Monday, June 25, 2012

Busy Week: Take 3

Today was the first day of VBS at our new church. We have 230 kids plus another 40 volunteers in the church building at once! It's really crazy busy, but it's been fun so far :) My little group of 6 kids are pretty good. However, I do have one child that clearly would rather just be at home playing video games. Plus, I think he mentioned that he already did this particular VBS curriculum at another church. I asked for a little guidance after we finished and I hope tomorrow is a little smoother.

I will say this - Jillian love it! She even took a nap for the nursery workers without bawling her eyes out. {I obviously need some tips from them! HAHA} They even took her to the closing singing program with all the kids and she had a blast! She was kicking all around and watching everyone dancing and singing. I'm so proud of her :)

We got home during the heat of the day, (we officially hit 100 degrees), and I took a quick cold shower. Then Jillian tried sweet potatoes with her rice cereal! It's the last veggie for Stage 1 so we'll be trying fruit next week. It's exciting to introduce her to all these yummy foods, especially now that she seems to understand the concept of eating.

Later tonight, Phil and I are meeting with our realtor to discuss some things. We're pretty hopeful and excited about it! Any good thoughts/vibes and prayers are always appreciated!

Now Jillian is making all kinds of squealing sounds mixed in with some "mamamamamama" sounds. Motherly duty calls!

I hope y'all are having a great Monday!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Roller Coaster

I started a post earlier in the day about my day yesterday. In all honesty, it was a super tough day for me as a mommy. It started with a horrible teething episode that caused a lack of sleep for everyone in the family. Then it morphed into bad eating patterns which eventually turned into me scaring Jillian. You see, when I'm really frustrated/angry about something, it's easier for me to scream into a pillow and get all that energy out. By doing so, the noise scared Jillian and made her cry. I mean full out bawling her eyes out. I felt so awful :( Luckily, we were able to get out of the house and go to the mall & Babies R Us with our friends Ms. Ashley and Addi Claire! Plus, a venti Starbucks drink for mama helped ;) The change of scenery did us both good and we had a much better evening with Phil.

Today was going much better than yesterday. Not only is she in a much better mood, but Jillian also took a 2-1/2 hour nap today! She has never slept more than 1-1/2 until this point :)

Then, this happened...


She finally rolled over! It was only one time, but I am still so proud :) Hopefully she'll do it again soon. I'm just really proud of her! It's so crazy how much of an emotional roller coaster being a parent can be. We had such an awful beginning yesterday and today just skyrocketed into amazing. I will say this, it is totally worth it.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Wednesday Randomness

