Kidlet Update

I miss blogging. I think about it often, but sitting down to write just doesn't happen often. Truth be told, there are several things I really aught to be doing right now instead of writing this but #selfcare 

I think I miss the journaling aspect the most. It's one of the main reasons I began blogging, to journal our life for myself and my children when they're grown one day. 

I haven't done an update on Ada since she was 3 months old. I have done a good job keeping up with her baby book calendar though. 

• Ada will be 2 in July, she is 1 year 9 months old.
• She is a big kid! She's tall for her age and I'm frequently asked in stores if the girls are twins or "how close are they?" - Cora is small, Ada is big. They can wear each others clothing except long pants. 
• Ada goes by Ada-May, Ada-gator, pterodactyl (not so much anymore but she still has a shrill cry), sissy.
• Ada eats like a champ. She loves her vegetables, particularly broccoli. She will steal bites of our salads. Zuchini, squash, asaparagus and green beans are a few of her other favorites. 
• We still co-sleep and she nurses herself to sleep. She sleeps a lot better when John puts her down & doesn't really come searching for milkies during the night. She hates pajamas, hates being covered up or being touched while she sleeps. 
• She is a great napper! She will come tell me she's ready for a nap between 11 and 1 each day depending on what time she woke up and how busy we've been that day. She will take a second nap in later afternoon if we've had an early, busy day. 

Napping at the Birth Center while Mommy cleans after births

• She doesn't seem ready to potty train. She will sit on her sister's potty chair and pretend, but she doesn't show any other signs of readiness. She has to wear hypoalergenic diapers, size 5. I have started and stopped using cloth several times, I'm just too busy to keep up with it. 
• Her favorite TV shows are Doc McStuffins, Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street. 
• She is pretty verbal! She's definitely more verbal than Cora was at this age, so I'm just comparing between the two of them. She can say Mama, Daddy, Cora "corwawa", papa, dog, ball, no (she's really good at this one...), uh huh, uh oh, hot dog, just to name a few. There are so many more but it's hard to keep track. 

• Coralie is 3 years & 8 months old and will be 4 in October
• She's pretty small for her age. She wears 3T dresses, but needs 2T pants for length most of the time. 
• Cora goes by Cora-lizzard, lizzy, sister, turkey
• She is really good at playing "possum" (pretending to sleep). She has fooled us many times, but on the bright side, she's quiet when she pretends to sleep! 
• She hates us brushing her hair, it is a frequent fight. 
• She loves the idea of swimming but then freaks out when we actually want her in the water. It makes her nervous if she sees me swimming off into water away from the side of the pool. We're going to need to do swim lessons soon.
  
• She loves reading books and identifying different things in the pictures.
  
   
• She can count to ten, but refuses to say the number three. She can, she just thinks it's funny that it bothers us so much that she won't.
• She will repeat the alphabet with us and can say the next letter if I start with A, she'll say B, then I say C etc. but she won't just recite it.
• When I'm leaving for work, particularly in a hurry for a birth she will come up and give me a hug and ask if I'm "going to help a lady have a baby?"
• She frequently pretends to go to work. She'll come up to me with her purse and keys and give me hugs and kisses. Sometimes I can understand the word "baby" in what she says she's going to work to do. 
• She is potty trained... mostly! She will use the potty chair at home, but refuses to use our toilet. She uses the toilet with a child seat at my dad's house. She is terrified of public toilets so we drive around with potty chairs in the cars so we can escape to the van/car if she needs to potty. We're working with her on recognizing needing to go before we go in & trying verses telling me when there's not much time to do something about it. She still wears pull ups to church or any time she's in someone else care. She usually won't talk to her teachers/babysitters etc to tell them she needs to go to the bathroom so she has accidents. She has gotten to where she can make it through church without needing to potty until she's with us.


• I'm dreading vacation this summer. We will have long stretches in the car & quick outings so for all of that she can just use her potty chair but while we're in Washington DC she's going to have to just go in her pull up if she hasn't gotten over the toilet thing. She'll tell me she needs a "diaper change" after she makes a mess... 
• Her anxieties about being left somewhere are much better. There are still usually some tears, but she settles down quickly and is fine. 
• Both girls love going to RaceTrac and getting a taquito and coke (Ada can say "coke" well!). This is a typical grandpa outing for them while I'm at work. 
• The car wash is another favorite outing. She will ask to be unbuckled from her car seat & climb up to the front to sit in our laps while the car is washed. 

Oh my goodness I could keep going, but I'll just have to remember to include other things in future posts! 

Keeping all the balls in the air

Yesterday as I was leaving my twice monthly Bible Study a new friend stopped me and asked how I "do it". How do I manage running my own company, working full time, being a mom and keeping a house. At first I was flattered, to think that my reoccurring hot mess act has anyone thinking I am doing much more than keeping my head above water. It was probably the illusion that I had make up on for once, but in reality that was the make up I had put on for a party the night before. ;)

A photo from November, because clearly not on the ball with backing my pictures up!

I was quick to tell her that "I don't". Plain and simple, I don't do it all. If I'm on top of the behind the scenes stuff for work, my house is in ruins around me. If I'm managing my housework, I am behind on managing SEO and networking for my business. I constantly struggle with 'mom guilt' about whether I'm spending enough time and individual attention for the girls. Let's not even talk about this little piece of neglect in my life... blogging just doesn't seem to happen, ever, even though it's something I love doing! Oh and exercising... that's a laughable concept at this point. (and the list of things that I would love to have time for but just don't, is not limited to these two things by any means!)

At the birth center after doing a couple of all night births - it was Thanksgiving and I proceeded to sleep through the rest of the day. I'm telling you, hot mess!

