Can't see the forest...

...for the cute boys in the trees.













Cort climbing a little tree almost by himself.....

What you have all been waiting for....

So here it is.... the proof that our sweet little Cohen is, indeed, standing( supported on a toy,etc.)





He loves it. When ever I'm holding him and he sees Cort or other kids running around he tries to dive out of my arms as if he could get down and run around with them. I'll set him down and he'll just stand there( with me holding his hand).He doesn't care that he's not moving with them...just so excited to be down there with them. He beams from ear to ear, standing proud and tall( all 25 inches of him!!)

He stood for the first time on Jul 31( just shy of 17 months) and while Chris was in Nicaragua. We kept ourselves super busy trying(in vain) to not miss him too terribly. This was the longest the boys had ever been away from him.

We started out the week by heading down to Columbia to stay with my parents. It was nice to be down there with no agenda and to spend some good time with my mom and my grandparents.

I've mentioned before, that my Paw-Paw, my mom's dad, has cancer. They gave him a few months last summer and he has been such a fighter. He has definitely declined a lot over the past month or 2 and is now bedridden. It was great to get to go spend time with him several days, while we were there.




Cort playing in Paw-Paw's lift chair. He thought it was the coolest thing( if this excites him so much, I'm not sure he'll be able to handle his excitement at Disney world!!)

We also went to Aiken for a day to spend the day with my other grandparents. We don't go to their house very often anymore because they are sweet enough to come to Columbia for most events and holidays but I have such fond memories of their house. I've taken Cort there a few times but had yet to take Cohen. The boys had such a good time and we ate lots of yummy food!! Gotta love some grandmother cooking!! Cort loved picking her tomatoes, picking flowers, the colored sinks and toilet bowls( that's a whole other story!!), and playing with a pair of her kitchen tongs(crazy what they end up playing with). Cohen had a first while we were there too....while playing with a little doggie pull toy, he pulled the toy to him using alternating hands. I'd never seen him to this before!!

filling the birdfeeders with Me-Me


Granddaddy( cort calls him Dat-Dat), laid on the floor with Cohen and played for almost an hour. So precious.


My mom and I also took the boys to Edventure, a children's museum in Columbia(which thankfully is not $12 a person like the new one that just opened up here is), one day. Cort had been there several times before with both sets of grandparents but Cohen nor I had ever been. It was a lot of fun and both boys really enjoyed it. Despite my disinfecting hands, they both ended up with colds by the end of the week! So not looking forward to the winter!!!









Good times were had just hanging around the house too....playing games, climbing trees( the pictures are so cute, they deserve another post!!), riding bikes, etc. My brother, Ryan, came over to visit while the boys played in the baby pool on our parents screened porch.


Cort riding his bike with Papa


On the way out of town we went and played over at Jessica's(one of my college roomies and best friends) with her little boy Nico. We hardly ever get the kids together so it was really fun.

Nico and Cort playing in their super fun pool.

Sarah's Wedding

This is the post in which, I don't talk about my children, except to say that thanks to my great in-laws( who live in the same town as the wedding), they did not join me at this wedding.

My cousin got married in the middle of July and it was a great wedding. I was a bridesmaid..I hadn't been in a wedding for a while and it was fun!! Chris stayed in our hometown because he had a lot of stuff for church that he just needed to be there for. We were bummed for him not to be there but our hands were sort of tied.

Anyway, the wedding was beautiful. Sarah looked perfect! And everyone had a great time. That's what I call a successful wedding. Sarah is perhaps one of the sweetest and most genuine people I know. I am so thrilled to see her so happy!!

My family is pretty small. On my dad's side, we have just 2 cousins. So we grew up being pretty close. We don't get to see them near as often now. But we had an absolute blast hanging out with them during the weekend. We really should get together more often. The rehearsal dinner, bridesmaid luncheon, and reception were all great as well. My cousins little boy, Jack, was in the wedding and did a great job. He was almost too well behaved!! There is no way Cort would have been as quiet and still as he was. (oops, i just talked about my kiddos) My neice came to the wedding and this was her first big wedding to see and so she was super excited to see the bride all dressed up and to see her mommy in the wedding.

Since I didn't have Chris to dance with, I stole sweet Jack for a few dances. Nothing like doing the electric slide while holding a 4 year old. I never realized how long that song was before :)!!

I didn't catch a ton of pics and my battery died half way through the reception(oops) but here's a few from the weekend...( I also stole a few from my cousin's blog.)

My sister, Michelle, and her husband, Chad...


My beautiful grandmother giving a great toast at the rehearsal dinner...she had us all laughing!!