I've had a few small thoughts spinning in my head. None of which are a complete blog post worthy. I feel like I won't be able to do a good post until all these thoughts are gone. The answer to this problem? Do a post about randomness :)
  • I bought myself the Turquoise & Caicos Essie nail polish for Easter, but I only put the color on my toes recently. I have just one word for this: LOVE! Not only is turquoise one of my three favorite colors, it really pops when I wear my 2-year-old white sandals from Target. 
  • Speaking of nail polish, I will admit that I love the photos on Facebook and Pinterest. Some of those nail designs look amazing and it would be kind of fun to have a mini work of art on my nails. However, you're lucky I can get two even coats on my stubby fingernails that last longer than 10 days. No matter how much I like nail polish, I'm really not good at it. Maybe some day...
  • I'm running to Michael's later to look for shadow boxes and picture frames for Jillian's baptism stuff. Not only did she get a beautiful certificate, but we got to keep the shell and cloth they used for the ceremony! I really want to do something special.
  • Today is the first day of summer! As with tradition, Phil and I will enjoy a large cherry limeade at Sonic :) It was something he started doing once he had his license and has been our thing together since we were married. Every year we take a picture with our summer drinks and today will be no different :)
  • With Jillian's 6 month birthday, it got me thinking about half birthdays. With my birthday so close to tax day, we sometimes had to celebrate on my half birthday, aka Courtney Day! I know not everyone pays attention to half birthdays, let alone celebrates them. I think it's kind of fun to have an extra special day out of the year. Plus, this may be my answer to doing something special for Jillian since her birthday is SO close to Christmas. Otherwise, she just gets bombarded at the end of the year and that's it. It is just something special that we will do as a family!
  • My first VBS at our new church will be next week. I volunteered to help corral kids to their activities and Jillian will hang out in the nursery. I'm pretty excited because this will be the largest VBS I have ever been a part of (250 kids!)
  • I haven't really talked about our house search very much. This is mostly due to the fact that we're not doing super well. The area of town we want? It's really popular. And the homes we want? They get snatched up in less than 30 days. 30 days. Right now, the average is 70-80 days on the market. Clearly there are homes on the market for 120+ days or else the average wouldn't be this long. We must have good taste just like everyone else. For now, our top two house choices are still on the market with no offers. We have less than 14 days before we're allowed to make an offer. I'm trying my best to be realistic, but I really like both homes. I'm praying nothing major changes in the next two weeks. Prayers and thoughts our way would be appreciated :) 
  • Jillian is suddenly an eating rock star. She went from crying at the sight of a spoon to finishing 3 full ounces of veggie/rice cereal in 15 minutes or less. It really is like speed eating! If you don't have the next spoonful ready, she'll get bored and it becomes a fight. For now, we just eat quickly and girlfriend seems satisfied. We have two more veggies to go through before we'll start fruits!
  • Not only did my parents leave yesterday, (which is always hard for me), but it was also an anniversary. In double whammy style, it is the day I had my early miscarriage in 2009 and the day I took a positive pregnancy test that turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy in 2010. Last year was a little easier since I had successfully gotten through the first trimester with Jillian, but I always have a rough day emotionally. Even with Jillian in my arms, I am reminded of the hurt I experienced two years in a row. I will never forget.
Happy Wednesday y'all!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Back to the Grind

After a long weekend full of activity, my parents are gone. It's always hard the first 24 hours and then slowly gets better. I am honestly so happy to have parents that I enjoy being around. I know I'll see them again soon, but it's never soon enough for me :)

Our weekend started with a quick church meeting, then we headed south to the Chickasaw Cultural Center. In case you were not aware, (since I'm really really white), I am a citizen of the Chickasaw tribe. In fact, there is a tiny town in Oklahoma named after our family :) Anyways, we had a small family reunion where we met up to see this new center. I forgot our camera so these were taken by my cousin Katie.
{Jillian waving to her adoring fans family} 

{The three of us waiting to go into the museum} 

{Most of the family that came! (Someone had to take the photo)}
{I did cover the faces of the two youngest members. Since I'm not sure how their parents feel about having the faces online, I thought I'd block it out.} 

{Meeting Great Aunt Becky for the first time!} 

Then Sunday, (Phil's first Father's Day), we had Jillian baptized at the new church we've recently joined. Two of my aunts from the reunion came to the service, as well as my in-laws! We had lunch at Interurban after and had a nice afternoon. For dinner, my parents babysat while Phil and I went out for a fancy dinner and a movie to celebrate his new job, graduation, and getting a big boy paycheck :)

{The three of us with Pastor Keith} 

{Us with her church sponsor - Tony!}
{Fun side note: He was my choir director my senior year of high school! I had no idea he was still at the church when we started visiting and were able to reconnect. Small world huh?} 

{The newly baptized with her family and pastor :)} 

Yesterday was more of a relaxing day for us. My mom and I went to see this movie, dad and I bought him an official Thunder t-shirt, and we had a nice dinner at Rib Crib. Sadly, they had to start the trek back home after lunch today. I made sure we got a nice photo before they left :)

{Jillian with her Jemma and G-Chaz. She's even smiling a little!}

I will admit that we're probably in the minority of those who don't really care about the big game for the Thunder tonight. We are more baseball and college football fans. I mean, it would be neat and all, but we're not on the edge of our seats about it.

I hope y'all are having a great start to the week!!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Quick and Simple

I know I've already been a little MIA as of late. However, for the next 4 days, I'll get to hang out with some of my favorite people in the world! People like...
{my parents} 

{my Aunt Joyce} 

{my Aunt Becky} 
{and a few others like my in-laws, cousin Kate, and of course...}

{my favorite baby in the world :)}

We are having a small family reunion tomorrow afternoon, then Jillian is going to be baptized on Sunday! Busy time, but very excited for it all! I'm hoping to take at least a handful of photos, but I can't make any promises ;) 

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Jillian: {Six Months}

Jillian –

You are six months old today! I am in awe of the fact that you are half a year old. I know all moms say this, but where has the time gone?! According to our at-home measurements, you are 14 lbs, 10 oz and 25 inches long. Your 6 month appointment is in less than a week and I’ll update your stats then :) Update: At 6 months and 6 days old, you are 15 lbs even and 25-1/4 inches long!

