STARTING PLAYTIME

She likes the wooden beads almost as much as her brother!

And yes, she flipped over to her side all by herself (she's been a wiggly little thing from the very start - we figure 6 lbs wasn't much weight for her to heft around).

SHE MAY BE SMALL...

...but she sure is strong!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

To the best set of grandparents around!

HANDMADE BY GRANDMA

A while back I came across a cool crayon-wrap that I really wanted for James. The price was NOT so cool though. So what did I do? What I always do - ask Jean if she can make it!

Here is the wrap:

And here is James NOT coloring (the swirl is Jay's example for him), but definitely enjoying banging the crayons on his tray, as well as taking the crayons in and out of the wrap (and in and out, over and over - our boy loves repetition these days):

Also, some of you may recall the awesome water resistant-backed fleece blanket Jean made last November which attaches to the stroller (so it won't fall off or get dirty dragging on the ground). Well, she made a second one, lighter in weight (for warmer weather) and GATOR in color:

And remember those pillows repurposed from James' crib bumper that I mentioned "commissioning" Jean to make last month? Well here is the finished product:

We have no idea how she managed to make them so that they fit the bed so perfectly, but we doubt it happened by chance. James LOVES these pillows! They keep him from bumping his head on the wall at night, and he really enjoys pointing out the palm trees, sun, and whale.

Not to be left out, Grandma also made something for Cora:

An adorable bouquet of baby sock roses to welcome her grandaughter!

She really should go into business, dontcha think?

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR...

James and Cora's Grandma left today. It was the first time James cried when being dropped off at daycare in quite a while. He's definitely picking up on his parents' emotions, and we know he misses his Grandma already, whom he shared a room with for nearly 2 weeks while she visited. (Hopefully she will recover from her nights sleeping with James' Rockabye Baby music on loop... "We all live in a yellow submarine. A yellow submarine. A yellow submarine.")

In all seriousness though, we are all missing Jean already. As full as a house can feel one day, it can feel awfully empty the next. Luckily, managing 2 kids on our own has kept us so busy that we haven't had time to wallow. Much. I made dinner for the first time in 2 weeks! Cora tried out her swing for the first time. James ran around the entire first-floor of the house over and over and over (he really is getting fast). Both kids had a somewhat rough evening though. James did NOT want to go to sleep, and it took Jay over an hour to settle him. And Cora was certifiably fussy for the first time since she's been home. We think it was mainly gas issues, but still. It was a long 2-hour battle to get her settled too...

Jean/Mom/Grandma, we thank you for all you did to make the past 2 weeks as easy on us as possible. We're looking forward to all the leftovers you stocked our freezer with, we can't wait to put up the mirror and shelves you painted for Cora's nursery, and we're excited to show everyone the other projects you've been working on. We love you!

ALL ABOUT CORA

Cora turned 2-weeks-old today, and she had her 2-week weigh-in and well-baby exam. She is doing amazingly well! She is up nearly a pound from her birthweight (now 6 lbs 14 oz, to be exact, a gain of 13 oz in the past week). Her pediatrician was very happy with her weight gain, as well as her alertness and our report of her daily "routine". Yes, we are fully aware that any patterns we are seeing now could easily change, and probably will multiple times over the next few months, but for the time being we are really enjoying Cora's routine...

She generally nurses 10 times per day. She is an excellent nurser, and I am so thankful for that! Although she eats on average every 3 hours, she tends to cluster feed in the evenings (eating every hour on the hour from 5-9pm). The flip side of this, and the good news, is that she then goes 4-5 hours between feeds once per night, usually giving me a full 4-hours of sleep between midnight and 4am. And that feeding is followed by a 3-hour sleep stretch for us both. I never would have thought that I'd be getting 6-7 hours of sleep per night with a newborn in the house...

When she's not eating or sleeping, Cora is a very alert and content baby, with the signs of a very sweet personality showing through already. She generally has 2 extended awake periods during the day, 1-2 hours in the morning and 2-3 hours in the afternoon or early evening. She loves to be held and cuddled, but also sleeps just fine on her own in her stroller or bassinet (thank goodness). We love that she'll look us right in the eyes and hold our gaze, but she's also already looking beyond us, showing interest in the world around her. She makes adorable little baby noises, and often sounds like a kitten. She usually sneezes 3 times or more in a row, and can actually wake her Daddy from a sound sleep with her burps and toots in the middle of the night.

