all tyed up

Cora is 7 months old and has been hitting some pretty big milestones lately. In the past couple weeks, she has mastered sitting up on her own and crawling on her hands and knees. She totally skipped the "army crawl", which is what Tyler used to get around from until he was 9 months old. She has even pulled up to stand a few times! She hasn't been to the pediatrician since her 4 month appointment, so I'm looking forward to finding out her current weight and height at the end of this month. She is still waking up once each night to nurse on most nights, but she is sleeping through the night more often. She's eating lots of fruits, veggies, meats and oatmeal (three meals per day, plus about 4 nursing sessions). She knows how to exert her opinion when she doesn't like a certain food - She simply screams her little bald head off. She just tried puffs today for the first time and loves them. She gets this sweet smile, starts breathing really fast and scrunches up her little nose. She cries when I leave her sight - She loves her mama. She loves Buster's blue ball... It's gross. She will always go for that nasty ball over any of her toys. She also LOVES her brother! She just stares at him and she thinks he is so funny. It's not super easy to make her laugh, but Tyler can make her laugh so easily. It's the sweetest thing. Ty likes to climb into her crib with her and jump around. She loves it! Cora now has four teeth! She has cut her front bottom two, plus two of her top teeth (not the ones directly in front, but the ones right next to those). Here is her current schedule so I can look back later:

6am-7am: Wake up, nurse
7am-8am: Oatmeal, fruit
9am-10am: Nap
10:30am-11:30am: Wake up, nurse
11:00am-12:00am: Fruit, veggie (possibly meat)
1:30pm-2:30pm: Nap
3:00pm-4:00pm: Wake up, nurse
5:00pm: Oatmeal, fruit, veggie (possibly meat)
5:30pm: Bath, nurse
6:00pm-6:30pm: Bed
(Sometimes nurses one time during the night)

Tyler is such a BOY now. My baby is gone. And...Here's a delicate way of putting it: He is a hand full! One minute he will be the cutest, sweetest, funniest boy I've ever seen. But, the next minute I want to pull my hair out because he is being SO bad! Sometimes I'll just be talking to my mom out on the back porch, and I'll look over to see Tyler standing inside and peering through the glass door with this evil look in his eye. He's usually very well behaved when we are out and about, but at home he is a different, scarier version of my child. On a cuter note, my dad has been teaching him the names of all types of plants. I'll be on a walk with him and he will point out all of the Staghorn Ferns, Palm Trees, Oak Trees and the Philodendron (he actually says these names!). His memory is amazing. My dad has forgotten the names of a couple of his neighbors, but he'll ask Tyler their names and he will tell him, "That Linda!", "That Cathy and Jeff!". He loves to sing. I love hearing him play from the other room, just singing away. The other day, he was singing the tune of "Kumbaya", but he made up his own lyrics, "I wanna go on a walk, I wanna go on a walk...". He loves riding in the car and pointing out all of the different trucks. He is obsessed with trucks now. He knows all of the names and has to tell me about every one he sees. When we exit the highway, he'll say goodbye to the trucks, "Bye Tanker! Bye Car Transporter!" TMI: Tyler has had some trouble going to the bathroom lately. So, we had to give him a suppository recently. Then, I started giving him regular laxatives to help him out. So, the other day he had to go, and he was scared. So, when he went and I asked him if it hurt, he said happily, "No! You didn't even have to put medicine up my butt!" HA! The other day, Tyler told my mom he wanted to "wear big boy pants wight now!", so she let him. It went pretty well at first. He'd say, "I gotta run to the potty!", and he'd run in there and go. But, he had an accident or two and asked for his diapers. He's not quite ready yet, but did he look ADORABLE in those undies!

He loves to help G-ma vacuum!

My little fish.

Check out that smiley face! He's such a talented artist.

My dad went with us recently to Royal Poinciana Church on in the intercoastal in Palm Beach where they have the most amazing tree. We got some pretty good pictures.

I recently worked my last day at ENT Associates, where I have worked for the past six years since I graduated from college. That job has been such a blessing to our family, but I am very excited to be moving onto the next thing. I'm now working part-time at a church as their Mom's Morning Out Program Coordinator. I'm able to bring the kids with me, and I think I'm really going to enjoy the job.

We had a great day on the 4th of July this year. We swam in the pool all morning and grilled out for lunch. We showed Tyler some fireworks "snakes", which he loved. He also loved the "pops" (Not sure what they're called...You throw them down and they pop.).

Smashing all the ashes.

Showing me his dirty hands.

After the kids' afternoon naps, we went swimming again. Tyler loves swimming! He wears swimmies and gets around pretty well. After Cora went to sleep that night, we got out the rest of our fireworks that we bought. Tyler seemed scared at first, then he warmed up to them. Then, we had a malfunctioning firework that made us all scream, and Tyler said, "I don't wanna do dat anymah!" The next morning I asked him, "What did we do last night?" And he said, "Da fireworks very loud. Dey scared me a yittle bit." He was looking a firework that looked like a army tank. He said, "What is dat? It looks like a car or sumpin!"

Scared at first...

Getting more used to it...

"I did it!"

Tyler is hilarious and is still talking nonstop. One of Tyler's new sayings is, "No, not yet!" Today, someone knocked on the door and Buster started barking, and Tyler said, "Bubba! Shut it! Baby Toya's sleeping!"

Cora is changing a lot. She's almost 6 months old and she has two teeth. She is starting to really try to crawl! She gets up on her hands and knees, and rocks back and forth. Then, she ends up moving backwards almost every time. It won't be long until she's moving all over the place. She can sit up unassisted for a little bit now, but not for very long. She takes a pacifier sometimes, too, which has been wonderful for us. However, she's a terrible sleeper. She has been waking me up at least twice a night, and she can't soothe herself to sleep (I have to do a whole routine where I have to swaddle her, play a song, shush her to sleep, slowly lower her into the crib, etc.). So, the other day I realized that I couldn't go on like that any more. I decided it was time to let her "cry it out". I absolutely hate hearing her cry, so it has been difficult. She is doing much better. She's waking me up less at night, and she's soothing herself to sleep most of the time. She still cries sometimes when going down to sleep, but not for very long. Sometimes, she'll even go down without crying. I started giving her rice cereal a few days ago. Right now, she's eating about 2-3 tablespoons mixed with breastmilk twice each day. Here's her first time trying it out: