Strike a Pose

The series of photos I am posting today were taken by Eva and Matt, our friends here in Edmonton. They have a great eye for photography, so I asked them if they would be willing to take a few shots of Cora. Needless to say, they went above and beyond. Eva snapped around 200 photos. Matt did the majority of the editing. They ended up choosing 51 photos that had a variety of Cora's facial expressions. Lee and I absolutely adore these photos. I can't even begin to explain to Eva and Matt how much these mean to us. Thank you!! So here is a very small sampling of some of the photos. I'll post more every couple days.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

Green or Orange?

Orange or Green? That is the question. What in high heaven am I talking about? The answer is PUMPKINS! We took the Belle to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. It was quite fun. We spent most of our time in the petting zoo area.

She talked to the chickens,

danced with the geese,

pet the sheep,

and tried to feed the goats.

We were going to let her play with the rabbits but there were a bajillion people in that enclosure. Not many people cared for the chickens. And, we just sat Cora in the feeding trough to let her play with the goats.

She still loves goats. We got the "side eye" look from many other parents. Yep, we're the mom and dad who will sit her in the mud so she can get down at a little chicken's level. Yep, we're the mom and dad who let the geese peck at her shoes. Yep, were the mom and dad who let her get goat boogers all over her hands. Yep, that's us. We're those parents.

OK, back to the orange or green pumpkins. It turns out pumpkin patches in Alberta are a wee bit different than the ones back in Nebraska. Everyone should be so lucky to have a Vala's Pumpkin Patch where they live. We read on the internet that all the pumpkins were already picked and waiting to be chosen in one of the heated greenhouses. Heated greenhouses? Really?? Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. Oh well. The website did mention a hayrack ride! After petting the barnyard animal fleet, we avoided the hordes of people and went straight to a greenhouse. In this greenhouse were hundred of mini pumpkins.


They were cute, but small. We snapped a few pictures of our Tahiti Sweetie and then stood there looking completely confused. I asked Lee if he thought it was possible that all the big pumpkins were already gone. He looked around and decided we were definitely in the wrong greenhouse because there was no room for large pumpkins. Ahhh, yep. Good point Detective Holmes. The next greenhouse was by a cash register. This had to be the one. We walked in and there were many varieties of pumpkins strategically placed on tables and on the floor. It was pretty, but there weren't many pumpkins. We kept walking until we got to the back. There was a corridor that led to another section of greenhouse. This had to be where the pumpkins were piled high to the sky. We walked faster. Both of us were getting a bit giddy about seeing Cora's face light up with all the pumpkins. We rounded the corner and stopped dead in our tracks. There were potted houseplants in this greenhouses. Talk about feeling like you just ran face first into the wall. Oh well. We turned around to decide what we were going to do about a pumpkin. Some of the nontraditional pumpkins were pretty cool. We decided to pick out a neat green pumpkin rather than a forlorn looking orange pumpkin.

Even though the pumpkin picking was a bit of a disappointment and the hayrack ride took you from the admissions stand to the hub of activity (we decided to walk...It was only 100 yards or so), we had a great time playing with the animals and getting some fresh air for the day. We are already looking back and laughing about Cora's pathetic first trip to a pumpkin patch.


I have some other exciting news on the home front. Cora is cutting 4 teeth. FOUR! Yes, the nights have been long and she has been quite touchy during the day.



As you can probably see from the traditional 3 teeth pictures, all 4 teeth are coming in on top. Two on each side. Lee has taken to calling her White Fang. I like it.

Tomorrow is Halloween at Cora's daycare. We have opted to not dress her up in a traditional costume. I know there is nothing cuter than a baby in a costume, buuuuuuut I couldn't find any reason to put her through the torture. Cora's little brothers and sisters will probably have costumes. I guess this is one of the pit falls of being the eldest. :) I promise that we'll still post cute pictures of Cora in her little orange outfit. I did get the coolest leggings for her to wear under her pants.

10 months, BABY!

