What are the Chances???

What the heck???  Is it possible that I get two children who suck the same fingers???  I think it must be genetic, that is the only possible explanation.

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Visiting Great Grandma

Mike's Grandma Virginia recently moved into a private home so she could get some extra care and help.  She hadn't met Cora yet so we dropped Wes off at Grammy's house and drove to San Clemente to visit her, see her new home and introduce her to Cora.  Grandma Virginia is 96 and sharp as a tack.  She doesn't have much physical strength though, so it was nice to see she is getting the help she needs to move around.  And though I know she misses her home, which is close by in San Clemente, I could tell she knew she was in the right place. She loved meeting her 5th Great Grand child and we are praying she stays healthy and happy in her new home!

2 Month Check-Up

On Friday, January 20th, Cora had her two month well baby visit.  The first two months of Cora's life have flown by!!  I felt like the first two months of Wes' life dragged on forever :)  Being a second time parent is night and day from the first time around, and Cora's whirling dervish of a brother makes the days go by that much faster.  Dr. Lau was very impressed with Cora's development so here's how much she's grown:

This little chunk-a-monk weighs 12lbs 4ounces, which is 90% for weight!  Not surprising given her genes and appetite :) and she's 21 1/2 inches long, 75th percentile.  Her head is getting so strong from all of her big brother supervised tummy time sessions and she's smiling and cooing up a storm.  She's also started making those raspberry sounds with her lips, which Wes thinks is so funny that he copies her and sprays everything with spit.  (Between him and her barfy spit up, I'm always soaked!)  She's a great sleeper so far too.  She goes to bed around 9:00pm and wakes up once to eat around 4:00am (the last couple of nights has been 5:00am!).  Then she goes right back to sleep and wakes up around 8:00am, which gives me about an hour with Wes in the mornings since he wakes up at 7:00am on the dot every morning.  She loves getting a bath and riding in the car, though stopping is not her favorite!  She has such a mellow personality (so far...Wes did too when he was little and you know how that's going these days!) and takes it all in stride when I'm yelling at discussing things with her big brother.  She hasn't decided if she's going to be a finger sucker or a pacifier taker yet.  I'm desperately praying for the latter, though I'm thinking she might have other thoughts.  She's wearing three month clothing and a size two diaper.    

And since this was her two month appointment, that meant her first shots too :(  I'm splitting up her vaccines just like I did for Wes, so here she is waiting for the nurse to give her her Hib and DTap shots and Rotateq oral vaccine.  The nurse couldn't help but laugh at how she lapped up the Rotateq liquid like it was milk.  She said most babies spit it out, but that definitley wasn't a problem for Cora!

And here's one of those sweet little band aids that always indicate shots.  She actually had a slight reaction to one of the shots, her leg swelled up and she was pretty inconsolable.  I felt like a new parent though, since Wes never had a single reaction to shots, and called her doctor to make sure this was normal.  A dose of tylenol and a nap helped and when the swelling went down there was a little bruise where the shot was given so I think they nicked a blood vessel.  Poor baby!  I'm so thankful that my little girl is well and happy, we are so grateful to the Lord for this precious girl! 

1st Date Night!

Last Wednesday, the 18th, Michael and I had our first date night since Cora's arrival!  Michael and I were about at our wits end with Wes' attitude and arguing (things have since gotten better, slightly, after we re-evaluated our discipline approach, praise the Lord!) and needed a few hours away without anyone under 3 needing our attention.  So Grammy came over at 4:30 and we left a bottle of milk for Cora and some dinner in the oven and headed out the door!!  We've been talking about going to The Melting Pot for a while now and since it's just down the street, we decided that's where we were going.  It felt so nice to be out together alone...it's such a weird feeling because we had years alone together before we had kids but getting to be alone together now, after having kids, is a totally different feeling.

It was great going to someplace new and not knowing what to expect!  It was the last day of Irvine Restaurant Week and they had a pre-fixe menu that included a cheese fondue appetizer, several main course meats and sides, and chocolate fondue dessert for a great price.  There is a burner in the middle of the table and you cook all your food right there.  Here we are cooking our entrees in a vegetable broth.

