Wake now, discover that you are the song that the morning brings

Responses to Gabe's arrival from friends, family, students, colleagues.

Len,
He is beautiful. Enjoy your new little boy.
Hope to see you soon.
Love,
Pam


Christina,
I wanted to take Grizz for a walk before it rained - didn't leave quite soon enough, but we didn't mind getting a bit wet - and just now read Len's blog - just wanted to tell you how beautiful, funny, hopeful his writing/reflection is - please let him know for me. Gabe's a lucky little guy to be born to you two.

Take good care.
-Heather


Congratulations!
I loved the movie, what a cutie! And, Len, I love your blog. It made me cry.

I just have to say one thing. If he had been born on Friday the 13th, it would have been OK because he would have been born on Juice Newton Day (which supercedes all the halloweeny/ghost & goulishness of Friday the 13th). :)

Good luck as new parents. I'm so happy for you!
-Katie


Congratulations mom and dad. He’s a stunner. We’re happy for the three of you.
-Thom and Jan


Very cool! Congrats. -- pd


CONGRATULATIONS! He is a darling! What a lucky baby to have you two as parents! Please call when you are in town (or passing through to Akron!) so I can meet the Mini-Cooper in person J!
All the best,
Catie & Jack


Congratulations Papa!
He's perfect! Love the blog and the video will make lil-coop's grandparents cry over and over again.
With love,
Cabe


Congratulations! You all will have a wonderful time as parents! Here's to still getting some sleep!
-C


I thought he was due sometime soon! Congratulations, what a cutie...you aren't a little crazy over your new son are you?
I hope Christina is feeling well. Send her our best!
-Juliann


Dear Len,
to you and your wife CONGRATULATIONS on your baby boy ..... I am in Japan right now, or I would send you a card instead of this e-mail.... Best wishes to all three of you ....
-Gabriele W. Bosley


Hi, Len,
Just read the birth announcement for Gabriel Michael. Hearty congratulations to all!
Our children are 23 and 19, so I envy you the good years ahead.
-Meme Tunnell


Congratulations to Dr Len Cooper, assistant professor of communication, and his wife Christina Weyrick-Cooper on the birth of their son Gabriel Michael on October 14! Gabriel arrived weighing 6 lb 9 oz and is 19" long.
-Gail Henson


CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW ADDITION!!!!!
GABRIEL IS A BEAUTIFUL NAME!
Please pass my congratulations to your wife!
Blessings!!!!
-Constanza Zurita


Dr. Cooper,
Congratulations to you and your wife! ;O) I'm sure he's precious!! I just wanted to let you know I'm not on your e-mail list and I'm sorry we couldn't work on our podcasts today because of the problem with security! Hope to see ya soon! Take your time, haha!!
-Allison
ps. don't forget to add me to your e-mail list


YAYAYAYAYAYYAAYAYA!!!!!! BABY COOP IS BORN!!!! YAYAYAYAYA!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
-Emily Carroll


Please join us in welcoming into the world Gabriel Michael Cooper, infant son of Len and Christina Weyrick-Cooper!
Gabriel was born October 14 and has lots of beautiful, curly hair.
Congratulations Len and Christina!
-Bellarmine Today


congratulations coop! gabe is absolutely adorable! enjoy your time off with him and christina.
-Mary Byrne


I can't believe that Mini-Coop got you to smile with teeth in a picture!! : D Way to go, Gabriel! Congratulations, he's such a beautiful boy. I'm sure he'll be a heart breaker someday! I can't wait to meet him in person. Enjoy your time off with "your little bundle of joy"!
-Stephanie Meyer


Awesome! You must be on cloud nine. Cloud nine-teen even! There are no greater congratulations than the ones I wish you now. He's one handsome little guy! ... He must get that from his mother... ;)
-Chris Sohl


Congratulations Dr. Cooper!!! We are soo happy for you! When we heard the news from Dr. Henson we all were estatic! I'm glad to see it will went well and everyone is healthy and happy! ;o) I hope you're soo overjoyed over your son that you will be willing to work with us on the whole podcast situation. We've all been working hard on it, but security hasn't been our friend in this whole situation so it's kind of messed up the deadline! Although, you will be proud when you hear the finished product I promise! Then ten or twelve years from now you can say, "Gabrielle, this is wonderful masterpiece that one of my classes put together all because their dad was such a wonderful and intelligent teacher who worked with them to accomplish things and didn't get upset when the goin' got tough!" haha!!!!
Congratulations again! Bring him on campus soon and take some time off, we don't mind! Just promise we'll all get A's! haha! ;O) Enjoy yourself!
-Allison