Today marks the day. Cora is 10 months old. She's double digits...in months. I know I keep saying this, but 2009 is flying by. I think the first years of life will always fly by because there are so many milestones and changes in a young person. Anyways, here are her official 10 month photos.

Escaping from the photo.

There she is!

What has Cora been up to?

• No more army crawling. She is up on all fours.

• She is a little daredevil. The world is her jungle gym. She does make me nervous how she likes to crawl around on her change table.
• She has mastered the stairs.

• She likes to splash all the water out of the tub.
• She will instantly calm down when you play "This Little Piggy Went to Market"
• She is starting to get the hang of "Patty Cake". She especially likes the rolling part.
• She will push the basket across the floor and walk with it. Time to get a walker!
• She absolutely 100% loves dogs.
• She stands in her crib after she wakes up and either cries or talks very loudly. It is pretty cute because she is just tall enough to see over the railing.

I had some more, but now I can't think of what they were. Go figure. It will come to me.

Lee made it home safe and sound from his fishing trip. We have some crappie and walleye in the freezer now. He bought Cora a Royal Canadian Mountie teddy bear. She loves it.

Eric, Lee's friend. He actually is a musician.

All 4 boys. Lee and Eric are in the boat in the background. Lee's the one wearing the big parka.

Lee and Eric. Again, Lee is in the parka and Eric is waving.

Tired, Lee?

Snowflakes or Ladybugs

::GASPING FOR AIR:: Cora's first birthday is literally right around the corner! Lee and I have decided that we would invite 2 little girls over for a little birthday party. Here's my dilemma. I am can't decide which theme to choose. I am stuck between Ladybugs and Winter "ONE"derland. I didn't come up with the creativeness of the second. Thank you, Google search and baby forums. Honestly, I am leaning towards Ladybugs. There are sooooo many cute things I could do. I have 1000 different ideas for it. As for Winter "ONE"derland, I have maybe only 800 ideas. ;)

Here is a bullet list of comparisons between the two.

LADYBUGS

• Ladybug cupcakes (MJ's chocolate cake cupcakes of course)
  
• Die cut ladybug invites where the wings open (easy peasy to make)
• Lady bug antennae for the three little girls to wear (in place of traditional birthday hat)
• I thought about wings, but I think the girls are too small
• Styrofoam ladybug decorations on the wall
• Christmas ornament for craft...ladybug?? I haven't decided exactly what will be age appropriate for a craft. Maybe hand casts in pie tins. I will be looking in child craft books for ideas.
• Play children's music in the background
• I'll make a pillowcase dress for Cora to wear. Red with black dots, black long-sleeved shirt, black tights, and her mary jane's.

WINTER "ONE"DERLAND

• Snowflake cupcakes (MJ's chocolate cake cupcakes of course)
• Die cut snowflake invites (I don't have the exact idea in my head yet)
• Snowflake crown (think winter princesses) instead of traditional hat
• Snowflakes with glitter hanging all over the living room with white lights strung up.
• Snowmen crafts
• Play winter music like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Walking in a Winter Wonderland"
• I'll still make a pillowcase dress. It will be blue with snowflakes on the hem with a white shirt and white tights.

OK, after these lists, I think I like the Winter "ONE"derland theme. Go figure. Now I am leaning towards a ladybug theme when she is older. The girls could decorate their own wings for a craft. So, this is where I am asking for my readers' help. I have started a poll on the right-hand column of this blog layout. Please vote for Cora's 1st birthday theme. No promises that I'll choose the most popular answer, but I'd love to get other people's opinions.

Enough birthday talk. Let's talk Belle. Lately, she has been showing some interest in eating utensils. I figured I'd just let her try. She actually did pretty darn good....if you look past the hurricane of food on her face. There is a video where she uses her spoon just once. It's a start. :)







I just thought she looked cute in these next couple photos. They are merely for entertainment.

She had something in her mouth. I had to add the photo to remember looking at her thinking to myself, "What is wrong with her teeth."

