A Monkey's First Chistmas

What a wonderful holiday season. To say we are blessed is an understatement! Leo's first holiday season was a complete success. Our first Christmas as parents was just wonderful.

Charlie's parents, Mike and Tami, spent the holidays with us. They haven't seen him since he was just a few weeks old and just loved spending time with him. He has grown a TON since the last time they saw him!

And of course, the baby was showered with gifts. Currently, his favorites are his sock monkey, a fisher-price basketball goal and Scout the dog (a stuffed animal with a USB hub!). Santa brought Leo a high chair!

"ooooo Daddy, I want that..."

Enjoying a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Feaster, his 1st camping chair!






"Thanks Santa!! A place to eat my bananas!"




Yummm....Spoon


Cooper enjoying one of Leo's gifts
There is a baby buried in there!

I want it!

The Schreiner Christmas Tree

4 Month Old Monkey Baby

Where does the time go? Leo is now 4 months old! He can now jump in his jumperoo which delights him to no end. We call him a little Monkey these days because he absolutely loves to be bounced and swung around - the higher the better. There is no need to be gentle with this little boy! Leo can bear weight on his legs now and loves to be walked around the house. He can also scoot some when he is laying on his belly. An early crawler maybe? Who knows, but it seems that he is never where I left him when I come back into the room!
Here are a few in his jumperoo.

At 4 months Leo is 14 pounds and 25 3/4 inches long. Like his Daddy, he is long and skinny. As I mentioned before there was a little bit of concern regarding his weight, but the Dr. is no longer worried at all. Leo gained 6 ounces and grew 1/4 of an inch in 2 weeks with the addition of rice cereal! We have now been approved to start Stage 1 foods too!

As for Leo's health issues, the reflux reared it's ugly head again. Leo was on Zantac & Previcid and doing wonderfully. The Dr. took him off of the Zantac after 2 weeks of both meds. Typically, after 2 weeks the Previcid has kicked in and the Zantac is no longer needed. About a week after taking Leo off of the Zantac we saw major problems. (Crying during feedings, refusing food all together, crying for hours, etc) The Dr. agrees that Leo needs two medications to keep the reflux at bay. We got the impression that he has never had a patient who needed both the Zantac and the Previcid. Leave it to Leo!

Leo is continuing to do much better on the new formula. At his 4 month appointment they took another round of blood to test for food allergies. Again, the blood test can give a false negative, but if something comes back positive at least we will be ahead of the game. Leo gave that lab tech a run for her money! We warned the lab tech before she inserted the needle that he was very strong but I don't think she believed us. When she was done she said that he was the strongest little one she has ever had!

Leo managed to catch his first virus....He has croup, poor little guy barks when he coughs. Dr. said he should feel better by the end of this week.

Many people continue to ask how Cooper has adjusted to life with Leo. Let me just say that Charlie and I have NO doubt that those two will be thick as thieves when Leo gets bigger. Leo stares and stares at Cooper and will reach out to pet him on the nose whenever he can. Cooper loves this and takes any opportunity that he can to get in Leo's face and give him a big sloppy kiss.

And, in case any one cares about the rest of the family :)....Charlie finished up his fall semester of graduate school. It was a tough class and he is very happy to have it over and done with. Word of advice, don't try graduate school, full time work and an infant all at once...it's makes for a hard semester! I am very happy to report that I have lost my baby weight! I still have more I want to lose and I certainly need to "tone" up more, but the pounds are slowly melting away.

Here's a couple more of Leo from his 4th month.

Doctor's Visits & Leo's First Play Date

Leo has been to the doctor a few times now and as of Friday was finally up to his birth weight (well one ounce off, but close enough)! Dr. John gave us his blessing to let Leo sleep as long as he wants to at night without waking him up for feedings. The last two nights Charlie and I have gotten 4-5 hours up uninterrupted sleep! We are praying that it isn't a fluke! Leo has also grown almost an inch; he's got long legs like his daddy.

Here are some pictures taken yesterday, 2 weeks and 4 days:

From Leo - 1st month

From Leo - 1st month

Leo also had his first play date on Friday with Drake (Niki & CJ's son) who is 1 week younger than Leo. Aren't they a rowdy group? :)

From Leo - 1st month

We are trying to have daily tummy time, and Leo's head is already getting much stronger. His appetite is also increasing and we are moving up to 4 ounces on his bottle feedings. He loves to have Goodnight Moon read to him at night and his favorite songs so far are Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Zippity Doo Dah , Tomorrow (from Annie) and the Foot Song (This is a song Charlie made up about Leo's toes and feet. He sings it when he is trying to releive Leo's gas.). He is such a joy and Charlie and I are still in awe that he is here and he is ours.

