18 Months Old and Visit with the Willmarth's

Cora turned 18 months old on March 16th.  At her appointment, she weighed 22 lbs, 5 ounces, and was 32 inches tall.  Her weight was in the 25th-50th percentile while her height was right around average.  Her head circumference was in the 75th to 90th percentile.  Still our top-heavy baby!  I knew she had hit a growth spurt recently because overnight her 12 month pants seemed to get shorter.  She can actually wear some of her 18 month pants now, though many of them are still too big.  I'm hoping she may be able to wear those next fall...  She is continuing to grow and learn every day.  She counted from 3 to 10 the other day, but I've only heard her do that once.  She comes up with new words all the time - purse, Pooh, beans, spaghetti, hat, good girl, thank you, flower, and she even said bra today - haha!

Last week, we were so delighted to get to meet our good friends, the Willmarth's, in Nashville.  We only got to spend one evening and morning with them, but it was so great to see them!  For those who don't know, they were our best friends in Lexington and they moved near Dallas, TX last summer.  A visit was long overdue!  It was great to get to catch up and see how much their little boy, Jonah, had grown.  He and Cora had such a fun time playing together!  They played with Cora's little soccer ball for the longest time on Thursday night.  Jonah was good to share with her most of the time, but we could definitely see the gender difference in roughness!  It is so neat to see how differently God created us, even from early on.  One of my favorite moments was Friday morning after I got Cora dressed in her cute little outfit (thanks Auntie Amy!) when Jonah told his daddy to look at Cora.  John said something about how pretty Cora looked, and Jonah said so sweetly, "She looks like a princess!"  It was just precious.  We're thinking of an arranged marriage for them...  :)  I didn't take enough pictures, but we really had a wonderful time.

We went to my parents' house yesterday to celebrate my grandfather's birthday.  Cora and her little cousin, Hayden, got to play together for a while before Hayden headed north to see Amye's parents.  They had the best time playing with an animated duck that my grandmother had bought them last Easter!  It flaps its wings and nods its head while quacking "Here Comes Peter Cottontail."  Hayden was busting a move like nobody's business.  I honestly thought she was going to come up off the floor!  I so wish I would have gotten a video of it.  Cora enjoyed moving a bit, but she decided that it was more fun to sing along.  She also was singing along with a little bunny who sings "Jesus Loves Me" and she has been singing a lot of the "ABC" song.  She gets random letter in there, but is especially good at S, T, and U.  I just love to hear her sing!

We went out to eat with Jeremy's parents this evening, and we got to see a first.  There was a little boy across the way (15 months old) who started crying.  Cora has definitely cried before when another baby was crying just because it seemed like the thing to do, but this was different.  She kept looking over at the little boy and her bottom lip would come out.  She kept looking at me with big tears in her eyes, chin quivering, and I really think she was worried about this little boy.  My big girl is learning empathy!  It was so precious and pitiful, I nearly cried myself.  We had to take a walk to keep her from getting upset.  It was quite a neat moment.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Jonah and Cora checking out the dog

Puffs please!

She loves to play with air conditioning units

Playing

John and Jonah at breakfast

Jonah and his mommy - not sure what that face is!

Couldn't get him to smile for the camera, but I got lots of smiles when he was watching a video of himself!  :)

Sharon and I with our "babies", getting ready to head south

Cora playing Playstation football with Daddy and Grandpa (or "Papaw" according to Cora :))

Cora is singing!

Well, probably the most exciting, fun thing that Cora has learned since my last post is that she is singing, which of course thrills me!  :)  For a while now, she's enjoyed singing only the "head" part of "head, shoulders, knees, and toes", with her hand on her head appropriately.  She surprised me the other day by singing along with her Elmo truck toy.  She attempted to sing the whole Elmo song with a very robust "Elmo's world" at the end.  She's been doing it more and more, singing Elmo's song at random.  She also has attempted parts of the ABC song on a couple of occasions as well.  Hopefully I'll be able to catch it on video soon, because it - is - adorable.