Due to the fact that some of your clothes were too short, and all the new clothes you’ve accumulated, you are now wearing only a handful of 3 Month clothing, most of your 3-6 Month, and 6 Month clothes. You officially wear size 2 diapers full time.

We usually have you at 5 - 6 feedings a day and you have between 6 and 6 ½ ounces. You also tend to eat less if other people feed you or when we’re out and about. I don’t know if you’re just trying to look at everything around you or what, but it’s hard to feed you outside our home. You starting eating rice cereal as of May 22nd, and you’ve tried carrots! After two full weeks, you really hated cereal. I mean, you would cry your eyes out at the sight of a spoon. Now with carrots mixed in, it’s not too bad. You were eating about a ½ ounce of cereal alone. Now with carrots, you’ll eat between 1 and 2 full ounces. You are a little apprehensive of solids, but you are improving every day!

You are still taking Zantac twice a day for your reflux. We may need to up your dosage, but we’ll ask your doctor about that soon.

New people don’t scare you, but you definitely like having mama and daddy around if they hold you. You had one episode with your Grandma Darla where you were just really upset about something and we were gone. However, when she showed you our engagement picture at their house, you seemed to calm down. You are getting more acclimated to the church nursery, but you do seem to sleep most of the time you’re in there ;)

You had your first real photo shoot today! We hired the professional photographers that took our engagement and wedding photos. We’re sure they are going to be amazing and can’t wait to see them.

Your daddy officially finished his graduate school degree this month! I know it doesn’t mean much to you now, but I know it will someday. Now that he started his job, you see him less during the week. However, you now really light up when he gets home and it is amazingly sweet :)

This month, we had an appointment with the special hearing clinic you go to. You are officially enrolled in a state-funded program that will help with your appointments. For the next 6 months, we will be going for speech therapy twice a month for 60 minutes sessions. Since you are already babbling/saying “mama”, I don’t feel like you’re behind right now. However, these sessions will ensure that you will stay on pace. Then in 6 months, we’ll have another meeting to determine how often we will need therapy. We are excited to work with the amazing people we have met and boy have you won them over with your smile :) You will also being visiting a special pediatric otologist as well as having a vision check just to make sure everything looks great. It seems like a lot of doctors, but they all work together with the hearing clinic, (and your pediatrician), to help you as problems arise. I’m so very thankful for this community of doctors. I personally feel like we are blessed to be well connected like this!

Teething wasn’t a horrible experience overall. Once your two bottom teeth broke through your gums, you were a much happier baby in general. We won’t get our hopes up just in case the next few are really painful for you. You do like teething rings, and frozen washcloths, but you’re not a fan of Orajel. We think your next tooth is starting to come, but no sign of it just yet. We started brushing your teeth shortly after your 5-month birthday. You did not like it at all in the beginning, but now you tolerate it much better!

You have yet to roll over, but you are so eager to crawl! You roll over to your side, and get stuck on your arm. If we try to move your arm for you, you just move it back. If we’ve learned anything about you thus far, it is that you do things when you feel like it! {You are definitely my child!} As long as you don’t get too frustrated about it, we don’t worry too much. You love your toes and you move your arms/kick around when you’re excited, (or watching Yo Gabba Gabba which is your favorite).

You consistently sleep between 9 ½ and 10 ½ hours at night and we are very thankful for that. This past Saturday, you slept a full 12 hours!! I’m almost certain it was a fluke, but it was nice of you to give your parents a few extra hours of sleep :) We think you might be ready for a growth spurt because you have one longer nap a day for the past week or so. Besides that, you are a big cat napper. You average between 20 and 30 minutes of sleep and nap about 3 to 4 times a day. As long as you’re rested, I’m not too worried about making you sleep more than that.


