When did we stop dancing?

As I was watching Cory "dance" to some Christmas music yesterday (he sways back and forth like a champ!) a thought struck me -- at what point in our lives did we, as adults, stop dancing? Cory dances every single time he hears any sort of music or tune. He gets a big ol' smile on his face and away he goes, swaying merrily until the music stops. He looks genuinely carefree and happy when he does it too. Don't you think that if we - society as a whole - danced more freely, we might be a happier group of human beings? Or maybe I'm completely off base here?! But think about it for a minute. I think part of the solution to fixing the world's problems may just be to dance!!!

New Accomplishments

Cory has achieved a few new things this week. He's been busy!

First of all, he is now able to climb onto the couch by himself! Climbing seems to be his new 'thing'. It involves a lot of grunting and straining, but eventually he gets his little leg up and then is able to pull the rest himself up behind it. It's pretty cute.

He has also decided it's fun to stand up on things...anything really. His favorite today was his red car that's made to ride or stand and push. He was standing on the hood. I've never seen this daring side of him before and while it makes the mommy in me want to not allow it to keep him bruise-free, it also makes me happy to see that he's a normal, healthy, active, toddler. So much different than the 2 lb. 14 oz. 32 week preemie he was almost 18 months ago. :) I love my baby boy!

Cory is also trying harder and harder to say more words. 'Daddy' is the only real word in his vocabulary right now but these past few days he has been forming the beginning sounds to several more words, including 'up' and 'cracker'. It's pretty cute because his mouth makes the shape but very little sound comes out. It's more of a whisper than anything. It makes me smile every single time. I really love this age.

One other thing that he has started to do more consistently is sleep through the night! WAHOO! If he wakes, it's around 5 a.m. and usually he'll just go back to sleep on his own. The other day he babbled happily for almost 45 minutes before falling back to sleep. If he does get upset we rock him for 10 minutes or so and lay him back down. No more middle of the night/early morning sippies. Makes me happy and sad all at the same time. He's really growing up.

Action packed weekend!

Phew! What a weekend! It was so productive and I LOVE being productive. Saturday we got up and out early. Sean and Cory did some Christmas shopping and I ran some errands. I mailed out the gift for my secret BZ buddy at the last possible second. Nothing like procrastinating, huh?! When I got home I made a lasagna from scratch (yes, I made the sauce too) and some Buffalo Chicken Dip to take to our Big Night Out at the Richardson's! We also scrubbed the house, vacuumed the floors...yadda, yadda, yadda. One of my all-time favorite things is having a clean house. It's so relaxing to me.

Kara came over Saturday night to babysit Cory for us and we went to Andy and Melissa's for a little adult fun. We played some cards, socialized, and had a really relaxing evening with good company and yummy food. It was a much needed evening for us both!

Today we finally got some pictures of Cory and ordered our Christmas cards. They may be received later than usual, but I'm pretty confident our friends and family will have them before Christmas. I was such a procrastinator in the card department this year and I don't know why?! Oh well. They'll be here.

After Cory's nap we went to Baba's house and helped her get out her Christmas decorations and trim her tree. She made chili and salad and we had dinner with her. It was nice to be able to spend some time with her! We also found out that Kristin got engaged on her birthday - December 3rd! Yay! Congratulations, Kristen!!! :)

Sean gave Cory his bath tonight where he decided for the first time to.....ummm...."unload" himself in the tub. :) I, unfortunately, missed this monumental event because I volunteered to go to Rose and Steve's house to feed the finches. Sean seemed to handle it very well though. Both Sean and Cory seemed no worse for wear when I got home. Did I mention how HAPPY I am that I missed it?! :)

Yes, yes. It was a busy, but very productive weekend.

Triumphant

Today I was able to claim victory over something in my life that has caused a lot of....hmm, stress doesn't seem like the right word but it's the one that's coming to me right now. It's not something that I'm ready to share details about, and I may never be ready to do that, but today I was able to take back a lot of things that were lost to me; things that I have allowed to control my thoughts, my actions, my feelings. No more. Not after today. I am feeling very triumphant, for sure! Giddy almost. I can once again be the Kelly I am meant to be, the wife, mother, daughter, and friend that I was in the past! Ah yes, it's a great day!

On a totally different note, I realized I haven't posted ANY pictures yet to my blog! I love, love, love pictures! Soooo, I'm going to give it a whirl and see what happens.

Here is Cory's reaction to waking up and finding a fully decorated Christmas tree in the living room:



I feel a little bit mean because we did all of the decorating after Cory went to bed, but I felt it was in our tree's best interest. I figured if Cory saw us putting things on the tree that he would think it was OK to touch those things, and we're not ready for that yet. So, we decided to do it without his help this year. It really was kind of sad. I would love for him to enjoy decorating for Christmas as much as we do, but this year he's just not ready for it. NEXT year he will be for sure though!

Busy day

I love days like today! Busy days, that is.

My day started at 7 a.m. with a shower. I was able to get almost ready all the way before Cory got up at 8 a.m. We had breakfast, got dressed and were out the door in time to make it to the Rec Center for Open Play Day by 10 a.m. We met Kim and Owen (and Eric) there like we do every week. It's so nice to have someone near Cory's age for him to play with!! Owen is so much fun - that kid can DANCE! :)

Play Day was a blast! There were a lot of new people there this week...but most of the kids seemed to be around the same age, or atleast the same size which was nice. Cory did get kind of beat up by two little girls in the play tent, but he never made a whimper. It's funny to see how easy-going he is in situations such as these because when he's at home I'd never label him as being so laid back. Silly kid. Gotta love him!

We left at noon and headed home for some lunch and a super quick nap. Cory had a 6 month check up today with Dr. Liston, his eye doctor. Since Cory was born prematurely they needed to do eye checks a couple of times throughout his first year or so of life, just to make sure all was well. Apparently eyes are one of the things that finish developing last. Cory has never had any trouble and has passed all of his exams, so I didn't expect today to be any different, and it wasn't! We were cleared to come back in one year, instead of six months. Yay!

By the time we got home it was after 5 p.m. and there were hungry dogs, cats, babies, mommies and daddies! Phew. Sean went to Cincinnati tonight and needed to leave by 7 p.m. so the race was on to cook dinner and have it cleaned up by the time Sean needed to leave and Cory needed his bath.

Needless to say, today flew by and I am SO ready for bed! Wish I could cash in earlier than normal, but there's baby juice to make :)

Tomorrow Cory is getting the booster to his flu shot that he got a month ago. I've decided that this is the last flu shot he'll be getting. Hopefully it won't be too horrible at the doctor's office. I hate being the one who has to take my baby in to be stuck with a needle. :(