Duluth 2010

Taylor and I took the kiddos on our first family of four vacation all on our own! We did a long weekend in Duluth. They were really good in the car on the way up and back home. The last 20 minutes both ways for Cooper got to be long, he had had enough and I was doing everything I could to keep him entertained.


When we arrived Cooper was ready for his afternoon nap so I took Miley to the pool while he took a nap with Taylor. Miley LOVED the pool. She hasn’t been swimming in a pool since her swimming lessons last spring, so it was fun to get her in there again. After we swam we got ready to go on our first train ride of the weekend. We took a short ride to the Bentlyville Tour of Lights which next to the Aquarium just as you enter Duluth. The lights were amazing! They had such cool displays and free cookies, hot chocolate, popcorn and marshmallows to roast in the fire pit area. They had Christmas creatures roaming around to pose for a photo, we met Mr. Penguin and Mr. Rudolph himself! We could have stood in line to see Santa, but it was cold and we were going to be visiting Santa on Saturday so we decided to skip that part. We got back to the hotel after the tour and had some pizza and curled up and watched the Christmas movies that were on that night.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast and headed for the pool. Cooper LOVED the pool! We spent about 2 hours there! Miley even participated in the sailboat races! After we swan we had lunch and a much needed nap. Then it was time for the main reason we went up there- the Polar Express train ride!!! We boarded the train which was covered with lights and had Christmas Music playing as you entered. We sang Christmas carols as we road to the “North Pole train station” which happened to be the train museum. We entered the train station to see the toy engines up and running. Then we were escorted into the next room where they had carolers singing and a big carpet rug laid out on the floor. The Children sat and were entertained by a Story teller reading them the Polar Express. The train station was decorated in lights and Christmas décor. After the story each child received their very own Christmas bell and they got to meet with Santa. Miley LOVED him and Cooper did well too. Miley said she wanted Dinosaurs- girl ones, not boy ones and told Santa that Cooper wanted some boy toys. (Yes, Santa did some last minute shopping to find some Girl dinosaurs as to keep the magic alive, she is CERTAIN Santa will bring her them!) We got to tour the train station before the Polar Express picked us up again and brought us back to Christmas Town where we got to have cookies and hot chocolate by a big bonfire. Then it was back to the hotel for some Olive Garden to go for Taylor and I and McDonald’s for the kiddos and then we all curled up and watched our favorite movie- The Christmas Story and drifted asleep.

It was a great little family Christmas Vacation and we hope to do something like that at least every other year. It was fun to do something special as a family at this time of year, and Duluth is so pretty in the winter. And shocking enough, they had less snow than we did!

We Wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Winter with the Pagel's

Well, it's been a month since I posted, that is SO not like me! It's been busy, when does it ever slow down? Never, for us! Cooper is 10 months now and we all have bets on him being able to walk by Christmas! Wouldn't that be an awesome Christmas present!!! He could do it, if he just would get brave enough. He barely hangs on to the things he holds when he walks and he has stood free standing by himself for periods of time, so now we just have to get some courage.

He has now decided he is an independent eater, he doesn't really go for the baby food anymore, he would rather feed himself. His FAVORITE foods are crackers and cooked carrots. He could seriously eat those all day long! He likes just about anything you put in front of him, I just hope he stays that way. I know I am trying to be very concious this time around about making sure he eats lots of veggies over and over again because I think, with Miley, we didn't push them on her and now she wants nothing to do with them. So, fingers crossed for Coop.

He has 6 teeth and the 7th is just about to pop. He seems to have slowed down a bit in the growing department. He is holding steady at 18 month clothes and I think we will be there for the remainder of the winter.

Happy as a Lark eating carrots!

Getting ready for his FIRST Christmas!!! Cutting down his FIRST Christmas Tree!!!

Next winter buddy, you can come out and make Fairy Snow Castles with Mommy and Miley.

