First Food

Thanksgiving morning Cora had her feast for the day! She tried rice cereal for the first time. I think she could tell something was up, because there were four people gathered around her high chair watching her with two cameras flashing!

She seemed to like it, and took 5 or 6 good spoonfuls before deciding she was done. Maybe her Boston Marathon bib from Kissie was good luck, because she seemed to get the hang of swallowing right away.

Hurray for Cora!

Bathtime at Kissie's

Grandma Jan prefers to go by Queenie instead of Grandma, but Cora's cousin Emeline who is 18 months now, calls her Kissie (and Grandpa Rod is Pata) and I think think that's an even better name than Queenie! Cora loved bathing in Kissie and Pata's shiny black kitchen sink. The backsplash in the kitchen is black tile and Cora loved staring at her reflection in it too! Cora's favorite bathtime pastimes are to suck on the washcloth or catch drips of water in her mouth.

Rolling Over

Hurray for Cora! Yesterday she rolled from her back to her stomach for the first time! She did it several times for me during the day and for Kevin in the evening too.

Cora loves to go to church-- she is so fascinated watching the kiddies who can run around and always looks concerned for the ones who start crying. I know she can't wait to be that mobile! I guess our house is pretty boring compared to all the hussle bustle that goes on on Sundays.

Cora is loving to chew on her hands and toes all the time now too. She tries to see how many fingers she can get in her mouth at one time! I thought she was just sucking on them, but she's actually chomping on them between her gums. It's been fun for hours for her! Pretty much anything in reach is fair game to go in her mouth now. She was even trying to chew up her highchair tray at lunch today. I couldn't get the camera out fast enough, but it was pretty funny! She sure couldn't get very much of it in her mouth--fingers are much more accessible!

I think Cora's going to be pretty excited to start real eating in two weeks. She watches us pretty intently at mealtimes. Rice cereal here she comes!

New Toy

Cora got a Baby Einstein activity center yesterday! She is still a little small for it-- she has to stand on almost tiptoes to touch the floor, but seems to really like it. We were trying to choose between three of them at the store, so we let her sample them. This one was the clear winner! Last night she was pretty frustrated that she couldn't get her mouth to the objects, but this afternoon she was experimenting with playing with the toys. Online, I read that some babies have fun for hours with these things! I'm just hoping for 20 minutes so I can shower and get ready in the morning, and maybe fix dinner in the evening too. Cora is growing out of the swing and the bouncy chair, so it's good to have some alternative forms of entertainment for her!

Our Little Elephant

Cora is an elephant for Halloween! To get maximum usage out of the costume, she dressed up last night for our group FHE, and she'll be dressed up this afternoon to go to Kevin's work to 'trick-or-treat'. And, maybe if she's still in a good mood, she'll answer the door a few times tonight to give out candy.

Happy Halloween!

Sitting

Whoa! I'm sitting!


and leaning....


and leaning a bit more....


but now I have it!

Boise Visit

Grandpa, Cora, and dolly cuddling in the morning room.


Queenie and Cora, with Cora's new outfit.

Cora and I had fun in Boise! It seems like our trips are never long enough to get everything done we plan on doing! Unfortunately, my bad luck with Settlers continued... Mom won two games, Dad won one, and I won none.... not even close!

Cora even did a great job in the car, so that made things a lot easier!

Looking amazed runs in the family....

Terrah, 9 months




Cora, 4 months

Four Months

Cora is four months old today! At her four month pediatrician appointment on Monday, Cora weighed 12 pounds, 10 ounces, and measured 24 inches long (about 25th percentile for both). She is doing great! The pediatrician recommended starting Cora on rice cereal at 5 months, and adding fruits and veggies at 6 months. Should be fun (and messy).

Cora's favorite hobbies include grabbing her toes, blowing raspberries, and intently watching people around her. She also loves to stand up (she still needs help from mom and dad for this one), and do baby crunches (you can tell when she's tired of laying down because she strains to lift her head and shoulders off the floor). She can usually remember how to roll from her stomach to back, but hasn't yet attempted a back to tummy rollover. She can even sit up with some propping! Cora also loves to talk and sing to herself, even if she's the only one who can understand.

We sure love our little girl!

Checked luggage

Our flight home was especially peaceful-- we checked Cora at the gate along with her carseat and stroller!
Just kidding! Cora slept the whole way home-- both legs of the flight!

It was a great trip! Pretty short, but a good first trip with Cora. I think she really missed being able to kick around and play during the day-- she was always in our arms, in a carrier, or in her stroller or car seat on the plane, on our day trips, and in the car. She put up with a lot of time being constricted and a weird nap schedule, but I think she had fun hanging out with mom and dad too. I hadn't been to San Diego since second grade, so it was way fun for me too! Kevin did an excellent job driving (I would have been a nutcase) and had a great time as well!

