Fun with bread

When my Uncle Bill was in town, he mentioned that he and my aunt would give their babies strips of dried bread to chew on. It's hard enough that the babies can't get too much in their mouth, but they can gnaw on it and it softens up into mush. So I dried out the crusts/heel of our loaf of whole wheat, and broke off some for Cora. As you can see by the mess of crumbs, she very much enjoyed it. It kept her busy for quite a while, too!

Street Art Festival

We have company! Our friends Andy and Jen arrived safely Saturday night and will spend a few weeks here, with two side trips up the California coast and into Vegas and the Grand Canyon. They'll be blogging about their travels here. On Sunday, we had brunch at the Egg Plantation and walked down to the Santa Clarita Street Art Festival, where local artists sell their wares and create chalk drawings on the street.
Jenny got to get to know Newhall, and a lizard.

At Egg Plantation, Cora entertained herself while we ate. She managed to eat quite a few cheerios. Her pincer grasp is very good and she enjoys feeding herself.

A bit of color

We have friends coming into town from England this weekend, and after the summer heat the balcony needed some attention. This is when I call on my mom to help. My mom loves gardening and knows what grows well and how to arrange things. She came over this afternoon and did a great job (with me helping a bit).







Cora slept most of the time while we worked, but when she woke up she let us know she approved of the job. She then got a bit silly for the camera, and started lifting and lowering her arms repeatedly while clasping her hands.

At 7 1/2 months, Cora is enthralled with rolling over. She'll roll back and forth, back and forth for a half hour or so. She also lifts herself up and can arch her back when she's on her tummy. While I was in the kitchen this evening, she moved from the fridge area several feet until she was in the corner of the room. She also ate dinner with us - a tablespoon of cereal mixed with a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon or so of mashed banana. She ate it all; that was probably the most she has eaten in one sitting. It's not easy to feed her with a spoon because she wants to hold the spoon herself. We try the trick where you give the baby a spoon to hold while you feed the baby with a different spoon, but she then will be so busy concentrating on her (empty) spoon, playing with it and chewing on it, that she pays no attention to the food-filled spoon you're trying to interest her in. Banana is her favorite food. Cora is about 16 pounds, 10 ounces and about 27 inches long.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

This weekend we celebrated the 50th anniversary of my mom's birth! That's right, Paula is now five decades young. Incredible. About 20 of her closest friends (including us) went to Pirates Dinner Adventure on Saturday evening. Here we are, with Cora in her cutie pink pirate hat.
The idea is similar to Medieval Times, in that you eat dinner and watch a show. We were rooting for the Orange Pirate, above on the right, with his back to us. It's interactive in that you cheer for your pirate and jeer for the others...
...and sometimes you're called on to be VERY interactive. Our waiter seemed to like us, giving Stace an extra (free) glass of beer and extra dessert. Stace paid for it when the waiter pulled him away, and he ended up in front (on the left), dressed in pirate gear.
Cora did amazingly well during the LOUD show, only fussing when the cannons were going off near the end. She watched attentively and had fun sucking on a cooked carrot.
My mom's brother, my dear Uncle Bill, surprised his big sister by flying down and showing up at the party. We really enjoyed our time with him, just as we enjoyed our time with his wife, my Aunt Patty, when she came down for a long weekend last month. On Sunday afternoon the weather was stunning so we took a nice three-mile-long walk to Wahoo's Fish Tacos. Friday and Saturday brought our first rain since April, and it was a cold (for us) storm. The temperatures have been in the 60s and 70s in the day for the last week, when September normally is still around 90.

Sequoia Part 2

Here Stace stands in front of the Kings River in Kings Canyon, on what was meant to be a short hike/walk to a meadow. When we crossed the river bridge and went down the trail a short ways, we spotted the second set of mama-bear-and-two-cubs. We watched them for a bit and then decided to turn around. As Stace put it, he knows how fast he can run, and he has a good idea of how fast I could run, but he wasn't sure how fast the bear could run and he didn't want to find out.
The Kings Canyon area was about an hour from our lodge in Sequoia, down a winding road that takes you down about 4,000 feet in a matter of miles. You go through a lot of ear-popping. The scenery changes dramatically, from the forest and huge trees to a lot of granite and low shrubs.

Our last day's hike, past this huge stump, a remnant of when loggers took down some of the Sequoias decades ago. Evidently a fire burned the stump at some point.
On this final hike, we did take a break in a meadow. We had a snack and gave Cora a chance to feel free of car seats and infant carriers. She loved it.
We really liked the place we stayed, the Montecito Sequoia Lake Resort. This is the small lake, where canoes and paddleboats are available to guests. The facility runs family camps during the summer, and is set up to serve three buffet meals per day. Since we were out in the forest, it was a great treat having the meals on site, as there were few options for food. The rooms were not fancy, but the beds were brand-new and so comfortable! If only Cora had slept well, Stace and I would have have slept really well. Cora likes her own bed and her own room now, I guess.

