Holiday spirit

Just to give you faithful readers a chuckle - Here is Cora showing off her new hairdo. Again, you can probably guess that this was a Daddy bath.
A mommy would not do this, remembering how it felt as a small child to have an adult try to comb through tangled hair. You also can see Cora's teeth here - they bottom ones are getting bigger. No top teeth yet but I have to think they'll be along very soon. She has been bothered by them this week, and we've been doing ice cubes and baby Tylenol to help with the pain.





We had a nice surprise package this week from Nan and Pop - Cora's first advent calendar, plus chocolates to go in the pockets. It is a gorgeous calendar and will help make our home look festive when we get it together this weekend. We have several Christmas things planned for this weekend - Friday night will be photos with Santa at the church where my MOPS group meets; Saturday is the children's Christmas parade through old Newhall; and on Sunday we have Stace's work's children's Christmas party, plus the lighting of the big Christmas tree at the hospital, if we're up for it.
And lastly for this blog posting, a cute photo of Daddy and his girls. Well, two of his girls.

Holiday weekend

First of all, I want to highlight a great article on cloth diapers my friend Sophia wrote on her all-things-health blog, www.healthtakenseriously.com. You can read it by clicking here.
She has lots of other really interesting articles on her site, so it's worth a look even if you don't have kids diapering age.

We had a great four-day weekend off together, and we are trying to extend it in a way, in that I'm picking Stace up from work at his getting-off time of 3:45 so we can do something fun.
These photos are from our Saturday trip to Knott's Berry Farm, a theme park not far from Disneyland. My dad, as a deputy, had the ability to get super-cheap tickets as a "thank you" to law enforcement, so we all went along with our friends John and Linda and their girls. With so many willing babysitters around, Stace and I got to go on a couple of rides, which was fun. During one of the rides, Linda managed to put Cora to sleep by singing to her. Very impressive work, Linda! Much to my amazement, Cora stayed asleep for a full nap, despite all the noise.
In typical SoCal November weather, it warmed up in the day to a warm enough temp for Cora to be dressed in just a onesie, but then cooled off to the extent that I wished I had stuffed my jacket into the stroller.
On Sunday Stace installed some of our new babyproofing gadgets, such as these cabinet locks that use magnets. Very high-tech.

We are Thankful

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a wonderful meal - my mom outdid herself with a fabulous turkey this year. Also on the menu - green beans, mushrooms, two types of potatoes, cranberry sauce and sprouts, for Stace. Pumpkin pie and apple crisp for dessert. Yum! Cora enjoyed a bit of turkey, some green beans and rice krispies. She likes picking them up.

While the women got the dinner finished up, Cora got up close and personal with Luke. Luke is aging and calm, and therefore is a perfect dog for Cora to get to know.

After dinner the adults played Cranium, and Cora played with some plastic cookie cutters,
and Aunt Melly's phone.

Here, Cora is dropping her bowl of cookie cutters on her aunt's face.
We have so much to be thankful for this year. For Cora of course, and for Stacey's Nan
returning to her home after a few weeks of medical treatment.

Stace also was thankful he could eat the roast dinner. He was able to get his broken tooth filed down Wednesday morning as a temporary fix. He'll need surgery to implant a post, so that he can have a crown put in, as this was a tooth he previously had a root canal on.
Can everyone say, "cha-ching!"

On Friday, we had a nice lazy morning at home, allowing Cora to get a good nap in. We're concentrating on her getting decent naps in hopes of her sleeping better at night. Thursday night she slept all night, so that was good, but lately I'd say she's been waking up maybe 1/3 of the time. Later Friday we hit a few shops, including Home Depot for some babyproofing gear and a look at new toilets. We have a couple of rebate vouchers from the water district allowing us to get $75 for each new (low-flow) toilet we install. In the evening, we took a walk, and I wore Cora in her wrap. She was adorable, dressed in her fuzzy brown bear coat (complete with ears on the hood) that Andy and Jen bought her while they were here. She spent much of the walk chattering. "Memmm Memmm Memmm" was the main refrain (which sounds a bit like Mama!), with a few "ble ble ble"s for good measure.

Empty the Box

Here you see Cora engaging in one of her new all-time-favorite activities - emptying out one of her little toy boxes, by picking out each toy, one by one.
It's a game that keeps her busy for hours. Well, for half-hours at least.
She's getting more interested in her board books lately, and will flip the pages in addition to chewing on them.
She also has been making adorable baby noises the last week - not just the "aaaahhh aaaahhhh aaaaahhh" sounds she's made for months now, but "bla bla" and "de de de." She claps on command, but seems to have forgotten how to wave.

In other news, Stace chipped a tooth pretty badly tonight and will need to see a dentist Wednesday. Let's hope he can get it handled so he can have lots of turkey on Thanksgiving!

More old friends

Our good friends JT (or Jenny) and Jim came by to visit on Saturday.
They live in Martock, and Stace and I met through their introduction back in 2001. It's always great to see them.
We had lunch at Vasquez Rocks, where Stace and Jim climbed the rocks and ran around, and Jenny and I looked after Cora and took a walk.
Sadly, Cora missed a nap in the afternoon and wasn't in a great mood for much of the evening. Perhaps she wasn't feeling well, with tummy troubles. I wanted her to show off her normally sweet disposition, but oh well.
Because she slept too little in the day, she was up several times during the night as well.
On Sunday Stace played golf, and my mom and I (and Cora, in a much better mood) went to a local craft fair at the park right near our home.

