11 months old!

Seriously, where does the time go?!!

Here are the pictures of my not-so-baby-boy yesterday on his 11 month birthday...

I am into everything and I found a golf ball that Daddy confiscated from a student. I steal anything I can get out of his tray including the licorice mints from Grandma, a small Nalgene full of dice (this one I really like because it rattles), pens, keys... look out, you'll never be able to find your keys Daddy!

Pet the bunny. He's my friend!


I'm fascinated by his ears...


Look at me Mom, I'm just too cute!

This past month... Cory finally got the matching tooth on the bottom so he has 8 teeth. He's started clapping. He will take one step for Brian (and then lean and expect to be caught) if placed standing in front of him. He is into EVERYTHING! We've tried to teach him to stay out of the kitchen. ie, don't cross the line where the carpet changes to linoleum. This morning I was not paying attention (okay, I was hoping he would play and let me nap on the couch) and I heard him start "talking". I got up and found that he had crawled into the kitchen and pulled himself up on the chair where I set his tray. He was eating his Cheerios off the tray. It was so cute I couldn't punish him. I guess he was trying to tell me it was time for breakfast!

Hair today, gone tomorrow...

Or, er, yesterday!

And guess what! My magical computer doctor fixed my computer! So I can actually post pictures ($230 later). He had a replacement motherboard from another identical laptop that he charged me below market price for. Yay!

And in case you think I got ripped off, I did not. It would have cost $160 just to get all the data off my computer (think thousands of lost pictures) and I still would not have had a computer. So I'm happy with this situation! (yes, I will now be backing up all my pictures on CD on a monthly basis!)

Now, on with the show.

Cory has been pulling my hair like crazy. He thinks it's a handle. Sometimes I don't mind, but I was thinking short would mean he could only get into it when I let him.

Here you can see how long it was in the "before" shot.

For the 3rd time in my life I have donated my hair to Locks of Love. If you're thinking about cutting off some long hair make sure you donate it. It's for kids who have cancer so they can have wigs. Awesome.

Are you ready?

This is what my hair looked like after the cut and style (note: it will never look like this again!)

This is what my hair will probably look like on a more regular basis.

I am not and will never be a girl who spends more than 15 minutes on her hair on any normal day (getting dressed up fancy is a totally different story!)

And this is a pretty good self portrait of me and the boy!

Yay, to the grandparents for letting us borrow the camera while ours is getting repaired!

Milestones

Just a note to let you know what Cory's been up to! (other than a cold that won't go away)

He has learned how to clap his hands and it's SO. DARN. CUTE! He usually only claps once or twice and then he wants to clap on your hands - kind of like giving you 5's.

He was also being super cranky and clingy today and I couldn't figure out why... until I realized that he was getting that 4th tooth on the bottom. At least he won't be lopsided anymore!

So Long, Farewell

Yeah, you know the rest of the song, and no, I'm not singing it!

So, I killed my computer yesterday... which means that I will have super limited internet access for awhile. Brian's computer has been dead for a few weeks, but he has a work laptop he can bring home. (hence the reason I'm even getting to post this now). Unfortunately I don't know if I'll be able to put any pictures on here, and the camera has to be sent away to be fixed anyway, so sorry for the lack of pictures in the near future family.

I guess you could say that this has not been our month for technology.

On the bright side, maybe I'll get a few more of my other projects done... :)

For future reference? Don't try to take apart a laptop and vacuum it to get the dust out!

The Sick Update

Somewhere along the line this week Cory and I caught the flu. Yuck. At least it wasn't the throwing up kind, but it's still put me out for 2 days and Cory has been CRANKY! We also got a nasty cough which may or may not be related.

Sadly, we also had some friends coming to visit this weekend who couldn't make it over the mountains since all the passes are closed due to avalanches. We're having some weird weather this year. It was below freezing here for a couple weeks, we have way more snow than we've gotten in years, and now in the last 3 days the temps have been so high (45 is high! ;) it has melted all the snow on south facing yards and a lot of it in shaded areas. Including our parking lot though so I'm happy about that! Today it was so windy they closed the ski area (100 mph winds will do that!).

I got some pictures in the mail today from Shutterfly that I was going to give to various people. I was so excited about one in particular of Cory that looked all old fashioned. It came back green!!! It didn't look green on my computer and I didn't mess with the color balance on this one, so I can't imagine why it printed facial tones green. I did adjust the highlights a bit and that seems to be where the green shows up. So can anyone tell me if that's my problem or their printing machine reading the picture wrong. So frustrating either way!

On a totally unrelated side note, 5 Minutes for Mom is giving away $100 to the Healthy Child. This would be cool! It also highlights some interesting research about SIDS being caused by toxic chemicals in baby mattresses. Hmmm. I'm almost not sure if this is good or bad considering now I'm worried and these things aren't exactly cheap so that everyone can afford one. Ay!

February is Compassion Month

com·pas·sion
–noun, a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.
We could all stand to be more compassionate towards our fellow human beings. There is a lot of misfortune and suffering we could be alleviating if we all just gave a little bit of our time/money/love.

This is the basic purpose of Compassion International. Anyone heard of them? (raise your hand!) Their mission statement is "releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name". No matter your religious background I think we'd all agree that a child in poverty is one of the saddest things there is. Compassion is trying to improve children's health, education, and well being in some of the poorest countries around the world.

And they're asking YOU to help.

Their sponsorship program costs $32 a month and if I'm not mistaken the entire cost goes to the programs that help children. Overhead costs are covered by donations intended for that purpose and overall they spend more than 80% of their budget directly on the children. (That's really high for a charity in case you were wondering).

The best part about all this is you can choose a child from any country the work in, boy or girl, and an age range. You are that child's individual sponsor and that child is depending on you. You can write letters and send small gifts and you will receive letters in return as well as an annual picture.

I have been a sponsor since I was in high school. My first boy graduated 2 years ago and is off on his own now, with an education!!! My second boy just started the 8th grade. Both of them were from South America so I could communicate with them in Spanish (an added bonus for me!)

As I sat down to write this post I remembered I was going to get the mail... and guess what I got today?!! (well, technically it's not yesterday...) A letter from my boy! His name is Nelson and he lives in Columbia (in a slum). Like I said he just entered the 8th grade and he's in a shoe-making apprenticeship (through Compassion). He writes,

May the grace of the most high God be over you daily. My family is well as God has cared for us and filled us with good health...
I want you to know that God, in his grace, has permitted me to do well in my studies. He has also allowed me to excel more and more each day in my favorite subject, math. Next year I will be in the 8th grade, something new, but I trust in God, that He will help me to do well.
In the (Compassion Project) I am in the shoe-making class and have learned a lot...
I ask that you remember me in your prayers. Thank you for your support.
With love,
Nelson

I learned from Compassion's country website (for Columbia) that Nelson lives in a high plains area and that most people there are unemployed. If they are so lucky to be able to earn money (typically as a street vendor) the average wage is $62 per month. Nelson's parents have 3 children. I'm sure that money doesn't go far and I'm excited that he will have other options available to him as he grows up because of the education and care he is getting from Compassion. Whole families benefit when a child is signed up because often parenting/other skills classes are offered and younger children are enrolled at the proper time.

Won't you consider sponsoring a child and building a life long friendship? There are so many children who could use this opportunity. Who knows, you might just have a budding scientist or leader for world peace writing you letters!

Compassion - it keeps the world turning.