Dog Days of Summer

Hi-ya! I don't know about you, but I sure am loving summertime festivities these days. Cooper is getting bigger, which means he is able to venture out a bit more. That is good news for me since Mommy confesses this is kind of a "rip-off" summer for me this year. One of my favorite summer events is going on our boat. We took our fishing boat out on the lake for a short spin last weekend. Mommy thinks we might need to trade it in for a pontoon next summer since our family of four plus the dog means the boat is FULL. Cooper mostly slept while we were boating last weekend except for the above picture, which in my interpretation means, "Where the $(*@) are we now?" Cooper will soon learn to just go with the flow.

When I am on the boat, I insist on driving. I love to turn the wheel hard right, so we mostly just go in circles. It's a good thing that my Daddy is soooo patient with me.

This is how Cooper felt about the boat.

Mommy likes the boat too but is deathly afraid of a game warden pulling up and citing her/Daddy for not having Cooper in a life jacket. We don't think they make them in his size. If anyone has input on this law, contact Mommy.

I take it upon myself to water the grass, flowers, bushes, trees, sidewalk, myself... you get the picture. Mommy seems to forget that when I want to play with the hose, she should have me in my swimsuit. It is no wonder why I wear 3 outfits on average per day.

Wet jean shorts=gross. I headed in for my swimsuit but then of course, was done with the hose for the day.

Auntie bought me these super FUN bubble blowers. For all of you Moms out there, these are PERFECT for toddlers! You just put the animal blowers into the bubble solution and blow. They are like whistles and make tons of bubbles. Mommy thought I would ingest the bubbles, but there must be something that prevents backflow. I didn't choke and sputter on bubble solution, so this is my new favorite summertime gadget for the week.

Mommy ran to get Cooper as he was screaming his little head off. While she was away, I noticed the camera sitting on the chair and snapped a quick close up of my face. This is always a funny surprise as Mommy begins to upload photos for the blog.

We had a playdate at Irvine Park on Friday with friends and kiddos. Jordyn was helping Lily and I share sunglasses since I LOVED Lily's bright yellow ones. Lily wasn't too happy that I wanted her glasses, so we had to work it out a bit. I have a pair of blue ones but for some reason, I love everyone elses glasses so much more!

I have decided that if I were to be reincarnated, I would come back as a black bear. Just look at the one in the hammock. What a life! I thought I had it easy.

There is a petting zoo/farm with lots of fun animals. I liked petting the calf the most and would giggle when he nuzzled my hand.

Ethan and I checked out the donkeys. This is the animal sound that I make from time to time (hee-haw). It is Mommy's favorite animal sound that I make. I am not consistent with it yet, but I am working on it.

I thought tortoises were slow, but this guy was a super fast tortoise. He practically ran laps around his cage and I really wanted to catch him.

We started at the duck pond but Mommy forgot the bread and she also forgot that ducks poop everywhere. I ended up leaning across the fence and getting duck poo on my shirt and on my hands. I proudly held up my hands and said, "Grodie" as I showed Mommy my brown hands. She quickly grabbed wipes and said it was time to check out the other animals.

When Daddy gets home from work, we usually take a spin around the neighborhood. Daddy rides his bike and pulls me along in the bike trailer. I am good about wearing my helmet, as long as Daddy has his on too. This week, we ventured down the road to see what the commotion was all about. Two fire/ambulance trucks went by with sirens on, which I loved. It wasn't anything major... just a lady who fell down drunk and was bleeding a lot, "Grodie."

With all of the summer outdoor fun lately, we sure have slept well. Cooper has a long stretch of sleep at the beginning of the evening, about 4-5 hours. He then wakes up 3 hours after that for a total of two nighttime feedings. Mommy is used to being sleep deprived and if you just look at the little bumpkin above, you can see it is worth it.

I must have been really comfy cozy one night as I kicked my feet up and slept. My parents thought this was hilarious. I slept in this position for several hours before I actually crawled under the sheets. Mommy thanks the heat, humidity and outdoor play that completely wipes me out at night!

On Monday, Papa, Grandma Sharon, Grandma Sharon's daughter, Kim, and Grandma Sharon's best friend, Trish, all came to visit us. Kim and Trish live in Indiana, which is where Grandma Sharon is from and where Papa and Sharon go in the fall for a few months (they kept her house when the got married). We had a nice visit and BBQ dinner. When we were getting ready, we had another visitor... a green tree frog. He is sitting in the corner of our grill in the above picture. I kept trying to kiss it (Mommy wonders if I watch movies about kissing a frog at daycare????) Anyways, I did touch his skin and he was quite tolerant of my pestering. We decided not to BBQ him for his frog legs... "Grodie."

