You must be really bored if you read this entire thing.

Wow. Way too long in between posts. I have no idea where to even start. Since I last posted, we have celebrated Cora's first birthday, traveled some, had Christmas, taken down everything Christmas, celebrated New Years, had doctors appointments, re organized my whole entire house, and I'm sure lots of other fun things.

My "baby" is ONE!! Her actual birthday was on December 21st, but we celebrated it the weekend before. My cousin graduated from ACU and some of our family was in town, so we just decided to have a small family/a few friends party. She had just woken up from a nap when the party was getting started, so she was a little shy. She did NOT like wearing the party hats. She cried huge tears whenever we would put one on her. She loved her little toys that she got. She wasn't too sure about the cake. She didn't want to touch it with her hands, she would just lean over and take bites out of it. It was pretty cute. Here are some of the things my sweet Cora is doing at one year:

* Her vocabulary consists of mommy, daddy, sissy, Pappy (my dad), baby, diaper (biper), pat-pat (she does this to my fat tummy and to her baby dolls), night-night (ni-ni), no-no, bye-bye, yay (she yells this when Kaitlyn is driving her around in her Jeep), more (mo), and please (pees). She talks all the time - just in her own little language. But she is rarely quiet!

* She LOVES baby dolls. Kaitlyn never really had an interest in the, but Cora has quite a few! She loves to hold them and rock them and give them kisses.

* She loves Kaitlyn and anything Kaitlyn does. It is the sweetest thing to see them together.

* She is a very picky eater. She loves her bottle. She won't eat anything chunky. Or green. She doesn't like milk. We have been making her bottles half water and formula and half milk and she hasn't noticed a difference. But, she won't drink milk out of a sippy cup. She will drink juice or water out of a cup though. Any suggestions on how to break her from her bottle are greatly appreciated.

* She loves to kiss everyone and everything.

* She is beginning to show a little bit of a temper when things are taken away from her, or if she is being redirected from somewhere she shouldn't be. She either screams really loud, or she gives you the saddest face ever, covers her mouth with her hands, lays down on the floor and cries.

* She loves bath time. And splashing. Lots of splashing.

There are many more things, but this post is going to be very long as it is. So, here are a few pictures of our precious Cora James:

Christmastime!!! We traveled to the Metroplex the weekend before Christmas to celebrate with James' side of the family, and some of my extended family in Ft. Worth. We had a wonderful time and drove home with a van full of goodies. We are so blessed with such an awesome family. I am notoriously bad at taking pictures at Christmas for some reason. But, here are a couple from that weekend:

We were back in our own house again this year for Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. Last year I had just had Cora and this year we were just a couple of weeks away from having Claire. Crazy. My parents and brother drove in and spent the holiday here, which was so nice. I think we are beginning to like waking up on Christmas in our own house. It will probably become our tradition. Kaitlyn got a new bike from Santa, and Cora got a little "sit and learn" chair that, believe it or not, she is completely obsessed with. This year Kaitlyn decided to leave Santa a cookie and she threw a piece of cheese out on the front porch for the reindeer. How thoughtful. I'm sure they loved that.

New Years!!! James and I actually got to go out on a date on New Years Eve. Thanks again Mom and Dad! We went out to a nice dinner and then to see Juno. I thought it was a great movie. Then we just drove around for awhile and stopped by our good friends David and Amanda's house. We thought for a second about ringing in the New Year with them and Ann and Derran, but being the completely miserable 9 month pregnant wife that I am - we were home by 9:30. I was the only one up at mid-night - and not by choice. I am just SO ready for this baby to be here.

So, that leads us to the arrival of Ms. Claire Elizabeth. She is now due to make her appearance NEXT FRIDAY!! January 11th. There is an end in sight. My doctor seems to think it could even be before then, so we will wait and see! I am so anxious to meet our third baby girl. I can't wait to see what she looks like. Mom and I finished getting the nursery re-organized with another crib, more closet storage, and a little re-arranging of furniture. I am a little overwhelmed and nervous to say the least. If you think about it, send up a prayer for us as we begin life with a 41/2 year old, a newly one year old and a baby!

Annnd..... if you are one of the 2 people still reading this, leave me a quick comment and I'll email you a surprise!

Happy New Year!