Cora's first Christmas

Cora's first Christmas!
We may have one more year tops of sleeping in on Christmas morning. We didn't really begin to stir until around 10AM, and we didn't get out of our PJs until 2 or 3 (maybe later?) in the afternoon.
About a week before Christmas, I declared that we would each get the stockings this year that we would use from now on at our house. I already had Landon's, had picked out Cora's, and Landon was in charge of getting mine. Landon declared the selection too important to be completed in a week. Guess which stocking was mine? Guess which one was Landon's? Ha!

Landon came through wearing this sweater, thinking it was the one he wore for our tacky Christmas sweater party two years ago. No, Landon, that really is my sweater. Yes, I wore it last year. No, it wasn't a joke.

We laid Cora off to the side as we opened presents. Everytime we would open something for her, we would place it on her mat for her to play with. We opened packages really slowly this year - we opened one present at a time, we took a break for breakfast, etc. Normally, Cora goes down for a nap every couple of hours, but on Christmas morning, we let her "skip" her nap.

She played herself to sleep - it was exactly as Christmas morning should be!

We went to Troy and Beth's to see Amy's new puppy on Christmas Evening. Cora was the first time Amy had ever changed a diaper.

A Misfit Christmas Eve

I am 31 years old, and had never spent a Christmas away from my parent's house before this year. Even last year, we returned from our honeymoon on December 23rd, hopped straight in the car, and headed for Kentucky. When I realized that Landon had to work this year, and that neither side of our family planned to join us, I was a bit bummed. I looked forward to spending our first Christmas at home, but was less enthusiastic about preparing a whole holiday meal for just Landon and I. I just wasn't sure that it would feel like a holiday if the house was quiet (rewind to last Thanksgiving: Landon and I spent the holiday at home with Big E. While it was a nice day, and while I enjoyed doing the morning turkey trot while Landon was at work, it was A LOT of food for three people, even given how much Eric eats!).

 I think that we have solved the bottle issue... she is really taking it now!

 Waking daddy up on Christmas Eve morning. She gets more playful everyday. She is clearly starting to see her daddy as her playmate. As soon as he picks her up, she starts beaming.

Cora finally found her feet on Christmas Eve morning. It was as if she said, "Self, I didn't get you anything. I've got some feet lying around here - why don't you take those and play with them!" Every time we lay her down now, she kicks her legs up in the air and gives her toes a squeeze.

 A couple of weeks ago, while at John Kyran's baptism, I overheard Bridget talking about Christmas and it sounded like she and Ryan and baby John Kyran would also be in town without family for the holiday. John Kyran was just 3 weeks old at Christmas.


Me: (sounding way too excited) Oh, are you going to be here by yourselves for the holiday, too?
Bridget: Yes, John Kyran is too little to travel and Ryan is going to a wedding in Michigan the for new years.
Me: Do you want to do Christmas with Landon, Cora, and I? (hidden in the tone of my voice: do you, do you, please, pretty please, do you)

My attitude towards staying here for the holiday entirely shifted when she said that they would join us. It turned out that we were able to find two other family misfits, too. Doug and Carla Walker (and baby Keegan) were celebrating with their families before the holiday, but also planned to be in town for Christmas. Lance and Sara (and little Toby Cantrell) were celebrating with their families on Christmas Day, but did not have Christmas Eve plans.

4 babies, all under 6 months, in our living room for Christmas Eve. Visions of hustle and bustle danced in my head...

Our living room looked something like a daycare center.


 We tried to get a picture of all 4 babies together. This is Cora enjoying the calm before the storm...
Keegan and Toby got together, and almost went to punches over the only little girl in the room!

Keegan:  Hair! Look at her pretty hair! I want to run my fingers through it! Lean forward, let me touch it.
John Kyran: Ah man, why do the bigger boys always get the ladies! If I could just gain enough muscle control to hold my head up!

 Toby: I am going to go tell my Mommy!
Keegan: Yeah, you get outta here!
Landon: Toby, get your hand off of my little girl's leg!

 Cora: Daddy, it's OK! I like Toby too! See, I'll put my hand on his leg (look at how Landon moved into the background of the picture! These little boys with their hands on her legs really started to make him nervous. He said he had crazy dreams this week... I didn't ask if they involved shotguns and Cora dating).
We finally moved them so that they had less access to each other. This was the best we could get!

 Cora and Toby in their matching PJs. Toby is the grinning-est baby I have ever seen. He is CONSTANTLY smiling!
They both needed to show us their feet.