Miss Miley- wow, Miss Miley. She's a SPONGE. Please watch out for what you say around her now! She will be quick to tell you if you say something that is naughty and quick to ask you what that "*****" (Insert word) means. I said 'freaking' the other day and she says, "Mom, what's a freaking?" Oh man! Good thing that was all I said!! She certainly is in the Terrible Two stage and heading into the Terrible Three's. She is Sassy but OH so cute! She makes us laugh daily! She says the funniest things that are well beyond her years. She loves to sing and makes up songs all the time about what she is doing. "Putting it in the Garbage, I'm putting it in the garbage, in the gggaaarrrbbbaageee....." I love her!

She's quite the girly girl too- loves putting on makeup with Mommy and doing her nails and she seems to always end up wearing her dresses by the end of the day, even if they are meant to only be worn in July!

Having Breakfast and a story with "Mrs. Santa" she called her.

This is one of her FAVORITE dresses.

Building Fairy Snow Castles

Picking out a tree and playing with snow balls

I'm sure, the first of many years where Family Christmas pictures will just not quite turn out how I imagined them too. :) Oh, the memories!

9 Month Stats

I brought Cooper in for his 9 month well child check up and here are the stats:

25.3 pounds (down a few ounces from when he went in at 8 months) which is off the charts still- but all his crawling and walking around has helped him hold steady with his weight

29 inches long- only the 45th percentile- short and chubby just like his sister was

The only shot he got was a flu shot and I brought Miley along so she could get her flu shot as well.

Miley LOVES going to the doctor, LOVES it! She was a little jealous that Dr. Dann was checking out Cooper and not her so when the nurse came in to give the shots she asked me who was going to go first and Miley jumped up and down and raised her hand say "Me, Me, Me, I'm first!" So, she sat up on the table and the nurse was telling her she was going to clean her leg and at the same time I took out her prize for doing a good job- a Kit Kat and showed her that if she does good she gets her candy. The nurse then said OK Miley, you will feel a little prick and then I'll be done. Miley watched her give her the shot, she tensed up for a half a second and then said "OUUU THAT REally hurt" And she was over it and grabbed her Kit Kat and then got super excited that she was getting a band-aid. The nurse looked at me and said- "Wow, that was REALLY REALLY good". Miley has always been good with shots, but I also don't hide the fact that she is getting one from her. We had discussed it the day before in full detail and I flat out told her that it would hurt, but only for a second and she as OK with that, as you can tell.

Then it was Cooper's turn. He got his shot and tensed up and let out a cry for one second and as soon as I stood up with him he was over it. I'm so proud of my kiddos! They are tough!

Cooper- 9 months

Mr. Cooper James has done leaps and bounds over the past month!

He still only has four teeth, two on top and two on bottom but the other four have GOT to be around the corner- he's been getting a runny nose again and crabby during the night.

His biggest accomplishment is that he became mobile, very mobile. All of a sudden one day he just figured out how to crawl, the next day he was pulling up on everything, the next day he was walking around furniture, then the next day he was walking behind push toys. Seriously, just in a snap of a finger. Every day we have been amazed at how much more he is doing. He gets into everything now, he has his own toy preferences, he has to be where the action is and he has no problem getting to the action. Plus, he has a big sister he is trying to keep up with, and he does fairly well at it!

He is a very good eater, shocking huh! We are still nursing several times a day but he is also now eating all three meals and a snack during the day. If anyone is eating anything when he is around he will make sure he comes over to check it out and take a taste. He LOVES carrots- diced carrots- that he can feed himself. He loves meat, pasta, bread, cheerios, all fruits and yogurt. Of course, all things ground up, I love my little hand grinder. We are starting to break away from the baby food and just grinding up what we are eating and he is much happier with that. I'm thinking this weekend we might start teaching him how to feed himself with a spoon- we'll see how that goes. He picks up on things very quickly, so I'm sure he'll get it figured out right away. I taught him how to drink out of a straw two weeks ago and now he's a pro at it.

For as crabby as he was as a newborn, he sure is happy now. He is smiling all the time, he found his voice in the last week or so and is quite the chatter box. He is entertaining and such a little love bug.

His 9 month check up is on the 18th- stats to come....

NEW CAMERA!!!

If you haven't heard- Taylor made a bet with me... he told me that if he got a Buck in WI on Friday or Saturday I could get the new camera I have been drowling over. This bet was a big deal because he was leaving me along with the kiddos for 3 days, one of which included a work day... so... I was just very busy all weekend.

