four months

 

This past month has been a blast. I can finally say that when people ask me about motherhood, parenthood, having a baby... I say positive things first, instead of the negative ones. Horrible, right?! It is. But it's also true (sorry, Cora). When Matt and I think of cora and it brings a genuine smile to our faces. Our hearts, lungs, whole body ache when we are not around her. I sometimes feel like an elephant is crushing my chest- I know, classic symptom of a heart attack.... but I think it's just extreme love. We want to enjoy every second of this baby... our very own baby... and just immerse ourselves in it. This is wonderful.

 

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

• you like to put everything in your mouth and chew. No more sucking on pacifiers, just chewing (gumming) on all things.
• you also usually have your hand in your mouth- anywhere from 3-4 fingers at a time. Sometimes you suck on your thumb, but your other fingers stab your eye. You are working on curling your fingers...but it's not quite mastered yet.
• you flipped over from back to belly all by yourself! You do it all the time now, it cracks us up. You gather enough teeny tiny momentum and right over you go.
• your giggle is precious... you don't do it very often but when you do it melts our hearts
• you are a big girl riding in your BOB stroller, no more infant carseat for you- you love walks now being able to see the world
• you are so alert, always watching and learning with your big blue eyes.
• your dad works with you daily on "work outs"... like sitting up, rolling over, standing, laughing, crawling. The baby basics.
• and most surprisingly....you sleep in your crib for 8-10 hours at night!!! AMAZING!!! We attribute this to you getting rice cereal at night (but don't tell the pediatrician). We have a nightly routine- rice cereal, bath time, swaddle, and bottle. It works like a charm so far.

[see our spud's monthly posts here]

baby carriers galore.

[ha, I just realized I have been putting cora's arms in the wrong place...whoops!]

I think I should mention here that we have way too many carriers for our babe. It's rather silly. Does she like all of them?! Nope. Do I like all of them...not really. But, we still have 4 of them- regardless of my attempt to be a minimalistic-mom. I think we *might* have been happiest with the ergo... but gosh, it was so expensive I tried to do without. And now if you add up my totals from the four listed below, it would have been more cost efficient. Oh, being a new mom is tricky.

1. the boba [here] This carrier is hands down the most adorable one I've ever seen... Cora protests getting into it, but usually falls asleep once we start walking. It was about $75, from ecomom.com- cheapest I've found it for sale. The downside, which led me to purchase #2, is that she can't face outwards in it. Big bummer.

2. the infantino [here] This was super cheap at Babys R Us...$21.00..amazing! It's comfy, simple,  and lets Cora sit outwards...the picture of us above. She could also sit facing towards me- but she loves observing this world- so outwards is her happiest right now. I am able to get things done around the house while she just contently watches.

3. the moby [here] This one our pediatrician recommended, to help Cora in her early weeks. She was and still is a fussy baby. His thought was to help her feel more like she was still in the womb. She hated it, I don't care for how tricky/time consuming it is to wrap. Cora doesn't like feeling confined, but likes to be close to us- so not a winner for this babe. Maybe the next baby will like it more. It was about $40 at target.

4. the sling [here] This one we have yet to use. It's super cute and simple. Also about $75. However, I have a large (the biggest size) and only recently does it actually fit me. I was too big post-pregnancy. I also had some worries about her suffocating in it if used improperly. But now that she is bigger I am looking forward to her sitting it with her upper body out. I think it will be that extra support for when she likes to sit on my hip.

flying with a babe

[on the plane]

Well...we went flying with a baby. Just typing this makes my heart jump. Yikes... what the heck were we doing?! A three month old... on a plane... craaaaazy. We successfully flew to california a 1 hour and 45 minute direct flight to see the grandparents. Let me tell you it was worth it. A time for them to bond with Cora- she is a completely different baby than she was when she was born- thank goodness, and it gave us some time for us to relax and catch up. Oh, the alternative to this flight, would have been a 12 hour road trip. Considering she doesn't like her car seat, we thought it would be cruel (for all of us) to do a road trip.

Don't get me wrong, flying with a baby is way more stressful than flying by yourself and a complimentary glass of wine that's for sure. But Cora only had one 5 minute burst of crying each way. This 5 minute outburst felt like eternity... but it wasn't.

My dear blogger friend meghan (we ski slow) couldn't have posted a more timely piece on how to travel with a baby. So from her list -here-, I made my own.

My tips for what made this flight okay...

• We brought bottles of formula. The flight to California we only brought 1 bottle- big mistake.The flight home we brought two...it was perfect (one for take off and one for landing). And FYI you're allowed to fly with as much breast milk/formula as you need for a babe. Cora wouldn't breastfeed on the flight, too many distractions... so I'm glad we brought bottles.
• The flight home we had to get up out of our seats...use them as a flat surface and swaddled cora. It worked, just like at home.
• We brought tons of toys.
• We had her as a free "lap infant"...and didn't bring on her car seat, it was checked at the gate. Boise really only does small airplanes... so this worked well for us.
• Cora was handed back and forth between Matt and I the whole trip... it would be utterly gutsy to do this flight alone without a support person.
• Let's be honest here though....we got lucky. Good timing for Cora, short flight, and pure luck. Will this be smooth again, probably not. But I will take what we can get.

can you see the disbelief in my eye?! sleeping cora... amazing.

We also had a few other firsts with our dear cora... first time swimming *gasp*.... and get this... first time eating rice cereal. I know, I know... we are living on the wild side with our 3 month old. But gosh, these firsts were fantastic. Once we started throwing out the "shoulds" and starting following our new parenting instincts we have been a bit more relaxed.

...adorable naked baby. She loved swimming at the grandparent's house.

oh yea... i think she likes it folks.