Sporting Saturday

Saturday was a dream for Stace and a great day for Santa Clarita sports fans - first, a big turnout and a fantastic finish at the Amgen Tour of California cycling race, a world-class event here in our backyard, and then a Major League Soccer game (for charity) here at College of the Canyons.
In the top picture, the man in yellow was the stage winner on Saturday, Luciano Pagliarini of Brazil, though he finished second to Brit Mark Cavendish (the rider on the right). Race officials gave the win to Pagliarini after deciding Cavendish got too much help from his team after a crash earlier in the race. You can read about it here.
We were very proud that our city was such a big part of such a major event, the biggest and best race in the U.S. and one which some riders said rivals the big cycling races in Europe. Thousands of fans lined the streets, and a big cycling expo between the mall and the Hyatt was fun to walk through. (Mike Mitchum, you woulda loved it!) Stace even bought the t-shirt, and plans to wear it when he rides his bike to work.
Cora cheered the cyclists too, when she wasn't too caught up in picking at the ivy growing on the wall and collecting sticks and leaves. Jumboton televisions in the street showed the cyclists' progress as they approached the city from the Santa Barbara area.
In the evening, we went to watch Chivas USA (who share the Home Depot Center with the Galaxy) take on the Columbus Crew in a match benefiting a local children's cancer charity, the Michael Hoefflin Foundation. Being that we had been out for so long, we weren't sure how Cora would handle watching a football match. She was outstanding! She was quiet on Stace's lap throughout the first half and through half-time, when two SClarita kids' teams played a short game. She started getting antsy maybe halfway through the second half - this was with the weather turning rainy and cold; I'm sure she was wondering why we were still sitting outside. After the game, we went to Chipotle for dinner, our first time eating out in a while. Cora did something there she hasn't done in many months - she slept through dinner, out in public! She fell asleep in the car and settled into a nap in my arms, and then on the seat next to me, and slept for nearly an hour.

Drawer fun

Every time Cora goes into the kitchen these days, she heads straight for her bottom drawer. She likes to take out lots of things to play with. The other night, she occupied herself for quite some time with the yellow cap (top photo) and a pink cup. She put the cap in the cup and shook it around, making her own rattle, until the cap would fly out and land a few feet away. Then she'd crawl over to the cap and start again.

This week I'm changing Cora's schedule a bit. She's been eating more food, so I'm trying to give her more at dinner and skip that nursing session. Then, she is ready for nursing around 8:30 and bed around 9, about an hour earlier than how we've been doing life for many months now. On Wednesday night she went down around 9, and amazingly was still asleep until about 8:45 Thursday morning!
At dinner tonight, Cora had some turkey, cheese, carrots and a WHOLE baby yogurt for dessert. She also had cow's milk for the first time, and seemed to enjoy it. That was her first non-water drink.

Here are a few more photos from Cora's birthday, courtesy of my dad. We have a kestrel, Cora taking in the animals, and an owl.

We haven't taken many photos in the last few days, but I'll catch you up on what we've been doing anyway. On Monday, Cora and I went up to the Antelope Valley for a "play date" of sorts with two moms and their little ones. The moms both use cloth diapers, and I interviewed them for a story I'll write on cloth diapering for the newspaper.
Cora had lots of fun, and was a very good girl. One of the ladies had a daughter a few days older than Cora, and she's been walking for FOUR months! She seemed a lot older than Cora since she was so steady on her feet, running around. The family had a little doggy that Cora loved. She says "doddy" quite a bit when she's excited to see a dog.
In the late afternoon, she and I walked out to meet Stace on his bike ride home from work. She gets very excited when she sees her daddy riding up.
Speaking of speaking, a few mornings ago, Cora greeted me with "Mummum" when I came in to get her. That made my day!
She also has pulled herself all the way to standing a few times recently.
Over the weekend, we cleaned out our shed on Saturday and enjoyed the afternoon in Torrance with John and Linda's family on Sunday, for Mikayla's birthday. We had a nice, relaxing time with our friends and their family.

Second Valentine's Day

Cora says, Happy Valentine's Day! And, thanks for the cute outfit, Auntie Linda and Uncle John! (To see Cora's Valentine's Day post a year ago, when she was five days old, click here.)

Here she is in her new Pooh chair, which matches the decor and our colors perfectly. She isn't quite able to get into it on her own, but she does like kneeling next to it. When we put her in it, she is getting a bit better with her exit from the chair. She basically falls out head first onto the floor, onto a pillow. Cora says, Thanks for the chair, Nan and Pop! Somer also loves the new chair. Today I found her curled up in it (no surprise!).