Sequoia Part 1

So we set off nice and early Sunday morning - nice and early, baby style, outta the house and on the road by 10:15 after several stops - and made it to our picnic lunch at Lake Kaweah around 2. Then it was on to the park, with a first stop near the Gen. Sherman Tree, the largest living organism in the world! The tree is 275 feet tall, and has a base diameter of 36 feet. Photos don't do it justice, especially those taken with a point-and-shoot.
While we were admiring the tree, a mama bear and two cubs ambled nearby! Though the place wasn't packed, there were plenty of us tourists around, and everyone was shooting photos like crazy. We had hoped to see bears, but didn't think it would be so easy. We ended up seeing another large bear later in the day along the road, and another mama and two more cubs on Monday. Seven bears all told!
We took a hike Monday morning after breakfast up Big Baldy and ended at this dramatic vista point overlooking Kings Canyon.
Stace and Cora enjoying the view... It was perfect hiking weather. A bit brisk, but not too cold. The hike was about two miles, so quite a reward for not too much work.
More coming soon...

Back home

We are home from our brief getaway to Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. What a great trip we had! Such beauty, such amazing sites we were blessed to see. I will get photos up soon; it takes a while to go through so many photos and downsize them for the blog, around doing a ton of laundry and catching up on cleaning and errands.

New pretty diapers

Here is Cora in her newest, prettiest diaper cover. This one is by Poochies, made by a nice mama who operates www.littleboppers.com. I love this cover, it has nice soft lilac fleece inside and ruffles around the legs, and is very soft fabric on the outside. I've tried to buy very gender-neutral diapers and covers in case we have a boy to diaper in the future, but I couldn't resist this one. It's pretty enough to work as bottoms with a matching top, when it's warm.

This is another new diaper we received recently. While the lavender flowers is a cover, which can be worn over and over on top of cloth diapers, this rainbow number is an all-in-one (AIO), with the waterproofing and the absorbent layer all together. With its velcro tabs, it's as easy to put on as a disposable. I bought this one from a mama who's just getting started making and selling diapers on an online bulletin board community, www.diaperswappers.com.
The three of us are off now for a few days' vacation together in Kings Canyon/Sequoia national parks. We'll be back soon, hopefully with amazing photos and stories.

Play time!

Nan and Pop put together this toy for Cora when they were over when Cora was tiny. She was about three weeks old in this shot. I got nostalgic and hunted it down in the computer, because yesterday I changed the play mat into its next incarnation, since Cora is getting so big.
Here she is in her "new" cave/crawl-through tent/whatever you want to call it. And click on the video to see live-action play.

Seven months

Yes, it's been a few days since we've checked in here. Sorry about that! I have an excuse though. On Sunday we went to Magic Mountain for Stacey's annual work picnic, and we also "celebrated" Cora's seven-month birthday. Stace enjoyed showing off the baby, and the baby enjoyed her first ride on the merry-go-round and first time in a petting zoo. She liked the goats. Sadly we forgot our camera, so I used the opportunity to get to know my new camera phone better. I thought it would be relatively simple to get the photos onto our computer and then onto the blog. I was wrong. We have to go to Rite-Aid and save them to a disk, and that just hasn't happened yet.

Instead of those photos, you are looking at Cora enjoying grated apple today. On Tuesday night we went to the grocery store and we bought some special baby cereal for Cora, and some puffed cereal that she can pick up and eat. Today she had a bit of apple as a snack and at dinner, while Stace and I had steak and zucchini (courgette) grilled on our new barbecue, Cora had a bit of cereal. The second photo is from the Classic Car show we went to Saturday night. We had a good time, but it was a long evening following some late afternoon pool time and church. Thus Cora missed a nap or two, and then didn't sleep well Saturday night. That meant Mommy didn't sleep much either. I'm not used to that any more! I am so spoiled. And speaking of sleeping, here is the sleeping beauty.

Crowning Achievement

First, a photo of how Cora entertained herself while her Daddy was working hard in our bedroom. Still no teeth, and the signs I spotted last weekend have seemed to die down again. (Speaking of teeth, Cora's friend Kelsie, who is three weeks older, has EIGHT!)
And here is the moulding. Stace did a wonderful job, as he always does. He even kept his temper! Please ignore the little pieces of blue tape. I think this could be the last project we do here, we'll see.
Since our bedroom is now so clean after we cleaned it up, I decided it was time to take Cora's bassinet apart to store it at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Up into the attic also will go her newborn stuff, including the pacifiers. Cora found one of them and this time thought it seemed really interesting to mouth.
Today is our fourth wedding anniversary, so Stace and I will enjoy a dinner out without the baby. Should be fun!

