Who needs presents?

Chris and I are very excited about Christmas with Cort. We have this idea of him loving the presents we so carefully picked out for him. Who are we kidding? Boxes for this boy.

First Drawing

Sophie and Cort Christmas Pictures

Kelley and I took a few photos of our little ones in front of her tree. They are getting so grown up!!! Getting a good picture of both in the same shot wasn't very successful. :)

christmas tree decorating

This is a little late in posting seeing we decorated our Christmas tree the first week in December but better late than never.
Cort enjoyed his 1st tree decorating. The night started out with our tradition tree party full of yummy finger foods( a tradition my parents started and Chris and I have adopted). Cort loved all of the yummy food.



Cort loved all the ornaments....especially Daddy's drum ornaments.

He seemed quite interested in hanging his own first ornament, made by our good friend, Molly.

11 month post

Eleven months old - I just can't believe it. It just a few weeks time we will be singing Happy Birthday, blowing out candles, and enjoying some good old cake smashing. Cort has grown up so much with each passing week. What little bit of baby look he had is quickly disappearing. This month has been so great. He has been sleeping much better and just seems to be soaking up life every chance he gets. He continues to figure out ways to communicate to me things that he wants....pointing, waving, leaning towards things when I am holding him, bringing me things, signing, and even a few words. He babbles all the time. His full collections of words now include, cat,moo, hot, uh-oh, up, maybe duck( not quite sure yet). He also makes a little "Brrrrrrr" noise (with his lips vibrating) when he plays with his cars - super cute. He will sign more, all done, milk, and fan those these days fan is def. the favored sign!!!!
He cut three more teeth so now has his complete top four. Still waiting for his forth bottom one - in the meantime, I'm loving his little lopsided teethy grin.
Cort had is first bad ear infection( he had one at three months but you would have never known it). His fever was very high and he was very cuddly. It was so sad to see the little life drain out of him as he became more quiet and more of an on-looker instead of a doer. He is certainly a little doer. Always doing, always moving, exploring every inch of this world around him. He is cruising all over and flirting with letting go but not quite ready yet. He is doing very well with his walker pushing it all over the house and starting to be able to turn it on his own. he continues to be quite the climber trying very hard to climb anything within possible reach and some stuff that isn't in reach at all!!!
He gobbles up just about everything I put in front of him as long as it is real food full of flavor - none of that bland baby food for him. He is starting to get a little finicky about some preferences but so far not too bad. He loves his morning snack- much better than bottle. Counting the days to dropping them all!!! He is still getting a morning and bed time bottle and and a late afternoon "snack bottle."

As always, he continues to love music and being outdoors. He loves books. It is so cute to watch him flip through one on his own as he points to all the pictures labeling them with his own special language.



One of his favorite things to do is push things around the house...cars, his animal train, other random toys. He crawls around on this knees holding on to one of his train carts and goes all over the house. He gets very frustrated when he hits a wall and gets stuck. It is interesting and disheartening to watch his little temper and sinful heart come to light. The little tantrums he throws are not at all endearing yet I sometimes chuckle to myself at how dramatic and passionate he feels about say not being able to open his book because he is trying at the spine of it, or me taking a toy away, etc. Oh, the years to come. :)

I just love his little personality.....dramatics and all. Taking his 11 month picture was not an easy task - no great sitting picture for comparison but cute and so true to him right now.

Nicolas William

On Monday December 5, 2006 at 7:28pm my dear friends Jessica and David gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy.

Nicolas William
8lbs 9 oz.
19 1/2 inches









God was faithful to allow Jessica to deliver Nicolas without complications. We praise him for that. She was induced on Monday morning, about 5 days early, to head off developing preeclampsia and due to some positioning issues. We were preparing for a possible c-section if needed and are joyed to say that it was not. Mother is doing well and looks great. Bring on the end of water retention!!!!!!

