6 Months old

Wow. My son turned 6 months old on Tuesday, July 11, 2006. In some ways I can't believe it has been a whole 6 months since we brought him into this world and in some ways I can't believe it has only been 6 months. It seems likes he has always been. We're a family of 3 now...it's hard to think of us ever being different.

Cort - you are the cutest thing. You grow so much everyday right before my eyes. You are sitting up so well now. You enjoy being able to play that way - you have never really liked to lay down. It's like in the past few days you have come to life. You grab at everything you can get your hands on. You especially like Daddy's coke cans!! You have always been so aware of your surroundings but it's even different now. You will look at things from across the room and "ask" to see them.

You love your exersaucer, outdoor swing, and the jumper. Your favorite toys are still the ones that play music but you are starting to actually interact with them more. But your favorite thing to play with is still your daddy and me. I love that. It makes us feel special.



You enjoy sitting up for your baths now. You don't splash a lot yet but I know there is a lot of that to come. You love your little rubber ducky and still enjoy Ernie's song while you bathe.


You actually voluntarily roll to your stomach some these days. I have even found you asleep in your crib that way a few times!!!!
You take about three naps a day. But your schedule varies a little. You sleep through the night but every so often you wake early in the morning. You like to sleep when you really want it but it isn't always your best strength.
You are eating solid foods two times a day. You like them but you do the same with them as you do your bottle. Only a little at a time. You just aren't a big eater. Your favorites right now are oatmeal, prunes, butternut squash, greenbeans, and pears.
You are a tiny little thing. Tiny but strong. You are constantly moving - your little arms and legs are always moving. Sometimes you move so fast that I am afraid you might actually take flight!! You try so hard to sit up from laying on your back and if we hold your legs you can!!! You can do more sit ups than mommy!! You also love to stand. You will pull to standing from laying down if you hold our hands.
I always worry that you aren't eating enough but you are so content and happy. You only get really fussy when you are tired or don't want to eat. You fuss a little bit to let us know you need something - change of scenery, diaper change, a new toy, a little attention, etc. but in between you are all smiles.
You have the best little gummy( we thought you'd have teeth by now but your little gums are holding strong) smile. It's infectious. You are such a joy and I am so thankful that God chose us to be your parents.












You have kept your blue eyes and you have blond hair so you don't really look like you belong to us. But you do. You belong just where you are.
Everyone comments on how much hair you have, how much you look like a little boy, how expressive you are, how easily you smile, how curious you are about the world around you, how strong you are, and how sweet. They are all right!! You are all of those things and so much more! I love you more everyday.

In a Perfect World....

PRUNES WOULD BE FULL OF FAT!!

Yes you read it correctly. I wish that prunes were really, really fattening! But, oh, we do not live in a perfect world. My son has decided that this is his favorite baby food( at least for now.) Not the avocados, the cereal drained in high calorie milk, or other homemade veggies that I slip milk into to increase his caloric intake - oh no- Gerber prunes it is. The very food that helps him quickly get rid of all the high calorie foods I put in him. Wouldn't you know it!!

At least he's excited about eating something. We'll take what we can get.

Little Firecracker

So Cort might not be a little slugger(see earlier post) yet but he's such a little firecracker. Not only is full of energy all the time, but he also really enjoyed the firecrackers last night. Chris and I woke Cort up last night to let him see his first firecrackers. We thought it would probably turn out to be a horrible idea - that he would be cranky and scared of the noise(seeing how he responded to the baseball announcer) but we were wrong. He woke up happy to see us and the loved the lights in the sky. He hardly flinched at all at the noise. We had him up for about 30 minutes out in the street with some neighbors and then he right back to sleep without a peep! Yea for such a flexible baby!!
































In other news I keep meaning to report:

Cort is officially swaddle and sleep positioner free!! We have gone back and forth over the past 2-3 months. He is enjoying his new found freedom as we find him in all sorts of positions in the crib.
Cort is finally back to sleeping through the night. He took a little break from that milestone this past month and we are very happy to report that he's back in full swing!! Yea!! It was a very difficult month because we just couldn't figure out what was causing so many night wakings and what to do about it. But Cort came back around on his own when he was good and ready. I have learned to be more patient with things like that and trust that all things are just a season.
Cort no longer gets his 10:30pm dream feed. This was difficult for me to drop because it was our way of getting more ounces in during the day. He use to take 4- 6 oz. at this feed and with out he was way low on the milk intake. Over the past two weeks he started getting really worked up about being woken up and would only take 1 or 2 ounces before drifting back off to sleep. So we decided that it was no longer worth it and just prayed that he would start making up the difference during the day. At first he didn't but over the past two days I think he might be starting too.
Cort is officially in the teens!! I took him to the doctor last week and he was 13 lbs even. While I am excited that he made it to the teens I was a little disappointed in the overall weight gain. Only 3 oz. in two and half weeks!!!!! We're just happy it's moving up and trust that maybe he was just in a little resting period. We'll see in few weeks when I take him for his 6 month check up.

Happy 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend. Chris had Monday and Tuesday off so it was a blast having him home.














Cort had his first boo boo!! Cort has been sitting up a lot these days but still can't do it on his own. We were playing with him with one of those cars you pull back and then let go. He thought it was really fun until he lunged forward and fell face first on the wooden carpet tack between our foyer and den!! He busted his lip. I felt terrible because I was on balance duty but it just happened so quick. I know it won't be the last. He was great about letting me put ice on it.
Here's his little war wound.














