I forgot one of the cutest things Coop said. He was trying to get his daddy to watch him do something, and he said, "Watch, Daddy" several times. Finally, after growing a bit impatient, Cooper looked at him and said, "Watch, Nate Bethell!" Nate and I both dropped our jaws. We knew that Cooper knew Daddy's name was Nate, but we didn't know about the Bethell. And then to use is like that to demand his attention - wow. Too funny.

Talking

Cooper says things every day that need to be written down. He is at such a fun stage! Yesterday, I was listing out some things for my mom that I thought were blog-worthy.

• Cooper was pushing a button on the laptop (a known no-no), so I said, "Cooper, go to your room for time out." He drooped his shoulders and said, "Cooper, bad choice."
• Cooper uses "um" a lot when we ask him questions. I think this is especially funny when he is having trouble going to sleep at night. I'll hear him crying/getting upset in his bed. When I go in to check on him, I'll ask him what's wrong. He'll answer, "Um...(long pause to think of the need that is causing him to cry) water."
• Cooper says, "Right back." Obviously he has heard this one several times in his life. The conversation usually goes something like this. "Train track, okay?" "Okay, Buddy. Let's play with your train track. Do you want to go get it?" "Right back!"
• Cooper heard me say "Dang, Miles!" after a large diaper filling. Now, out of the blue, he'll say "Dang, Miles!" Man, I wish I hadn't said that...

Travel Fun

While Nate was on the road last week, Cooper said some really cute things. I feel like his language really took off while Nate was gone! He said this sentence: "Uncle Wade has a tractor on his shirt." That one impressed me. :)

One evening, Cooper asked me for "three jumps." Cooper often asks Nate for "three jumps," and I guess I was deemed an appropriate substitute. It was very clear that while I gave the three jumps that I was not getting the job done. After we were finished, Cooper looked at me and said, "Big Swing!" I laid down on the floor, and Cooper said, "I'm tired." I guess he's heard that from me before...

The next night, I was on my cell phone with Nate. When I hung up, Cooper took the cell phone, and he said, "Hi, Daddy. This is Carey." Then, he lifted his shirt in an attempt to clip the phone to his belt - just like Daddy does. After Nate got home, he started saying, "Hi Carey, this is Nate," on the phone. Pretty cute!

Cooper and Miles kind of looked alike today, so here is a picture of their matching outfits:

2 Months Old!

Miles had his Two Month check up today. Dr. Harris (who is usually running pretty close to right on schedule) was really, really late. So, we were at the dr.'s office almost 2 hours - ugh. Miles did really well! And of course, they saved the shots to the very end of the appt. so they didn't have to listen to a crying baby. Poor little guy.

Tonight he had several good smiles, even after the torture we put him through. For you numbers people, Miles weighed 14 lbs, 1 oz (95th to 97th precentile) and measured 25 inches (off the chart percentile). I guess we Bethells raise us some big-o-kids. He is officially bigger than Coop was at this age...and we thought he was big!

Speaking of Cooper, he had a few funny quotes tonight. Nate bought a double jogging strolelr off ebay and we received it from UPS today. When Nate was opening it up in the living room (big cardboard box), Cooper was so excited when he looked inside he exclaimed 'oh my goodness!'. Another funny one was when Nate was getting him ready for bed and got out his 'tractor' jammies. When Nate said 'Cooper - do you see the cool tractor on your shirt?' he promptly said 'actually, digger.'

The Brothers...

Several people have asked us recently if Miles looks like Cooper. We think so! But to prove it to ourselves, we tried to take a picture of Miles that would look similar to a picture we had of Cooper. We were actually surprised at the differences we can see in this picture! So here they are, in random order:

Can you tell who is who?

Florida

Believe it or not, we just returned home from vacation in Florida with our 22-month and 7-week old boys. Before you think we are too crazy, this trip was well in the works when Miles was just a twinkle in our eyes. Once we knew about Miles coming to join our family, we decided we would brave it and try to do the family vacation with him. And I tell you what, all things considered, we were blessed with little miracles all along the way that made the vacation well worth it! God is so good!

In general, I would tell people that it is not wise to travel with little ones. However, with amazing family members to help, we had a good trip!

Cooper enjoyed the water and the sand. When he first went over the hill and saw the ocean, his jaw dropped. He was in awe. It was very cute. He enjoyed the water and the sand very much!















Miles didn't have much time on the beach. He did, however, have one bath in the swimming pool and one bath in a salad bowl. I think he was pretty concerned about the experience...












And as it turns out, yes, we are crazy.

Lunch Time Sing-A-Long

Over the past few days, Cooper has blessed us with some great video. Today over lunch, we captured pieces of 'old Macdonald had a farm' and the Veggie Tales theme song. Without further a due...

4th of July Weekend

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Nate had Friday off so we were able to spend a three-day weekend together at home. I don't even think we left Bolivar - it was wonderful to be all together without much of a schedule or 'to do' list.

Cooper experienced his first real fire crackers. We thought, prior to the big display in the evening, we'd purchase a few small fire crackers to light off at the house to see how things go. The fireworks in the evening are very loud so we thought a few small ones would be a good indication of how things would go. Evidently we chose the wrong place to buy fireworks because it seems the first several we tried didn't work. However, when we did find one that worked, it wasn't pretty. He watched as the tank drove around but then when it finally stopped and gave a light crack, he cried like there was no tomorrow. We have video but thought it wouldn't be quite right to post it - it's so sad! Needless to say, Cooper and Miles went to bed BEFORE the evening display.

We spent much of Sunday enjoying the Wimbledon finals, swinging in the back yard, taking a few family walks, etc. Cooper became pretty talkative on Sunday afternoon so we were able to catch him counting and saying the alphabet. You may have to listen closely as he wasn't especially loud. The occasional '1,2,3 Blastoff!' gives an extra touch...

Miles isn't talking, running marathons, etc. yet, but we thought we'd post a short video of him looking around, doing the 6-week-old thing.

Smiles

One of the best rewards of being a dad is experiencing smiles from our children. Miles seems to have known just what we needed this week as he gave us his first big cheese. Granted, his smiles are potential coincidences, but we will take what we can get. It's amazing to think that Miles is now six weeks old and growing like crazy. I believe he has gained nearly one pound every week and seems to have grown several inches as well. I'm not sure this is the case, but he is really getting big. When I returned from New Jersey earlier this week, it was like coming home to two new boys.

With the extended holiday weekend, our family is staying in town and keeping a pretty low-key weekend. So far we've spent been in the garden, played ping-pong, baked brownies and have spent several hours in Coopers new swing in the backyard. SBU hosts the city fireworks every year and we have a great view from our front yard. While we will probably end up at home to watch the show, we do plan to walk over and eat dinner, (or homeade icecream!) socialize and enjoy our friends who will join us.

Happy 4th of July!