Thanksgiving

Cora and Uncle Mark
Blaikley and Cora (Cora is about a month older)

We went to Dennis's Uncle Mike & Laurie's house for the pre-Thanksgiving dinner with all of his extended family. I didn't take many pictures, but these are a few. Cora did much better than last year - she actually stayed awake this year! It was great to get all the kids together since we haven't seen them in awhile.

Lovey

We are trying to phase out the buddy (pacifier), but she does have her moments. Last night she decided to go in her room and beg for a buddy. I went in there and gave her one of her loveys. She asked again for the buddy. Well after three loveys and a blanket she figured out she wasn't getting a buddy and gave up. She was walking around holding them all so tight. She would freak when the blanket would fall off her shoulder. After a few minutes she agreed to put them back in the bed, but she wouldn't budge on her taggie lovey - that one is her favorite. And its the only one that I have no duplicates of!

All This Over Raisins

Wow - look at that tear!

Ok, Cora has major on/off switches that we can't control...one day she hates shoes, the next she is obsessed with them. Two weeks ago she hated raisins...now she loves them and has to eat them all the time! The other night I was feeding her dinner and she saw the container of raisins on the counter. I told her no she needed to eat her dinner first. As you can imagine, that went over well. She got upset in her highchair. She wouldn't calm down and as history has proven to me, she needed some alone time to regain composure. I took her to her room and let her cry it out in bed. Normally she gets over it in a couple of minutes. This time it made her even more mad. After a few minutes I went back in her room to see if she was ready to calm down and eat her dinner. She wasn't, but I changed her diaper and tried to reason with her. Didn't work, so I put her back in bed and told her I would check on her in another few minutes. Well during that episode Dennis came home, he heard all the commotion and decided not to intervene. I got him up to speed on what was going on. He had never heard her throw a fit this bad...she saves them for Mommy only. (isn't that sweet of her?) Well I checked on her again and since that wasn't working I picked her out of bed and put her on the floor so she could decide when she was ready to come out. She finally came out and saw Daddy...she was mortified. I am not sure if she was more embarrassed that he saw her behave that way or if she was scared he was going to spank her or something. He asked her for a hug and she ran and buried her face into me!

She ate her dinner but continued to pitch fits the rest of the evening. Dennis was finding humor in it and was taking pictures. He really wanted to take video of it, but I didn't have a disc ready.

Here she is crying to him and pointing to what she wanted (for the life of me I can't remember).

Can you say Momma's girl? She was crying hysterical when I picked her up and she just cuddled right up to me like this. I was laughing because she went from hot to cold that fast.

Wreck 'em Texas Tech

Ok, so in reality they wrecked us. That was a very sad game for us Techsans, but that's ok. They have played an awesome season and there is still a small chance for us to finish well. I am still proud of my alma mater!

Plus Cora looked really cute in her dress again this weekend. I really need a new outfit for her and you can't find any Tech stuff all the way down here!

Here she is making her own seat with a ball.

Snoop

I haven't really been trying to hide Christmas presents from Cora since she is too young to understand...well I may be wrong. I found her digging in the box of presents this evening! I already have a snoop on my hands. I am going to have to find a good hiding place for her presents soon.

441 Is 10-42

The Fire Marshall of LJ, Randy Crim thought of this little guy. I don't think the picture does it justice. It was hilarious. He made up a badge for him too. This was right as you walked in the door, so it took you by surprise.
Mike Harper, Fire Chief, presenting a plaque to Dad from the Fire Department

Dad's farewell speech. He held his composure pretty well.

Eric and I with the 'Linus', aka Spanky.

Randy Crim, ED Baker and Grandpa with Cora.

Cora hanging out with Grandpa after things died down some.

For the non-police code people 441 is 10-42 means: Assistant Chief Jim Dunlap is off duty. The reception for my Dad was wonderful. There were so many old faces. Of course most of them said that the last time they saw me I was about Cora's age. I really made them feel old when I told them she was mine. And in reality it hasn't been that long since I saw most of the people, but it has been a long time. And some of those people didn't realize I had married Dennis. (Our Dads have been friends for 30+ years and were volunteer firemen and policemen together). We are so proud of Dad and wish him lots of relaxation in his retirement. He has been a huge figure in the community and in the PD and will be missed by many. I am also looking forward to him spending more time with Cora. She was trying to say Grandpa when we got home, but only 'Gra' was coming out...we'll keep working on it!

Cora was awesome the whole time. She was quiet when everyone talked...except for when Grandpa did! She clapped when everyone clapped. It was great. She also did really well considering that everyone was going nuts over her and touching her and trying to hold her. She went to a few people, but not for long if I was nearby. She let Uncle Eric hold her a lot too...but she was having lots of fun playing with him.

