Dis-a-ney World!!!

** just to acknowledge, I am totally aware that there are WAY too many pictures in this post**

We were in "Dis-a-ney World" last week and I have to say, it was an absolute blast!!! We made the plans for the trip 6 months ago so it's crazy to think it's already all said and done. Chris and I took Cort and had Cohen stay with the grandparents. There was one simple reason for this, we just felt like for us, 1.5 is younger than we really want to take a child to disney world. On top of that, it's been a long 2 years and and Cort has really taken a back seat over the course of those two years...he's done it happily, but I've missed him and it was SOOOO much fun getting to spend that one on one time with him. Cohen did GREAT at the grandparents and had an absolute blast!! He started clapping right before we left, and the grandparents were sure to give him lots of practice!! He was excited to see us but not at all overly clingy when we got back!

Cort loved it - it really was everything we hoped it would be. Aside from being a bit afraid of loud noises on some of the rides and shows(which we sort of expected) Cort loved all the rides and couldn't get enough of it. This is the first time we've ever stayed in a hotel with him and he did great!! He went right to sleep every night - this is a huge deal for Cort!!

We had 6 days in the parks and stayed 5 nights. It was a great amount of time for a trip like this for us. The weather was great for Florida and the crowds were super manageable. Most rides had less than a 10 min wait and many we'd walk right on to. I think his favorite overall park was Animal Kingdom but he loved the others as well. His favorite rides, attractions, were It's a small World( rode it 5 times!!), triceratops spin, digging in the bone yard, Finding Nemo ride, Turtle Talk with Cruch, the Barnstormer(roller coaster), toy story midway mania, Country Bears show, Tommorowland Transit Authority, Jungle Cruise, the Safari at Animal Kingdom, and riding the monorail!!

We stayed at the POP century resorts and it was great. He got to meet several of his favorite characters through character dining that we got free with our free Disney dining plan!! You can't beat Disney world with free food all week!!

Ok - enough talking, on to the millions of pictures..... all of these were taken with our new video camera( that came in a few days before the trip and we spent most of the trip figuring out how to use it - so sorry for the picture quality!!)

On the way down - riding in his jammies - is there any better way? He did great on the trip down and we made great time!!
Epcot - on our first day....

Outside the finding Nemo ride...we rode it 5 times total - he loved it as long as we covered his eyes and ears for the angler fish part!!!


kidcot...


first character meal and first time seeing characters( pluto, mickey, chip and dale)


The fireworks at Epcot...well, actually this was just waiting for the fireworks, we spent the fireworks show running towards the exit with a screaming child buried in my shoulder....hysterically screaming...and we thought he was a little better this July 4th...he informed us on the bus back to our hotel..that he likes fireworks, just ones you hold or do on ground( ie. sparklers, snakes, and poppers) and don't make noise.


the view from our hotel window...

Animal Kingdom - day 2 - a big hit - Cort LOVES animals and dinosaurs!!

On triceratops spin...after 6 mos. of talking about this ride and "playing" it in our backyard...he finally got to ride it - he loved it - you could control being high or low and it couldn't go high enough for him!!!




Cort's "magical moment" where a cast member( staff) randomly selects you to do something special...here cort received a "dino artist" certificate and got to color a dino egg.

I know it's really blurry but I like it anyway...this was after ride Kali river rapids...we got a bit wet....

I know I"m the only one that looks excited in this picture, but Cort loved putting his hands and feet inside this big dino print....


in the dinosaur graveyard..digging for bones...Cort would have stayed in here all day!!


Cort loved the jungle safari - we saw lots of real animals really close by...really well done...




Cort LOVED the parades...a funny thing about it is that he was so excited about all the characters he knew and would reach out for them and all but if a character that he didn't know from a movie or show he hasn't seen - he would have NOTHING to do with them...he wasn't scared, just completely uninterested and would totally snub them!!


The "tree of Life"


Magic Kingdom - Day 3 and 4

On the teacups...not spinning fast enough for Cort and spinning too fast for my liking!!


I cannot express how much this simple bear show thrilled him....we did it twice and he would have done it more...

good giggles..


Meeting all the pooh characters at lunch was a big hit...


a good snuggle...


Waiting on the parade...popcorn was his favorite snack...


Hey Mickey, do you see me?

his first roller coaster...he was a big fan..
waiting for the spectromagic parade...

Mickey's philharmagic...which we didn't get to stay for because Cort thought it was too loud....but we did get a good silly picture out of it...