So- if you know me... my motto is POSITIVE THOUGHTS LEAD TO POSITIVE OUTCOMES.... well... on Friday Taylor had no phone service where he was but I was just getting this vibe that he was going to get a nice buck... so I ordered my camera without him knowing, at that time. HEHEHE I just KNEW he would get one... and with having already gotten my camera I was sending every positive vibe I had back at him.

Well... Just to paint a picture... Bob has been out hunting in WI for DAYS and HOURS on end... Taylor goes out and sits Friday morning, Friday evening, Saturday morning (in the rain) and Saturday evening and BAM- GOT ONE!!!!!!! HECK YES!!!! I knew my positive vibes would work!!!

My new camera will be here TOMORROW!!!! Expect MANY photos from me- as soon as I figure it out! It's a Samsung HZ50W- Middle of the line camera- better than a point and shoot but not as fancy as a professional one. I'm PUMPED! Tomorrow can't come soon enough!!!

Mileyisms

She knows how she feels- if I tell her she can’t do something she stomps her foot and crosses her arms and puts her head down and say “I am SO mad” – After she cools off she then says “Mom, I’m not mad anymore” Well- at least she knows how she feels- and makes it clear to me!


She came to visit me at work and says as she was playing with the little toys I have sitting on my desk “Your work is so Fun, Mom!”

As I was walking her down to Taylor’s car she asked if I was going with them and I told her no, I had to go back into work and she says “But it’s dangerous” HAHAHHAH

Last night- Miley and I were having popcorn as a snack and Taylor hadn’t eaten dinner so we made him a sandwich. We were going to have a picnic in the living room so Miley says to me “You carry that plate with a sandwich for daddy and the water cup for Mommy and Me and I carry the popcorn bowl for Mommy and Me, Thanks mom for carrying the water!” I just laughed! So detailed in what we were doing! I was impressed by her thought process.

Last night as she was giving Taylor a hug and kiss good bye before he left I told her to tell him Good Luck and to get a deer she says “Good Luck get a BIG deer like this” as she puts her hands up over her head and wiggles her fingers.

She is a very polite little girl- if she does something that I told her not to- like spilling, on herself; she immediately says “I’m sorry mom, I spilled a little” – at least she is polite and honest about it.

Discussion about her paci’s- I tell her all the time that the paci’s are going away on her birthday.

She holds on to her paci, in her mouth and shakes her head no. I then explain to her that the paci fairy is going to come and take her paci box and all of her paci’s and leave her a big present. She runs into her room and grabs her paci box and says- “But I don’t want the paci fairy to come and take my paci’s away, I need them” in a sad little voice. OH BROTHER…. This may be a difficult thing. Especially when she starts crying about something, she says “I need my paci” I will tell her no, she doesn’t. She follows up with “Yes I do, I’m crying, see” What did we get ourselves into!

Cooper Sits Up

He was crawling a bit, of course, before I got my camera out- but he shows off his other new skill of sitting up. I'll continue to try to get him moving on film.

Photo Gallery

I'm sure it's no surprise- but Cooper LOVES his food! He eats very well and I think we are about to pass the baby food stage. He would rather eat what we are eating. If I break it up into tiny pieces he feeds himself really well and does a good job, but he also is a typical boy, and would sometimes rather be lazy and have me spoon feed him. We try new foods all the time and the only thing I have found that he really really hates are brussel sprouts! (Taylor and I love them!)

My happy boy! He has four teeth and he's been working on the other four for some time now, I am surprised they haven't popped through yet. Miley had 8 teeth by 8 months, so he has fallen slightly behind her in that category.

This was taken a few weeks ago- he is MOVING all over the place now! He just pulled up for the first time this weekend and he crawls a few paces and then is down but he rolls and scoots and gets what he wants.

Coop and his best bud Grayson! We have frequent play dates. Cooper is kind of a bully, that, or he really loves Grayson, every time they sit by each other Cooper reaches over and just grabs a hold of him. Best Buds for Life!

