Concentrating

Today was Cora's first chance to finger paint. I spent a while getting it all set up-- smock, paper, paints, everything. Cora spent about 3 minutes on one sheet of paper before she decided enough was enough and she wanted her fingers clean! We'll have to try them again another time.

I think she did like it, she was so intense, she couldn't be bothered to look up at me or smile.

First finger painting masterpiece.

More Fun at the Aquatic Center

Saturday we went to the acquatic center. I'm not up for swimsuits anymore, so I was the picture-taker! Cora and Kevin had a lot of fun, and the life jacket was a hit too. Cora cried when we tried to take it off her before we left. I'm not sure if she loved the life jacket sooo much or if she really didn't want to leave! But the jacket made it a little easier for Kevin to relax and have fun too.

Cora is getting braver about water splashing in her face!

In the kiddie pool.

She has hated floating on her back before this, but she didn't seem to mind! Must be the head support on the lifejacket.

Jumping in the deep pool.

I guess that's why dads are more fun....

I was doing some stuff on the computer tonight and heard giggles in the kitchen! When I went to investigate, this is what I found:

Elmo bubbles INSIDE the house! Cora loved it, she had fun blowing the bubbles around and popping them. And, Kevin mopped the floor (that part of it at least :)) afterwards, so it was a fun time. I think next time Cora and I will try it in the basement though!

Cora was waking up at night when she was sick because she wasn't feeling well. But, now we're going on the second week of her waking up in the middle of the night even though she's all better. It's killing us! We don't do anything to encourage her, just go in once if she's crying loudly for a long period of time to make sure she didn't toss her binkie or something. But, many nights she'll be up for several hours crying only in little spurts and talking to herself in a playful way the rest of the time. We are longing for her 12 hour a night straight sleeping habits she had before! Tonight we tried keeping her up a little bit later to see if that helps, but she really was so tired at her normal bedtime, it was a struggle (hence Kevin pulled out the Elmo bubbles). I guess we'll just have to see how it goes and experiment some more. It might have something to do with her finally catching on to the one nap a day habit, maybe it threw her sleeping schedule for a loop. Any ideas? She usually goes to bed at 7:00 and wakes up at 7:00. Lately she's been up 2-4 am. And she sleeps from 11:30-1 or sometimes longer for her nap.

Post note: Cora slept 7:30-6:30 last night. Hurray! Maybe patience is the best tactic. Or maybe we just got lucky :).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cora and I had a fun day today! She got to wear her "Daddy's Litte Valentine" shirt, and we made a Valentine's Day card for Kevin. She loved putting the little sticky foam hearts on, and we even broke out the markers for the project. Here she is with her little presents: fingerpaints and a lap quilt I just finished. We might even be brave and make a decorate sugar cookies this afternoon! A day of a whole bunch of 'firsts' for Cora. Kevin and I had our Valentine's date last weekend-- dinner and a movie. It's been a long time! So it was great to do something just the two of us, especially before the baby comes. And tomorrow, we'll all go to IHOP for breakfast (thanks Kissie and Pata!) to celebrate all together-- the snow was just too bad this morning to make it out!

Live in Elmo's World

The Children's Museum here just started their visiting exhibit: Sesame Street, The Body. It's mostly geared for kids a little older than Cora, but I knew she would LOVE seeing all the Elmo and Cookie monster stuff (her two favorite characters, well, and Baby Bear and Abby too). So we put on her Elmo shirt and went. I couldn't get too many pictures, she just wouldn't hold still long enough! She was so excited, she ran around from station to station for pretty much the whole time. It stays in Salt Lake until May, so we may just have to visit again.

Looking at all the kids, exhibits, and fun going on.

At the Sesame Street grocery store. Cora was very intent on taking each item out of the basket and pushing the cash register buttons!

Measuring up to Big Bird.

In Elmo's world.

Watermelon!

Costco had yummy yummy watermelon as a sample the other day. I couldn't resist and we had some with our Sunday dinner. Cora loved it! We just had to watch to make sure she didn't start chewing on the rind. I don't think she understood why we were so particular about it.

The new addition to our bathroom: Cora's potty. She actually gets a kick out of sitting on it, we just couldn't coax a smile yesterday. We'll be waiting till late spring / early summer to start training, but I wanted her to start getting used to the idea...

... because it may take a little while to grasp the concept!

She also loves that it turns into a stool.... one that allows her to reach our bathroom counters. We've had to be more careful what we leave out so my lip gloss and wedding rings don't go missing! She also loves to stand there while I put on my makeup, she pretends to put some on too, and is upset if I don't share. (That's just the watermelon juice on her shirt, the pictures were taken right after dinner, and Cora has been reluctant

to wear a bib lately).

Turning a Corner

Well, Cora was pretty much back to her normal self yesterday! I guess the other ear infection didn't develop. She's slept through the night and resumed her naps, which is so great. She isn't protesting the breathing treatments anymore, as long as Curious George is on, so I can do them with her by myself, and it's a lot less stressful for her and me than putting her in my human straight jacket.

