Java Security

Hi
I'm new to java cryptography. I am trying to do a very basic encryption with Counter mode but dont know how to start.
The encryptions i have done so far use the simple : Cipher.getInstance("AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding");
from what i understand, a counter needs to be used in CTR mode that somehow gets encrypted and XOR'ed with the plaintext?

For e.g. if i had :

String plaintext = "I am Sam !";
String mykey = "Have you failed?";
String myiv = "This is your IV!";

int nonce=0;
//define a key

SecretKeySpec keyspec = new SecretKeySpec(mykey.getBytes(), "AES");

//define the IV
IvParameterSpec ivspec = new IvParameterSpec(myiv.getBytes());

//set the cipher to desired operations
Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding");

cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, keyspec, ivspec);

//Encrypt
byte[] encrypted = cipher.doFinal(plaintext.getBytes());

//Encode
String encoded = new sun.misc.BASE64Encoder().encode(encrypted);
System.out.println(encoded);

//Decode
byte[] decoded = new sun.misc.BASE64Decoder().decodeBuffer(encoded);

//get algorithm parameters for decrypting
AlgorithmParameters aparam = cipher.getParameters();
System.out.println("Params" + aparam.toString());

//Decrypt using the same key
cipher.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, keyspec, aparam);
byte[] decrypted = cipher.doFinal(decoded);
System.out.println(new String(decrypted));

So if nonce was the counter, how would it be used. i suppose it could be encrypted just as the plaintext is encrypted in the above example. What then? Do i use the XOR() function (that only xor's two bytes though).

I have no idea where to begin.
I'd appreciate any help or direction.

Thanks