Happy Earth Day!

We decided to start an Earth Day tradition that we hope to continue for years to come. Coy, Cora and I planted a tree in our yard today. It is a dwarf apple tree. I am not totally convinced that it will produce any apples in our lifetime but it makes the world a little greener. We have also been practicing turning off the lights. We’ve just got to learn to not switch them right back on! Happy Earth Day everyone!

9 Months!

Ok, so very late on the 9 month update… It is incredible to think that Cora has been living ourside of my belly as long as she was living inside of it!

She went to see the pediatrician on Monday and got another stellar report. Here are the stats: weight 19lbs 5 oz (70%) and head circumference 45cm (80%). The biggest shock, well not really, was her length. Cora has grown 2.5 inches in the past 3 months. She is now 30 inches long. That is off the charts for a 9 month old. Dr. Ferrari said that she is the length of an average 14 month old! Wow! Maybe she will be tall and pretty like Gabby (Great Aunt Betsy). Everything looks good. Our little munchkin is healthy and growing beautifully!

Below are pictures of a little trick that our little monkey mastered the other night. Please note that we only allowed her to do this because we never imagined that she could... We were quite surprised when she managed to climb from the floor to the hearth and onto the table!

Congratulations Coy!

Cora kept herself very busy with her Cheerios during the ceremony.


We also celebrated with Coy on Monday. He was the recipient of a North Carolina Impact Award. We were invited to join him and the others at a reception in their honor at The Carolina Club. I was a little nervous to take our little song bird to the event but was assured that she would be welcomed. Needless to say, we parked ourselves near an exit during the "quiet" parts. She was great though! We are so proud of Coy!

1st Beach Trip

*There are lots of pictures. I really need to figure out how to do a slide show.*

After the festivities died down, we packed back up and went back home to Durham. We stayed overnight and took off for the beach on Monday morning. We stayed at Home by the Sea and had a blast! Yes, it was cold and raining most of the week but we made the best of it. We took at least 2 or 3 strolls each day- to the pier, around the neighborhood, or just down the beach. On Tuesday we went to the aquarium. We had not been since the renovations. It is so nice! Cora LOVED it! We didn’t really know what to expect with her but she was fascinated by all of the fish. Many of the aquariums start at the floor so she could stand right beside the fish. She put her hands (and shoe…) in the touch pool of rays. We even got to watch them feed the sharks! Too cool! We filled the rest of the cool days with driving down to the waterfront in Morehead and Beaufort. We strolled around looking at the boats coming in and all of the beautiful homes… dreaming! And on Wednesday we at the Sanitary Restaurant- yummy!

Finally the weather broke on Thursday. We took Cora for her first experience with playing in the sand. She thought it was delicious… We tried our best to keep her from eating it but wow- she is quick. At one point she had found a shell and was using it like a cracker dipping it in the sand like it was a dip! She does eat anything I just never guessed that she would find sand so appetizing. Friday, we played some more and we allowed her to get wet a little. Even then, she would dip her shovel in the water and slurp the salt water from it. Strange. We packed up and headed for home on Friday night after a wonderful time with our little family. We had such a fun trip.Cora's 1st Beach Trip A.B. 2009
Rain, rain, go away...

This is how she acted with almost all of the tanks. She was so fun to watch.

1st dip in the oceanBundled up and ready to stroll!Don't forget the sunscreen! I'm ready to hit the beach!

Easter

Cora's basket was used in my wedding. This picture was taken right before Cora "clapped" two of the eggs together.
Tannar decided to take Cora for a ride. Let's just hope that he is a safer driver than his daddy.
What a beautiful day to play outside.

For Easter, we loaded the car and headed for Reidsville. We went on Saturday and enjoyed visiting with Grandpa and Rhonda. On Sunday, Cora woke to two baskets: one from the Easter Bunny and one from the Beach Bunny. "We" dyed eggs. And we helped prepare a meal for the family.

My mom always has a huge family Easter Egg Hunt. This year was no different. Since there are so many little ones this year (five new babies!- Tannar, Laurel Ann, Baby Cora, Morgan and John Marshall), they had their own division. Instead of hunting eggs like the rest of us, they had to just pick up eggs that were dumped on a blanket. They had a good time and we enjoyed watching them. Cora’s prize was a pack of two wind-up pool/bath toys. Perfect!

Toot, Toot!

Since my last post, we've survived Coy being away. Coy traveled to Banff last week and our house was just for the girls: Mama, Cora, Daisy and Chloe. We expected him to return on Friday night but he was stuck in Chicago until Saturday afternoon. It was not too hard but we're glad to have him back. During that week, I had to take Cora to the doctor AGAIN for yes, another ear infection! If you're counting, that is 4 now since January. The doctors say that there is nothing that I can do about it. She just has "narrow eustachian tubes"- lucky her. They have started to use the T word (tubes). I would almost welcome them at this point rather than continue to give her so many different antibiotics. Guess we'll see...
Other Cora updates: She will now stand for a couple of seconds without holding on but not for long! She is waving bye bye to everyone now including the dogs and her "Night Night Bunny" and pacifier every morning. We even have a budding gymnast in the family. She loves it when I flip her backwards. She thinks it is hilarious.
Well, we have a big week ahead. My spring break officially starts tomorrow. We are going to Tannar's birthday party on Saturday, The Big Family Easter Egg hunt on Sunday, and we're off to the beach on Monday! There are certainly going to be more pictures to post. Happy Easter!

Cora loves her first Radio Flyer Wagon/Walker/Scooter/Teether...

(I think this is such a cool picture!!!)

Cora loves her whistle! She got it at Will's 3rd birthday party and she has not put it down since. It makes us laugh how she will hold it between her teeth and toot away while playing or crawling or whatever else. Enjoy the video.