month 12

better horribly late than never, right? this post was written on December 28th, but it took until now to get it posted.

dear Cora,

Happy Birthday my sweet girl! this has been such a fun and special month for us. you seem to grow daily, and learn new things as well. you had your first Thanksgiving and your first Christmas! you saw so many family members and loved on so many people. you are such a sweet girl and you love and are loved so easily.

let’s start with the really fun stuff first. you took your first step on December 6th! and then one week later, on December 13th, I picked you up from daycare and your teachers told me you had been walking around all day! you are on the move now, girlie. you toddle around pretty good, and while crawling is still the fastest way for you to get places, you take such delight in popping yourself up and walking a few steps, falling down, and then popping right back up. this has definitely been a huge milestone and we are loving watching you toddle. next week, I’m sure you will be running 😛

and then you got your first tooth! I felt it on December 8th and it popped through later in the month. now it is this tiny little white square in your mouth. i love seeing it there because it means soon you will be able to eat more table foods, but I will miss your completely gummy smile. this period of babyhood goes by so quickly.

you started signing “more” this month which is such a help for me when you are eating dinner, but you aren’t as consistent with using it. you also started getting very picky about eating this month. I don’t know where that came from. all of a sudden you are spitting bites of food out or refusing them altogether, and when I bring the spoon or fork to your mouth you will arch your head back and carefully inspect what is on it before eating it, in case I am trying to trick you by offering you a new food. 😛 I hope this doesn’t last long because there are so many yummy foods I want you to try now that you are getting teeth. and I’m a little worried you won’t eat your birthday cake – I think I’m way more excited than you about this, but I really want you to go crazy with it.

we are definitely in separation anxiety mode and you are getting sad when mommy and daddy leave you anywhere, but the good news is that you are getting sad when daddy leaves you and not just when mommy leaves – you are less resistant to daddy this month which is a relief – that mommy’s girl thing you were doing was really hurting daddy’s feelings.

you love to turn the lights on and off and you especially love to push the garage door button when we get home from daycare. as we walk close to it, you bounce in my arms and laugh/squeal. then I will say “push the red button” and you try your hardest a couple of times and then finally get it and laugh and bounce some more. you also really  love taking things out – of anything. baskets, bags, laundry baskets – anything that has things in it, you like to take them out and fling them behind you. it’s adorable. especially the laundry – I spend so much time folding the laundry and placing it in the basket and the you come over to “help” and throw it all out.

the size 3 diapers are finally fitting great and you are wearing size 6-9 month clothes..

favorites

Cora – walking! phoebe, the refrigerator magnets, getting into cabinets you aren’t supposed to, fluffy blankets.

Me – you!

pictures

month 11

dear Cora,

I can’t believe how close you are to turning the big O-N-E. the past 11 months have gone by at warp speed and my head is slightly spinning. you are changing daily and are such a joy in our life. we are so excited for your first holiday season. you’ve been wearing santa jammies since the end of October so you can tell how excited your mommy is about Christmas this year. everything is a little better, a little brighter with you around to share it with.

you love playing with your mommy and daddy and laugh all the time now. you wave “hi,” “bye,” and “nite-nite.” you are pretty consistent with signing that you are hungry, and you sometimes sign when you are all done. you “say” no constantly by shaking your head, you point at things that interest you. you are trying very hard to stand up by yourself. if you are holding on to something, you will let go for a few seconds at a time. you are also trying really hard to climb. we are constantly stopping you from getting your little knee up on your play table and your daddy even caught you trying to climb out of your crib this month! you do this really cute thing when you are playing in the living room if I sit on the floor with you. you will alternate between playing on your own, and coming to me and crawling in my lap to give me a hug. you have started hugging really hard if you are the one to initiate the hug. you struggle and wiggle away if your daddy or I initiate the hug. you also occasionally give big kisses.

you still don’t have any teeth! every time you get really cranky, I think to myself, maybe this time it will be teething, but it never is 😛 you are so fast! you can walk around the coffee table to steal a remote, or climb halfway up the small staircase before we realize what you are doing. we moved our living room back to the carpeted room in our house as that stairwell can accommodate a baby gate.