We are so happy to have you in our life baby girl! It’s exciting to watch your change and we love you so much :) Here’s to 6 more amazing months! {Plus many many many more!}


Outtakes:
{What are the cats up to?} 

{You want a smile mama? Here's a cheesy one :)} 

{le sigh. Are we done yet?} 

{Well hello friend. What's up with you?}

And for fun, let's look back on the last 6 months :)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sunday Social 6/10

I was going to do a quick update, but we were so daggum boring this weekend! Since Phil finished his first full work with his big boy job, he was pretty pooped. We did look at 2 more homes yesterday that look like better prospects. Let's just hope they don't get swiped off the market in less than 30 days like the others :-/

For something fun, I thought I'd do a link up! I don't do these often, but I recently became a follower of Ashley and thought I'd give it a try :) If you'd like to have some fun to, just answer the questions below and link up!!


Sunday Social




1. How did you come up with your blog name?
My original blog was "On This Side" which are lyrics from a Nickel Creek song I adore. However, when I changed to this blog, I wanted it to reflect where I was in life. At the time, Phil and I were just learning how to function beyond the newlywed stage of our marriage. Also, most of my posts are for my family to read to see what's going on with us. So I created "Court on the Coghills" as a way of saying it's me talking about our family. Also, I love corn, so it was a play on the word corn on the cob. Lame? Yeah, a little, but that's just my personality.
 
2. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
While I am thankful for the amazing women that I've met and consider friends, I also love being able to look back and see what happened way back when. I started my blog with Blogger in 2009 when many things were happening in my life. Sometimes I'll read an entry and laugh because I completely forgot about an event! 


3. What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can't live without?
Hmm... For me, it's a toss up between Birchbox and various baby items. When I was registering for Jillian, I did lots of research via blogs to find out what other moms liked/used for their babies. That was definitely MUCH more helpful than reading reviews on other sites.

4. Facebook or Twitter? And why?
That's tough for me. Most of my family is exclusively on Facebook, so that's why I really keep it around. If I had to choose one to have over the other, it would most likely be Twitter. I use it more often and it's easier to keep in touch. Maybe if I get my folks on Twitter, I can get rid of Facebook ;)

5. If one celeb read your blog, who would you want it to be?
Oh goodness, I don't even know! Maybe Emily Deschanel or Emma Stone. I like both of them!

6. What is something you want people to know about your blog?
Because Jillian is our first baby, I do talk about her a lot. I know some people hate reading "mommy" blogs. Since I'm a new stay-at-home mom, she's kind of my world! However, I'm pretty witty, (or so I think HAHA), and I love meeting new and friendly people!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Story of the Jumperoo

This is a story about a girl.

A story about a little girl and her toy.

A story about a little girl and her jumperoo toy!

A little girl who wasn't quite tall enough at first,

but has grown into her jumperoo.
{What a difference two months makes!}

A little girl who wasn't really sure about it,

but now likes her jumperoo toy! 
{Despite what you might think based on her sassy look. She kills me!}

I love her :)
This was her special Easter gift. Originally, she was WAY too tiny for this toy. We've slowly reintroduced her to the jumperoo and it is no longer eating her up! Jillian won't play in it for a long time, but she is getting better. Since she's such a big kicker, I'm sure it'll only become more fun as she moves herself around.

Post is based on this fun song!

Monday, June 4, 2012

First Day and Weekend Recap

Today was Phil's first day as a full time employee. No more school for him! {At least for quite some time.} We discussed last night how the mornings would be go from now on. In terms of day one, it works well for us. Let's hope day two goes just as well ;) Anyways, I ended up rearranging the furniture in our living room/dining room this morning. If our space is going to be limited for awhile, I want to be as happy as possible with the layout. I got so much accomplished before noon! That was quite fortunate because a certain someone was cranky for most of the afternoon. Plus, Jillian has suddenly gone from being pretty good with rice cereal to won't-open-her-mouth-and-hysterically-crying when I put a spoon near her face. It is quite a battle for sure. I hope this phase is short :-/