Daddy's loud!

Here's Cora's reaction to Stace hammering in the nails into the moulding. (Yes, that's Stace hitting his thumb at the end of the clip.)

Back to front!

Cora is now turning over! She started turning from her back to her front a couple of weeks ago, but in the last few days she's really started doing it deliberately. This is how I found her when I came in to get her after a nap on Saturday - on her tummy, pushing up. This means we now should have the crib bar up all the way, instead of half down as we've had it so far. The last few naps and nights, she's been sleeping either on her tummy or side, or still on her back. You never know how you'll find her. She has also been chewing on her hands and thumb a lot, so perhaps we'll be spotting a tooth soon.
With the insane heat, we decided to go to Ventura on Friday after Stace got off work. It was glorious to experience temps in the 70s again! Cora even got a bit more use out of her little denim coat. We watched the surfers in the sea and then walked around downtown and had dinner. The restaurant was perfect, VERY kid friendly. As soon as we got Cora situated in her high chair, the waitress brought a stacking toy for Cora to chew on and assured us that they sanitize the toys in the dishwasher after every use. The different wooden rings kept Cora entertained as she chewed them, banged them on the table, talked to them and threw them on the floor. Stace and I, meanwhile, enjoyed a fun game called "picking up wooden rings."
We've spent our long Labor Day weekend at work in the house - might as well as it's too hot to do much outside. Stace is finishing up the crown moulding in our bedroom. Photos coming soon, of course!

Future England Star

A few things I've learned I shouldn't do: wear earrings, have my breakfast cereal within kicking distance, and let Cora help me bring in the clean, dry clothes.
The earrings have been off a couple of weeks, since Cora started giving me her hugs and kisses. When she grabbed my face, one earring went flying. Thankfully Stace watched it happen and he picked it up right away.
As for the cereal, I normally have my breakfast while Cora has hers, and we're both in front of the computer. I try to be careful to keep my food away from her, since she s so grabby nowadays. But earlier this week, her flying foot found a good target and my cereal, milk and spoon went flying. A good amount landed in the keyboard. At least it's an old keyboard and one we've been planning to replace.
And with it being so hot, I've been drying a lot of our clothes outside. I just can't bear to have the dryer on, heating up the bathroom. Cora was in a great mood the other morning so I held her as I piled clean clothes on my arm. Anyone who knows Cora knows what happened next - she spit up all over! In general, I'd say she's spitting up less these days than she had been, but she got the clothes good.
The photos show that Stace already has Cora playing with the England football. She also really likes her singing elephant, and knows how to activate the singing.
The last pic shows Cora with her new best friend. She has come to really love Somer, and smiles whenever she hears the cat meow. Today the three of us sat on Cora's floor and had a nice time together. I had to bring Somer over of course, but I was surprised and pleased when she stayed put without my having to force her down. I helped Cora pet the cat, and all went well.

Daddy's girl

Stacey and Cora are getting along well these days. There were a few months early on where Stace wanted to play with Cora, but she only had eyes for me. Now, though, she smiles at her daddy and has given him the same sort of hugs and kisses that she gives me. He makes her giggle with his funny voices, and they enjoyed the pool together tonight. We're in another heat wave, and it was 88 degrees when we went to the pool at 8 o'clock. The high today in SClarita was 109.
Cora is getting old enough to play some classic baby games. Peekaboo is a favorite already, and the other day I entertained her by hiding her little stuffed ladybug under a burp rag. Also, while I did the dishes, I gave her a wooden spoon and pot. I showed her how to bang them, and she liked that. She also liked mouthing the spoon - everything goes into her mouth these days. Speaking of her mouth, she has started making some new noises the last few days. She now says, "mmmm mmmm mmmmm" in addition to the "aaaaaaaaaaa" we so often hear.
Lastly, I am showing off my new haircut. The last time I got my hair cut, I kept it the same style I've had and got a basic trim. Stace gave me a hard time, saying it didn't look like I'd had anything done for the money. This time, I requested 2 inches off and layers. I was very pleased with the result. My husband, despite my dropping hints a couple of times that I had had my hair cut in the afternoon, said not a word about the change. He later apologized and said he liked it, but that no, he wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't said anything. (sigh)

Fun with water

Doctor visit pics

Cora liked playing with the crinkly paper this time - her last visit she hated it and cried!

Here's Cora with Dr. Kathy Brockett, my pediatrician when I was younger.

Giving mom a hug

After the shots - see the bandaid - and not sure whether to continue crying or to start smiling.

The best snack. See how her hair is getting lighter? She gets that from her daddy!