this month you helped your daddy celebrate his birthday and celebrated halloween. you were the cutest fluffy duck anyone had ever seen. and that costume was so warm. which was perfect since we went to our church’s harvest festival and it was a little chilly. the amount of people was pretty overwhelming to you so you cuddled a lot, but you definitely had fun people watching. this month you also had another sinus infection and pink eye 😦 but the antibiotics kicked in quickly and knocked it out. besides the few days you really didn’t feel good, you are still sleeping great! you don’t nap very well at daycare so sometimes you are pretty cranky when we get you home in the evenings, but we are getting pretty good at working around your moods.

girlfriend, you love to eat. and get so excited every time there is a new food to try. you especially love snacks and goldfish and graham crackers have become some of your favorite things. you would eat them at every meal if I let you.

you have been going through a huge mama’s girl phase the last 6ish weeks. you scream and cry when I leave the room and hurt your daddy’s feelings by not wanting to be held by him. as much as I love knowing how much you love me, I can’t wait for this phase to end. it is exhausting for all of us.

you are wearing size 3 diapers, although they are still a little big. the 2s were getting too small though, and your skinny little legs make transitioning sizes hard 😛 you are still wearing size 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes.

favorites

Cora – standing, “walking,” playing peekaboo, waving, “saying no,” playing on the coffee table, play table, and walking toys.

Me – hearing you laugh, seeing your big gummy smiles, cuddling, watching you learn.

pictures

month 10

dear Cora,

happy 10 months, dear one!

this month has been so full of fun. you love playing, and singing, and dancing. when we sing to you, you dance and clap. you waved bye bye for the first time on the 23^rd. it was the funniest wave, you just put your hand up and held it there. too cool to actually wave your arm around 😛 you also signed “all done” after I signed it to you! I think that means you are starting to really understand it, and hopefully will use it more and more. you also sign “hungry” now, which is fantastic, unless you do it at the grocery store when we aren’t even half way done shopping 😛 luckily, puffs always save the day.

you are a total champ at pulling yourself up to standing, and we had to lower the crib to the lowest height this month. you are growing like a weed. I feel like you are so tall now. when you pull yourself up on your play table, you can reach so much farther. you are also getting a further reach at the coffee table. no cell phone, remote control, napkin, or cup is safe with you around 😛 we really should get rid of the coffee table, but I don’t know where I would put my glass 😛

you got an ear infection this month and are taking antibiotics for it. you were such a sad baby for a few days, it broke my heart. you also had basically no appetite, and weren’t eating very much. it worried me a lot, so we went to the doctor and he prescribed antibiotics. once the antibiotics kicked in, your appetite started to come back and your mood improved a ton. you are back to eating your normal amount, and drinking all of your bottles.

you still don’t have a single tooth! even without teeth, your pediatrician gave us the ok to start feeding you some softer table food. you had rotisserie chicken, bread, cheese, green beans, and baked potato this month. you love picking food up and feeding yourself, but you do get a little frustrated that you can’t get the quantity of food you are used to eating in the same amount of time 😛

I worry that you are almost done breastfeeding. I really wanted to breastfeed for a whole year, but then pumping was so awful so I stopped doing that. we have made it a whole two months longer without pumping, which is kind of a miracle, but you get less and less interested every day. I’m already starting to grieve the loss of that special time with you. giving up breastfeeding means you are growing from my tiny baby into a little girl, and I’m just not ready.

you are sleeping great. your bedtime is around 7 pm, I nurse and feed you a bottle at 9 and then you usually sleep until 6 am when I nurse and feed you another bottle. most mornings you go back to sleep after that and sleep until Daddy wakes you up for school around 7 am. I am so thankful you are turning into such a great sleeper.

you are so expressive lately! you make the funniest faces, and “talk” really loudly. it’s quite funny and entertaining. you also rarely sit still for me to take photos of you anymore. most of the time, I get at least ten photos of you crawling closer to the camera and/or reaching for the lens. 😛

you are still wearing size 2 diapers, and 3-6 and 6-9 month clothing.

favorites

Cora – standing, playing with anything you aren’t supposed to, crawling super fast, anything that makes sound or plays music.

