Babies, Dolls and Duckies

A heartwarming sight for those of you who know our tomboy well!

Cora seems happy and excited about the baby in mummy's belly, we're so glad to report. When we are out and about, she points out tiny babies to me. A few days ago at the car wash, another mom with kids asked Cora if she had any brothers or sisters. Cora said she had a baby, and referred to me.

Last week, I was reading to Cora before her nap and the Bible story showed Abraham and Sarah with their new baby, who I said they named Isaac.
Cora asked me, "What will you call the baby in your belly?"
I replied, "What do you think we could call it?"
She said, "Cora. Or Ducky."

A few minutes later she repeated her idea of calling the baby Ducky.

So, Ducky it is, at least for while baby is in utero. Hopefully she won't be too disappointed when we call baby something else when it's born!

Oh, and in the above photo, taken today, I asked her what her baby's name was, and she said, "Ducky." I have no idea where she got this name from.

Stace has been encouraging Cora to play with her dolls lately, since she seems naturally drawn (and Stace-drawn!) to trains and footballs. Today, when we came home from MOPS, she went straight to the doll and began playing with it. Progress!

Oh, and while I'm bragging on Cora, may I point out the above photo? Yes, that lower set of letters is from her own hand! Stace has been working with her, and when I'm in the kitchen she now likes to practice writing her name if she's not helping to cook. (Granted, she has a nice short name, but still!)

Fillmore Fish Hatchery

This week my MOPS group hosted a trip to the Fillmore Fish Hatchery, about a half hour from here.

My Stroller Strides friends have said good things about taking their little ones here, so I was glad to have an excuse to go. Harvey and Elissa came too, and Cora and Harv had a great time feeding the hungry rainbow trout.

Talk about frugal fun - the feed machines take dimes, so for a dollar or two you can feed to your heart's content.

We then took our pair to Fillmore to check out the trains. We've taken one ride from the station, but it was over two years ago. Cora and Harvey both loved seeing the trains and playing in the grass nearby.

Lombardi Ranch 2009

It's October in SClarita - time for a family trip to Lombardi's!

To compare this year's trip to a year ago, click here. The difference is remarkable.

Princess of the Hill (you can click it to see her cheesy grin up close).

We made our trip Monday a reward for Cora earning another five stickers on her behavior chart.

We all had a great time! Cora loved running around, looking at everything.

Our big helper. Since we now have a house and front yard, we bought a couple of pumpkins, one large and one medium-sized, to join the two small pumpkins we already have, and Cora picked out some fun tiny pumpkins and colorful gourds as well.

Daddy got her, in the baby maze!

The scariest of scarecrows...

Well, not really. There were some pretty scary ones, as far as Cora was concerned. She would walk by, trying not to look, covering her eyes. Poor thing does NOT like scary Halloween creatures. She tolerated, and Stace loved, this football-themed entry in the scarecrow contest by a local club soccer team. Notice the "player" third from the right?


Later, we returned to the Ranch with Grandma, who captured this image.

It was a beautiful evening!

This time, we made it onto the train ride through the cornfields.

Tehachapi Apple Show

For a couple of months, a sheet of paper in Stace's handwriting marked "Edwards Air Show - Oct. 17th" has graced center spot on our fridge.

The Air Force Base hasn't staged the show since 2006, so Stace was pretty excited. Apparently, so was the rest of Southern California.

We left the house around 10, got up near the correct freeway onramp about 11, and then waited in a long, slow line of cars for more than a half hour. When we got off the freeway and got nearer the base, traffic reached a complete standstill just in sight of a sign stating: "14 miles to main base."

With a line of cars ahead of us as far as the eye could see, we decided to turn around. Instead, we headed northwest to Tehachapi. Tehachapi this time of year is known for its apple orchards, and since I have fond memories of going to apple harvest events in Oak Glen, out in San Bernardino County, I thought it would make for a fun family day.

It was! My friend Allison from the Valley Press directed us to the Apple Shed restaurant, where we had apple pie and picked up a map of the various orchards. Tehachapi is an adorable town, and we really enjoyed our drive through. We stopped at two orchards, and bought apples at one and cider and apple syrup at another.

At the place we bought apples, which we chose from large boxes in sight of the apple trees, the family let Cora pick one of the crab apples from the tree in their yard. You can see her reaction to her taste of the fruit - yes, it was Stace who was encouraging her to bite into it. She said it tasted like lemon.

The next photo shows her trying the cider - yum! Not alcoholic, since we're in America, and alcoholic cider is called "hard cider."

Then, on the way back home, we stopped in Palmdale for a bite to eat (I was feeling pretty awful by this time) and a look at the airplanes at Blackbird Airpark. Since Cora had been told she was going to an airplane show, and then was sad when we turned around, this was our way to make it better.

Lastly, here's a pic showing how Cora fixed her laces while we were on our long drive to Tehachapi.

Cora Can Cook!

This is my cooking helper, the ever-enthusiastic Cora Rose. For months, I've had Cora in her high chair to watch me cook, and help out. But a week or so ago, I started allowing her to stand next to me on a chair. She is so excited to do so, and loves it when I can give her little jobs to do.

On Thursday night we made a big batch of homemade mac and cheese, like my grandma used to make. Cora helped whisk the egg, throw away wrappers, and sneak bites of grated cheese.

This evening, I began putting away clean dry dishes in preparation to start washing a few more dirty ones. I spotted Cora over by the dining room table, trying to push a chair over and growing frustrated as it was getting caught on the high chair. I asked her why she was pushing the chair, and she said she wanted to help me cook. Lucky for Cora, an hour or so later, she's now helping Daddy make batter for toad in the hole - that's one of Stace's specialities.
Stace made mini toad in the holes - sausage bites baked in Yorkshire pudding, in the mini muffin pan - with peas and Bisto gravy. Cora loved it - she even said to Stace, "I really love this!"

12 weeks

Figured I'd better get these posted before I hit 13 weeks on Thursday!

These two are from my pregnancy with Cora...

And here I am this weekend...

I feel like I'm showing more and quicker this time around, which is normal with second (and later) pregnancies. But, looking at these photos, I definitely was showing at this stage with Cora, too.

I'm feeling about the same as I have the last month or so. Much better than weeks 6-8, and still facing sick feelings every day. I've had a few rough evenings lately, when I've failed to eat enough or quickly enough when I get up in the afternoon from my nap. And the fatigue! I just don't know how I managed to work full-time last time around, I'm really needing my nap these days. I'm so blessed to be home, with a little one who still takes a solid nap every day, so I can rest too.

Home Improvements

Here's some photos of our new carpeting. We're so pleased with how it came out! We got this type for the playroom, a sandy/wheat colored carpet with a tiny square pattern.

Here's a reminder of how the spare room (future nursery) looked before, with a lovely wine-colored carpet...

And now, with the new carpet.

I'm most pleased with our room - we had a dark brown color before, and this lighter color brightens the whole room.

A closeup of the carpeting in the three bedrooms... the speckles will hopefully help hide dirt.
And finally, Cora's room. Her room and the playroom had a sage green color, so this is, again a big improvement. The new padding under the carpets is amazing; everything feels so plush.

The carpets were put in Thursday, and on Friday we had our 70-foot-tall liquidamber tree chopped down by my MOPS friend's husband's tree-trimming service. The tree was healthy, but so big that we were concerned about large branches falling down onto our house. The roots were cracking the wall, too. I was amazed at how quickly the men took this huge tree down - in about an hour, all the greenery was on our lawn, and it wasn't much longer that the trunk was down too.

We plan to turn the trunk into a planter. I'm glad we got it done last week - though it was an expensive two days - because we're getting our first storm of the year. We won't have to worry when the winds blow.

Telling Cora

Stace, Cora and I headed to the doctor's today for my checkup. I'm now 11 weeks, and all went well with the nurse finding the baby's heartbeat.

We took the opportunity to tell Cora about the baby in Mummy's tummy, and she took the news well. She seemed a bit excited, and then got quiet. I think she understands what's going on; some of her little friends have had new babies join their homes this year.

Stace got a lot of work done this weekend, finishing the baseboards in our room and the spare room. You can see him removing the old baseboards in this photo.

Cora and I made dinner and dessert Sunday - she was quite the helper, standing on a chair next to me. She loved being so close to the action.

Her phrase of the weekend: "I don't think so." She used it often - very often.
Cora also has been putting herself in others' shoes a lot. For instance, while watching Cinderella, when the mice were picking up the beads from the broken necklace, Cora said, "When I was a mouse, I help them pick those up." She says some version of this make-believe at least once a day, often when I'm reading to her.

Giving up control

Tonight, I waited out a queasy stomach by spending some quality time coloring with Cora.
She hasn't been much of a colorer lately, but earlier today she found her box of crayons and settled down, occupying herself for maybe 20 minutes.

I colored a picture of Pooh Bear with the yellow and orange crayons, and then colored his coat and hat blue. Cora then took the blue, and, with vigorous strokes, turned Pooh blue. She seemed quite pleased with work. On the next page, I suggested she color Piglet pink, but no, blue was the color of the evening. Bold blue, the crayon ground into the page.

It struck me as humorous. I'm not that artistic, but I did have ideas of nicely finished drawings, with true-to-life colors, within the lines. Cora had other plans, plans she was joyful to implement, and I had to let her have her way. It was her coloring book, after all.

Stace has the same problem when he's building her Lincoln Log houses or block towers. I know it's just the beginning of a parent's lessons in giving up control.