1-2-3-4 CORT!

Here is a stroll down memory lane to celebrate Cort turning 4!

YEAR ONE

MY GERBER BABY!

FAMILY OF FOUR

BROTHERS

YEAR TWO

HANGING POOLSIDE WITH MOM

TOO CUTE!

We are ready to rumble!

YEAR THREE

Our trip to Disneyworld

He is such a HAM!

But also knows how to strut his stuff!

Fishing at THE CREEK with DAD

He was cold after swimming and had my shirt on, but look at those lashes!

I can't help it that I'm so CUTE!

Hiking with the family

YEAR FOUR

I'm a BIG KID NOW

A Picnic at the Beach is always a good time

Cowboy Cort is turning 4!

Countdown to Cort

Cort will be 4! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. Four years ago, I was on bedrest, pregnant with Cort. I was diagnosed early in the pregnancy with Placenta Previa.

I have heard other people talk about how miserable they were on bedrest, but honestly I enjoyed it. Maybe I was just making the best of the situation or maybe my body really needed the rest. I watched TV, slept, scrapbooked, and read.....Oh to be able to read a book again. Already having a young child, I knew finding time to sit and read was impossible. So while on bedrest, I read as many books as I could. I started the Left Behind Series and was able to read about 6 of the books during the 4 weeks I was on bedrest. (I currently am reading the 12th book in the series. I say currently, but I have been reading this one probably over a year now.)Anyway, I enjoyed the time on bedrest to catch up on some reading.

The hard part of being on bedrest was not being able to play with or care for Keaton. He was only 19 months old at the time and didn't want to sit and play with Mommy on the bed but just a few minutes at a time. I was home alone during the day because Mark took Keaton to daycare. There was no way I could have taken care of him at home. The hard part for Mark...working a full time job, taking care of Keaton, taking care of a bed ridden wife, and worrying about his unborn child.

During these 4 weeks, I was admitted to the hospital 4 times. My doctor gave me a choice the third time to go home or stay in the hospital until the baby was born. I wanted to go home because I knew it would be even harder on Mark to bring Keaton by the hospital every day to see me. But after my fourth episode and admittance to the hospital, I knew I was there to stay. I still had 6 weeks to go (my due date was March 6), but the next day the baby's heart blipped on the monitor and I was scheduled for a c-section that afternoon.

Cort was born January 28, 2005 at 6:03 PM. He was 6 weeks premature and weighed 5 lbs 9 oz.

I had already had the steroid shots to help his little lungs develop, but he screamed so loud when he was born that he blew a hole in his lung, he had a Pneumothorax. They had to put in a chest tube in addition to every other thing he was hooked up to.

2 1/2 hours after he was born

I finally got to hold him when he was two days old, but it was only for a few minutes.

Mark's first time to hold him was cut short. All the monitors started beeping.

This is a picture of him still on oxygen and the feeding tube in his mouth.

What a tan! Okay so he was a little Jaundice.

This is the day we took him home. He was 2 weeks old. I ended up back in the hospital two days later with a kidney stone that had to be removed.

Cort 20 days old, holding Mark's wedding ring

Boy's first haircut!

That's right, we took the boys for their very first haircut. Okay, technically it was not the first time their hair had been cut. I started cutting Keaton's hair when he was just a few weeks old. I just couldn't stand that baby mullet he was growing. Anyway, I have been cutting their hair myself ever since. I enjoy cutting their hair, but felt it was time a professional have a go at it.
We took them to Cool Cuts and it was very easy. We lucked out on the timing and walked in with no wait. They picked out their entertainment of choice--Keaton played a Star Wars video game and Cort watched a TMNT movie. They sat perfectly still and never complained. I am pleased with the outcome. They both look great. It definitely took less time than it would have for me to have done it, BUT the price was not so nice. I expected 8.99 each or something in that range....try doubling it. 15.99 each plus tip! Whoa! I will have to consider the pros and cons next time or maybe just shop around. But at least our first experience was a good one. Enjoy the pics. Yes I was that mom with the camera! :)

Starting off the New Year

Well we wanted to start off the new year right. Keaton and I sat down and made our New Year's Resolutions List together. He loves lists! My list included eating and drinking healthier not only for me, but I want Keaton to start eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking water (I have given up on Mark). Keaton only wants 'new' chocolate milk (New is Nesquik, Old is Chocolate syrup, and then there is real chocolate milk) or diet coke and we really need to cut out coke.

Cort just naturally loves the healthier options. He would choose yogurt or fruit over cookies and he loves vegetables.

Anyway, we talked about how we need to work harder to keep the house clean and he told me I should just get a new house keeper. I found that amuzing.

I asked him what else he thought he should do better at or more of in the new year. I tried to coach him on listening to mommy and daddy, read books more including the Bible, and pray more. He then added on to the bottom of the list, 'stay home more days'! If only we could!

Wrap up Christmas

Okay, our Christmas celebration started with Keaton's Kindergarten class party. He was all smiles to see that mommy had come to his school party. Just look at that grin! Maybe he was also excited that he would be out of school for Christmas break.

Keaton attended the daycare during the break a few days, but mostly stayed home with dad. He did get to go on 2 daycare field trips. He went bowling for the first time and got 2 strikes! He also went to Itz and had a great time. He was 1 of 3 kids tall enough to ride the bumper cars. He said that was his favorite thing.



The Saturday night before Christmas we partied with our small group friends. The Taylors hosted a fun filled party with a special guest. It was a PJ party and the kids first ate pancakes topped with anything filled with sugar.

Then there was a KNOCK on the door. Who could it be?
The kids were so EXCITED!

