Big Eyes

With Stace's parents back in England and Stace back to work full-time, Cora and I are starting our new life together this week.

So far, so good.

Stace gets Cora up for a feeding while he's getting ready to go to work, about 6 or 6:30, and then puts her back to bed when he leaves. That allows us both to sleep until 8:30 or 9, giving me more than 7 hours of sleep! Not bad for a mom of a 2 1/2-week-old. Last night, I fed her at 10:15 and she didn't wake up until 3!

Feeding time comes every 2 to 3 hours, followed by a bit of awake time and then a nap (for Cora, not mom). In the photos, she is on her activity mat. She's happy on her mat or in her bouncer for about 10 minutes on her own; she also likes to be in her sling and close to mom (or dad) when she is awake. She does tend to get fussy in the evenings, crying for maybe 30 minutes to an hour, broken up by periods of non-crying.

Hot Water

Saturday's plans of watching the Tour of California cycle race as it passed through Santa Clarita were dented when the water heater decided to die.

My Dad had been here all week but the heater started leaking when we got back from the airport after dropping them off. Typical!

Luckily my good friend Keith gave up half of his Saturday to help me installed a brand new heater. Well! I helped him install a new heater really.

Thanks Keith!!!

OK! I know what you're thinking. Where's the kid? There'll be more pictures of Cora soon.

Two weeks

Here is Cora singing - er, yawning. She likes to yawn and stretch, soon we'll post some photos of the stretching...
We had her two-week appointment yesterday (Thursday) and the doctor again raved at her health and looks. Must be from some distant relative, obviously.
She's now back up to her birth weight, 7-11, and has grown an inch, to 21 inches. The doctor said her umbilical cord doesn't look like it's ready to come off yet, so we will keep an eye on it and maybe bring her back in next week or the week after so they can put on a medicine to help it fall off quicker.

After the doctors, Nan and Pop bought us a Snugli and we went for a walk around Bridgeport, Santa Clarita's manmade lakeside community where there are many varieties of waterfowl.

A very loved baby...

Here is Cora with all of her grandparents.
She is now waking up a bit more during the daytime, and she has been a little more fussy the last day or two.
The last two nights she has woken up for feeding about every three and a half hours; thankfully, after the 5 or 6 a.m. feed, mom and baby can go back to sleep until the 9 a.m. feed. Last night, she was fussy after her 2:30 a.m. meal, and I was up bouncing her before finally bringing her into bed. She seemed very happy sleeping in my arms. Of course this isn't a habit I want to get into, but I'm sure that at 12 days old, we're not setting any lasting habits.
On Thursday we have our first "early" morning appointment - her two-week checkup at 9 a.m. It should be interesting trying to get up and out the door by 8:40.



Say it with me now - "awwwww..."

One week later

OK, so I'm a little late putting this photo and entry up, but Cora wanted to wish everyone a very happy Valentine's Day! She's wearing the outfit Grandma and Grandpa Wahla gave her, which hopefully will fit a bit better in a few weeks.

We celebrated Valentine's Day with a walk to Starbucks. Mommy really enjoyed her walk and her coffee. In fact, Mommy is really loving NOT being pregnant anymore! She can drink coffee without stomache troubles, take decent-length walks, and the hip pain and morning sickness are finally gone! Plus, she's now losing weight instead of gaining it. (More than 20 pounds off in a week!)

Nan and Pop Howard are here now and loving their first grandchild.

Healthy Girl!

We are continuing to settle in, and Cora so far has been an angel of a baby. Yes, it is early yet...

Last night (Monday night) was much better than her first night at home. She only got up when it was time to eat, so we managed to get in a bit more sleep. When I changed her diaper in the morning, she found her thumb - quite an accomplishment, considering her hands are normally flailing all over the place when she tries to find something to suck on.

We had our first outing as a family yesterday - a well-baby doctor appointment, a stop for frozen yogurt and a walk to the pharmacy for pain meds for Mom. (Day Four - Soreness Sets In)

The pediatrician said she is very healthy and looks "perfect." Her weight was 7 lbs 5 oz, so a very small drop from her birth weight (which is expected). The doc didn't do a jaundice check, because she thought her coloring looked just fine. Her birth weight and length were both about exactly 50th percentile - can you believe her rather, um, small parents had a baby smack dab in the middle range of baby sizes?

Cora's Homecoming

Cora and I came home from the hospital Sunday. Stace and I had a quiet day learning how to operate in our new life as a family of three - diapering, changing clothes, nursing, standing over the crib watching her sleep with tears filling our eyes. We were told many times while I was pregnant that you won't be able to believe how much you will love this brand-new little person, and that is the truth.
Our first night together was, predictably, a long one. Sleep for baby and parents came in one-hour spurts around feedings, changings, and short crying spells because Cora got her arms out of her swaddling blanket. She LOVES to be swaddled tight.

For Somer, it was not exactly love at first sight. Rather, our outgoing, talkative cat turned skittish and silent. When we first arrived home, Somer would inch toward the carrier, eyes wide and fur standing on end, and then quickly back away whenever Cora made a noise or movement. She eventually got close enough to sniff the carrier itself. After a while, she seemed more like herself and now seems to be accepting of her new friend.

Ladies and Gentlemen....

.......let me introduce to you....

Miss Cora Rose Howard

Cora Rose Howard

Today at 8.59am/4.59pm Lisa gave birth to a cracking little baby girl.
Weight 7lbs 11 ozs
20'' long
It took just 34 minutes and 10 really ace pushes.
Lis was in labor since 7.00pm last night (3.00 am in England)
I'll put pictures on the blog when i go home for a kip.

Labor!

I'm in the hospital! 3 cm, 100% effaced and painful contractions that are getting more frequent. We came around 4 p.m. If I haven't had Baby by early Friday morning, I'll be induced.
Stay tuned!

Full term - come on, Baby!

I'm officially 40 weeks today. The doctor said I'm still at about 2 cm dilated, and the baby's head is quite low. I started having occasional Braxton-Hicks (fake) contractions on Sunday, and they have continued intermittently. No pain, just a tightening of my belly. When she did my internal exam, the doctor also did a thing called "stripping the membrane" - basically running a finger along the bag of water to try to spur things along. She said it has a 50-50 success rate of getting labor going within 24-48 hours; I suppose it depends on how ready baby is to come anyway.

In case I'm still pregnant at the end of the week, I have an appointment set up for Friday at 2 p.m., where they will listen to Baby's heart beat for 20 minutes to make sure there is no distress at being post-term. And I'll be induced Tuesday the 13th if I haven't delivered by then.
One way or another, we'll have a baby in a week!