She'll take a paci, and holds it in very well - as long as she's interested. When she's not (for example, during her cluster-feeding hours), she continually spits it out or pouts her little lips, or even pushes it away with her hands. She is very particular, our girl, and we suspect that she'll be running this household before long... And when she doesn't get her way, she can put on quite a show! Luckily, it's very short lived, but this is what "angry Cora" looks like:

CORA'S FIRST PHOTOSHOOT

Here's a sneak preview of Cora's birth announcement photo:

I'm so glad I married such an amazing photographer!

(And so glad the Sleep Sheep and hot lamp kept Cora calmly sleeping throughout her photoshoot)

CLEAN CORA

Cora had her first bath today, and the verdict is in - she's a water baby!

A modest water baby...

All clean!

Content and cozy...

ME TOO!

2 PEAS IN A POD?

Many of you have been asking us who we think Cora looks like. James? Me? Jay? Well, we can't decide. It may just be too soon. But if you want to guess for yourselves, I have now included mug shots of my babies at about 1-week-old on the right-hand side of the blog. Of course, this picture may be more telling...

How cute are my babies sleeping in unison with their Daddy this afternoon?

MORE POTTY DRIVING

James continues to enjoy driving his potty around the living room. The other night he took off as we were getting him ready for his bath (hence the nakedness)...

(Sorry, it was too darn cute not to share)

GRANDPA'S LITTLE STUDENT

Just as with his Daddy, James has a special relationship with his Grandpa. It was really amazing for me to see the connection James made with my Dad on this trip. Don't get me wrong, he loves ALL his grandparents (and played favorites off-and-on with all of them throughout the weeks), but his Grandpa definitely held a different sort of fascination with him. And I know the feeling was mutual - it was so fun to watch my Dad with him, so patient and sweet, reading stories, going over his flashcards, and showing him how to work his toys.

Here are a few of the things Grandpa taught James over the past 2 weeks:

To say Grandpa (or "Ampa", as it more accurately sounds)

To greet Grandpa with their secret moustache signal

That the dog says "woof woof"

How to make "monkey ears" and monkey sounds

And how to fuel his lawnmower (a new toy we got him as a "Big Brother" present):

MISSING THEIR GRANDPARENTS

James and Cora's Grandpa and Grambot had to leave today and we're all missing them already. I know it will make them sad to read this, but honestly, when James woke up from his nap this afternoon he was a complete mess. Regardless of him being only 15-months-old, he knew they were gone and he was devastated. He cried the most pitiful, heart-wrenching cry. He had Jay nearly in tears, and you know I was crying (I had been crying since they left 3 hours prior though). I was able to calm him finally by taking him outside and distracting him, but as soon as we came back in, he looked into the kitchen and waved (he waved at them constantly while they were here). When there were no grandparents there to wave back (Jean had taken Mom and Dad to the airport, but she came back later this afternoon), he started crying all over again. Poor baby. We can't wait to Skype tomorrow. And Sunday. And as often as possible from now on...

On a happier note, we are just so glad they were able to stay as long as they did. The past 2 weeks have gone so smoothly thanks to them. They cooked. They cleaned. They kept us in groceries. And Dad even went so far as to prep and paint the computer room/guest room. Oh yeah, and replace the kitchen faucet and fix the sink with Jay. Not to mention all the quality time they spent with their grandkids. They are wonderful grandparents (and darn good parents too, even though we know we now rank much lower on the totem pole) and we are grateful to have had them here to bond with their babies. It's HARD living so far from family...

We took family portraits on Father's Day and managed to get a pretty good one of them with James and Cora:

Then today, before they left for the airport, we decided to take a 3-generation photo of the girls:

And one of Grambot with her little princess:
James and his Grandpa did a good job of getting us to smile through our tears:
Come back SOON! We promise you won't have to paint next time...

A BELLY BUTTON FOR CORA

That's right folks, Cora's belly button has arrived. Her umbilical stump fell off this morning, quite unceremoniously (we found it in her diaper during a change). We're excited that we no longer have to treat the area with alcohol during diaper changes, though probably not as excited as she is to see that end. In fact, this was her first diaper change in which she did NOT fuss:

And that little belly of hers is already filling out... We can't wait for her weigh-in on Monday!

