We were blessed with a visit from my high school friend Trahnel, and her daughter Calla, this week.

Trahnel and Mike moved to his home state of Kentucky the summer Stace and I got married, so we've been long-distance friends a while now. Noah is almost 6, so he's in school and stayed home with Dad.

Calla, who's almost 4, and Cora had a great time playing together and we all enjoyed catching up.

Calla and Trahnel had spend the day at Disneyland before visiting us, hence Calla's awesome face paint.
And Cora's pretty hair-do is from our trip to the salon for a bang trim. She immediately took out all the flowers, but has left the little twisty pony tails in.

The weather this week was back to normal for us, so Cora had a good amount of park time. We met some friends on Monday, and Cora had fun with her Lightning McQueen cars in the sand. She's still playing with them all a lot; at the moment she's covering the big red Lightning pillow toy with a blanket and moving him from the toy stroller to the bed. Thankfully, she is also playing with her bears and dolls a bit more, too.

Cora has been using the word "cool" a lot, but of course for her, it comes out, "tool!" It's really cute.

I had my 28-week appointment this week, and all is well. I now start going every two weeks! It's true what everyone says, that pregnancy goes by faster the second time around. Last time, we were going to our labor classes, spending lots of time reading up on pregnancy and babies, researching gear - it occupied so much more of our time. Duckie is moving a lot more now, with those powerful moves that feel like your stomach is being turned upside down.

In other news, Cora and I have caught the cold Stace had at the beginning of the week. We can't complain, we're all generally so very healthy, but I do hope to get past it soon. We have fun plans for Sunday night and Monday to be well for!

Walk in the hills

After a week of rain, the weekend was beautiful.

A bit chilly but that made it perfect weather to enjoy a walk out in the hills. We drove to the end of Stevenson Ranch and took a nice walk to explore Mentryville, one of the area's early settlements and the state's first oil boom town.

We spotted a number of nice birds, a bunny and a ground squirrel, and a small stream, the type we have around here that only flow after a lot of rain.

Cora loved her time out walking, and occupied herself finding mud puddles, sticks and rocks. In fact, it took us a lot longer to get back to the car, even though that direction was downhill, because the tiny pebbles (bits of asphalt, truth be told) were just too fascinating.

In the second photo, she's on the porch of Felton School, from 1885. She also liked climbing up the ladder of a falling-apart structure we think might have been used for filming. (Don't worry, grandparents, we didn't let her walk around that porch.)

The last two photos are for those of you who find it hard to believe, knowing our extreme summer heat, that we actually get frosty mornings.

Yes, that's a layer of ice on Stacey's windshield and window, and that is frost on the roofs and grass. It melts away pretty quick when the sun comes out, so it's usually gone by 9 a.m.

Lastly, I'll share a quick Coraism that just happened as I was finishing this blog post. Cora's been in bed for almost an hour, and I heard her shouting that she needed to use the bathroom. That's great news, because it's annoying when she makes a mess in her diaper when she's awake, simply because she chooses to not tell us.

Anyway, I went in and asked her if she wanted socks on her feet, since the tile floor is cold. I had offered socks before putting her to bed earlier, but she refused. This time, she said, "Yes! I've been asking for them for three days!"

The sun is shining again! After it rained for six days straight, we are appreciating our friend again.

It's quite cool today, and we had a good amount of frost this morning. The temperature is supposed to drop to freezing again tonight. We'll have to wait and see how the tons of rain and frost affect the vegetable garden.

The first set of photos here is from our trip to the mall last night, where Cora had a great time at a new attraction, an obstacle course.

In the last photo in the series, you can see the bangs we're growing out, hanging in Cora's eyes. She's been refusing to wear anything in her hair lately, so it will be great when this part of her hair grows out enough to stay out of her eyes.

Then we have Cora and her best friend in the whole world. Cora's been using this sort of phrase a lot lately, and it's super cute. I'm also her best friend, as is Lightning McQueen (the Cars movie character) and Ave.