Pool Time

Kevin and Cora swam in the hotel pool Wednesday night after our Sea World adventure. The water was so warm, Cora thought it was just a big bath! She loved to have Dad propel her through the water and didn't even mind too much when she splashed herself.

Shamu too

After getting baggage, renting a car, and grabbing lunch, we got to Sea World about noon. We saw whale, dolphin, sea lion, and pet shows, and petted and fed bat rays and dolphins, saw all kinds of other sea creatures, and had a great time at Sea World. I even went on one of the water rides, it was really wet, but fun!

Cora slept and ate through a lot of shows, and since we thought it best to keep her in the no-splash seating, she probably wouldn't have seen too much anyway. But we couldn't have asked for better weather!




Cora and Kevin as we left the silly sea lion show.


Mom and the flamingos. They (the flamingos) smelled!

World Famous

Thursday was zoo day! I thought it was just called the San Diego Zoo, but the proper title I found out is the WORLD FAMOUS San Diego Zoo. For a good reason! We took a guided bus tour around, which let us see all the highlights, and then walked every path in the zoo three times as well to see a lot of other exhibits. Well, not really that much walking, but it felt like it, since we were criss-crossing to see some of the shows and exhibits at our not-very-well-planned-out schedule. Good thing it was such a pleasant day!

My favorite part was watching the polar bear play with his big beach ball. He would throw it up against the glass and catch it over and over again. And then he would jump on it in the water and roll over it, doing a summersault into the water. It looked like he was having a great time! The tour guide said it was a real treat to see him so playful. By contrast, by the time we got to the panda bears, they were all sleepy tired and not too exciting to watch.


Here's Cora with the mama and baby hippos! They were just hanging out under water, and would stick their noses above the water to grab some air every once in a while.

Cora and I on the aerial tram.

One of the shows we saw featured this Artic Wolf. We learned that when he finds something smelly and rolls in it, it is because he wants to smell less like a wolf to his predators, and so that if he finds something good, his pack member know about it when he returns to the pack.

Mom and Dad, maybe Puppy is trying to tell you where the construction workers dropped all the good hamburgers when he rolls in junk like that!

The audience also howled to try to get the wolf to howl, and it worked! Just like at home with Pup! Close relations I guess.

This baby giraffe was born about the same time as Cora! He sure grew a lot faster-- but I think he had a 150 pound head start too!

Cora may not be as big as this baby giraffe, but I think her tongue is just as long! She can stretch it up to her nose or down to her chin... she must have gotten that from Kevin!

Kevin, Cora, and the Alaskan Brown Bear. It's bone day for him!

La Jolla

The beach was so pretty, if we had another day on the trip, I would have loved to just spend time walking along all the pathways and parks along the water. Spectacular views!

Beach Time

We had to be at the airport at noon, but we spent some of the morning at the beach-- Cora's first time at the ocean! She was a bit ambivalent about it all, but she did like to dig her toes in the sand, for a few minutes at least!

Early morning plane ride

We woke up at 5:00am to catch our flight. Pretty early!

Cora on her very first plane ride. She looks pretty amazed!

On the way there she had room for her car seat both ways, but the way back was packed full. Good thing she's still little and fits easily on our laps!

Our little spitter

Cora usually has a constant drool going on now, and rarely is the front of her outfit ever dry! She did discover that she can make a new noise with all this wetness--and can entertain herself for a good period of time by making this noise, especially in church!

New Skill

Cora grabbed her toes for the first time this morning! She thought it was pretty cool to grab them and move her feet around!

Helping with the Laundry

Thanks for the cute outfit Kristen!

Sleeping through the night

Well, Cora hit another milestone last weekend! She slept through the night-- from 9:45pm to 6:30am! The next night she slept from 10:00pm to 5:00am! (Both nights she went back to sleep like usual and was up for the day at eight or nine o'clock)

.... And the last two nights she's woken up ravenous once in the middle of the night about 3:00am like she used too. So we'll see if she makes that two night sleeping pattern into something permanent soon! At least it looks more hopeful now!

Patio-- Part Three

Finally, after a little over an hour, all the guys were done wheeling! Bob and his brother continued their finishing work, stamped a border around the edges...


...sprayed a sealant on the cement....



... and took a break for lunch!


Here's the finished product! Kevin and Brad stained the stairs and got them put back on last weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped us make our yard a better place for barbeques and a great place for Cora to ride a trike next year!


(And here's a close-up of the border)

The Patio-- Part two

Cement.... and more cement....



And more... and more....

New Patio-Part One

We had the area dug down and 2 inches of gravel put down. Bob came and framed the area.



The cement truck came and would fill the wheelbarrows as Dad, Kevin, and Doug shuttled loads back and forth.

Bob and his brother would work the cement as Dad, Kevin, and Doug dropped off each load.