BYU Cougar

Cora and I got to go to Education Week last week! For two days. Cora stayed with my friend Becky for a day, and played with Sophie, her daughter. The other day, Cora was a Cougar girl, and spent the day on campus with Kissie and Pata. They alternated going to classes with me and playing with Cora. It was so much fun! And Cora came home with a shirt to remember her day and that she can wear to cheer the Cougars on this fall.

Also, Kevin, Cora, and I went swimming in our neighborhood pool last week so Cora could show Kevin her swim skills that she learned during our Mom and Tot class. We had a fun time with the class! And it was a fun family swim night too.

Swimming

Kevin, Cora, and I went swimming in our neighborhood pool last week so Cora could show Kevin her swim skills that she learned during our Mom and Tot class. We had a fun time with the class! And it was a fun family swim night too.

Twirling and Kicking

Kevin and Cora dance to Baby Tad's nursery songs when Kevin gets home from work very day. Cora loves to 'dance' -- twirl in circles. Maybe later Kevin can show her more of his dance moves!




Kevin has also been teaching Cora how to kick the ball. She's getting there!

Going Places

Cora has a new love: Bags! She carries my little bag of nails polish around the house-- it has handles the perfect size for her little hands, and loves the little purse she has too. Today we tried her backpack of blocks on her. I'm not sure what she really thought of it though--It certainly redistributed her weight for walking! I think she was stinking out her little belly even farther to compensate.

Cora got a stomach bug and was feeling terrible all day Saturday. Today she spent the day recovering, and hopefully tomorrow she'll be up to full speed again!

Kevin and Cora dance to Baby Tad's nursery songs when Kevin gets home from work very day. Cora loves to 'dance' -- twirl in circles. Maybe later Kevin can show her more of his dance moves!
 
Kevin has also been teaching Cora how to kick the ball. She's getting there!

Clean Teeth

Cora loves toothbrushes! And now she's figured out where Kevin and I keep ours. Our toothbrushes have turned up in random places throughout the house the last few days, and a little dirtier for the trip. So now, our toothbrushes will have to go into hiding and we'll just have to send Cora's through the dishwasher every few days!

It's been a while....

This is what we've been up to! We don't have pictures because I hauled around a camera without the battery charger for the last few weeks. But it's charged now and we'll post some soon.

-We spent a night at the family reunion in Eastern Idaho. We couldn't go for very long, but it was fun to see everyone!

-We watched Kissie run the Salt Lake Marathon on Pioneer Day. Cora loved clapping for the runners, and exploring the sidewalks and parkstrips while we hoped we were in the right place to see Kissie! We saw her twice while she was running, one of those times Kevin got to see her too because the marathon went down the street he works on.

-Cora and I rode to Boise with Kissie after the marathon and spent the rest of the week there playing in the pool, in the fountain, and at the house. We took walks with Puppy every morning and Cora rolled the doll stroller over every inch of the house I think. Cora said her first 'cock-a-doodle-doo'! She also loved getting up on the hearth, climbing on Pata's rocking chair from when he was little,and seeing how close she could get to Puppy without getting too scared.

-Kevin came up to Boise Friday and we all went to the lake on Saturday, and came home Sunday. Cora got up on the wakeboard her first time! Just kidding. But she did love playing on the beach and watching Kissie, Pata, Mom, and Dad wakeboard and ski.

-Cora and I started a mom and tot swim class on Monday. My friend and her baby who is a few months older than Cora are taking it too. It's pretty mellow, but a lot of fun. Cora loves jumping in the pool and picking up rings from the bottom of the kiddie pool. We need to take a family trip to the pool so she can show off her skills to Kevin.

Little Seal

Cora tried her first fish, salmon, at dinner tonight. It was a success! She loved it, clapping after each bite we gave her. (Sorry the video is on the dark side!)

Cora's Fast Facts

Favorite foods: kidney beans, peaches, string cheese, and bites of anything mom and dad are eating at the time. And dirt. She still likes eating dirt. When will this go away?????

Favorite way to get around: WALKING! We didn't see her crawl all last week. Now if she could only go down the stairs....

Favorite toys: doll stroller, blocks, books, shiny buttons, phones, and anything she can climb and stand on -- and scare the bejeebers out of mom

Favorite activities: playing in her swim pool, horsing around with dad, going on morning walks with mom and the other neighborhood moms and babies, standing by mom's flower planters and scooping the dirt out onto the patio... one handful in her mouth, one handful on the patio. Needless to say, her outside time is heavily supervised.

New skills: Saying daddy when we look at pictures of Kevin when he's at work, drinking exclusively out of a sippy cup... And this is an old skill, but it's so cute and I forgot to mention it earlier-- when we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It..." she claps her hands. So cute!

Cora tried her first fish, salmon, at dinner tonight. It was a success! She loved it, clapping after each bite we gave her. (Sorry the video is on the dark side!)

Favorite time of day: When she hears the garage door open and sees Kevin coming home from work. What a daddy's girl!

Sunday Afternoon

Kevin snuck a tiny nap in between all his meetings today. Cora decided to read the newspaper instead.
Of course, we fit lots of good play time in too! We wanted to go out on a walk, but it's just too dang hot outside. Cora and I attempted one while Kevin was at his fireside, but it hadn't cooled down enough yet. Oh well. Maybe we'll be out of the 100 degree weather next week! It's been so long since the high was below 95...

