Aug 28, 2007

Boxing


Ok - we're not really boxing but we were having lots of fun with his lego box. I am not really sure how it started but somehow he thought it was hilarious to put the box on my mom's head.


Even better on his head.


And then he decided to try to crawl in...

And then I guess he just thought why not dive in!!

Aug 22, 2007

Sweetest thing

Cort has always loved music. He has danced, swayed, bounced, "sung" to it for as long as I can remember. Over the past few months he has started doing a lot more actual singing to songs. This usually entails either jabbering to the tune, saying a word here and there in the right place, or something like that. It's all really cute. Old MacDonald holds a special place in my heart because it was the first song he sang to and he did really young(eieio). But I have a def. new favorite.
I sing Jesus Loves Me to him almost every night would putting him to sleep but have never really sung it with him out side of that. At night, he cuddles into me and sucks his paci as I sing to him so he never sings along. Well, the other evening I was changing his diaper and for some reason I started singing Jesus Loves Me. He joined right in and sang, "bible so so so" Too cute. Melted my heart.
We'll work on the tells me part. :)

Aug 16, 2007

Beach trip

So maybe one day I'll get caught up on blogging and get back into the roll of things. Here's me trying:

The first week in August Chris, Cort, and I went down to the beach for the week. A college roomie of mine joined us in the house down the street with her family and another college roomie and her husband joined us for the weekend. Fun times!!

John ,Kelly, Jessica, Nicolas, David, Me, Chris, and Cort


Kelly, Jessica, and Me

Cort loved the beach. No fears of the ocean, loved the sand, the birds, everything about it. It was a great family get away and great time with friends. We would go down to the beach in the morning and stay through lunch. The weather couldn't have been better because it wasn't too hot and we never got rained off the beach.


Driving down...


Cort loved playing in the sand with Chris. Everyday Chris would build him a tunnel for his truck - everyday the tunnel got bigger and bigger -everyday the tunnel collapsed. By the end of the week it was more about the guys figuring out how to big a tunnel big enough for Cort to crawl through than it was about Cort playing with tunnel!!!










Cort trying to build sand castles



and dribble castles(Cort loved making these and would say dibble dibble as he did it- too cute)


Cort enjoyed just running around the beach and would often want out of his stroller on our walks - he would go forever if we let him.






He loved the water but never played in it for long periods of time. He liked it best when there were tidal pools on the beach. He enjoyed finding seashells and then throwing them back in the water. He also liked to run down to the waves and then turn around for them to chase him.







Watching Daddy Fly his Kite...


Chillin with Nicolas in his pool...

Just Goofing around....



Cort really enjoyed getting to snack on the beach - he gobbled up some fruit, and loved that we had Pringles and that Daddy would slip him famous amos cookies.



We took Cort to the aquarium one morning( thanks Grandmommie and Granddaddy) and he really enjoyed that. They had this great tunnel that you walked through and big sharks would swim right over you. He would whisper, "shark" and reach out to touch them. He also loved petting the stingrays.
















The community we stayed in had several duck ponds so we would take daily drives on the golf cart( the beep, beep) and feed the ducks. Cort loved it - though I think he may have eaten more bread than he gave to the ducks.

My grandparents live just a few minutes north of where we were staying so we visited them a few times while we were there. On our last visit we took a walk down the pier and got some ice cream. Cort was fascinated with seeing the ocean through the cracks in the pier and LOVED his cookies and cream ice cream.








Last but not least - my favorite picture from the trip....

Aug 15, 2007

Whole lot of changing going on

We've had lots of changes going on around here. Well, two in particular. Here's the first one brought to you by Cort's magnadoodle....


That's right. Coming in March, we'll have a new addition to the family. I am between 8-9 weeks right now. I feel pretty good for most parts of the days though I have felt worse then I did with Cort. Thankfully, I feel pretty good during the day when I am with Cort. We've had one ultrasound to see the heartbeat and things look great!!

Second, Chris has changed jobs. He has left engineering and is now working on staff at our church, Grace Church. This is his second week there and he's loving it. It's such a great change to go from focusing on product to people. He is mainly working with all the visitors and new members - i.e., heading up hospitality teams, helping with membership classes, and getting people plugged in. We are super excited about what God is doing at our church and for allowing us to be a part of it in this way. It's def. an adjustment but one that we embrace with both trust and excitement.

Jul 26, 2007

18 Months





Wow. One and a half years old!!! Time just keeps flying by and my little baby is really turning into a little boy. I think I've said that before but this time it holds so much more truth.
He has been such a blessing and source of joy in our lives. I think back to those first few months of night feedings, counting diapers, and reflux pain and just can't believe how far we have come.
Cort is such a happy, healthy, full of life little boy. He makes me laugh everyday. And everyday he makes me forget about my long to do list and pulls me into enjoying the moments. How is it that a little person who is barely putting two words together can teach a grown up so much?

I don't really even know where to start with all that he does right now. We'll start with the basics.

I don't even think about how much he eats anymore. That still amazes me. He eats so well
( for a toddler;)) ! Such a blessing and answer to prayer that he reflux is over and that is eating well. His favorite foods right now include grilled chicken and pork tenderloin, turkey wraps, cheese, pretty much all fruit(he's really into blackberries, raspberries, etc.), peas, broccoli, Ritz bitz cheese crackers, and milk. He is doing well with his spoon and fork as well, though he still prefers his fingers and needs little help scooping sometimes.

He is sleeping great right now. We seem to be well on our way to dropping the morning nap. For the past week or so he has been sleeping in in the morning until almost 8:00 or at least 7:30 and taking 2 hour afternoon naps. I almost don't know what to do with myself. I hope he keeps it up.

He continues to talk up a storm. He slowed down a little bit with new words for a while but seems to be picking them up again. I have no idea how many words he says now. He has put two words together on a few occasions but I have not heard him do it often. He has said "car bye, bye" while playing cars with my mom and "stop dog" to my parents dog. He will say right back and bike ride as well. He understands everything we say to him though he would sometimes like to have you believe he does not! ;)

One of my favorite things he responds to now is if I say " are you ready to go read some books?" ( a ritual of ours before nap and bed) he runs to his room and climbs up in his rocking chair chanting book, book, book. He has names for lots of his favorite books and I love that he requests them. I am reading him longer books now. I have a bunch of paperback scholastic books from teaching and loves reading them. His favorites at the moment include Finklehopper Frog, Chimps don't Wear Glasses, Barnyard Hullabaloo, and Is your Mama a Llama?. ( in cort titles - Frog, Car, Doo Doo( for the rooster), and Mama) One of his favorite things to do right now with books is have me name something on the page and then he points to it. He is also likes to "count." He points to objects and says something like..."ooh, eee, aaa, ooh, ee, ahh."

He is very into cars, planes, anything that moves. He often wakes up in the morning asking for cars. We play with them in every way possible. He is also very into trains. ( choo,choo's). He can spot an airplane in the air well before I can and doesn't stop pointing until he plane is very out of sight. He still loves frogs and asks me to draw them on his magnadoodle at least 10 times a day. He loves all his animal books. He enjoys making animal noises and two of my current favorites are "Doo, doo" for a rooster and oinking. He is also still very into his blocks and puzzles. He can do a lot of his big knob puzzles and is really good at this one with chunky cars and trucks. I recently got him this set of two piece puzzles where you match big and little objects and he matches them all really well.

He loves being outside and runs out the door any chance he gets. I love watching him explore the outdoors. He checks out trees, flowers, sticks. My favorite is turning over rocks to look for bugs. One day he pretty much did a sliding dive to try to catch a chipmunk!!! He is enjoying the water much more these days but is still a little unsure of it.

He is trying his best to run but doesn't quite get it yet. He is doing really well stepping up and down on things now. He can climb up on pretty much anything he wants too. He also tries really hard to jump and sometimes gets the tiniest bit of air.

He still love music and dancing. He really likes Happy if you know it and 3 little fishies. He claps every time he hears or sees something he likes.

One of the biggest changes this month? He says Mama!! Finally!! The little stinker held out until I left for Mexico!!

He is super sweet and gives the sweetest kisses and cuddles. His smile and laugh are infectious.
Can you tell how much I love him?