Mailman

The other night I was going through all the mail and we had a ton of junk, so I was giving it to Cora to play with. She has a toy that is a mail cart and I told her to go put her mail in her cart. She did - one piece at a time! It was cute and neat to see her understanding me more and more.

Reading a story with Daddy.

Pink Eye

All I know is Daddy picked up Cora on Thursday and took her to get the second half of her flu shot. I had Bunco that night and then was going to the Nutcracker Market on Friday. I let her sleep in and then I was going to take her to school. Well she woke up around 7am which is unusual for her lately, she normally sleeps until around 8am or later if we let her. I picked her up not noticing that her eyes were sealed shut. I finally realized it and just about freaked out. I got them cleaned up and open only to see blood red eyes. I prayed it wasn't pink eye, but the doctor didn't even need to see her - it was diagnosed over the phone...yep pink eye! Poor thing got it bad in both eyes. Well I picked up the drops and took her to Daddy for the morning. Then I headed to the Nutcracker Market...I know I am a bad Mom...but she felt fine and was acting fine. Nana met Daddy at the house and took over around 2:30pm. They had a fun afternoon together. She feels a lot better than she looks. She slept fine last night and her eyes were much better this morning. Still goopy, but not near as bad. From what the doctor said, by now she is no longer contagious...my eyes have been itchy since yesterday morning...but I think it is mostly because I can't handle eye things. I can't put drops in my own eyes! Having to administer drops in her eyes this morning by myself was interesting. I think it took five drops to get one in each eye...not bad for me!

Go Red Raiders!!

Ok, I am posting this before the game is over, but Cora was in her Raider Red all day today! She had her bow on this morning and wore for a couple of hours. We went to a Christmas craft show at a church in Pearland and everyone made comments. You don't see much Tech stuff down here and everyone loved her bow. She yanked it out in the car when we left. She looked precious!

I hope she gets over this bow thing soon! I am going to keep putting them in, she'll give in eventually.

Grandpa

Well Grandpa (aka Assistant Chief) finally did it! He is retiring...after 28 years with the City of Lake Jackson. He joined the force when I was about 5 years old. I was too young to remember it all, but from what I remember being told he just got the job for a year or so while he figured out what they were going to do with their business they owned that wasn't doing so well. Well, they sold it and 28 years later, here we are. Having a Dad as a police officer growing up in a small town is not so easy, but it does have its perks. Like the car being registered in Dad's name...so I never got a ticket in LJ...but I think I was only pulled over twice in my high school years. My brother used it way more than the rest of us kids! Ha Ha.

Grandpa and Nana came up a few weeks ago so I could take some pictures of him in his uniform one last time. Cora patiently waited her turn and got some with him. She was giving him kisses and would laugh because his mustache would tickle. It was really cute.

Happy Retirement Grandpa!! We love you! Cora can't wait for all the extra time you'll have to play with her.

Balls

Cora loves playing with balls. She is pretty close to saying the word ball too. Her teachers at school sit on the big balls while the kids are playing and she has learned to do it too.

Tucker loves to play with balls too and I accidentally kicked the orange ball in his direction instead of to Cora and he bit it and it is dead now. He has a habit of doing that!

Daddy and Cora were playing with one of Tucker's little balls and it went under the couch...I saw this and thought it was very cute!

The other night we were cooking dinner and I was giving her some green beans, but they were a little too hot, so I was blowing on them. She decided she would help...and ended up spitting on them. Whatever works I guess!

Tear Jerker

You have to hear this song...I cried when I heard it today. It is hard to hear when I am already weepy that Cora is growing up so fast!

It Won't Be Like This For Long - Darius Rucker

Now go kiss your kids! :-)

If the link above doesn't work, here's the actual address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmZtpUfiRqg

I have cloned my sister...

Everyone always asks who Cora looks more like. I always say she has my family's features, but she has a lot of Dennis's mannerisms. Well I always see my sister in Cora and I finally convinced my mom of that after we looked at this picture. It is mostly in the eyes, but it is amazing how much they look alike! The eyebrow is even crooked the same! Yikes.

The funny part is that when I was growing up, everyone would comment that I looked a lot like my Mom's best friend, Cindy. Well Cora looks a lot like my best friend, Kristan (aka sister!).

How 'Bout Them Red Raiders?

Cora in her Game Day Dress.

Costume Photos

My little 50's girl in her pink poodle skirt.

This was the best picture of her in her costume, but of course it isn't in front of the nice backdrop scene!

I was trying to put my cat's eye glasses on her and she wouldn't keep them on.

We had to stop and change Mommy's shoes. She is obsessed with shoes - we are in so much trouble.

Cora didn't want to sit on the set and have her picture taken, she would allow a couple to be taken, then she would come sit in my lap. It was cute, but not helping me get pictures in her costume!