I would love to tell you how I manage what I do, but honestly I'm still figuring so much of it out. I've started being more intentional with a schedule for the family. A specific get-up time which lends the girls to actually take a nap at a specific time (crazy right?!?) and bed time has been easier. I've also started cutting back and being more realistic about what my work to-do list looks like. Instead of having daily tasks, I have weekly tasks to get through.  A schedule with the girls has helped a lot too. We're still fine tuning it, but for the first time in months we're managing to do our preschool activities and circle time in the mornings before lunch & naps. 

I have also been using the She Reads Truth app & a Bible app to spend some time in the Word each day. I have always had a big hang up with the idea of reading the Bible on my phone. I felt like I aught to be able to make time to sit down and open my physical Bible. Let's get real, that was happening so very rarely. at least I'm actually reading this way! It really helps to fill my cup so I'm not so empty trying to pour into my first and most important ministry, my family. 

A photo posted by Rebekah (@bekah.jane) on Oct 17, 2016 at 9:13am PDT

So, if you see someone you think is doing it all - chances are she's just like you, doing her best to tread water.

By the way -  I have a new Facebook page for my blog, it's pretty much crickets over there, but eventually, maybe it won't be. You can check it out here -

www.facebook.com/ChroniclesFromThePeanutGallery

The day Ada rolled over and I got my hair cut.

Last Saturday was your average run of the mill day around the house but of course being a day with lots of projects there were plenty of opportunities for disasters and we didn't make it without incident.

Let me preface the telling of the day's events with our goals & game plan. We needed to get a couple of projects done, the house tidied (all the junk picked up) and then actually clean before guests next week. I had a hair appointment at 10:30 and John was going to leave at 3:30 to drive 2 hours to have dinner with a friend who is in Texas from Boston. 

The girls woke us up at 7:30. We hung out in bed for about 30 minutes playing and giggling as John tickled Cora and she made faces so Ada would laugh. We got up and started breakfast, getting girls diapers changed and dressed and me getting ready to leave at 10:00 for my hair appointment. John dove right in on project #1, repairing the toilet so it would flush without having to take the lid off and manually flushing it (so now one of our 2 toilets is fully operational...always something with this house). I nursed Ada one last time & out the door I went. 

While getting my hair cut John kept both girls alive (his first time to keep them both by himself!) and got most of the dining room cleaned up. Oh, and Ada rolled over for the first time and I missed it. We had talked about him not putting her down to do belly time because she was close to rolling and I wanted to see it but he needed to set her down for a minute and she immediately rolled like she'd been doing it her whole life (1 day before turning 4 months old). John was going to restage it and video so I wouldn't feel like I had missed it but the only video John got was of the 3rd roll that was actually Cora shoving Ada over #rollsissyroll #nicetrydad

I get home and we need to move a sectional, like 4 huge chairs and many other pieces of furniture out of the shipping container storage to get to a spare washing machine because mine is broken and I've given up on successfully repairing it. As we start this project I am getting Cora lunch and discover the refrigerator has died. I call my Dad and brother Robert to get them started on that disaster.

I get Ada down for a nap, bundle Cora up so she can play outside and join John in the storage project. As we do this Cora was in the way when a big gust of wind blew the storage door shut throwing a headboard onto Cora knocking her onto the ground. I saw it from afar and it was like one of those slow motion horror movie scenes! God was watching out for us because it hit her between the slats of the headboard and she landed on the soft ground rather than into one of the many pieces of furniture sitting just behind where she landed. 

We recovered from that scare, get the washer inside, all the furniture back in storage plus some stuff from inside that needed to be stored and go back inside. I put a very tired Cora at the table to eat a snack and move frozen now thawing food to the deep freeze as John hooks up the Washer. 

Well, as he hooked up the hoses he started the water before getting them tight. Love you dear, but definitely going to require pliers not jut hand tightening. So I pulled the stove out (our washer/dryer are in the kitchen) to clean up the water flood to discover that the reason our dishwasher won't work is the plug isn't plugged in. Indeed the dishwasher I had declared dead and borrowed a countertop dishwasher from my brother in Tyler after hand washing our dishes for the past year....

Anyway I am good and mad now at the water mess I'm mopping up and as I rant about it and asking John whether or not he got the drain hooked up properly (basically yelling because the dryer has a bearing going out so it's super loud so I have to shout to be heard) I glance into the dining room where Ada is in her highchair chewing on a toy and Cora is eating veggie straws and there is a BAG OF VEGGIE STRAWS ON FIRE in the middle of my dining room table on top of a lace table cloth!!!!!!!!!! I yell "fire", John calmly walks over and puts out the fire as if he puts out flaming bags of chips on a regular basis and puts out the candle he had lit on the table (yeah, not the greatest move....) all while I'm still trying to climb out from behind the stove over the counter. 

After the fire debacle, we run a load of laundry, John leaves, I put both girls down for a nap and proceed to clean house. Later today my Dad and brother will bring the refrigerator from their garage to use until we can fix ours (or the more likely option of getting rid of ours and just using their garage fridge). 

I'm not sure if I'm running a household or a zoo/3-ring circus.

Oh, and did I mention I love my new haircut?! 

New hair! Took off 13 inches!

A photo posted by Rebekah (@bekah.jane) on Nov 21, 2015 at 9:45am PST

Show and Tell Tuesdays: Baby Names

Today I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals for Show and Tell Tuesdays. She hosts this link up with different prompts every other Tuesday throughout this year!

Tell us how you picked your kids' names (or how you got yours!)

Naming children is a little tricky for me. I have this policy that (unless they're named after someone...) we cannot know anyone else by that same name. As you can imagine that's a little hard and even more difficult because I taught daycare for a long time and had lots of little girls and little boys with a variety of names come through my classes! 

