Category Archives: First’s

Cooper’s first year of Preschool

Posted by cwiest in Cooper, First's, Milestones

He is SUCH an amazing kid! I could not be prouder about how well he has adjusted to being in the structure of school. Tons of new people, new kids, away from us all day…the list goes on.

The teachers glow about him. We are so lucky to have found such an amazing place for him at The Treehouse. They love him as if he is their own. They have provided him such great guidance, direction, knowledge, structure and kindness. There are days he says he doesn’t want to go to school. That kids are mean. That they call him “Stupid”. Some of my family might remember a hopefully long lost audio tape that we sent to Deb when she was in Africa over Christmas.  I was about 5 or 6 and when my part came, I spoke in a very whiny and sad voice (now I may understand where my boys get it) explaining how I didn’t like school because the kids called me “Stupid”.

Breaks my heart sometimes to think about all the things I will not be able to protect my boys from. Hurt, sadness, disappointment, heartache, physical pain, loss…just plain old life. And then I think back to that little me on the tape. I was little once. I have had the list of emotions above, more than once. And thank God. Not that I enjoy pain, but it is necessary. I could cite dozens of things in my life that needed to happen. Completely sucked at the time, and at times I thought they would never get better…but they did. Without all of these experiences, I would not be here. I would not be me. I would not have the relationships I have, the feelings I have about life and those things that are most important. I do not know who I would have even become. It was all more than necessary.

I watch Cooper walk into school each day that I get to drop him off. Sometimes he is hesitant and hangs by me. Sometimes in walks in ready to start the day, with no reassurance necessary. Sometimes he needs to have a few extra hugs. And most days he watches me leave from the window, waving and waiting for me to pretend to kiss the Mr Potato head statue in the garden. He is AMAZING! Brave, strong, and becoming more and more a little human. Oh how I love that little human he is becoming!

Happy Halloween 2012!

Posted by cwiest in Cooper, Crosby, First's, Holidays, Uncategorized

We had so much fun this year!  The Joker, The Witch, Green Lantern and a Lawn Gnome.  Nice combo huh?

Bill and Angie Gerber came over with their kids Mason and Hayley.  Mason is almost a year older than Coop, and Hayley is just a few weeks younger than Crosby.  It was fun to be able to go around with them.  Just like last year, we all went over to the Johnson’s next door to fuel up and hang out before trick-or-treating.  Kim made homemade soup, bread, and mummy fingers (hotdogs wrapped in crescent rolls).  Gary was a big hit with Cooper when he came out as Spiderman.

Then we hit the streets!  Coop ran ahead with Gary and his kiddos and sprinted from house to house.  Crosby and I took a little more time to coordinate with Angie, Bill and the kids and got out just a few minutes behind them.  And they were gone…so excited!  We caught them as they were walking back.  Coop had slowed down quite a bit.  He was kind of like George when gets out in the field for the first time to hunt…he just runs around like crazy and doesn’t pay attention, then when he gets the wiggles out he puts his nose down and hunts.  Cooper did the same thing, he ran and ran, and then tired himself out.  When I caught up to him, he was walking, and at times even just standing and looking around.  When he got the wiggles out he finally looked around and saw all of the other kids, the decorations, the pumpkins and skeletons, and in particular the Batman and Buzz Lightyear kids that were walking close to him.  He needed to fully inspect their costumes and tell them all about all of the tools they had.  It was adorable!

Luckily it was close to 40 degrees outside, so Crosby was able to hang out in the front carrier as I took him around.  He didn’t make a peep.  I think he was soaking it all in as well.  I got stopped 3 times by people saying he was “SOOOO cute” and had a great costume.  He was completely yummy!

Cory hung back at the house to hand out candy and scare all of the little kids.  He had put all of the chocolate in one bowl and the fruit based candies in the other bowl and let the kids pick what they wanted.  He is so funny, there is always a system, and the “right way” to doing things….even handing out candy.  Man I love him!

Crosby is here!

Posted by cwiest in Crosby, First's, Uncategorized

We are so incredibly thankful to have a healthy, strong new baby!  Crosby Edward Wiest.  8 lbs. 1 oz.

We got Crosby’s name from my coworker Todd.  He and is family live in St Michael, and have a 3 year old named Crosby.  Before Cooper was born, the name Crosby was on the list, but we decided that since Todd’s Crosby is in the same school district and close in age, we better not.  So when we found out that our little boy was actually a boy, we knew right away that his name was going to be Crosby!

When Cooper was born, the middle name was predetermined.  In Cory’s family, the middle name of the child is the first name of the dad, thus Cooper Cory Wiest.  So with Crosby, the options were endless.  After making a pretty short list, we settled on Edward.  I had not know this, but Edward was a name that had been carried down on my dads side, and will now be continued with Crosby.  Unlike with Cooper, we knew Crosby was going to be Crosby even before we met him.  Who could deny Coop and Cros, the Wiest Brothers from the world.

We were so excited that Aaron, Berit and Boden were able to make the trip to meet him just minutes old.  The waiting room was packed with Dave, Ginny, Ron, Pat, Aaron, Berit, Boden, Alycia, and Ary.

I have to admit that for the first few hours after Crosby was born, I was a bit out of sorts.  But in the middle of the night, it was quiet, and it was just Cory, Crosby and I.  That is when I met my son.  I just laid with him.  Held him close, felt his chest move up and down, and felt the weight of him on my chest.  That was the greatest feeling in the world.  He was gorgeous!

However, there were second thoughts in my mind about what he should have been named for a minute.  It was so funny, and this continued for weeks after, but his left eye seemed to be a little more tired than his right.  His eyelid on the left side was always a little lower, and sometimes closed.  Occasionally I thought to myself that we should have called him William, AKA One-eyed Willy.  That was pretty ironic to me, since for the first day, Cooper was actually named William.

When he was born, Crosby’s hands and feet were so incredibly bluish white. A little scary.  They quickly pinked up thankfully!  Crosby was over one pound heavier than Cooper at birth, but was still so very tiny.  Healthy, normal sized, but I had completely forgotten how small a newborn baby is.  The diapers are teeny, the little onesies, the hats, everything.  I didn’t have to worry about that long, as he ate like a champ, and grew like a weed!

A few weeks after we were home and getting comfortable, in the dead of summer, 3 different people mentioned to me that they thought Crosby was breathing shallow and fast consistently.  I felt like a horrible mom for not really noticing.  I took him to the doctor.  Talk about freaky…They ran blood tests, took his temp, checked his lungs, gave him a nebulizer and no improvement.  They then decided to take an x-ray of his chest, stomach and heart.  That was horrible to see!  They stood him up, faced him away from me, pulled his arms up over his head and then clamped this plexi glass like case around him to hold him upright.  He was screaming bloody murder. The doctor made the mistake of telling me that he was going to consult with a Cardiologist.  He did preface that with saying that kids that gain as much weight as Crosby and “thrive” normally do not have heart issues….but of course the word Cardiologist still freaked me out!

In 6 month clothing by 3 months, and in 9-18 month (depending on the brand) by 6 months.  Not that this is incredibly unusual.  But man could that kid eat.  Every 2 hours like clock-work.  Sometimes even more.  He was definitely thriving!  Looking back however, I am not sure that he was always actually hungry.  I think that he needed to be soothed, self soothed.  Eventually Kelly Aho introduced him to his thumb, and things calmed down a bunch from there, thankfully!  Just in time for my maternity leave to end, Crosby found a way to sooth himself.  He never took a nook, and was fairly fussy.  But thank God for those thumbs!