Happy Messals... Happy Messes

The number 1 thing I am thankful for ths Thanksgiving: Cora. [and her Daddy, of course!]
But ranked right up there with Cora? All of the people who love her.
We are very blessed.

The grandneighbors were over almost as soon as we got out of the car (hmmm... Matt and I would do the same thing with Aunt Ellie during the holidays. I remember watching for Aunt Jen's headlights to pull in the drive). They had not been there long when I announced that it was time to feed Cora.

Mattie: I'll go help you
Me: Mattie, you aren't equipped to feed Cora.
I looked up to see 3 confused faces, so I explained that I was breastfeeding.
Still, 3 confused faces. So we explained that people can breastfeed just like dogs and cows.
When I came back from feeding Cora, I was greeted with these comments:
Mattie: I hope that you wash your hands after you do that!
Mason: How do you know when a baby has a dirty diaper?
Ryan: Shew, Mattie, just stop talking about it. I don't want to hear abou it.
Mason: How do you get her mouth on there?
Mattie: You keep your shirt on, right? She just eats through it?

Mattie chose Cora's PJs for the night. Mattie is quiet the fashionista. Cora had to wear her pink baseball cap downstairs to kiss everyone goodnight.

We are calling Mom "Mia", but my Dad isn't so happy with the names we've assigned to him. I'm not sure what his problem is... I personally like, "The Grand Poopah" and "Ole' Jimbo". I've started referring to him as "Grandfather" since he does not like any of the pet names he has been given. Doesn't he look more like a "Grand Poopah" and less like a "Grandfather" here?

Grandma Iris has shown Cora's picture to everyone in Johnson County. She has been asking me to put a pic in the newspaper - I'm not sure why I need to. Grandma's already shown off the whole album! :) I am so thankful that Cora has at least 1 great-grandparent on my side. I know that my Grandma Eb would have been so crazy about her and Jake and Max. So would have Grandpa Dennis & Grandpa Fred. What I wouldn't give for her to know them!

We are so fortunate to have all 4 great-grandparents on Landon's side. I thought that I was lucky to have all of my grandparents until I was 18... he is 30. We hope that she gets to meet all 4 of them very soon.

Uncle Shew is Cora's big buddy. He walks around bouncing with her and repeating "Pretty Girl". I wish I had of captured his baby strut on video. It is awesome.
These are legwarmers, by the way. I am a bit giddy about them. When Cora wears this outfit, and someone comments on how cute she is, I inevitably blurt out, "these are legwarmers!!!". I admit: it is a bit awkward.

The Hill family - Brian and Lisa and the boys spent Thanksgiving in Kentucky this year. It was great to have everyone together. All of the chaos in the house made me think of the good ole days when the WHOLE family (Papaw Fred's family, Aunt El's family, and at least Aunt Maggie's family... with a few extras thrown in) would do Thanksgiving in Aunt El's basement.
My favorite Thanksgiving foods then: Aunt El's Chicken & Dumplings, Macaroni & Cheese (yes, Velveeta, but Mimaw Eb always brought it because we liked it), and mom's cranberry salad.
My favorite thanksgiving foods now: mom's cranberry salad (still), grandma's sweet potato casserole, and Sara's corn casserole.
I love that neither Jake or Max are looking at the camera in this picture, and that they are both looking in different directions.

The Blair family. My grandpa's brother James also spent the day with us this year. Notice that he is missing half of a finger. I always thought that was so fascinating when I was a kid. In my mind, he is defined by that missing finger and the poodle (Susie) that he and my Aunt Mable had throughout my childhood.

The footies on Cora's Thanksgiving PJs. She started to notice her feet over the weekend - and she liked the turkeys.

Aunt El went crazy over Cora. On Thursday, Cora sat patiently and let Aunt El love on her. She squeezed her fingers and her toes. Aunt El does call Cora a boy. It's endearing. Everything about Aunt El is endearing.
On Saturday, Cora was asleep when we went over for a visit, and she continued to sleep for another 45 minutes in Aunt El's lap.