I was unable to be there for the birth because they are about 2 hours away and I had to wait on accomodations for Cort but I did get to see him within his 1st 24 hours. He was precious. It was crazy to hold a little one again - how quickly we forget. Jessica and I have known each other since elementary school and lived together for three years in college. In spite of our closeness, I am not sure that I was prepared for the instant love I would feel for her child. He is family. I miss him already.

Outside Play

Cort really loves being outside these days. He often stands at our front storm door longing to be out there in the cold!! Caught some cute pictures the other day while he explored the front yard.














New developments:
*signing milk
*saying "dat" for that ( he's been doing that for a while but I forgot to mention it in his 10 month post)
*says "moo" if you ask what a cow says
* saying up in response to the question "do you want up?" -not saying it to initiate yet
*goes to his highchair if he's hungry
*comes to the bathroom when he hears the water running for his bath( and to the kitchen when he hears the refrigerator open;))

New stats:
took him to the doctor to be sure his ear infection was cleared up and he weighed 16lbs 14 oz. with his clothes on so probably around 16lbs 10-11 oz. He's moving up. His ears were clear.

Makes me wonder....

Cort often gets caught on camera making this face. Sometimes it's when he's obviously doing something he is not suppose to but sometimes it makes me wonder what's going on in that little mind of his that makes him look caught red-handed when he sees me?








Just cuz it's cute....

Our Family Tree...err... Christmas Tree

** I haven't posted in weeks - sorry for that - life has been really busy - if you scroll down to the 10 month post you can get your updates in order***




Every year Chris and I cut down a christmas tree. We usually get a virginia pine but this year we cut a tree down while were in the mountains so we got a fur. This was different as the field of trees was on the side of a mountain but it was beautiful.
Cort really enjoyed it even though he was sick. He loved all the trees and was in awe of the chain saw that the workers would use to cut your tree down if you wanted.
I can't believe we got the tree tied to the top of our tiny jetta!!
We lost Cort's shoe out in the field and after about a half hour of searching Chris was about to give up when he saw on the very edge. We didn't really go over there so i don't know how it got there but we are very thankful we didn't lose it.

Cort helping Daddy Cut down the tree




Our Family Tree


The sweet cuddles I got all week

Thanksgiving at Ruby Lodge

We went to the mountains with Chris's family for Thanksgiving. They rented a beautiful log cabin in Waynesville, NC. The trip was great and very relaxing. Chris and I were able to get away one afternoon and shop in the quaint little down town and have lunch. There was a hot tub, pool table, beautiful views, walking trails, and just lots of peacefulness to go around. We all had a good time hanging out, eating ;), playing games, and playing with the kids.
The downside of the trip is that Cort started running a fever late afternnoon on our 2nd day there( wed.) of between 102 and 103. He was really such a good sport but he was just not his usual self. He wanted to be held and cuddled a lot(which was really sweet) so friday I took him to a doctor up there and he had an ear infection in both ears!!! He is doing much better now but so sad he was sick on this first Thanksgiving. He still seemed to enjoy the traditional dinner. He also cut two more teeth while we were ther!!! Now he has 7 teeth!!

His First Thanksgiving dinner




The other downside is that I may have won the award for the worst mother in the world. On Saturday, as we were packing up, Cort came out on the porch with me. I was standing right next to him and Chris was at the bottom of the stairs packing the car. Somehow, I looked away for one second and Cort fell down the porch stairs!!!! I know, it's terrible. There were only three stairs and the fall was quite graceful all things considered but I just couldn't get to him. Thankfully, he is totally okay but We both cried for quite some time. I still don't really know how it happened.
Def. a memorable first Thanksgiving.

Some fun pictures from the week:
Cort and Nicolas in the wagon


no more pictures please


Little drummer boys


A little pool table action


Cort and Aunt Jessica


All Bundled up


Nicolas and Cort wathing a video before bed


Chris, Jessica, and Sean on a hike


Cort cuddling with Daddy