Coraisms

Coat = Oak
Moth = Mof
Possessive = Daddy's, Mommy'f, Doh-wa's (Cora's)
Book = Boobaw
Brigita = Beebaw
Walk = come play with me (as she takes your hand to lead you somewhere)
No-maw = Gramma, Dada = Grandad
Nany is said correctly, Da = Granda
No-nuh = Fiona
Out = heart
Bee = any insect that is not a mof
She likes to point out that it is dark in the evenings. Dowk! Or she says it when she covers her eyes with her hands.
Hello = Arrrouw (like Scooby Doo)
Elmo = Ah-mow
All animals are still referred to as the sounds they make, except for duck.
Blocks = Doh-wa's bok
Milk = nips
Sun = nah-nah
Slide = whee
Water = wah-wah
Minkabow = pink ball
She is now putting two words together, like "Daddy home," "pink ball," "yuk poop"
M&M's = num-num (yes they are, Little Girl)
Noodle = noo-noo

I can't believe you are 23 months old today. Where did the time go? I love you more every day.

Remember

Today is an official day to remember. But I remember every day.

I thought of you every time I looked in the mirror. It's amazing how much faster the outwards signs show the second time around.

I picked out a shirt for your sister to wear to tell Daddy. It said "Big Sister" in bright pink glitter.

We happily wrote out our top names in sidewalk chalk in the back yard. It doesn't rain often here in the summer, so the names remained for quite a while before we hosed them off prior to having company. We didn't want to give it away. We had a girl name and a boy name ready from that list. We smiled when we spoke of them.

We brought your sister to the ultrasound. We wanted her to be as ready as possible to welcome you.

She wandered happily around the room as the doctor told us he couldn't find a heartbeat. 

He looked me in the eye and said that it could be too early and maybe I had calculated wrong.

But I knew.

I looked at my beloved's pale face and saw.

He knew.

While we were planning and dreaming, you had slipped away quietly to be with Jesus.

We waited a week to be sure. I wondered if my body would figure out that you weren't growing.

We knew what would happen when we returned to that ultrasound room. But what we didn't know was that you were two.

Identical twins. 

Something he had not noticed before. He was sorry for our loss.

Another week passed and we officially lost you by way of a medical procedure. My body didn't want to know that you were gone. But my heart knew.

I want you to know. That I will always remember you. That you were loved and wanted. That one day I will hold you both in my arms when this life is past. That there will be no more tears.

And that my beloved Father is my comfort. 

He always knows. 
And I trust Him.

Ariana's Under The Sea Birthday Party

Yesterday we went to one of the most amazing birthday parties I have ever been to. A couple from our church who we have been able to get to know through our small group have a daughter, Ariana, who just turned four.

Her party was themed "Under the Sea," and we entered their house to experience a craft time of making colored sand jars, finding the "treasure" in the sand box, and making jellyfish out of paper bowls and curl ribbon. All the while there was loads of sea-themed, kid-friendly food and the soundtrack to The Little Mermaid playing in the background.

The "cake" involved individual frozen dough in a cupcake form with cotton candy ice cream in the middle and a whale tail made of white chocolate coming out of the ice cream. I wish I had taken a picture of that!

As we left, Cora was invited to raid the "treasure chest" and pick a few things to go in her individual treasure box.

Seahorses with cutouts letters inside saying, Happy Birthday Ariana

finding treasure in the sandbox

time for presents!

(L toR) Fish bar, under sea pasta salad, octopus dip, fruit of the sea
in the middle is a beautiful sandpaper castle

Aimee found the outside toy box

my favorite: sand pudding (pudding with layers of crushed vanilla wafers and oreos)

PB & J cutout as dolphins

the birthday girl

fresh ocean water

sea foam, ocean pearls (cake pop-like wonderfulness), ocean jello (blue jello with a fish in the middle)

waiting for her last gift, a new bike from Mom and Dad

making a jellyfish with Daddy

the crayons were stars that Megan had made by melting down old crayons and placing them in star-shaped molds

hanging fish; on the right there was a net with fish hanging in the doorway that I didn't get on camera 

My Escapist

getting treasure from the lovely hostess 

A Day At The Beach

Yesterday it was 87 degrees at my house! It has never been that hot since we moved here. Inland a little ways, yes, but not right where we live.

Cora and I took advantage of our gorgeous day (Sean was working) by meeting a friend and her baby at the beach.

I was a little nervous taking a video of her down by the water. She is so fast and would easily dart off into the surf, since she really has no sense of danger yet. But we managed a slightly successful video.

Fun At The Park

My meetup group got together at the park a while ago, and I finally took some pictures. I A.D.O.R.E. these ladies and kiddos.

Olivia (with Oriana), Joy, Shannon, and Sarah

Corbin (Sarah) is doing interesting stuff with the woodchips and Emeline (Joy) and Cora want in on the fun

Anderson (Shannon) came along and took this fun to a whole new level

now the little ones are trying to recreate the awesomeness that they just witnessed

Sarah and Shannon

Cherrelle, Aniaha (Cora's BFF) and I

this was Olivia and Oriana's first meetup

Olivia and Joy

Emeline and Cora

some random kids were kind enough to share their sand toys with Cora when she wanted to play

Church Mentor

Our church has a women's mentoring program that I signed up for a few months ago. My mentor's name is Diane, and she is wonderful. We have been able to get to know one another over tea and a study in the book of Matthew.

Our most recent get together included Diane's granddaughter, Amanda, as well. She helped watch Cora while we studied. Diane is always giving Cora cute little things, the latest being a board book about sea animals.

Daddy and Cora reading her new book

Oh, iPhone Video, How I Love You - Part 3

I've been having trouble uploading some of my videos to my blog; hence the multiple video posts. I think perhaps they were too large, but I have finally figured it out. Thus ends the trilogy of iPhone video (for now). Some of these are a couple minutes long and probably only grandparent material, but I wanted to include stuff that she is doing as she gets older and changes so fast.

The following is a video I took back in January with our new HD camera. I could never get it to upload anywhere but finally got it on YouTube. Cora used to dance in place whenever she heard music, and I'm so glad I caught a little of it on video. She doesn't do this anymore.

This next one was taken when Cora and I went over to a friend's house for a playdate. She has a little boy who is 3 months older than Cora. We were chatting in another room when we heard hysterical laughter. We got a little of it on video after we went to see what was going on.

Another time we were at a different friend's house, Cora got to play with the garden hose for the first time. We live right near the coast, so it usually doesn't ever get above 70 degrees here. We really don't have the appropriate weather for an outdoor kiddy pool, so Cora doesn't get to play in water outside unless we go to a water park inland. My friend lives in a gorgeous sunbelt, and it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day when we visited. We also don't have grass in our yard, so Cora was in for a double treat.

At 19 months, Cora is running everywhere. Sometimes she just runs in circles and giggles. I was trying to get that on video in this next one, but she got distracted right away and proceeded to start looking through one of her animal picture books and making the sounds for all of them.

This last one is one of my favorites. Sean was laying flat on the living room floor, throwing a ball up in the air, and Cora was right beside him giggling hysterically. I started video taping right as she moved, but then I managed to catch her trying to get back into the spot she had just been in with her head directly next to his. 

Summer Shenanigans

"Time for bed?!! What?!! NO!!"

fun at the coffee shop with Momma

feeding Brigita kleenex from the bathroom trash bin

a date at the Farmer's Market

no caption needed

play date at the park with Daddy