When we named Cora, I pretty much let John pick the name and I exercised my veto power! Her name is Coralie Elizabeth. Elizabeth is for my mom, I told him I wanted to name our first daughter after my mother (who passed away several years ago) and that I didn't care if it was her first name or middle name. John came up with Coralie all on his own, he presented me with several ideas, I tossed in a few ideas but in the end this is what we decided on (and he picked it)! It took me a long time to decide I was for-sure okay with the name, we had weeks and weeks of practicing the name out at home when I talked about the baby. I was worried that she would be born and I wouldn't be able to see my baby as a "Coralie" but I really feel like the name fits her well! Once I let him know that I was happy with the name and that we could go ahead and make her name art we hired a girl in our office named Cora Leigh. I'd literally never met a Cora much less a Cora Leigh before and here was one in the flesh and blood! By this time I had poured hours into making her string art name decoration and John was very attached to the name so I got over it! Fortunately I like work Cora and she's a sweet girl so there isn't any negative imagery with the name for me.

For Baby Girl #2, we aren't announcing her name until she is born. Or at least that is the plan as of now. The naming process was very much the same though! I provided a couple of family names I wanted John to consider, we agreed on one without a doubt and then it was just a matter of picking a middle name. In very similar fashion, he picked the middle name and after several weeks of practicing the name (hashing out spelling) and trying it out I agreed it felt right!

One day down the road if the Lord blesses us with a boy, his name is a given! John Benjamin Lewis V! Since I get absolutely no say in the name department for our first son (which I've known since early on in dating John so I'm cool with it) I have insisted that he go by Benjamin or Ben because it seems far too confusing to have two Johns' living in the same house!

Coralie - 15 months old

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Now that Cora is over a year old I probably won't be near as consistent with doing updates but so much has changed since her 13 month update that I couldn't not do one this month! Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Weight/Height - At her 15 month well visit she came in at 23 pounds and 5 ounces (78th percentile). This is about the weight she was at her last well visit but the doctor said she wasn't worried since Cora is walking now and is much more active. She's 30 1/2 inches tall (49th %) and her head circumference is 47 cm (84th %).

Unhappy at the doctors office

Health - We have all been sick off and on since the very end of December. It's getting really old! This is by far the most sick she has been ever. It started with a runny nose that I'm pretty sure was allergies but then turned into a full blown cold. I called the doctor right around new years to check dosage on over the counter meds (since you can't really do much for a cold since it's a virus) and were doing all the natural remedies I know, but I'm now thinking we should have just taken her in and tried a round of antibiotics. She was doing so well for about half a week where the nose wasn't running anymore, no more goopy icky eyes and I would go an entire day or so without hearing her cough but after cutting a couple of teeth flaring up the runny nose again she's also got a nasty cough. So... after seeing the Pediatrician turns out that yes she's got the cough and runny nose but she also has an ear infection. So sure enough she's on antibiotics now and I'm really remembering how much I hate antibiotics.

Nicknames - "Pumpkin", "Cor-Cor", "Cora Bear", "Cora Bora", "Cora-lizzy" short for Cora Elizabeth.

While we were both sick.

Teething - Just the other day she started cutting teeth again! (I would just like to interject that she seriously did not appreciate me just sticking my finger into her mouth as she sleeps to confirm the tooth count). 3 teeth on top (front two and the one to the immediate left of her front tooth) and the 4 front bottom teeth.

Clothing - She's wearing 18 month clothes. I think there may be a few 12 months that haven't gotten pulled out of the rotation yet, but they're big 12 month clothes if so! She also has a few 24 month onsies and such in her clothing rotation. My baby is growing up too fast!!

Diapers - We bumped her up to size 4 disposable diapers, I don't know why I put that off so long, they fit her much better! We also learned that she can't wear the cheapie diapers from our local grocery store, she broke out in an epically bad rash (while being sick too, poor baby) that lasted more than 2 weeks. We just got it cleared up! I'm really missing cloth diapers and plan to start using them again asap! We're fighting diaper rash almost constantly in some degree or another, this is something we never had a problem with in cloth diapers and I'm sure it has something to do with the materials/chemicals associated with disposable diapers.

Christmas goodies - headphones, dolly & socks!

Eating - Nursing - She mostly just nurses in the morning now. She will ask to nurse during the day, but that's usually because she can't find where she's put down her sippy cup (or I may have stuck it in the refrigerator and she's thirsty), so I usually offer something else before nursing her. When she's sick or teething I try to be more patient with frequent nursing during the day, but even that hasn't been too frequent of late (thank goodness!!). I'm super ready to wean! We've gotten her to where she doesn't (usually) need to nurse to go to sleep, I'll offer nursing if she asks, which she doesn't always, then John takes her to bed. It has been so nice that he has taken on the bedtime routine! I'm really anxious to finish weaning her, not only because this momma needs a break before I start nursing baby #2 but also, she doesn't nurse for nutrition anymore. It's all a comfort/habit for her so she doesn't do a good job latching (no matter how many times I take her off, put her back on). My poor body is sore from normal pregnancy stuff, her bad nursing habits aren't helping that matter. I hope that we're finished nursing for good by March!

Beverages - This kid can drink huge amounts of whatever we give her! The last two months she has really gotten her first introduction to apple juice (the only juice we've tried so far) to combat several rounds of constipation. She loves her drinks, and is especially anxious to drink when she gets to out of a special big girl cup. So we've got quite the collection of childrens to go cups with straws etc from restaurants and sonic. So far there haven't really been any mess incidents with her obsession with cups and straws so for now that works well!

Solids - This past month in particular she's been finicky about eating a type of food on a consistent basis. Some of it is her beginning to form opinions and express choices but I know part of it is also that she's been sick. She loves cheese! We usually have processed cheeses around for sandwiches and these are her favorites! I've started trying to offer her more nutritious cheese options (string cheese, real cheese from the deli etc) but she really prefers the junk out of the plastic package. She loves eating chicken noodle soup and ramen noodles (she obviously doesn't get the latter very often, just a bite or two of Mommy's). Beyond cheese and crackers, I can't think of any particular food developments since her 13 month update. She will still eat meat, but is very iffy about it. Last night was an epic melt down over whether or not I would put cut up hot dog in her mouth.