Me – sleeping through the night and snuggling you in the morning.

pictures

month 9

dear Cora,

you are 9 months old! You have been here with us for the same amount of time I was pregnant. It is amazing to think that you have been in our lives for 18 months. this has been the best time of my life. I love you so much.

this month you started clapping, pulling yourself up to standing and you signed your first baby sign. you clap when you are happy or excited, and it’s really fun to clap with you. you will stop clapping, watch us clap for a minute, and then get a huge smile on your face, bounce a bit, and go back to clapping. you are also, a champion at pulling yourself up to standing on furniture. you did it for the first time on the couch, but now, you pull up on everything. I am so scared of our coffee table now because it seems that every single surface is a big square edge that I’m scared you will hurt yourself on. you are also extremely quick at pulling yourself up on the coffee table and then grabbing something you shouldn’t have. your favorite things to go after are cell phones, remotes, and beverages.

you have been signing “all done” to us. we noticed you doing it when you were eating it, but it’s not with both hands so at first we weren’t sure it was an actual sign, but the more you did it, the more deliberate it seemed. you even did it during a diaper change, which cracked me up! We checked with Ms. Angela at daycare, and sure enough, that is what you are saying. now we’ve really beefed up how often we sign to you, in hopes that you will pick up more signs…we just want to know what you need/want.

you have been sort of a weird eater this month and I kept thinking maybe it’s teething, but you are 9 months old and there isn’t a tooth in sight! you haven’t really wanted to eat solid foods at dinner time. you will take a few bites and then scream your head off for the next 20 minutes, no matter what I try, you will not eat. so you nurse and/or take a bottle. a couple of times this month I have been too exhausted to even try the process, so I’ve just made you a bottle and once you drink it, then I put you in the high chair to eat puffs or mum mum bars. I tried to give you cut up ripe banana, but you were not loving it.
all three of us got sick this month. you had a cold, and then daddy and I caught it too. you were all better in about 3 days, but it’s been two weeks and I am still coughing, although my runny nose seems to be improving greatly.

we took you to Monterey for Labor Day and spent the night. Grandpa and Jen were there and we stayed in the same hotel with them. I was worried about the car ride, so we went the weekend before and bought a bigger car seat for you, in hopes to make the trip more comfortable. you slept the WHOLE drive to Monterey. that’s three hours! We were very relieved. you loved all of the walks we took in Monterey – the weather was perfect and you slept in your stroller a lot. you also loved playing on the hotel bed with us. you were not very happy that we slept in the same room though. you were definitely bothered by us being there and kept waking up and crying. I was so tired and not getting any sleep, so I finally pulled you into the bed to sleep with us at about 6 am and got about an hour of uninterrupted sleep.

when we got home from the trip, it took a few days for your sleep to adjust back. we had quite a few nights of crying for over an hour in the middle of the night, and you just wanted to be held. but this month you improved greatly at self-soothing and putting yourself back to sleep! you have been sleeping through the night for the past two weeks! now if you wake up in the middle of the night, you put yourself back to sleep within 10 minutes or less. it is FANTASTIC and we thank you for that. you are now going to be around 7 pm, we feed you one last time around 9 pm, and then you wake up anywhere from 5-6:30 am for the day. we are still trying to figure out how to get you to nap better at daycare.

you are still wearing size 2 diapers, and size 3-6 month clothing. I realized this month I had so many cute summer clothes that are in size 6-9 months that you won’t even get to wear. I put you in a couple of the things, but they are so big, some of them were impeding your ability to crawl 😛

favorites

Cora – crawl ball, blocks, the iPad, stuffed animals

Me – when you snuggle, or put your head to my lips to get a kiss, sitting in the front yard with you while you watch the world, how happy you are

pictures

month 8

dear Cora,

8 months old, baby girl. wow. you are such a little explorer!

you are officially on the move. you crawled for the first time on your 7 month birthday! and that week you started army crawling. each day after that you got closer to actual crawling, and when you were 7 months and 3 weeks old, you did it! and haven’t stopped since. even while you were army crawling, you had no problem getting around. we had to put up baby gates to keep you confined to the bottom level of the house. we also have one upstairs to keep you contained on the top-level when we are up there. we still have no idea what to do about the middle level or our living room as the openings are far too large and awkwardly shaped for traditional baby gates.