With Matt Brown. This isn't a good demonstration of Matt's skills - he was actually really good with her. (that's for you, Amy)

Jake & Max gave a few "goo goos" and "ga gas" for us.

And Mattie strutted her stuff (If you know Mattie, this isn't surprising).

I love this pic of Cora and my Grandma Iris -

Meeting "The Sisters", as Joy Oliver calls Cathy, Connie, and Chris.
My Grandma Iris grew up with Worth and Janis in West Van Lear. Worth and Grandma still live in town; Janis moved to Ohio. Every single time that Aunt Janis comes to town, she and Grandma Iris get together. Worth has three daughters, "the sisters". Dad grew up with them, Mom became best friends with Chris (the youngest of "the sisters") in high school, Dad and Mom got married, etc. Cathy has a son (Nelson Worth), Connie has a daughter (Crystal), and Chris has two children (Meme and Nick). Not only did Nick and I have aspirations to grow-up, get married, and live on Mimaw Eb's farm (the barn only needed one more wall and some curtains... we were 5 when we made these plans), but Nelson Worth and I have always been big buddies. A few years back, Nelson was coming through Knoxville and had plans to stay overnight with me. When I mentioned that Nelson liked trivia and music, my friends Cheryl and Katie exclaimed, "that sounds like Betsy!" Last Christmas, Nelson and Betsy came to tell our family that they were expecting before we realized that we were also pregnant.

In March, I visited Paintsville to tell Grandma Iris that we were expecting. She was pretty darn excited. I also had to personally take a trip over to Cathy Gullett's house. Mom had wrapped up two "Grandma's Brag Books" as a gift for Cathy. Cathy opened them, and as she was flipping through said, "Well there are two of these here?" Mom said, "Oh, I must have accidentally wrapped up mine". If you know Cathy, then it isn't necessary for me to say that there were tears.
With the addition of Catie Jennilee (spelling?) and Cora Jane (two CJ's by accident), born 6 weeks apart, we've got 4 generations of friends (as Cathy describes it). That is pretty spectacular.

Grandma's friend Janis (and aunt to "The Sisters") - they've been friends since for 70 years. That's a long time. Janis is funny as a monkey!

Meggie holding Cora, trying to get her to laugh.

Nick Ratliff was my very first friend in this world. My Cora has a little friend Nicolas - I think that that is so appropriate.
Lindsey is so sweet! This child cracks me up - and Jaxson is the best photographer!
Dad's best friend, Doug.

Jamie and I - friends since we were freshman in college. We are nursing our babies here --- we can't wait to add Amy to this picture!
Annabelle is so sweet - Jamie has three kids: Ben, Katie, and Annabelle. I call Jamie when I think something is "wrong" with Cora. For example, Cora's belly button cord fell off when I was changing her clothes. Despite the fact that I had been looking for the cord to fall off, and despite the fact that she was nearly 2 weeks old, I freaked out a little when it got caught on her shirt. I called Cora's nurse, and while waiting for the nurse to call back, I called Jamie.

Me: I think I hurt my baby (with escalating panic as I finished the sentence).
Jamie: How???
Me: Her belly button came off.
Jamie: Calm down. Isn't she 2 weeks old?
Me: She won't stop crying.
Jamie: Because you won't stop crying!

Jamie went on to listen to my description of the spot, then calmly tell me belly button stories from all three of her children, summarizing with, "I've never heard of a baby being seriously injured by the belly cord". I could hear an urge to laugh at me a little in the back of her throat, but she managed to suppress it.

Thank goodness the least neurotic of my friends had babies first!!!

Max walked around Thanksgiving talking about Mason as "his friend". At some point, Max was asked who he was inviting to his birthday party the next week (in North Carolina). Mason was at the top of his list.