STATIC

James woke up with AWESOME hair this morning...

ALL DRESSED UP

Cora tried out her first headband bow and dress today. I know, the bow is GINORMOUS on her tiny little head (32.5 cm at birth, for those who are curious), but it's darn cute, right?

We think this little newborn dress her Grandma bought her (complete with birds, of course), the first dress she has worn (and it almost fits with those big cloth diapers underneath!), is beyond adorable:

And yes, she is already learning where her fingers are. So far the index and pinkie fingers are her favorites...

NOT THEIR INTENDED USE...

James loves his toothbrush and his potty. He really does.

Just not for their intended uses...

Here he is using his toothbrush as a teething toy:

(He will, however, be glad to brush YOUR teeth for you. Just don't expect to impress your dentist...)

And here he is "driving" his potty chair around the house (this was GREAT fun last night):

He's even strong enough and coordinated enough while walking now to lift his toys (or potty, as it may be) over little thresholds (and gate bases):

SPAGETTI AND BLUEBERRIES

Not at the same time, of course.

We were just excited that James FINALLY decided to like pasta tonight. He even ate the noodles (rather than just suck the sauce off and spit the noodle out). Way to go Grambot! And they were even whole wheat noodles. (By the way, the kid has been a complete ham this week, really laying it on thick for his grands, if you can't tell by his cute pose)

Jay thought it was great that he dunked his bread in the sauce...

Also, the kid has been obsessed with dried blueberries this week. He ate half a bag the other night, as evidenced by his blue teeth:

1-WEEK-OLD AND BACK TO BIRTHWEIGHT

Cora went in for another bilirubin recheck this morning and we got some great news - not only did her coloring look good enough that they didn't cut her foot for a blood test, but her weight was up to 6 lbs 1 oz (a whopping 6 oz gain in just 2 days). That means she made it back up to her birthweight (well, actually 2 oz above her birthweight) by her 1-week birthday. Since babies are expected to regain their birthweight by their 2-week weight checks, we were super excited (and proud, we admit) to have reached that milestone a week early.

However, the doc (the 4th pediatrician Cora has seen since birth: the Newborn Associates, her regular pediatrician, and 2 on-call pediatricians over the weekend and this morning) recommended giving her some time in the sun today, just to be sure. So I took her for a short walk this afternoon to catch some rays. She slept the whole time:

In other news, we used up the last of the disposable diapers we got at the hospital today, so Cora has moved into cloth. So far the prefolds are easy to use (and easy to clean, since breastfed baby poo doesn't even need to be rinsed off - it washes out like yogurt in the washing machine), but are a little big on our petite little girl...

She'll grow into them...

And that's a pretty cute little happy-about-her-clean-booty sleepy smile, dontcha think?

RACCOON!

Raccoons are thieves. But they're also funny. And great entertainment for toddlers...

DADDY'S DAY 2010

Last year Jay celebrated Father's Day with his 3.5-month-old son.

This year, he celebrated with his 15.5-month-old son and newborn daughter.

He may have his hands full, but there's no better man for the job.

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy and husband in the world! You are the cornerstone of our family and we appreciate everything you do for us all, big and small. We love you!

And we'd like to wish David a Happy Father's Day too...

...and announce officially that we are going to be an Aunt and Uncle again in early 2011. January 14th, to be exact! We are so excited for David and Taryn, and Eli, who is bound to be an awesome Big Bro:

A YAWN AND A SNEEZE

We figured we should post some video of Cora for her family that hasn't been able to meet her in person yet. As a newborn, Cora spends most of her time sleeping. And eating. And pooping. However, yesterday afternoon she was awake for 3 hours straight. During that time, we had lots of gazing, yawning, and sneezing. So here is Cora, in all her newborn glory:

TINY TOES

Yup, Cora has the same crooked left 2nd toe as James. And the same prehensile ability. However, she does not have his thick feet. Hers are dainty, of course.

AT THE WATER PARK

After his (relative) patience and good behavior at the doctor's office this morning, we decided to reward James with his first trip to the water park at Catfish Row. He had a BLAST, and really didn't want to leave when it was time. I thought it was so cute that he kept returning to the smallest of the fountains... just his size!