Grandma Sharon gave Cooper is 3rd bottle ever (Mommy continues to nurse, despite the demands and sleep deprivation). I continue to love giving Coopie kisses, hugs, rocks, and I enjoy singing Rock a Bye and Twinkle to him everyday.

Here is Kim, Sharon's daughter who hasn't seen me since the wedding. I was only 5 months old when Papa and Grandma Sharon were married, so as you can imagine, I have changed a lot since then.

Can you believe it is August!?!? These are the dog days of summer, but there is so much left to do before fall hits! We look forward to a month of playdates, pool/lake outings, a trip to the zoo, my parents 10 year anniversary, and a family wedding. Happy August everyone!

AWESOME!

Awesome... the name of this week's blog post. I have a few new Cadenisms that I now say at least one hundred times a day. They include, "AWESOME," "Whoa Dude," and "Coopie, shut-up!" The last one I learned from Mason at daycare and while he gets timeouts when he says this, my Dad chose to laugh hysterically. While in Wally World (Wal-Mart) I told my parents and innocent bystanders to "shut-up" during our shopping experience. Mommy is trying to redirect with "Quiet please" so that I learn a nice way to tell others to pipe down. In the car, if my brother is crying, I just tell him to "shut up" which doesn't always work. Apparently this is not a good word to learn, so I will have to do my best to say other things, such as "Shhhhh!" Mommy loves the picture of me above as I am playing Daddy's helper in the garage. I am fascinated by the air compressor and I especially like my Black and Decker tool set. The goggles are a must, safety first!

Last weekend, we went to visit Great-Grandpa Jim (Cooper's middle name is James in honor of him). Great-Grandpa has had Alzheimer's Disease for over 10 years and he is not doing so well these days. He just likes to stare at us, so we talk to him and act like nothing is out of the norm. Papa also joined us and he wore his special Father's Day t-shirt from the grandkids. Yes, he is one of those nerds that wears their kids pictures on clothing. He loves it! We visited with everyone there and I had fun swimming in Great-Grandpa's beautiful pool outside.

There were lots of pictures taken this day by family so I decided to ham it up for the camera.

Papa, Grandma Sharon, Cooper and I attempted a photo together. Of course, I had to do something silly such as take Cooper's nuk away just to ruin the picture...."Ugh," says Mommy.

People often ask who I look like and here is some proof. I have some of my Daddy and some of my Papa. It is especially noticeable in our chins... Papa, Daddy, and I all have a dimple in the center of our chin. Mine is covered up by my slimy, spitty finger.

Papa and Grandma Sharon couldn't believe how much Cooper grew in four weeks. They have been busy the past month and haven't seen Cooper since the hospital. He of course was a pleasant little guy during the visit.

Auntie-Grandma Lynda (confusing title but this is what we call Mommy's aunt) held Cooper and gave us each a gift. Lynda and I spent lots of quality time together in Florida. She is a wonderful person.

Auntie-cousin Melissa and Camden, not to be confused with Caden, also came to see us at Great-Grandpa's house. Melissa has always been a second sister to my Mommy which is why she earns the "auntie" title in her name. After a full day of visiting, we promised we would see everyone soon, especially since things are finally calming down.

Another fun outing lately was a trip to the State Waterski Tournament. My Uncle Matt is the show director of Janesville's waterski team and he is an avid waterskiier. Daddy and I made the two hour journey to support him and his team. Daddy's extended family lives near the state tournament site, so they joined us to cheer on the teams too.

I especially loved the ski boats that flew by during the shows. I was a good little boy and was quite amused by the action.

Uncle Matt's team had some amazing acts. This pyramid is not their biggest one; they have built a five high pyramid before. Matt is the center base for the pyramid~what a stud! Out of the 15 or so teams, Uncle Matt's team took first place at the tournament and will be skiing in the National tournament in August.

Soon to be auntie Jill kept me busy with tickles and Grammy gave me lots of cuddles.

Cousin Mike, on the other hand, gave me coffee! He is the one who started me on it a year ago or so. He likes his coffee with sugar and cream, which makes it delicious in my tummy. My parents would NEVER let me drink this stuff at home. When I saw Mike at the ski show, I walked right up to him, grabbed his mug, and finished his coffee right off. Daddy couldn't believe his eyes.