A lot of people have asked how Cooper is adjusting to the new arrival, and we are happy to report that so far he is doing well with Leo. He is of course curious, but we have forbidden him to sniff or lick Leo and he is doing well with staying clear of the little one. I am sure that will be next to impossible to control once Leo is mobile, but for now, Cooper seems content that we are at home more with him. Cooper doesn't even stir when Leo is screaming his head off.

Camping - Bethy Creek - March 2009

On a whim, Charlie and I decided to go camping one sunny weekend in March. It was so on a whim that all of our usual spots were booked up! After a little research, we (no really, I) found an open spot at Bethy Creek resort on the north side of Lake Livingston. And while it wasn't our usual type of camping spot, we had a great time! Bethy Creek is on the north side of Lake Livingston, about 20 minutes east of Huntsville. It's a privately owned camp ground, so it's a much different feel than the state and national parks we typically frequent. But for what we were looking for, which was to relax and totally take it easy, it was perfect. Our spot was right on the lake and the view was lovely.

From Bethy Creek

At the time of this trip, I was just shy of 18 weeks pregnant. The trip was quite relaxing for me, but I did start to notice my limitations. It's much harder to crawl around in the camper when we are breaking it down!

From Bethy Creek

The person who had the MOST fun though was Cooper. Since we were right by the lake we went to the camp store and found a water toy that floats. Charlie would launch the toy out there and Cooper would thrust himself into the water to retrieve it. That dog was so happy, but he was so tired too! By the time we got home Sunday night he was barely standing and I don't think we heard more than a peep out of him for the next 2 days. Here are a couple of pics and a video of Cooper retrieving:

From Bethy Creek

From Bethy Creek

To view more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/cynthia.schreiner/BethyCreek?feat=directlink

Camping - Feb 2009 - Huntsville State Park

We took our first trip to Huntsville State Park in February 2009. Tish, Aaron and their two sweet kids joined us and we were all really impressed with the camp ground. We had a wonderful view of Lake Raven from the back of the camper



Huntsville State Park is located in the Sam Houston National Forest off of I-45 North. From Houston it takes about an hour to an hour and half (depending on the part of Houston you start from) to get to the park. The park is heavily wooded with a small lake and the camping areas are clean and the staff is quite freindly. We didn't catch anything, but the lake is rumored to have a ton of fish. Our favorite part was the trails. There was miles and miles of trails to walk or bike making the park great even for a day trip. Here is a picture of the whole family on one of the trials.



This weekend was also the first time I felt Leo move. I was a bit tired Saturday morning and decided to lay down in bed with my book. No more than a few minutes after I had laid down I felt him flip by belly button, it was truly magical! This is a picture taken shortly after:



Cooper had a blast too. Johnathan wore him out playing tug of war all weekend. We were so proud of Cooper. He played so well with both of the kids. It was so heartwarming to see him be so gentle with the kids. We know Cooper will be a great
Big Brother! Here is a picture of Cooper at the end of the day:


Charlie and I usually camp alone, so it was a nice change to have some freinds with us. Tish and Aaron were wonderful camping buddies; we had a blast playing Cards and eating. (There is so much good eating when you camp!!)

Here is a link to some more pictures of the trip.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cynthia.schreiner/Camping09HuntsvilleStatePark#

Cooper

As you all know, we have a super large, super silly and super sweet Labrador Retriever named Cooper.

Cooper entered the world in April of 2007. The second biggest of his litter he had personality from the get go! We got our first pictures of him over Memorial Day weekend. Charlie and I were in Corpus Christi for the Uprising Musical Festival (what a fun fun time!!) The moment I saw those first pictures I was hooked. We picked him up in June and our lives were never quite the same; but the change was certainly for the better.

I can still remember Cooper being small enough for me to cradle in one arm. If you have seen him lately you would know that is no longer possible and hasn't been for quite some time now! Cooper weighed in last week at 98.8 pounds. He has a few extra pounds, but the vet was happy with his weight. (Though Charlie doesn't agree, I am convinced that Cooper is merely going through a chubby adolescent phase that he will grow out of)

Cooper is a ball of excitement and loves to play. If you are a living, breathing being of any kind he thinks you should be romping around with him. I have witnessed him playing with a bug for a good 10 minutes. That poor bug, each time it would try to flee from Cooper's monster paws Coop would lightly pat it again and make the bug turn over. Another pat and the bug would once again run for its life. Cooper, with furrowed brows, just couldn't understand why the bug didn't want to play with him. That's my dog. Not the brightest, not the dumbest either, but easily the sweetest.

I have included some pictures from the last 22 months of Cooper's life. Enjoy!