Christmas

Our Christmas celebration continued in the traditional Winkey manner.  Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Daryl came over on Christmas Eve and we had lots of snacks and opened presents.  We had a great time, with only one little snafu when Cooper got a little overly tired/stimulated/who knows.  Whatever it was, he started crying and it took quite a while to settle him down.  One of the best parts of the night was that Grandma brought Coopers stocking over!  We have the best stockings in the entire world.  Grandma started 35 years ago when she made them for my cousins and brother and has since made them for all of us and our kids.  There are now 12 of them in all and no where in the world will you ever find any like them.  They are by far my favorite aspect of our holiday decorations and traditions. 

Here are some photos of our Christmas Eve celebration:

Uncle Daryl and pictures of the boys

Grandma and Papa and their silly gifts.  LOL

The best Eli smile of the evening. 

Me and Coop.  

Santa brought Cooper Cougar socks.

My two big boys

Growing Boys

Today was our Well Child appointments for both boys.  We can honestly say they are growing like weeds, although one of our so called weeds is moving about it at a much slower rate than the other.

Eli, in for his Five Year Well Child checkup did great.  He got one "Make Me Run Faster" flu shot and passed everything else with flying colors.  He is in the 88th percentile in both height and weight.  (I need to check with Jess to see what the specifics were, I was in the room getting Cooper out of his car seat at the time).

Cooper was in for his One Month Well Child checkup.  No shots were had for him at this appointment, but will begin his immunizations next month when we go in for his Two Month Well Child.  He has grown exponentially in the last week and a half since our last appointment.  He has added a pound and three ounces to his little peanut body, putting him at 9 pounds, 1 ounce.  This puts him in the 29th percentile for weight.  His height, I know is a little off as I didn't quite have his head at the top of the table, but he wasn't too far off...maybe half an inch or so, but he was measured at 22 inches, which would put him at the 67th percentile.  So really, make it a little less than that and that's where he's at. Oops, Mom's bad.  :)

I'm quite impressed with the number of updates I've done in the last 24 hours, now you should be pretty caught up with the happenings at the Winkey house!  If you haven't read them yet, I've posted five new updates since this time yesterday - of course, with LOTS of pictures!

Boy do I love my family!!!!  I am so lucky and so blessed to have them in my life.

Merry Christmas from the Winkeys!

We finally got pictures with Santa this week.  We keep missing Santa pictures on the weekend so we went to our local Bounce it Up and Santa was there.  It was great because it was so much more personal.  We walked in and Santa was able to greet Eli by name and talk to him about things that he is interested in.  I think it meant so much more to Eli!

Talking to Santa

The boys

Santa and Cooper

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry Christmas from Jess, Eli, Santa, Cooper, and Christel 

A Big Day!

Today Cooper got to meet his Uncle Daryl!  Living in Texas, Christmas time brings a trip "home" for Daryl every year, today we celebrated Eli's birthday and introduced him to Coop.  He stared at his uncle for quite some time.

Me, Cooper, and my big brother, Daryl.

Mighty One Month

Not only does today mark Eli's fifth birthday, our littlest man is one month old!  He has grown so much in his first month and we have been so grateful to have him in our midst.  He is a darling little boy and we are all absolutely enamored with him.

During the last month, he has:

~ started smiling at things and people (mom, dad, and Eli)

~ occasionally coos at people to carry on a conversation

~ loves to snuggle and cuddle

~ lifts/holds head for short periods

~ stares at faces

~ stares at bright/contrasting objects

Fabulous Five!

Today Eli celebrated his fifth birthday.  FIVE!

Yesterday we celebrated by having some of his friends over for his birthday party.  We had a great time visiting with the parents and the kids had a blast of a time running around playing together.  When I say they had a blast, I mean a BLAST.  As in a bomb.  When most families had left I wandered upstairs to get something and happened to glance into his room.  Oh. My. Gosh.  It looked like a nuclear bomb had exploded in there.  Toys, stuffed animals, blankets from his bed, everything had been tossed.  I still can't believe it.  LOL

See the aftermath for yourself:

Of course the highlight for Eli, besides having his friends over to play, was opening presents and eating cake, ok, I really should clarify.  He enjoyed the frosting of the cake.  HA!

