ALL ABOUT CORA: 18-MONTHS

That's right, not only is today Jay's 35th birthday, but it's Cora's year-and-a-half birthday!

So, what's Cora like at 18-months-old? Well, she's even funnier, wilder, and more talkative than she was at 15-months. She's this little person that gets us giggling with her goofy antics and nearly brings us to tears with her sweetness. She's a whole lot of awesome in one tiny package.

Her hair is growing. She has a few inches now. Jay says she looks like a troll doll...

She weighs almost 23 lbs. She goes in for her 18-month well baby exam after the new year, so we'll get her exact measurements then.

She honestly has enough words (commonly used and not) that we aren't bothering to keep track anymore. She's still a big fan of nodding her head yes though. She loves yes and no questions, and she always has an answer for us. She's very polite and will usually say "kank-oo" without prompting. Though we still have to prompt her to say "pease". And to use her words for something rather than just whine for it. She IS a toddler, after all.

She has the BEST facial expressions! Good, bad, happy, sad, and everything in between. She still works a serious pout when it's needed too.

She's becoming more friendly with our friends (and even strangers) and will often say "Hi!" or "Hello", and loves to say "Bye-bye!" while waving. A few individuals will get kisses blown at them (with our prompting), and she gladly goes to some of our gal pals (sometimes reaching out for them in preference to being held by us). For the most part though, she's still pretty shy. Or maybe 'reserved' is a better word for it? She's cautious. We don't have to worry about her running off with a stranger.

She loves to help around the house. She hands me dishes from the dishwasher, helps me transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer, throws away trash (and food crumbs) that she finds, puts away everyone's shoes (in the proper places!), and organizes all sorts of random things.

She still eats more in quantity and quality (i.e. veggies) than James does at each and every meal. And her milk intake is holding right around 4 sippy cups per day.

She loves her new daycare and all the teachers that work with her (and the preschool classes too). Her new best friend is Julieann (they are almost the exact same age, both blonde-haired, blue-ish-eyed sweeties, though Julieann is noticeably thicker and taller than our petite little girl). She never complains at drop off anymore (not even on Mondays!), and is sometimes hard to scoot out the door at the end of the day.

Her favorite toys are of the sorting variety. Shapes and colors and cups and whatnot. Though she loves to push around cars and trucks and trains too. And she still spends a lot of time 'cooking' in her little kitchen. She is becoming more and more interested in books, and will often come looking for a lap with book in hand. The only problem is that she turns the pages way too fast for us to actually read a story to her. She's not big on her baby dolls yet, but she does keep one (and her stuffed monkey) in her crib for snuggles at night.

Speaking of her crib, she has been sleeping through the night for almost a month and a half now. I know, I've been hesitant to blog about it for fear of reversing the trend. She still sleeps with her paci and her blankey. She's now sleeping in her big bro's room (we moved her crib in there about 5.5 weeks ago, before our November family visits kicked off). She sleeps from 8:00pm to 6:45am on weekdays (we usually have to wake the kids), and 7:30ish on weekends. She still takes one long nap mid-day from 12:00pm-2:00pm, and occasionally in the car at random times.

She still loves shoes. She currently has 3 pairs of sneakers and her black Maryjane's that she rotates through. And she's still particular about which pair she feels like wearing. Sometimes she asks me to put a bow on her head. Our girl likes to accessorize!

Let's see, what else, what else?... I had fun 'interviewing' her in the bathtub last night, so here ya go. You can see for yourself how dang adorable she is:

Happy 18-months Baby Doll!

KICKIN' IT IN THE LIGHTBOX

BEST. LAUGH. EVER.

MOONLIGHT FLASHLIGHT BEDTIME STROLL

Even better than the "after dinner stroll" is the "after dinner and bath and jammies stroll". Because it involves flashlights, of course. Which are much loved and coveted in our house. The kids were cracking us up tonight, pretending to be our headlights, then singing along with the bumps in the road, and being "full of crazy" (well, Cora was crazy, anyway). It was a success... they had fun, we had fun, and they were calm and ready for bed when we rolled back into the house. Good ending to a good day.

CRAZY KIDS

OK, I couldn't resist. My kids are too crazy not to post their antics, even though we didn't catch any "baby bowling" on film.

Here is James looking for the kitten. My favorite line from this clip? "Ooh ants! My ants! I got a ants. For you."

And here are a few Cora "outtakes", including a ninja-like save by Daddy (don't worry, there wasn't a scratch on her - for once!) and some ridiculous marching form.

"JUMP CORA!"

Remember how I said that Cora is growing by leaps and bounds these days? Well today she surprised us again. This evening, as we were playing after dinner, James started jumping down the hall. And monkey see, monkey do - Cora had to try it too. She's been bouncing in her crib for about 2 months now. Whenever she is ready to get up, she grabs the rail and bounces and whines and screams until we come to her rescue. Seeing her attempt to bounce (I mean, jump) without the crib rail had us cracking up. Her too.

