My Sweetie!

Okay so I just have to gush about my boy and since John is out of town in Washington DC in training I decided to hop on here to my little piece in blog land. :)  My night has just been made!  Since Cory was born I have always told him I love him and goodnight when putting him to bed and tonight something extra special to a Momma happened.  After I told him I loved him and was about to lay him in his crib he gave me an extra tight hug and said "Love you"!   It was the sweetest thing I have ever heard with his little voice saying it.  I just wanted to hold him and rock him to sleep but I put him snug in his crib and he fell asleep but that was so sweet to hear!  He also calls me Momma or Mommy now....which he has been saying that word for a while now but I love how much he says it now like when he is looking for me (if I am in another room) he will holler out "Mommy"! 

He is just doing so great these days and such a joy to be around.  He is always laughing and smiling and plays so well with his other little friends and he has been sleeping so great too.  I am on cloud 9 with his sleep routine now days.  Last night after I put him down at 8:30pm...he didn't wake up until 9:40 am!  I actually started making noise in the kitchen to try to wake him because we had to be at Lisa's house at 10am!  He has been sleeping later and later every week!  A couple months ago he went from sleeping in until 7 or 7:30 tops to 8am to 8:30 and now 9 to 9:30 or later some mornings.  I think he may start to be like his daddy who can sleep in until 11 or so on the weekends (if I let him that is;)  I am an early bird and can't sleep in past 8am even if I try to.  Some mornings I wish I could sleep in but I am such a morning person that once I wake I think about all the things I could be doing and just end up getting up or I will be laying there wide awake.  Now I am always up before Cory so that is funny to me when about 4 months ago I would have thought that was crazy talk with my not-so-good sleeper.  It has been like night and day and boy I am so happy to be on this end now! 

He is my little sunshine! 

Dolly Wood!

We had a great 4th of July weekend!  Spent a few days in the Nashville area getting to see John's family and glad Cory got to spend time with his Grandparents and after that we went and stayed one night in Pidgeon Forge TN and we went to Dolly Wood twice there.  We went after 3pm the first day and got in the next day free.  :)  It was so much fun seeing the amusement park through Cory's eyes (for his first time) and seeing him light up and that he was having so much fun made it a great time for us as well.  Here's a re-cap in pictures:

CORY AND GRANDMA

 CORY AND DADDY 

 PLAYING BASKETBALL

AT DOLLYWOOD!  CORY LOVED THE CARS.........

.........AND DIDN'T WANT TO GET OFF!

He was so cute riding the ducks and had his serious concentrating look :)

One of his favorites was the carousel ride

Okay that was fun....what's next?

eeewww a snake

Hey guys there are ducks over there!

He is getting so big and can't believe my baby will be 2yrs old in less than 2 months.  Crazy how times flies when you have a little one and i am trying to soak up this time and really enjoy it because it is becoming more and more apparent to me each day that he won't be little for long....2 years has come and gone in a blink of an eye and I don't want to be handing him the car keys anytime soon so I am learning to never long for the next phase and really try to enjoy each day here and now....even the tantrums and all the things that comes with toddlerhood...okay so maybe I won't enjoy every second but I do want to make the best out of every situation that comes along, live and learn and have lots of fun along the way because life is really short when you think about it!  I don't want to wish away time, but rather cherish the memories in the making. When Cory wants me to hold him, I want to always make that time for him to smother him in kisses and hugs and "I love you's", when he wants me to play with him...I don't want to ever catch myself saying "I will later after I do laundry and dishes"....etc, but rather play with him right then and not worry about the chores being done or the piles of toys around the house...I just want to focus on the important things in life, cherish my relationships in my life with friends and loved ones, make time for those phone calls to people I care about, let them know they are important to me and to seize every minute.  I want to look at my life and really see it; live it and never look back at the "what if's" or "I should have's", and to STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF :)  

2 Peas in a Pod :)

Wanted to do a Father's Day post and didn't make it in time before it was over so wanted to share a few pics of John and Cory.  Cory is crazy about his Daddy and John sure is proud of his baby boy!  John is such a wonderful and fun Dad!  He gets down on the floor and plays and they rough house....he's the total guy's guy but in the same instance a total softy and gives him tons of hugs and snuggles and can kiss boo boo's magically making them better.  I love John's childlike heart and how he always makes time for Cory and first thing he does when he gets home is grab him to play and pretty much takes over (which has been nice for this Momma to get a break:)  Cory has so much fun with him!  He is also a great husband and I love how family oriented he is.  Growing up his family was family-oriented but at the same time they worked long long hours during the week and worked weekends so they always had to miss his sporting events and school functions to provide for their family so this helped him to realise that it is the time that is most important and valuable....not all the other stuff.   John always talks about how involved he wants to be when Cory goes off to school and to try to never miss a sporting event and to have family game nights.  I love how he now gets every friday off work and we have started Family Fun Friday!  We have made a list of things to do and will pick one each friday to spend time as a family. Friday's are so nice to do things because most places aren't nearly as crowded.  We listed the basics like the zoo, pool day at home or aquatic center, aquarium, ka-zoing(a fun place for the kids to play), picnic at the park, etc.  Besides being a great guy, he is also a fabulous cook and pretty much the chef for the family.  I feel so happy to have married my best friend and someone I love being around and spending my life with. 