My pretty Miley! One night when Taylor was gone teaching night school and Cooper was already in bed she let me play with my camera and take funny pictures of her. She never lets me do that! So I was excited to actually get a good shot where she wasn't moving around.

My new hair-do is curly, so one night I asked Miley if she would let me curl her hair, I have NEVER curled her hair before and she was surprisingly VERY excited. When I got done she stared at herself in the mirror for a half hour, dancing around and making faces and admiring how pretty her hair was. She LOVES getting her hair curled now! It's a lot of fun for Mommy too!!!

Sibling Love! They play so well together! Miley just lets Cooper beat up on her, he loves to pull her hair and she rolls around with him and they honestly get along very good. We love seeing them interact more and more.

One night as Taylor and I were working with Cooper in the living room trying to get him to walk holding our hands, crawl and pull up (we practice every night!) Miley was in the dining room using water colors. She told me she was staying on the paper and when I went in there to check on her- this is what I found. Right to the tub after this picture!

I think he was almost 6 months old in this photo- I really need to get better at taking more pictures, I think half of my problem is that I hate my camera. A nice digital semi-professional camera is the only thing on my Christmas List this year!

Cooper's Getting Better...

It's amazing what a small dose of steriods and a nebulizer can do for a little guy. After his first dose he turned around! He slept well all weekend, finally! And is breathing much better. We did steriods for two days and a neb twice a day for two days and he has improved 99%! Now, we can just have the neb to use on a 'as needed' basis.

Is he 100% himself? No, not yet. Darn teething! He's been working on 4 teeth for 2 months and we are all very anxious for them to just pop through! He's got two on top and two on bottom and his gums look puffy on top and bottom next to his middle teeth. I'm betting on them popping through on the left side first. He is slightly behind Miley on the teething front. She had 8 teeth by 8 months and Cooper turned 8 months on Sunday. I'm hoping they all pop through during the next month.

He has taken a little growth spurt though. Not only his weight, from Monday's doctor appointment weighing in at 25.3 pounds and then at Friday's doctor appointment weigning in at 25 lbs 14.5 ounces but he has gotten taller. You would think that such a rapid huge growth in weight that he'd look pudgier but he actually is starting to slim down, a tiny bit. You can see his neck when he looks up and his cheeks aren't as full. His thighs- well, that's another story. But hey, I'm sure once he starts to really get moving he'll thin out quickly.

Speaking of moving- he is soo ready! He will roll all over the place to get to where he wants and spin on his tummy and scoot backwards and sometimes forwards. He is SOO close to crawling, he is really trying and he will walk if you are holding his hands. He thinks its so funny when he walks, I think he feels like a big boy.

Miley just adores her little brother, she is so good at helping out with him and teaching him new things. She even lets him pull her hair, he has a hair fetish like she does, she will scream OUCH OUCH OUCH when I brush her hair and hardly pull on it but yet she will let Cooper grab on with his death grip and she won't say Boo. What a good big sister!

Miley's "Trick"

During dinner last night Miley was talking to Taylor about her food and here is the conversation they had:

Daddy: "Miley eat your supper"

Miley: "Daddy wanna see this this this twrip, thissss quick, tich... I can't say it... "

Daddy: "Trick?"

Miley: "Yeah, Trick, wanna see this trick!"

HHAHAHAHAHhAhAh So funny!

Follow Up Appointment

We got good news at the Specialty Children's Hospital for Cooper. He said that his testicle is there, just not all the way dropped yet but very close. He thinks that once he becomes mobile and looses his 'fat pad' as they call it, that it will help bring it the rest of the way down. He said that if it doesn't appear to change in a year from now to then bring him back in. So, I guess that is good news and he didn't seem too worried, so I guess I will stop worrying about it, for now.

He got over his ear infection and now has a cold. He broke out in some weird rash towards the end of his antibiotic so they made us come in to see if it was an allergic reaction to the meds and he said it would have been more hive looking if it would have been from the meds but his ear was clear so to stop taking them. Ironically 24 hours after being off of the medicine the rash disappeared, so who knows. Check out a this picture of his cheeks- his whole body looked like this.