Cora went to her first basketball game a couple of weekends ago - we went up to Knoxville with my parents and my sister and saw the UT men play on Saturday and watched the Lady Vols on Sunday.  We were a little concerned about how Cora was going to do, but she was great!  Particularly Saturday night for the men's game, Cora had a blast.  During the warm-ups, she got really excited watching all the balls on the floor.  She would also start clapping when everyone else did, and loved to watch all of the people around us.  There was one guy in particular who was sitting behind us who she seemed to like.  He played peekaboo with her, so she instantly loved him.  :)  She did really well sitting in our laps during the game, but I thought she might get restless, so I went down to the concourse with her to let her walk for a bit.  She did better in the stands...  That child immediately saw the stairs, which of course were everywhere, and all she wanted to do was climb the stairs.  So, concourse time didn't last very long.  We left the game a little bit early to try and keep Cora's bedtime from being too late, and we saw Smokey the mascot on our way out!  Cora was so excited and started barking.  When we got closer, however, it was just like Santa...she likes him, but only from far away.  She was really tired the next day for the women's game, but she still did well.  She just didn't enjoy it as much as she did the men's game.  Overall, it was a successful weekend trip!

Cora has been doing more fun stuff than just singing.  One night she covered up her face with her hands and started saying "Roar-ra!  Roar-ra!" (that's "Cora! Cora!" in baby talk...) and then she uncovered her face and squealed.  She'll do it sometimes and peek with one or both eyes.  It is adorable.  Her vocabulary has really blossomed.  She's learning new words every day.  Some of her new words are "Bry" for her Uncle Bryan, elephant, water, fry (yes, for french fry), apple, cookie (and she smiles every time she says this), car, truck, choo-choo, baby, shoes, duck, goose, poopy, cow, Bible, bread....I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of for now.  She also knows a lot of her books now.  You can ask her to go get one of her favorite books and she'll go pick the right one out and bring it to you!

Some of Cora's learning has also created problems.  She LOVES my ipod touch.  She will get into my purse (zippers are no problem now) and get it out.  Sometimes we try to play with it together with some apps that have animal characters that are interactive.  Cora also loves to watch Sesame Street or Muppet videos on YouTube.  My personal favorite is the Muppets' rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.  :)  So, it can be fun.  HOWEVER, she never wants to stop playing with the ipod, and she will absolutely pitch a royal fit when you take it away.  I keep my grocery list on it, and she started to pitch a fit at the store the other day.  I distracted her with some food item...but it really is a problem.  She can work it without any problem too.  She drags the thing over to unlock it and loves to touch it to scroll through things.  In fact, she somehow managed to get the screen shaking with little red x's next to all of the apps...apparently to delete them.  I don't even know how to do that!  I now have it password protected, which Cora has not yet cracked.  Here's hoping it will be a few years...

Last weekend, Cora also attended her first baby shower since she began walking.  I wasn't sure how she would do - she is kind of shy around strangers - but after the first 10-15 minutes, she was loving all of the attention!  She walked around and smiled at strangers and helped Jennifer open some of her gifts while she wasn't looking.  :)  She was all over the place!  We were both tired by the time we left.  Also, on a side note, Jeremy and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary that same weekend!

I also noticed yesterday that Cora's first canine tooth is coming in.  I have really enjoyed the little break from teething, as I'm sure she has too, and am not looking forward to this next round.  I'm hoping she'll handle it well since she's an old pro at it by now.

I guess that's all the highlights since the last blog post.  As usual, rather than posting pics on here, you are welcome to view our latest facebook album:  https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2520115&id=12924167&l=0d16898daa

Cora is going to be 18 months old next week!  Hopefully I'll take the time to update the blog with her measurements.  I'm pretty sure she's recently seen a growth spurt - she can wear some of her 18 month pants now!

Videos from October

So these videos are a little late, but better late than never!

This is Cora's first time trying ice cream!



This video is of Cora walking with Daddy's assistance.  It's funny to watch now that she's walking like a pro. :)


Here is a funny bath time video where Cora seemed to discover her belly.  Now she is obsessed with her belly...and those of others! 


Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest of our videos uploaded this week...I am so far behind!

Holiday Fun and January

Since moving to Tennessee, I seem to be a failure at keeping up the blog.  Now that I think of it, perhaps that should have been a New Year's resolution...oh well.  What we've been up to...first of all, we celebrated my niece's first birthday on November 30th and the following weekend, so that was a fun week.  Here's pic of the birthday girl.

December was a very busy month for us.  Jeremy and I both turned 30, which means we have to check that 30-39 box now (ugh!), and we had a joint party to celebrate the occasion.  We received several tacky cards, but lots of nice gifts...and a few not nice gifts.  :)

My gift basket with a nice variety of medicines for old people

Jeremy got some prunes

Jeremy's gift from my parents - this was given to my Dad on his 40th birthday, and they revamped it for Jeremy.

For Christmas this year, we all got a cold.  It started with Cora a couple of days before Christmas, then Jeremy and I followed in the next couple of days.  On Christmas morning, we got a rare treat for this area - a white Christmas (4 inches)!  Unfortunately, none of us were feeling well enough to be out playing in the snow, but we did enjoy the view from inside.