ZZzzzzZZZ Sleeping - Sleep has been going much better. She is sleeping through the night more consistently (hopefully this is a development with age and is permanent?!?) and usually sleeps a solid 12 hours. It is nice that she's flexible, I can handle routine and appreciate it but also am very grateful that she adjusts as we need her to. If we have a later night out and she doesn't get to bed until 9 or 9:30, it's no big deal. I just know that the next morning she will sleep until 9 or 9:30 and I can't have anything planned early morning. The same goes for earlier bed times and later bed times - if I give her 12 hours to sleep she's good to go!

The one area of sleep we've still got work to do in is her in her own bed. We had a set back with some plumbing issues at our house so we're at my Dad's again (should be fixed this week!). In bed with us is really the only option here. I'm working to remind myself that this is a season and this too shall pass. I know one day I'll look at my little girl and wish she wanted to crawl in bed with us.

One thing that is new & I want to always remember is how attached to her Daddy she is! She likes to lay where she can reach out and touch one of us to reassure her that we are there. If we move, she reaches and doesn't find one of us she will sit up and look for us and move to where we are in the bed. She did this with me for months but has really started doing it to John more. John isn't a cuddler when he is sleeping, he likes his space, so he'll run from her in his sleep. He'll move from sleeping at the head of the bed to being "backwards" with his head at the foot of the bed. Then after she finds him, relocates to riiiiggghhht next to him or on top of him they'll sleep a while. This little dance of him moving, her following goes on all night. I've been struggling with pregnancy insomnia so I've been awake to watch quite a bit of these maneuvers at night. I never want to forget how adorable they are sleeping side by side.

Right after she went down the slide on her own!

Our Little Socialite - This month in particular Cora has really developed in her play skills! She independently plays well in the morning and will occasionally ask to have a book read to her or a toy played with (she asks by bringing it to you & setting it in your lap). When we take her to the park she loves climbing up and down the stairs, walking all over the place (she is still very proud of her walking skills!). She's starting to try to run but usually topples over. Last night at the park playground she took the initiative to go down the big slide by herself! She was about to go head first but backed up, got on her tummy and went down feet first! I was "upstairs" with her, fortunately John was handy "downstairs" to catch her. She slid down several times after this, she's very proud of this discovery!

Likes-She loves her Doll that was a Christmas gift. This has by far become her favorite toy. It's beautiful that without any prompting or showing from us, she knows how to nurture and care for her "Dolly". She's going to be a great big sister! Her Dolly is also the only toy we can say "Where's Dolly?" and she will seek it out.

Dislikes -Getting dressed... or undressed for that matter. Blowing her nose (which is still a work in progress) or me wiping her face. Wearing socks or shoes, they are taken off the moment I put her in the carseat!

New - She has started regularly calling me "momma" which is nice because although she could say it, she usually just referred to me as "dada" too. :) She loves taking things out and putting things in the trash, we're all ready for this phase to be over! We've found cell phones, remote controls, food, all manner of things that shouldn't be in the trash there thanks to Miss Cora! She started walking without prompting from one of us back in mid December. I wish I could remember exactly when but it was very close to her 14 month mark. She was in Sunday School and as we picked her up I noticed that there was a little boy about her age walking around her classroom. Seeing another child her age and size be able to walk was the trigger! That afternoon she started walking on her own!
In December right before Christmas we had to put our Boxer, Clyde, down. She had learned to say "Dog" and the week he passed away she started saying "Cwyde" in the mornings as he'd wander out of his bed and ask to be put outside. She loved her "Cwyde" very much. I never want to forget all their cuddles and how good he was with her!

Fun things we did since 13 month update - 
~Early Thanksgiving celebration with John's grandparents in Austin
~Seeing Josh off at the airport for his two years of service in Okinawa, Japan
~Thanksgiving with my Dad's family
~Meeting Santa Clause
~Helping move her Grandma and Chipaw
~Joining Mommy & Daddy at the Doctor to see the new baby!
~Christmas & announcing the pregnancy to family with her fancy new Big Sister shirt! 
~Uncle Jacob & Aunt Stephanie's Wedding!
~A visit from her Great Grandparents
~ Mommy's Birthday (that we all spent laying in bed sick...)













On the 20th we went to the Midwife for another check up on baby 2.0 and Cora went along too (John was there to help corral her). She was being fidgety and a little noisy the whole visit up until my Midwife had the heartbeat on the Doppler. Cora was so quiet and interested in listening to her baby brother or sisters heart beat. It was the sweetest thing! She just sat in Johns arms with her mouth open slightly looking very interested in what was going on! 

Goings on with Mommy & Daddy - Working on the house, being sick for a couple of weeks in a row, recovering from the holidays. Mommy has been struggling with normal first trimester stuff plus a bought with the blues so we're looking forward to getting past all of that and to a fun and exciting end of winter & spring!

Coralie - 13 months old

Weight/Height - Just the other day she was sitting on the bathroom scales while I was in the shower, I peeked out and she was coming in at just over 26 pounds!

Health - She's healthy as a horse! (where did this saying come from!?!)

Nicknames - "Pumpkin", "Cor-Cor", "Cora Bear", "Cora Bora" and most recently "Bulldog" because she scrunches her face and snorts through her nose when she isn't happy with what you're doing (like putting her in the car seat). John has also recently called her "Cora-lizzy" short for Cora Elizabeth.

A last minute Halloween trip to the Deli!

