9 Months Old!

And 2 days late. Blame it on the food poisoning, I'm still not really eating much other than toast and bananas. Yum.
These pictures were also a day late, but here they are. Please forgive me Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunties!

Here I am on my knees, bigger than the bunny this way!

I can stand up all by myself using the couch!

I'm so darn proud of myself, look ma, one hand!

Where Mama changes my sweater and I show how cute I am... again!

Please note that the reason for the sweater change was because it was a very poorly designed sweater. It was awfully cute in the store with it's zip up turtle neck. However, babies don't really have necks! And since zippers are stiff it was pushing at his chin and sticking out midway down his chest at the other end making him look just plain weird!

We then drove out to Moses Lake (2 hours) to visit with some long lost relatives. (well, okay, they weren't really lost, but since they live so far away and we never see them they might as well be lost!) They drove up from Milton-Freewater to meet us halfway, but most of them actually live in Florida and Pennsylvania. Confused yet? :)

Anyway, my mom and her cousin Pam are the relations, but Dad and Jim were friends in college and that is how my parents actually met... at Pam and Jim's wedding! So that makes me and Monica and Bryce what, either second cousins or cousins once removed. And then Monica has three boys, the youngest of which is about 6 weeks younger than Cory. It was fun to see them together!

The requisite photo in the Shari's lobby. Not my first choice of dining establishments, but when you're meeting in Moses Lake you can't be too choosy... there was a reason we called it Moses Hole when I was in high school!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Yes, that would be the gift of food poisoning. It appears that is what it was considering now my brother's girlfriend and my mom have it and it looks like my dear hubby is also coming down with it. So far Dad's the only holdout... go Dad and your iron stomach!
I am feeling much better, but still not 100% and poor Cory has a fever. At least he couldn't have gotten the food poisoning, but I wonder if he got a little something weird from me... he didn't last time, but who knows.
Bummer on our after Christmas vacation time. Brian and Dad were supposed to go skiing today. I was supposed to go shopping and to the post office to mail late Christmas presents and none of that has happened. Ah well, such is life! I'm just glad Brian made it to the store last night before we all got sick.
Cheers!

My monthly diet?

So it appears my body has decided that it would like to do a monthly purge. At first I thought it was food poisoning... again. But now I'm not so sure because what I thought was the culprit I ate this morning and then I found out that my brother is also puking his guts out and we haven't seen him (or eaten anything the same) since last night at my parent's.
I guess this makes up for all the chocolate I've eaten in the last week? :(
Poor Cory was really glad to see me when I got up for a minute and didn't understand why I wouldn't pick him up.
Here's hoping that whatever this is it passes (pun intended) quickly.

We did have a Merry Christmas and hope yours was as well!

Wordless Wednesday - Grandma Love

For more Wordless Wednesdays click HERE!

My Christmas-y House

Or not! It's kinda hard to get a whole lot of decorating done when you have a small one underfoot... who will also get into everything that is within his reach! So we have a really small tree - sitting on our kitchen table! It was so small that one strand of lights was ALL it would hold! So much for my blue and white theme!

This is what my kitchen with tree on the table really looks like... we have all the "stuff" piled here because we're teaching Cory to stay out of the kitchen. So it's a mess!

I don't have any pictures of my favorite ornaments... because we're at my in-laws in Oregon at the moment! But this is my all time favorite Christmas decoration.

It's a manger scene carved (with a scroll saw?) out of one piece of wood. I love it because it's so simple and also because it was made by a man in my church during college. He made two and donated them to a church auction to raise money for a youth mission trip. I really wanted one, but didn't have much money. When it went too high for me the older gentleman sitting next to me started bidding. He won one of them and then gave it to me. It was just so sweet!


I couldn't resist posting these although they're not at my house... these are the 4 babies from our small group. Anna's just turned a year, Cory is 8 1/2 months, Lydia is 2 1/2 months, and Emma is about a month old. Aren't they just precious? :) Cory and all his girlfriends!

And here are all the mamas. (Please do not look at my posture, I do not know how to sit properly for a picture!) Anna's going to be a big sister in May so technically I guess there are 5 babies in this picture!

We had an impromptu Christmas lunch on Friday just before we left. It was really fun!

Now go visit all the other Christmas Homes at BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes!

Oh the cuteness...

that is my son! My brother's girlfriend, Annika brought him this overalls and shirt outfit since her job took her by the outlet mall every week this fall... it's size 12 months and other than the pants being slightly too long in the legs (and hugely baggy - do they think babies legs are 6 inches wide or something?) he fits them now. See?


I noticed the other day when I was out shopping that according to the charts in the stores he should be wearing 9 months clothes for weight and 18 months for height. What are we going to do?!!! Poor kid is going to be swimming in his clothes just so they're not high water on him! At least Carters and Gerber tend to run more long and thin. Do NOT get Circo (Target brand) if you have a tall skinny kid! We learned that right from the beginning when Cory would basically come out the neck hole of his outfits!

More pictures will follow... I'm not sure when! But I've got some of him standing up against the couch... and he got there all by himself!

This weeks contests...

From Mom Reviews win a My Friends Tigger and Pooh Christmas video - ends today.

From 5 Minutes for Mom a $200 gift certificate to True Jeans - ends Wednesday the 19th.