Oh, and don't mind James and his crazy-eyed, dizzy spinning. I didn't even notice it until I uploaded the video tonight. That boy is something else...

SHE'S WALKING! AND CLIMBING STAIRS!

Cora has been getting increasingly braver since the end of last week. On multiple occasions over the weekend, we caught her standing up in the middle of the floor, or turning around and taking off into the abyss for 5-7 steps. Then tonight, after a good visit with Michelle and Jerry and baby Mason, we came home for a late dinner, air time, and some real walking! Hope you don't mind her nudie booty. Normally we wouldn't post such nakedness of Cora, but since it's her first recorded walk, we must. She's getting a bit lanky, dontcha think?

Also over the weekend, she showed express interest in the stairs. We never got around to letting her give them a go though, so tonight we opened the gate and sent her up. She didn't hesitate. The video below is her 2nd trip up (and down), but her first was just as fast and steady. I told you she was able to leap tall buildings...

THIS ONE'S FOR JAY

James was WILD last night! And since Jay is missing his buddy just as much as we are missing him, I thought I'd put a compilation video together of all the craziness. First off, he goes looking for his Sissy in some ridiculous places (saying "Underneath? No." after checking each place), even though she was standing in plain view. Then he pretends to sleep (snoring, whether eyes open or closed, makes no difference as long as you're snoring, because snoring = sleep) and "jolts" himself awake, followed by crazy laughter. This is something his Grambot taught him 3 months ago and he STILL thinks it's hilarious (and it is, I admit, especially when he does it at the kitchen table). Finally, he's been jumping on the couch lately and landly squarely on his haunches. And getting in big trouble (time out - ooooooh!), since he's NOT suppose to stand on the couch, let alone JUMP on the couch. So he's started doing it on the carpet ("Ready? 3, 4, 6, 7 - Go Set Go!"). Ouch.

By the way Jay, he was totally performing for you there at the end. And I stand by my theory that he gets all this craziness from you.

PARKED PICNIC

We wrapped up the weekend with another day enjoying the Mississippi springtime. We stole Daddy away from his studies today so he could picnic and play (luckily he aced his quiz tonight so that we didn't have to feel guilty). Many thanks to Katie for gathering the troops for a fun afternoon at the park!

Since we were going out in public, we had to dress Cora in something adorable (because there is just no point in doing it for daycare anymore - she's already reached the age/stage where her clothes get destroyed there).

While we all picnicked on blankets, James found the park bench more comfortable:

(Yes, he was very thirsty today. The sun will do that to a boy.)

He played on the swings and went down the slide a few times with Daddy, Mama, and Sandy.

Cora got a chance to swing again, this time with Desmond:

He was such a good sport. She leaned on him the whole time!

Luckily, she didn't squish him. He may be 3 weeks younger, but he's 3 lbs heavier. And I think it's all in his adorable dimpled cheeks!

Here is our Baby Doll, having fun swinging solo and giggling every time she kicks her mama:

FULL OF CRAZY, REPRISE

He's still got it...

CIRCLES

Running and spinning in them, that is.

What's the best way to tire James before bed? Encourage him to run in circles (literally) for 20 minutes!

Then the next night, teach him to spin in circles. We didn't intend to teach him the dramatic dizzy fall at the end, but you know how it goes. Monkey see, monkey do.

GET UP, STAND UP

Our big girl has graduated from assisted situps to assisted "standups". I don't know about you, but she looks awfully little to me to be standing up like that...

Of course, we had to get video as well. Mixed in with some good ol' Baby Doll giggles, since we don't post them often enough. Well, maybe "chuckles" is a better way to describe her laugh...

SIBLING LAUGHTER

CORA SHOWS HER SKILLS

Cora's babbling is puzzling. Sometimes she sounds happy, sometimes she doesn't. Sometimes you just can't tell. She is getting pretty expressive though...

And her laughter is getting stronger every day. Such a cutie pie!

This game of Surprise worked surprisingly well to make James laugh too, if you recall...

SILLY JAMES

These videos don't really need an explanation. Well, at least the first one doesn't!...

By the way, James is sick again. I guess we didn't make it very far without a doctor visit. In fact, while we were there today, I asked his pediatrician if we could just set up a weekly appointment and call if we DIDN'T need to come in. She just laughed at me, of course. It's true though, we've been at the doctor about once/week for so long it's ridiculous. Between sicknesses and well baby exams and vaccination appointments. But really, it's the sickness that is frustrating.

