Ella's Birthday at the Animal Park!

Saturday we celebrated Ella's 2nd birthday at the Alvin Bayou Animal Park! It was a lot of fun. We rode on a tram and fed the animals. Cooper mainly slept in the wrap on me the whole time. And I loved it. :)

Kendall was very excited to see the animals and had fun throwing food at them.

The Beams, the Mitterings, Jan, Jeff, Amy, Chelsea, and the Sanders were all there.

Cooper fell asleep not long into the ride.

The birthday girl blowing out her candles! I can't believe she is already two. She loves her "Pooper!" She has a hard time saying Cooper, so we take what we can get. I think it's pretty cute.

Happy birthday Ella-Belle! We love you!

Tickled!!

Yesterday at lunch, Randy was holding Cooper and he started blowing on the back of her neck, tickling her. Every time he would do it, she would raise her right knee up in the air. So funny! Here's a video we took.

Tummy Time

Sunday afternoon Randy and Kendall were both napping and Cooper and I were awake playing after I fed her. We were in her room playing with some of her toys on the floor, so I thought I would take some video. She's moving around so much but we still haven't been able to watch her roll over.

Her Baby

Cooper has been sleeping with her baby the past few nights. She scrunches it up under her arm and holds it close to her face and we think it's so cute. This is the baby Kendall gave her right after she was born and I just had her name embroidered on it. So sweet!

Mittens...or socks?

Coop has been putting her hands in her mouth a lot lately if we don't have her sass in. Teething? Anyway, when it was cold this week, she would put her hands in her mouth and then they would be so cold! I decided she needed some mittens, but we don't have any that fit her. Randy told me to put socks on her hand, just joking, but I went and got some and thought she looked cute enough to take pictures!

Sisters

Holding her bottle

Every once in awhile we try and remember to give Coop a bottle so that she will be used to taking one if I ever need to be gone during a feeding. Our freezer is so full of milk, but lately we have just been out of the habit of giving her a bottle because we haven't needed to. The other night though Randy gave her one and look what she was able to do: she can hold it all by herself! We knew she was getting better at grabbing things and holding on (she for sure pulls on my hair all day I think!), but we hadn't seen her holding a bottle until now. We were impressed.

4 Months Old!

Cooper turned 4 months old on December 31st! We were in Ft. Worth, so I didn't take pictures in the chair until we got home. I decided to take this month's pictures naked. You're welcome. :)

Love that smile!!!

We went for her 4 month check-up today with Dr. B. Cooper weighs 15 lbs 2 oz and is 25.5 inches long! Her weight is in the 80% and her length is in the 90%. Such a big girl! Still not as big as her sister at this age, but she is catching up! (At 4 months, Kendall was 17 lbs 5 oz and 26 inches long). Dr. B said she looks great! She had to get two shots and one oral vaccine, so she wasn't happy about that, but she has been sleeping a lot today and resting.

*Funny note: Randy has been in Cambodia for a week and a half. He called today while I was waiting to see Dr. B and we talked until he came in, and then we hung up. Randy called back a few minutes later, so we could talk a little more, and he just happened to call right after the nurse gave Cooper her shots and then left. He got to hear her crying and said, "I was supposed to get to miss this!!" Too bad - even from the other side of the world he got to experience the fun of shots. :)

Cooper girl, you are such a blessing to our family! We are so thankful for you and for how happy, fun, and easy-going you are. Here are some things you are doing at 4 months:

- You dropped a feeding last week! Now you eat every four hours, at 7:30, 11:30, 3:30, and 7:30. Then you go to bed and sleep all night until your first feeding at 7:30 again!! Wow! We are so thankful for another good sleeper!!!

- Dr. B said you can start cereal anytime in the next few months, but that we can wait until closer to 6 months if we want because you are eating just fine.

- You sleep on your tummy, but on Christmas Eve, Daddy went in to check on you because we thought you had lost your sass and you had rolled over onto your back! You do this every night now, and Mommy has only seen it in the video monitor - you still won't do it when we're around!

- You laugh and coo and talk so much....but you do it the most for your big sister. You're pretty much a fan of her. And she loves you so much. She is great at putting your sass in, she reads to you, shows you toys, and sings and dances for you.

- You try to sit up all the time! If we are holding you and you are laying back, you will scrunch up your tummy muscles and try to sit up. Slow down sister!

- You wear size 2 diapers and size 3-6 month clothes.