Cory and Daddy

Like father, like son:)  These 2 can fall asleep anywhere! 

Goofy pic John did as a before/after the insanity workout. 

This was taken a couple months ago but thought it was a funny family pic.....Cory must have been totally bored. 

Lotsa work and a little play :)

This past week has probably been one of the busiest we've had in a while so this weekend I am totally looking forward to doing lotsa play and just a little work.  John will be on a boys trip with his high school buddies this friday and stay the night at Blue River in Indiana and will be back Sat evening so I am going to take Cory to the park to feed the ducks, we will probably have a pool day at the house and jump on the trampoline a lot and maybe take him out for a mother/son date to McDonalds for his first happy meal...lol. 
Oh yeah, we got a trampoline this weekend!  It has been a wish of mine for as far back as I can remember.  In elementary I would pay a quarter every time to the neighborhood kid who used to charge a fee to jump, in middle school my friend Kathy had one so I would be at her house all the time jumping, then even in high school I would sneak over to my friend Kate's house while they were on vacation(with permission from them) and be jumping away in my own little happy zone.  My Mom always said we didn't have the yard space for it so now I am happy to have the yard space and no excuse not to get one.  So I told people we just HAD to get one for Cory when in reality it is totally for me as well but Cory does love it already! 
I planned a playdate at my house this past monday(yesterday) to get some stay at home mom's and their kiddos together that I have become friends with and my sister as well since she is so close now.  We are going to start doing a monthly play group and rotate houses but I think I will do the next one as well because this one was supposed to be a pool party and the rain kinda changed our plans so we played inside but would like to have the pool day before the older kids start back to school in Aug.  The play group was a lot of fun and so nice to connect with other moms who stay home and the kids played so well together!  There were 5 moms and 8 kiddos and I made lunch for us all and it lasted from 10:30am-1:30pm.  I procrastinated the house work so I had to work a lot over the past weekend to get the house clean since it was such a disaster and I had to get all the groceries.  Sunday we helped my sister move the stuff over to her house that she was storing temporarily at our house and took a couple loads in my Dad's van, we also set the trampoline up and had to do pool maintenance and I put together an outdoor storage bench to go in the pool area to store all the pool assesories and toys and keep them out of the rain.  We got the pool all nice and clean and clear blue in color and I can't wait to hop in again.
 Saturday John took a big load of junk to the trimble county dump.  We had things in the garage that the previous owner's left there when we moved in ....like old doors and scrap metal and wood and we cleaned out the 2 storage sheds we have in our backyard and got rid of all the junk in there so we can use them more wisely and free up space in our garage.  We are going to start an organizing project in our garage and get things neat and tidy in there and move some of the big stuff in the storage sheds.  We also had to do yard work which took up a lot of time Saturday since it is about 2.5 acres not including the woods and John went to pick the trampoline up at the store.  I tried to do some landscaping but we have mega work that needs done around the outside of the house and I want to get rid of all the ugly vines that were planted around the front of our house and want to put some pretty flowers there but may wait until next spring since it will be so much work and would rather start it up before summer months when it's not so hot out!  Then Saturday evening we celebrated my niece's 3rd birthday with a pizza party at my sister's new house.  Here's a few pictures of the evening. 

Then this past friday evening one of John's co-workers got married in Louisville so we got to dress up and have a date night while Cory was at Nana and Pap Pap's house.  We can clean up well once and a while I suppose :)

I also put together this little area(below) last week next to the garage door to help with incoming mail so John and I each have a box hanging up and know to look there to sort through the mail.

On top of the goings on around the house, John and I also started up a workout program called Insanity last week.  He got it free from work and was determined that we do it together so now when Cory goes to bed we do the workout of the day and it is fun but boy I am so sore!  I could hardly walk when I got out of bed the next morning...lol.  I should take a before/after pic and see if it is really working.  Have a great week!

19 & 20 months

Happy Memorial Day!  So I haven't done a post in a little while all about my favorite little person so I thought I would catch up on things he is up to now.  He is now 20 months and I can't hardly believe my baby is turning into a little boy so fast!  First off, he slept in til 8am this morning and I actually woke up before him....he is sleeping so great and I love it...has been such a weight lifted! 

It is so fun to see what he's interested in and how much he can say and how he understands a lot of what we say now.  Here are some things he is doing now in a list of randomness!