you said ‘Dada!’ oh we were so excited. we had been doing our usual, ‘say mama, say dada routine and you were definitely trying, moving your mouth like you were trying to make the right shape and then you said ‘Dada!’ you said it again the next night, but so far intermittently since then. now hurry up and say Mama!

you started eating stage 3 foods. it is thicker and has chunks. we are very impressed with your ability to “chew” your food instinctively. you also eat puffs now. it is such a great distraction for you. we put you in your high chair and put a couple on the tray and you worked very hard to pick them up and get them to your mouth. you learned how to do it so fast. at first you would pick them up and not even attempt to put them in your mouth. then as soon as you figured out where they needed to go, you would pick one up and open your mouth, but still not make it there. now you are a pro!

you also started sleeping a little better this month (finally! :P). we figured out that you just weren’t getting enough to eat at bed time nursing alone, so you kept waking up because you wanted to fill your tummy up more. we started giving you a bottle of formula after you nurse at about 10 and you are usually only waking up once a night (anywhere from 1-4:30) and then usually waking up to eat again around 6:15, but sometimes I have to come wake you up to feed you before I leave for work. your bedtime has also crept up so now you are going to bed closer to 7 than 8 most nights. you will sleep until I wake you for your bedtime feeding, and then wake up for a middle of the night feeding, and again for your morning feeding, but usually you go back to sleep until Daddy wakes you up to get you ready for school around 7. so you get close to 12 hours of sleep a night. you still aren’t the best napper at daycare. you usually take either just one hour-long nap, or two thirty minute naps there. at home you will take a 2 hour nap and another 1 hour nap in the same time period. I guess you are just too curious about everything that is going on at school to sleep that well there. I’m still holding out hope that it will change and you will nap better because you are in a much better mood when you get good naps.

we lowered your crib because you started crawling and were getting really close to pulling yourself up using the side of the crib.

you visited your great-grandfather, Sonja, and Mimi this month. and had a very fun time showing off your crawling skills. you also helped your cousin Gavin celebrate his second birthday. you had so much fun at his party.

you still don’t have any teeth! I bought you a baltic amber teething necklace this month that you wear and it is supposed to provide natural pain relief, reduce inflammation, and accelerate healing during teething. it also is supposed to help boost your immune system. we aren’t sure if it actually works, but it looks pretty cute on you, and you haven’t even noticed it’s there, so haven’t pulled on it or anything so we are leaving it on.

you are still wearing size 2 diapers, and sizes 0-3 and 3-6 month clothing, but I think you are finally getting too tall for the 0-3 month onsies. the pants still fit you great though.

favorites

Cora – this play and learn table, you love to stand and play with it, electronics – you have become very interested in the iPad, cell phones, and remote controls, anything that plays music when you push buttons, especially this vtech discovery nursery farm piano toy. it was a hand-me-down, and it’s getting a lot of love. 

Me – picking you up from daycare, rocking you to sleep, playing with you

pictures

 

month 7

dear Cora,

Happy 7 months baby! you are closer to a year than you are to my tiny newborn I brought home from the hospital now.

you haven’t slept well this month, but the first week of the month was AWFUL. you would wake up either in the middle of the night or the very early morning and you would scream and cry unless I was holding you. we spent a lot of time trying to sleep on the couch :P. I blame your cold, followed shortly after by your 6 month vaccinations.

you learned how to pick up your pacifier and put it in your own mouth! it is pretty awesome. I’m hoping soon you will be able to find it yourself in your crib in the middle of the night.

dr. Arif prescribed steroid cream for your cradle cap at your 6 month check up and it cleared it right up. no more scratching! it is pretty amazing. I love not waking up to new bloody spots on your head from you scratching yourself so hard. I’m sure you love it too.

