15 Months

Cooper is 15 months now - hard to believe! He had his check up last week and again did wonderful. He is 21 pounds 3 oz and 31 3/4 inches long. That makes him in the 10-25th percentiles for weight and 50-75th percentiles for height - Yea!! We finally are moving up on the chart! There seem to be no worries about the medicine affecting his growth... he just finally hit a spurt!

And today he had his blood drawn for another round of testing. I discovered a cream I can put on him to numb the area where they stick him and it was AMAZING!!! He shed 2 tears today - from the tape that I used to cover the cream, and for the nurses being so close to him. Way better than 10 minutes of screaming! I also insisted they start on the right this time and they only had to sick him once! I'm just on cloud nine that I can make these trips to the lab less stressful for him! We'll hear the results later next week and then see the doctor in Indy in couple more weeks.

He is communicating much more and starting to understand NO and STOP. He still chooses to ignore them, but we're seeing progress! He is a hoot to have around!

Doin' the Zoo

Monday was the PERFECT day to do the zoo! We had amazing cool weather and the kids did wonderful! We arrived right at 9:00 and beat the rush. (I wouldn't want to be there in the afternoon!!!) We headed straight for the African Adventure which just reopened this month and found it to be very nice. The kids liked walking and exploring!

Grace was most excited to see the giraffes and we (Mom and Dad) got to feed them lettuce!

What a tongue!!!

Cooper had fun pointing at the animals...

But, didn't want to get too close to any of them!!!

We took a break for our picnic lunch. Cooper loves the Oreos! The wind picked up at lunch and Grace about went hysterical when it started to blow away a hat (which the family next to us found amusing), but once we caught it, she found it all very funny.Back in the zoo, we headed for our train ride. (You'd think it would go somewhere to see animals... but no. Just into the woods and around a small lake.... but the kids liked it!)

Then we brushed some goats,

Played in the water,

and headed for home. We barely made it out of the parking lot!!

With them out so quickly, Tim and I were able to enjoy some Dairy Queen without having to share with them! The ladies at the drive through were even kind enough to whisper to us!!

What a great day!!

Random Drake Happenings

The pool is finally swimable and now averaging the low to mid 80's! Everyone is invited for a dip anytime!!

They both LOVE this game and always ask for more!!! Tim tires long before they do! (I can't even do one each before I tire!)

Good Bye high chair!!! Cooper has moved on the booster seat and we were glad to get that big chair out of our tiny kitchen!! A big thanks to the Elliotts for loaning it to us "all these years"!

The humidity finally broke this weekend and we busted out some new sand for our sand box!

Tim is now done with school for a couple of weeks and we are enjoying our time with him. Here is their latest Leggo-mania adventure!

Got Milk? Cooper LOVES his milk! So much so, that we are switching to milk at snacks and water for meals. He would just drink the milk and not eat dinner! Here he can't even put down the cereal bar!

I hate socks.

Cooper sleeping with Moot.

Happy Father's Day!

We celebrated father's day at the farm with family. This was Grace's first organized kickball game!

Last night Tim put Grace to bed and their conversation went something like this (as reported to me)

"Daddy, I like what you did outside today."

"Oh, what did I do outside?"

"You moved the tunnel."

"Oh, you like the two slides and no tunnel?"

"Yes."

"Well, maybe someday we can put the tunnel back on."

"Oh! Then we could have two slides and a tunnel? That would be perfect!"

We love our Daddy around here and think he is the best!!!!

Down on the farm

Cooper's new trick.

We went to a puppet show at the Honeywell Center recently. Here we are just checking out the fountain afterwards.

I tried to keep Cooper away from this family - I was worried they would just scoop him up as one of their own! (He's on the right - exact same outfits!)

Down on the farm.

Yes, that is a cat. Otis.

Don't come too close!!

IUK Activity Day

A while back our new friends Lori and son Aiden took us to Kokomo to an activity day on the IUK campus. The kids had fun playing and making Father's Day cards for Tim.

All of the pins were up when we entered the room!!

We met Lori and Aiden at the playground and we're enjoying spending play dates with them and getting to know them. I'm sure they will soon show up on our blog as we spend more time with them!