Tyson's Shower

On Saturday, we made a trip to Elk Grove to attend Jamie and Chris' baby shower for little Tyson Matthew Roach. Here's a nice shot of Eli with his Great Grandparents, waiting for the fun to start.

And start it did. There were upwards of 40 people in attendance. There was a ton of food, lots of presents and plenty of wine and beer for everyone - except Eli. Jamie looks fantastic, and is doing very well. She's just past her 26th week and counting down to DDay with gusto. Eli got to meet the Jacksons for the 1st time that day. He even got to meet Lil' Barry, who was very gentle with the new Lil' Man. And Dad, thanks again for letting us switch cars with you on the way up. Between all of the presents, and all of the baby stuff, there's no way our car would have survived ...

Here's a great shot of the Mom-to-be and her Mom sharing an Eli Moment before all of the craziness.

And there certainly was some craziness. Unfortunately, while Jamie and Chris were hard at work trying to get through all of the presents they'd received, Jamie's Tahoe was broken into. And they stole her Shoes! A travesty that I think only Taryn could really appreciate the full gravity of - and maybe my Mom, and probably every other woman in attendance, come to think of it. The poor kids had to mend the broken window with cardboard and some tape - and then drive home all the way to Idaho - in the cold! We're really sorry guys! That's why you see Jamie and no Chris in this one. The poor guy had to file a police report in the middle of his party.

After the hubbub calmed down, they set to work on besting their Pile O'Presents. Taryn and I got them a few fun things, including a Tummy Time set, some sleep sacks, some swaddler blankets and a mirror for the little guy to check himself out in. But best of all, we put together an entire diaper changing station set, filled to the brim with diapers, wet wipes, dry cloths, alcohol wipes for the button, some hand sanitizer, a vinyl changing mat and some Butt Paste. Here they are checking out the Butt Paste. And no, it never gets old, even after you realize how practical it really is.

And of course, a present opening is never complete until Lil' Barry has his due. Here's the stinker ripping into something or other. This kid is just too funny ...

Word of advice: wrapping paper, orange soda and Barry DO NOT mix.

And of course our Lil Angel, Eli, slept through the whole thing. Even Lil' Barry's shinanegans. Throughout the entire party, he was either alseep and content, or wide awake, curious and checking everything out in his own quiet way. I think he impressed his Great Grandpa, who got to meet him for the first time. On our way out that night, he made it a point to remind us that because Eli's so quiet now, he's gonna grow up to be quite the smart-ass - just like his Daddy.

Let's hope so ...

The 2nd Coming ...

On Friday, Eli got his 2nd helping of the Cooper clan when his Aunt Chanda, his cousin Christy, and his Aunt Patty and Uncle Dave came to visit. Chanda and Christy came through on their way to Stockton. Patty and Dave were nice enough to bring us lunch, and hung out for a while getting themselves some Lil' Man. Here's a shot of the Men of the house catching a few Zzzz's before all the shinanegans ... (all 4 of us, including Momo and the Gir) ...

Here's Taryn's cousin Christy holding Eli for the first time. Once again, the Lil' Man slept through most all of the fun stuff.

Here he is sleeping with his Aunt Chanda.

And Nonni couldn't help herself, but had to swing by on her way home from Aptos. The Lil' Man missed her - she's comfy.

Here's Eli with his Aunt Patty right before a feeding. He only wakes up long enough to make a mess, and get some munchies - just like his Mommie and Daddy.

Here's Eli with his Uncle Dave right after his feeding. He has this wierd fascination with mustaches - he stares at them in an almost threatening way, and he was pulling on his Grandpa's mustache the 1st chance he got.

Eli's 1st Easter

Being a March baby, Eli's 1st Holiday celebration was Easter.

(Poor kid, nobody even knows what Easter is supposed to be about anymore. Well, your Daddy'll teach you Lil' Man, just don't listen to anyone who talks about resurrected rabbits or Jesus-colored egg dye)

We spent the day at Nonni's (Cathy has finally shirked the title of Anti-Gamma and has decided on a title of her own!). There was plenty of food, and plenty of people to eat it. Unfortunately, as you can see from this picture, Eli decided to sleep through the whole thing.

And a note about the clothes: Taryn and I had a very long "discussion" about this. She wanted to dress him up and make him cute for his 1st Holiday, even though I kept suggesting that it was ridiculous. It's like putting a rabbit outfit on a chihuahua (or any other purse dog) - it just shouldn't be done. I obviously lost. The poor little guy was stuffed into a bunny costume that was almost twice as big as he was. I'm just glad that he was able to find his "happy place" and black the whole experience out.

Another great shot of Eli fighting hard against the grain ...

Here he is in his 1st ever Egg Fight. I think his egg was named Foghorn Leghorn after the Looney Toons Character. He squashed Tita.

And here he is winning his 1st ever Egg Fight - squashing his Grambot for the victory. He had blue dye all over him for the rest of the day ...

