A Week of Firsts

Cora had all sorts of 'firsts' the last few days. She had her first long car ride, her first night in a hotel, her first plane trip, her first time in a different country, her first picnic, and oh so many more. So far, so good. We have been in Valentine for one full day. We arrived late on Monday night, so we can't really count that. Here are some photos from our trip so far.

Cora getting a bath in the sink at the Calgary Holiday Inn Express

We made it through Customs and Security!! Cora did AWESOME on the plane.

Cora is really checking out her Great Grandpa Jeffers.

Cora went to visit Grandpa Bob at work.

Cora's first picnic in Government Canyon in Valentine. Our usual picnic table fell apart so we had a great lunch on the ground. Cora was interested in everything (when she wasn't sleeping).

Mommy and Cora loving the nice weather. Almost 60!!

Cora, Grandpa Bob, and me

Cora showing Aunt Anne her trick. She loves 'standing up'.

Cora loving on Aunt Anne. She immediately started sucking on Aunt Anne's arm. :)

Cora and Grandpa Bob are still enjoying the good weather on the screened-in porch.

Zzzzzzzzz

We are trying to get the house cleaned and also get packed for our trip today. Of course, all the hard work, or lack there of, leads to some tired bodies. I just got out of the shower and found my two favorite people one the couch. They were both sawing logs. :)

Look how comfy Cora is on her Daddy. You can also see how long she is getting since she is completely sprawled out.

And they just woke up. Looks like we get to start cleaning again. :)

Skinny Minny

I always post pictures of Cora dressed in sleepers, so I thought I'd give a everyone a good look at the skinny little body she has. She is starting to get some pudge, but as you can see, she is still one skinny minny. These pictures were taken right after she pooped all over herself. I stuck her in the sink and she LOVED having her bath in there. It was too funny. I wish Lee would have been home with the video camera.

The next set of photos are just to prove that, although she is always cute, she is not always smiling.

Hi Mom, I'm trying to smile. Just give me a sec.

OK, here is my "I'm just totally adorable" side eye glance.

Seriously, Woman. If you were quicker with the camera this photo session would be done with.

I told you I am getting tired of this. Just take my fussiness clues and hold me!

You just went TOO FAR! ENOUGH!! 

Disclaimer: Baby Cora only cried for 5 seconds before she was held and fed. I just had to get the photo. :)

Notice her hair is changing. She is losing her newborn hair, but the infant hair is coming in quick! No bald spots. She had some really nappy nasty stuff in the back, but that is almost gone. Isn't the color great? It is light brown with a lot of auburn undertones (even possibly some strawberry blond). I bet it will bleach out just beautifully in the summer. Of course, this is right after a bath when it is clean and shiny.

Parker Pictures!!

Lindsey's Mom posted some pictures of Parker, so I stole them. Linds, she is absolutely perfect! You look fantastic and I love the picture of you, Dave, and Parker.

Beautiful Baby Parker

The very happy family. Dave, Linds, and Parker

TOUCHDOWN!!

Cora's new favorite pose is having her arms extended straight over her head. It is most funny when she finishes eating because she curls her legs up tight against her body and stretches her arms up as far as they go. It is a little hard to hold her like this because she feels like a squirmy tube. Here are some pictures of her in action.

Cora playing in her crib.

On the change table.

Cora is also starting to grow out of some of her newborn hats. In these next photos, the circumference of the hat seems to fit her quite well. However, the "cone" is supposed to be floppy. It looked so cute because it was standing straight up.

Cora loves to be held, and I love to hold her. I wanted to get a few things done in the house the other day, so I decided to try out our Baby Bjorn. She really seemed to like it. She is still a bit small, so I didn't put her arms through the arm holes. Lee thought she looked so sweet when he got home, so now we have a photo. :)

Ahhh. Our romantic Valentine's Day. We were both pretty darn tired so we decided to order in pizza, watch a movie, and hit the hay early. We were laughing pretty hard when the pizza came. As you can see from the picture, it was heart shaped. We watched The Rounders (thanks, Jamie), and were in bed by 9:30. It was really a very wonderful evening.