We did have a nice weekend. We went up to Tulsa for a quick trip. I got to have lunch with my amazing friend Annette, then Phil's folks threw a family BBQ in honor of Phil's accomplishment! Lots of extended family came by for burgers and just had a grand ol' time. We were only missing 1 or 2 couples for it to be the usual Thanksgiving crowd. Since this is our year with them for Thanksgiving, we joked it was a dry-run for Jillian ;) Luckily she did really well and seemed to enjoy her doting fans. {It is very strange to think that she will be roughly two weeks shy of being a year old for Thanksgiving. She will definitely be mobile if not walking by then. Makes me a little teary-eyed!} I tried to get some photos for the evening, but only managed a few before the crowd showed up.
{Jillian hanging out with great-grandma} 

{Jillian with her great-grandma and Grandma Darla}

I was originally going to see Mike before the BBQ, but he had so much going on that we decided to wait until Sunday on our way out of town to see him and Julia. The movers came today and they are leaving early tomorrow morning. They will be stopping a few times before they make it to Seattle. I was sad Jillian fell asleep during our visit, but I still got some good photos :)
{Love them!}
{p.s. Cute couple huh?! I think so ;)}

And what's a first day of work without some photos yes?
{Saying goodbye} 

{A kiss for the road} 

{And he's off to work!}

It sounds like his day went well overall. He will have to leave a little early tomorrow because he will be turning in his corrected dissertation to the university. I don't think you can get more official than that!

Hope y'all had a great Monday!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Mikey

{circa 1989}
{This just happened to be my birthday, Easter Sunday, and our first major holiday after moving to Arkansas}

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but my brother is moving in 3 days. His serious girlfriend, (and hopefully future in-law!), is going to start her residency at a hospital in Seattle, WA. They discussed it together, and decided he would move with her.
{circa 1986}
{You can tell he loves me already}

I am very happy for him. I know he is going to love living up there and he is in a great relationship. However, I think I'm starting to realize just how hard it's going to be for me.
Not that it should be about me per say.
{circa 1986}
{With our homemade Care Bears!}

You see, it's always been my family against the world. We have LOTS of extended family, but we never lived closer than a 4-hour drive to any of them at any given time since 1989. Even before that, it was at least an hour commute to the nearest relative. Sure we would have lots of trips to see family, but it was always the four of us relying on each other.
{circa 1988}
{I love this picture of my family}

I didn't have a Blogger blog yet, but my parents moving a few months after my wedding in 2008 was incredibly hard for me. In fact, it really defined me for awhile. I went through some major soul searching and was finally able to really get over it by 2010. Since then, it's been a little easier. It was hard during my pregnancy to be so far from my mom, but it all worked out. Plus, my brother was always nearby. If nothing else, he was in the same state.
{circa 2002}
{This was right before Mikey left for college}

For the first time in my life, I'm going to be completely separated from my 3 main family members. The 3 people I could always depend on no matter what. Sure Mikey went off to college his freshman year, but I still had my parents. Sure my parents moved 13 hours away, but Mikey was still close. Now? My parents will be closer than he will be. Not that we hung out all the time or anything. It was just comforting to know he was there.
{circa 2004}
{My high school graduation party in our house in Oklahoma}

I envy those I know with family down the street. Heck, I envy those who have extended family in the same state! We never had huge family BBQs at our house or anything like that. We just recently started a small family reunion on my dad's side of the family every other year in 2010.
{circa 2008 - Father's Day}
{Yes, we are always this awesome}
{p.s. Mike is definitely burping when we took this}

I know I'll be ok and it will eventually get easier. Skype is definitely a lifesaver for me if I need to physically see my family. And don't get me wrong, I love Phil's family! I love how they're nearby and we all get along great. It's just different because of the strong bond I have with my family. Like I said, it was us against the world. The 4 of us side by side. Even though I'm sad we're so far apart, I'm thankful that we are so close knit in our hearts. I'm also thankful that we were raised to live our lives no matter where life takes us. As my mom said, "As long as there's a major airport nearby, we will always visit when we can."
{circa 2003 - Senior Night football game}

A beautiful song comes to my mind. The lyrics are incredibly fitting for this situation. I love you Mike. Be safe on your travels and know that I am always here :)

But I Know What It Feels Like

This post is going to be awfully vulnerable and hard for me, but I really want to finally say it out loud. I got permission for my daughter ...