Eli's 1st Scrubby

It's been awhile since we've updated the blog - sorry to all of the grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends who've been checking on it each day. Time goes by so fast when you're knee deep in Lil Man!

After about 10 days, Eli's belly button fell off, so while we were waiting for what was left to heal completely, we decided that although we couldn't give him a full bath yet, it was time to give the kiddo his first full-on Scrubby. We'd been wiping him down daily to keep him clean, but hadn't yet run him under the faucet. We were hoping that he'd be a water baby, just like his Mommy & Daddy. Especially with the middle name we gave him, we figured it would be natural for him to be most comfortable and content in the water - preferably naked.

Here's Eli layed out on our vanity giving us the once-over, not quite sure what he should be expecting ...

Taryn found some really cool gizmos for water temp, rinsing, scrubbing and so on. We've since replaced the gizmo for checking water temp. As you can see from Eli's reaction, it was a bit off. A little too chilly for the Lil Man.

He took to the rinsing pretty well (after we fixed the temperature). What was funny was watching him check himself out in the mirror. Every time we got out of his way, he would wiggle at himself and make faces.

This is a great shot of his "oh come on, Mom!" face.
I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of this one throughout the years.

Here's a shot of his new belly button.
The break was clean and everything has healed really well.
Eli's got an Innie!

And here he is after everything.
He's clean, but still not quite sure what to think of the whole experience ...

Eli's First Family Visit

Yesterday, Great-GranDonna came up with my Mom & Dad to get themselves some Lil Man. This was Great-GranDonna's first time meeting Eli, and I think she approves. Eli was very content to lay in her arms, and only woke up long enough to give us all the Stink-Eye for disturbing his peace. Here's a good shot of the Stink-Eye in question ...

Great-GranDonna helped with a feeding and got some good burpies. He made some good eye contact, some good wiggles, some great coos, and between Great-Grandma, both of his Grandmas, and his Grandpa, he was the happiest Booger this side of the Caldecot Tunnel.

Here's Grandpa helping with another (yes, another) feeding, utilizing the burp cloth that he had picked up for the Lil Man as soon as we found out he was gonna be a Lil Man. I think Grandpa got some good burpies too, along with the great eye-contact.

Here's a great shot of the Lil Man gettin' jiggy with himself during an afternoon awakening.


And even better, here's a great shot of the Lil Man with his PooFace on.
I love his concentration ...

Eli's Big Day Out

On Thursday, Eli had his first fun trip out of the house. No Kaiser appointments this time. We headed down to Stockton to show him off (wait, I mean ... no, I guess I do mean show him off) to the extended Families and spend a day having good stuff. We got to see all of his Great-Grandparents, all of his Grandparents, his Uncle, and a few Friends too. It was a really nice day. We had an incident on the way down which I won't go into here, but when we finally reached town, it was smooth sailing with bright skies, good wind, and lots of poopies.

Here's Taryn first thing that morning feeding the Lil Man. You'll see a lot of these feeding pictures. All this kid does is eat and sleep. What a life. I'd say that I'd wish to come back as a baby in my next life, but then you'd have to grow up all over again. So I'll settle for one of our cats - probably Momo.

Here's Anti-Gamma helping us to get ourselves ready by taking Lil Man off our hands.

I don't think she minded too much ...

Here's Great-Tita (is that right?) getting herself some Lil Man, and helping with a feeding.

Here's Great-Tita getting some burpies.

She got some pretty good ones too ...

Here's Great-Grandaddy teaching the Lil Man some of his old boxing moves. We thought he had strong legs - you know, soccer legs or swimmer legs - but if Bill has any say he'll be practicing his jabs just as much, if not more.

Here's a family shot of the Greats from the Cooper side. They weren't happy or anything. You could tell by how little they paid attention to the Lil Man. We're very appreciative to have Family so loving and attentive.

Here's Great-Grandaddy getting himself some Lil Man.

Same haircut, right?

Here's Uncle Kendall laughing at a joke that I can only assume was made at the Lil Man's expense. Get used to it Eli. You are now nothing but fodder for one-liners and mimickery - good thing Uncle Kendall is funny, and great with kids.

Here's Great-Grandma Rosie getting herself some Lil Man. Just as we had gotten Eli into his car seat, all strapped in and ready to go, he let loose with a poopy. It took another ten minutes to get him back into the seat ...

Here's Eli's Grambot (thanks Denise & Jay, I think that one's gonna stick) getting herself some Lil Man. She got herself a lot of Lil Man, and he couldn't have been happier. Grambot also helped out with a feeding.

Here's Grandpa Dave getting himself some Lil Man, and helping out with a feeding.

Here's Grandpa Jim getting himself some Lil Man.

After we got home that night, we settled down for our first really relaxing night since everything went down. Taryn was feeling great, I was good, Cathy was good. It was nice to see what it would feel like with everything done, with all of the crazy health things taken care of, and all the time in the world to dedicate to just staring at this little guy.

Here's the Lil Man getting some "Tummy Time" on his surf board. This is great for muscle development as well as visual and sensory stimulation. We were pretty impressed (and proud) in his ability to raise and move his head, push his legs, and track the movements and sounds of the toys attached to the board. I know we're biased, but this little guy's freakin' incredible!

Here's our Lil Man in his Aries get-up. Aries is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac and symbolized by the Ram. Aries is considered a masculine, positive and extrovert sign. It is also considered the Fire sign, as it is one of the four cardinal signs of the Zodiac, representing fixed signs as well as the four cardinal elements (just like his Daddy is an Aquarius, another cardinal sign, and the one that represents Air). In Chinese astrology, Aires is associated with the Dragon. Cool.

Here's one last one of Eli, with the quickness, jukin' Daddy and messin' up his picture.

A Chaotic Couple of Days ...

On Wednesday morning, Eli had his first check-in appointment with his Lactation Specialist, as well as an appointment for his tongue-clipping procedure. Cathy, Taryn and I all woke up refreshed from another good night's sleep (so far we've been really blessed as Eli will only wake up once or twice during the night to let us know that he's hungry or has had Action Pants. He's usually back out within minutes, so of course we are too. We're crossing fingers that this trend continues). We made our first trip to Starbucks on our way to Kaiser, and Taryn really enjoyed being able to order herself a latte for the first time in 9 months.

We got to Kaiser just slightly late (apparently with an infant in tow I've been told that we have to throw the "on time" thing out the window. But I'll be fighting that one for as long as it takes ...). We learned that Eli was within the acceptable weight loss limit, having gone from a birth weight of 8 lbs. exactly to 7 lbs. 9 oz. over those few days. We were told that he was the picture of baby health - always good to hear when you're a first-time parent and freaking out over the slightest thing. Which we are.

Next stop on our trip was the Head & Neck department to have his tongue clipped. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, "tongue-tied" means that Eli's frenullum (the thin strip of tissue that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth) was latched too close to the tip of his tongue. This had caused Eli to have difficulties feeding, and could have caused problems later in life with speech. So Taryn and I decided to have it taken care of as soon as possible so as to save the Lil Man feeding frustration, and ourselves the cost of speech therapy down the road. The procedure took less than 5 minutes - the doctor simply held Eli's head down, numbed the inside of his mouth, and used a pair of special scissors to cut the frenullum down. Eli took it like a champ! He wailed as his head was being held in place, but as soon as the procedure was finished, he was back in Daddy's arms and quiet and content as could be. When we got to the waiting room, we fed him right away, and he took to it with no problems, and showed no signs of discomfort. What a guy.

Throughout the 5 days since Eli had been born, Taryn had been complaining of severe headaches, and had been having a real hard time being active, or finding true pleasure in all that was going on. On the way home from Kaiser that Wednesday, Taryn made a call to Kaiser's advice nurse to ask for guidance on how to alleviate her pain (or, ideally, get rid it entirely). She was forwarded to an anesthesiologist, who in turn forwarded her to Kaiser's Emergency Room for immediate care. Apparently, when Taryn had received her spinal block during the C-Section, the hole that was created in the spinal column either didn't heal entirely, or didn't heal correctly. When a hole is created in the spinal column it allows fluid to leak out, which in turn causes a change in pressure in the head, which in turn causes severe and debilitating headaches. We got to the E.R. in Walnut Creek at about noon, and luckily Taryn was taken back immediately (the anesthesiologist had called ahead for her). However, she was left laying on a gurney for 45 minutes in the back hallway waiting for a room to open up. When it did, she was taken back, put into a hospital gown, then left there on a hospital bed (without a call button!) for hours, waiting for someone to not only take care of her, but communicate with her at all. When someone did come for her, instead of taking her to another room (a sterile room!) to perform the procedure, they simple stuck a couple needles in her, and told her that she couldn't move for a couple more hours. Needless to say, Taryn was pissed. She was in pain, was confused, was angry and frustrated, was scared, was everything under the sun except okay. It's bad enough that the procedure that she needed to have (what they call an epidural bloodpatch) involved taking blood from her arm and injecting it into her spine so that it clotted and clogged the leak, but to have had such a terrible and ridiculous experience almost put her over the edge. I think she was a bit traumatized. Finally, after 6 hours, Cathy, Amy (who had showed up in the middle of it all expecting to spend the afternoon cooing at the baby) and I got Taryn back into a car and back to the house. We put her in bed (hooray for sleepnumber beds!), put the Lil Man in her arms, and set up shop in the Master for the night - all four of us. We even had a pizza party in bed (it was like being in a real life chic flick, but with really good pizza). But on the bright side, her headache was rectified immediately, without a single recurrance since. I think Taryn was really disappointed that she wasn't able to be as big a part as she wanted to be in caring for Eli for those first couple of days. But now that she's back to 100%, she's back with a vengeance. Now I can't get the baby out of her arms long enough to change a diaper (which is really okay if you think about it).

Horray for Eli and his new tongue! Hooray for Pie and her new head! Hooray for me just because I don't wanna be left out!