Happy 1st Birthday!

Even though Cooper's birthday is tomorrow, it seems fitting that his birthday post should take place during the Superbowl since his birth occurred after 30 minutes after kick-off!  We have had a wonderful weekend of celebrating our little man, starting with a family party yesterday.  It was loosely safari-themed (as his whole 1st year has been...perhaps for year 2 we will pick a different theme!). So happy that nearly everyone in the family could make it.  What a special day. 

Cooper took a marathon morning nap and we had to wake him up when people started to arrive.  We had a delicious BBQ lunch and then Cooper opened his mountain of gifts.  Lots of fun toys (dancing monkey was the big hit), sippy and snack cups, clothes, $ for the college fund, plus his first red wagon.  Our gift to him was some fun bath toys, and we'll be doing a parent/child swim class at the YMCA together starting in March.  Then we sang "Happy Birthday" and let Cooper dig in to his piece of cake...in which he had absolutely no interest.  So no messy cake smashing pics for this little guy (neat freak, perhaps?).  Jason put together an amazing slideshow that was playing on the TV.  So neat to look back at those photos and see how Cooper has grown.  It was a wonderful party and we are so thankful that we could celebrate with our family.  Cooper seemed to have a genuinely good time.  He loves hanging out with his family and is always good for flashing a big grin at anyone who will play with him.  Even though he won't remember his party, we will enjoy telling him about it someday.

Looking forward to year 2!



Smiling for the camera

 

Adorable cake (outsourced!)



Kisses from Great-Grandma Yogi

Staring contest with the dancing monkey

Checking out the cake situation

Goofy hat that we should have known he would hate

"Happy Birthday to You..."

P.S.  Nice job, Packers!

No more mullet, and other exciting news...

Big weekend!

1.  Cooper is officially walking.  He's still learning and prefers crawling, but he has now taken up to 14 steps at a time.

2.  He got his first haircut this weekend.  No more mullet!  We went to Pigtails and Crewcuts, which is honestly not cheap but completely worth it for his first cut.  We set expectations very low for this - but he did great!  The lady cutting his hair was a pro and he was thoroughly entertained by her. 



BEFORE



AFTER

3.  He has started eating some real (non-baby) food!  We've been slow to introduce non-pureed foods due to a texture aversion.  Still have a ways to go but now he's eating crackers and Cheerios, and quite enjoys feeding himself.





Cooper's 1st Christmas

We had a wonderful, memorable first Christmas as a family of 3.  We kept many of the same traditions (for this year, anyway) and started a few new ones.

Cooper visited the "real" Santa at the Children's Museum on the 23rd.  We fed him puffs in line to keep him entertained.  Apparently, a few too many because he threw up all over me about 30 seconds after sitting on Santa's lap!



On Christmas Eve, we hosted all of the family for an Open House.  A fun way to celebrate the day, and Cooper entertained everyone with his newly-discovered temper (which tends to rear its ugly head the most during diaper changes and meals).  Here's his minor tantrum in progress...

Cooper then attended his first church service - the family Christmas Eve service at church - and didn't make a peep the whole time.

Christmas morning got an early start at the "older" Huffman's house with breakfast and gifts.  By late morning, we were headed to the Browning Christmas at my parent's house.  By late afternoon, we got to Jason's grandmother's house for his extended family celebration. Whew.  All in all a very memorable and special Christmas for our family.  We are grateful for the all of the love surrounding Cooper.  Thanks to our families, we are SET for months on clothes, toys, and books - not to mention a newly-opened college fund and savings account in his name.  What in the world will we do for his birthday in less than a month??

Here are some more photos to commemorate the holiday...





2011 is off to a crazy start as Cooper recovers from his very first ear infections (both ears) and a cold.  Given my history, we're thankful these ARE his first.  But now we have to figure out how to get him to take the medicine (remember the tantrums I mentioned earlier?). Guess it just comes with territory on this parenthood thing.  Happy New Year!

