Fridge Art!

So Cori will be moving up to the next class in her daycare in 2 weeks. For now, to get her used to the new teacher, and her new friends - she gets to go to that classroom a few hours each day. She came home with her first "lesson". I'm so proud! She is so smart and learning so much! She amazes me everyday at the words she can say and things she does and what she thinks is funny! I can't wait to watch her grow.....just wish time would slow down a little.

Nothing too new...

So not too much going on in the Cranford household. We are doing our regular routine and the days are flying by. Cori will be 19 months in less than a week and that just makes me so sad! Where has the time gone? She has gone to bed 2 nights in a row without her pacifier! I'm so excited! I have been trying hard to stay on the schedule her Dr. gave me as far as getting her off the bottle and pacifier. I was early with the bottle! She was drinking out of sippy cups by 11 months, no bottles! He told me to have her off by her 1st birthday. The paci though, for some reason I was reluctant to take it away from her. He said by her 18 month appointment she should not be using it anymore. Well, we passed that a few weeks ago. For the past, probably 4-5 months, I only allowed her to have her paci if she was IN HER BED (and sometimes on long car rides). She took to that very easy. When she felt like she wanted it and asked for it, she would go to her room and ask to get in her bed. How did I get such a well behaved little girl? Well the other night, I figured what the heck - I'll try to take it from her, thinking I would be back in her room a few minutes later to give it to her. Nope...she went right to bed! Last night was more difficult, she realized she didn't have it and cried for about 10 minutes asking for "PACI" sooo sad! But I stood strong and didn't give in...she was out in no time and slept like a rock! I'm not sure who I'm more proud of, me or her.

Cori and I are taking a road trip tonight! After work, we are picking up Uncle Stewart, Dylan and Laura and We are heading to Tyler to meet Bridget! (Poor James - he had a big A/C job come through and the customer wanted it done this weekend, so we have to leave him behind) Bridget's parents have a house out there by the lake and we are going up there for a relaxing weekend with good home cooked food! Should be fun! I think we are going to make margaritas one night, and hang out at the lake!! I'm looking forward to it!

Ashley is coming to Houston NEXT WEEK!!!! I'm so excited!! She is bringing her new baby Sydney that I've been dieing to meet!! YAY!

Pool & Mothers Day

So James and I decided to get a pool in our backyard. We'd love to get a big inground pool but that just isn't in our budget! So we decided on the next best, an above ground pool. Some friends had this pool and were moving from their house, they didn't want to take it with them so they sold it to us. We had to go take it apart (I say WE, but really it was James and his friends) bring it home and put it back together (I did help put it back together again!) It was pretty dirty as it had been sitting with no water for about a year or so. I swept it as much as I could while it was dry, but there was a lot of dirt, and the pool was stained. So we decided to just fill it up and deal with it later! Great idea actually. As we filled it up, the dirt came loose from the pool a lot easier then when we were scrubbing it! James got all the pumps and filters working and it started cleaning up on its own! We hooked up the little lady bug thing and it crawls around the bottom sucking the dirt and the skimmers are working well with the crap floating on top! I went and bought all the chemicals to put in it and it looks great now! I still need to manually vacuum though. There are some spots that darn bug just wont get! I think we can finally swim tomorrow!! The pool is HUGE for an above ground, 10,600 gallons of water (eeeek I don't want to see our water bill!) It took about 24 hours to fill!
I started with the pool b/c that was my mother's day present =) the money it cost for the pool, all the chemicals and the accessories are MORE than I would ever allow James to spend on a gift for me - so we called the pool our Mother's and Father's day gifts!! It's perfect! Can't wait to enjoy it with our little sunshine!! She keeps calling it a bath and says "IN MOMMA" So I know she is excited! I think I'm gonna go tonight and splurge and buy some pool toys! Whats a pool with no floaty things or dive sticks?!?

On actual Mother's day we slept in - YES, slept in until 9:30!! We got up and went to Dayton to see James' mommy! It was a nice relaxing day! Since no one wanted to cook on Mother's day we stopped on the way out there and got a big frozen lasagna to pop in the oven. It was so delicious and easy! While Cori was playing outside with Nannie she picked me a single rose off the rose bush and brought it in to me. It was the sweetest thing ever! She was so excited! Later, I got to lay down on the couch and take a nap too while Nannie and Cori played, and eventually laid down and took a nap themselves!