I must be cheering or revving my engine (pretending to be a ski boat) with this expression.

Once we got home, we headed to the lake to do some waterskiing of our own. This was Mommy's first waterski debut this summer and she was not cleared to ski by her doctor (shhhh). We took extra precautions to make sure no one got hurt.... padded wetsuits-check!, nose tape-check!, gloves-check!, ski boom- check!, footies-check! All set to ski!

Daddy decided that since I turned two, I was now capable of skiing, well sort of. I hung onto Daddy like a little monkey and held on for dear life. I didn't cry, cheer, or make a sound for that matter. At the end of my ski run, I had the slightest smirk as everyone cheered for me.

Almost up! Good thing Daddy is so strong.

We are up and skiing! Daddy did not want to push it too much by having me stand on his skiis. Next summer I will be ready and tall enough for that.

Daddy showed us some backwards barefooting skills.... AWESOME DUDE!

Mommy gave the thumbs up after she got up footin'. She normally would do this barefoot (without the footies), but she decided to be a little cautious while going 32 mph on water.

This is Mommy's, "I know I shouldn't be doing this grin." It's a good thing that Mommy's doctor doesn't have this blog address :)

Uncle Jimmy did some barefooting and tumble turns too! All of the "old farts" (aka Daddy, Mommy and Uncle Jimmy) declared how they were too old for this stuff after a few skiing runs as their bodies began to ache. I have no idea what they are talking about... I was just getting started when they decided it was time to head in for the day.

Happy 1 month birthday Cooper! Tuesday, July 20th was his one month b-day. He is getting SO big! Just look at all of those chins. People ask who Cooper looks like, so Mommy did a bit of investigating. Here is a picture of Cooper above on his one month birthday, a picture of me below at two months, and a picture of Daddy at about three months of age. It doesn't take a true detective to see that he looks like me and Daddy! Isn't it a bit shocking!?!?!

My two month old picture... look at my crazy hair!

Daddy's baby picture, around 3 months old Mommy thinks.

Cooper, that lucky dog, went to a pool party without me. Mommy and Heather were able to switch classrooms next year and have now officially moved into their "Cadillac" classroom! It even has a gigantic storage room for all of their crap (who taught me that word...Daddy???) Since Mommy worked three days in a row this week at school, I went to Jenny's to play and stay busy. Cooper went with Mommy to school and was a "perfect angel" in Mommy's words (show off). To make matters worse, he not only had Mommy time, but he enjoyed sitting pool side at Shauna's house. What a life!

Mommy and Cooper showing off the new classroom bulletin board that "Heather's Helpers" created (aka Heather's Mom and family friend). Mommy is SO, SO thankful for the extra help they received. The room looks AWESOME (I love my new word!)

Here is "DUDE," my other favorite word, sleeping away in the classroom while Mommy scrambled to get some things done before he woke up.

One night, we met up with Wade, Doris, "Juice" (Joel), and Evan at Culver's for ice cream. Evan was one of Mommy's students a few years ago and they have kept in contact ever since. We brought Evan a b-day gift and they brought gifts for Cooper and me. Mostly I was fascinated by the Culver's front door and poor Daddy had to chase me around while everyone else visited and ate treats.

We should dub Evan the baby whisperer. Cooper has a fussy time each night from around 6:00-10:00 p.m. Some nights are better than others, but on Culvers night, he was a fussy little guy. He really liked Evan and would gaze at him and quiet down. When Cooper was passed to others, he would begin to cry again. Too bad Evan is not a few years older because he would be the perfect, little responsible babysitter.

This past weekend, we decided to head to the beach for a dip. Cooper's schedule is more predictable and we thought it would be fun to venture out. It was a perfect day for the beach.

While Cooper snoozed (he does have tropical swim trunks on), I played in the water with Daddy.

Mommy tried to mega zoom her camera to get a picture of us playing. All photos turned out blurry, but this was the best she could get.

Before we left for the rootbeer stand, I gave my brother some kisses for the camera. I give Coopie kisses throughout the day and I am being a very good brother, to my parents delight.

We look forward to a quiet week ahead and another weekend at home coming up. We are settling into a schedule these days which is great for everyone! In closing, have an AWESOME week ahead, DUDES :)