While I was taking these pictures of her, she would jump on the bed and run around and stand up and sit down, saying, "Ashes Ashes up down up down pictures happy face happy face pictures up down". She really has been liking "Ring Around the Rosy" lately and says up and down all day long when she's getting on and off her stool, kitchen chairs, the couch, bed, you name it! She's pretty active!

I had a pretty miserable day yesterday, but woke up feeling a little bit better today. I think it will take a few more days, but I'm sleeping better, and knowing that the sickness isn't going to last forever (that's what it felt like!) makes the situation much more hopeful and positive. It's nice to feel a little bit better, and I can do a lot more with Cora now that she's feeling well, instead of just having her run around me in bed or on the couch.

Cora is supposed to still be infectious until Sunday, so I think we'll wait until the middle or the end of next week to go out much, just to make sure. Other than that things are going well.

Two Little Sickies

Our week in review:

Last Sunday--Cora and I both are feeling great!

Monday--Cora starts to have a runny nose, is up for several hours during the night.

Tuesday--Cora adds a cough to her runny nose.

Wednesday--Cora adds a high fever to her runny nose and cough, won't eat, and is way more temperamental than normal. We go to walk-in hours at the doctor and find out that she has tested positive for RSV. Aggh! It's not too bad yet, they just said to watch her closely and give her Tylenol and Motrin to keep her fever down. Cora is up, again, for several hours during the night.

Thursday--Cora acts a little bit more like her normal self with the regular doses of Tylenol and Motrin. Still up at night for several hours! I start to cough and have a runny nose.

Friday--Cora still has a fever and her other symptoms, plus is a little more fussy. She is eating well. We go in for our checkup and find out she has an ear infection-- normal for RSV to cause one. The PA says to keep her full of fluids and we get some antibiotics for her ear. But the RSV doesn't seem to be getting worse. I am congested and coughing!

Saturday--Cora and I had a lazy day, at least Kevin was home to help us out so much! Both feeling about the same. Cora was up from 1-4 am, so we were too.

Sunday--Another lazy day-- I think we have watched all of our saved Curious George and Little Einsteins on our DVR multiple times. Kevin also read a lot of books with Cora, but I'm just not up to it with my cough, congestion, fever, and aches. Cora was only up for a couple of hours, so not too bad. I'm having a hard time sleeping anyway, there really aren't any good decongestant drugs you can take when you are pregnant, and I am so stuffed up!

Monday--(Today)-- Another doctor checkup. We were there for two hours! The RSV has gotten worse, it's causing her to wheeze a bit. Cora heartily protested the breathing treatment in the doctors office, we finally had to have me hold her and pin her arms down while the nurse kept the inhaler mask on her face. Her one ear infection is getting better, but she's developing another ear infection in her other ear, which is a concern because the antibiotics should have prevented that. So perhaps it's an amoxicillan-resistant ear infection. We'll have to watch it the next few days and see if it gets worse and perhaps switch to a stronger antibiotic.

The doctor said we need to continue the breathing treatments at home, so we brave the blizzard and pick up a nebulizer, which we find out we have to buy, not rent, and get the medication through the Walgreens drive-through (so nice not to have to get out in the snow again!) and make it home. Unfortunately, they couldn't fill the whole prescription, so we'll have to go back tomorrow. Good thing we'll be hitting our insurance out-of-pocket maximum this year with the new baby coming! All of this stuff is pretty pricey. We'll be doing breathing treatments three of four times a day for the next 3-4 days (we have to do them when Kevin is home because Cora is too strong for me to make her do it by myself). We have to watch and make sure Cora's breathing and ear doesn't get worse, and then stay home for another week while she's contagious, and maybe a week after that while she won't be contagious, but will be coughing up this nasty mucus from her lungs, which would probably make other parents nervous! I have a call into my doctor to see if there's anything else I can take to get better sooner and be less miserable, and my next appointment is Wednesday morning.

So, this is probably more than what you wanted to know! But we haven't updated the blog for a while, because nothing too exciting is going on, so here's what we've been up to anyway. Hopefully it will all be done and gone with for Cora and I by the end of the week, and hopefully Kevin will continue his good luck and not get sick! Lucky guy, he has quite the immune system!

Friends

Cora has a cute little friend named Cole. He is a couple of months older than her, and they love to play together during our group FHEs and while we take turns with our neighbors going to the temple. Now that Cora is in nursery, they have even more play time together! Cora always gets excited when we tell her she will get to see Cole while we are getting her ready for church, and having a friend there has helped with the transition. Our friends tell us that when Cole plays with a doll at his house that Cora likes or when they pull into our driveway, Cole says 'Cora, Cora'. Here are some pictures of Cora and Cole from Thanksgiving time, when our friends generously watched Cora so we could go to the BYU-Utah football game.
Both Cora and Cole love their binkies and blankies!
And reading books too.