Teething - On the day of her birthday party she cut a 4th tooth (top). She hasn't had any more come in yet but she's certainly teething. She and my Dad have this system worked out, she takes his finger and puts it on the part of her gums that hurt, he rubs the gums and she babbles in appreciation (and doesn't bite him!). I think it's so funny that she goes to different people for different things, she knows who meets what need. She also loves chewing on her little gummy toothbrush to alleviate teething pain. This is great because she doesn't like teething rings/toys other than the occasional cube of ice in a mesh feeder. 




Clothing - She has a few 12 month outfits that fit (as in I can squeeze her in them, but probably aught to pack them away). Everything else is 12-18 months or 18 month clothes. Some of these are even tight! I was just tugging an 18 month shirt down that had ridden up on her belly and was thinking that I might have some 24 month winter shirts packed away we got in hand-me-downs that I need to pull out. I'm pretty sure that if she'll ever start walking for real (opposed to the occasional 3 steps to Mommy or Daddy) she'll loose some of her chunk and these clothes will fit properly again.

Diapers - She's about out of size 3 disposables but I'm making them last because we still have another box of them from a diaper shower! We haven't done cloth since we've been staying with my Dad, but we will absolutely be going back to that as soon as we're settled in. At this rate though, it'll probably be New Years before I break out the cloth diapers again. Her dirty diapers are also getting to be a bit much to handle (#nasty) so I won't lie, I don't look forward to dealing with that in cloth.

Eating - Nursing - Still nursing in the morning at night. She's hit or miss on nursing to go down for naps. Occasionally she wakes in the night and I nurse her back down but I'm really trying to stop that habit (because that's exactly what that is, a habit that needs to be broken!). She doesn't really nurse during the day and if she asks (and isn't sick, or teething etc to warrant needed additional nursing) I offer her sippy cup to her and really encourage that. Usually she's just misplaced it or I haven't gotten it back out of the refrigerator and she's just using me as a walking, talking beverage dispenser. Sometimes she's just really insistent on nursing and I don't ever turn her down if she repeatedly asks after I've offered alternatives.  

Beverages - she loves drinking from her straw sippy cup! She'll drink milk (cow milk and almond milk), water and occasionally watered down juice. This past month she has really learned how to use sippy cups other than the straw type and has gotten the coordination down to turn the cup up with her hands as she sucks! I'm excited because now she's using the collection of cups we bought and tried before finding that she would only drink from straw cups before! (On the way to Branson I also learned that cups with handles out to the side, she can turn enough to get the lid just enough off that she will spill milk everywhere!)
Solids - She eats everything we do! Meat has been her biggest area of growth this month! She loves chicken and tolerates hotdogs chopped up. She has recently started using a fork! She would grab mine off my plate after eating and was really fascinated with it, we kept finding where she was hiding forks for playing with later! She has figured out how to feed me with a fork and is working on the wrist movement to scoop/stab and get it to her own mouth. I will be picking up toddler forks for her tomorrow (but I doubt she will use it, she prefers what we use).

ZZzzzzZZZ Sleeping - This is the one area in parenting I feel like I'm really struggling. With getting ready to move, then moving and all the craziness there for a solid month (September) she would be at my Dad's house until really late 11 pm - 1 am.  A few nights even up until 2 or 3 am (the nights we were moving). Bedtime fell apart for us and she wasn't consistently going down to sleep for the night (though she'd napped quite a bit through the evening/night) until 1 am. I'm still paying for this... through October we progressively worked on backing up her bedtime but our lives were still pretty chaotic and she wasn't accustomed to sleeping at my dad's house. By the end of October, I got bedtime backed up to 9:30 - 10:00. Daylight Savings was a God-Send! Without much work on my part at all she's consistently going to sleep between 9 and 9:30 and sleeping until 8:30 or 9 in the mornings. I still want to back it up 30 minutes to an hour (bedtime routine starting at 8, in bed asleep by 8:30) but we've made huge progress! I worry that the holidays are going to mess things up, but I'm just going to have to be really strict about routine and consistency.
I also really dread getting sleep established in her own crib again, since October 1 she has been sleeping in bed with us, so we might start with the pack and play in our room, then transition back to the crib in her room. Ugh. I don't know. Where's the parenting manual on this???

Our Little Socialite - Play dates are more fun with Cora now that she is more interactive & alert. We go (almost) weekly to story time in our hometown and the neighboring Denton libraries. Twice a month to MOMs where she plays in nursery & she loves going to "Sunday School" at church.

Likes- Playing peek-a-boo with whatever she can find, has started enjoying being read to (as long as they're short books), playing with the Christmas decorations I have out, particularly the beaded garlands. 

Dislikes -Getting dressed... or undressed for that matter. Blowing her nose (which is still a work in progress) or me wiping her face.

New - She has some new words! "DID IT" she will exclaim after even the smallest acts of whatever she was trying to do; put a sock on her head, roll the ball, stand up on a difficult surface, get the lid off her sippy cup etc. She had been saying it for a while but she says it so quickly and without much ennunciation that we had trouble understanding here. She runs it together and you mostly recognize the 'D' and the 'T' and the middle is pretty smushed. She still says "Momma" and "Daddy", she has several other words and mini phrases like 'Did It' that we just haven't figured out yet what they are. She speaks Cora-ese very well! ;)

Fun things we did - 
~Coralie's First Birthday Party!
~Cora's first Trunk or Treat, ~Fall Festival and Halloween with Trick or Treating!
~Last minute trip to Branson, MO to visit Uncle Josh on special liberty 
~Uncle Joshua being home for a few days before leaving for Japan (he'll be gone for 2 years)
~Uncle Jacob's Senior Recital (trip to Marshall, TX)

Her shirt says "My Uncle is a Big Bad Marine"

Uncle Robert discovering the issues...

