The Handley Family: Monthly Update - March 2014 Happy Birthday Cooper!!

Addie's Monthly Photo

Cooper's Monthly Photo

Aribelle's Monthly Photo

All about Addie

BIG Sister - Addie has been such a big help with everything lately. In the mornings, she goes into Cooper's room and opens his door (he can't quite open it yet) and helps him up the stairs. She will also push his chair in at the table while mommy or daddy are making food. There are actually times that I'm not sure how I would function without her around. Even little things, like when Cooper needs help with something, or if I need her to go get a diaper for Aribelle, she's on it!

Pulmonoligist - On 3/6 We paid a visit to the pulmonoligist to get addie's cough checked out. She had a bad cough for a while but seemed to go away and then seemed to come back periodically. She would wake up in the middle of the night with a cough even though she wouldn't cough at all during the day. The x-rays showed a bit of swelling but her pediatrician said no fluid or other concerns were apparent. After visiting with the pulmonoligist, it was decided that she has a temporary childhood athsma stemming from her upper respiratory infection that she had towards the end of 2013. The doctor put her on two types of breathing treatments that we are supposed to stick with for about two weeks. Fingers crossed that this will take away the swelling and get this kid to stop coughing.

All about Cooper

Happy 2nd birthday Cooper - This year we had a Lego Themed birthday party for Cooper. Legos are one of his favorite things to play with right now so it seemed pretty appropriate. He had lots of visitors at his birthday and he received so many gifts.

"Boop" - Cooper learned from Addie pretty early on to "Boop" or "Beep" Aribelle's nose. It is now something he does about every 15 minutes. Although mommy and daddy find it funny, I'm not so sure Aribelle is loving it. Any time she is within his reach now, he will reach over and touch her nose.

All about Aribelle

First trip out of state - We went to Illinois this month to visit with family. Aribelle did great on the trip despite the distance. Our activities included a St. Patricks parade in Uptown Normal, and various visits with family (see pictures).

Eating - Aribelle has graduated to eating around every 4 hours. She is still mostly breastfed but maybe once a week will get a bottle from Shane or Nana. She takes her milk either way and doesn't seem too picky.

Sleeping - She seems to still be a great sleeper and typically doesn't sleep less than 2 hours. We've had a few days/nights where she has slept 4-6 hours at a time. NICE! :)

Paci - She doesn't seem 100% sold on having a paci. She fights us pretty hard when we try to give it to her but we've found that later on it can be a blessing to have and it's much easier to take away than a thumb.

Smiles - Of course I'm not even sure if she can "see" me yet, but on 3/10 I had my first smile from her while I was feeding her. It was very heartwarming.

First Cold - With two other kids in the house we were bound to have a baby sick at some point but I really didn't think it would happen this quickly. Fortunately it was just a little snotty, sneezing and no fevers but it is still difficult to watch them get sick at such a young age.

More photos from the month.

Happy birthday to our Cooper