The girl cousins(michelle, sarah, rebekah, and me(stolen pic)

And Jack, my dancing partner, being silly at the dinner...

The cousins at the bridal luncheon..(stolen pic)


Getting ready... isn't she just glowing?

Chandler( my neice) and Jack chatting it up...

The sister(my cousin) and Brother-in law of the bride...

The happy couple...


Father/Daughter dance..

Still glowing...

Chandler dancing with her daddy..

Me dancing with Jack...(stolen)


Jack eating a whole cherry tomato...seriously he pops them like candy!! too cute!!
Cutting the cake...

And then my camera died!!!

Apart

So, several weeks ago ( i guess really, about a month ago) we let my parents take BOTH boys to their house(2 hours away!) for the weekend.

Yep, this was Cohen's first time away from his home without us! My parents asked if they could have one of the boys and were pretty surprised when i said that they could take Cohen for a few days. I wanted to do a trial run before we leave him with the grandparents for Disney World for a whole week.

Well, Cort wasn't having it. He thought a weekend at Grammie and Papa's sounded way better than undivided attention from Mommy and Daddy. After some delibriation, we caved. They took them both.

We missed them but it was wonderful! It's actually the first time we've ever sent Cort without some reason( ie we had a wedding, out of town conference,etc.). So, Chris and I were just home...in the quiet. We had fun just hanging out with nothing on our agenda...went out to eat without a babysitter, ran errands during nap time, slept in...perfect. It's the longest we've had apart from our boys in over two years.


The boys had a blast and Cohen did great, so, no worries when we're gone for a week!!

Here they are all loaded up in Grammie's car and ready to go...


And With PaPa just before...

On a whim, Chris' twin sister, Jessica, her husband Sean, and their adorable new baby, Lilah, came for the day Saturday and they spent the night... we got some un-distracted time with our new niece, and she got to sleep in Cohen's crib..it worked out great.

Isn't she a cutie?

better late than never?

For my own sake, I posted 4th of july pictures that I never got to before our computer crashed....if you're interested... click here.

Lollipop

A first...









And the best shot we've had of his bottom teeth( he has two top ones now too!)


Is it ironic that his first lollipop was given to us by his dentist? Though it was sugar free!

On it's way...

our new computer is on it's away!  I am so behind on posts that I can't even think about it. I'm going to have to make a great effort to post regularly to get all caught up. I have a goal of starting to transfer my blog to printed books since the whole reason I blog was to replace my scrapbooking hobby that i could never get done. So, it's important to me to back track and keep my memories up to date. Hmm, some things to come( mainly to help me remember what all I have to post!!)

Our week while Chris was in Nicaragua( loads of pics, visits with friends and family, etc.)

Cohen's first lollipop

My first consignment sale experience( and a perfectly timed yard sale find)

Cohen standing up

Some videos(if i can get them to cooperate)

Recent updates on some medical stuff(cause it can all be fun and cute pictures!)

There is probably a ton more but I 'll start with those I guess. 

Hopefully the computer will be here in a few days and I'll be on my way to getting caught up. I have a ton of blogs to get caught up on too. 

I have to say though, that as frustrating as it has been to not have a computer at home, it's been nice too, to not be able to do everything on my to do list. I've had to cut out the unnecessary and slow down a bit. I even almost took a nap one day. ( I NEVER take naps!!) 

See ya again soon!! :)

Everybody stand up...

....and give Cohen a round of applause....

I don't have a picture yet but at therapy today, Cohen stood supported( hands on a bench) for the first time!!!

And starting a few days ago he is "crawling" backwards( inchworming, really) It's not forward, but it's motion and we will gladly take it!! He is absolutely furious about it! He will see something he wants, and start moving, and is SOOOO mad that it is not in the direction he intends for it to be!! I shouldn't laugh at him, but I do!! It's so unbelievable cute!!

So, now I have to replace our video camera that is broken( along with the computer, and portable phones, mind you:)) pronto!!

Crash

So, our computer crashed...that iswhy I've been MIA. We haven't lost anything as far as files, pictures, etc. go(so thankful!!!) but we have lost the computer. It'll probably be a little bit before we can replace it so I'll be a little more few and far between for now. Thankfully, Chris has a laptop for work so I can at least check emails and stuff at night but nothing is really compatible on here from our other computer because we use a MAC at home. I have to admit I'm a bit put out with electronics right now... our computer, our portable phone, and our video camera are on the outs. No fun!!

I'll try to still get some updates up here and there so I'm not totally behind but not sure how much I can realistically promise!!