Cora in her new rocking chair Nana and Papaw gave her

Christmas Snow at Grandma and Grandpa's

The girls coming to see the snow

Cora showing her teeth, playing with her new toys

We had another big snow early in January, and this time it was 8 inches!! We were snowed in for a few days...they aren't really prepared to deal with that much snow around here. Unfortunately, Cora was sick for this snow too (Roseola virus this time...), so she wasn't really able to get out and enjoy it. However, Jeremy and I did go out one afternoon and had a blast!

Cora's few minutes in the snow

Daddy really wanted to put her on the sled, but it did not go well - here she was skeptical, but it ended in tears

You might be a redneck if...

Ready for some fun in the snow!

Beautiful shot of deer in the snow behind Jeremy's parents' house

Other happenings over the last month, Cora's mouth has been filling up with teeth!  She seems to be getting 2 at a time these days.  We're up to 12 now - the 4th molar finally just finished cutting through, so I'm hoping that we'll get a break for a few weeks at least.  We also said "bye-bye" to the pacifier.  Cora had gone 5 days and nights without her paci, and had adjusted pretty well when she got sick with Roseola.  We had a terrible night - the first night after her fever had broken - when Cora just did not want to go to sleep.  She pitched an absolute fit.  We ended up letting her play a little longer and tried to get her to go to sleep again without any luck.  She ended up staying up until almost 10 (normal bedtime is 8), and she still melted down when we tried to get her to go to bed.  As a desperate last attempt, I went in and got her pacifier.  She went to sleep almost immediately after getting her pacifier.  We had a couple of rough days and nights after the fever was gone, but the virus was just really hard on her.  We've tried getting rid of the pacifier again, but it's been kind of hit and miss.  Thankfully, she does only use it when she's going to sleep.

I am just amazed at how much Cora is learning and growing!  Her vocabulary continues to grow.  She says "uh-oh" now, but a lot of times it's "uh-uh-oh."  She loves to say "no."  Particularly when she was sick, that was her answer to everything.  She didn't want me to hold her, she didn't want down, she didn't want to read a book, she wasn't hungry...I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  She also says "Papaw", "Puff", and "Banana" and she can identify her head, shoulders, toes, eyes, nose, ears, and belly.  During meal times, Cora has started lifting her shirt and looking at her belly as if to see if it's full.  :)  Our good eater is no longer so easy to please.  She more or less refuses any grownup foods (other than bread) until I can force a bite in her mouth, and then she realizes that it tastes pretty good!  A couple of her favorites are baked beans, barbecue, hash browns (with ketchup), and chicken nuggets (also with ketchup).  She does love sweets - she really enjoyed that part of Christmas!

At her 15 month appointment (December 17th), she was 20 lbs, 4.5 oz. and 30.5 inches tall.  She's still a little small for her age, but that's been the case all of her life.  She just grew out of her last pair of 6-12 month pants.  Her 12 month clothes are fitting really well right now.  She can wear her 18 month tops, but you can forget about the 18 month pants.  I'm thinking she may be able to wear those next winter!  She is just a bundle of energy these days, running around the house almost constantly.  I'm getting my exercise these days!  I am thankful she is getting really good at walking, and we are having fewer and fewer accidents and injuries.

I'll try to get some fun videos posted soon!  Also, if you would like to see more pictures, you can check out my facebook albums:

December:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2506073&id=12924167&l=ccff966b87

January
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2509130&id=12924167&l=d14d8bac40

Long time no blog

Well, I'm not really sure where to start here since it has been a month since I've blogged.  Life has been CRAZY!  We did get moved down to Tennessee over Halloween weekend.  We are currently living with Jeremy's parents in Birchwood until our house sells so we can get a place of our own.  Naturally, I was a little hesitant about moving in with my in-laws, but it has really worked out great - and I'm not just writing that because I know they'll be reading this.  :)  Cora has settled in too and enjoys getting to spend extra time with her Nana and Papaw and she really enjoys going outside to see the cows.  She has, of course, also enjoyed living only 25 minutes from Aunt Mandy and an hour from Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Bryan, Aunt Amye, and Hayden!  It has been really nice getting to see everyone more often.  I can already tell that Cora knows everyone more readily now and she and Hayden are so fun to watch together!

Jeremy has been learning a ton at his new job.  Vascular surgery is quite a change from internal medicine, so it's kind of like he's starting over again.  He's been a little frustrated from time to time feeling like he's not catching on as quickly as he should, but the docs he is working with are all great and assure him that he's doing just fine.