you went swimming for the first time on your first 4th of July! you loved being in the water, and you even kicked and moved your arms like you were actually swimming when we held you on your belly. you are definitely our water baby. Grandpa Page and Jen came to stay with us for the 4th of July. you loved having them around, and the extra attention, but were cranky by the end of the visit; probably a mixture of teething, the sinus infection we didn’t know about yet, and not napping well. you spent the 4th of July with both Grandpas, Grammy, Uncle Kyle, Aunt Jess, cousin Gavin, Nate and Lily, and new friends. you tried watermelon for the first time. I cannot even describe how excited you were about it. I gave you a triangle and you just went to town on it, and tried to bite me a couple of times when I would try to pick the seeds out before you got to your next bite. you were covered in watermelon, and screamed when you finished your piece because you wanted more, but I wasn’t sure what it would do to your tummy, so I only let you have the one.

you can sit up unassisted for pretty much as long as you want now. you do still fall over from time to time, though. and you’ve learned that if I say “are you ok?” and you cry, I will pick you up. it’s pretty funny to see you scam me. even if I use a very upbeat tone to ask, you will still go from fine to crying until I pick you up.

you have loved to cuddle and sit with mommy and daddy on the couch this month. if we are sitting on the couch and you are playing, you will fuss until we pick you up and bring you to the couch to sit between us, and will resume your playing from there. I love the extra cuddles!

you are SO close to crawling. you get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth. you just haven’t quite grasped the concept of moving forward. you are actually pretty good at getting around backwards, you scoot yourself, and roll to where you want to go.

you started blowing raspberries. the first time you did it, it was in response to your daddy telling you he loves you. it made me laugh so hard. and now you do it a lot, especially when you are happy.

speaking of happy. you usually are. especially when I get you out of your crib when you wake up in the morning, or when I pick you up from daycare. I will pull you in tight for a hug and you will squeal with delight and then bounce in my arms like you are jumping for joy. oh how I love these moments.

the cough you got with your cold and pink eye on the day you turned 6 months lasted and lasted. and then got worse. so we took you back to dr. Arif and he diagnosed you with a sinus infection :(. my poor baby girl. you had ten days of antibiotics to clear it up, and they worked great, and you actually didn’t mind them, they must taste good :P.

I feel like you have been perpetually teething for months now, and yet, there are still no teeth to show for it. you still love chomping on Sophie or Mushroom.

Mimi came and went to church with us, so you got to stay in the sanctuary instead of going to the nursery to play with her. you loved the songs, and that Mimi held you and played with you the whole time. She sewed a shopping cart/high chair cover for you and I was so hoping we could use it for the first time while she was here, but you fell asleep in the car and slept the entire time we were at lunch!

you tried so many new foods this month. dr. Arif told us you were ready for the foods with protein and any stage 2 foods, and that we could give you a new food as often as every day, so we just went to town. you love food, and we want to expose you to as much as possible. this month you tried: pears, peaches, prunes, apple juice, watermelon, avocado, macaroni & cheese with veggies, chicken and apples, turkey with sweet potatoes & whole grains, chicken noodle, chicken & rice, and beef & vegetables. you even had peas again, and didn’t have any reaction to them, just gobbled them up like you do all other food. we had problems with avocado and the purees that have rice in them. they upset your tummy so we’ve cut those out.

I started giving you puffs last week, hoping they would keep you occupied at restaurants, and when we are eating dinner, and also hoping they will help you learn to feed yourself. you will play with them, but you don’t even try to put them in your mouth. you put EVERYTHING in your mouth, especially things I don’t want you to, but when I give you food, you push it around your high chair tray, pick it up and wave it around, and throw it on the ground, but it doesn’t go anywhere near your mouth. you silly girl. I know you know it’s food though. because if I’m holding one you will open your mouth for me to feed it to you.

your school had a talent show this month. all parents were invited. your daddy and I were pretty excited to see what “talent” your class was going to show off. your teachers brought you all out and you “sang” twinkle, twinkle, little star. which basically meant you all sat there looking extra adorable while your teachers and all the parents sang the song to you. oh so sweet.

you are still wearing size 2 diapers, and sizes 0-3 and 3-6 month clothing.

favorites

Cora – stuffed animals, especially blue (who we bought you for being such a trooper through your shots and sickness), watermelon, sitting, babbling.

Me – your smile, sleep, cuddles, weekends when I get whole days with you!

pictures

month 6

dear Cora,

you are 6 months old! a half a year! I cannot believe it. and it makes me so happy and so sad at the same time to write that. you are so much fun! every day with you is an adventure. but you are also growing way too fast.

at your check up you weighed 13 pounds 6 ounces and were 25 inches long. That puts you in the 13th percentile for weight and the 15th for length. you are still our petite girl (even though you eat like a champ!), but you are perfectly healthy.

this month you started going to daycare. you LOVE it! I was so nervous leaving you, but seeing how happy you are, and how much you learn every day makes it so much easier for me to go to work. most days, when I come to get you, you give me the biggest smile! I love it.

you can sit up unassisted for short periods of time if we prop you up – you can’t get yourself into a seated position yet. you are a rolling machine! you roll from your tummy to your back, and from your back to your tummy. you also spin around in circles. you are NEVER in the same place or position that I left you  in when I come back. you are really trying to crawl. you push and reach and snort and get frustrated with yourself but you are getting so close. then I will really be in trouble. watching the older kids at daycare has really encouraged you to try harder to crawl. you don’t want to be left behind.

you grab EVERYTHING in your sight line. you especially love paper, which makes it hard for me to open the mail and hold you. you love touching my drinking glass too, and it’s cute to see you react when the glass is especially cold. you also pull the straw out of my glass whenever you can. you are learning how to put your pacifier back in your mouth when it falls out.

you got your first cold this month. and your second :(. we were all so sad. and then I caught it. we were pretty miserable for a couple of days. I felt so bad for you because you obviously wanted to play and have your normal routine, but you didn’t feel well so you were very cranky. you also got pink eye on your 6 month birthday. the doctor prescribed you drops (which you really did not like), but the redness was mostly gone the next day and was completely cleared the day after that.

you love: looking at yourself in the mirror, having growling contests with your daddy, spinning in circles, rolling from your back onto your side, your jumperoo.

this month you tried some new foods and loved them all. you had sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, green beans, and prune juice. you are a great eater! we love not having to worry about a picky baby.

sometimes when I hold you up on my shoulder and pat your back to burp you, you will put one of your arms over my shoulder and tap my back. oh so sweet.

you started “saying” two-syllable words and using consonants. we hear a lot of “blah blah, gah gah, la la, and na nas”

you learned how to jump in your jumperoo this month. it is really funny to see you jump and get so excited.

Grandpa Page came to visit for one evening (for my birthday) this month and you had fun playing with him. you also spent some time with Grammy, Grandpa DuBray, and Mimi at breakfast to celebrate my birthday.

you are wearing size 2 diapers and sizes 0-3 (still!) and 3-6 month clothing.

favorites

Cora – stuffed animals, sweet potatoes, sitting, rolling, jumperoo

Me – picking you up from school, your smiles, early morning and late night nursing – when you are sleepy and snuggly.

pictures

month 5

dear Cora,

you have been 5 months old for a week and I just haven’t found the time to write this post. you seem to grow and change and advance every single day. I am so in love with you.

this month was huge for you in terms of food. you started eating rice cereal on May 9th. to say you LOVE eating solid foods would be an understatement. you do not patiently wait for your next spoonful. you yell if mommy or daddy isn’t being fast enough and you basically lunge at the spoon instead of waiting for it to reach your mouth. super cute. rice cereal didn’t really agree with your tummy however, so we quickly switched to oatmeal and that is much better for you.

you also tried peas and HATED them. you screamed so loudly, and we couldn’t get you to swallow them or spit them out, it made me sad. we kept trying to get you to drink some water to wash your mouth out, but you just wouldn’t. we finally had to get a cloth and kind of scoop them out of your mouth. we will probably try something a little sweeter instead for your next foray into veggies (I’m thinking sweet potatoes).

at the begining of this month you were sucking on your pointer finger and thumb together, and only once found your thumb by itself but you kept gagging yourself because you were sticking your pointer finger in your mouth too far. you finally found just your thumb towards the end of the month but we try to replace it with your pacifier when we see you sucking on it, because we’ve read that pacifiers are better for teeth development, and there is less chance of needing braces (let’s just all hope you didn’t get mommy’s teeth and end up needing them anyway).

