Quarterly Report- 2 years old

I can't even believe it. Cora is TWO!

 (Us before church a few weeks ago.)

Cora turned 2 on Easter, which made it a doubly special day in our house. Well, triply with my parents' 30th anniversary then too. Big day!

Maybe it's the hormones and feelings of mother guilt as baby 2 prepares for his big debut, but I have been thinking of just how sweet of a 2 year old Cora is. People have been warning me about the "terrible 2's", and while she has her moments she is still the best "terrible 2" I've ever known. I can't remember the last time we had to take her out of church because she was throwing a fit. Except when I went up to speak, because she is VERY attached to mom. She isn't a hitter (or worse, biter), for which I am very grateful. We have been talking about how nice babies are to help reinforce positive feelings about baby brother, and so now she calls everything "so nice". Babies, blankets, cars, everything.

She LOVES animals. I'm currently working on making her an animal blanket since 1) I never made her a baby blanket and 2) it is going to be perfect for her. She is totally unafraid of animals, even if she probably should be. Like the barking dogs that we pass on walks. Even these dogs are "so nice".

When she wakes up in the morning, she usually talks to herself for a while and we get her when she starts whining. As soon as I open the door her whining stops and she says in this husky little voice "Hi. I take nap!" Every morning. It is so funny.

She is SUCH a good helper. She wants nothing more than to help sweep. mop. vacuum, or help collect the laundry to wash. If she spills, she automatically gets a towel from the kitchen and cleans it up. We are trying to heap praise on her for that, to see if that helps. The other day my belly was hurting (you can complain about feeling big after 30 weeks right??) and she grabbed a towel from the kitchen, spread it on my stomach, then got my water and gave me a hug. It melted my heart.

She talks SO much. It's kind of funny, she had a babbling stage then started putting together some words and then barely talked. Then she realized that she could communicate her thoughts, and now she is babbling a lot more mixed with her words because she just gets so excited to get her thoughts out. But there are lots of filler words that I still don't understand.

She loves her dad and as soon as we drop him off at work she says "Dad work? Dad home soon?" And then when we get him from work this is her face the entire time:

And then she plays with him all the way until bed time when she screams to get away from him because she just wants me.

Cora Faye, you're going to be the best big sister.

April 2017 Utah trip, Part 3.

The other thing I wanted to do was go to the Tulip Festival with Cora. We went with Aubry again, and Jaran came with us. It was beautiful!

 People loved seeing Cora sitting among the tulips.

 Jaran is so nice to chase Cora around so the two pregnant women didn't have to.

 She loved feeding the fish.

 The scents were amazing.

Oh my cute Cora!

 

 They have a permanent exhibit of statues representing different scenes from the Bible an early church history. It was amazing!

 Funny story- after we looked through the flowers we went to the food trucks and got some lunch. We were sitting on a hill, and Cora unlocked the stroller and pushed it down the hill. Well, that was the fastest I have moved in a long time! I caught the stroller before it ran over some teenagers sitting in front of us.

 Cora had a lot of fun and entertained Grandpa Myres. Here she is saying "Ta-da!"

 I'm glad we got this picture with Grandpa. It was just before we went to the airport, and he was about to go back to bed. Cora called Grandma Myres "My-ERS!" and Grandpa "Gih-Dapa My-ERS!" She was very sweet and talkative to them, even though she was pretty unintelligible. She ran around and danced and made everyone laugh. I know she won't remember it, but I will!

 Trying to convince a 2 year old to stay in her seat was rough.

It was worth all the stress of traveling at 30 weeks pregnant and dealing with a 2 year old on my own for 4 days. Oh yeah, and forgetting her favorite stuffed animal for the night. But we made it, and had a lot of fun!

April 2017 Utah trip, part 2.

The next morning we said goodbye to aunt LaDawn, or "Aunt Donald" as Cora called her.

 We got to go meet up with our friend Aubry, who we hadn't seen since we moved from Miami. We went up to Temple Square and saw the pretty flowers. Cora was in heaven.

 We walked across the street to City Creek center for lunch, and while we were eating we saw a man standing with a group of women taking a picture. We said "Wow, that man looks like President Uchtdorf from behind!" Then he turned around and we realized it WAS president Uchtdorf. Now, our family feels like we have a connection with him (doesn't everyone?). He helped my aunt Jill when she was really sick, and my parents currently had his quote "Fourth floor, last door" for their mission motto. So when I saw him I ripped Cora out of her high chair and tore out after him. Leaving Aubry with our stuff in the restaurant. (Sorry Aubry!) He was walking away but I was determined. With my 29 week belly chasing him, I called out and asked him if I could take a picture. He was nice enough to oblige.

 

 I knew I had about 10 seconds, so I told him about my parents and their mission quote. He patted my cheek and said that it was nice to meet me. Then he left. I was totally in shock that I had seen someone who I look up to so much. And he was so nice! Even though I probably seemed like a crazy person. When I told Brandon about it he was so embarrassed that I chased an apostle down. But I knew if I didn't I would have regretted it!

 We had so much fun with Aubry!

 After that it was time to leave grandma Murphy's house and go to the Myres' house. Cora did not cooperate for pictures. Oh well... we can try again later right?

 Made it to the Myres! She took all their toys off their stair landing and brought them to her bed.