Baby B is HERE!!!!!!!

WOW!! That was fast!! Linds and Dave are the proud new parents of a 

BABY GIRL!!!!!!!!

Parker Kathleen B.

b. Feb 16, 2009 @ 7:47am

5 lbs 14 0z

19.5 in

Mommy and Parker are doing fantastic. Baby Parker has a head of dark hair, so Cora will be sharing her bows. Lindsey, YOU GO WHITE GIRL!! Dave just happened to call as Cora had a diaper full of poop running down her leg. I could tell Dave was getting excited for those days!

Linds is in labor!!

Some of you know that my friend from high school is pregnant and due this month. Well, her induction was scheduled for 5:30am this morning. Turns out she didn't quite make it! She called at 2am mountain time this morning and was on her way to the hospital!!! I had a feeling it was going to happen because she started having contractions 15 min apart Saturday night. I got another call from her around 5am and she was already dilated to an 8!!!! So, here I am, sitting on the couch, feeding my baby, anxiously waiting to hear about the arrival of Baby B!

This picture was taken January of last year. This was the last time we saw each other. I was just back from Antarctica and it had been forever since we had seen each other. Now, a year and 2 months later, we're getting together again. Except this time with babies. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

First, a little non-Cora news. Today marks Lee's and my first date 7 years ago. I really snagged a good catch then, didn't I? I may be really bad at flyfishing, but I sure can boyfish. So, what are we doing to celebrate? Having dinner at home of course!! I really hope he was as big of a space cadet as me on this holiday. I completely forgot about it. No card. Oh well, it will make up for him forgetting my card on our anniversary last year. Just so nobody starts throwing tomatoes his direction, he did find out we were having a baby on that day. I am guessing his mind was...elsewhere.

I always find myself chuckling at this photo. I was freezing, but I wanted to impress that boy of mine. Oh, God, the lengths I went to... Needless to say, after I knew he'd stick around I only went icefishing when Moritz was there. He had a hut and heater. :) And, no, that is not open water behind us. Just really clear ice.

What else?? Oh, the blog is different. I was getting bored with the bird. I did love that blog design, but it didn't seem personable enough. I couldn't think of a catchy title that really encapsulated the three of us. So, instead, I dropped the title, changed the background, and added a family photo. This picture was taken by Iasha Tryhuba of Photos by Iasha. I just got the prints back on Thursday. I can't believe that just 5 weeks ago my little baby was that small. Which brings me to my next topic.

I can't believe that just 5 weeks ago my little baby was that small. It is incredible how fast the little boogers grow. When I was pregnant, I made a promise to myself. I wouldn't wish for the day when she was just a little bit older. You know how you can get anxious with things. I caught myself thinking about her first day of kindergarten when I was pregnant! Second, I would relish every second I have with her "in the now". This way, I won't look back to pictures and feel like I missed a part of her life. Yes, it stuns me to look back at photos taken a month ago compared to today because you don't notice growth over time. I knew that part of her life cycle was going to be over ridiculously fast which is why I made such a huge deal out of newborn photos. So many people said, "Why would you get newborn photos? All newborns look the same and I think most newborns are pretty ugly anyways." Well, tell a mother her baby is ugly, too skinny, too fat, etc and she may kick your ass into next year. For me though, these pictures are a representation of Cora's first days out in the world. It is a part of her I will never forget, but it is also a part of her I will never have back. This point has really dragged on, hasn't it?

I think I will close with a couple more photos.

These are side-by-side shots of me and Cora. I am about 2 weeks older than her in this photo. I think Mom still has these outfits, so I am going to take a similar picture of her when I get home. Crap, I think we might still have that blanket.

P.S. The health clinic is closed on the weekends, so I don't have Cora's weight update yet. Oops.

To keep everyone busy while blog is under construction

This is a video of me and Cora chatting it up. Ignore how stupid I sound. I am sure she is going to think I am a real winner when she is about 14. Oh well.