Update

Cora and Kevin on the morning of Kevin's first day or work at his new job. It's been a week and he loves it already!
Coleman, Anton, and Cora.

We had a GOPB baby get-together this weekend. In our office, there were three of us who were pregnant all at the same time-- these babies were born within 6 weeks of each other! They had fun playing with toys while we visited and ate.

Water Week

We spent a few days in Boise last week, mostly playing in the water! We went waterskiing for a day, played in the pool, and played in this water fountain in downtown Eagle. It was so much fun! Cora is a big fan of the water. She loved the fountains especially, we went there twice. She spent most of her time at the lake on the beach playing in the sand and watching the other kids. (Which was good because her little neck isn't quite long enough for the life jacket to be comfortable for her--she looked like a stuffed marshmallow!). It was a very fun break. Cora and Daddy. Cora walks more than crawls now! But we were hanging on to her just in case.

Sometimes Kevin and I weren't walking with Cora fast enough... she'd just go in circles around us!

Waving 'hi'.

Doctor Visit

Here are Cora's latest stats:

Height: 29 inches, 50th percentile
Weight: 18.5 pounds, 10th percentile

So she's stayed pretty consistent along her growth lines all year long!

The doctor also said that her little rash was from the virus she's had, not the amoxicillan, so it was good to know she's not allergic to it. It should go away in a few days. The doctor said Cora's ears are nice and clear now!

You've had a birthday, shout hurray!

Cora had her first birthday! It was a busy day, but a fun one. We had an unexpected visit from Grandpa and Grandma, cupcakes, and fun with cousins. Here's our pictures!

Cora with her candle, and bunch of balloon cupcake cake (shamelessly copied from my friend Lisa- Thanks!)
Our patio party.

Cora loves frosting!

.... We even had to hose her chair to get all the purple frosting off!
So many fun presents from everyone-- Thankyou!Cora in her rocking chair from Kissie and Pata. She couldn't rock too much on the grass, but once we brought it in, she got the hang of it very quickly, and can even climb in and out of it too!

Stansbury cousins-- Brinley, Cora, Lincoln, Anna, and Addy.




I'm not sure Cora knew what to think of all the birthday happenings...



...But she sure liked playing with all the wrapping and tissue paper!

Cora has just taken one or two steps at a time.... until the 25th! She was up to about 10 steps this evening. We were so delighted with it, we kept making her do it again and again. I think she was pretty delighted with it too though.

Doctor Visit

Here are Cora's latest stats:

Height: 29 inches, 50th percentile
Weight: 18.5 pounds, 10th percentile

So she's stayed pretty consistent along her growth lines all year long!

The doctor also said that her little rash was from the virus she's had, not the amoxicillan, so it was good to know she's not allergic to it. It should go away in a few days. The doctor said Cora's ears are nice and clear now!

Walking

Cora has just taken one or two steps at a time.... until today! She was up to about 10 steps this evening. We were so delighted with it, we kept making her do it again and again. I think she was pretty delighted with it too though.

Cora in the Pool

We filled up Cora's baby pool for the first time last week. She had a ball! She loved getting in and out and in and out of the pool. And, throwing grass in the pool seemed to be a favorite activity too! It was SO HOT last week, it was a nice time. Cora must have really liked it, because she even got in one night with her regular clothes on while we were watering the flowers--surprise!



Unfortunately, Cora has an ear infection right now. She wasn't being herself last week, and on Saturday she had a fever, and threw up in the afternoon. So we took her to an after-hours pediatric clinic in Tooele and they told us what was wrong. She's still not feeling well today, so hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon.

We're back!

After a fun-filled week and a not-so-fun unexpected delay getting home, we're back! We had a great time in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my family. Lots of beach time, games, eating, flying kites, hot-tubbing, sight-seeing, and so much more.

Cora had lots of fun on vacation, but she was very excited to be home. When we got to the house, she crawled around to all of her favorite toys and played with them for 3 minutes and made the circuit over and over again. She also slept 5 hours of naptime the next day! So we must have tuckered her out.

Happy (Early) Birthday Cora!

We had a pre-birthday celebration for Cora during our vacation. She loved the mini slice of cake we gave her-- especially the frosting! She ate all of the frosting first, and then some cake bites, and then smeared the rest of the cake around her high-chair tray. She liked opening presents too--she got some cute gifts, thankyou! Though the whole thing, she looked a little awed-- everyone was taking pictures, she got to eat sweets, she was allowed to rip paper up... I think it was a bit of a different experience for her! Cora's official birthday in on Tuesday, so we'll probably have another mini-celebration then too.

Down to the Pier

We walked down to the pier a few times that week. Two passes came with the house, so it was fun to walk out and see the view of the coast and watch the fishermen. Our beach house that we rented was across the street from the beach and had pretty views of the sound the the ocean too.

First Steps

Cora took her first steps in North Carolina! She's been taking a few here and there ever since, but not more than 2 or 3 in a row yet. She also cut her 5th tooth (an upper) while we were on vacation, and the 6th one isn't far behind!

Hot-tubbing with Kissie

When she wasn't at the beach loving the sand and shells, Cora had spectacular times in the hot tub. Because the pool was a little on the cool side for the cooler weather, we turned down the heat in the hot tub, and Cora and Emeline had lots of quality water time with Kissie. Cora loved being in her little floatie and moving around by pushing herself off the seats where she could touch. Pretty fun!