And Miss Miley is going in today to see what she has, possible ear infection, strep throat, beginnings of pneumonia. Man- We just want both of our kids to be healthy and happy for longer than a week at a time. Wouldn't it be great!?!?

So, Miley is going through a stage where she just doesn't want her picture taken- So, I want to publicly announce that I did not try to have a void in photos during her 2nd year of life, she just wouldn't let me take any! Unless she was doing something goofy....

And I have to share this cute brother sister moment when we spent the last night in the camper for the season. They were having breakfast sitting next to each other at the table and they both thought it was so fun to sit right next to each other. Cooper was more thrilled than Miley, he felt like such a big boy!

Well-- here is to hoping for healthy times to come in my household. Hope everyone is enjoying Fall! :)

Coop's First Ear Infection

Well- we have found the culprit to our sleepless nights- Cooper has an ear infection in his right ear. After seeing each night get worse and worse and a HORRIBLE weekend we finally decided that it was something other than teething that had to be bothering him. We took him to Urgent Care on Sunday morning and it was an easy find. Sunday night he was a little better but after having slept all day long on Sunday from the lack of sleep Saturday he was up quite a bit just because he wanted to be awake. Mommy, however, was not handling this ‘awake’ business very well. With not nursing the entire weekend due to the pain I was having to pump and had to learn how to give him a bottle, yes, I had never given him a bottle before, ever. I was quite emotional on Monday. I wanted my baby to nurse, I was utterly exhausted, and I wanted my baby to feel better.

Finally, at 3:30am last night he woke up, again, and wanted –another- bottle I decided to give the nursing thing a shot. As I grit my teeth and prayed that he wouldn’t bite down, again, my painful grit turned into a HUGE smile as my baby finally latched well and had a full feeding. Talk about a HAPPY MOMMA!!!!

So, with having such a good evening, and a freaking ROCKIN’ hair day today- I’m in such a good mood! (Side note about the hair- I had it cut a month ago, and couldn’t not, for the life of me, figure out how to style it correctly. As I went in over the weekend to color it I about had her chop it off as I just couldn’t figure it out, but Katie, thankfully, took the time to teach me how to style it correctly and I figured it out this morning by myself and I LOVE my hair now!!!)

A little update on Miss Miley- She started Studio dance on Monday! I need to get a picture of her in her cute outfit- she looks so grown up in her leotard, pink tights and ballet slippers and tap shoes! I LOVE IT! She will be learning tap and ballet all year long and have a recital in June. She is the youngest in her class and Ms. Shannon, thankfully, let her join as she has already had a year of dance before, and she did WONDERFULLY last night! I was peeking in towards the end and she was listening so well to Ms. Shannon and doing all of the cute ballet moves and acting so independent. It was seriously the cutest thing I had ever seen! I will get pictures soon!

Oh- and Miley is in a phase right now where she doesn’t want her picture taken, so this is the only one I have of her from recent. HAHA Oh toddlers! Once again, no nap for Grandma and she fell asleep on the drive home. Apparently, she is following her Mommy's footsteps as I ditched nap time by the time I was 3...

My Chunky Monkey

Cooper has been doing better- I can see his forth tooth so I think that was the reason for our sleepless nights last week. He slept much better all weekend and only nursing one time overnight, so I hope we are on the road to a more consistent schedule.

I just have to share that before I had Cooper I was very very nervous to have a second child. I had all the common feelings of "how can I love another child when I love my first SO much". Then, when I found out I was having a boy I had thoughts of "a boy, what am I going to do with a boy, how will I relate, how can I love a boy like I love my little girl". I often told Taylor "Miley is my baby and this boy is going to be your baby".

Oh how things change...

Cooper completes our little family! I couldn't ask for anything more. It is amazing how your heart can grow to love each kid individually so much. I LOVE my time with Miley and her hugs and kisses and how funny she is. And I LOVE my time with Cooper and his cuddles and laughs and how he grabs at your face to really get a good look at you. I look forward to all of the new adventures with our baby boy! And to see Miley in her glory as the best big sister anyone could ever have!

Two words:

Chunky Monkey

But he's the cutest Chunky Monkey you'll ever meet!