On Sunday while Stace played golf, Grandma took Cora to see Winnie the Pooh at the Canyon Theatre Guild. She loved it! She watched the whole show and pointed and was very interested, I'm told. Here she is getting up close and personal with Piglet, and below, with Rabbit.

Happy Birthday, Cora Rose!

Our darling baby girl is ONE.

"I would like that one, please!"
Cora liked her cake.

She had a lovely birthday celebration at Placerita Nature Center, where we watched the nature show before having a cake picnic. Besides a great daughter, God blessed us with stunning weather, warm enough for Cora to wear a pretty dress. (Recognize it, Mitchums?) After cake and presents, we took an hour-long hike down the trail and back, crossing the river several times.

Cora was tired out at the end.

In the morning, Cora was wished a very happy birthday from her Nan, Pop and Nanny on the Web cam, and she opened a few presents.

Happy birthday, Cora. You might be growing up, but you'll always be our baby. The one who turned us into parents, the one who continues to amaze us every day with the little things you're learning and trying. We love you!

The One-Year-Old

My present to Cora is her birthday cake. I followed a recipe from a parenting magazine, for first-birthday-cakes that are healthier but also yummy. This is an applesauce cake with apricot jam in between the layers, and a buttercream frosting for the adult cake. I also made petit fours, one of which will be decorated Saturday with a "1" candle for the birthday girl.

While I cleaned up from my LONG day in the kitchen, Cora played and pretended to drink from an empty canister.

Busy Girl

Cora really loved swinging today. She was giggling and bouncing up and down in the swing. We met Christy and William at the park, and a great time was had by all.
See how big Cora's front teeth look? They are really coming in. I
think they need some friends on either side, to make them look less ... big. She is using those teeth - we've noticed she is eating a lot more food in the last week or so. On Tuesday night for dinner, she ate all of a two-inch-by -two-inch (or bigger) portion of Cottage Pie, and then some yogurt for dessert. Earlier in the day, she had eaten maybe half of a carrot/apple/flax seed muffin. When eating cheerios, sometimes I'll see her take after me - she'll actually take three bites to eat one 'O.'
Cora found plenty to occupy herself with this afternoon while I cleaned up the kitchen. Here she is, in the middle of what she emptied out of her two lower dresser drawers. She was quite proud of herself. She also likes to empty the small trash can in the bathroom, and the bottom drawer in the kitchen where I keep her cups, bowls and (unused) bottles.
In the last photos, you see my attempt at keeping her content and still on the changing table. She likes playing peekaboo, and if I can get her to play along, she sometimes will let me change her without too much fuss. Other times... LOTS of fuss. This girl has got a will of her own, already. I feel like I'm having toddler battles with my infant.She wants to turn over, crawl off, and grab the wipes warmer. She screams bloody murder and gets rigid when I disagree. (sigh)
On Tuesday night, Stace got to experience the temper of Cora (not that he hadn't before). He gave her a bath, and they had a grand time. I was in the kitchen, and I could hear them playing and splashing. Then, Daddy got Cora out and apparently wanted to put her lotion and clothing on. Whoa! World War III, right here in Cora's bedroom. Screaming, crying - and that was just Stace. Cora is either super lovely - giving us hugs, dancing to make us laugh, talking and pointing and giggling - or she is very unlovely. But, of course, we love her either way.

On the sand

On Saturday we took Cora back to Ventura to check out the sand and sea. My parents came along, as my dad has been taking photos of Cora at three-month intervals, and it's time to get those one-year photos done.
Cora really had fun in the sand, and she only tried to eat it once. Impressive. She was sticking her finger in it and flicking it, and then tossing it in the air with the grains landing all over her hair. She enjoyed picking up little rocks, as you see in this photo, and little sticks. Later, Stace dug a hole in front of her, and that prompted a lot of stick-dropping into the hole.
After a bite to eat at our favorite American fish and chips shop, Andria's, we looked at the replica Tall Ships that were in the harbor on a special tour.
Though our weather was nice Monday through Saturday, it rained Saturday night and Sunday morning, just enough for Stace's golf to be canceled for the second week in a row. They'll try again next week.
To make up for it, we went to a neat Burbank model train shop. We all have our hobbies - I have cloth diapers, Stace has his model trains. Yeah, I guess Cora is destined to be a little weird.
We got home in time to watch the last quarter of the Super Bowl, pretty awesome game with an exciting finish.