- You are finding your fingers and thumb a lot more than we would like! If your sass falls out, your thumb gets in your mouth quicker than I can get to you! I am determined to keep that sass in and not let you suck your thumb!

We love you, sweet four month old!

Cousins!

We were able to get some pictures of all four girls together! It's not an easy task...with nap schedules, four busy girls, and an almost three year old that doesn't like to take pictures sometimes, it's hard to get them all smiling! But we did it! I think these are some pretty cute cousins.

Not real sure what Kendall is doing here, but I think she was holding on to Evy's ear to try and keep her sitting up. Sorry about that, Ev!

Christmas night at Gigi and Peeps'

Our final Christmas celebration was at Gigi and Peeps' house on Christmas night. Val, Jeff, Evy and Gracie were also there, as well as Mamaw, Papaw, and Grandma Dane. Kendall and Evy posed for a picture together.

Cooper got to meet Mamaw and Papaw at Thanksgiving, but I didn't get a picture of them together. Here they are!

This is where Cooper hung out while we opened presents. She got a bear blanket from Gigi and Peeps with her name on it! She also got some new clothes, a gift card, some cute socks, a toy, teething rings, and stocking stuff!

I got my first pair of Toms! So excited.

Randy got a new A&M shirt. He was very excited, even though you can't really tell here.

Kendall and Gracie got matching pink boots!! They love each other.

They also both got suitcases, or "soup cases" as Kendall calls them. She has loved pulling her's around!

Somehow I ended up with no pictures of the girls with Gigi and Peeps! We had a great time though! We love yall!! Thanks for all your thoughtful gifts!

Christmas morning at Pops and Kiki's

Christmas morning we woke up and headed over to Pops and Kiki's house to celebrate with them!! Cooper talked and smiled at Kiki,

and Kendall checked out Conrad Birdie with Pops.

Then we opened presents!! I love this picture - look at how excited she was to get Hello Kitty boots!! Cooper took a nap in the pack n play while we opened her presents.

Cooper woke up from her nap just in time to open stockings! She got a lot of fun presents, like clothes, a hat, bows, cute socks, a frame with her name on it, and books. Pops and Kiki also started a savings account for each girl! Kendall with her boots, new umbrella, and Hello Kitty jacket!

After we opened presents, Kendall watched her new movie with Maegan,

and Cooper sat and talked with her Great Granny.

Another family picture!!

We had a great time and a wonderful lunch. We left sometime mid-afternoon to head to Gigi and Peeps' house, and this was Kendall about five minutes after we got in the car!

It was so much fun to spend the morning with you Pops and Kiki! Thanks for all the wonderful presents, the great lunch, and for making Christmas morning so special! We love you!

Christmas Eve!

After we opened all our gifts from each other and from Santa, we packed up and hit the road to head to Ft. Worth. The van was pretty full!! We got in town just in time to head to my Grandma and Granpa's house for Christmas Eve with them and Granny and Papas. They had a great dinner ready and we had a great time visiting them, Shaun, Stacie, Christie, and Jo. Kendall was super excited to get to open presents. Her first present from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa was a Hippo Tent!! It is the cutest thing..all pink and you go in his mouth.

They also got her a Christmas book and a flashlight so that she could get in her tent and read. Cutest thing!! Thank yall so much!

Cooper had an explosion, and I forgot a change of clothes, so Randy ran around the corner to his parents' house where our luggage was to get some. Cooper enjoyed some naked time. I didn't get a picture of it, but they got Cooper a vacuum cleaner toy that she can walk behind and push when she gets a little bigger. Kendall told us lots of times that she would teach her how to do it. :)

After we opened presents there, we went to Granny and Papas' house so that we could exchange gifts with them and open stockings. Cooper got new socks in her stocking. Doesn't Granny look good! Both knees are fixed now and she is doing great! We are so thankful.

Kendall got a new princess towel - the hood even has a crown on it. :)

She also got a lot of Hello Kitty things, like pens, notepads, stickers, and socks. She loves writing in a notepad.

One of Randy's gifts was a marshmallow gun! So fun!

I think this was Kendall's most favorite present from Granny and Papas - new princess dress-up clothes!

She had to be Aurora right away.

Cooper got lots of great things too, like some new towels, some books, and this rug that is the softest thing ever! She just smiles and coos when she is laying on it!

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with Granny and Papas and all our family on that side. Thank yall for all the wonderful gifts! We love you!