The next photo shows Cora back in her city My Buddy and Me class, with a great little girl named Maya. When we lived in that little apartment last year, we met Maya and her parents, and got along very well. Maya is a week older than Cora, and it was a great surprise to see them in Cora's class.

And lastly, Cora playing with a Very Hungry Caterpillar colorforms set I bought a long time ago and put up on the shelf. It was a great toy to pull out this rainy week, and occupied Cora for quite a while.

A few funny things Cora's done lately:
I was able to let Cora feel Duckie moving the other day, for the first time. She had wonder in her eyes as she felt the kicks. That night, Cora lifted her shirt and told me, "Mummy, there's a baby in my belly, just like Duckie! I can feel her moving! Come here, do you want to feel her move?"

I complied, and she was very pleased and excited.

This week Stace and I have noticed Cora calling us "Dad" and "Mum" more often. She's growing up even more!

And she likes to play "tickle torture" with us. She'll sometimes initiate the game, and I have to admit, her little nails scratching me don't always, well, tickle. So if I don't react properly, she'll yell, "Laugh, Mum, laugh!"
Right then! That's what I was supposed to do!

During the week, we went out to dinner one night and stopped at a furniture store to look at new dressers for Cora. All her furniture will move into Duckie's room in the coming months, and we plan to get her one nice big, white dresser she can hopefully keep for many years.
Cora had a great time looking at the furniture, and she seemed to like the one we've decided upon.
That night, when I was saying goodnight, she randomly said, "When I fall out of my big-girl bed, I will cry."
Poor thing! She must be worrying about this! So I quickly explained that her big-girl bed will have little bars that will keep her from falling out. (The bed is actually standing in the garage on its end, but she hasn't asked about it and probably hasn't figured out that it is, in fact, a bed.)

Rain, rain, rain

A sopping wet "hello" from rain-soaked SClarita.
The storms promised for this week have come to fruition, and we've had rain off and on since Sunday afternoon, sometimes very hard.

On Monday afternoon, when Stace came home from work it hadn't rained for a little while so we decided to take advantage of it. We put Cora's new rainboots/wellies on her feet and we walked around the neighborhood, looking for good puddles for her to jump in. She loved it, of course.

We were quite proud of her - we walked down to the other end of the neighborhood on the paseos, and then walked past the houses on our way back home, and Cora walked the entire way! She did ask to be carried the last block, but we put her off, and she made it home on her own (water-logged) feet.

She then needed a warm water warm-up, while Stace and I warmed up with cups of tea.

You can see in the next two photos how our yard is holding up from the four-five inches we've received the last few days. We have lakes in the back lawn and on the back patio, and the play room roof is leaking again.

We've found in our year-plus in this house that if Stace keeps the gutter clear on the addition, the gutters work well. But when we get this much rain, it just pools up, as there's hardly any grade to the roof, and the gutters can't keep up. We have the rubber play tiles, towels and pots and pans handling the drips.

Growing up, growing vegetables

Southern California is expecting a lot of rain this upcoming week, so Stace and Cora worked hard this week to get the seeds planted in our winter garden. The put in carrots, spinach and onions, which Cora helped with. Stace also planted turnip seeds during the week.

Cora also found it important to dump dirt on the flowers and into her car.

We're in the middle of birthday party season here. Today, it was Libi's turn to celebrate her third. Cora enjoyed playing with the kids and eating the frosting off her cake.

We've been having fun playing with Cora's Elefun game, a Christmas gift from Stace's cousin Karen and her family. The elephant blows butterflies out of its trunk, which we try to catch with the nets.

Cora is growing up in several ways: She now sits at the table with us at meals (meaning a lot more sweeping and table-wiping for me); she sits forward-facing in her car seat (she's about a pound away from that important upper weight limit, so what the heck); and she can open the refrigerator on her own.

The other evening, I was coming home needing to make dinner, and Cora was already hungry. She opened the fridge, got out the cottage cheese and took it and a spoon over to the table.