you really try to sit up by yourself. you will push away from whatever is supporting you (us, or the boppy) and kind of wobble there. you have even kind of grasped the concept of putting your hands in front of you and holding yourself up that way, but you eventually topple over.

we went to Chico to watch your daddy’s cousin’s Christian and Danielle graduate from CSU Chico. I was so nervous about the trip because it is about a two hour drive each way and I didn’t know how you would do. we left at 5 am and you slept the whole way there! you did great at the graduation too, even though it was a long day, and you slept at the park where we barbequed for a little while. we left to come home around 3:15 and you slept the whole way home! it was fantastic.

this was my last month staying home with you so I tried my best to soak up every minute of being with you. since the weather got very nice this month, you enjoyed sitting outside waiting for daddy to come home from work most afternoons. you really love being outside, and sometimes would get really cranky if we spent too much time indoors.

you had a discovery day at daycare which is basically like a practice run day. I took you at about 8:30 and went home and cried. I was so sad to be without you. but it made it better knowing you were in a great school with people who were going to take really good care of you. you did fantastic! daddy and I picked you up together at bout 4:15 when he got home from work and you were napping but so happy to see us when you woke up.

your ezcema has gotten really bad this month. we switched your soap to what the doctor recommended we use and it just seems to make it worse, so I found something different that is for ezcema and we are trying that now.

for the first half of this month you still wore size 1 diapers but they were getting pretty snug so we switched to size 2s but not all diaper sizes are created equal we are finding. the Luvs 2s were too big, so we tried huggies which work a little better size-wise, but I don’t really care for their absorbency level. you are still wearing size 0-3 clothes (my petite baby!) and we are mixing in the 3-6 month stuff even though they are still roomy.

your sleep this month still hasn’t been great. hopefully that changes soon since daddy and I are both back to work now.

favorites

Cora – any soft stuffed animal, oatmeal, dancing and singing with mommy in the mornings, being outside, when daddy comes home from work

Me – snuggling with you, quick dry nail polish, boppy

pictures

 

month 4

dear Cora,

the week you turned three months old, you started rolling over at every tummy time, usually multiple times. then you stopped. for most of the month, you only rolled over every once in a while. this past week, you did it more often. I guess you just have to be in the mood. 😛

you are so close to laughing now. although it is more like a high-pitched squeal, it is definitely a happy sound and we love hearing it.

speaking of squealing, you have started squealing/screaming sometimes instead of talking when you are really excited. you are a loud girl! but it is fun.

you discovered your legs this month. you love pulling them back towards you, and holding on to them, especially during diaper changes. which helps at first, but when we are trying to put the new diaper on, not so much 😛

you arch your back a lot now, sometimes in an attempt to not be buckled into either your car seat or your swing. sorry love, you don’t win that battle.

the second and third week of this month, you ate a ton! it seemed like you always wanted to eat. you went from eating every 3 to 4 hours to every 2. you are now back to every 3 hours. I bet you had a major growth spurt 🙂

you went on your first vacation and had your first long car ride this month. we went to San Diego to visit your Grandpa, Jen, and Uncle Drew. You met two great grandmothers (your daddy’s Granna lives in San Diego, and my Grammy flew from Seattle to spend some time with us at Grandpa’s house).

we bought you a ball that you just love to play with! you can put your hands through it and hold it yourself (I’m pretty sure that is why you love it so much). we also introduced Phoebe, who is your lovey/security blanket. Phoebe has a giraffe head attached to the blanket. it is so soft, and is pink and white. you love her! one nap time you were particularly fussy, so I handed her to you, and you cuddled her to your cheek and went right to sleep. it was so sweet! speaking of handing you things during nap time, we started the process of weaning you off swaddling the last week of this month. we now swaddle you with one arm out. it has been an adjustment for all of us but it is getting so hot, it is better for us to get you out of blankets.

you went to the nursery at church for the first time this month. you did great! mommy didn’t 😛 I was worried about you the whole time. but it is good practice for me to leave you with nursery workers for when I go back to work.

the last two days, you have been so talkative. it is adorable to hear all of your coos, ewws, and awws.

