Winter time fun!

Here are a few recent pics of the winter time here at our house.

Cora watching the snow fall.

Getting ready to walk to Papa and Wawa's

Decked out in snow gear.

In her Christmas dress.

Her very first bike. Can you tell she is excited?

Doing the only cool thing there is at Jantzen Beach.

As Peaseblossom at Mikenzie's Graduation Party.

Talking....and talking.

Cora has obviously been talking for a while now, so the fact that she is talking isn't that impressive. But what she has been saying is so.much.fun.

Example A:
(holding hand out flat)
Cora : Riiiilleeeey eat the apple.
Me: Are you feeding Riley (Mom and Rick's horse)?
Cora: Mmm hmm Riley eats hay and apples.
Me: You are genius!

Example B:
Me (and Mom, she can't pretend like she wasn't part of this): Cora, I don't want you to ever say this again but can you show Ninny how you say Douche bag?
Cora: Doooose bad.
Ninny (my mom): Can you say putz?
Cora: Putz!
Me: Okay last one, can you say wiener.
Cora: wiiieeennnnerr!!.....pause.....DADDY'S WIENER!!!

Good thing we were at a stop light. We would have run off the road laughing.

Halloween at the Hoyts

So I decided to torture myself and make Cora an Alice costume. Luckily it went really smoothly and she kept it on the whole time!





We also had a great time at the pumpkin patch.




In other Cora news she has had what can only be called a language explosion. She even says sentences! Her current favorites are "Airplane in the clouds" and "Goodnight Moon". She is also into labeling everything - Daddy's pillow, Mommy's shirt, Coco's chair etc. We love it! It is so much fun to hear her chatter on about what ever she sees. It isn't even annoying yet!!

Bye Bye Poops.

Totally immature! Cora is going to hate us! Enjoy!!!!

Bad Bad Blogger

This summer has been insane. We have already been to 3 weddings and have one more left. Cora seems to be loving all the action around the house since she is talking and dancing like there is no tomorrow. All of this activity though has slowed potty training a little. We are still working on it and we now have a chart system but it her success really depends on our ability to stay on top of it. Sadly, that isn't always easy.

Her new favorite words are colors. Especially pink and yellow - or kink and wellwoah. She loves coloring and playing pretend.

Here is Cora chatting in the tub. Her voice is kinda scratchy because she has a cold but it was just too cute. Ignore the weird face that this is paused on. I promise she is much cuter than that ;)

Cora in Love

Cora has met Henry before but he seemed different this summer...more grown up, handsome, just one kiss...hee hee.

Potty training?

I think we have officially started active potty training. I decided to show her the potty a while ago. I bribed her to sit on it with cookies and had the potty chair in the living room. She has gone on it a few times after sitting there for several minutes. Until yesterday.

Yesterday she went into the bathroom, pointed at the potty chair, squatted and said "cookie". I though she wants a cookie and thinks she needs to sit there to get one but, alright. So I pulled the potty out super quick sat her on it and she went almost immediately!! She asked for it a couple more times during the day and always went when asked if she needed to.

I am so impressed. I love what a big girl she is becoming.

One Year

I find it fitting that my mom and I would see Rent so close to Cora's One Year Seizure Free Anniversary.

This year has taught us patience, appreciation, true love, and the importance of friends and family. We have also learned how much we can survive.

Cora surprises us everyday and while I am sure the complete astonishment at where she is versus where we thought she (and we) would be at this point in her life will slowly fade, and her daily routine and accomplishments, will simply become just those things and not miraculous feats of odds defiance, we have not yet had a single small step not warm our heart.

Happy Independence Day indeed.




For those of you who haven't seen Rent check out the song Seasons of Love.

The run!

Well I made it through the NW Epilepsy Foundation 5k. Only I don't think it was a 5k it was more like 4. I can't wait to do it next year. It was a really awesome community of people and it made me feel really lucky that we had such a happy ending to our story.

Like dorks we forgot our camera, but Kris took a picture of me at home.


Thanks for all of your support!!

Now on to Cora. She is singing!! She mostly sings "Don't bite your friends" only it goes like this -- Don't Don't Don't bibpodbow blah. Thank you Yo Gabba Gabba. Her Mimi (my mom) taught her "Old MacDonald" which goes -- EOOIEEAIOO. And she points to various parts of her body during "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". Her new favorite thing to do is "Tickle Tickle" anyone. She will drop what she is doing if you ask her to "tickle tickle __insert name here___". She thinks it is hilarious.

She is also now in her big girl room. Time is flying by.

Far too long

We have finally recovered from what can only be called the Mammoth Flu. Everyone was puking and sneezing and all other sorts of unpleasantness. Mother's Day was spent in Urgent Care (for me) and Same Day Services (for Cora). So.glad.it's.over.

I registered for the Epilepsy Foundation NW Run/Walk. If you are interested in joining me or are feeling donationy go here - Gretchen's Trying To Run A 5k Page. There are links to registering on the left. I thought about starting a team but, neh, maybe next year.

