Woman Seeking Advice...

Cooper had his 4 month check-up on Monday and the doctor gave him the okay to start rice cereal. After only a few bites, I saw the wisdom in Cody's advice to put him in the Bumbo and strip him down to his diaper. The first half of the cereal did not end up in Cooper's mouth; instead, it was all over his chin, chest, legs, hands, and arms. Eventually, he began to catch on and would suck the spoon. I could tell when he swallowed some because he would give me a look of shock. After feeding him there was no choice but to give him a bath.

The title of this post is "Woman Seeking Advice" because I am looking for any advice you could give me on the topic of feeding baby solids. Cooper is taking the cereal well, but I figured that I could learn from your experiences. So, let me know what advice you have for me.

On a separate note, Cooper is 50% for head and 85% for weight and height. The doctor said he looks very healthy and is progressing very well. Also, if you noticed from the picture above, I chopped my hair last week. What do you think?

Logan's Big Day

Cody's little brother, Logan, got his mission call a couple of weeks ago...he's going to the Louisiana, Baton Rouge Mission and reports on August 13th. In lou of his call, he went through the temple last Saturday. It was so nice to do a session with the whole Riding family. I'm kind of ashamed to say that this was my first time back at the temple since having Cooper...I need to be better at that. Finding a babysitter for Cooper was hard because the whole Riding family was with us, my parents were in Macedonia (visiting Erin) and Anna and Lincoln were in Utah. Luckily, Gayle Kunz came to the rescue and watched Cooper for us. Gayle said that as she was feeding Cooper he kept laughing and she couldn't figure out why. Then she looked at his feet: Gayle's puppy was licking Cooper's feet and apparently Cooper thought this was funny. When I told Grampa Kleinman about this, he said "Make sure Gayle knows that it is okay for the dog to be licking Cooper's feet, but not for Cooper to be licking the dog's feet". Funny Grampa!
Well, congratulations Logan. We're really excited for you.

My little Fish

This is actually a bit old, but I forgot to post it. Cooper took his first swim about a week and a half ago. He acted like he didn't know what to think. He didn't cry, but he didn't smile or laugh either. The water was still a bit cold so I'm sure it was a bit shocking. Sorry for the little bit of nudity, but we couldn't help but laugh. The shorts are 3-6 months and they were huge! The top is actually 6-9 month and it fit just fine. I guess I have a little muffin top on my hands...big up top and a tiny bottom. We ended up safety pinning the shorts so they would stay up.

A One Car Family

Cody and I decided that between me staying at home and the way gas prices are going we should try to live on only one car. So, earlier this week we said farewell to Cody's truck. Now before you start jumping to conclusions, it was 100% Cody's decision to sell the truck. As Mindy said, "Dave Ramsey would be proud". It's fun to know that we're not the only Dave Ramsey fans!

More Cabin Pictures

Cody and I don't have any "big plans" for summer vacation this year, but we do plan on spending a lot of time at the cabin in Sedona. Sorry if the pictures and posts all start looking the same. When we went to the cabin at the end of May, it was still quite cold. I love being able to wear sweaters and having to sleep with a comforter and blankets on top. We thought Cooper would have a hard time because it was so cold, but he seemed unbothered by the fact that he was always bundled up. I think Cooper also likes sleeping in his pack & play rather than his crib. If nothing else, at least it's a change of scenery for him. One of the pictures shows just how close Elizabeth came to falling in the creek. Well, hope you enjoy the pictures!

Bumbo Time

One of Cooper's new favorite toys is the Bumbo. He loves to sit up and look all around. We learned really quickly that he has to be monitored while he's sitting in it otherwise he will try to stand and end up tipping the Bumbo over on its side with him still in it. You can't really see it in this picture, but Cooper's thighs are getting quite chunky. When we try to take him out of the Bumbo, another person has to hold it down, otherwise his thighs will get stuck in the seat which I would imagine is not very comfortable. Thanks Whitney and Chris for letting us borrow the Bumbo!

Where's Cooper?

Sundays are always busy times before Church. Our Ward starts at 9:00 (I know, it could be worse) and Cody has Ward Council meeting every week starting at 7:30. That means I have to feed Cooper, give him a bath, dress him, feed him again, and get myself showered and dressed before 8:45. This Sunday Cody got home around 8:30 from his meeting and I assigned him the task of getting Cooper dressed. After doing this, Cody came to our room to ask me a question. When he went back to check on Cooper who was lying on the floor in the family room, he began saying "Where's Cooper?" which we do quite often. When Cody turned the corner and found Cooper (see picture below) it almost seemed like Cooper was hiding himself.