you had a doctor’s appointment 3 days after turning 4 months old. you weigh 12 pounds .05 ounces, you are 23 1/2 inches long, and your head circumference is 16.5 inches.  that puts you in the 12th percentile for length, 9th for weight, and 66th for head circumference. you are our petite little girl. your Mimi bought you a pair of sandals that were size 0-3 months and your foot is about half of the size of the shoe. it cracks me up how tiny your feet are.

you are still wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes. we started dressing you in 3-6 month clothes also, so that we get more wear out of them, and as the month went on, they started to fit you a little better (but they are still very roomy :P).

you aren’t sleeping great this month. it seems we’ve had a little bit of regression, and it’s definitely taking its toll on me. but I know this is just a phase, and sooner or later you will sleep well again.

favorites

Cora – Phoebe (angel dear pink giraffe), jumperoo (you aren’t entirely tall enough for this, so we prop a pillow under your feet), Oball, pacifiers

Me – crystal light lemonade, naps, snugli infant carrier (on loan from Aunt Jessi)

pictures

month 3

dear Cora,

at the beginning of this month, you became colicky. evenings were not fun for us anymore as you would scream for hours, and we couldn’t find anything that would calm you. you were inconsolable. or if we found something that seemed to calm you, it would only work for a short time. we were so sad. we couldn’t figure out how to help you. after visiting the pediatrician for your 2 month check up (you were a few days older than 2 months), we started figuring things out. gas drops helped immensely. so did swaddling, giving you the paci, and turning on the radio to a static station as white noise.

you got your first shots at your 2 month checkup. you were a pro! you screamed so loud the doctor’s assistant said you were the loudest baby she had ever heard. that’s our girl! but once you got your paci, you calmed down and went to sleep.

we started a nap routine at the very beginning of this month and you really took to it. once you’ve been awake for 2 hours (sooner if you start to get cranky), we swaddle you, give you the paci, and turn on the white noise, and lay you down in your crib or pack and play. most days, you fall asleep within a few minutes. if you cry, we go in and give you back your paci, turn up the white noise, or prop you up on your side.

this month, you really started to enjoy your activity mat. you have learned to hit or pull on the big toy in the middle to make it play music, and you like to look at yourself in the mirror. most of the time, if you are smiled at, you smile back (if you are in a good mood that is). and you are always smiley in the morning. I love coming in to get you in the morning and seeing your big gummy smile. you love playing with your rattle, and you “help” when we get you out of the car seat – you push up with your legs and sometimes this causes you to push your head into the sunshade of the car seat, or bump your head on the carrying bar – but never so hard that you are hurt. you like playing peek-a-boo now, and you love the skidamirink song. you are definitely a morning person, and are happiest when you first wake up. you have learned to “talk” to me to wake me up in the morning instead of crying when you aren’t hungry. I will hear you give these short, loud “ahs” and then you will pause and wait to see if it woke me up before trying again.

on March 20th, you spent your first night sleeping in your crib in your room. you slept better without us. or maybe it was the comfortable mattress, but we have officially moved you to your room, and it has been a great transition, even if it was a month earlier than I had originally planned on moving you. in just three months, you have taught me a big lesson on being flexible 😛

about a week before you turned three months old, you started arching your back and pushing with your feet while laying on your back and you scoot yourself forward. you also rolled over again that week. your daddy put you on your tummy and you rolled so quickly, it took your daddy a second to realize you had done it, and I missed it altogether. three days before you turned 3 months old, you were sitting up, holding on to my fingers, and you pulled yourself up to standing!

you love your hands! every chance you get, they are in your mouth. anything you can pick up or grasp also goes straight to your mouth. it’s pretty cute.

you are still wearing 0-3 month clotes and size 1 diapers.

favorites

Cora – boppy, paci, white noise

Me – crystal geyser, makeup removal wipes – quickly removes dirt and makeup at the end of the day, so I can get to bed more quickly. I just picked up the generic kind, first from target, then from walmart – both have worked great and have removed all of my makeup, although I don’t wear any waterproof makeup, so I can’t vouch for that, extra-large blankets for swaddling – we still need to swaddle, but Cora is getting so tall, it’s harder and harder.

pictures (it seems I have more favorites every month :P):