We left there around 5 and headed over to my brothers for a mother's day dinner with my momma! Bridget cook spaghetti (pasta 2 time in one day? Why not?) It was again, delicious! Sunday was also my brother and Bridget's 1 year wedding anniversary! We hung out like we always do and talked about inappropriate things at the dinner table.....but that's normal for us too! My brother and I got my mom the same card, imagine that!! We really enjoyed ourselves and Cori learned how to ride her cousin Dozer! So cute!!
Oh, and my dad bought a fourwheeler - he say's he bought it for Cori....they have been going on rides every afternoon now! She loves it, and her pawpaw!

Lasik

So its almost been a year since I had my Lasik eye surgery! That has, by far been the best money I have ever spent (on material things). I remember when I went for my consult, the nurse said to me "when you realize you haven't thought about your vision or your eyes or contacts or anything for a few months, that's when you know that it was a great decision! Well, my eyes and vision haven't even crossed my mind in quite a while! The only reason I even thought about this now, is b/c I have it written on my calendar that its been a year! After the surgery I questioned if I did the right thing. My right eye lagged behind my left eye and never saw as well. It went on like this for soem time. Everytime I would go to the dr. for a check up he said my right eye was seeing 20/20 and my left was seeing 20/15 -- no way! Its so funny, even at 20/20 which they consider to be perfect vision, I wasn't satisfied b/c I was seeing 20/15 (Above average) in the other eye. How spoiled can I be!! Well I am happy to inform you that both of my eyes see the same and wonderfully at that! I didn't think it was possible to see like this! I love it - It still amazes me to wake up in the night and see the clock! I think the reason I love this so much is b/c when I wore contacts, I would never take them out! Ever. I would wear the same pair that were meant to be 2 weeks, for about 4-5 months, straight - 24/7 - I was ruining my eyes, but couldn't take them out for the fear of waking up and not being able to see. This was really scary to me. I'm not sure why, but I was terrified. I think b/c my vision was SOOO bad that I couldn't even see my hand clearly extended in front of my face much less a stranger in my house at night....weird, I know. Thanks to Dr. Watson - I'm clear and so happy! This may sound stupid too - but when I can see clear, I feel prettier. When I used to take my contacts out, I would feel so strange like everyone was looking at me. It didn't have anything to do with wearing glasses either...I liked my glasses and thought I looked cute in them...but as soon as I took them off and looked out with my horrible vision, I felt so insecure and strange....not to mention scared....Anwyay.....just some thoughts from my head!

Cori is 18 Months old!

We went for her 18 month check up yesterday! She always does so good at the Dr. She shows off big time too. He asked me questions and she answered yes or no for me - even though sometimes she was wrong. For example, he asked ME if she was off the pacifier yet....she answered yes, while I cringed and answered, truthfully.....no. He asked her if she was a good girl and she answered back "PooPoo?" I always tell her good girls go poo poo on the potty, so I guess she associated "good girl" with poo poo. He did a quick exam on her to see if she has any signs of autism, but of course I knew she was just fine, and he confirmed it. They did some pointing exercises, eye contact, copy cat, and he asked her questions to see if she would answer...most of her answers were off the wall words but so funny to me. She acted like they were best friends, at one point she took his hand and said "Dance" and started bouncing and kicking - yes, she has sweet moves, like her momma!

Her measurements:
Weight: 26.5lbs / 50-75 percentile
Height: 32.5" / 75-90 percentile
Head Circ.: 18.5" / 50-75 percentile

How these were explained to me were (take her weight) she weighs more than 50% and less than 75% of other toddlers her age. Dr. Smith did say she was a BIG kid.....not fat, just big. He said her height and weight are a perfect match, but more for a kid a few months older. Funny, I always look at her and think she is short, and a lil' chubby. Shows how much I know, right?

She got a Hep B shot and it took a little bit out of her. She doesn't usually take afternoon naps at school but when we got home, she crashed out and was sleeping HARD. She cried and threw a big fit when I woke her up around 5. She was begging for bed again around 7:30 - I could tell she wasn't feeling well b/c she loves to be outside. James was mowing the yard and I was sitting on the patio hanging out and she wanted to be inside on the couch...so inside she went.....through the doggy door. She's such a mess!

BAAABY FEVER IS BAAAAD! I'm feeling it! I told James last Monday that I was ready to get pregnant again - but he put reality back in my mind. Day care and insurance is just crazy right now. We could probably afford another baby, but things would be so tight. Right now we are living pretty comfortable. We take care of all our bills on time and still have extra to do fun stuff that is unnecessary! We can't decide what we want now. Besides, now is not a good time until we either sell the 2nd house or find a renter for it.....2 mortgages for 4 months is NOOOOO FUN! Maybe we'll wait another year. There is really no rush!