Santa dropped by with a bag full of presents. He called each kid by name. Keaton had a front row seat and couldn't take his eyes off of him.

But Santa couldn't stay long. He had other boys and girls to visit. So he rode away on his Harley!

Next, I told the Christmas story. Each child helped by opening a box. Inside each box was a piece of the manger scene. In the last box is the answer to the question, 'What does God want for Christmas?' In the box was a mirror, because what God wants is YOU!

At craft time, each child made an ornament of Baby Jesus and then we ended the night around a campfire in the backyard making smores. Keaton and Cort had a great time and loved the transformers Santa brought to them early.

CHRISTMAS MORNING FINALLY ARRIVED!

Santa brought Cort a NEW BIKE!

And Keaton got a NEW SPEED RACER RACETRACK!

It was definietly a Star Wars/Transformer Christmas, but Bakugan was the BIG HIT!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

This year was a great Christmas. Keaton was so into Santa this year. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to spend the holidays with. We spent Christmas Day at Mark's parents house and left for Gilmer to see my family Friday. Unfortunately, Cort got sick and we even had to make a trip to the clinic while we were there. He had strep throat and a terrible cold. I also caught the cold and spent New Year's Eve in an after hours clinic. But toasted with NyQuil before I headed to bed. We have since recovered and are doing well in the new year.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

On Sunday the kids sang 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' at church. They did such a great job! Here are some pictures and short video.

Sunday evening we gathered with our small group to watch the Copperfield light parade. We arrived at 6:00 to get the best spot along Highway 6, right in front of our church. We walked to Wendy's for dinner then the kids played a little football and ran around waiting for the parade to make its way down to us. It arrived at 8:00 and was filled with lots of Christmas lights and loud firetruck sirens. After the parade, our church host Carols in the Courtyard. They serve hot chocolate and cookies while the choir sang our favorite Christmas songs. This is becoming one of our traditions and I was thankful for the great weather this year.

I also want to share with you Keaton's Christmas Wish List as written by him. I am so proud of his writing and reading. I am amazed with how smart he is and the progress he is already making in Kindergarten. I was surprised to hear at the parent teacher conference that we should not help him spell words when he is writing. They teach them to sound out the words. They don't want them to get hung up on the spelling at this age. Instead they encourage them to write their thoughts freely.

1. Batoon (Bakugan)
2. Bin 10 (Ben 10)
3. Books
4. Mooves (Movies)
5. Rascorz (Race Cars)
6. Cris Mis Sons (Christmas Songs)
7. Mo Gams (More Games)
8. So Wr Pepel (Star Wars People)
9. Zac and Cote (Zack and Cody)
10. Noow Baby Dog (New Baby Dog)
11. Vido Gamm (Video Game)
12. My on Paampr (My own paper)

Maybe Santa can bring Keaton a few of the things on his list, but I think Dixie and Lady will agree with Mark....no baby dog. They would be a little too jealous.

I've got a RAT!

He's a PackRat. And no I am not talking about Mark. It's Keaton! Keaton wants to get and keep everything. Anytime we check the mail he wants all the stuff I am throwing away.

"Mommy, anything you don't want, give to me okay?" He even wants to keep all of the receipts from Wal-Mart or Kroger. He told me, "I collect bills". (Don't we all!) Any where we go, if there is a flier of any sort, he has to take one.

Then he keeps it all in his boxes. It started off as his 'business box' just like Daddy. Since Mark works from home, but travels a lot to his partner's house, he carries around this box. Well, Keaton had to have one also.....only it has grown into boxes, bags (my old purses really--but we call them BAGS), sacks, anything that will hold....well let's face it junk. But it is cute and it is his. Only it grows and it becomes my mess. We sit down to 'organize the business box' and I make piles. He looks at me and says, "are you going to throw that away".......with such a sad little face. So when he is not looking I take it to the garage.

Just the other day I received a shipment of Christmas gifts. After I looked at the items, I turned around to put them back in the box. Except the box was gone. I asked Mark what happened to my box and he said, "what do you think happened to it? Keaton took it." Yes, he had added it to his collection.

One day, he asked me to write him a note. So on a scratch piece of paper I wrote:

Keaton,

I love you. I am so proud of you.

Love, Mom

It sat on the end table for a few days before I threw it away. He must have seen it in the trash because the next time we were writing letters, he told me something like 'you will just throw it away like you did last time'. Heartbreaking! I tried to explain to him that we just can't keep everything that is brought home from church, school, and daycare. We keep our favorite things.

Don't get me wrong, I don't throw away everything. I need a bigger house for all the things I do keep and we are only in Kindergarten!

The Season of Traditions

We made our annual trip to the Christmas Tree Farm with our small group. We traveled to Red Caboose Farm in Magnolia to pick out our tree. The kids had a great time although we were a little dissppointed that Santa was not in his workshop this year. He must be really busy at the North Pole!

Let's go get our tree!

Can I have THAT One?

After some searching, we found our tree!

GREAT JOB DAD!

Although Keaton seemed to be less excited about the tree, and more upset that I took away his 'Power Ranger' stick ...see previous picture. I found myself saying, 'be careful, you're going to poke your eye out' too many times.

Keaton and Cort helped Daddy tie the tree on top of our car.

All the kids on the Hayride

And the Train

Best Buds Keaton and Levi

Cort and Ella shared an apple

To complete the tradition, we ate lunch at Po's and then headed home for a nap. Our tree sits in a bucket of water in the garage until Sunday night when we decorate it....I guess this is part of the tradition?

See how nice we are being?

Where are all the presents?