Stairs and Tables

Cora discovered her own little hideaway play area this week-- the landing at the bottom of the stairs. She has taken several of her babies down there and will play for a long time by herself-- one day it was 30 minutes--I couldn't believe it! She usually sticks pretty close to me and wants company when she is playing. She likes to feed the baby, hug her and say 'shh, shh' to soothe her... and then fling her on the stairs. She will take the puppy on walks and then hold it and tell it 'no, no, no' over and over. Wonder where she got that one! We try to show her how to say 'good puppy' and pet him, but she likes telling him 'no' better. I guess she's on her way to being a typical big sister!


We rearranged Cora's room a little yesterday to make room for this table. It's a great little table that my grandpa made for her. We've kept it packed away for a few months because I wasn't sure if she could get on and off the bench, but she showed me she's a pro already. And it's nice for her to have a place to color.

Weekend Activities

Last weekend we got to do a bunch of fun things! Friday night we went to the local swimming pool for the first time. Cora liked the big slide, and the lazy river she floated on with us. It was date night swim special, and Cora is free, so it only cost us $3! We'll have to do it again sometime.

Saturday morning I dropped Kevin and Cora off at the Children's Museum, and went to do errands. We got an annual pass to the museum for Christmas, and have been twice already. I think we'll be going pretty often! Especially in the winter when it's so cold outside, and when the new baby comes-- I saw several moms there with toddlers and with little babies in carriers. They have a section just for kids under three, and Cora also enjoyed some of the areas designed for the bigger kids as well. You only have to go four times to get your money's worth out of the pass, so it's a great deal!
Cora on the horse in the barn area. She especially likes the chickens that make clucking sounds in their 'coop'.
Cora loves balls! So she was in heaven in the ball area. Here she puts them in the holes and watches them travel down tubes to the bottom.
Lots of music was made on this big xylophone!
Vroom, vroom!

Kevin said that Cora had a great time picking out her groceries from the store and putting them in a basket, and then back on the shelves again. I bet she liked having everything be just her size!

Our other fun part of the weekend was going to Kevin's holiday work party-- held in January to minimize scheduling conflicts. What a great idea! It was nice to have a fun thing to do when everything is running a little slow after the holiday excitement! We didn't win the trip to Cancun, but we did enjoy the yummy dinner, and Cora had a fun time with her first babysitter at our house.

Swimming

We went swimming at the YMCA by my parents' house over Christmas break. Cora had a blast!

She was a little apprehensive about the kiddie slides at first, but really liked them at the end.

She didn't like the water spraying in her face though, so a couple of times she went down on her tummy!
Cora LOVES jumping off the side of the pool. She isn't scared at all, so we really have to watch her and be prepared to catch her! I think next time we'll bring her life jacket just in case...
Cora also liked going down the big slide with Kevin. I took her down once and almost lost my footing and dunked us both, so he was a much safer ride!
Look at those smiles!

The frog was another favorite. When we came swimming here last year, she was just big enough to sit on it. This year she could get up on it by herself and rock away!

New Stuff

Cora went to nursery for the first time on Sunday! She did a great job! She had a lot of fun playing with the other little kids, and seemed happy whenever we peeked in the window. We were thrilled for her to have a better church experience-- better than struggling with her on our laps during lessons for 3 hours while slowly draining all the goldfish from the diaper bag. And we were thrilled to be able to listen to whole chunks of lessons in church for the first time in a long time. Kevin and I decided that it would even be worth it to bring two sets of scriptures now! (Before we just brought one set because really, only one of us could read or follow along at a time). Another big bonus-- she had a much easier time in Sacrament meeting because it wasn't the third hour of being shhssed and confined. She was pretty tired by the end of the day-- our church is now 11-2, but it was a great Sabbath. Bless the nursery teachers!

Cora also has four new teeth. Her eye-teeth have been working their way through and have all appeared now. That makes 16 teeth for our little girl. So grown-up!

Cora has fully mastered the stairs now. She probably has for a while now, but it helped our confidence a lot watching her go up and down easily at my parents' house at Christmas. We took our baby gate down and it's been nice! Cora now thinks the unfinished basement in her own new playground, so we did childproof the door at the bottom of the stairs, but she still likes to climb up and down and practise her skills. It's great not to have to hop over it to grab food from the storage room or when I go exercise-- especially when I'm not as good at hopping and balancing now!

I am still feeling really well, just starting to get tired again and dealing with aching hips at night. I've started the third trimester now, and am going to the doctor every 2 weeks. We are starting to think more about names for the new baby girl and where we are going to put her! Our basement won't be done by then, so I think it will be a bassinet in our room for a while.

Happy New Year!

We did have a terrific New Year's Eve! We had a yummy potluck dinner, decorated New Year's hats, played a game, and watched the countdown until the New Year.... on the East Coast! I knew my pregnant tired self and the little ones wouldn't make it to midnight, so we celebrated early. It was a fun night. Decorating our hats....

You can see the countdown in the background. Kevin wrote a quick computer program so we had a large view of the countdown, on a green screen, which he said is the official color of the new year.

Cora did really well, until the last 45 minutes or so. Then she would go into hysterics if we tried to put her hat on her! We should have taken the picture earlier in the evening. But she did love trying to blow her little horn.