Perfect Weekend

My weekend got off to a great start because Ryan surprised me with a Mommy's night out on Friday.  He had scheduled a massage and mani/pedi for me and then when I got home he had cooked an amazing dinner of salmon croquettes.  What a relaxing Friday night!

Saturday morning we had Copeland's third swim lesson and Ryan got in with him this time as I had swam with him during his previous two lessons.  Basically the lessons try to teach how to be comfortable and safe in the water while having fun.

Copeland loves his swim lessons!  We knew he would because he always has such a ball at bath time.  He even thinks getting dunked is pretty funny.

Swimming sure is super tiring though.  Little man slept right through our trip to Dunkin Donuts and then some.  Those feet!  I just want to eat them up!

It was such a beautiful day that we wanted to get out and enjoy the sunshine so later we went on a hike not too far from our house.  We we were so eager to get out that we didn't pack a hat or jacket for Copeland so we rigged something up that we thought would protect him a little from the wind and sun.  (Don't worry - he did actually have sunscreen on).  It worked out well at first:

But then it turned into this:

Ha!  So we ended up hiking like this:

And he was just fine.

We ended the evening with another yummy meal by Ryan - beef stir-fry.  We had discussed going to church this morning but I slept too late.  Oops.  It was a perfect overcast day to hang out at the house in our pjs.  I probably never would have changed out of my pjs if I hadn't had a neighborhood tea in the afternoon.  It was lovely to catch up with some of the neighborhood ladies for a couple hours and then come back home to my boys.

What a perfect weekend.

Closer to His First Birthday Than His Actual Birth Day

Yikes!  Another month older and another month closer to being an entire year old!  At 7 months old Copeland has reached the stage where he changes and learns something new each and every day.  Here are some of his 7 month accomplishments:

• Sitting up!  He still sometimes topples over, especially to the side, but is doing a pretty good job of sitting up and twisting his body to and fro without supporting himself with his hands.  
• Scooting!  He's definitely getting more mobile and can turn circles and scoot short distances.
• Very enthusiastic eater.  He pretty much attacks the spoon and smacks his lips loudly.  He's kind of a slow eater and seems to savor whatever he has in his mouth.  He also gets food pretty much everywhere...hair, eyebrows, ear, etc.  He has tried so many fruits and veggies now and has liked everything.  He even decided he liked sweet potatoes after he tried them a second time.  He eats solids two times a day in addition to drinking milk about 6 times a day.
• For a short period he thought it was super funny to make fake coughing sounds.  Being the mature parents we are we immediately began referencing "Zoolander".
• Fast hands!  My goodness he can latch on to things so quickly!  I've almost lost an asparagus spear or two when I thought my plate was out of reach!  
• Outgrowing 6 month old clothes.
• Went through a phase of not sleeping.  We had always been so lucky that Copeland was such a good sleeper but for about 3 weeks he was keeping us up a lot of nights.  I thought perhaps he was teething but he still doesn't have any!  I also thought maybe he was having growing pains because it seemed like I could almost see him grow on a daily basis.
• Favorite toys are noisemakers.  He loves shaking anything that rattles or squeaks - especially his cage ball that has another ball inside of it that has rattles in it.
• Head shaking - Copeland thinks this is the greatest thing ever.  He vigorously shakes his head from side to side.  I get so much enjoyment out of having conversations with him where I ask him a question and he violently shakes his head "no".  
• Johnny Jump Up - Copeland has figured out how to bounce in the Johnny Jump Up that Dion and Amy gave to us.  It's pretty hilarious to hear his little feet tapping on the ground.
• My goodness is this boy vocal.  He has this noise that I'll call his war cry because it kind of sounds like what I would imagine pirates getting ready to take over a ship sound like - "arrrrgggghhhhh".  He also has what Ryan and I like to call the "Lloyd Christmas", a la "Dumb and Dumber".  He will just sit and make this loud, monotonous sound for what seems like an eternity.  Especially when he finds a tag on anything.  We knew he was doing this at home and then have had several reports that he does this at school too.  In fact, one day we got the report that the preschool teacher (two rooms away) came over to the infant room to check that everything was ok because he was yelling so loudly.  Oye.  One super fun thing about him finding his voice is that he started saying bababababa and dadadadada.  Exciting changes!

We love this little guy more than words could ever express and are having the time of our lives.  I never thought I'd be so happy saying things like "Did you poopy?" or "Please don't bite Mommy's arm", but I couldn't ask for anything more.  

Copeland's First Flight

The past month and a half we have been very fortunate to spend a lot of time with family.  Over Valentine's/President's Day weekend we flew to Branson to visit Ryan's grandparents and were also able to see his Mom, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins.  It was Copeland's first flight so we weren't sure what to expect but he handled it like an old pro.  For three of the four legs we were able to take his car seat on with us so he had his own seat.  Also, those flights weren't full so it was really easy to nurse him inconspicuously.

On the underground tram at the airport (I didn't know Ryan was taking a picture):

Partying at the gate:

On the plane!

Another stealth picture by Ryan

Getting all kinds of loving:

Grammies

Nanaw

Grammies and Great Grandad

Uncle Gary

Grammies and Aunt Kaye

Tyler and Heather

We had such a wonderful time visiting with everyone and it passed by much too quickly.  It seemed like a whirlwind but we're so thankful we got to spend time with everyone and that Copeland was able to meet so many family members.  He seemed to have a great time and was happy to visit with everyone.  Also, travelling with him was pretty easy because he was so calm and we didn't have to pack much since Aunt Kaye had a pack and play for him to sleep in.  In the future I would probably plan things a little differently, such as NOT FORGETTING the baby carrier.  It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult but carrying a 15/16 pound little guy all around an airport in your arms can really be tiring.  I remembered about halfway to the airport that I had forgotten his carrier - I was not happy.  Also, it was super nice for Copeland to have his own seat for when he wanted to sleep or when he just didn't want to be held.  While we lucked out and didn't have to pay for his seat on this trip, I would definitely consider purchasing a seat for him on future trips.