 Doug & Carla with Keegan (and the reindeer on his shirt).
Bridget & Ryan with John Kyran (hidden under a blanket).

 Lance & Sarah (and little Toby Cantrell).
I love John Kyran and his preppy popped collar.

Landon and I (and a mostly sleeping Cora) ended the night at midnight mass at the Cathedral.

A line from O Holy Night was called to mind this holiday season, and it reverberated in my head throughout our celebrations.


"Thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices! For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." Merry Christmas!

One more pic... of the cake I made especially for Ryan (who loves Carrot Cake). I used Marion Haskell's recipe, and the cake and the  icing were really good. The problem was that I got a cookie spitz from mom for Christmas, and I thought that I would use it to ice the cake. Hmmm.
Doug's wife Carla is a professional chef. As I was icing it, I had two thoughts: 1) I can see why people need to go to school to learn how to do this! 2) Thank goodness Carla is coming - she can make it look pretty!
When Carla arrived, she refused to fix it and instead said that in the industry, this cake would be described as "rustic" and served anyways. I guess all of my baked goods are "rustic"...

C-O-U-G-A-R-S

We purchased CofC Men's Basketball season tickets this year with Trevor & Tracy (our neighbors). Excellent idea! It would be so easy to just keep Cora in all of the time. I was a little nervous about all of the noise and activity, but the child is chill the whole time. She seems to love just looking around, taking in all of the colors, getting passed between Landon and I and several of our faculty friends... she almost never fusses during a basketball game. Plus, CofC has a great basketball program. Every game this season has been a good one.

Bill Murray was a few rows in front of us for this week's Clemson/CofC game (pics taken by the guy sitting next to me). A couple of days after the game, I saw a commercial for his version of "Scrooge". I felt really old, because he looked so young in the movie (and because the graphics looked like somthing I could almost do now on my own laptop). His hair is really white!

Landon is a sportsfan and can get into almost any sporting event. The neighbors can probably hear him when he watches UT games in our living room. Since we bought season tickets, he's made CofC one of his teams. During the games, he quotes player stats to me and talks Cougar Basketball to anyone lucky enough to sit next to him. Last year, CofC beat UNC-Chapel Hill at CofC. It was a HUGE win. This year's big home game was against Clemson. These pics were taken during the last few minutes of the Clemson game...

So when I looked over and realized Cora had fallen peacefully asleep...

And when I realized that this is what he could see when seated (notice that the score was 52/56)...

I was really impressed that he was able to stay seated and quiet. What a difference fatherhood has made on my husband! I cannot think of one other scenario that would have kept him quiet during that game!

When it is time to be bundled and carried, Cora much prefers her Daddy. When I hold her she squirms and wiggles - when he holds her she settles in and relaxes. I know - she doesn't look so relaxed here. It is the camera! When she sees it she always changes her look to "perplexed".

Mommy's Little Cheater

We have declared this week "Bottle Boot Camp".
When Cora was just a few weeks old, we started giving her a bottle on occassion. Although she has never loved the bottle, she would take it. Since it didn't seem to be a problem, we didn't actively try to integrate the bottle into our regular routine. Without realizing it, we went several weeks and there was never really a reason to give her one.
I've been in denial, but for the past 6 weeks (maybe longer?), I've been getting reports from others (everyone who has tried) that Cora will not take a bottle. I admit it. Maybe I like it. It is nice to be the most important person. We started getting more serious about getting her to take the bottle last week, but were unsuccessful. On Monday, we declared war.

Landon is the one most often tasked with giving her a bottle, so he is leading the battle. He spent most of Tuesday researching causes and solutions on-line. It looks like we may have a successful bottle candidate (and a couple of other options!).

Maybe it would help if I would stop talking about Cora's bottle and my pump as "cheating" on each other. We frequently babytalk about how we just don't like having to use those "ole' cheaters".

Landon read to try a sippy cup. This one works pretty well --- but it leaks :(

Her Tennessee taggie is a HUGE hit right now... and she is starting to react to "Where's Cora?". When she is playing with the taggie and I pick her up, the taggie often is dragged along behind her.

She is starting to be aware of the camera... which makes it really tough to take her picture. She'll be smiling and playing, but as soon as she sees the camera light, she starts to focus on it and give it a perplexed look.

 I snuck this picture with my phone.
She is starting to sit in her bumpo chair, and she sometimes even smiles. Although I'll never be able to capture a sitting smile on camera. To concentrate on sitting, plus the red light on the camera, requires too much concentration at this point. Ha!