  

He notices everything and grabs at everything.  

He laughs when Louie comes into the room and watches him intently. 

He giggles with such delight when his Papa comes home from work.  

He examines his surroundings...sometimes he likes what he sees and sometimes he doesn't. 

He knows when he is about to get into the bath or have something to eat and gets excited.  

He talks to himself and to others with total animation. 

He ditched the swaddle cold turkey after making it clear if was irritating him rather than helping him.

He gets himself to sleep for bedtime and all his naps (after about a week of letting him cry..so good for him..so hard for me).

He puts his pacifier in his mouth on his own.

And there is more...but I'll let the pictures tell the rest.  

{playing in his room with some of his favorite toys}

{he notices the airplane now and wants to grab it}

This is his biggest accomplishment of the month by far!  Look at our strong boy! That is one good plank if I don't say so myself! It's the beginnings of crawling...

{and reaching}

wouldn't you melt if you got a look like this one?!?!

Predictions on when we are going to have to cut his hair? Before 1 year?

Savoring every moment and every month the Lord allows us with our little man.