All weekend long, James had a poor appetite. He didn't even want to drink. And we knew something was up. I watched him closely yesterday during his snack (the first thing he was really willing to eat all day - yogurt covered raisins, which he L O V E S). He shoved a few in his mouth and chewed and chewed, which is strange in itself, since he normally gobbles his snacks in record time. When it came time to swallow, he winced and did so very slowly and carefully. Then I knew for sure he was sick. He wouldn't let us get a look in his throat, but it didn't matter. I had been diagnosed as "coming down with" strep throat last Monday and Cora was diagnosed with her ear infection on Tuesday, so really it was just a matter of time before James caught something. We didn't hesitate - we made him an appointment for first thing this morning. The good news is that it isn't strep, and his ears are still perfect. The bad news is that he has a viral throat infection (the 2nd one he's had) and a sinus infeection (I've lost track of how many of these he's had). We kept him home from daycare to spare the other kids, even though his low grade fever never even hit the "magic" 100.5 mark (the doc wanted us to err on the safe side). I thought he'd sleep the day away, so I planned to work from home. No dice though. He took a mere 1.5 hour nap and that was it. I swear, you never know this boy is sick until he spikes a fever or refuses to eat. Such a tough kid. And he's already rebounded nicely, eating a good dinner tonight and drinking 3 full cups of juice and water. I just hope this isn't a glimpse into what our winter is going to look like... endless visits to the pediatrician...

GIRLY GIGGLES

I haven't mentioned it previously, but Cora is laughing now. It started out as the tiniest and sweetest of giggles. Almost a whisper. Like she was hesitant to give in. But over the past 2 weeks that giggle has slowly turned into a full-on belly laugh. A very cute, girly laugh. Big Brother James was the first to get Cora to laugh earlier this week. Then our friend MB. And finally, this weekend, Mommy and Daddy made it happen too.

There is no better sound in this world than your baby's first laugh...

RACCOON!

Raccoons are thieves. But they're also funny. And great entertainment for toddlers...

KITTY DOOR MONSTER

Another silly video to celebrate James' seeming recovery...

A DOSE OF LAUGHTER

There is nobody in this world that can make James laugh like his Daddy can:

His giggle is contagious... Happy Friday!

JAMES' HALF BIRTHDAY

It's been half a year since James entered our lives (hence, the half cake). 6 months of fun, firsts, frustrations, sweetness, smiles, challenges, lessons, laughter, meltdowns, breakdowns, joy, amazement, growth, and love. It's been a wild ride, and we're loving every minute of it.

Here's to you James, Happy Half Birthday! No, he didn't get any of his cake (hence, the reason he is pouting - we were holding his hands away from the goods), but Jay and I enjoyed it!

We did, however, give him a teeny-tiny taste of the frosting...

Now for the photo comparison... Here is James at 3 months and 6 months:

So what's new in the past month? LOTS of mobility...

James now sleeps on his tummy at night (not every night, but about twice a week), and he often ends up at the very top of his crib, pressed up against the rails, face-down (giving us something new to worry about and keep us up at night)

He can sit, sort-of (he still topples over pretty quickly, though the "tripod pose" seems to work for him when he doesn't get distracted by his toes)

He can stand with assitance (in our laps, against the couch, etc.), and he loves it

He's learning to crawl, still (he's been trying since his 4-month birthday), and he's starting to use the inch-worm method. He only moves about half an inch at a time though... he's much better at spinning in circles (on his tummy or back) than he is moving forward. And he can reportedly roll continuously, though we haven't seen it with our own eyes yet (he does it when we're not looking, and it's been witnessed multiple times at daycare).

James has also had a few physical changes in the past month or so...

He has FINALLY lost all traces of the "Mississippi Mudflap"

He seems to have inherited the family cowlick (from the Bacon side) and his eyes are now shades of green almost as often as they are blue (so perhaps he'll have his Daddy's eyes after all)

He definitely has MY pout though (I've taught him well)!

Lastly, James has a whole new set of favorite toys this month...

While he still really loves that mesh ball from his Grand Aunt Margie, he's also now a huge fan of the teething toy she gave him. He sticks his tongue through the holes, tries to fit both ends into his mouth at once, and often holds the center part up to his eye so he can peer through it.

He loves the Lamaze inch-worm that his Grambot gave him. He'll squeeze it's different sections, hug it, chew on the little "feet", and kiss it's face.

He thinks his rubber ducky is the best thing ever at bath time, as evidenced by our recent video post, but his newest object of affection is his soccer ball. He loves watching us roll it back and forth in front of him, he likes it when we toss it into his lap so he can "catch" it, he holds onto it tightly and passes it from hand to hand, rests his head on it like a pillow, talks to it, and squeals with delight if we magically make it reappear after hiding it behind something:

And for the record, his 6-month stats are 16.4 lbs and 26.25 in. That's right - all this extra mobility and calorie burning means a slower weight gain this month. It will pick back up again in a month or two as solids become a bigger part of his diet. In the past 6 months, our Sweet Baby James has gained about 9 lbs (after his initial weight-loss of nearly a pound in his first 5 days of life) and almost 7 inches. Pretty impressive, we think. He's come a long way from that 8 lb butterball we fell in love with half a year ago: