CHRISTMAS EVE PLAYTIME

Getting ready to "wace" Daddy down the slide:

Cora doing what Cora does best:

Checking out the Christmas display:

BLS: PEAR

Cora tasted her first fruit today. We were planning to just do veggies for a while, but since James wasn't interested in the slices of pear on his breakfast tray this morning, we handed one over to Cora. All she did was suck on it, but she enjoyed it.

(Check out those few "long" hairs on the top of her head...)

LOTS OF LOVE FROM TEAM LINDSAY

DAYCARE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Daycare had a Christmas celebration for the kids today (well, the older kids, anyway). Cora stayed home with her Grandma and Uncle Jamie while James went to "school" to party with his buddies. They watched Christmas movies and played holiday games and ate lots of treats. James ended up on a sugar-induced babble fest and spent most of naptime talking to himself on his nap mat. They even had a "secret" gift exchange. For the 1K class, this meant that the gifts were all unwrapped and lined up, and the kids were then turned loose. Whichever toy they went to first was the one they received. James picked an inflatable chair (for some odd reason, he likes boxes with pictures of kids on them). His teacher then took pity on him (all the other boys got cars, while the one girl got a baby doll and doll clothes) and split up one of the gifts that had two cars so that James could have one. She's very sweet, his teacher (though we think that car is quite annoying... it's loud and lights up and zips across the floor at a crazy speed). All in all, I think he had a great day (and I know the teachers were excited to get to go home early - daycare closed promptly after naptime). Bring on the holiday!

James' Grandma is bunking with him again on this trip, and he's already playing favorites. Choosing snuggles with her over hanging with his parents. Luckily, we're not easily offended.

I had to get a photo of him in his cute PJs and slippers with his gift before we left the house:

At the end of the day. James and Jackson were sucked into Elmo and Ernie, while the other kiddos were excited to see me. I seriously love these kids. And little Morgan is such a sweet, cuddly monkey. The girl literally climbs us when we get there to pick up James. Sometimes he doesn't mind, other times he tells her no and pushes her away. I've even heard him tell her "my daddy!" with much emphasis. I don't know how his teacher handles them when they're all fussy or hungry or refusing to nap (the 1K room has got to be the most difficult class, since they're all opinionated and into everything, but unable to voice those opinions or follow direction well), but when I see them at the end of the day (when they're all so excited to see their parents), I just want to scoop them all up for hugs or sit down and play a while. Such unique personalities.Since James jabbered through his nap, when we got home he walked straight up to his Uncle "Mamie", snuggled into his lap, and practically fell asleep. So sweet!

50, 50, 5

Cora had her 6-month well baby exam this morning. She measured 15 lbs 13 oz (50th percentile), 25.5 in (50th percentile), and 40.5 cm (5th percentile). She's following right along her curves. She passed her milestone tests (rolling both ways, sitting up, tracking voices, grabbing objects) and the doc was pleased that we had started her on veggies. She is not going to push cereal on us (we're not doing it - James never liked it and it has almost no nutritional value anyway), but wants us to continue with the vitamins. You know, the ones we've been giving her since her 2-month well baby? Yeah... Ummm... She got 2 shots (Prevnar and HepB) and her final dose of Rotateq. She won't get the Pentacel vaccine until her 9-month well baby, since we're splitting them up. Her chest congestion is all clear, though she still has some nasal congestion. It's just the season. She is old enough for Benadryl now though, so we can try that instead of Pediatex and see if it helps. Maybe tomorrow. Certainly not right before bed, since it makes some kids irritable, and we definitely don't need to take that risk with Cora! Her ears are clear, her hips are in alignment, and everything else checked out OK too. Another doc visit is in the books.

She particularly enjoyed the exam table this visit...

BLS: BROCCOLI

If you recall James' first taste of broccoli, you'll understand why we were so shocked to see Cora munch happily away on the little green trees tonight. This Baby Led Solids business is pretty awesome so far!

All we did to prepare the broccoli was cut off a few florets, steam them in the microwave, cool them in the fridge, and hand them over. Easy.