Cora is a talking fool. Her new favorites are: bubble, cracker, cookie, cock-a-doodle-do, ahh-ahh (monkey sound), and she says Teddy (Uncle Ted) really well. She loves to do the sign for bird. She does it all the time. She love all animals and is finally enjoying the zoo. She points at everything (not just the other kids) and says wow.

The weather has been great to us. Cora could play outside all day and I am happy to let her. Let's just hope this good weather lasts!

edited to change the link so it goes to the right page - duh!

Flu Flu go away

We are all super sick over here. Poor Cora had a fever all day yesterday. We are all on the mend today but I am telling you, nothing is worse than a sick baby. It just breaks my heart.

On a lighter note Cora finally said Mom. Not mama or mommy, just mom. And really it was more like this "Maaaahhhm MahhhHHMMMM!" I wasn't paying attention apparently. I am guessing I will be hearing that a lot. I know I should be mostly annoyed but I love it. I love hearing her talk, everyone says I will get sick of it but that isn't even close to happening.

Politeness

Cora has magically learned some manners. Her new favorite thing is saying "Thank you". She likes passing anything (i.e. a toy, food, clothes) back and forth, each person taking turns saying "Thank you". She also uses the signs "please" and "more". Both Kris and I think we have heard her say them but it isn't consistent. We are happy that if she is going to be such a little miss bossy britches she is at least using nice words.

Yesterday she went to her first softball game. I was little nervous since cheering sometimes startles her and makes her cry but at the game she was clapping and saying "Yeah" when everyone else was. It was really fun and pretty cute.

Cora's New Hat

Too cute!

18 Months!!

Cora will be 18 months old tomorrow! I can't believe it. She had her 18 month Well Child Check with Dr Mason yesterday. I love it when we get to see him. He is just fantastic. She is still pretty skinny, she only weighs 21 lbs. And is average on height 31.25 inches. They handed us a sheet of what 18-24 month olds "should" be doing. And she does everything except say 20-50 words. (She only says around 10) And although it is just a guide that made us feel really happy.

What's more she didn't even flinch when she got her DTaP booster. Yesterday and today she has been a little cranky but we have been so lucky when it comes to immunization reactions and now she is done until she is 5 unless we go to Mexico (then she needs a Hep A).

I asked Kris to come to this appt because he hasn't really had the chance to see what a normal happy appt is like. The rest of the day he kept saying how good it was, plus I secretly think he likes seeing Dr Mason.

1st Haircut!!

Goodbye Mullet!!! These are the best pics I could get so far. Now she just has a mini-mullet. Auntie Donna came over to do the special event. I am almost sad to see it go except people kept asking if I had given her a haircut already! They thought I cut her hair into a mullet!!! Fine in 1990 not 2009. Although I think they are coming back.

Before




After




During




Yes that is a chocolate milk bottle and yes it is glued to her mouth.

She is getting so big!

She is just really becoming a little girl. You can see it a lot in this video of her spinning. Kris spun her around and she liked it so much she started doing it herself.


It is hard to believe she will be 18 months old in just a few short weeks!!

It is finally happening...

I was told that it (parenting) would get easier as they gain independence, so far I have thought that was a bunch of hooey but I am starting to see it. Cora spends most of her awake time in a really good mood; talking gibberish to her toys and bringing me little bits of things that should be vacuumed up. She is a wild child for sure and HATES being forced to do anything like holding still for diaper changes or getting her nails clipped or having to give us the remote control. Spirited, that's what we are calling her. Spirited and sweet.

She also turned out to be a snuggler which was unexpected but very welcome. She loves to cuddle. Now we just need to work on the whole independent sleeping thing without doing "Cry-it-out" (I am way too much of a weenie for that business). Hopefully the transition to her Big Girl Bed will help. Who knows? Right now co-sleeping isn't really that much of an issue because a) I like to cuddle her and b) we are getting more sleep this way (all of us). Slow and steady right?

We have words!!!

Cora has started speaking a little English. She now says "Hi", "Doggy", "Woof Woof", and "All Done". She also points to her belly, to Mommy's nose, and to her BFF Baron. We are so proud of her!!

Completely Perfectly Normal

Those were the nurses exact words when she called from Dr Metrick's office. I managed to stutter out "So...we're done?" "You're done!" I asked her so what do we say when a medical sheet asks if she has epilepsy. She said to make a note about the IS and that the medicine took care of it and all EEGs are clean. She then told me to have a great weekend.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I hung up the phone. And then I started bawling. To go from having a child that may never walk or talk to "completely perfectly normal" in 6 months is a lot to take in. I have never felt more grateful in my life, this is on par with the day she was born.

We have received an unimaginable amount of support and prayers and love from family, friends and complete strangers. We cannot possibly tell you how much everyone's kindness has not only made us feel happy and loved but kept us from sliding into complete despair. We can never repay everyone however we promise, as a family, to pay it forward every opportunity we get.



Note:This will not be the end of this blog but the focus will change and be more on Cora's continuing development. She amazes us everyday. Plus I will occasionally post different information and events focused on Epilepsy as many people who read this site are from the Infantile Spasms community. I already plan on doing the Northwest Run/Walk for Epilepsy 2009.