Goings on with Mommy & Daddy - We are still working on the house. We have managed to spend one whole night out there (before it got very unseasonably cold and we came back to my Dad's house... more because of water issues than cold). Speaking of those water issues... we needed to re-do one of the exterior walls siding. When we took the siding off we found a whole heap of plumbing problems. Water leaking into sheet rock, insulation etc. What was supposed to be a 3 or 4 hour project turned into gutting the wall, re-plumbing the entire kitchen (including washer/dryer), redoing sheet rock and insulation. It's not something I can do alone and everyone else works (and of course I have Cora and I can't really do that kind of work when I'm watching her...) so the project has been squeezed in where we can in addition to other on-going projects out there. It's literally taken the better part of 3 weeks for this to be completed.

Exciting Future- We're going this weekend to Georgetown to visit John's Grandparents for Thanksgiving. Of course Thanksgiving Day back home, I'm looking forward to starting some new traditions with our family. We'll spend Thanksgiving with my family, immediate and extended at my Aunt & Uncles house. Lots of fun Christmas preparations & events!

Why are America's Post Partum Practices so Rough on New Mothers?

The title of my post is actually the title of an article published by The Daily Beast back in August.

I read the article a few weeks after it was published and it has been on my mind since. 

5 days postpartum exhausted & passed out on the couch

When I consider how I want to do things differently with future pregnancies and births there isn't much that comes to mind. I'm quite pleased how pregnancy and birth went, at least all the things that are in my control. When I think about how to handle my postpartum care, that's where I really regret what I did after Cora was born.

Birth went beautifully and thankfully I did not suffer any tears. I was sore everywhere but that was to be expected. When I say everywhere, I do mean everywhere. My first 3 meals were primarily large sonic strawberry shakes because I couldn't stand to swallow food because my throat and chest were super sore from curling into myself as I pushed (yes, I was that sore!). Considering I had the ideal birth without complication you'd think recovery would go perfectly, and I guess it did. Even with a "perfect" recovery - I still needed more rest and help than I got, asked for or expected to need. It was also apparent that (some) people expected me to pop right back to my old self.

The day Cora was born, after being awake for 40 hrs straight.

Cora was born & I got to hold her for about 45 

 seconds before they rushed her off to the NICU. Between Labor & Delivery and the Postpartum hospital rooms, my nurse took my by the NICU to see her, but I wasn't allowed to hold her, just touch her tiny little hand then I was told to go on to my room to start pumping & get on with my other responsibilities. I was so, so tired! By the time her birth rolled around I had been awake for about 28 hours straight. I walked around my room a bit but with my sore, tired body I really didn't feel up to walking down to the NICU (all the way down the long postpartum hallway, around the nurses station down another long hallway). I requested a wheelchair so I could go see my baby again & I was told no. I had two separate nurses tell me that even C-section mommies don't get to use wheelchairs so I don't either. After a long lesson in pumping, a failed attempt at eating dinner and entertaining approximately 15 guests at the hospital I finally had a moment to go see my baby. I didn't even make it half way down my hallway before I couldn't go on. John basically carried me back to bed.

I so, so regret not telling those nurses to shove it and get me a wheelchair. I can never get that time back that I didn't spend with my sweet new born baby!

Group shot of some of the family visiting

Fast forward to getting home. We had so much well meaning family that wanted to come & see me the baby. The day after we got home from the hospital, we hosted thirteen family members! Thirteen! I decided it would be easier to have them all come over at once than spread out over several day - I stand by that choice. Really, as far as hosting goes, I didn't have to do much work. The house was pretty much ready to go (and what wasn't ready I didn't give a flip about), and my wonderful Great Aunt, Cousin and Aunt did all the cooking & cleaning for everyone! What I'm kicking myself for now, is that I thought I should be out in the living room with everyone the whole time! I should have taken Cora and we should have been holed up in our room for a good part of the day! I should have been in bed. By the end of that day I knew I had done too much when I felt like my uterus was going to fall out of my body. TMI... but it's true. Even laying down I thought I was going to die. It felt kind of like passing a clot, but without any relief for hours.

When John went back to work the following Monday, my wonderful Great Aunt and Uncle came over to help. Let me tell you, this woman is a gift from God! She let me sleep for hours! She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, put laundry away, vacuumed, swept. She understood postpartum care! She helped with Cora some when she was awake, but pretty much left me to do my own thing with the baby. She was available to stay for up to a week...

...They had traveled in from out of town to be here for the birth and helping me at home and I felt all funny about keeping them from their lives and I was being pressured by other family members that wanted to "help" who had taken off from work (without asking me when it would be helpful) so like an idiot I sent my Aunt home & said I'd be okay. Instead of paying attention to what I knew, to what I needed I put other peoples feelings first at a time when I should have put my rest & care first. As I suspected/feared my "help" in the following days "helped" by holding my baby so I could sweep or cook or any other number of household things. They wanted to have "bonding" time with my daughter. Never mind that at night I was bawling my postpartum eyes out that I felt like I was a milk cow and the only time I was holding my daughter is when I was nursing her or changing diapers. 

For days I was spending the evening curled up on the couch or laying in bed moaning with that feeling of my uterus attempting to fall out. When I talked to my Doula about it, she said she suspected that I may have had tears they didn't see. After consulting with my Midwife, no - there were no tears missed. I was just over-doing it. By the time I was ready to do what I should have from the beginning and lay around in bed and let my helpers actually help - my help was gone.

With future kiddos, I've already decided that (if I'm offered) help I will take it! I will actually vocalize what I need rather than just hoping that they catch on to hints of what would be helpful. I also recognize that something I'll need a lot of help with that wasn't an issue the first time around - care for Cora! Moms of multiple children have even more demands and needs than first time moms!
Assuming that pregnancy progresses as planned, my midwife and I have already begun discussing a birth center birth rather than hospital. I won't have the 24-48 hours in a hospital "resting" like I did the first time (which was actually more like 96 hours with Cora's NICU stay). I'll be back home (barring complications) and in my bed the same day I give birth (for which I'm grateful!)
Speaking of that bed... that's where I'll entertain most of my guests. It's where my new baby & I will be most of the time. I want family around, but next time I will put my rest and recovery first and foremost (of course only behind caring for the new bundle of joy). 

I think that a lot of moms in America are like me. We don't feel justified (why, I don't know?) in laying around in bed or on the couch etc after birth. We think we need to be back on our schedules and busy lives as soon as humanly possible.

I also think the standard 6 week postpartum leave in America is a load of bull. Guys, it was the very end of the 6 week period off of work that I was finally able to get up, dress myself and my baby and not be in total pain. I'm not even going to get into how long during that period I was still wearing postpartum care pads/underwear etc. The fact of the matter is my body was only beginning to be "healed" and "recovered" at that 6 week mark. I was not emotionally or physically prepared to return to work. I didn't really have a choice in the matter to return, my year of vacation time and a whole year of sick leave was used up in the first 3 weeks of postpartum leave (I was only really given 3 weeks postpartum leave). When I expressed that I wasn't ready to go back to a couple of friends/family they just simply stated that "everyone does it" this is just "standard" time off. They're right - it's standard, but it's wrong!

While pregnant and soon after birth, I read so much about postpartum depression and the baby blues. People are finally speaking out about how normal and common this is. People are discussing the realities of emotional health after babies and that is fantastic! Unfortunately, people aren't discussing enough about the physical side of postpartum long term. I never read a vaginal birth mom talking about recovery taking at least 6 weeks. I never read about an American mom spending a good portion of their 6 weeks off spent in bed (other nationalities yes, they talk about it and it's common). Until we discuss it, normalize it and bring the issue to light, nothing will change.

What was your Postpartum Experience like?
Did you have help after baby?
Did you do too much after birth?

Our Little Pumpkin is One!

On Saturday we celebrated Coralie's first birthday party.

When we realized we would have moved less than a month before her party we knew hosting at home was out of the question. We choose to host at a local park instead. It was nice having the playground to entertain the kiddos!

We got her invitations on Etsy, I think they turned out really cute!

I tried to keep the party as simple as possible. Not only to maintain my sanity, but because I was also hosting a wedding shower for my brothers Fiancee that afternoon.

Cora had a rough week, on Wednesday (the day after her birthday) she had her 1 year well visit that included a round of shots. Then she was feeling puny from allergies on Friday. Friday night she woke up about 10:00 pm and thought it was morning? I finally got her back down at 2:00 am Saturday morning but our alarm went off at 6:00, so she was tired to say the least! We snuck in an unscheduled nap before party time but her mood was still off so I started searching for the cause...

Lo & Behold, she had cut a 4th tooth! She now has 2 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth!

With all the bad mood, we were doing good to get her into her tutu and she refused to wear her matching head band. I also didn't manage to get any pictures of her just sitting in her birthday outfit. 

(maybe Auntie Lauren had better luck?)

We had cupcakes and a smash cake that I didn't let Cora smash. :) 

I just couldn't deal with that kind of waste, so she smashed (and ate) a cupcake instead. 

For lunch we had hotdogs, frito chili pie, nachos and a whole host of finger foods I didn't get any pictures of.

 

We had a great time and I really enjoyed getting to visit with all of the family and friends that were able to come! 

As we were planning we were deliberating how we're going to manage birthday parties in the future. I think we've finally figured out a plan & I want to kind of debrief on what I thought of this party. 

`

Coralie - 1 year old!

Dear Coralie, I cannot believe that you are a year old. At exactly 10:57 this morning you were born one year ago! This has been the most amazing year of Mommy & Daddy's lives as we have watched you grow and develop into this beautiful, inquisitive toddler! You have made a beautiful addition to our family and I can't thank you enough for making me a Mommy and thank the Lord for giving you to us! Last night as I got your "Birthday Girl" shirt all ready to go for today I really realized that your birthday is really here. I didn't think that I would be emotional or overly excited about it, I'm not generally that big a fan of birthdays but I have to say that I'm very excited for this one! We practiced singing you the Happy Birthday song and you love it! You giggle and laugh as I bounce you on my hip while Daddy and I sing! I spent the better part of the evening last night thinking back to the last day our family was just Daddy & I. Then thinking through the progression of labor and your birth as each event would have unfolded last year. (And as I thought through them, I of course shared had to share it on Instagram...) I honestly don't think there will ever be so much time go by that I will forget the day you were born. Pregnancy, labor and birth were hard work, but you are oh so worth it (and I"ll do it again for your siblings!)!!

Weight/Height - Home scales are saying 24 pounds, 4 ounces and I tried to measure her height as she squirmed around, I believe she's 28 1/2 inches. I will update this tomorrow (10/22), that's when we have her 1 year well visit scheduled.

Health -Coralie is as healthy as can be. She's fought a little bit of a cold and tummy bug a couple of weeks ago but nothing out of the ordinary. I'm pretty sure she picked up both of those ailments from her block licking habits at the library story time. She has allergies to something at the pumpkin patch, but she crawled around in hay so I don't know what I expected.

Nicknames - "Pumpkin", "Cor-Cor", "Cora Bear", "Cora Bora" and most recently "Bulldog" because she scrunches her face and snorts through her nose when she isn't happy with what you're doing (like putting her in the car seat). John has also recently called her "Cora-lizzy" short for Cora Elizabeth.

Drinking a sonic slush... she loves straws!

Teething - This last month she finally cut her first teeth! She cut a top tooth and a bottom tooth the next day! Then this past Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch I noticed the second bottom tooth has cut. She has several more that are just below the surface but just having these two teeth has really opened up the world of eating different food for her! Like chicken... she's quite the chicken fan!

Clothing - There are a few lingering 9 month outfits in her closet, but really for the most part she's in all 12 month clothes. Actually, her 12 month clothes are tight enough that we aren't buying anything in 12 months, all her winter stuff is in 12-18 or 18 months.

Diapers - size 3 disposables, but cloth at home


Eating - Nursing - I nurse her in the morning and at night. We're working to cut out the middle of the day feeding but if she climbs up in my lap and "asks" to nurse (patting my chest) I let her. At this rate weaning may take a while. Especially this last week when she's been sick, we nursed for a lot of "snacks". 
Beverages - she loves drinking from her straw sippy cup! She'll drink milk (cow milk and almond milk), water and we'll probably introduce juice soon now that she is a year old.
Solids - She eats everything we do! She had been struggling to eat meat, even tiny little pieces that she could gum up and swallow but now with teeth she is loving meat & all things we enjoy!

ZZzzzzZZZ Sleeping - Life isn't back to normal yet. We have been camping out at my Dad's house since we moved (as I write this, 20 days). A new routine has been established but it isn't anything resembling normal. Some nights she sleeps through the night, others she doesn't but if she wakes up she settles down pretty quickly. I hope that after we get settled in at the "new" house, she'll quickly learn to sleep in her crib, in her own room through the night... hopefully.

Staring at a Ball... not the puppy!

Our Little Socialite - Play dates are more fun with Cora now that she is more interactive & alert. We go (almost) weekly to story time in our hometown and the neighboring Denton libraries. Twice a month to MOMs where she plays in nursery & she loves going to "Sunday School" at church.

Likes- Balls have been fun before, but now they really captivate her attention. At the State Fair she was only interested in the balls in the pins with the animals, not at all the animals. She also loves riding around in a wagon! We got her a vintage red wagon at the local Just Between Friends sale for her birthday and she will crawl up to it and "ask" to ride by pulling on it. She loved riding around in one at the Pumpkin Patch too!


Dislikes -Getting dressed... or undressed for that matter. Blowing her nose (which is still a work in progress) or me wiping her face.

New - She's walking!! She took her first steps on 10/15! She isn't consistently doing it but can when she wants to! I'm so excited for her to be walking. I know that keeping up with her will be a challenge but so much more of the world is open to her as a walker! Yay! This might be my favorite development so far!

Fun things we did - 
The State Fair of Texas!

Went to Ennis for Uncle Jacob & Aunt Stephanie's Wedding Shower. 
 
Her first trip to the Pumpkin Patch!


Goings on with Mommy & Daddy - We're busy with setting up house, remaining repairs and the storage unit will finally be delivered tomorrow! It's been a long month but in many ways we needed this time to just breathe and spend time as a family. With everything that is going on with Johns family, it has been a huge blessing that we're staying with my Dad so he can help with Cora while we take care of other things. 

Exciting Future- This weekend is Cora's first birthday party and Uncle Jacob & Aunt Stephanie's wedding shower (going to be a busy weekend!),

Life Lesson!

Last week was a "gag me" week. I just don't have any other words for it.

Basically, if it could go wrong with our move, it did. I just didn't have enough hours in the day to compete with all the things going wrong to finish all that we had to do. (As a result we are going on night 5 that we're camping out at my Dads trying to get our house set up enough to actually live there...)

So, come Thursday we had planned to go to the State Fair, but after such a crazy week I was honestly regretting scheduling the fair so close to the move. Despite the crazy week, we really enjoyed our time at the fair! It was about 4:00 pm and we knew that there was a bad storm rolling in and Cora had about all the fair fun she could handle so we headed out, rushing to get to the van before the storm hit. 

A little back story... we were running late to meet our family at the fair, we'd planned to take the train in but we missed the train so we decided to drive the rest of the way to Fair Park so we'd get there about the time they would arrive. Just a few miles out from Fair Park the dang gas light went off on the van, we just figured we'd grab some gas as we left that evening.

Fast Forward, we're leaving Fair Park just ahead of the storm. Turns out that there just aren't many gas stations in the Fair Park area (it's not the nicest neighborhood...) so we figured that surely there would be some on the way home. GPS routed us through downtown because traffic on I30 was so backed up, unfortunately traffic in Downtown Dallas wasn't a walk in the park either. As we scooted along in traffic I was watching the gas gauge needle drop lower & lower. I was getting really antsy for a gas station but there just weren't any very close to us and traffic was crawling.

Now the storm has moved in... we were sitting in stand still traffic, I was snapping at my Dad and John that we had to find a gas station or they could push the van in this torrential downpour. As we sat there stuck at an intersection huge debris started falling around us from a highrise building on our left that was under construction. I was frantic and my nerves were frazzled. 

We finally find a RaceTrac, the first gas station we've seen in miles, I coast up to a pump on fumes and my Dad chimes in from the back seat "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

What???? The pumps were dark, the store was dark, all the stores around us were dark... there was no electricity and the storm was still raging. 

We decided to sit there and ride out the storm, there just wasn't much of a choice. After the storm passed we talked to some employees of the next door auto parts store, they had been calling around to other gas stations in the area, none less than about 3/4 mile away... none of them had power either. We were stuck. To make me feel slightly better about it, no less than 8 other cars were in the same shoes as us, none of us had enough gas to get to another station that might have power. 

All in all, we waited for 3 hours for the power to be restored & to get gas. 

We bought a gas can with cash from the auto parts store and walked in the rain for miles only to find nada...

Cora had a blast crawling around the van getting into all kinds of trouble!

On the bright side, once power was restored thankfully my Dad had some cash (I never carry cash, but really should!) to pay to pump gas because the credit/debit card readers were still offline after power came back. The RaceTrac employees estimated at least an hour before that would come back up!

So the lesson out of this?? Never, ever, ever let your car get below a quarter tank! I'd heard this so many times before, but I just never imagined a situation that I couldn't just swing into a gas station and fill up. I learned the lesson the hard way, learn from me!