 All the kiddos.

Not So Deep Thoughts

I am trying really hard to update at least a couple times a week now that I'm home with the boys during the day.  Grandparents and Great Grandparents have been watching both here and on facebook for those regular photo updates of baby Cooper and big brother Eli so here I am.  It's also a great way to keep track of those milestones for both kids as well as for us as their parents while we adjust to having two kids.

Yesterday was not a great day.  Well, it was absolutely beautiful outside.  It was cold, a mere 27 degrees as I was driving Eli to school in the morning, but the sun was shining, the sky was blue, it was a gorgeous Pacific Northwest winter day (yes, technically it is still fall for 8 more days).  With that said, Cooper had a tough day.  I'm not sure if he had a tummy ache, maybe a headache, maybe his cord stump - yes it is still attached, how crazy is that - was bothering him, at any rate, he did a LOT of crying yesterday.  Crying and screaming.  Lots of screaming.  Lots of crying.  We were all up late trying to console the little guy but the only thing that would calm him down was eating.  He ate a lot.  A LOT.  I know he is at that typical three week growth spurt, but holy smokes. Saying he ate a lot is still an understatement.  He was also awake a lot yesterday, so I think part of it was that he was overly tired and couldn't bring himself down to sleep.  

Thankfully, today, was so much better!  He still had a couple bouts of crying, but what kid doesn't?  He ate more like normal, was awake and played with me and Eli during the day, and got in his typical mid-day naps.  

A few things about the boys from Momma's perspective:

Eli - I still can't believe my baby is going to be five years old in five days.  It seriously seems like yesterday we brought you home from the hospital.  Of course, I think having a newborn increases those feelings, but five years?  That does not seem possible.  I love the way you love your little brother.  If Cooper "has eyes," in other words he is awake, you want to be holding him or playing with him.  If he's asleep, you are making silly faces and getting in Coop's face.  Seriously.  We keep having to ask you to stop and think about how you would feel if you opened your eyes and saw someone two inches away from your own face.  I love the way you calls me into your room at night to tell me odd little things: gifts you'd like for your birthday, something about Santa, to tell me what the sign is for I Love You.  :)  I love the facts that you know and enjoy sharing - like that the sun is really a small star, but it looks big to us.  I love how excited you are for your birthday and for Christmas. I love the way you are finally starting to come out of your shell.  Today you actually talked to the bakery lady at QFC and told her your birthday is this weekend and that you are turning five.  It wasn't your typical timid talk either, you were excited and jumped up and pumped your fist in the air.    I love you and everything about you.

Cooper - Wow, we have known you as YOU for the last 25 days.  Twenty-five days.  I still don't know how that is possible.  You are so much like your big brother as an infant, so laid back and generally calm and easy going.  I could sit and watch you sleep for hours on end and not get bored.  You have so many facial expressions coming and going we could read you like a book.  I cannot wait for you to really start smiling and know you're smiling.  Occasionally we get one while we're talking to you, but they're still few and far between.  I love your giggle while you sleep.  When you giggle, I giggle.  I can't help it.  You have the most adorable chuckle I have ever heard.  I love the way you sneak a peek out of your eyes while you are eating, just to make sure I'm still there (or maybe to see if I'm watching you) or while you're sleeping to see who's holding you.  I love the way you clasp your hands together when your eating/sleeping or how you grab on to my fingers while I'm holding you.  I love the way you nestle in and snuggle so close and tight.  Even though I'm still tired and those crazy dreams are back that I had when Eli was an infant, I love you and everything about you.  I am such a proud Mommy for my two handsome, amazing little boys.

 Some pictures of my cuties:

Nana and Eli

Papa and Cooper - C wasn't awake much longer - Papa has that special touch.

Shhhhhhh.  I'm sleeping.

Adorable.

Still adorable.  

Eli looks like he's up to something though...

Our cute little Monkey.

Helllllllooooooo.....