A few of her favorite things

She isn't old enough to watch Sound of Music and doesn't yet understand about raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but she does have her favorite things. Here are a few...

Turning lights off and on

Smiling and hamming it up for the camera

Jewelry...any and every kind...take note, boys-you're in trouble

Pulling hair...I find this one very unfortunate and have my hair pulled back 90% of the time

This one shows her teeth (she has 8 now) and she loves to bite everything except food...strange I know

 

 Loves playing the puppy game in which I run around in circles with a stuffed dog and she tries to chase after us

Naptime

For some reason Courtney has never been one to want to nap. I guess we don't really learn to value our sleep enough until we are old and have too many responsibilities and can't get as much as we might like. I thought I had hit the baby jackpot when I got Courtney. For the first couple of months she slept more than most babies her age. She would go for 4 hour stretches in the first few weeks. Then was sleeping up to around 7 hours a stretch by month 3. I am not sure when exactly it all went downhill, but downhill it went starting at about 4 months. We tried sleep training. I read numerous books. All really to not much avail. Now she is down to waking up usually once per night, which I can live with but unfortunately the better sleeping at night has pretty much ruined her ability to nap. Even when I know she is so tired she will sit and play, talk, complain, etc. When I finally go in to get her (sometimes after over an hour of entertaining herself and/or complaining) she is happy as a clam. I guess I will just try to be happy that I have a pretty content kid even if she doesn't sleep like she should.

Who? Me?

Now this takes skill...

 I don't think I look tired

Mobility and Court's latest obsession

Christopher had to leave Tacoma early to get back to work. The day after he left, Courtney began really crawling for the first time and the following day began pulling herself up to a stand. Now that she is mobile I sense that I am in big trouble and my life as I knew it was over. I can't leave her alone in a room for any period of time anymore or who knows what mischief she will manage to get into. We're still working on baby proofing.

 

This picture is more recent...she has now climbed up all the stairs in our tri-level condo

 

I'm not mischievious..

  

When Courtney first started using this table it seemed to be the only thing that could keep her attention

While she still clearly loves it, she is also expanding her horizons

 Check out my sweet ride..

Tacoma

In early July we went to Tacoma, Washington. My sister and her family were in the process of moving there. We went to help unpack and to spend time with the whole family. My brother came up from Oregon to help with the move and my parents assisted too. I hadn't seen my sister since Courtney was 2 weeks old, so it was great to see her and my newest nephew who is nearly 4 months old. None of the cousins had met before, so it was fun getting them together and being able to take some pictures of them.

Our first day there we went to a bbq at a friend's house in Gig Harbor

There was this huge beautiful park in Tacoma a few minutes from where my sister lives...I fell in love with it

Jen and mom

 

A cowgirl and a doctor...that is my kind of girl

 

Maddie is so sweet and would go to hug Courtney. 

Courtney was never sure what to make of it.

 

Cute baby Caleb

Cousin love

Nana loves her kiddos

Play dates

Courtney has a friend named Dasha. I met her mom, Julia, in our birthing class. Dasha is about two weeks younger than Courtney but looks older and has hit some of the milestones before Courtney. I love meeting up with Julia. She is a very sweet person and it is fun to compare and contrast the girls. It is fascinating to hear them make the same noises and see them do some of the same things, but they each have their own quirks too. It is nice to have a friend who is going through the same things at the same time as you. We can commiserate and also give each other advice. When Dasha and Courtney first would get together, they would mostly ignore each other and do their own thing. Now they interact more, but sadly that sometimes means Courtney is harassing Dasha by pulling on her necklace, clothes, stealing her toys, etc. It is interesting that they already seem to have a sense of  what is 'mine'. I hope Courtney learns to be a little nicer to her friends.

See how much fun we're having?

I think I will take this...

Why is she crying?

 Happy Dasha

Hi Mama

 

HI MAMA!

Mothers Day

I know I am going back a couple months for this post, but I wanted to share some pictures from Mother's Day (which this year also happened to be my birthday). We spent the afternoon at my mom's house and my grandmother was there as well. I am one lucky girl to have such a wonderful mother. She has been such a great example to me of what it means to really sacrificially love and continually give of yourself. She is also incredibly patient and kind. So thanks mom for being your fabulous self. I love you! 

Such a happy girl

Thanks to my mother in law for the super cute outfit

Where does the time go?

I thought I would be so much better about updating this regularly, but I've clearly been seriously slacking these last couple of months! I don't know how moms (especially ones with more than one kiddo) manage to keep their blogs updated. I find it challenging to just keep us fed and clean ;).

The past couple months have been busy and full of adventures. At the beginning of June my best friend, Sara, came out to California for a visit. It was wonderful spending some time with her and made me realize even more how much I miss having her around. Courtney liked hanging out with her too and we got to see new babies as Sara's sister recently had a little girl as did our friend Tiffany.

A couple of weeks later, Christopher, Courtney and I went to South Carolina for Christopher's best friend's wedding. It was in Charleston, which is where Christopher's parents grew up and they own a condo there so we stayed an extra few days and spent time with family. Christopher's sister flew down from NY to hang out with us too. We all had a nice time. I'll try to add some pictures from this trip later. In the mean time here are some pictures from the month of June.

 A really great hair day:

Sara and Courtney

Best friends for 16 years and counting!

 Did Olan Mills teach you these poses?

Sweet girl

 Huh?

 Learning to clap (she clapped with her feet before her hands)

 I didn't do it