ALL ABOUT CORA: 6-MONTHS-OLD

Today is Cora's Half-Birthday!6-month stats: 15.6 lbs and 25.5 inches

Cora can do all sorts of things at the ripe ol' age of 6-months: roll both directions (and roll continuously, though she does none of it very often), sit unassisted, babble (a bit), giggle, squeal, and shriek, manipulate her toys, eat solid food (sweet potato only, so far), hold a sippy cup correctly (though she hasn't had anything to drink yet), sleep all night long (but she doesn't always do so), push herself up high with her arms straight when on her tummy, suck her toes (and hold the "Happy Baby" pose, especially in the bathtub), do assisted situps, and even pet the cats. She's been busy!I tried REALLY hard to get some nice 6-month portraits of Cora in the gorgeous dress her Grambot bought her, but she wasn't having it...I took a break from the photo shoot and nursed her (to make her happy, since she's always happy when eating), then changed location. She was even more furious when I sat her in the glider though. She spit and hissed at me. No really, she did. Then she pouted. I think that lower lip is sticking out far enough that a little birdy could land on it...Don't be fooled by that innocent look. This child can fight with the best of them. Sometimes she gives me so much attitude I think she's 6-months going on 16. Good gracious, what a scary thought. She'll be driving before we know it...

Happy Birthday Baby Doll! Mama and Daddy love you, and we enjoy every fiesty minute with you. Promise!

HOMEWORK AT 21-MONTHS-OLD?

And I quote:

"Shy at times. Participates well verbally. But coloring is not his favorite yet. Dances with music. Very smart boy."

and

"James needs more practice on coloring."

So, apparently, James is not a budding artist. Not a big surprise, since neither Jay or I are very artistic. But seriously? His teacher wants him to practice coloring? Yeah, we'll get right on that...

BABY LED SOLIDS (BLS): SWEET POTATO

Did you know that you don't have to puree food when introducing solids to your 6-month-old?

I recall reading a bit about baby led solids (AKA baby led weaning) when I was pregnant with James, but as a first time mom I was too scared to break from the "norm" and try it. Steaming and pureeing all James' foods worked really well for us, for a really long time. He had a great appetite from the start and was willing to eat all sorts of things. And it was cool to know exactly how much he was eating at each meal (since when I nursed him, I had no way of knowing how many ounces of milk he was drinking). The problem arose when he was older and was "suppose" to be eating foods with more texture. He didn't LIKE texture. So we kept on pureeing his fruits and veggies. Forever. OK, not really, but for a LONG time. Then he went through a phase where he wouldn't let us feed him, yet wouldn't eat any fruits or veggies that weren't pureed and couldn't use a spoon successfully by himself, so then he wasn't really eating much of anything (nutritious) at all. Not fun. In fact, he STILL won't eat veggies unless they're cooked to mush and hidden in sauces or other foods...

So, now that we're "experienced" parents (ha!), Jay and I have decided to go the baby led solids route with Cora. There is more information (and examples, and recipes) available about the practice these days (for example, the Adventures in Solid Food blog, KellyMom.com and BabyCenter.com, WholesomeBabyFood.com, and even Wiki). It works for all babies, but is especially well received by breastfed infants, as they are already experienced at controlling the pace and portion of their meal, and have already been exposed to many different flavors through the breastmilk. I admit, I was shocked when I watched the video of tiny little Buttercup (of the Adventures in Solid Food blog) eating slices of pear with no teeth, but I was also intrigued. Could Cora do this to? Would she be better about eating textures if we skip the purees? Will she learn to use a spoon earlier if we let her start feeding herself sooner?

Well, we figure it's worth a shot. If she (or we) don't respond well to the method, we can always do purees at that point. For now, Cora is starting solids at her own pace. And her first taste tonight, at 5 months and 28 days old, was sweet potato:

Getting excited about all this sweetness!

Double-fisting those slippery bites:

Learning to eat solid food is hard work!

We have absolutely no idea how much she ate, but it probably wasn't much. I suppose we'll find out in her diaper tomorrow! We baked a whole, huge sweet potato, let it cool, then cut off the end for tonight (saving the rest for another meal, or three...). We peeled and quartered it (cutting it into the recommended "strip" form so she could grip them better). We ended up giving Cora 3 of the "slices". As you saw, she busted them to pieces immediately. I was pretty surprised to see her use her finger and thumb together a few times (we didn't know she could do that). And she didn't gag once, which was certainly a relief to me, even though I know it's likely to occur at some point as she learns to chew and swallow food. We knew she was done when she started hanging over the edge of her highchair and fussing. Easy enough cue, eh? Then she came right over to me to nurse (again, since I had just fed her before dinner). The next few months are going to be very interesting as we go through this adventure with her!

NAPTIME

GOING TO THE CHAPEL

Today we attended Jenny's wedding, a very sweet ceremony (in which her preK son walked her down the aisle!) that took place in a relocated chapel at a state park.

AT THE DOC

Since Cora has been congested for over 3 weeks now and her meds don't seem to be helping any, we decided to take her to our favorite hangout (before the weekend could start, thus ensuring that we'd be SOL should she actually get sick). The doc said she was healthy (no infections, etc.), but that the continued congestion could lead to something if we don't get it under control. She is therefore on another round of antibiotics. We tried to time the appointment at the end of the day, so we'd miss as little work as possible, and so James' naptime would be over and Cora would have had her 3pm bottle. Well, since they had warmed the bottle but not yet given it to her, Jay got to feed his daughter, for the first time in over 4 months.

Surprisingly, for a Friday afternoon especially, we didn't have to wait long. Cora had fun passing the time with her Daddy.

PARENTS OF THE YEAR

Recently, I recalled to a friend some instances in which Jay and I deserved a "Parents of the Year" award, in order to ease her guilt about a single, innocent incident she had. So, in case I haven't already blogged these situations, here we go, admitting our mistakes for all to see...

1. Last weekend, at 21-months-old, James bit his tongue. And bled (for the first time ever). A noticeable amount, at that. This occurred because Jay plays a game with James after dinner where he tips James' chair back really fast. Since James is strapped tightly to his booster chair, he doesn't even budge. He LOVES the game. Anticipates it with excitement. As soon as Jay walks behind him to get him down after dinner, James will grab the side of his booster seat to brace for the ride, making a happy goofy face, mouth wide open ready to laugh, and unfortunately (as we discovered) sticking his tongue out. Cue tongue chomp and blood loss. Oops. Now we can only play the game if we're sure he's not sticking his tongue out...

2. When James was 20-months-old, he launched himself off the couch, doing a full 360 degree flip, and landed right on his head. On the hardwood floor. I was the one in the room with him at the time of the incident. I was sitting on the loveseat, about 15 ft away from him, nursing Cora. Jay had gone into the kitchen to get James his bedtime sippy of milk. And James was NOT listening to us about not standing on the couch. In fact, he was running back and forth across the couch, and throwing himself onto the end cushions. I smelled trouble and was easing myself up with Cora still attached, ready to grab him and stick his misbehaving booty on the floor. Well, you guessed it, I was too slow. He went running away from me when he saw me getting up, threw himself onto the far end of the couch with a force, and bounced right off, into the air, flipping over, and landing in the space between the couch and the armchair. From my angle, I couldn't see exactly what part of his body hit first. I pulled Cora off (at lightening speed) and set her down and went running to James. He was crying immediately, but was far more upset by my reaction than by the actual incident. Of course, Jay came tearing into the room when he heard the commotion, also terrified, which scared James even more. Tears and sobs escalated. We quickly learned where James hit, since a goose egg was forming on his forehead. It didn't get too bad though, and was gone in a few days. We're lucky the kid didn't break his neck! The good thing that came of this accident is that James is now more careful on the couch. He still stands now and then (even though he knows better, since he laughs at us when we tell him to "sit down or get down!"), but at least he doesn't run back and forth anymore!

3. James hit his head on the corner of his dresser when he was 18-months-old. This one was my fault. I was taking off his pajama top and he tipped forward right into the dresser as the shirt popped off over his head. Left a good size goose egg, but he didn't cry long. That bump and bruise lasted well over a week...

4. At 11-months-old, James fell off our bed. We had been playing "chase". We had started a game where we'd chase him from one side of our huge king-size bed to the other, taking turns. Well, he suddenly gained speed (if not coordination) and we didn't get to the other side quick enough. Little guy went right over the edge. Right at the corner next to my nightstand. We think he hit his head 3 times on the way down, once on the bedrail and twice on the nightstand (as he bounced back off the bed rail). He was barely phased, but that fall (his first fall ever) nearly gave us heart attacks. We stayed up so late that night checking on him to be sure he didn't have a concusion.

5. This one is the worst. James pooped on the floor when he was 10-months-old. We were letting him have some "nekkid time", which we had always done (and still do, despite this incident) since he was itty-bitty. He was in the cruising phase, and old enough to get into all sorts of things in the bathroom (like my makeup and other sundry items). Therefore, we had installed a "gate" (a large suitcase tipped on it's side and wedge catty-corner, since the doorway is too small for a real gate) to keep him out while we got ready for work. He loved standing at that "gate", bouncing and babbling to us and throwing his toys over. Well, Jay had gone into the closet to get dressed and I was drying my hair, intermittently blowing a blast of warm air in James' direction to make him laugh. I swear I looked away for MAYBE 5 seconds... When I looked up, he was gone. So, being the panicked first-time mom that I was, I rushed over to look around the corner and triple-check that the gate to the stairs was closed. It was. Unfortunately, what I also discovered was my nekkid baby boy with a chunk of something in his hands. Yup, you guessed it. I threw down my hairdryer, hurdled the "gate" and grabbed him, but not before he "tasted" it. And THAT is why James now wears undies during his "nekkid time", unless he has our absolute undivided attention. I was WAY too embarassed to write about this back when it happened, but now that enough time has passed, I can look back on it and laugh. A little. I know. So gross. Sorry buddy.

6. When James was 8-months-old, he vomited on the way to daycare one morning. That isn't what won us the award though. It was the fact that it was a Monday and we were completely unprepared for it. Read: the diaper bag was not properly restocked. We had no change of clothes, no extra diaper, not a single baby wipe. No towels were in the car. No change of shirts for ourselves. The poor kid had to get back in his filthy, wet carseat and finish the drive nekkid. He wasn't sick, but had eaten something that had upset his tummy. We felt like a million bucks bringing him into his teacher naked and dripping partially digested milk. Thank goodness those ladies are prepared for anything... they had extra clothes and diapers, and a bath (which he desperately needed).

7. And we earned our very first award back when James was 5-months-old. It was after his bath and Jay and I were both getting him dried off. Jay had his head and I had his feet. We were positioning him over the bathmat, ready to set him down and get him diapered and dressed, when we each thought the other had a good hold on him. I set his legs down onto the mat and Jay let go of his head. It was only a few inches above the mat, but it was enough to startle James. Poor kid didn't trust us for months... Every time we went to lay him down somewhere he would scrunch his shoulders up and hold his head up high on his own until he was sure it was safe to relax. We felt so guilty! After a while we just had to laugh though. In fact, I can still giggle just picturing the little guy work so hard to protect his noggin. Bad Mama and Daddy.

So, I suppose you can all take this as advice as what NOT to do with your kids. Please don't judge us too harshly though, being first-time parents is hard. Luckily for Cora, one aspect of "second child syndrome" is that she benefits from our mistakes! Theoretically, anyway...

SITTING PRETTY

Since she won't do tummy time, we've been working with Cora on sitting up instead, something she actually likes to do. She's been getting better and better, and can stay upright for a few minutes at a time now (especially if she's distracted by a toy at eye level). I think we can safely say that she is able to sit unassisted. Here she is at daycare today, after her lunch:

NEW HAT, NEW SHOES

The weather has been COLD this week, so I was super happy that the new shoes and hat (that actually fits!) I ordered for Cora arrived. Oh, isn't she just the cutest thing?!

LITTLE MISS MELTDOWN

Oh dear. We're having some rough nights around here this week. I hope it's temporary, and I hope the reason is either teething, or just plain attitude. Or maybe she's hitting her 6-month growth spurt. I just hope she's not getting another ear infection (or something else). Cora has been a BEAR at bedtime for the past 3 nights. And through the night as well. I miss my good sleeper! Shoot, I don't mind getting up for a 3am feed (or whenever she wants to eat, if she wakes up hungry, even for multiple feeds - Baby Doll's gotta eat!). It's the fight to get her to STAY asleep after I unlatch her from her nursing sessions (yes, sessions - it's been taking me half a dozen attempts lately) that's getting to me. I KNOW she's no longer hungry. She falls asleep the second I let her relatch. She just wants me. Well, more specifically, she wants the comfort of the breast. She'll scream til my ears ring when I try to rock her or walk her to sleep instead of nurse her. And she does no better for Jay (perhaps worse, even, because she just wants her Mama). But you know what? I refuse to be a pacifier. After 2 hours of "nursing", I need a break. For sanity's sake. So last night, rather than give her what she wanted, I let her cry in her crib for a bit. Not too long, but long enough that my frustration slipped away and I regained perspective (she IS just a baby afterall - it's not her fault she's having trouble sleeping). When I scooped her back up, I kept her as far from the breast as I could, head up on my shoulder. She screamed and kicked and pinched me for another 10 minutes or so, but she finally gave in and passed out on my shoulder as I walked and swayed with her (to her bedtime music, turned up VERY loud). I can't even describe the relief of that eventual silence. Oi vey. Please let this be a phase.

MUCH NEEDED MOMMY TIME

I'm getting a headstart on one of my resolutions for the New Year, and that is to spend more one-on-one time with my little man. Cora gets me all to herself when James naps (his PREDICTABLE and set naps) and on my lunch break, as well as through the night, and whenever Jay and I split baby duty (because since she's nursing, she always goes with me). James doesn't get "mommy time" daily, or even weekly. So my plan is to take off work an hour or so early once every 2 weeks and take James to do something fun, whether that be to the park or out for ice cream or for a long walk, just the 2 of us. Today we went to FitZone for "open play" and had a good time. James was a bit shy of the instructors and other (older) kids at first, but he got into his groove. I taught him to go up and down the slide all by himself. We danced and ran around and played ball. I got lots of hugs and giggles. Such a fun end to the work day! Thanks for a great first date buddy!

TOYS FROM A TO Z

Recently, our Division Chief discovered that the Salvation Army lost not one, but two, of their corporate sponsors this year, and he decided to do something about it. The result was a competition among the Branches of the Environmental Lab to collect as many toys from A to Z as we could. The result was astounding! This isn't even the whole lot (a few teams and branches still need to bring their haul over to his office before the truck comes to collect everything on Friday), and it sure is impressive!

I am so proud of my coworkers, and so thankful to be part of a work environment full of people that are willing to give and make Christmas much merrier for kids in need. Whoo-hoo!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE

After 7 years of marriage, I still feel THIS happy when you scoop me up for a big hug!

Thank you for continuing to give me bear hugs, provide me with laughter even on the hard days, and love me the way any woman dreams to be loved by her husband. I feel so lucky to have your constant support, in all things. Your sweetness will never go unnoticed. I love you sweetie.

CHRISTMAS CARD OUTTAKES

The portraits have been taken, picked through, edited, and uploaded, and the Christmas cards have been designed and ordered. What better way to celebrate that feat than by sharing some of the photos that didn't make the cut?...

The toddler did NOT want to sit still for family portraits. He was spinning circles and running around the backdrop and throwing a fit every time we scooped him up as he ran by. Cora didn't understand what all the fuss was about:

Baby Doll was full of patience and adorableness (is that a word?), so we took advantage. Team Lindsay still makes a cute family of three:

We decided to give James a couple weekends off before trying for the solo and sibling portraits. Unfortunately, we still dealt with spinning and running (and crawling) away:And when we DID get him to sit still, well... Not so appropriate for a Christmas card:Cora didn't mind her tutu, but she didn't love it either. Once the novelty of it wore off, we had to distract her to keep her happy. She's enjoying standing (assisted, of course) more and more these days:And when she tipped over, we took a photo of the cute little Christmas Tree bloomers her Grambot got her: Needless to say, we didn't get a single useable sibling photo. Oh well, there's always next year. When we'll have TWO toddlers running around acting crazy.