• Names body parts and points: eyes, ears, mouth, nose, belly, arms, legs, knees, feet, etc.
• Enjoys when I run with him in the jogging stroller now which he used to not care for
• Loves books! 
• I started working on his ABC's and he can point to several of the magnetic letters on the fridge and can say which letter it is. 
• Says a lot of words....too many to list on here but my favorite is how he says "mama" in his sweet little voice :)
• For breakfast he will go to the fridge and point to get his yogurt out and goes to the spoon drawer to get his spoon and asks for his milk.
• If we want him to try something or do something and he doesn't want to, he will repeat "No, No, No"
• He likes to run and twirl around in a circle and climb like a monkey....he now can climb up the swing set by himself in our yard and slide down the slide.
• He just became very interested in coloring so we have our color time and get the crayons out and paper and he likes to scribble.
• He gives the sweetest hugs and kisses and he enjoys cuddle time when he's tired which totally melts my heart!
• He can brush his teeth and his hair
• He can name a lot of different animals and say their different sounds

Tantrums are upon us now!  The first one he did, I didn't know what to do but laugh because I hadn't seen him act like that before (on the ground hollering and kicking legs around)....it was a bit amusing and over something silly like not getting a second pack of fruit snacks.  It tested my patience for a little while there, but luckily those moments are just occassional and seem to be when he is overly tired or overly stimulated.  He's usually happy and a really good boy so I feel lucky since he's pretty easy going for the most part....but don't get me wrong, he has his moments where he can go from calm to throwing a fit in a matter of seconds if he doesn't get his way on something or if he can't figure something out but I think that is typical at this age when they have so much new stuff to learn and testing out the waters of what they can or can't get away with.  I have learned to be firm and stand my ground when necessary(on things he shouldn't do or if he's misbehaving) but to give in to things that maybe I don't want to do but things that would make him happy....like pushing toy lawnmowers down  the driveway 20 or more times ;)

He weighs a little over 30 pounds now and his favorite show is still the Bubble guppies.  We don't watch a lot of TV and actually recently downgraded in our channel selection because we are just so outdoorsy that we werent using most of the channels but the basics so now he just watches some morning cartoons on the baby first channel which is also educational, then we turn it off until the evening where he will watch more of the baby first channel.  He used to watch a little Kung Foo Panda and loved it but when we realized he was picking up on all the moves like a little sponge, we figured that probably wasn't the best show even thought it was a G-rated cartoon ;)


Below is something I did from one of my favorite editing programs, Picasa!  It was so easy you just upload a photo, click on "text", choose the font and size and color and after you have all the words on the pic you want, hit "apply" and "save".  It was something easy and I think I may start doing it as the months go along.  I just put his favorite things in words and some things he says and it looks like a magazine cover:)  

A few updates

1.  Cory turned 20 months this past Wed!  I can't believe he is going to be 2 so soon!  My baby boy is getting so big! I will do a separate post for him since there is sooo much new stuff he is doing these days! 

2.  John and I are going out of town early tomorrow to celebrate our 7-year anniversary!  We met 1st week of college in 2001 and he asked me out on a date after being friends for about a month and we have been together every since:)  Our first date was going to see the movie Sumer Catch!  We met running on the track, which is random but totally fitting for my future spouse...lol.  We are going to Barren River State park to go fishing, canoeing, hiking, picnic lunches and outdoors activities!  We will be back Sunday so Cory will have his first sleepover at Nana and Pap Pap's house!  After 20 months we get a night alone....haha!!  Not that we had to wait that long, but earlier when we had planned for him to stay the night over there he got sick so it didn't work out and with me nursing until he was almost 18 months, I was pretty much his only means of wanting to go to sleep and not in the best of sleep habits at the time.

3.  My sister officially moves in her house in LaGrange on Monday so I am excited!  It will be so great to have lots of pool days over here this summer and she will just be about 5 miles away so it will be so convenient for us to hang out and get the kids together a lot.  Clay will be starting kindergarten in Aug so it worked out perfectly to get him in Oldham County before school.  I am happy Cory can grow up close to his cousins!

4.  Running has brought me back my complete sanity!  =)  I have been back at running and this past week was my first week back from my snowboarding accident and I feel like a new woman!  I truly believe it makes me a happier person and has been a part of my life for so long that without it I feel something is missing.  So John and I signed up for 2 different race series in Oldham County...each series has 4 or 5 races in it and it will lead us up to running the Indianapolis Marathon in Oct!  Excited and pumped!!!

Typical Week!

This was a pretty typical past week and a half other than a few extras.  Friday night I went to a friend's babyshower, Saturday went to see my nephew play his teeball game (1st time I saw him play) and it was sooo adorable.  I almost cried it was so stinkin' cute I couldn't stand it:)  It was so funny when they were all running around the field in their cute little outfits and doing some of the silliest things out there.  I wish I got some photos but forgot the camera!  Then Sunday we went to our neighbor's house across the street in the evening for her Grandson's 4th B'day party.  Cory had a blast with Autumn, their Grandaughter who is the same age as Cory, just 1 month apart.  She is adorable and they were having a great time jumping on the mini trampoline, eating cake and playing with the balloons.  I am happy she hangs out over here a lot so Cory has a little friend in the neighborhood since there's not many, there are at least grandkids:)  I painted my fireplace mantel this week and will post a before/after pic soon. 

Cory has a fun time hanging out at Claire and Natalie's house once a week....this is what bits of my day today looked like with these 3 cuties:

Watching TV

Hanging out in the crib

Horse rides on me!

Taking a break for a picture!

Cory and Claire with Mr. Bear :)