Under Construction

I am changing the look of my blog. I'll have an update on the weight situation this afternoon.

Fun With Our New MAC

Lee and I bought a MacBook this weekend. I have been messing around with it trying to familiarize myself with all the functions. I just had to share the following pictures from Photo Booth. I am having way too much fun at my daughter's expense. Hahaha!!!

Hey You GUUUYS!!!! Doesn't she look like Sloth?

Sloth from The Goonies

Oh My Gawd!! There are TWO of them!! And they're conjoined! Sounds like a messed up sci-fi movie, eh?

The Brain from Pinky and the Brain

I'm looking forward to seeing Jim in 2 weeks to really learn the ins and outs of this awesome machine.

If Cora was a trout...

...We'd keep her. Her 6 week check up went pretty good today. Other than looking 110% adorable, she is a pretty healthy little baby. And, when I say little, I mean little. She is still smaller than I was when I was born!!

Here are her stats:

8 lbs 8 oz

22 in long

Dr. Galante was overall impressed with her progress this last month. Her hips look good. She is doing super at putting weight on her legs. She is getting so much better at propping herself up on her forearms while lying on her belly. Her length is in the 55th percentile. Her head circumference is just above average though I can't remember the measurement. Her weight is lagging. She was supposed to be at 8 lbs 12 oz. You might not think that is a huge difference. I mean, it really is only 4 oz. The kicker is she should be gaining 6 oz a week. So, she is nearly a week behind in weight gain. Dr. Galante is not worried at this point. He said she could simply just be a long, skinny baby (I was after the 3 month mark). I am taking her to the health clinic tomorrow to get a weight and then taking her again next week. If she hasn't gained 6 oz in that time frame, we are back at Dr. Galante's office to talk about fattening her up. You might wonder what I am doing in the meantime. Well, I am feeding her. Dr. Galante said is was so incredibly important that I feed her whenever she wants it. If she is sucking on her fist or pacifier, feed her. If she is crying, feed her. When she wakes up, feed her. Let her go to sleep while feeding. In the last couple of weeks, I have let her cry too long. I should never have allowed her to cry for more than a minute, but I'll learn. She is still a very healthy baby and very, very strong. On a side note, I am glad to say her cries are not the only ones that make me cry. Another 2 week old baby was crying in the doctor's office today and my eyes were instant faucets.

These next two photos along with the one at the top were taken with my camera phone before we left for the doctor. I have to say, I love to dress her in yellow and blue. Today, she was a little ray of sunshine in her yellow sleeper and yellow bow. The photos aren't great quality because of the camera phone. My regular camera's batteries died a couple days ago. :(

On Monday, I took Cora to apply for her passport. I learned a couple things from this trip. The first thing is her carseat is really, really heavy. We rode the train so I just put her in her carseat and took off. Bad idea!! My forearm was a little bruised yesterday. We also had the car, so we went to visit Lee at work. He was so happy to see his little Cora. I am sure the surprise visit made his day. The second thing I learned is Cora loved being outside. She was very intrigued by the new scenery. There was not a peep out of her sweet little mouth. February has been unseasonably warm. In fact, it has been above freezing! So, after visiting Daddy at his work, we went to Babies R Us and bought a stroller!! It is all put together, but the only test run has been around the house. I still prefer to carry her (sans carseat) unless we have a long way to go. Today, I put her in my mei tai wrap and we jumped on the train to go the doctor's office. She loved being close to my chest and slept the whole way there. On the way back, we decided to walk. Again, she slept the whole way. We had so much fun! When Lee came home for lunch, we threw her in the mei tai again and headed to the coffee shop by our house. Great lunch and even better company! 

More low quality photos taken with my camera. These two pictures were taken the other night while Cora and I were hanging out on the floor. These were taken during a break of playing with her rattles.

A quick note about the previous post. I had a lot of people ask me about the purpose of the green cloth draped over Cora's shoulders. The reasoning was the photographer wanted contrast between her clothes and the background. I am not sure why, since I thought passport photos focused on the face. Maybe it made her face stand out more??