Thursday, October 26, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Dedication, Exclamation, and Relaxation...
Sunday publicly started a whole new journey for us. We dedicated Cora to the Lord. For those of you who may not know what this involves, here is a very basic explanation. Its a public decision to raise Cora with Christian values so that she might one day accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. We, as her parents, commit to letting The Bible be our "How-to" book for raising her and to it being our personal guide book as well. It is also a call to the church to hold us accountable and to teach and show Cora the love of Christ through their own lives, too. I can name many people in the church(es) I grew up in that have taught me so much about God's unconditional love for us and His forgiveness through Christ Jesus. I don't know if I would be here today without many of them.
The service was beautiful and Cora was soooo good during it. She wore a lovely little satin dress with embroidered flowers on it. Check out the picks on flicker. My favorite (that we have so far) is one of me holding her with her just staring into the camera with her beautiful big blue eyes. In some ways she looks absolutely nothing like me--except for those big cheeks! A lady at church took some pics, too, and I really love one of Cora laying on her pink blanket with the dress and bonnet on. I'll post it when I get it.
NOW, for the exclamation part of this post.
MONDAY--a new day. Cora had her two-month check up yesterday. A healthy 22 inch baby girl, weighed in at 11 lbs, 6 oz, an average size baby. You may remember that this visit involves immunizations, SHOTS. I don't remember right off which ones they were, but she had four of them, two in both of her fat little thighs. Poor baby cried and cried. We gave her some baby tylenol before the shots, but they still hurt, of course. She cried all the way out to the car and once the van started, she went to sleep. Geron kept her all day yesterday since I had to go back to work. She slept a good part of the morning, but her daddy related that the afternoon experience was quite difficult. We're sure she woke up with sore legs--you all remember how shots can leave you feeling. He fed her and changed several diapers--and dealt with a quite fussy baby. He told me last night that he understood why i wasn't able to get much done when I was taking care of Cora those first few weeks.
....and finally, relaxation. Today Cora went to the sitter's and slept the day away. She was beat! She normally eats about every two to three hours. Today--after her noon feeding, she went to sleep and didn't eat again til about five o'clock. I only hope she'll sleep through the night. She's got to get a bath, so maybe that will wear her out, too.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Imitation
Cora is going to be 8 weeks tomorrow.
so it's been a crazy couple of weeks ...Cora is adjusting to life with her hip brace. and sleeping through the night almost every night.(last night being the most recent exception). She is staying awake longer and is being entertained by simple things like mirrors.
we have discovered that she may be a genius which probably is going to cause doubt in most peoples mind about her paternity and possibly even her maternity. Just kidding. Yesterday something really cool happened.
she is starting to really focus on people and look at their faces. And I heard that she smiles real big but hadn't seen for myself until yesterday. I was holding her on my lap and we were spending some time looking at each other. At one point she was looking around and I said her name loudly and she immediately looked right at me as if to say, "what?" this kind of surprised me and encouraged to believe that she may not be taking after her mother in some ways. :) As I held her I starting making motorboat or raspberry noises with my mouth as Cora intensely listened and watched me. In about 10 seconds she started making the noises too!!! She had never done that before, and I hollered for Lydia to watch her as Cora continued to sputter away. It was awesome!!!
It's true that imitation is the highest form of flattery. It made my day.
This one of my favorite pictures my brother took in nashville last week.
so it's been a crazy couple of weeks ...Cora is adjusting to life with her hip brace. and sleeping through the night almost every night.(last night being the most recent exception). She is staying awake longer and is being entertained by simple things like mirrors.
we have discovered that she may be a genius which probably is going to cause doubt in most peoples mind about her paternity and possibly even her maternity. Just kidding. Yesterday something really cool happened.
she is starting to really focus on people and look at their faces. And I heard that she smiles real big but hadn't seen for myself until yesterday. I was holding her on my lap and we were spending some time looking at each other. At one point she was looking around and I said her name loudly and she immediately looked right at me as if to say, "what?" this kind of surprised me and encouraged to believe that she may not be taking after her mother in some ways. :) As I held her I starting making motorboat or raspberry noises with my mouth as Cora intensely listened and watched me. In about 10 seconds she started making the noises too!!! She had never done that before, and I hollered for Lydia to watch her as Cora continued to sputter away. It was awesome!!!
It's true that imitation is the highest form of flattery. It made my day.
This one of my favorite pictures my brother took in nashville last week.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Cora's First Word
Now, before all you mothers get jealous at the fact that Cora is only one month old and allready talking, you should know this is only a dream. (although the nurses at the hospital ER said thry thought shetook The Lord's name in vain when they were taking her blood...she sometimes cries something that sounds like "oh guh") Anyhoo, Geron told me this morning that he'd dreamt Cora said her first word in the grocery store. I asked what word she'd said. "GET"was the answer. What did she want us to get? Her pacifier she'd dropped. I thought it was a pretty cute sounding dream. Of course we all know her first real words will be "Mommy, I love you", but we'll let Geron have his dreams for now.
Do you all remember your babies' first words and what the circumstances were under which they spoke them? Please share. I think my sister's baby's first word will be fart. (no, as far as I know I'm not an aunt yet, nor am I going to be one in the next nine months.)
Do you all remember your babies' first words and what the circumstances were under which they spoke them? Please share. I think my sister's baby's first word will be fart. (no, as far as I know I'm not an aunt yet, nor am I going to be one in the next nine months.)
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
A Big Hit
We're back from an incredible trip to Kentucky. Cora was AWESOME on the road! She is such a good baby. I knew she liked car rides, but I wasn't sure how she was going to do on a five hour one. She was absolutely great. We stopped a few times for diaper changes, of course. I felt sorry for her as her little bum was wrinkled from her diaper and being wedged in her car seat. She didn't seem to care, though.
Friday night, we attended the wedding rehearsal, Geron, me, Granny and Cora. Cora wasn't extremely happy about not being part of the wedding(HA!)--she made her presence known. SHe cried for awhile, but really wasn't bad. We got to introduce her to a lot of college friends, (of whom it was really great to see, by the way.) At the rehearsal dinner we played a round of Hot Potato with Cora being the potato.
Saturday was a very long day. Geron left early to do guy wedding party stuff. Granny came and took Cora to her house while I went shoe shopping. Then, I joined them and Grandpa at the house. Little miss spent the whole day with Granny, Grandpa, Annie and Uncle Daniel while her daddy and I were at the wedding. It was a very beautiful event--very happy for Ben and Rebekah--. I left G-town at 12:45. The wedding started at 3. I made the first call around 2:30. The next call I made right after the wedding, about 4 ish. We went to the reception and I sat in view of a very newborn baby. Noone told me how hard it was going to be being away from my baby for so long. I tried to enjoy myself at the reception, but I missed Cora too much. I did enjoy watching people dance, but called the parents several times to check on the girl. WE finally got back to Mom's house around 9. Cora had done well.
Sunday we went to Georgetown Baptist. MOm and Dad were proud to show their grandbaby off. They were in the choir loft during the service. Their eyes were pretty much on Cora until near the end of the service when I had to take her out because her diaper wreaked. At that point a certain someone fell asleep, but I won't give names. We hit the Plum Tree after church and Cora got to meet some wonderful family and "pretend family". Libby, who is the closest living person to my Granny, got to hold Cora. And Dexter and Cora seemed to hit it off, too. She also met Laura Rose and Andrea Campbell, my pretend Christmas Eve family.
Sunday night we drove to Richmond and Cora met many friends from First Baptist, along with visiting with Aunt Holly and Uncle Jeff briefly. She was bummed she didn't get to spend more time with them, but she's looking forward to possibly seeing AUnt Holly again really soon. We spent the night with "Nana Pam" and Roger and visited with Mel, John and Ethan, too. Cora really enjoyed Ethan holding her.
MOnday we made a trip to Nashville to meet Uncle Sean. Cora modeled for him and he took some EXCELLENT pictures of her. I don't know how to say this so it doesn't sound like an insult, but I would hire him any day to do pictures of her over any professional photographer. IF we get some pics, I'll try to post some so you can see what I'm talking about. ANyway, Cora loves her uncle Sean.
Tuesday we made our way back home. We are exhausted! Cora's first road trip was a successful adventure. She thinks she might be up for a trip to Louisiana at Thanksgiving if her mom and dad are up for it.
We all enjoyed visiting with good friends and family this week. We love you!
Friday night, we attended the wedding rehearsal, Geron, me, Granny and Cora. Cora wasn't extremely happy about not being part of the wedding(HA!)--she made her presence known. SHe cried for awhile, but really wasn't bad. We got to introduce her to a lot of college friends, (of whom it was really great to see, by the way.) At the rehearsal dinner we played a round of Hot Potato with Cora being the potato.
Saturday was a very long day. Geron left early to do guy wedding party stuff. Granny came and took Cora to her house while I went shoe shopping. Then, I joined them and Grandpa at the house. Little miss spent the whole day with Granny, Grandpa, Annie and Uncle Daniel while her daddy and I were at the wedding. It was a very beautiful event--very happy for Ben and Rebekah--. I left G-town at 12:45. The wedding started at 3. I made the first call around 2:30. The next call I made right after the wedding, about 4 ish. We went to the reception and I sat in view of a very newborn baby. Noone told me how hard it was going to be being away from my baby for so long. I tried to enjoy myself at the reception, but I missed Cora too much. I did enjoy watching people dance, but called the parents several times to check on the girl. WE finally got back to Mom's house around 9. Cora had done well.
Sunday we went to Georgetown Baptist. MOm and Dad were proud to show their grandbaby off. They were in the choir loft during the service. Their eyes were pretty much on Cora until near the end of the service when I had to take her out because her diaper wreaked. At that point a certain someone fell asleep, but I won't give names. We hit the Plum Tree after church and Cora got to meet some wonderful family and "pretend family". Libby, who is the closest living person to my Granny, got to hold Cora. And Dexter and Cora seemed to hit it off, too. She also met Laura Rose and Andrea Campbell, my pretend Christmas Eve family.