A big girl bed will be next! We bought one this week; well, a toddler bed, but our Cora is such a little thing, we're sure she'll fit into it for a long time, and then we could pass it on to her little sister. She hasn't noticed it in the garage yet... We're deciding when to make the transition. I'm excited for her to make the move, and yet a little nervous about how this might affect naptime and bedtime.

Finally, I'll end with a Coraism: Stace was saying good-bye to Cora the other night as he left to play tennis with Auntie Kelly.
Cora: "Where are you going, Daddy?"
Stace: "I'm going to play tennis."
Cora: "Are you coming back?"
Stace: "No, I'm never coming back."
Cora: "Can I watch TV then?"

25 Week Update

I had a third ultrasound Tuesday afternoon, and also had my blood drawn after drinking the sugary drink for my glucose screening test.

The ultrasound was scheduled because at our December u/s, the baby was measuring 5 days smaller than my April 22 due date. This time, the baby was measuring 3 days smaller than the due date. That's not a real concern, as they don't change your due date unless you're a week or two different. We all know that babies come when they're ready, not on their "due" date!
This ultrasound tech confirmed that she is indeed a "she."

The top photo is my 25 week shot from last week (I'll be 26 weeks along tomorrow, Thursday). The second photo is from the 25-week point with Cora. If you look close you can see that I'm carrying this baby a bit lower than I carried Cora. I can feel that difference - when I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor to read to Cora, I really feel my belly resting on my legs already.

In general, I'm feeling good. I've noticed I'm more tired again in the evenings, but I haven't started needing naps yet. And other than being quite sick the other night, I've been feeling pretty good in my stomach. Like always, just need to keep up my eating to keep the yuckies away.

I do know that when I do my Stroller Strides workout, or just go on long walks, I'm winded and tired so much more quickly than normal. I hope I can keep up with my workouts for the next couple of months!

Weekend's work and play

A random photo from Thursday - I had a long, catch-up phone call with JT, and Cora was such a good girl. She played in the play room and outside for the longest time, and when it was lunchtime she asked to watch TV. I thought she had earned it, so I set her up with a picnic lunch of apples, cheese, red pepper slices and celery with dressing. It was Cora's first time having celery, and I was pretty surprised - she loved it! She ate it all. Guess I can buy that again!
So, after Johnny's party on Friday we were supposed to go out to dinner, but Cora had missed her nap. She was having such a great time partying, but then she started falling apart and it was obvious that dinner out was not a good idea. So, instead we ate at home and broke open Stace's birthday gift from my parents - the animated movie "Cars." Cora was really enjoying it - but as I came back in to the living room to watch the end with them, this is what I found. For Stace, not unusual - for Cora, definitely unusual!

But, the movie had quite an impact. Stace gave her the Lightning McQueen toy he had bought when I was pregnant - he was sure it would make a great toy for his future son. She LOVES this toy! All day, she has carried him around with her, talking about him and to him. Here, she was showing him her 'puter, and she said they were taking turns playing the mouse game. He needed to sit at the table with us at dinner, and sit with her on the couch. She even brought him her other quilt, so he could have a blankie, too. WOW. It's how I'd imagine little girls play with their dolls. Stace then got her dolls out, and tried to have Cora include them in her play.

Stace spent much of this weekend working in the garden. He dug up the old plants, and then worked in five bags of compost. We're hoping to have better luck with the amended soil. We had amended it last year, but our soil was so shot we just didn't get a ton of production. We plan to put in our winter crops soon - onions, spinach, carrots and parsnips.
And here's a few more improvements Stace made to the yard - he put up the plant pot holder my parents got us for Christmas, and my clothesline. Here's to the first of many planned DIY projects for the early part of this year! (As in, before Duckie arrives!) We also put away all the Christmas decorations.

First week of January

You, my loyal readers, know by now that I try to be nothing but honest in my writings in this space.

No sugar-coating, no glossing over the hard parts.

Just the truth.

It's in that spirit of honestly recording our lives that I post these photos.