Remember the recent Bumps and Bruises post. Here is a picture follow up. I was putting her hair in a ponytail and noticed she had two bruises on her head. The one in the front (very light and you can't see it at all in photos) and this one on the side of her head in the photo below. I have no idea where it came from. Oy vey.

Cora the Clumsy Canadian

Yes, as cute as Cora is, she is quite clumsy. What is a person to expect? The babe is finally moving and grooving, but she needs some more practice. She falls all.the.time. She falls forward, to the back, to the side, onto her knees. Most of the time her falls result in a look of wonderment. Her eyes say to me, "MOM, WHAT IN THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" Not every time is it this cute. Three times yesterday she fell face first into a wall or bookshelf. The first two times looked incredibly painful. I ran to her, picked her up, and held her while she cried into my shoulder. After a good cry, I put her down and inspected her to make sure there was no serious injury. Every time, nothing. Not even a red spot. We weren't so lucky the third time. She was playing in her bedroom while I was putting clothes away. She slipped and knocked her face on the wall. It really didn't look that bad, but she sure let out a wail. I didn't jump up immediately, but I went to her quickly. I held her, she cried. I didn't even think about checking her face because it really didn't look like she hit that hard. I was wrong. I pulled her back to put her down and there it was. A giant, red goose egg right in the middle of her forehead. Oh dear. That one must have hurt. Wall 1, Cora 0, Mom -52. I picked her back up and held her a bit longer (mostly just because I felt bad and needed to comfort myself for not immediately running to her). She is fine and within minutes was back to her happy little self. I did take a couple pictures of the welt for "memories".


Here is a video of her showing off her bump. Excuse the excess babbling on my part. I started talking and then realized my voice would be heard in the video. Therefore, I sound like a complete fool. Hahaha.



I think I need to give a quick description of Cora's 'I'm really, Really, REALLY hurt' cry. About a second after the impact, there is a extremely brief whimper like grunt that is barely audible. She then lets out the most awful looking silent cry. Her tongue curls up, her mouth gapes open, her eyes squeeze shut, and her lips turn blue. She then inhales and proceeds to let out two long, loud cries. Again, her tongue curls just so. I can't really explain it. (Cora and Mya hold their mouths and tongue the exact same way when they cry. Just a little FYI.) These three cries are with her head flung back and her neck straining. The next cries aren't nearly as strained. She relaxes a bit and buries her head into my shoulder. You can feel her belly move with these cries. These cries are the ones that produce tears. She may have a couple tears with the loud screams, but they tend to fall during the shoulder cry. She then starts to belly ache and suck on her bottom lip. This is a good time to pull her away and look at her. She is easily distracted at this point. This whole process has never lasted more than 2 minutes. Most of the time, I'd say she does this for 45 seconds to a minute. Of course, it feels like an eternity when it happens. I will probably never get this on video or a camera. I hope my description didn't make it seem to awful. ;) Just in case, I am going to add a cute smiling photo I just took of the Belle.


I took a couple videos of her today. The first is her making some sounds. The second one is only a a short while later. She chucked her sippy cup off the high chair. When I turned around to pick it up for her, she was nodding off. I caught some of it on video. Too cute! I took her upstairs and changed her diaper. All the while she was asleep, but kept desperately trying to wake up. When I put her in her crib, she flipped over to her stomach, and started to crawl. She fell asleep mid crawl with her but a mile high in the sky. I was laughing pretty hard. She was a tired little bug this afternoon.

Surprise, Aunt Jean!

I thought I'd surprise Aunt Jean with another post of the Canadian Cutie! So soon, I know. But, she was just so cute today I couldn't resist.

Cora was running a low grade fever, so we stayed home from daycare. I am 99% sure it was from the flu shot last night, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I know other parents wouldn't appreciate a potentially infectious kid at daycare. :) It has been snowing all day. We took a walk around the block. Cora loved it. I think it is supposed to be nicer tomorrow. If so, expect some snow baby photos in a couple days. :)

Pony tail!

Mom and Cora

Posing one last time in the sweater I originally made for Mya.

Playing patty cake in the mirror with herself.