Sunday night we drove to Richmond and Cora met many friends from First Baptist, along with visiting with Aunt Holly and Uncle Jeff briefly. She was bummed she didn't get to spend more time with them, but she's looking forward to possibly seeing AUnt Holly again really soon. We spent the night with "Nana Pam" and Roger and visited with Mel, John and Ethan, too. Cora really enjoyed Ethan holding her.
MOnday we made a trip to Nashville to meet Uncle Sean. Cora modeled for him and he took some EXCELLENT pictures of her. I don't know how to say this so it doesn't sound like an insult, but I would hire him any day to do pictures of her over any professional photographer. IF we get some pics, I'll try to post some so you can see what I'm talking about. ANyway, Cora loves her uncle Sean.
Tuesday we made our way back home. We are exhausted! Cora's first road trip was a successful adventure. She thinks she might be up for a trip to Louisiana at Thanksgiving if her mom and dad are up for it.
We all enjoyed visiting with good friends and family this week. We love you!
Friday, October 6, 2006
Road Trip and a misplaced hip
WOW! Today is our big day. We're going to Kentucky for Ben and Rebekah's wedding--yea!! This will be Cora's first big road trip. Right now, as far as we can tell, she loves car rides, but I don't know if she loves 5 HOUR car rides. I guess we'll find out quickly.
This week we found out that Cora has some slight hip displasia. On Monday, we got the call telling us that she would have to wear a brace. I imagined it would be something simple that would just fit on over her diaper that she'd wear only when she was sleeping. (I'm no doctor, obviously) I imagined WRONG. Geron says her brace looks like "liederhosen". Its a pink strappy type thing that goes from shoulder to toe pretty much. She can wear it over her clothes and we can change her diaper without taking the brace off. The really rough part is that she has to wear it 23 hours a day for 8 weeks.
Miss Cora does not like to be restricted. The thing keeps her legs in a squatting position, so she can't stretch them straight out. When she was fitted for the brace, she pitched a royal tantrum. Her face turned bright red, her bottom lip got tight and started quivering and then she just howled at us. It was absolutely awful seeing our baby so upset and not being able to do anything for her. After the first day, her tantrums got shorter, but there are a few moments where you know she's just so upset about not being able to stretch. We treasure the hour where she doesn't have to wear it. I strip her down to her diaper and cuddle her and play with her toes and rub her back. And then I pass her off to Geron so he can do the same thing. Cuddling with the brace on has become rather awkward, but we do that too as much as we can.
This incident with Cora has only given me a tiny glimpse of what the Lord must have felt seeing his son on the cross. How incredible it is to see how He uses parenting to teach us more about His grace. We really have soooo much for which to be thankful.
So, today Cora, Daddy and Mommy are going to Kentucky, brace and all. We'll get to see some great college friends and church friends. And Cora is especially looking forward to spending some time with Granny and Grandpa. She's only seen Grandpa twice since she was born and they were instant buddies. (I'm just waiting for her to yank a hold of his beard and pull as hard as possible. ) She's going to meet lots of new people, so I hope she'll be on her best behavior. HA! She's a really great baby, actually. A lot of her fussy spells have seemed to left the building (with Elvis.) Please keep us in your prayers while we travel. We'll blog about the trip when we get back.
This week we found out that Cora has some slight hip displasia. On Monday, we got the call telling us that she would have to wear a brace. I imagined it would be something simple that would just fit on over her diaper that she'd wear only when she was sleeping. (I'm no doctor, obviously) I imagined WRONG. Geron says her brace looks like "liederhosen". Its a pink strappy type thing that goes from shoulder to toe pretty much. She can wear it over her clothes and we can change her diaper without taking the brace off. The really rough part is that she has to wear it 23 hours a day for 8 weeks.
Miss Cora does not like to be restricted. The thing keeps her legs in a squatting position, so she can't stretch them straight out. When she was fitted for the brace, she pitched a royal tantrum. Her face turned bright red, her bottom lip got tight and started quivering and then she just howled at us. It was absolutely awful seeing our baby so upset and not being able to do anything for her. After the first day, her tantrums got shorter, but there are a few moments where you know she's just so upset about not being able to stretch. We treasure the hour where she doesn't have to wear it. I strip her down to her diaper and cuddle her and play with her toes and rub her back. And then I pass her off to Geron so he can do the same thing. Cuddling with the brace on has become rather awkward, but we do that too as much as we can.
This incident with Cora has only given me a tiny glimpse of what the Lord must have felt seeing his son on the cross. How incredible it is to see how He uses parenting to teach us more about His grace. We really have soooo much for which to be thankful.
So, today Cora, Daddy and Mommy are going to Kentucky, brace and all. We'll get to see some great college friends and church friends. And Cora is especially looking forward to spending some time with Granny and Grandpa. She's only seen Grandpa twice since she was born and they were instant buddies. (I'm just waiting for her to yank a hold of his beard and pull as hard as possible. ) She's going to meet lots of new people, so I hope she'll be on her best behavior. HA! She's a really great baby, actually. A lot of her fussy spells have seemed to left the building (with Elvis.) Please keep us in your prayers while we travel. We'll blog about the trip when we get back.
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