PEE-PEE'S NO

No, we're not potty training James yet, but we do find it encouraging that he can name things such as "potty", "pee-pee's", and "poo-poo". If he has followed us into the bathroom, he'll often sit down on his little potty chair (still fully clothed and diapered, of course) while we go. He then likes to hand us toilet paper and help flush the toilet. He even waves bye-bye to the "pee-pee's". If we then ask him if he has to go potty, he will hand us his toilet seat cover to put up on the big potty so he can sit on it (though within seconds of us placing him up there, he wants to "get down!", so he hasn't gone yet, "pee-pee's" or otherwise). Sometimes, when he has filled his diaper, he'll say "pee-pee's" and point to his diaper area, so we know to change him. And sometimes, if we ask him if he has to pee-pee, he'll say "pee-pee's no" (again, that whole backwards-talk thing he has going on). Cute, eh? Anyway, we're making progress (baby steps), so I thought it was worth recording. Exciting times ahead, I am sure!

WARM HEARTS IN WARM SPRINGS

We spent the weekend in Georgia for our annual family Christmas, this time in Warm Springs (just down the road from last year's locale), and had a great time. Once we got there...

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? You all know that Cora dislikes riding in the car. Whether she gets carsick or just hates the confinement, we knew we'd never last 8 straight hours with her, so we spilt the drive. Unfortunately, we learned that Cora hates driving at night more than any other time of day. We drove a whopping 2 hours Thursday night, of which Cora screamed and cried for over an hour. On the bright side, I've been trying to get a photo of her awesome pout face for months...
The kiddos were a bit wired once we got into the hotel room, and it took forever to get them to bed. Since Cora won't sleep in a pack-n-play, we knew she'd be sleeping with us all weekend. We didn't expect James to end up in bed with us as well...Good morning bright eyes!James got some deep reading in while waiting for his Daddy to get ready:We caved quickly in the morning and turned on the portable DVD player to entertain the kiddos. James loves "Cars", and Cora actually did really well throughout the drive on Friday. She even slept!Since we haven't mentioned it on the blog yet (last week was INSANE), we are now a minivan family. This proved extremely convenient for entertaining our fussy daughter (this photo was taken during a pit stop, obviously).She loved having her Daddy back there to talk to:
Everyone mostly arrived at the hotel at the same time Friday afternoon. James and Cora reacted so differently to all the excitement... James was bouncing off the walls and reveling in all the attention. Cora burst into tears. Poor baby. We should have known she would be overwhelmed. Both kids were ready for a bit of down time before dinner...
Grandma was so happy to see her baby girl:Warm Springs is a cute little town. Not a whole lot going on, but plenty to entertain James. We couldn't keep him cooped up in the hotel the entire weekend, of course, despite the rain. There was a flock of plastic Canada geese lining the storefronts, and he felt that they all deserved kisses (oh my goodness, is he not the cutest thing ever?). Every single one.Cora got to meet her Uncle Bubba (who is fighting strongly through chemo currently) and she was SO good for him (she'd still been fussing with all the new faces):

Then we decided to visit the local fish hatchery. It was cold, but James loved feeding the goldfish and running on the boardwalks.See? We're a minivan family. (And as much as we fought the idea of becoming one, man oh man do we ever love this thing!)Back to the warmth of the hotel (and fun with games and toys)...Daddy carts his babies down to Uncle Bubba's room for the present exchange:

Aunt Sara made Cora a beautiful pink blanket (just in time for her baptism!):

James got a great backpack (his first backpack!), but he liked Kate's remote control car better...

...and the box it came in!Cora was exhausted by the end of the present exchange. I took her upstairs to feed her before bed and she passed out. If you can get past the boogies, dontcha just want to do what her shirt says? That bottom lip is so kissable!

The return trip home today went really well for the first 6 hours. Then Cora hit her limit and it was all downhill from there. I think Jay and I sung "Wheels on the Bus" for almost an hour. Our voices are shot. And we made up more verses than we'll ever remember. They didn't even make sense at the end. But oh well. We had a great weekend and it was all worth it!

Thanks again to Jill for putting the weekend together, and to all the Waddells for making our visit so much fun. Merry Christmas to you all! We love you!