Cory at 2 and a half yrs old!

I haven't posted as much about my little buddy so I wanted to do a post about all the things I am loving about Cory at this age so far and things he is into. 

10 things All About Cory:

1.  He loves trains!  He always wants to play with his train set!  He is really into anything that moves.... cars, any type of truck, firetrucks, garbage trucks, dump trucks, etc.  He also loves dinosaurs and airplanes! 

2.  He loves coins!  He has a piggy bank that he wants to play with all the time and will empty out his coins and put them back in and count them.   He also loves to sort things by color.  He will take his foam letters and line them up by color by himself and will clap afterward. 

3.  He is like a little teddy bear in the mornings, around nap time and in the evenings.  All he wants is cuddle time with Mommy.  We sit in the recliner and watch his favorite show and just cuddle up.  He is also very silly and makes me laugh everyday with some of the things he does.....he is a total ham!

4.  He is the most affectionate little boy and gives me sooo many hugs, kisses and "I love you's" throughout the day that always makes me feel so special to be his Mommy!  He holds my hand when we go out places.

5.  He loves his doggies.  He now really loves playing with Nick and Lucky.  When we are out of the house and come back home before we pull in the driveway Cory is always in the back seat cheering with excitement "Nick and Lucky, Nick and Lucky".  He loves those pups!  Here's Lucky and Nick at a bonfire at our house.

6.  He is the typical boy in that he likes to get dirty.  He likes to play in the mud on a rainy day or splash around in the puddles, he loves searching for bugs, playing with rocks and sticks outside and trying to climb trees.

7.  He loves to run and play sports and be active.  He had a ton of fun in Florida over Christmas playing kick ball with Daddy and Grandpa. Here he is wearing Daddy out :)

8.  He loves books and likes when we sit down in the evenings before bed to read.  He also loves going to storytime at the library each week.

9.  He is not the typical boy in the fact that he can be very cautious.  He won't go downstairs at new places without holding Mommy's hand, he's never tried to climb out of his crib, he doesn't attack new activities aggressively but approaches them carefully until he feels comfortable and knows it is safe...like new playgrounds, etc.  And he can be a bit shy at first meeting new people.

10. He is great with other kiddos. He's pretty good about sharing toys. He has always been very sweet to babies and younger kids and I know he will make a great big brother. I'm sure it will be an adjustment along the way and will be some jealousy at times for my attention but my intuition tells me he will be great when the baby comes along and will be nuturing.  The biggest thing I will do is to let him be a helper because he loves to help out Mommy around the house. He can bring me diapers and just be a part of the daily routine of taking care of Cameron. I will also still spend one on one time with Cory too each day to help.


I feel like I am figuring out my little boy.  Boys were a mystery to me, especially toddler boys since I never had boys in my family.  That is the main reason I saw myself having a girl just because I thought it would be easier and I would know what to expect because I am a girl and understand what goes through our minds.  Boys I had no clue!  I feel like at this stage I am learning new things every day but I have learned how to relate to him and truly connect and have that strong mother-son bond.  I know what makes him happy, what makes him tick, what he is into and I am finding out more and more ways to entertain a toddler boy and of course now couldn't imagine life without him.  His charm and personality is coming out more and he says things that surprise me every day.  He really does pick things up like a sponge, he never ceases to amaze me.  The other day John was complimenting me and he asked Cory his opinion and John said "Is Mommy pretty" and Cory said "No, Mommys beautiful".  I had no idea where he got that but boy did it make this Momma feel great!  Of course he said it more like "bootiful" but it was the sweetest thing.  He is my little pal and I just hope we will always raise him up the right way to be a respectful gentleman who knows how to treat a lady.  Of course I secretly want him to be my "baby" forever though! 

A couple more pics:

 

He can pass out & fall asleep anytime he's tired :)  Here we are with grandma!

 

 He still has some cute curls in his hair :)

 

When I tell him to smile, he says "cheese" and squints his eyes and gives me this cheesy smile :)

 

 

 

 

Memo Station Organization!

I am excited that my favorite organized blogger, Jen, over at IHeart Organizing is doing a link up party to share organization projects people have done to go along with her January Home Office Organization challenge!  This is my first time linking up to another blog and I'm fairly new to blogging but thought I'd share our family's Command Center.  Since we are limited with space I decided to put our set up in the kitchen next to the door leading to the garage.  We don't have a spare room for an office but we do have our small office nook in our living room but I wanted a space that we could keep important mail, documents to be filed, things to do list, address book, etc all in a central location.  Here is a look into our command station set-up.

This first picture shows our system that is working pretty good so far for us. 

 

Our console table pictured below (to the left wall of the command center) is where we hide a few things like receipts, coupons, boxtops etc.  It is also our doggy station for food & water and I just happened to love this posterboard sunburst mirror I saw on pinterest and saw it on Jen's blog and I just had to make my own! 

