our little musician

Cory has had an early start with music. If you've been to our place you know this boy is not lacking for musical toys. He has two guitars, a drum, another tiny rattle guitar, a tiny piano, and various other toys that play music.


We let Cory play with my real guitar the other day and he didn't try to climb on it, but sat down and played it. He knows how to strum the strings just like a real rock star!

I think even cuter was when he played Rock Band with Chris. Cory got to be the vocalists. He carried the microphone around, even put it to his mouth a few times. How could be not be musically gifted?

We'll continue to nurture his talent. Which means lots of loud toys. :D I can't wait till he's old enough to play real instruments! I bet I'll be eating those words when I have to plug my ears cause he wants to practice his drum set all the time... but it's okay.

This little dude just keeps getting cuter and cuter!!

new best friend

Cory has found a new best friend in this stuffed penguin that's half his size. He carries it around the living room and he has to have it in his crib at night. When I go to get him up in the morning or naps he's usually sitting up, holding his penguin. It's the cutest freaking thing EVER!! I'm so glad that he picked a really cute toy to cling to.

Cory colored his first picture the other day. Well, he didn't do much coloring. Hasn't really figured it out yet. He did make some marks. We'll work on this more as he gets a little better at holding. Soon the fridge, and the fridges of grandmas will be full of nice pages filled with squiggles. :D

Eating like a big boy

I'm excited to say that Cory is no longer eating any sort of Gerber food. Not even the toddler snacks. He has real cereal for breakfast, cheerios or kiks is the only ones I could think of were good for him. He has pasta, chicken nuggets, grilled chicken, bits of hamburger, and just about anything else we eat. He ate dinner with us last night and really enjoyed the lemon pepper breaded chicken.

Veggies are a bit of a battle. He does okay with carrots, likes peas and corn, but hates, and I mean HATES green beans. Try to feed him green beans and he'll give you the dirtiest look, cry, and then throw them over the side of the high chair. So no green beans for awhile. I know we'll come back to them at some point.

Fruits, on the other hand, are his favorite thing. I can't give him enough! We share a banana in the morning, then he has strawberries with his lunch, pears with his dinner, and watermelon for an evening snack. He sure does love fruit.

We're still doing 2 bottles; one in the morning and one before bed. I know we'll get away from those soon, but we've got a little time. I'll be sad when those finally go cause that's still a bonding time when I just get to hold him. It's not very often anymore when I just get to hold him without him wiggling away to go run around.

Speaking of the angel, I hear his starting to wake up so I should get his breakfast together so we can start the day!

Mr. Attitude

Cory has developed a fun new habit of giving us furrowed eye brows and pouty lips to show his displeasure. We can't help but laugh at him and his frown very quickly turns into a smile. I mean, how could you NOT laugh at that? Priceless.

We have started Cory on real food. Before he was only eating Gerber ravioli and other packaged meals. Now we're starting to let him eat food with us. He had some BBQ chicken the other night and loved it! We haven't really gotten utensil usage down so he sticks to using his hands.

We've discovered that he has a fondness for fruits. Loves strawberries, pears, bananas, and watermelon. Today he'll be having mac n' cheese, pears, and cooked carrots for lunch.

It's just hard to believe how big he is, how much he has grown and how smart he is getting. He learns so quickly. The other night, the fan in his room was turned off (which it never is) and while Chris was feeding him his night bottle Cory sat up, looked at the fan, did some baby talk and snapped his fingers at it. Chris turned it back on and Cory went back to his bottle. He knows stuff and he watches us so closely. He learned to snap and call the dog because that's what we do.

Another wonderful discovery for us is The Wiggles. Apparently it's a big deal, but we didn't know that. Found them on Netflix as a full length dvd of just music and dancing. Cory loves it!! No matter what he's doing or how upset he is, this dvd captivates him. He sways, claps, and stomps his feet. It was during one of these viewings that he figured out how to walk backwards and sideways. Everyday it's something new!

I believe this weekend will be Cory's first try at coloring. We have big paper and fat crayons. I'll just be happy if he doesn't mark up the table or eat the crayon!

the party of parties

What a day, what a day!! Started off at 0630 so I could get the chicken in the crock pot. Cory didn't get up till a little before 8am. He had a good breakfast with Grandma, and even got some blueberry muffin. Took a nice nap after playing for a few hours. Then he had a nice lunch and played for a little bit before the party guests started to arrive.

What a party! Lots of close friends. There was lots of yummy food, but of course Cory's favorite part was the cake!! He got his own personal cake, which he tore into. He went straight into a bath. Then he was ready to play some more. He really had a great time hanging out with all his friends.

Tomorrow is another exciting day. Cory is being dedicated in First Baptist Church Temple at the 11am service. Well, we should be getting to bed.

Cory the 1-year-old

What a day!! We can hardly believe that our little dude is the big 0-1. Seems like only yesterday we were waiting for him to come on out. We wanted to make this a great, fun day.

Cory slept in this morning, rightfully so. After a nice breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt we headed to Whistle Stop

to swing and play. Cory loves the swing! He liked walking around the playground. Then it was time for a nice mid-morning nap.

After a nap and some tasty ravioli for lunch, it was off to the mall. First we grabbed a new traditional birthday cookie fo

r later, and then we headed to the kiddie area so Cory could run around. He made some new friends. We got him some fancy new clothes and a new taggie ball on the way out.

Once we were home it was time to play a little longer before dinner. Cory took a nice nap after dinner and was up in time to play some more and then have his birthday cookie in

his jumper while enjoying Stargate SG1 that he and mommy used to watch on the computer when he was a tiny baby and our tv was still broken.

Grandma Harrell called and Cory talked her ear off. He's just so excited for tomorrow when Grandma Harrell and Great-grandma Poland get here!