For now, I did want to document a few things about sweet Cohen:

1. He now has 3 teeth!! 2 bottom and 1 top. I've gotten so use to him with that gummy grin, that it is weird to all of a sudden see teeth there!! But, it's a new kinda cute and I love it.

2. On the same subject, Cohen had his first dentist appointment and he did great. He cried a little but not too bad. The dentist said that for now, she thought his teeth look great and that the enamel was normal, shiny, and strong. This is a huge blessing!!! With, DI, different teeth can be effected differently and there can be varying degrees of visual symptoms, so we're still sort of waiting and seeing but we are praising God for seemingly strong teeth for now that aren't requiring any immediate medical intervention!! And I've got some adorable pics of him having his first ( sugar free of course) sucker!!(i'll have to wait until we can get a new computer to post those because they were already uploaded off my camera!!!)

3. We are so proud of Cohen right now.. he has made so much progress over the past few weeks. To the outside world, I imagine that a lot of it looks small individually, but to us, it's huge and put it all together and it's quite a big deal. We couldn't be more thrilled. He's been gesturing a lot more for his wants and needs, doing a few signs(more and eat), and vocalizing more. He's bearing some weight on his legs in a "pulled up" position for a few seconds, and occasionally tolerating quadruped. He's also been problem solving a lot with his toys, putting objects in containers and in small openings, rolling balls back and forth, and using his pointer finger more. And get this... two times this week, I have found him...

.....SITTING UP IN HIS CRIB!!!!!!!!!! I haven't seem him in action but know it might just be around the corner now!!



Yea Cohen!!!!

Every Other Day and a Facelift

*Updated... thanks to Melody and a very simple step I missed, I got the header centered. Yea. Thanks Melody.


I was inspired...by Angie over at PoppyJoy.. .and she was right, it was quick, easy, and free. I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt at spicing up my blog. What do you think? Anyone know how to get my header centered?

____________________________________________________________________________

Who ever has told me( and plenty people have) that age 3 is harder than age 2... they were right. Half a year in, I am a firm believer in that statement. There's just so much to teach to shape these little ones into the people we pray for them to be.

But with it being the hardest stage, it sure has some upsides too.




Have I mentioned how much I love this little now 3.5 year old curious, insightful, adventurous, silly little boy?

But seriously, he trips me up. He's so funny and way too smart for his own good sometimes. It's been a while since I've documented some "cortism's" but there has been some good one's lately so I had to get them down.


When seeing a turtle on tv the other day with Chris....

Cort: I call him "dude"(bc of finding Nemo)

Chris: Dude?

Cort: Yes, and the baby turtles, I call " Dudies"

Leave it to a boy to always get in potty talk!

___________________________________________________________________________

Walking down the hallway to come use the potty...

Cort: Mommy, I'm picking my nose.

Me: Don't pick your nose Cort, ask for a tissue.

Cort: Oh, yeah, that's right. I just pick my nose when you leave the room.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The other night, when our friend Ryan ( props to another Daddy coming to babysit our kiddos) came to watch the kids...

Chris: Cort, you need to obey Mr. Ryan and when he puts you in bed, don't call out for him again.

Cort: Why? He doesn't discipline me when I won't go to bed.

______________________________________________________________________________

Much to my dismay, here's our conversation in the car yesterday after a good lecture teaching experience:

Me: I love you, Cort...

Cort: ( says nothing) You love Daddy.

Me:Yes, I do love Daddy. I love you too.Do you love Mommy?

Cort: I love Daddy.

Me: And you love Mommy.

Cort: No, just Daddy.

Me: ( totally light hearted - not taking it personally here) That's not very kind. Why not Mommy?

Cort: Because I don't like you. ( mind you, big smile on his face but if I'm totally honest, that one hurt a bit)

Me: ( I'll spare you the details but some other rambling about it being ok to be silly but not if it might hurt others feelings and we need to think about how what we say effects others...)

Cort: Let's talk about choo choo trains.

So glad he learned a lot!! :)

Fast forward to today...

Cort: Mommy, can Daddy go away and you have another boy? ( Disclaimer: Cort is obsessed with his Daddy- maybe infatuated - he meant no harm by this just doesn't totally know how to express his thoughts yet:))

Me( a bit shocked): What other boy?

Cort: Me!!! It can be just me and you today. ( which is was, Daddy was at work, Cohen was napping)

Me: Why do you say that?

Cort: Because I really like you! ( smiles, plants a big kiss on me, and runs away)

Melt my heart. Guess he listened a little yesterday.... maybe. :)


Did I mention that I really like him too?

Even if he only likes me every other day. ;)