From Contest Beat and Cell for Cash you can win a Nintendo Wii. Wow! I had to sign up for this one considering how much Brian loves the Wii that his friends have...
You can sell or recycle your old cell phone (although we use ours until they're not worth selling). Good for the environment not to throw them away though! - ends Christmas Eve.

From An Island Life win a personalized photo mug or plate from FeeFiFoto. I'd get a mug probably. And who do you think I'd put on it? I dare you to guess! - ends ? (I'm betting by Sunday)

Happy, um, Birthday?

So, yeah. Yesterday was my birthday and it seriously doesn't feel like it. Heck, it doesn't even feel like December really (note, I have not really started Christmas shopping yet and we are leaving on Sunday...)
Is it just me or is it the older I get the more anti-climactic birthdays are? And I promise, I'm not even 30 yet!

This weekend was crazy, but in a fun kind of way. Mostly. Let's just say that driving for hours with a screaming baby is the not fun part. But we went to Portland to go to a wedding and stayed with some cool friends of my husbands. Jason and Brian have been buddies since high school and J's wife Amber is one goofy girl. We get along great. She's pregnant and her new baby girl will be almost exactly one year younger than Cory. (I promise not to give away the name, Amber, sorry about the other night!)
Then we went to the wedding, which was a friend of mine from school days in Costa Rica. Seeing the pictures before the wedding told me they are perfect for each other. Lots of outdoors and climbing to the tops of mountains type pics as well as ones with goofy faces and face paint. They will have adventures I'm sure! I only knew one other girl there (also a schoolmate from CR), but it was nice to catch up with her. At the very end they had sparklers to see them off! Unique and slightly scary in a small space with a baby!

Jason and Amber took us out to brunch for my birthday at Mother's in downtown Portland. We almost didn't stay because it was a 45 minute wait, but we realized that in Portland it's not like Wenatchee and by the time we got to another place we might as well have just stayed. It was totally worth it! French Toast with cornflakes for batter. Crunchy and delicious! And they had dark hot chocolate! Yum! And then it decided to sprinkle snow. That was fun! And Brian's cousin John came for brunch so they got to talk. Sometimes I really wish we lived in Portland so we could hang out with these people more often.

Off to visit Cory's great-grandparents in The Dalles on the way home and Grandma made me a pineapple upside down cake for my birthday. Double yum! Actually they made it together since Grandma's wrists are so weak she can hardly pick up anything, but that made it extra special!

Now, organizing my house, trying to get Christmas cards in the mail (how did my list grow by 50% from last year to this year?) and think about how to get everyone a Christmas gift between now and Saturday... at least we will be home on Christmas Eve so I can do shopping for my family while we are in Oregon.

Here's to nothing more crazy being added to my week... and snow! So Brian can go skiing on Saturday!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention... I'd like to win a stereo! So check this out from 5 Minutes for Mom and Best Buy. Wouldn't this be a sweet birthday present! :)

Snow, Beautiful Snow!

is mostly gone. :( It snowed for 24 hours from Saturday night to Sunday night. We got 6+ inches and everything was so beautiful! Then is started raining. And today the sun is out and it's 50 degrees. It feels like spring! Too weird!

But in the spirit of Christmas...

How many of you know that Michael W. Smith is one of my all time favorite artists? Other than my best friend, maybe no one! I guess I should have put that in the random things about me post...
Well, 2 weeks ago I read on a couple of blogs that Reunion Records was looking for bloggers to "test" his new Christmas CD in exchange for a review. I hurried to sign up because they were only taking the first 150... and guess what? I got one! Now, I haven't had a new CD in probably 2 years so this is exciting news people!
The requirements were that I listen to it while doing something Christmasy. Today I finally had a chance to listen to it in my car. While looking at the beautiful snow covered hills and driving to visiting my grandmother and help her with her Christmas cards. Is that Christmasy enough for you? :) I was surprised because this CD is a lot more instrumental that I was expecting. But you know, it was exactly what I needed. I have been in a funk this fall and totally not feeling up to Christmas (lets just say I haven't bought any Christmas present yet... yikes!) but it was peaceful and relaxing with a lot of classical Christmas music like excerpts from the Nutcracker and What Child is This. Very soothing!
So if you'd like to check it out for yourself just follow the link below, or the one in my sidebar!



Also on the Christmas note, here are a couple of fun contests!

Yes, They are All Mine is giving away the most adorable baby Christmas outfit! I don't want to win it for myself, because obviously my son is too big for it! But I have two girlfriends with baby girls... now to decide which one gets it! Probably the one with the itty bitty baby! You have to enter by Friday if you're interested!

The Domestic Diva is giving away a Tigger and Pooh Christmas movie. This one would be going to some little kiddos I know who adore Pooh! This contest ends next Monday.



There's also a Parents.com giveaway at DE Reviews for a fruits puzzle and a little garage with toy cars! They are seriously cute and look really good (I'm into educational toys!) This ends Friday.

Gung-Ho with the pictures...

In order to make up for my horrid dearth of pictures last month I now present you with a day in the life of Cory.

Where I splash a LOT in the bath and get Mom wet.

Where I manage to crawl all the way behind the end table in the corner.

Where Mom traps me under the laundry basket.

Where Mom puts me in the laundry basket.

And I proceed to stand up all by myself!

Where Mom finds a bigger laundry basket.

And I make short work of this one, too!

It's kind of slippery...

But there's no stopping me now!