What a day! Full of fun! One whole year and our little man has gone from a teeny tiny baby to a walking, talking toddler. He does something amazing everyday and I just sit back and think about how blessed I am that God would pick me to look after this precious little darling. Happy Birthday, my sweet, sweet boy.

sicky, sick sick

Cory has not been having a good past few days. On Thursday we went to visit our BFFs, Josh & Andie Campbell in San Saba. That's about 2 hours away from us. Cory did really well in the car, but we could tell that his throat was a little sore. He liked walking around on the hardwood floor in their dining room. He didn't hold all of his lunch down, and he developed a fever. So after some tylenol he took a good nap. We all got to play some fun games and have a great lunch. Their little yorkie followed Cory around and licked his hands. He ate all his dinner, but then it all came right back up, projectile like. It got all over the place. It's a good thing I brought two changes of clothes for him. I was already wearing a shirt of Andie's because he got me once. He had to be washed off a bit in the tub and changed. Andie and I went to the store to get him some fluids and some nice mild pears. He took a short nap and then was happy and playing again. He slept the whole way home.

Yesterday he did pretty well until his night time bottle. He got himself, me, and a lot of him books. Daddy was nice enough to clean it up while I gave Cory a bath. He went right to sleep. Today he has been a bit cranky, but we went out and he had fun playing in the kiddie area at the mall with all the other kids. He fed himself apple pieces and baby sausages. He drank all his night time bottle and quickly passed out. Sundays are always interesting, so we're hoping that he gets a good night sleep and is happy for skype with Grandma Harrell!!

Cory's first haircut

Cory got his first haircut today at The Cut & Curl Hair Salon. Cindy Schleede was his stylist. He did so well. Didn't fuss or scream or anything. Had a cookie or two while he was getting his haircut. He looks like a little toddler now. We got a nice first hair cut certificate for his baby book and I got lots of pictures. He's growing up so fast!!

11 down - 1 to go

Cory has made it eleven months. He celebrated with some grape juice and banana cookies after a nice long Skype with Grandma Harrell. He was walking better today. We had a few good falls this week. Cory got his first bruise directly followed by his first busted lip. Not even 24 hours later he got his second busted lip. I understand, walking is tough. He's getting the hang of it though. Our next adventure is a hair cut!!

Cory looked particularly festive in his 4th of July wear. His Old Navy American flag shirt was a gift from his favorite babysitter, Aunt Dianne. And you can't get any more American than good ol' fashion blue jeans. He had a great time at the concert where he got to hear the First Methodist and First Baptist choirs sing together. He was fairly well behaved. He got to sit next to Aunt Andrea Bartee. Then he hung out for a meal, but he only got cereal puffs. Walked around showing off his new skill and got home in time to play a little before it was time to go to bed. A very nice first 4th of July!

Daddy's little fishy

After a nice skype visit with Grandma, Cory went for this first swim in the pool. He floated around in his comfy raft, complete with fun pool toys. He had a great time relaxing and took a long nap afterwards.

leaps and bounds

We're coming up on the little man's first birthday. I can't help but take a trip down memory lane to his many accomplishments over the year....

Around the end of October, Cory started sleeping through the night. At only almost three months old he would sleep for 9-11 hours at a time. Truly my child. Around the same time he found his hands and smiled for the first time. Chris could get him to smile so easily. When Cory smiled his eyes would crinkle up just like mine. I still remember that big toothless grin. He also started laughing. The best sound in the world.

While my dad was visiting us Cory rolled over on October 22nd, 2009. By the end of November he had found his feet and was rolling like a champ.

January 14th, 2010. While my mom was visiting us, Cory had his first solid foods. He was more than ready for it. He couldn't get enough of that simple cereal. He was such a good eater, right from the start.

February 2010. One of Cory's favorite toys is a Leap Frog learning drum that lights up and plays music. He started sitting up on his own. He was still a little off balanced sometimes, but he was getting it.

April 12th, 2010. After he ate dinner, we were playing in the living room and he clapped. Out of no where! He thought it was the best thing ever and did it all the time since then. I always knew that one day I would walk in to wake Cory up in the morning and he would be sitting up. That happened on April 19th, 2010.

One of my favorite moments was on April 20th, 2010. Chris and I were playing a video game and Cory was playing in his play pen. I did the cartoon double take because when I looked over, he was standing, holding onto the side, smiling at us.

May 7th, 2010. None of Cory's toys were ever far from his reach, so he never had motivation to crawl. When my friend, Beth Horjus, sent Cory a snail toy that rolled and played music, we used it to tempt Cory to move. And he did. He crawled after it.

May 26th, 2010. We all spent a long time at the Toyota dealership trying to get Chris a new car since his was a death trap. I always have a play blanket when we go places so we had that out and Cory was playing. While we were waiting, Cory just stood up without holding onto anything. Chris and I were shocked, to say the least. Cory got very good at that over the next month.

June 22nd, 2010. The best birthday present ever! Cory had been taking one or two steps for a little over a week, but on this day, he stood up and walked across the living room. He was off! Now he walked everywhere. He had mastered cruising and was now unstoppable!

July 2nd, 2010. Yesterday, Cory waved bye. We had been working on it for a few days. I would wave hi and bye to him while he ate and he would sometimes wave back. He is getting good at mimicking. He plays peek-a-boo by covering his eyes with his hands. He pretends to sneeze cause he thinks it's funny and knows that he'll get a fun reaction out of us.

I'm just amazed at how quickly he has gone from my tiny baby to a toddler with his own personality. While he grows up too fast, I'll keep track of his many adventures. I'm sure some of them will come back to haunt him when he graduates high school. :D