 



 

The bench holds all my cookbooks and my binder full of our favorite recipes  The far left blue bin is for any loose shoes that make their way in the kitchen.  When we walk in through the garage door often times my 2 yr old son will take his shoes off and leave them laying around in the kitchen so this is where i toss them.  The bench also holds my diaper bag, the middle box is where we store gloves, scarfs, my son's jackets, warm hats, etc. (anything we need before walking out the door). 

 

 

The top right section holds a dry erase board for our monthly calendar.  Anything the family has going on, we update here.  I added some cute washi tape around the edges to make it more appealing than the metal that surrounded it.  I put appointment slips there on the magnets if they are for a later month. 

 

On the little shelf I just found this cute coffee cup that matched my colors and stuck our dry erase markers there.  And just a small clock on the side.

 

 

On the other side of the shelf is this little compartment divider that we keep our address book in the first slot, followed by a pad of paper I usually use to write my grocery list on, and the last slot is where we keep our 2013 planner/agenda.  I found the little paperclip tabs at target in the dollar section and just used that to lable it.

 

To the left of our monthly calendar is our our file compartment that I got at IKEA.  I saw a reader space on Jen's blog that used this one and I thought it would be perfect for incoming mail (which we had a problem of always putting on our kitchen table and cluttering it up).  So I have a folder for my husband's mail and a folder for mine, then a folder for any papers that need "to be filed" in our file cabinet later, and a folder "to take action" for anything that needs to be taken care of right away or bills to be paid, etc.  The top section of the bin is for miscellaneous papers that don't fit in one of the catergories...like we put current magazines up there until they have been read. 

 

 

To the left of our file folders is a dry erase board I found at Office Depot and we use that our "Things To Do" area.  If anything needs to be done, it gets put up there so we don't forget.  To the bottom is just a small coat rack that we use for wallets, keys, purses and we have my son's favorite hat there so I snag it to bundle him up in this cold weather. 

 

After taking these pictures a week ago, I felt like this frame(below) on our console table looked a little bland.  I had a spare file folder that I used to update the matted frame and now it matches the other area.  The difference makes me smile :)

 

Here it is again on the table

 

 

Now to look inside the drawers.  The right drawer just has these 2 little baskets, one for loose coupons and one for our receipts for when we plug them into our monthly budget spreadsheet.  The coupons I file later in my coupon binder but these are for the ones I get randomly off products or in the paper, etc. 

 

The left drawer still needs a little loving but it has a box where I put all of our boxtops in.  We give them to my nephew to take to school.  It also has my small coupon file that I take with me to the grocery store and just has some washi tape and extra paper clip lables in there. 

 

Lastly, on the table itself is this little vase with flowers I got from IKEA.  Even though the flowers are fake they still put me in a better mood to have them there. 

 

 

Speaking of my small office area, here it is in the living room corner.  It works but it makes things so much nicer and neater to have the command station so I dont have piles of papers and things all over the desk. 

 

 

Thanks for looking and I am excited to browse all the projects over at IHeart Organizing! 

 

<3 Kristen

 

25 Weeks!

Woo hoo, excited to already be 25 weeks.  This pregnancy is going by so quickly and I can't wait to meet little Cameron!

 

Symptoms:   Sometimes I forget I am pregnant because I have been so lucky to not have any of the typical pregnancy symptoms or issues.  No pains, sleeping great, feeling good, I really have no complaints!

Weight Gain: At my 24 week appt I had gained 10 pounds total.   Still not showing a lot in my clothes but I can for sure see a pretty big bump when I lift my shirt up.  I am at an odd stage though where I am not really fitting in my regular pants, but all maternity pants are still too big and falling off.  Luckily I have 1 pair of my regular jeans that were larger in size that still fit great and I can still wear about all my normal tops but I have pulled out a few of the cute maternity tops too and I wear those as well.

Gender: I am excited for another boy!  I will have to start doing some nursery post as I get the room ready and I think it is going to turn out so cute!  I hope we (as in John) will paint it next weekend if I can get the room cleared out this week.  It is going to be painted with stripes.  Only thing I have really done is cleaned out some of the room and organized the tons of clothes we have!  I am planning a DIY mobile project that I hope will turn out how I think it will.  The only item I have bought so far is new crib bedding.  . 

Movement:  I am so excited that I now feel lots of movement.  It went from pretty much nothing to a lot in a 2 week period.  When I turned 24 weeks I started feeling some popping flutters in my belly, then I started feeling quite a bit of activity at night when I was still in the recliner.  John can feel it now and you can see movement just looking at my belly which is cool.  At my 24 week appt he had the hiccups and I could hear them on the heartrate monitor.  I can't wait to see him on ultrasound again.