Tuesday

The girlishness of this little never ceases to amaze me.  I didn't teach her this. Pinkies Up!

Gook! and glorious autumn foliage

Cora has had a verbal explosion!  Her first word came out on Saturday and it was 'Thank you' (two words technically)!  And me, not wanting be replaced by manners, asked her if she could say 'Mama' and she did.  (Still no 'Papa' though.  He gets 'Lala') To which she quickly added 'Stop' (I guess I say that a lot, to the dog, to a wiggly baby on the changing table, to the cat, oh well), then 'dog' and 'no' and even a sly little sing songy 'love you' which I said to her as I put her down for her nap yesterday and she repeated  back!  Then as we were reading her a book before bedtime she came out with 'gook' for book.  Today she has been crawling over to books and saying 'gook, gook, gook'.  Very fun.  We now have a talker on our hands!

Here's some gorgeousness from this past weekend. We went for a walk in Centennial Park and soaked up the sun and all of the beauty of trees still turning in this oddly prolonged season of fall foliage.

Pumpkin day!

I'm just getting this post in under the wire (it's 11:11pm - cakes to make and all that) but we wanted to wish you a very safe and very fun Halloween. Here's our little one in the pumpkin costume I've been working on, enjoying a little snack of leaves!

See you Monday!

One Glorious Year

A friend asked me how I felt about my little baby turning 1 year old, and honestly, I hadn't had a moment to to slow down and apply my brain to that thought.  Today is a good day to think about it.

I don't often wax 'religious' on this blog, although my faith is not just a part of my life, but the canvas my life is painted on, but I have to say this: God knew what he was doing when he sent me a girl.  There was a place in my heart that needed softening, a tenderness that was there, but hiding.  Cora brought that out.  From the moment they first handed me this small bundle I felt love, fear, wonder, confusion, joy.  It is no simple thing to love a child.

She was so very tiny, so new, so precious, so perfect.  I've watched her grow these last 12 months from the sleeping little bundle that Matt and I could pass back and forth, literally with one hand,  (we called her a 'single scoop' since we could scoop her up with one hand.  She's a whole gallon now!) to this beautiful, joyful, curious being who fills up my days with light (and sometimes frustration) as she explores her world around her.  She laughs when others laugh, she loves to sit in my lap and turn pages as I read her books, she says 'Oh!', she is no shy little violet and is just as loud as her mama and papa.  I love how she holds my face with her little hands and tries to say the words I say. (but only manages a lispy 'essss' sound)  She has a temper, and is very opinionated.  When I tell her no, she argues with me in baby talk!  Literally!!  But she wakes up with something to say and a smile on her face.  She sings when she hears music and dances when I turn on the radio.  I could just go on and on.  I can hardly wait to spend time with her each and every day!  I'm so glad it was this little girl that came to be with us.  My precious girl, Happy Birthday.

October (1 day old)

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

And today...my beautiful girl on her first birthday

 

Pixie Baby

Just so you know, I SWORE I would never be one of those moms who dresses up her baby in cutesy stuff and treat her like a little doll and for the most part, I'm not.  I buy NON-pink if I can find it, but it is pretty rare commodity.  Sometimes I just give in to the flood of pink that is baby girl clothes.

This hat, however, I made for my niece, Faith, whose very favorite color was pink at the time (and is now gold.  Like gold lamé. Go figure.)  They lived in Ohio and she had someplace to actually wear this.  But they have since packed up and moved to Houston where winter hats are just downright silly.  So my sister sent it (and the red earflap hat that I made for my nephew) back to me.  It sat around for a few years, but lack of baby hats that fit Cora's head sent me digging for it.  I'm so glad I kept it now!  Even if it is just over the top cutesy.  Matt and I could not stop laughing when we first put it on her!  (also, with the tie, she can't get it off!  Bonus!)

 

The original pattern is called "Pixie Hat' from Knit Wit: 30 Easy and Hip Projects and oddly enough, is supposed to be for adults (I made it smaller).  I actually knitted this for myself in orange and, yes, I look ridiculous.  Maybe this look could be pulled off by some hipster waif in NYC, but that is so not me.  So the orange one is waiting for Cora to get older.  This is knitted in a wool/acrylic blend by Plymouth Yarn and the fuzzy stuff, if I remember correctly, is Lionbrand Fun Fur.  (One of the only uses I've found for that stuff!)

PS.  Blogger has done away with spell check in the little post editor, so forgive any weird (or British) spellings!

Bookworm!

Training her up in the way she should go. Sorry that this is just a tiny little post. We are still recovering from a fun weekend! October is full to bursting!

11 months (a smidge late)

This time last year (the 29th of September) I was still working and I thought I had MONTHS left till she came, not weeks. Less than 4 weeks, to be precise. Yes, my little bitty girl is 11 months old. I ran out of battery life before I could capture all that I wanted, but here she is, in all of her busy, blurry glory.

Your first year is flying along, little one!

See you all on Monday!

Friends

I love how motherhood brings together the most unlikely of people and creates a common ground from which to build a friendship. These are from a wonderful walk yesterday with our friends, Kelly and Myles (Myles being Cora's age). (At Shelby Bottoms Park and Greenway - another great walking place which has a greenway ie, long walking paths (paved and unpaved), a nature center and currently, thanks to a ton of rain lately, more mosquitoes than I've EVER seen in my LIFE. Seriously. Avoid the bridge over the swamp on the short loop. We got swarmed!! ACK!)

Quiet (mostly)

I don't have a lot to say here today. I'm preparing to leave for the weekend and the baby will be with Papa. This is our first overnight apart (me and the baby, not me and Matt) and none of us are really prepared for it. I've just been taking it all in and enjoying the sweetness of each little part of my day. I'll be posting just that for the rest of the week (one more day). Here's today's sweetness. And yes, her toenails ARE painted.

Potty learning leads to...

...Sink bathing. Especially when Mama got to busy organizing her faux-tupperware to watch the clock and SOMEONE was diaper-free. It's a process.

See you back here on Monday!

Trouble.

{This forum is a bit odd for responding to comments, but I wanted to say thank you for all of your encouraging words about my music project in the works. Your comments are such a fun part of my day!! By the way, what do you think of my new banner? I thought it was time to mix it up.}

Cora and I are coming out on the daylight end of a long weekend without the Papa Bear. He was off having adventures with his guy friends (shooting (airsoft) guns, running around, eating food straight out of cans...you know. Man stuff!), while the sweet babe and I did a little shopping for an upcoming birthday (oh my), celebrated a sweet friend's birthday, and sometimes just hung on till the Papa got home. It was a bit rough in places and it turned into another of those Sunday nights where I'm just going to have to download the sermon later (sigh) what with nighttime sleep/daytime nap boycotting and finally the crying and total breakdown on the way to church (her, not me...although I felt like it!)

All in all, it was a good weekend, even if I'm SO glad to have my partner back. It's hard to raise a baby alone and I'm so glad I've got Matt help me do this!

Here's her latest accomplishment: (I am in so much trouble!)

(who me? Climbing the stairs...oh. So you noticed? Hee hee!)

10 months

My sweet baby is 10 months old now, (Since the 29th) and I struggle to capture the wonder, the wiggling, the beauty, the energy, the perpetual motion (except when new people are talking to her, then they all say, "She's so chilled out." HA!) of my sweet baby girl. So I'll just put a snippet. This is her yelling at talking to the girl in the mirror, then she'd try to look behind it and see where the other girl went! So silly. More here, and here but that spot that looks like a booger is really just a spot of something (toothpaste maybe?) on my mirror. (Don't judge my housekeeping skills!)

Also, my weekend Garage sale finds: $5.50 total. (it was the Polaroid that put me up so high! $3!! It was worth it.) Check out all of that yarn! $1. Oh yeah. Winter baby sweater, here we come! I'm currently digging through borrowed books for the 'perfect' sweater for her. Plus, check out that 20's style cloche hat!!!! That and the (nearly) complete Jenga for $1 and it's brand new. Awesome. I'm sure there are better hagglers out there in blogland, but I'm pleased with my finds. I hope you all had a great weekend!

One final thing, I walked the farthest I've ever walked on Sunday morning (for my training), 5 miles. I'm still hurting!!!

{update: for all you naysayers about how Polaroid is gone forever, check out this initiative to make Polaroid film again. They bought all the equipment and are searching for alternatives to the current chemicals and processes! I don't think it's gone forever!!}

EC Baby!

I haven't shared very much about my potty practices with Cora around here. It tends to make people a little freaked out. We practice EC, short for Elimination Communication or infant potty training (more info here after a friend told me about it. I thought she was joking! But we love it and so at nearly 10 months old, we have photos like this one, which is too cute not to share. And yes, she really 'goes' on the potty!

Goodbye to the family bed

The baby has been in our bed almost since the day she was born. Aside from the nurses in the hospital telling me it wasn't allowed (but we sneaked a midnight snuggle or two in anyway). She was so small that I was terrified of her sleeping with us for a short while, and then it was the only way any of us got any sleep at all. She was not about to sleep in her little bassinet all alone, thank you very much!!

Then she got very, very wiggly and being in bed with us kept us all up, so she transitioned to the pack and play bassinet feature right next to the bed, but frequently ended up with us anyway. Now, she has decided that her greatest joy in life is to attempt multiple nose dives off of the bed while mama grabs at little feet. She thinks it's the BEST GAME EVAAAAR! Mama disagrees. She has long been ready to do her own thing (she's very independent with her 'me time'), but I wasn't ready. But when the gal who loaned us the pack and play needed it back, it seemed the right time for transition.

Cora did great! She loves her bed and spends a lot of time talking to the little bright lady bugs that decorate her bumper, as well as fiddling with the bumper ties. It's me who misses my sweet little doot in the bed with us. I love how she'd fall asleep holding my nose, or whispering sweet 'thuh, thuh, thuhs' to me, before she'd burrow her face against me and close her eyes. As much as Matt was worried about rolling on her or something like that, he never did. We were very aware of her at all times. So it is with a little sorrow that we see her move to her own bed and her own room. I miss my little snuggle baby! Is there room for me in there?

A little mischief

I love this little fish! She loves bathtime, but just can't leave the plug alone.

See Mama's hand holding it down? Um...Yeah.

No amount of foam alphabet is going to distract this baby!

This is how she feels about bathtime being over. So sad!