christmas cards!

Umm yeah. We got the christmas cards done this year!! I'm so proud of us. Instead of waiting on the snow (which gets less and less each year... weird. what could cause that to happen?!)...we took a family photo in front of a wintry tree, sans the snow. It was far from grand, but nonetheless completed. And, sure our little sweets looks like a frigid little boy bird. But whatever, her name is Cora... blatantly on the card for our distant relatives to see, seeing how I sucked at sending out birth announcements. Designing cards/gifts/paper items- one of my top favorite things to do, but alas sometimes something has to give in a busy life I suppose. Next kid I'll do better, and maybe next year I'll even throw a bow in her hair! Or maybe we'll do something real crazy and wrangle our dogs in the photo too. Oh, next year.

So these cards I made on adobe photoshop- our picture, a few turquoise words... then uploaded to Costco as a blank greeting card...simple. 50 cards, 50 envelopes...done in 1 day. Can't beat that. Want to see two years ago?! Same thing, but I used Costco's template. This year I thought I could pull off doing our own thing. I just love sending out cards christmas cards and receiving them... seeing what long lost cousins look like these days, being thought of during the holidays- just a blast.

Cora-the christmas present helper.

And you better believe my not-cheap-canon camera has blue paint on it. And I like it even better now.

Shhh....we are also working on christmas presents over here. So. much. fun. I love christmas. And do you even know matt asks for christmas music to be played in the morning (unheard of)... I think Cora is helping along our giddy christmas spirit. I can't really tell you about the projects right now, but in January I'll show you the cute photos... in addition to the one above...where she also looks like a little boy. Hmm. Why do I like turquoise/blue so much?! Perhaps I should reconsider her color choices...but her big blue eyes look soooo good in it. Big ol' dilemma.

eight months.

our little 8 month nose-scruncher

Wow. Time flies when you're having a good time (we know this because the first two months felt like a year). Eight months how did that happen?!

I am memorizing her sweet little 17lb self, resting on my body, climbing all over my legs, using my shirt to grab onto when she stands up, her little fingers grasping for my hands to help her "walk" to bridge the gap to the next piece of furniture in the room. I LOVE HER. Seriously, with every cell in my body, she makes us so happy. Do you know what we do at night, when she heads to bed...we scroll through photos of her, we miss her. Sappy. I know. We can't contain it.  She is exhaustingly unbelievably amazing.

What you've been up to this past 7 going on 8 months....

• nose scrunching! it's your favorite. you scrunch at everything. sometimes you include a little sniffing noise. maybe you just think everything in your world is gross and stinky...but its adorable.
• you like to share! You share your toys, for us to gnaw on them (so sweet to think of us)... or share your food with us or the dogs. The dogs aren't so good at sharing however.
• you walk along furniture and can sit down when you're done walking. stand-sit-stand-sit... all day long... never gets old.
• you crawl quickly or run around in your walker to follow us around the house. you have backing up and turning around down to a T, its like you're maneuvering a tiny car- arm across the back of the seat to see where you're going. When you hit something you look over the side of the tray to see just what exactly is holding you up. so cute.
• you love outlets, cords, cardboard, paper, trash... pretty much anything you're not supposed to play with...you are magically drawn to it and must put it in your mouth. 
• you like to eat our food... meat, baby cookies, bread, veggies. You drink milk and water from our glasses. We are considering transitioning to bite size food so that you can feed yourself. You are snacking so well on your little kid puffs and cookies, perhaps it's time to progress.
• second nap is a struggle, sometimes you win... sometimes we do- even though it doesn't feel like winning when you cry and cry your little head off.
• your little blonde whispies are getting longer now and thick! We use sweet little bows and headbands to keep your bangs out of your eyes. So far you tolerate it...and you even look like a girl!

so sad.

