Snowy Days and Parenthood

Well, the Byrons have come and gone already. They arrived Feb 2nd, just in time for Cooper's arrival, and left Sunday the 22nd. The time flew by and we are so thankful they were here when Cooper came. They helped with meals, cleaning, and watching him for us when he napped and we and the dogs already miss them. Thank you very much Brenda and Frank Sr.!

Cooper is turning out to be a great and easy baby thank goodness! He rarely cries, and sleeps really well most nights. We have had a midwife, Barbara, coming over every few days to check on me and the baby, and that has been great. She has taught us all kinds of stuff, from bathing him, to home remedies for his red bottom (he was allergic to his diapers and wipes) and goopy eye, and for my swollen stitch incision. Might even give Cooper a bath tonight. As for his eye, it was quite a humorous event. Mothers milk seems to be a good cure all right now for everything. Frank held Cooper so I could drip a few drops of milk into his reddening goopy yellow eye, and voila, today it is much better!! And the midwife recommended I put quark (a type of non pasturized/non salted cheese the Germans use for all their pastries and sweets) on my incision, and voila, it also has taken down the swelling.



Almost too big for the bassinet!

Frank and I took our first long walk with the dogs and Cooper yesterday. We have done several with the stroller, but that is totally impossible now because of the snow. We used the sling/chest carrier thing Julie gave us and he slept the whole time! Right when we started walking the snow began to come and since last night, about 2 feet of snow have fallen. The snow is up to the top of the Honda Civic's wheel well when I look out the window. And that snow is on top of the foot or so we already had been maintaining all week! I have never seen so much snow in my life but Frank said it was much like when he lived in Crested Butte. The base is shut down and everyone got to go home (including the grocery store and post office etc).

Tomorrow is our first pediatrician visit. Anxious to see how much Cooper has grown. He fills out 3 month old clothes pretty darn well, which makes me wonder what he'll be wearing at 2 months! Even the booties/socks we have, he already fits the 3 month size. I keep wondering to myself if babies are like puppies where you can judge how big they'll get from their paws...

I think we are both starting to get used to this whole parenting thing better now. I was at first so exhausted, but have most of my energy back now and feel like cooking and walking the dogs again. I really feel like climbing at the gym with Frank again, but know I have to wait a few more weeks for that. I still have a bit of a tummy to dwindle down, but am losing the pregnancy weight faster than I thought I would which makes me feel better.

Oh, and more exciting news!!! How could I forget! Frank has been offered a great job with a software company and will be the Senior Trainer and Database Engineer for the software in North America and Europe. He is going to accept it today or tomorrow and we are trying to figure out a best start date for him since we have so much coming up and going on in March (moving and more family coming to visit). He will be working from home whenever he isn't training the software, which will just be so nice. I plan on going back to work the first week of April. Hate even thinking about that... But, the good news is that my mom will be watching Cooper for a while then, so he doesn't have to go into child care quite so early.

Well, Cooper is waking and so I better go. More to come...