P.S.  Cooper weighs 23 lbs. and has taken his first tiny little steps!  He's very proud of his wave and says "hiiiii" consistently.

Merry Christmas 2010

Welcome to the Third Annual Huffman Family Christmas Letter (or TAHFCL, as it shall be known). We decided to go electronic this year – not because we are going green or trying to prevent our computerless grandmothers from having access – but because anything we can do to reduce time in our schedule…well, we take it. In fact, the cats are still angry at us for not taking the time to update their photos and therefore missed out being featured in the Christmas card photo this year.

I think it is safe to say that 2010 has been a remarkable year for us. The highlight, of course, being the birth of our son, Cooper. Clichés are clichés because they are true, and “life changes after children” is a good one. Cooper arrived a little early, in-between the historic snows Richmond experienced last winter. On the day he was born, it was my intention to get up early and shovel snow from our driveway to keep it clean and prepared. However, Cooper had other plans and started his debut around 5am that morning. We had the SUV in the garage, so we barreled down the driveway and out of the neighborhood the best we could. The neighbors had a hunch of what was going on when they awoke and found our tire tracks in the fresh snow. Of course there was no need to hurry, as he was born about 12 hours later, but you can’t convince a father-to-be of that in the moment. Besides, I wanted a legitimate excuse to drive fast and play “The Final Countdown” on my iPod on the way to the hospital. (Ask Ashley – that’s exactly how it happened).

Cooper was born shortly after kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday. (Honestly, I still don’t know who won the game.) He’s a happy, healthy, short (25th percentile) and hearty (75th percentile) little man. We’ve learned more about life and ourselves over the last 10 months than I expected. I’ve made up songs about diapers to keep him from launching off the changing table (“The New Diapey Song,” copyright pending), Ashley has an uncanny talent for farm animal noises, and we both have realized the value of efficiency and teamwork. We can bathe the boy in an orchestrated event that resembles a professional racing pit stop. We can cease crying with a stuffed platypus and quacking sounds. And when we get to sleep past 6am, we consider it a luxury. Life is different. But life is good.

This year was eventful in the office as well. March brought the merger that created Union First Market Bankshares, where I am still managing the customer experience for the organization. Our merger had a few bumps, but we ended 2010 very strong and are looking forward to a busy and successful 2011. While I still have an hour commute to Carmel Church, I now keep a second office in Midlothian that has been a tremendous help on eliminating the drive a couple days a week. Next year also brings the addition of overseeing the social media presence for the bank, which has exploded in the financial services industry this year. We’ve made Union the most popular bank in the state (and seventh in the country) on social media in less than a year. There’s a lot more to social media than Farmville, OMGs and LOLs, after all.

Ashley was able to take 12 weeks off with Cooper, but started back to work with a promotion and new position in May. In addition to serving as Senior Account Manager, she is now a team leader and manages the people side of her department. Between her new role, picking back up with harp performances and family life, her plate stays pretty full these days.

We’re still mastering the work/life balance equation, but we’re getting there. We are very fortunate to have my mom watch Cooper during the week and Ashley’s mom jump in any chance she can get between weekends and school holidays. The grandparents still don’t technically have names yet, but we’re working on it. Lately, Cooper calls everything he sees “Bob” or something that suspiciously sounds like “cat,” so all four of them may end up as a version of Bob or cat. As far as I know, Grandma Bobcat is still up for grabs. That has a nice ring to it.

We decided to renovate and overhaul our backyard this fall and found Cooper to be a convenient excuse for the project. The great folks at Cross Creek Nursery & Landscaping and Minor’s Fences transformed our blank slate backyard into a really beautiful outdoor living space. The fence will keep Cooper safely contained and the stone fire pit has already given me excuses to play with matches and eat smores again. I’ve been strictly instructed that the fire pit cannot be substituted for a play pen, even without the fire.