Pooh's playground


Downtown Disney had a T-Rex Cafe that had a build - a dinosaur store( just like build- a bear) in it... Cort was so excited!! He picked out an anklyosaurus and named him Anky Dude!!





Epcot - Day 5 - we didn't take many pictures that were much different the first day we were there but I had to share this one...this was the only day that Cort started to lose it without a nap so we headed back to the hotel( it was also the only day we happened to have our car - Cort fell asleep right away...and transferred to the hotel room for more sleep!)
Day - 5 - waiting at Chef Mickey's for breakfast in the Contemporary - Cort loved all the character meals and this was a really good one!


we had to take a picture of Minnie's shoes because when Cort saw them he said... " Look, Minnie is wearing rain boots!!"



We drove our car to the contemporary and then took the monorail to epcot - Cort had waited ALL week to get on the monorail - he was so excited and it did not disappoint. He even got to ride the green one on the way back to the car - it made his day!


Hollywood Studios - Day 6 - the last day. Cort really enjoyed Hollywood studios, there were cars and trucks everywhere... and just had a fun atmosphere...

Cort really wanted one of these balloons but for $10 we just took a picture...;0)

Meeting Lightening McQueen and Mater...



On the Honey I shrunk the kids, playground...Cort loved it!!

Mickey's clubhouse show...really cute and fun.

Lunch with the Einstein's..



The whole trip was great!!! Chris and I really enjoyed getting that sweet time with Cort. Not having been since I was really young, I sort of wondered if Disney was a little overrated - well, it wasn't!! We had so much fun and now I completely understand why some people go all the time!!

On the way back, we hit horrible traffic on I-95 because of a wreck and ended up getting a hotel to split up the drive. I was so anxious to get back to Cohen but glad we got some rest so we weren't exhausted when we got back. Oh, I haven't mentioned that while we were in Columbia before the trip for my Paw-Paw's funeral, I got rear-ended on the entrance ramp to the interstate. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and the car was drivable to Florida, and will hopefully be fixed next week.
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It's been a super busy week since we got back...Cohen had 3 doctor's appointments this week, including his sleep study results...I'll hopefully get those posted in the next few days but I wanted to get the disney pics up and now I'm nursing a sick babe - Cohen has a fever!! No other symptoms so hopefully just a quick virus that'll be over soon!

Home

After a year and half battle with cancer, my sweet Paw- paw has gone Home.

The last few weeks have been very hard, as he has been in an intense amount of pain and he has been ready to go. Every night he'd say he hoped the Lord would take him home, and on Wednesday night he finally went home, surrounded by his wife, sister, and children.

We are so blessed to have had this time to prepare for this, to have all had the chance to say goodbye ,and for him to come to a place of peace before he died.

I have been incredibly blessed to have 29 years with all 4 of my grandparents. Their impact in my life has been invaluable. I have nothing but extremely fond memories of my Paw-paw...collecting pecans, pears, and magnolia seeds in the backyard, long walks on the pier at springmaid beach, games of Putt-putt, coin collecting, 2 dollar bills, a contagious smile, a bit of a bark but absolutely no bite, an unending love and faithfulness in marriage, and a genuine love and concern for ALL people.

I love you Paw-Paw -it's been an honor- you will be missed by all.

Just Like Daddy...

Sleep Study ** updated**

** Update**

Well, we survived the sleep study. All in all it went fine. He didn't like having all those wired put on but he handled it pretty well, all things considered. Finally by about 9:30 they were done getting him ready and so 2.5 hours past his bed time, we tried to sleep. He didn't want me to leave his sight - he would cry when I tried to go into the bathroom to change my clothes and get out of his sight, thinking he would fall asleep better that way. Every time I would go in there he would start screaming, so I threw on my jammies and threw washing my face, brushing my teeth, etc. out the window... laid down on the bed next to his crib and stuck my hand through the crib rails for him to hold. He fell asleep right away once I did that but if I moved even the slightest bit his eyes would fly open. After about 15 minutes I was able to move my hand and try to sleep as well.

So technically he was asleep by 10pm. He woke up about 3 times on his own, frustrated about the wires and would thrash around and cry but then go right back to sleep. If it had just stopped there it would have been fine but the nasal cannula in his nose that measured carbon dioxide levels( the part the doc was most interested in, of course) kept coming out and so literally about every hour the nurse( or rather, respiratory therapist) had to come in to fix it. She said that most babies don't wake when she just has to fix that, but Cohen is not like most babies. Before she hardly would touch him, he was awake, screaming and rolling away from her in the crib. I had to roll towels up and put them around the crib because he kept hitting his head on the metal crib rails because he would roll away with such speed and force. He would, at least, go back to sleep pretty quickly...only to be woken again about 45 minutes later.