I have been struggling whether or not to post this... because I have been trying to avoid the thoughts, the news, facebook...but I have been so sad by the awful school shooting. What is the world coming to? Why do kids ever have to die? I hope I never ever have to go through that pain of loosing my child. Never ever. NEVER EVER. And to make things worse this past week every one of my patients has had the news on ...so I have to hold back (sometimes not successfully) tears each and every time I enter all of my patients rooms. My heart hurts when I think of what happened. So I decided that perhaps it would be grand if not a single kid died ... like ever. So next year on the news around this time they can report... hey look at you shnazzy america...our kid-mortality rate was zero! Way to go america, then I can be proud to be an american. But alas, I went into work and a kid was killed way too young again, in Boise. Damnit.

a christmas tree and hot springs.

 

Yup, you read it right... our uber fun winter combo, perhaps a new tradition... cutting down a christmas tree in the idaho wilderness.... then taking a swim in the silver creek plunge hot springs. 

Oh my gosh....INCREDIBLE.

Cora couldn't stop laughing and smiling in the hot springs. So much fun.

 

...here cora, hold the axe sheath for dad.

 

Matt would like you to see this crazy picture... him scaling the side of a mountain for our christmas tree...when we found "the one"...
 

 

But he wanted me to crop out the road. Less impressive right?! Sorry matt, Cora and I still think you're amazing.
 

 

Anyways, we wanted a tree to put in our out-cropped window seat, so we were looking for a half-a-tree.  One with branches only on one side. This way it is out of reach of sweet, grabby-crawling babe. Well, we found it!

 

It was raining, foggy, cold... so dreamy. Cora loved all of it, what a trooper.

 

Then we drove a bit further to a pool-type hot springs that was just fresh mountain water, maybe 102 degrees, and no sulfur smells! We were the only ones swimming around. Usually the road is closed to get up there in the winter with all of the snow, but thanks to global warming...we had open roads for our hot spring fun!

 

We did the blow-in-the-face and dunk baby thing, super fun. She didn't even take on any water! Then just swam around for about a 1/2 hour. We didn't want to leave that's for sure.

 

So we  got home, decorated our charlie-brown-esq tree, and now we are a little closer to the holiday spirit.  I just need to stop dreaming about the hot springs, wishing they were in our backyard.

a new lovey... and our sleeping routines.

Our little squirt is extra mobile. I mean... she is all over the place, all of the time. She doesn't do still. We have a pretty sweet bedtime routine and nap routine but lately she just pops right up to standing or kneeling...and then topples over usually hitting some crib rungs because she is so tired, and makes me feel awful about putting her to bed.

So, maybe I should back up... we do a modified cry-it-out for sleep time. So this is our routine from about 4 months old to current. Who knows how it will change in the next month, or day...who knows:

Naps:

• Play her little heart out...crawling, walking... whatevs for a couple of hours.
• Give her some solid baby food.
• Change her diaper.
• Let her chew on a pacifier in her dark, quiet room for a couple of minutes in our arms (she loves chewing, that's why we have thought she was teething for 3 months now)
• Sit down in a chair with her on my chest, give her a bottle of formula. Her body is totally calm, sweet eyes closed, peaceful
• She pulls away when shes done, or nuzzles her face in my chest.
• I stand up...put her in her crib, which she is a little awake now.
• She rolls to her tummy and finds her thumb.
• **Insert our new dilemma here**
• She sometimes cries a little, we let her cry for about 5 minutes...we go back in reposition her in the middle of the crib- on her tummy, arms above her head (the way she normally sleeps) and close the door. She gets the picture and usually goes right to sleep. This is our modified "cry it out" and "sleep lady shuffle." If we say anything to her we wake her up...and if we pick her up too many times she enjoys it and this too wakes her up. Reading stories is like play time- so we don't do that yet with sleeping routines, I can't wait for our voices to calm her...bed time stories- oh how fun.
• This nap time is twice... usually somewhere between 9am-11am and 2-4pm...give or take. Afternoon naps are trickier for us. And when she is going through a growth spurt/sick... we notice either longer naps or a grumpier tired babe- it throws things a little.

Bedtime:

• Same routine as above except we give her a bigger dinner of baby food.
• Then we go to the bath time...playing, chewing on bath toys, fun!
• Change into PJs, give her oragel...then chew for awhile.
• Bottle, crib, little cries...out for the whole night!
• **Insert our new dilemma here**
• We start all of this around 6pm... bed by 6:30/7pm. and she wakes up around 6:30-7:30am.
• Fantastic, we know we are lucky.

oh, I could just gobble her up.

**Now here is our current dilemma**

We put her down... she flips to her tummy...then crawls to the side of the crib, and proceeds to stand up. She wakes herself up, I'm not sure she knows how to sit back down- gracefully- and she cries, and falls. Kind of a sleepy-cranky version of George of the Jungle.What a little squirt! We had such a good thing going! So of course we have googled the heck out of this dilemma. I guess the novelty of standing will wear off. But we also realized in the frantic flipping through pages of our numerous sleep books.... we don't have a lovey! Yikes. How did that slip through the cracks? She hasn't needed a comforting stuffed friend yet. So, we have created a little lovey for her- bed bunny. We usually would give her this tiny stuffed grey bunny in her carseat with chewy the giraffe. She loves it. So why not a little bunny friend to keep her lying down, a little pal to sleep with- we all love a little pal to sleep with at night, right?! We are hoping when she wakes a little during naps she will hold onto her bed bunny...snuggle in close... and do less of the george of the jungle thang.

What do you do for your routines?! Does your kid have a lovey?! What about the standing/falling/crib thing?! Any suggestions?

christmas!

[christmas last year...our only 3 photos taken]

 

I love christmas. I have been thinking about decorating for a month now...oh, fine maybe two months. And now that thanksgiving is over...we can actually crank up the christmas tunes... hang some lights...and go cut down a tree. Finally. It seems that last year we were a little preoccupied with being pregnant, that we didn't get in true christmas spirit... or even take a family christmas photo (such a bummer). That is all about to change, starting now. Cora won't remember all of this, but we will. And it's going to be fun.

We are lucky enough to get to have Matt's family in town for Christmas #1...on the actual christmas day... then we head out to California to spend Christmas #2 with my family and friends a week later. Did you catch that?! Two christmases. Twice as long to celebrate. Fantastic. I'm so excited.

Matt will surely get tired of christmas music in about a week and his nose will be irritated from the endless christmas candles. Too bad. We are doing christmas this year 100%, no sallys here.

Yea... I just typed christmas 14 times. That's how pumped I am.

mesh chewy thing.

[ munchkin fresh food feeder ]

Oh boy, this is our favorite item right now... both for cora and us. If you don't know what it is and you think your kid is teething...buy one! It's awesome. We put ice cubes in it at first, then bananas...and now we put oranges, apples, and teething cookies in it too. It's perfect. She can gnaw on it but we don't have to worry about little chunks breaking off an choking her. When she is cruising around the house in her walker I just have to hold up the mesh chewy thing and she comes running. Literally. Running. So fun.

[ sophie the giraffe ]

Want to know our other favorite chew toy?! This glorified dog toy for babies... that is ridiculously priced at $20. Sophie the Giraffe. A sweet little toy from the 1960's made in France. I saw it all over mom blogs, this adorable all natural rubber giraffe. I guess I had to have one, even if it was over-priced. Cora loves it. No wonder so many moms splurge on it. The little ears, legs, horns... perfect for little mouths. We call her's "Chewy." Now, Chewy (Chewbacca) was our dog that passed in February...and sadly couldn't meet Cora. We think there is some resemblance. He was a mighty fine dog, the best dog anyone could ask for. So now it makes us happy to ask her where Chewy is...and then she smiles... and puts him in her mouth for a good chew.

see the resemblance?!

 

mesmerized by the carseat chewy, where he lives.

seven months

Whoa. Seven months. We try to cherish everyday... kiss her little head as much as she will entertain, we squeeze her, hold her, tickle her toes, have her climb all over us... we can't get enough of our little sweets. Matt and I just look at her growing more and more independent everyday and smile... huge... proud ...oh my gosh we are parents... type of smiles. She is phenomenal. If babies came out at 6 months old... and stayed that age... we'd have a slew of them.

What you've been up to this past month, little cora elm...

• pulling yourself from knees to standing...all by yourself and couch-walking!
• crawling for reals this time- no army crawl, the real deal...belly off the ground
• still no teeth. we've thought you were "teething" for the past 4 months, even now as we type this... we think you must be teething. silly really
• you eat fruits- bananas, oranges, apples...all in your mesh chewy thing
• your favorite food is sweet potatoes mixed with banana oatmeal. yum. you eat two meals a day and then bottles of formula too
• you can sit up all by yourself in the bathtub (well our hands are there just in case) and you chew on your bath-friends and wash cloths
• you sleep about 13 hours at night (6:30pm-7:30am) we are so thankful... and try not to take it for granted. naps can be another story, however
• you laugh all the time, you are a very happy baby
• you are constantly active, no chill baby here
• you love to walk in your walker, walk holding our hands, crawl, roll, sit, grab at all things possible, chew all things
• you love the dogs, they love you
• you can use "tools" like hammers to get your balls through a hole, pass objects from hand to hand. you've got skills
• you still love to hear dad playing guitar or ukulele (that he bought and learned to play just for you) you strum too...it's very sweet
• you talk to us all day long... babbles, sweet tones and strings of pretend sentences. You like "bbb" the best...or is it "ppp"... we don't know. I wish we knew what you were thinking
• you had some more firsts... crinkly fall leaves, snow in your fingers... a snow ball chucked at you (thanks dad), and aquarium visit- puffer fish was your favorite, besides staring at people and the bolts on the fish tanks

pretend food.

[all found on etsy category: play food... of course]

 

I have to say... play food has become incredible little pieces of art. Oh. my. gosh. I remember back in the day my sister and I used to make play food. That consisted of green paper punches to simulate peas... yellow circle on white splotches for eggs... you know. I thought that was creative, but gosh...look at these beauties! Sure our mom used to make us fun little clay foods...and tiny tea party cakes that were beautiful... and she was even awesome enough to make us a pretend turd for our baby doll diapers- talk about a cool mom! We also had the pretend plastic food- that was fun too, but rather limited 25 years ago in comparison to what Cora will have available.

...pretend food?!

 

Now I am dreaming up making play food for little Cora. She doesn't even know what lies ahead for her little childhood that I am scheming. I have to make it durable and realistic. I can check pretend potatoes off the list- I know how to make those now! Anyways, I can't wait. And I just hope Matt and I will whip up a pretend kitchen too for her. so. much. fun.

cora the explorer.

amazing! popcorn maker!

 

Isn't this age a blast?! Our little cora is going wild with exploring. We didn't really mean to name her so close to the little dora explorer.... but she is now our own little cora the explorer. And she hasn't even learned how to crawl yet. Oh boy.



 

 

 

Cora likes to "help" while I am in the kitchen. All sorts of help with... chewing on dishes, dropping dishes, putting tiny fingerprints on dishes, and generally looking cute with dishes. I enjoy it.

This walker has been awesome. It gives her independence to go wherever she wants. She loves to just watch the dogs through the door... or play in the trash...or just stand and chew on things. This helps her with her exploring business... all over the house, 6 month old style.

 

 

sack-o-spuds

 

 

Happy Halloween!

 

This was Cora's first halloween, so... of course she had to be a homegrown sack-o-spuds. You might have seen it on pinterest (I pinned it back when I was pregnant). It was a must do for our little idaho spud.

 

Pretty simple costume...

• Make a few spuds- This is how you make a panty-hose spud...with eyes! So fun.

• The body is just natural canvas that I had lying around from our wedding tablecloths.

• Draw some brown lettering on the sack with brown sharpie (hers said- homegrown spud pacotti farms idaho est. 2012)
• Then a brown outfit underneath

• An adult brown headband, sewed down to size with a spud sewn to it.

Ta-da! Homegrown Spud!

She is no sack of potatoes though, I assure you. She is more like a wiggle worm- but that costume would have taken me a bit longer to make.

 

 

We thought her outfit was hilarious.... she tolerated it surprisingly well too! I guess bring on the headbands with big flowers. Little spud is down. I also had a blast making it... no wonder so many moms make halloween costumes. Totally fun first halloween!