In the family news department, Ashley’s sister Amanda was married (twice) to Sam Sruay in July – once in Richmond and again in a traditional Cambodian ceremony in California. My sister and her husband moved to Delaware so that Joe could start his medical residency at Christiana Care Health System and Carrie has picked right back up teaching elementary school. Cooper experienced his first Outer Banks trip in August when we spent a great week in Duck, and Ashley and I managed to sneak away to Williamsburg and Mathews County a couple times while the grandparents were “forced against their will” to keep Cooper for a night or two.

As I said before, life is different, but life is good. The holidays have given us time to reflect and be grateful of all new experiences and traditions. Pumpkins no longer come from the grocery store – they come from an all day pumpkin patch expedition. I learned that Gerber sells liquid Thanksgiving in a jar, but I can’t truthfully recommend it. And Christmas trees certainly don’t come from a lot or a store – they come from driving to the middle of nowhere and sawing that perfect pine down with your own two hands (photographic proof is available). And while Cooper won’t remember his first holiday season, we sure will. We have enjoyed starting our own family traditions that we hope to carry on for years to come. Except the liquid turkey/peas/beans/cranberry/pie mistake. That one stays in 2010.

We hope this finds you happy, healthy and enjoying the season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Jason, Ashley and Cooper (Schroeder and George)

Wanna Walk

Just a quick update on the little man.  He's comfortably pulling up on everything now.  When I see him standing in his crib after naps, it really hits that he's growing into a little boy.  His balance is great and he often stands without any support for a few seconds at a time.  He can crawl with amazing speed and we have fun chasing him around the house.  We're now up to 4 teeth (and feeling the sleep deprivation!). He recently discovered the "guh" sound, so now we hear a chorus of "ah, bob, buh, kuh, guh" - what he means is up for interpretation!  Of course he has good and bad days (who doesn't?) but is generally a joyful little boy with a hearty laugh and a smile that will melt your heart. We are really looking forward to his first Christmas.

Belly laughs!

"The worm" changed to a full-fledged crawl about 2 weeks ago, and now Mr. C gets where he wants to go - fast!  Plus, he's pulling up and loves loves loves to stand.  He's not very agile yet, so there are lots of bumps and tumbles.  A few days ago, one of his top teeth came through, so we're up to 3 teeth now.  Recently, his sounds have become very consistent - favorites are "ahhh" and "ba", which often comes out as "bob."  It's amazing to watch this learning process and see how quickly he changes in a day's time.

As for stats, Cooper weighs 21 lbs. and is 28 inches long.  Even though he's still a chunk, his weight gain seems to be slowing down. 

Great memories of cutting down our Christmas tree at a farm in Powhatan...a tradition we hope to continue for our family in the future.

I just adore Cooper's laugh, but really can't get enough of the belly laugh in the 2nd video below.

Mobile Monkey

It's been a great month.  Cooper started crawling about 2 weeks ago.  His crawl looks like "the worm", but it's a crawl nonetheless.  We're learning the fun and the challenges that come with it - can't leave him for a second anymore!

Cooper's 1st Halloween was very fun.  I worried the whole week that I had wasted money on his costume because he screamed the first time we put him in it. Luckily, it didn't take long to adjust and he actually wore it twice over the weekend.  We kicked off the weekend by taking him to my work kid-friendly Halloween party.  Saturday night was spent at a neighbor's Halloween party where Cooper got to "meet" some of the neighborhood babies for the first time.  And then Sunday, he greeted trick-or-treaters in his monkey costume.

The little guy's new trick is waving.  He waves on cue when you say "hi" or "bye-bye" to him.  Amazing how their little mind's work.  We continue to enjoy his sounds...sometimes I would swear he is saying real words at the right times, but not likely.

Looking forward to the holidays - lots of time with family, good food, and making new memories as a family of three!



Pumpkin-picking at Ashland Berry Farm



Little monkey

Shortly after putting on the monkey costume

The Cooper Crawl