I felt bad for him and the nurse. He just wanted to sleep and she just had to do her job. One of those necessary evils, I guess.

In the morning, Cohen was NOT happy to be woken again and cried horribly while getting all the wires off. Seriously, every time the nurse would talk he would scream at the top of his lungs, even after we were all done and changed and in the hallway saying goodbye. The other nurse( who was monitoring a def. child) could talk to him and he would smile but as soon as our nurse talked, he'd start up again. I guess he holds grudges!!

We made it through and both took a 2 hour morning nap!!!

I didn't end up taking any pictures of him with his wires on - there was never an appropriate moment for that - but I did snap one of a very unrested, goopy haired, wire free Cohen in the morning...


*original post*


We meet to get the results Oct. 8 but the nurse said off the record that things looked pretty good.

Once again, I'm falling so behind on blog updates. I was on a roll there for a while...I'll catch up again soon but wanted to let everyone know that Cohen is having a sleep study tonight. It wasn't going to be until Oct. but they had a cancellation so we're going in tonight. The timing, while a little rushed, is good because this way we'll have his results back before we see the neurologist too.

We had our first appt. with " the sleep doctor" last week and we LOVED him. He has been the most knowledgeable( aside from our geneticist) doctor about dwarfism we have seen so far. He explained everything so well and was interested in the things I felt like he should be.( did that make sense?) He was very interested in his chest size...something I haven't figured out why other doctors don't seem to be since that is the very thing that made the doctors think he could never live and the very thing that makes his future uncertain now.

He is not super concerned about apnea with Cohen because his structure looked so good but he does want to check for it still and was interested in his input and output of oxygen and Carbon dioxide.

He doesn't exhibit a lot of systems of apnea but does have some restless sleep and also sleeps more than an 18 month old "should" in a 24 hour period.

I'll take Cohen in to the hospital tonight and Chris will stay with Cort. Hopefully Cohen will actually sleep!!!!

Cocoon

A few weeks ago, my friend Kelley was over with her two kids and we made an impromptu craft, complete with a science lesson!!

All four kiddos had fun and they turned out pretty cute:




And here's Cort in his own cocoon at my mom's house...

Maybe we're an easy audience...

...but we sure think Cort is pretty funny. Here's the latest installment of Cortisms...

A month or so ago(forgot to record this one last time), we were driving down the road and passed a church. Our conversation went like this..

Cort: ( very excitedly) Mommy, there's a cross!!!!

Me: You're right, that was a cross.

Cort: The cross was RIGHT THERE!!

Me: Yes, that was a church and there was a cross outside.

Cort: ( quietly, almost under his breath, but in total amazement) Jesus died right there!!!

He literally thought that was THE cross, not just a cross.


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With Chris' sister in Athens:

Jessica: Cort, what do you learn about in church?

Cort: ( in a very nonchalant voice) Uh, I don't know, Jesus, or God, or something. ( shrugs shoulders)

We'll have to work on that holding a little more importance!!

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On another Sunday:

Me: Cort what did you learn in church today?

Cort: That God is a turtle.

Me: A turtle?

Cort: No, a turtle.

Me? I'm a total loss. God is a turtle? So I think quickly about what they were suppose to be learning about it and...

Me: Oh, God is eternal?

Cort: Right, God is "aturtle".

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The other night when Cort was about to go to bed:

Chris: I like your new jammies, Cort.

Cort: Maybe you can wear them tomorrow when they get a little bigger.

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The other night during his "call for us a million times routine" at bed...

Me: (walking into his room) "Cort, stop calling, you need to go to sleep."

Cort: I can't go to sleep because I don't eat breakfast very well"

Oh, that explains it. Where do they come up with this stuff?

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A few phrases he's stuck on...

"each to each to each" ( this is what he says to say he wants to go one by one, or to say he wants to put things side by side)

"eaver bigger" - Even bigger

" Is that wierd?" He's sort of stuck on the word weird - he sort of uses it like the word silly

"I'm getting busy(bizzy)" He means dizzy, but it's pretty darn cute!!

When ever he's remembering something from the past he always says it happen "last night" even if it was a year ago.


Ok..that's all I've got. I'm sure I'll think of a million more as soon as I post this. I just love to get these recorded because I know I'll so easily forget these cute little things.