Stace made a great dinner Sunday evening and we topped off the weekend watching the recent Queen Elizabeth movie with Cate Blanchett. It was our first rented video in months!

Nine-Month doctor visit

We had Cora's 9-month well-check doctor's appointment Thursday. It went very well, and we remain blessed with a super-healthy little girl. She weighs 18 pounds, 4 ounces, and is now 28 inches long. She is 37th percentile for her weight, meaning she weighs more than 37 percent of the baby girls her age and less than 63 percent of the girls her age. She is 63rd percentile for her length, and 93rd percentile for her head circumference.
She is pointing at a little speck in the second photo. She still loves using her index finger to point at things and poke things.
Just one shot today, and a little prick of her toe to check her iron level. She was fine there too.

Cora enjoyed playing with the paper on the table, as you can see in the video.

Old friends in town!

My dear friend from high school, Trahnel, and her family came over Sunday and spent the night. We all had a great time reconnecting, as they live in Kentucky, and we haven't seen each other since Stace and I went out to visit them in the summer of 2005. At that time, they had a 14-month-old boy - Noah is now 3 1/2, and he has a 19-month-old sister, Calla. It was great to be able to meet each other's daughters. We've come a long way since our days as high school biology lab partners.

The little girls meet and bang toys - Mike holding Cora, Trahnel holding Calla

Noah, the super ninja pirate

The men with their little ladies on our "hike"

We took a walk through Whitney Canyon, a very close hiking spot, and then went to my parents' house so they could meet Noah and Calla and catch up with Trahnel and Mike. It was also handy to be over there, as my parents get the Fox Soccer Channel and Yeovil Town football game was televised Sunday evening. Yeovil lost to Torquay, but I think Stace still enjoyed watching them play.

Stace had a followup appointment on Monday for his blood pressure, and the good news it came down pretty dramatically. The doctor told him to up his dosage of the medication to 1 1/2 pills per day, to see if it comes down even more before his January check. At that point he'll have his blood drawn to see how his cholesterol is doing. He has ridden his bike to work nearly every day for the past two weeks, and is really interested in nutrition labels now. He's already lost several pounds, even though the doctor never mentioned his weight as being too high. It's been strange to hear how many other men his age we know who have told us they also are taking either blood pressure or cholesterol medication. And a newspaper article the other day focused on that very topic, the drastic increase in young men on those very meds. It's a good thing, most of the doctors were saying, because it shows that more men are interested in good health at a younger age.

Pets galore

We have always loved our Somer, but lately that love has grown. You don't know how your pet will react to a new baby, especially as that tiny, loud child grows into a little person capable of hurting said pet. Well, Somer has been an angel. As she's never been a lap cat with us, I wouldn't say she's been affectionate in any way with Cora - she hasn't "adopted" Cora as I hear some pets do with babies. But, lately she has been coming near Cora more and more, and withstands a lot of abuse. We are working with Cora to gently stroke the cat, but too often Cora hits the cat, pulls her ears or just grabs a handful of fur/skin. Somer takes it in stride. She's never swatted at the baby or even hissed or growled. Once she meowed, but I have to assume that's because Cora was actually hurting her, poor kitty.
In these photos, Somer ended up sitting between me (sitting on the floor, too) and Cora, and stayed put for a while.
Cora, meanwhile, still adores the cat, and smiles when she hears or sees her.
In other pet news, the little video clip shows Cora reacting to Jake, my parents' Golden Retriever. She likes to get licked, and she also likes to watch the puppies play when we go to the mall's pet store. Two sets of neighbors have recently acquired little dogs, and Cora likes visiting with them, too.

mid-week update

Today, I was able to shower after coming home from Stroller Strides thanks to my friend Susan.
I met Susan through a cloth diapering Web site, and she lives in town and has been been very generous with toys and beautiful clothes no longer needed by her 2-year-old daughter. Today, after Stroller Strides I picked up a bag of goodies from her. Cora was asleep when we got home, but woke up when we came upstairs. Lately she hasn't enjoyed her time in the playpen while I shower if she is awake. So today, I found this new-to-Cora toy, a radio that plays music when you push the buttons. I showed Cora how to use it and escaped to the shower. She was still happily playing with it when I was finished. (phew!)



On Sunday, Stace jogged with Cora to the mall, to take in the Santa Clarita Marathon festivities.

Oh, and today is the five-year anniversary of my car crash. As I do each year, it's a day to reflect on God's goodness to me and my loved ones in keeping me protected, that I am still here and now in good health. Looking at Cora makes that reflection even more meaningful. Thank you, Jesus, for your many blessings!

Feeding time

Cora has been enjoying her food lately. She still is getting most of her nutrition from nursing, but we try to do solid food once or twice a day. That might mean a handful of cheerios and a few bites of cut-up fruit, or yogurt mixed with cereal. She can be quite impatient when I'm feeding her, especially if I'm trying to do something else ( like make dinner or wash dishes) at the same time. That means she often starts screaming. Part of the screaming is understandable, as she can't easily say, "Mom, I'd like more food please." She also likes to feed herself, which of course is very messy sometimes.

On top you see the result when Cora fed herself yogurt, and in the middle she is enjoying her banana. She still loves banana.Under this you see her eating wet cereal and cheerios.
Finally, Cora in the last couple of days has become quite adept at drinking from her sippy cup.