Well, what can I say... He is most def Mr. October! Congratulations, he is adorable! Listen very closely to this next part, there are going to be tons of life lessons you need to teach the mini coop along the way... the #1 thing is avoid strangers. followed closely by #2, smile with teeth. That is all I have for now, but I will get back to you with more additions to Sabrina's Guide to Parenting 101. :) Can't wait to meet him!
-Sabrina Sebastian


Congradulations Dr. Cooper!!! Love the photos. If I was a girl I'd say he looks adorable. But... alas I'm a guy, so I'll just say, he looks like a cool dude. :) See ya tomorrow.
-Michael Mahlbacher


Congrats Coop! Let's see some pics soon...I know your digital loving self has already taken a thousand pics, so post your beautiful boy's mug so we can all say, "awwwww."
-Katie Kelty


CONGRATS! Can't wait to see him.. you better bring him up to Bellarmine one day!
-Jennifer Lary

Congrats Dr. Cooper! I'm sure he's adorable!
-Katie Graff


Congratulations on mini-coop! He's adorable!
-Chrissy Carpenter


Congrats!!! I heard he's adorable and Gabriel is a good name, good choice.
-Danielle Fleming

Gabe.

Damn you Diaper Genie

Dear Gabriel Michael Cooper-

Wow, you are finally here. What can I say? You are more then I could have hoped for. More than I ever expected. My love for you is deeper than I thought possible.

You won’t remember this, but you came into the world on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 4:07 a.m. Me and you mom were there, of course, and your grammy and grampy Weyrick were present, plus granpa Tom and your grandma Cooper. The doctor’s name was Aimee Paul.

For most of the last four months of your mom’s pregnancy, you had low fluid levels, so she was on modified bed-rest. Basically this meant that she had to lay around in bed for two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon and two hours in the evening. On the Friday before your birth, the doctor told us the fluid levels were extremely low, and it was time for you to come out, ready or not. That’s fine, your due date was October 15, so you were only a day early.

We went to the hospital around noon on Friday and they hooked your mom up to a monitor to watch your heart-rate and movement. After about an hour, the doctor decided to induce your mom’s labor and started her on Petocin, a type of medicine that make the uterus contract and babies come out. Her labor started easy enough with minor contractions lasting about two hours. Around 4 pm the doctor broke your mom’s water, which helped speed up the contractions. About two hours after that, they gave her an epidural because she was in intense pain. She labored through most of the night, which was good because we really didn’t want your birthday to be on Friday the 13th (I know, it sounds silly, but still).

Around 2:15 Saturday morning, the nurse told your mom to start pushing while we waited for the doctor to arrive. I was able to see you head right away and it was obvious you were ready to come out. Your mom pushed for about an hour and a half and then your head popped out. They quickly suctioned your mouth and nose so you could start breathing, and then the rest of you came out—wet, screaming and naked.

The three of us stayed in the hospital for three days and then were finally able to come home and meet the rest of the family (Kesey, Franklin and Millie). So far you’re keeping us at night, pooping a lot and crying some of the time, but you are the most beautiful little boy I’ve ever seen and I can’t believe how much are already changing every day.

Love,
Dad

Any day now.

Dear Son-
Your arrival date is soon. We are waiting for you with nervous energy. Are we going to be good parents? Will we be able to give you what you want and need? Will I be a good father? Can we raise you to know that you can be and do anything you want in this world and we'll support you and love you and care for you? Will we be too protective? Will we give you enough room to roam? Will you be able to reach all of your hopes and dreams and be a positive force for love and kindness and caring? Will you like us or hate us? For how long, and when? Will we let you watch too much TV, or not enough? Will you play sports, or read, or paint, or write, or build things with your hands?

You will be here soon and we don't know what to call you yet. Oh, there are names. We have several picked out. Elijah is one we've been kicking around. And Carter is one I like. Or Sawyer (although one of my students said you are in danger of being called Sahyer). And there is still Kieran, but that means "dark one" and if you are born on Friday the 13th that might be too weird. I like Holden, but your mom can't pronounce it very well. We also think about Evan and Zachary. I guess we'll know for sure when you get here.

You move around all the time in your mom's belly. Butt up, head down, arms in front of your face--it's hard to get a good picture of you in there. You're getting big, too.

Little toes.
Little fingers.
Little mouth.
Little hands.
Little eyes.
Little ears.

I can't wait to meet you. I'm already so proud of you.

And I love you.
Dad