(yes, another diaper post)

It's been a little while since I've shown off a new diaper, so here we go. This is the nicest diaper we've bought so far, a one-size super soft velour fitted Cuddlebuns diaper made by Anne Martin at Little Boppers. I now wish I had started out our diapering by buying more of these one-size diapers - they are more expensive to start out, but they last from tiny baby (eight pounds or so) through potty training based on how you do the snaps. Therefore they are cheaper in the long run, and made of wonderful soft, absorbent materials. Plus I'm buying from a work-at-home-mom who made it by hand.
TIME Magazine recently did an article on cloth diapering's come-back. Check it out by clicking here. I'm planning to write an article of my own for the newspaper's monthly magazine when they next do a "green living" issue.

Cora is more active these days, crawling a lot and pulling up and kneeling. She likes dropping food off her high chair tray, and dropping toys and various other things down between the changing table and the wall. I got the broom out today and found many items I hadn't seen for a while. The floor under her crib, by the wall, often becomes a sock graveyard.
She seems to be getting over her cold now. The runny nose is a lot better, and she's not coughing as much. Stace has a cold now, though.

Ta da!

Cora got her birthday present from her Daddy a week early!
Stace put the finishing touches on her toy box Tuesday night, and we now have it set up in place by the window in the living room.
She loves it! She likes standing in front of it, holding on and pulling out toys. She was very excited when she first saw so many of her stuffed animals all together, she didn't know which ones to pull out first. (Pulling things out of boxes is still a favorite activity - she's now taken to pulling her clothes out of her drawers, too!)
The toy box has no sharp corners anywhere, and a padded bench seat for a lid. The sage green gingham fabric on the seat is the same fabric used as accents on her bedroom curtains.

Good friends

On Sunday, we went to visit Christy, Mitch and
William for dinner. You've seen William here before, Cora's good friend who's about 2 1/2 months younger than her.
Cora gets very wound up when we go to their house, because she loves playing with William and his toys. William seems to like having Cora around too. They crawl after each other, try to play with the same toys - taking from one another, naturally - and Cora was giving William hugs, when she wasn't hitting him.
They made a very yummy dinner, with tri-tip. Stace was pretty excited to have red meat again, and it was delicious. After dinner, William got out his mom's collection of pots and beaters. Cora was duly impressed, and was entertained for quite a while. At one point she had three beaters and whisks and was collecting them, throwing them, collecting them, and swirling them in the pot. Good times.

Today was a very normal day. We spent the morning at home, with Cora taking a good nap and me getting things done around the house. In the afternoon we met my mom and sister for a walk around Bridgeport lake. Cora loved seeing the ducks and doggies, and we were impressed with the amount of water in the river. It was a beautiful day, cool but with bright blue skies, puffy white and grey clouds, and snow on the mountains. The day was made better when my sister hooked me up with a pound of Starbucks. Gosh, it's great having family 'in the biz.' We then went to the grocery store and came home and made dinner. After dinner, we did some baking. Now, it's time for bed.
I love the last photo here - Cora is making friends with Somer, and trying to pet her. Somer's face should be in the dictionary next to the word "endurance."

Santa Clarita Winter

This morning we awoke to snow-covered mountains all around the valley. It looked just like an Alpine scene. I went out on the bike early on to see how much water was flowing in our normally bone-dry Santa Clara River. There was plenty of water and quite fast flowing.

This afternoon Cora wanted to take a hike out to the Placerita Canyon Waterfall trail. It was really pretty. My little girl seems to really enjoy the outdoors. I carried her in the backpack. She loves that.

Here's our intrepid Lisa taking on a mighty and trecherous river. See how she shows no fear or concerm for her own safety. This is the spirit of a true adventurer.

It's raining again now and due to rain for the next few days. No Sunday golf for me. This will be the first time in 4 years that rain has stopped play.

Dad, I'm reading!

Cora is quite a little reader. Don't interrupt her when she's reading, please.


She's had a runny nose for a month now, and since Monday it has worsened to a constant (green) stream, with a very wet cough. She's not very happy about it and, as all parents know, it's hard to watch your little one in discomfort. But we also know how very lucky we are, in that this is her first real "illness" yet and she's going on one.
Stace hasn't been riding to work the last couple of days because it's been raining (!). It's supposed to be wet through Sunday. Crazy! We need it, so we can't complain.

The first birthdays begin...

On Saturday, we all celebrated Kelsie's first birthday! I went to Pepperdine with her parents, Mark and Lylia, and they moved to Santa Clarita after college. We attended our labor classes together, and we girls got together weekly before Lylia went back to work in September.
Anyway, they had a very fun party for Kelsie at Gymboree. We haven't been to Gymboree since August, and Cora really enjoyed her return. She played on lots of great toys, including a parachute; practiced her standing - what a daredevil; and even sat with the big kids in her very own chair when it was time for cake.