Anyway, stay tuned for the real deal. We'll post the card here once it arrives, envelopes are addressed and mailed, and folks start receiving them. Hopefully that won't be AFTER Christmas...

2 BIRTHDAYS AND A PARADE

We started the morning with a brunch party to celebrate Manu's 2nd birthday. James had to point out all the "cah's" and "wu-eee-ul's" on the way to the party. (Jay is tilting to the right not because James is short, but because he hurt his back at work and has looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa ever since)

This photo is blurry (due to James' curious fingers on the camera lens), but I had to post it because I thought it was cute that Cora was so taken with Manu. (He's much too old for you, sweetheart)

Sophie and Alex got Manu an awesome train table for his birthday, and all the little party guests enjoyed it immensely.The kids were pretty good about sharing. Pretty good...The bridge was James' favorite part.I had a break from The Queen when Sandy and Christina took turns with her.Christina even managed to get Cora to take a little nap. I tried not to be jealous, but it was hard. Baby Doll NEVER sleeps like this with me. She looks mighty comfy though, doesn't she? And no, Christina is not napping along with her, admist the goings-on of the party. I just caught a blink.We had some fun with the balloons...

I think Cora's peach fuzz stood up a whopping 3/4 inch!

James ate his chocolate chip banana muffin. Then he ate Manu's as well.James had fun test driving Manu's mini ATV/tractor thingy. And his Cozy Coupe. And his tricycle. Though he tipped over on the trike and no longer liked it.Manu had an adorable train-shaped birthday cake. With blue frosting for the engine section, if you can't tell from his cute little lips.Brunch lasted through the start of James' naptime, so he fell asleep in the car on the way home, naturally. Unfortunately, he didn't STAY asleep once we got home, so he went all day on a mere 30 minutes of nap. This led to fussiness later in the evening. Naturally. (Please note that Cora didn't sleep at all in the car. Or at home during our intermission between parties. She went all day off just the 30 minutes she napped with Christina. No idea how she lasted until bedtime without a major meltdown.)Next up was Coltin's 2nd birthday. We were late getting there due to the repaving of the streets in our "neighborhood". They hadn't bothered to warn us they were doing that. (By the way, we drove both cars because we were meeting a potential buyer that evening, not because we didn't want to ride together)James and Coltin are in the same class at daycare, and Dawn and I are told they're buds. It was fun to see that for ourselves at Coltin's party. The boys played really well together.Cora decided to be a Mama's Girl and not let others hold her at the party. She loves when I wear necklaces.Last, but not least, was the Christmas Parade of Lights. James teetered back and forth between liking the bands and the floats, then crying/fussing. He definitely didn't like the motorcycles or the fire engines. I admit, they were darn loud. And like I mentioned, he had basically missed his daily nap.Since Jay hurt his back, he's been under doctor's orders not to lift anything over 10 lbs. That includes the kids. Even Cora (who weighs in well over 15 lbs now). So, when I had to break to nurse Cora midway through the parade, Christina offered to take over with James. She sure had her arms full with Will AND James.So we recruited Al to assist. James didn't mind a bit. In fact, before the parade, when Al helped us cart James up the (steep) stairs to the balcony party (hosted by Jen, the new renter of the awesome downtown apartment that Sandy used to rent), James laid his head down on his shoulder and closed his eyes. For a minute I had thought the kid might just drift off and miss the parade!

James is getting so heavy. And Cora's not much better when lugged around in her carseat (she tricked us earlier in the day by falling asleep in the carseat). Many thanks to all of you who helped me schlep my babes around today. And Happy Birthday again to Manu and Coltin! We feel very lucky that James has some friends his age to hang with. Thanks for inviting us - we had a great time at your parties!