Yes, it is January, and it seems most of the country is knee-deep in snow and ice. But here in SClarita, Cora, Ave and Johnny had a great time playing in the sprinklers at our park Wednesday after lunch.

It was the first time the trio had played together in a couple of weeks, and of course they had a great time. We weren't expecting water play, but the kids had a blast.

The fourth photo shows the girls pushing home Cora's new doll, a Christmas gift from Big Nan.

And on Friday afternoon, we all helped celebrate Johnny's third birthday by soaking in the great weather in their back yard. (Really, it's not always this nice in the winter - we do get our version of cold spells and rain. But not this week!)

The last photo shows Cora taking her turn whacking the Thomas the Tank pinata. (For my English readers, it's full of candy and must be burst open by many blows with a blunt object.)

Reunited, and it feels so good

Together again!

Stace and Cora arrived safely home Monday evening, and boy, was it great to see them again! Being apart for a week-and-a-half certainly made our hearts grow fonder again. I felt as full of anticipation and excitement as I left for the airport as I used to when Stace and I were a long-distance couple.

Cora was very good on the flight home, and Stace received compliments from three nearby passengers about her behavior. What a difference from our trips two years ago! And that was despite the fact that Stace and Cora boarded their plane early, when the call went out for travelers with small children, and then had to wait on the ground two hours for the rest of the people to board because of the new security measures. So ,the 11-hour flight became a 13-hour adventure. AND, Cora only slept for the last few minutes - Stace kept her well-entertained for all those hours!

The great news is, with her lack of sleep on the long journey, Cora slept through the night and didn't wake up until almost 9 a.m. Tuesday! Jet lag, going west, means you normally wake up WAY early; Stace was wide-awake by 4 a.m.

Stace took Tuesday off, too, and it was great to spend the day together at home.

Cora helped me in the kitchen a bit - notice my new apron, a Christmas present - it has coffee and tea cups, and says "Retrospectacular."

She then went out to help Stace with the leaves. You gotta love her ensemble. Cora apparently really liked wearing her warm hat in England, as she decided she needed to wear it here today (despite temps in the low 70s). She's also wearing her new rainboots, along with her apron. A classic look, truly appropriate for all seasons.

Notice the nice stack of leaves in her car. She was very proud of her leaf-stacking ability.

Happy 2010! Here's to an exciting and meaningful year for us all.

Happy New Year

Meanwhile back in Martock......

On Wednesday we had a visit from Wayne and Lorraine and their children Dean and Chloe. Dean, who is now 8, is getting to be tall and seemed to take great pleasure in telling me he'll soon be taller than me. Dean has also added to his list of hobbies. It's no longer football, football, football, but now also books. We had a good chat about snakes and history. He has a very good memory for names and facts. Chloe is the sweetest little girl I have ever known. She has become more chatty and was not as shy as other times we have got together. Cora enjoyed playing with them both and took a real shine to Dean. What is it with that name?

In the evening Andy and Jenny came over.
We had a lovely time chatting and catching up with one another. Although there was not a lot that they didn't know. Andy and Jen are regular blog readers and knew all that was going on with the Howards in America.
Cora entertained us all by serving tea from her new tea set to everyone apart from Andy who had to beg for a cup. He eventually got his imaginary cuppa after finally agreeing to pay for one. Cora duly obliged when the readies were shown.

New Years Eve
We spent the morning in Yeovil and Mum and Dad (more Mum than Dad) bought a new laptop from PC World. They wanted to take advantage of the lower sales tax rate of 15% before it was raised back up to the normal 17.5% rate.
After Cora's late nap we drove over to Dean and Jen's house for New Years Eve. We had a nice evening chatting and playing games with Jen's Mum, Dad, Sister Karen and her husband Lee and their 3 children Amie, Ellie and Matty. Again, Cora had a nice time playing with all the girls and playing against Matty on the Circus games on Deans Wii computer.


We were back at home to see-in the new year and watch the splattering of fireworks let off around the village.

Happy New Year to all our Friends and family.
We wish you health, happiness and love for 2010.