Wow...time flies!

Were you wondering if I had given up on this whole blog thing? Well, I'm happy to report that I've finally decided to take on the brutal task of playing "catch-up" from my eight month long hiatus. Last time I posted, Cora was just sitting up and beginning to crawl - the "army crawl". Well, she eventually did crawl on her hands and knees, and in August, she began trying to walk. She is now a pro, well almost. She falls often, but it doesn't stop her from getting where she wants to go! She gets right back up and keeps going. In fact, when she has managed to grab hold of something she's not supposed to have (i.e. Mommy's cell phone), she's actually really good at running.

Cora is also talking a lot. She has been slow to get started in the talking area, but the past month she has learned so much. She can say "dow" for down, "gaw" for sock and gone, and she also tries to say things like "tick tock" and a few other random words. She loves to tell stories, but they are in a language that only she understands! She is also becoming quite proficient at animal sounds. She does a lion, duck, snake, dog, kitty, and owl. She also does some animal actions, like fish (opens and closes her mouth), bird (flaps her arms), rabbit (blinks her eyes in an attempt to scrunch her nose), and we are working on a monkey. She is very good at identifying parts of her body. She can show you her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, lips, teeth, tongue, head, hair, heart, belly button, hands, fingers, chin (sometimes), knees, feet, toes, bottom, and tonsils (thanks Grandpa!). We are working on learning elbows and shoulders.

I can't possibly explain how amazed I am each day as she shows us something new she's learned. She can identify soooo many things now by picture. When we read, I am always asking her, "Where's _________?" She is learning to identify so many things (such as, book, ball, bird, frog, kitty, dog, etc.), and they often look quite different from book to book. I am amazed each day by how awesome God is in creating such a being. Watching Cora grow and learn new things has given me a new perspective in my Christian walk. How incredible our God is! Here is an example of something new that she showed me today. I asked her to bring me her kitty. She has a little toy cat that moves around so she can chase it and catch it. Well, she didn't bring me that cat. She brought me another toy that had a picture of cat on it. She brought the toy and pointed to the cat. I know it seems so small, but she's never done something like this before, and it just amazed me that she understood what I asked and made a connection to something with which she was familiar. We have started working on learning shapes and a few letter sounds.

Little Miss now has a total of four teeth completely grown in, and she's working on her two fangs right now. This week has been a hard one. She had a super high fever, 103 at it's highest, and was terribly uncomfortable. The first four teeth were fairly easy on her, but these two have given her a run for her money. Today she seemed to be back to her normal self for the most part. She ate and drank pretty well today, which she hasn't done all week.

Cora LOVES to read. Her book collection has grown quite large, and believe me, we still reread books several times in a day. Sometimes she enjoys looking at them on her own, and other times she will bring them over to read in my lap. I love that she's so into books!

We are a bottle free household now-a-days! I am so thrilled to be rid of them. Seriously, words cannot express how excited I am about this. She drinks from a sippy cup and eats normal food. So much easier! I try not to focus on the fact that this means she is not a baby anymore. She is officially a toddler in all respects.

Much has changed in our lives since my last post. Eric accepted a job teaching in the Fine Arts Department at St. Philip's College. He is teaching Music Appreciation and Choir. This job enabled me to resign from teaching to stay home with Cora - yippee! I am so happy to be home with her. I feel like I missed so much time with her in her first year. I am now tutoring part time at Brisco Middle School. I love it! I get out of the house for a few hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything with my angel girl.

Of course, on August 6th, Cora turned one year old. She will proudly show you her age by holding up one finger when asked how old she is. We celebrated her birthday big time. We had a party in Illinois with my fam, and then followed up with a party in San Antonio with Eric's fam and our friends. I promise to post some pics later from both parties. She did a great job of eating cake at her San Antonio party (no hands, face only). She learned from her first party in Illinois exactly what to do. :)

I leave you for now with this: a few recent pictures and a few of Cora's favorite things. I promise to update pictures later. I have so many to share!

Cora loves:
  * wearing socks
  * shoes
  * books
  * jewelry (especially bracelets and necklaces)
  * music and dancing
  * looking at pictures, especially of her family
  * kids of all ages (She squeals and giggles whenever she sees a kid or baby.)
  * going for walks
  * apple juice
  * brushing her teeth
  * taking a bath (She squeals when we turn the water on.)
  * giving kisses
  * sharing her food and toys

Showing off her "earrings" - I love her face in this picture!