Cora has reached several milestones since we've moved.  After getting her other top side front tooth, she unexpectedly got 2 molars - same side, top and bottom.  She just cut one of her bottom side front teeth yesterday.  Here's hoping she's going to get a break from the molars now, but with her anything is possible.  She is also walking now and loves it!  She will walk to you with her arms up in the air, grinning ear to ear, and will just fall into your lap and give you a giant hug.  This is usually accompanied by squealing, and is just priceless to see.  She's not just walking to people anymore, she is all over the place. 

Cora is also enjoying grown-up food more and more.  She really enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner this year!  She at some turkey, but definitely seemed to like the carbs more - homemade dressing, noodles, and yeast rolls.  The only thing she didn't like was the cranberry sauce.  I can no longer eat in front of her without some kind of request for me to share my food.  Usually it's pointing and grunting, but she also will just stand/sit there and open her mouth and wait for you to give her a bite of whatever your eating.  And this child has THE MOST enthusiastic open mouth you've ever seen!! 

Cora's vocabulary is also expanding!  She now says "woof woof" anytime she sees a dog...or cow....or sometimes a cat.  She will also moo when I ask her too and we've had a meow or two.  Now she just needs to figure out which is which.  She is saying "bye" very well and sounds like a little southern belle.  She caught on to how my phone conversations would go and started saying "bye" after I would say "talk to you later."  So cute!  (Dana, that made me think of Joshua and how he did that with your conversations - miss you guys!!)  She's also saying kitty, hi, no, mama, dada, and boom.  She has an Elmo truck that she frequently pushes into things and I would always say "boom!" so she caught on and is doing that now.  :)  She's shaking her head 'no' (sometimes appropriately, sometimes not), and her Papaw taught her to nod her head 'yes.'  Again, she's still learning what those gestures mean exactly, but she enjoys doing them anyway.

We went this past Tuesday to my parents' house to celebrate my niece's 1st birthday!  I can't believe that she is already a year old.  The big party is on Sunday, so we're pretty excited about that.  I posted a bunch of pictures on facebook from the last month.  Here is the link if you'd like to see them: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2495530&id=12924167&l=b929c31b03  

Boyd Orchards and Other Stuff

A couple of weekends ago, we made a trip to Boyd Orchards in Versailles, KY, and met up with our friends David and Laura Probus and their adorable little girl, Anna.  It was a beautiful day, and we had such a good time!  Cora liked the pumpkins, and she really enjoyed sticking her head through the wood cutout things for photo opportunities.  :)  We got to see some farm animals and went on a hayride.  The highlight of the trip was probably the fried apple pie and the apple cider!  It was a wonderful day.  Here are some pics:

Life for us has been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks.  We are finally getting ready to move!  We'll be heading south on October 31st.  We still haven't had any luck selling our house, but we trust that everything will work out when the time is right. 

Cora continues to learn and explores.  She is saying ball now...well, really it's baa, but we know what she means.  :)  She has been going absolutely insane with her ball popper lately!  It is so fun to watch.  She is also saying "mama" all the time.  It's driving Daddy crazy.  We'll ask her to say 'dada' and she won't say it anymore.  Instead she usually responds with an enthusiastic "mama!"  Of course, I get a kick out of this.  It was a long time coming!  Cora also pointed and asked for something for the first time on October 22nd.  I had given her a little bite of my iced sugar cookie which she had never had before.  She liked it enough to actually ask for more!  With Jeremy and I as her parents, she's bound to enjoy sweets.  :)  Cora still hasn't taken her first steps yet, but she is getting more and more confident walking with fingers.  I don't think it will be much longer.


Here are some other pictures from the last couple of weeks.  Hopefully we'll have some fun videos up soon.

Cora looking quite stylish in her Sunday dress

Something about black tights on such little stubby legs makes me smile.

It's for you!

Cora's first pigtail!

Cora discovered her shadow - she enjoyed watching it dance!

Cora LOVES to watch mommy through the glass when I am outside grilling

Cora's New Toys

Cora got lots of fun new toys for her birthday!  Here are some pictures and videos of play time.  :)

She loves to take the balls out, but she is also very good at putting them back in.

She's a pro now and starting it up!

She has really enjoyed reading all of her new books!

She certainly can make a mess...

Cora got a Winnie the Pooh card that played the song - she really enjoyed it!


Here's Cora playing with her ball popper and her musical table:


And more dancing with her musical table: