two months

oh, sweet baby...you're two months old

You sure have grown since last month, not only physically but emotionally. We have thoroughly enjoyed this month. Sure we have a funny sleep pattern with you- but you're wonderful and a much happier baby.

What you have been up to this second month:

• you now smile beautifully all the time and have your own baby noises trying to laugh at us- it's adorable.
• you are 11 lbs 3 ounces (which is 3 lbs 9 ounces since birth).... we think you are huge, but people still think you're small.
• you are working on putting your fist in your mouth instead of a pacifier- we are all for it
• you just found your toes, but you know not what to do with them nor how to reach them
• we swaddle you every night, and even though you hate it you are slowly giving in.
• you do however fight the urge to sleep... all of the time. We have to force it upon you otherwise we deal with hours of grumpies.
• you are so intently taking in your environment... you can see further now and watch everything in your world. we call you our little bullfrog, because your eyes bulge out of your head when you are really focusing hard... you are learning so much
• you sleep in 3-4 hour stretches at night, now we just need that to be in your crib.
• we found a fun toy to use with your stuffy nose...the nose frieda. it's gross. your dad loves it.
• you had your 2 month shots, and we have never heard you wail so loudly. your dad and I welled up with tears.... but ultimately we were so happy that it was the first time we heard such a sad cry... we must be doing something right.

i passed.

Big news... I'm a nurse!!! Yep, that's right, I have an RN that follows my name now... only 3 years in the making. Pretty fantastic. Oh yea...which means my maternity leave is over and I start work tomorrow morning. Well, no time like the present to have a glass of celebratory wine.

first father's day

Today is matt's first father's day. We are barbecuing steaks and chillin outside. It should be a wonderful day. We will be enjoying our daughter that we made from scratch and what an incredible dad matt already is. He says that she is his new favorite person...his best friend, and I don't doubt it for a second. That big ol' hairy guy loves his teeny tiny daughter more than anything....it's beyond what I ever imagined possible.

So, this is a father's day photocard cora I made for matt... from my iphone photos. I put three photos in picframe (an app on the iphone) that puts them in cute little boxes, smushed together. I used to edit photos in adobe, but gosh...this little app is way easier and way quicker (is that a word?!). If we didn't have iphones, I swear we wouldn't have any photos of cora. It's just so handy. Anyways, I took the photos, put them in the app which creates a square picture just like instagram, and emailed it to myself. I added in the text, over the hop plants in adobe and I also wanted it to be a square card...so I edited it to be 5"x5" then put 2" extra on the side of just plain white. I then uploaded it onto costco's website as a 5"x7" photo and ordered the print montage for $0.39...in one hour it was done! I then just cut off the white extra 2"...and ta-da.... DIY photo card!

And what the heck does the card mean?! So it's no big mystery, if you know matt... you know he loves beer. Well we have hops growing in our yard- pictured above. They are actually quite pretty plants. Matt talks about how he wants cora's first word to be hops- instead of pops, for dad. I think that's ridiculous... but he also has full control (ie. brain washing abilities) of her while I am at work, so we shall see. So a card with two of his loves... beer and cora... I figured I couldn't go wrong.

happy father's day matt....we love you

bath time!

[her first sponge bath at home...only a few days old]

[bath time at 6 weeks]

Bath time is by far one my most favorite activities to do with cora. We started off doing the sponge bath before her umbilical cord fell off. She loved those, especially when we would get her head wet. Then when it came time for "real" baths she loved it. We bought this little lounge chair for cora in the bathtub...it's the best $7 we've spent. It has been absolutely perfect. It holds her head above the water level, allowing me to wash her with one hand while I stabilize her with the other (just-in-case hand for her wiggle-worm body). Then I push the chair aside and let her swim in the tub, while I hold her head above the water and the rest of her floats. We have a clawfoot tub....and it is just the perfect size for her to do little side pushes like her very own cora-sized pool. She is adorable. She flails about, does frog kicks off the side, and her tiny hair whispies float in the water current.

The only downfall is when I take her out of the bath- she hates it. Any suggestions to make it better? We tried heating the bathroom- to make the transition less shocking- that proved to not help, I eliminated the dreaded lotion putting on that she hates, and I dry her off as quickly as possible... and shhhh....I even try to breastfeed her after the bath to satisfy her- it's hit or miss.

Anyways, we are really looking forward to swimming with cora in a big pool, I suppose we have to wait until she is 6 months old- that's what my internet searches have told me. It will be a hoot and a half. Until then, I will enjoy our nightly bath time routine.

**And wish me luck... tomorrow I take my nursing boards!!**

2 year wedding anniversary!

 It has been two years since we had our glorious wedding day. Want to reminisce with me?! Here is our old wedding blog. It was an incredible weekend filled with love, friendship, and lots of laughter- it was perfect, thanks to all of our friends and family. I would do it all over again...the party...our loved ones in town...rafting...idaho wilderness...the great food...but maybe leave out the stress of making a million decisions with hosting a wedding endeavor. Yes, that would be ideal- every year...a wedding reunion!

...flowers from the husband this morning... it has maybe been years since I have gotten flowers...they were even delivered to the house for when he knew I was at home hanging out with cora and he was sleeping- pretty sweet.

(we do "sleep shifts"... to be able to tend to cora round the clock. Ha! More on that later when I feel like we are turning a corner and can look back and just laugh about the sleep training nights)

yes, i graduated!

Well a belated update.... I did graduate nursing school.... yay!! I attended my pinning ceremony that I talked about [here] with anticipation. (This was early in May, so Cora was 3 weeks old...and I was still recovering...) It was amazing though that Matt and Cora were able to pin me (and that we all made it out of the house showered, with clean clothes on... aaaa-mazing!!). This was something we weren't sure we could pull off. But she sat through the long ceremony of about an hour without crying...then matt walked across the stage with her while she was contently awake. He handed her off to me (without a fumble) and pinned my nursing pin on me. We had about 200 "ooohhhh's" from the audience... it was pretty sweet. This was the main reason I wanted to attend my pinning ceremony...so that Cora could be there. It was a big deal. Throughout my nursing education I became a wife, a mother, and a nurse.... pretty great 3 years! Jam packed to say the least. And all with the support of my incredible husband. We did it!!

Now, I am studying for the NCLEX- the nursing boards. Super intimidating....not something one should fail. I take it in a week....then my maternity leave will be over and I start my very first nursing job. Wahhoo!! Then I can just breathe easy, I can't wait. Taking time to study every day without seeing Cora for a few hours is grueling. Plus, my mind has just been in eat-sleep-poop-mode for the past month and a half. So, studying is challenging, but a must do. Almost done... then I can go through all the emotions that will coincide with returning back to work, away from my sweet babe.

small feats...

[our boba with cora sporting her koala-ear beanie]

I just have to quickly mention that Cora and I made it to the grocery store... alone and successfully! I had her attached to me in our Boba carrier and I pushed the cart. This carrier is amazing, not only is it adorable.... but super helpful. (We have this one in "tweet"... so freaking cute, and it would work for a baby boy too- most of our bigger ticket items are gender neutral). Actually to be truthful, she hates it when I slide her into it. But, every day we go on an hour long walk with her in it, so she is used to it and falls right to sleep after her fussies diminish. Most people I see use a carseat in the cart when shopping- but our little cora has reflux, so normally that position is not comfy for her. I am still in awe that we made it to Winco for about an hour.... no crying! I don't know what my back-up plan would have been- leave the cart full of groceries and go home? Not sure on this one. When I came home to tell matt about our incredible adventure into the real world....he was impressed and replied that I was such a mom today- one of them multi-tasking moms. Awesome!

high contrast.

...cora learning about jellyfish from dad...umm adorable, this melts my heart...

You may know that infants love high contrast cards, books, and toys. In the beginning they can really only differentiate between black, white, and red, which helps to develop their vision. I don't really like black and white, and definitely not red, so in my pre-baby nursery planning...I chose to ignore this developmental step. Bad idea.... Cora loves black and white. Her nursery is rather soothing in a soft grey and white trim... with her white crib- she loves her spud room. This maybe because she doesn't actually sleep in her room...but regardless, it's her favorite room. But her walls were a little lacking.

I noticed in the first few weeks that she loved being read stories, but would loose interest (of course, she's brand new how long can her attention span be?!) Until, I ran out to barnes and noble and scoured the shelves for anything black and white. Surprisingly there wasn't much to choose from, but I found a few books that would do (like- Kitten's First Full Moon and this soft fun book-Where's My Bone). I then went online and ordered these-wee gallery art cards. I hung them up on the wall....and voila.... instant gratification...literally 10-15 minutes of pure amusement. Our little cora is so enthralled by these cards, it's amazing. She was very ready for some high contrast cards.... forget this green and turquoise room I put together for her- she wanted black and white only. Thankfully we have a few more sets of these rather spendy flash cards from her aunt... so we rotate the cards up on the wall so she learns about all sorts of animals.

I will be also making her a simple black and white book of her very own on shutterfly. I get coupons for free 8x8 books in the mail...well why not make a high contrast book?! Super fun. Somehow I have to find time to do that now, before she leaves this developmental stage.