COOPER SITS ALONE......

What another busy weekend and lots of great things from Cooper!!! Friday Mom, Dad and Karli came up to help load Sherri's things up....it was moving weekend! Mom and Karli came up early Friday and they loaded her garage. Dad got in around 1 am Saturday morning and when he got up around 5am Cooper and I were pacing the floors as someone did not want to go back to sleep. My Dad took Cooper which was really sweet and he and Cooper paced for awhile. I fell asleep and when I woke there Dad and Cooper were on the couch fast asleep. It was great to see Dad with Cooper. So then Dad, Terry and I went over to Sherri's to finish loading things up. It really went very fast though she has so much stuff. We finished with that and then Karli came back to Lawrence with us to watch the kids while Terry and I went to a friend's daughter's wedding. So this itself always makes me laugh. Terry has a 7 month old and his friends kids are either getting married or having babies themselves. Anyway, there were several of his old friends there that he had not seen for years and some I had not met so it was a lot of fun. It was also really nice to just be out with Terry too. We don't get to do that anymore, ever, and I forgot that we really do enjoy our time together.

Today Mom, Karli, Cassidy and Chandler headed back to Scott City. It was weird saying good bye to Chandler and Cassidy. Sherri has a conference this week so won't be headed out until next weekend. So I will get to see her one more time before she leaves for good. The girls were so excited and Cassidy is already talking about getting a horse. Chandler has a few more reservations but is excited too. It is just going to be so different having them so far away.

Last week we started trying to get Cooper to sit by himself but for the most part he just fell over. Aunt Karli was playing with him on Saturday and what do you know but he sat all by himself for quite awhile. It was so exciting to see him sit there so strong. We make him sit now all the time, it is like a dog who learned a new trick.....poor little Cooper :). Also when everyone was leaving today Aunt Karli was giving Cooper kisses and then pretended that Coop would give her a kiss on her cheek. It was so cute because he did it. He put his little lips together and then opened his mouth as she pulled him away. It was great. We are so excited to see him doing new things and showing how strong he is getting. Tuesday is the swallow test and I am so nervous and excited. I know his vocal cord is no longer paralyzed but exactly what will happen at this test and after I do not know. I am so ready to get rid of this feeding tube and I will be so disappointed if that does not happen in the near future. However, I see Coop making so much progress, a little feeding tube will not get us down :) !!

Raelynn has been especially ornery this weekend and I can only hope that will not last. I do feel bad though because we look so forward to our Saturday and Sundays together and this weekend we did not have that so I think she was just punishing me. She starts swimming lessons tomorrow night again and absolutely loves them. I am excited to see how well she is swimming now. She is just growing up so fast. She is very excited to see Claudine, her swimming instructor, again. She just loves her. We try to take lessons about every 6 months or so and it really seems to be working well.

I am also very excited for Tuesday because we have gathered some gifts to take to CMH. I bought this really cute material for little blankets for the patients on the NICU. Some of Mom's friends, Marilyn and Pat, sew the blankets and embroidered on them "Donated by Cooper Keefer". They look so great and I cannot thank them enough. Along with these blankets I have blankets that my friend Amy's Mom made and they too are awesome. So I have a total of about 20 blankets to take and I know the nurses will be so excited. Then Terry, Raelynn, Cooper and I made this big poster that has pictures of Cooper and many of his nurses on it with a big Thank You. Then Terry, Raelynn and I wrote our own personal thank you's on it. When I asked Raelynn what she would like to tell the nurses that took care of Cooper she said, "Thank you for taking care of my baby brother". So that is just what she wrote. It was a fun project for us all and turned out great. We look forward to Tuesday!