He forgave us and had a great time with daddy in the pool and drying off on the hammock!

Little Slugger

Currently, we don't think Cort is slated to play baseball - atleast not if there is an announcer involved. We took Cort to a Greenville Drive baseball game this weekend. He did well as long as the announcer stayed quiet. They would blast music from the big speakers- no problem.. but as soon as the announcer would come on, Cort would scream and burst out crying. It was kinda funny!! Cort spent much of the baseball game like this....



















They did this think called the toddler crawl. Three babies went down on the field and crawled in a "race." It was really cute.

Long time coming

Okay- this video is really old. Cort is like 3 months old in it. But I promised a long time ago to post the video of his first good long giggle that we caught on tape and I just figured out how to link it to the blog. It's the tail end of his laughing fit and it isn't very good quality but it's better than nothing. Hope you enjoy.



Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Current Events

For my birthday, (June 22nd) Cort woke up nice and early - I guess he was just excited about my birthday. In honor of the day, Cort had breakfast in his birthday suit. (really I stripped him down because for like the 4th time in a row Cort woke up in the morning completely soaked through his diaper!!)


My mom came up and hung out with us for the day. Cort enjoyed his new toy that Aunt Chelle sent him - but of course we knew he would love drums from birth, right? It really is funny - he loves this toy drum and all of his favorite songs are ones with beats in them. Chris is so proud!!


My mom kept Cort while Chris and I went out on a long overdue date. We had dinner, a movie, and ice cream downtown. It was really nice.


Other new news...
Cort loves his new swing - if only I was tall enough to really capture the picture when he swings towards you - it's expressions are great.

He also a a new obsession with whatever is on his shirt. He tries so hard to put his head down enough and crosses his eyes to see it. It's so cute.

Cort is also getting better about rolling over these days. While he has rolled over very well from tummy to back since he was about 8 weeks old he has been lacking in the tummy to back rolling ability. Mainly, he doesn't like to be on his tummy. He has been spending more time there lately...


and in the past week or so has even turned on his tummy voluntarily. Well yesterday I left him on this blanket in the den while I returned a glass to the kitchen. When I came back( a matter of seconds) this is where I found him ...


...we have a roller.

Martha Stewart, Watch Out!

I am feeling rather domestic these days. I love being at home with my son. I thought I would really miss my job and while I do so miss my kids(I was a special ed teacher), I love being at home with Cort and wouldn't change a thing. Being at home doesn't afford me as much time to do things as I thought it would. There are so many days that I wonder where the time went. It seems that not only did I not accomplish anything poductive off my list ( ie errands, cleaning, scrapbooking, etc.) but that I also did not get to spend as much quality time with Cort that I wanted.
However, I have had time to venture into a few new things. One- I planted seeds! I planted zinnias, sunflowers, and Dahlias. My zinnias are blooming like crazy(it's fun to have them all over the house) and my sunflowers are about to bloom. No blooms on the Dahlias as of yet.


Two- making baby food. I do not consider myself a health nut. We eat pretty well, I like to cook but I don't pay massive attention to what we eat. However, for some reason I have gotten really intrigued by all of this organic hype. Chris and I don't typically buy it because it's so expensive. But I have been making most of Cort's baby food and really felt compelled to try buying organic for him. I typically buy Earth's Best jars and then make my own with organic veggies and fruits from Whole Foods. The making the baby food part has been fun. I feel accomplished when I have a freezer drawer full of little veggie and fruit cubes. However, I do not think I can keep up this organic thing. With a few exceptions( ie sweet potatoes, possibly pears and plums) using organic does not save me money. It is sometimes more than the organic jars, especially if I have a coupon. I made three small jars worth of peaches and it cost me 4 dollars!!! That;s like 1.33 per jar( stage 1 size!!!!) If i had made it with the "regular" peaches it would have cost me less than .30 since a jar!!! Whoa! Lesson learned. I would like to give Cort the best that I can but our budget will only allow so much!!! I will continue to buy organic when I can and when it's on sale. Anyway, I have made so far: sweet potatoes, avocados, butternut squash, pears, plums and pears mixed, and peaches. He hasn't had the plums or peaches yet. I think his favorite is sweet potatoes and pears. He's warming up to bananas but did not like them at first. Green veggies are a no go right now- they bothered his little tummy. We will try again in a few weeks.

Sharing

Cort's mouth enjoyed his carrots so much he decided to share them with his eye.



sorry that it's blurry- i was laughing too hard to hold the camera still

Father's Day

We had such a good time on Father's Day. Chris has been wanting to take Cort to the zoo and kept saying that he was too young to go yet. So on Father's day we followed Chris' wishes and went to the zoo. I was proven wrong. Cort had a great time. Here is our picture journey at the zoo.


On the way to the Zoo Cort dined on a little hand and foot


We saw the elephant first. Cort didn't pay much attention to
the elephant but was enchanted by the water fall.




Cort loved the reptile house. It was dark and all of the cages were lit up so he could see them really well. I think he would have watched the turtle swimming around forever if we let him.


What do you think about Cort as a zoo keeper?

Long day at the zoo

Cort took a long nap when we got home. We also enjoyed some play time outside before Cort went to bed. I love watching Chris and Cort together.