Cora's 1 Month Update

Cora is one month old!

It seems like we have been parents forever, and yet I cannot believe that a whole month has already passed by. She has flipped our world upside down.

Some events and milestones from this month (mixed in with a few wardrobe shots).

She is "iffy" on the binky. It does not cure all that ails her...

And she usually spits it out pretty quick.

This mowhawk is Daddy's creation. He is dangerous with a hairbrush.

We are working on establishing a nighttime routine. She sometimes stretches the time in between her nighttime feedings to 5 hours, but she does not sleep that whole time. When she goes for 5 hours, it is usually when she really screams it out after her 8 or 9 PM feeding... thus we only get about 2 to 3 hours of sleep. Please sleep for Mama, Cora Jane! Pretty please!
For her 7:00 PM feeding, I try to feed her, then change her into pajamas. When it is possible, I read a story to her and then I rock her while singing a song (My favorite is "He's still working on me", Mia repeatedly says "Bootiful Baby", and Daddy quietly says "shhh" and makes up nonsensical songs to sing).

This is how I found Landon and Cora one Sunday morning. Not the best habit to establish... but it sure was sweet!
Right now, she often screams for a few minutes before falling asleep. At first we thought that she was in pain, and then we thought that she was hungry, but now we realize that it is just what she does. Blood. Curdling. Screams. For about 20 minutes, then suddenly she relaxes and acts drowsy. I am still rocking her to sleep, but am working on the transition to laying her down when she is still drowsy. I think I enjoy the rocking more than she does, so this will be a hard habit to break.

This one is only about fashion

This was after one of Cora's particularly excrutiating cry sessions. While Cora was crying and being rocked, Pearl came and sat calmly at my feet as if to protect us.

Getting ready for her first trip to the Cathedral

It was time to go to "Nap-perville" in this picture. She wasn't all too excited about pausing for a picture...



I love the look on her face here!




These little pantaloons are adorable! Her feet are still too tiny for shoes, so we're going barefoot for now.



I look put together here, right?
Actually, midway through the first song the girl next to me zipped the back of my dress for me - it had to have been nearly halfway down my back. Then, when I came back in from going out with a crying Cora, my belt was undone and the hem had somehow unfolded on the bottom of my dress. New mother, I am.

The Messal Family

With Father Wilson.
In one of our pre-marital early meetings, I was questioning him about Catholicism. I think I had some pretty tough questions. Midway through he said, "You obviously aren't trying to impress me - that is a good thing".
We are a huge fan of Father Wilson.



Again, this one is only for fashion. Check out those socks! Jake & Max sent her those as a present - and I hear that they were really excited about their new baby cousin. Now that she is a little bigger, I know that she cannot wait to meet them, either! Jake & Max: she wears these socks, and the sleepers that you sent her, all of the time!



And this one is only because she's so stinkin' cute!

She hasn't quiet found her thumb yet, but she is getting there. Sometimes she accidentally gets a finger or a thumb in her mouth and it always seems to please her.

She spends a lot of time playing on her back, and she sometimes likes to be on her belly. It is really funny to watch her bat at the teasers. She smacks towards them, and then sometimes gets fussy when she actually hits one. I think that it startles her!

On Saturday October 2nd, we took her to the Farmer's Market in Marion Square. She slept the whole time. We also stopped in a couple of stores on King Street. I ran into Starbucks with her, and the lady in line behind me asked, "How old is she?". When I responded, "4 weeks today" she said, "Is she yours?!?!?!"
I paused, and for a second I thought, "Oh my, when are the parents coming back to get her?"... but then I realized she was just trying to make a new mom feel good. It worked :)

This month, she has already reached a few milestones.

In the last couple of days she has started to grasp things. For example, when I am rocking her to sleep, she often grasps the collar of my shirt... which makes it really tricky to lay her down! And, when she is crying hard, I place her in the center of my chest. If my hair is down, she grabs a handful in each hand and pulls down as hard as she can. I hate that she is crying but I love how precious her little tugs feel.

She has also developed some really specific hunger cues. When she is crying, if I (or Landon or Mia) puts her to our shoulder and she starts to headbutt it with her mouth open, then she is almost always hungry. If she doesn't do this, then something else is usually wrong.

She is holding her head up pretty frequently now.

Cora is also beginning to spend more time focusing on people. She studies faces as if she is trying to figure the person out. When I feed her, she is often looking up at me out of the corner of her eye. I love those moments.

Cora's first Lunch Outing

While Matt was in town, we decided to take Cora with us to lunch at La Hacienda.

I was a little bit concerned. If you have ever eaten with my brother, you know he is a slow eater. If you have ever eaten with my brother and I together, then you know that I am an even SLOWER eater than he is. But if you have ever eaten with my mother, then you know where we get our slow eating habits. I worried when lunch came that Mom wouldn't have time to finish...

At La Hacienda, waiting for our lunch.

And this demonstrates that Cora was a really good baby during lunch. Mia had time to finish!

Uncle Matt Visits Cora


I've heard other kids refer to my brother as their "uncle". Robbie & Autumn's kids, for example, call him "Uncle Virge", and there is a whole post on Autumn's blogspot about him (http://lilytate.blogspot.com/2010/07/uncle-virg.html). But he isn't married, and I am his only sibling, so this is his first go=round at being a real uncle. He was one of the first people we told - even before we told mom & dad that we were expecting, we told Matt. It was a Friday evening, and he and I were talking on the phone. Landon looked over and said, "Want to tell your brother?" I think that he thought that we were joking! He got quiet, and said, "A lot of people call me uncle, but this is the first time I've ever been the real thing".
Cora sure is lucky! Not only does she have an Uncle Matt, but she also has an Aunt Heather, an Aunt Julie, an Aunt Anna, and an Uncle Jon-Jon. What a loved little lady she is!
Here are some pics from her first visit with Uncle Matt.

Wearing Ellie's dress, waiting for Uncle Matt 



A close-up of our sweet angel.

Mia came back for a visit.

Her first view of Uncle Matt. Why do all of UT's rivals wear their gameday clothes when they come to meet Cora?

Landon didn't buy into the books.

Matt trying to sooth her with the football hold. It's called the football hold - that doesn't mean that you try to run a touchdown with her!

Happily snoozing before her first lunch outing.

I could kiss those little toes off!

Daddy cuddles!

Mom with her favorites.

She is starting to really look back at people.

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Aunt Jen, it looks like your Hope is on her bottom!

It has not even been a month, and I can't remember life before her

It has been a month and I can see the light at the end of the sleep tunnel. I fought using a method. In fact, I didn't read any sleep books during pregnancy. Instead, my attitude was that I would indulge in reading as many novels as I could, checking off as many books off of my "list" as possible, before the baby came. I finished the Twilight series hours before Cora was born. But I didn't read Baby Wise, The Happiest Baby on the Block, or The Baby Whisperer. 
For the first week of her life, it didn't matter. She slept all of the time (now I know all babies do), and I thought that I was one of the "lucky" parents who got a good sleeper. Don't get me wrong - she is good. She was sleeping allright on her own, and she was only fussing at night during her witching hour, but we were nowhere close to stretching out her nighttime feedings past 3 hours.
I started using a combination of the methods last week - Her nighttime feedings began stretching to 5 1/2 hours on September 28th.

Done-zo! After a particularly fussy spell, we think that she was finally ready for bed.



Checking-in on her daddy.

 

From this angle, the eyes on those dangling rattles look almost scary.

Focusing on her friends.

This wasn't officially her first bottle, but it was her first official planned bottle from her daddy.

A "Daddy's Home" moment. Landon was loving on Cora... Pearl had to get in on the action.  

I'm not sure what she was doing here, but it was too cute!

She still has the baby blues here.

I came through carrying a blanket - Landon decided to swaddle me.

Mia bought these shoes. Dad, it looks like Mia has a new object for her shoe obsession.

Her reaction to wearing the shoes. Our child really doesn't like to have things on her feet.



Judson Drinker gets the "most awkward baby holder" award. Just kidding - we love you Jud!



Ah, sweet sweet naptime.

 We have been lucky to have so many friends bring us dinner! Troy, Beth, & Amy; Lance, Sara, & Toby; David & Jill Desplaces; Tim, Sarah, & Dominic; Ryan & Bridget; Paul, Gretchen, & Gretta; David, Amanda, & Gabe... we are very lucky!

Amy & Beth holding Cora

The night that they came over, Amy needed to read a book for school. She brought it and read to Cora - it was Cora's first story.