There was pork, beef, shrimp, potstickers, chicken and salmon.  Everything was delicious and each small piece of meat cooked in 1 1/2 to 3 minutes.  We also cooked potatoes and veggies.

The absolute best part of the meal was the dessert (and the glass of wine I had, my first since having Cora).  We had dark chocolate fondue with crunchy peanut butter.  It was served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, cheesecake, brownies and rice crispy squares!  Oh my goodness, we almost ordered a second one, it was amazing!

We were only gone for about three hours, but they were a wonderful three hours.  It was so nice to talk uninterrupted :)  We were about ready to head home, me for physical reasons!, but decided to stop by the Irvine Ranch Market by our house and pick up a treat for Grammy and Wes.  Here's the Cookie Monster cupcake we picked for Wes and below is the fruit tart we picked for Grammy.  (Wes actually ate most of the fruit off of Grammy's tart, we should have known he would have been just as happy with a basket of strawberries!  This kid did not get my sweet tooth!)

Grammy said Wes and Cora were both angels (of course they were!) for her.  We were so thankful for our night out and we'll definitely be back to The Melting Pot for chocolate fondue soon!

Look What I Can Do!

Cora is quite the smiley girl these days!  These are some of her first smiles :)

Wes and Cora

Wes loves his little sister!  He is so sweet to her, asking her what's wrong when she cries, asking me to hold her often, and never missing a tummy time session!  His most important job though as big brother is definitely "Barf Monitor."  Cora is quite the spit-up queen, so Wes points out all her "barf" (his new favorite word) and always reminds me to say "thanks barf monitor" when he brings me a burp cloth barf rag.

Even if the TV is on, he still is right there with her.

Cora getting a lesson in cars, trucks and trains.

Cora is a lucky girl to have such an awesome big brother!

Favorite Things Party

After about 50+ emails between 10 girls, we finally decided to have our annual holiday "Favorite Things Party" in January.  It was impossible to all be available on a weekend in December, so we've decided the first weekend in January will be our date to get together every year.

Courtney, Kendra (with Cora), Nadine, Leanne, Jenny, Sarah, Joy and Me

(Julie wasn't able to make it and Emily was sick)

After brunch and mimosas we got to exchanging gifts.

These were the gifts Courtney received since she was the only one smart enough to get a cute photo!

Here's how a favorite things party works...everyone brings 5 of their favorite things that are $6 or less.  Then you put your name in a hat 5 times and everyone draws 5 names and those people go home one of your favorite things.  It's really fun and a great way to learn more about your friends.

Kendra gave pretzels and dark chocolate berries.  Nadine gave books from the used book store. Leanne gave Arbonne hand lotion.  Sarah gave half-caf coffee from Fresh and Easy. Jenny gave peach champagne.  And not pictued, Joy gave a glass nail file and hand sanitizer, Courtney gave honey from her local farmer's market and here was my favorite thing... 

...a movie night. (Though it doesn't happen too often now).  A bottle of soda (I gave up soda years ago, but love it on a special occasion), a bag of kettle corn (my absolute favorite treat!) and copies (I know I'm not supposed to do this, but luckily not too many people read my blog) of two of my favorite movies, Jailhouse Rock (LOVE Elvis) and Footloose (LOVE Kevin Bacon in the '80's!).

And absolutely LOVE this tradition!

Last year's party

Randoms

Here's a few random pics, but they are fun to remember!  Wes woke up from nap one day asking about the avocado's I had bought at the store recently.  Somehow our conversation turned to guacamole and I decided that would be the perfect after snoozer snack since we had a big bag of chips.  It had been a doozy of a day (Wes has recently become, just as his pediatrician predicted, a giant stinker! Everything is a battle!!  Our ped said that right around two months, the older sibling realizes the new sibling is staying put and they begin to act out in adjustment to their new world order.  Wes loves Cora and is so sweet to her, and while some days I'm close to pulling my hair out, I'm thankful he's acting out toward me and Mike and not toward her.)  Anyways, we made the guacamole and I was dying for a stiff margarita!  But I opted for lemonade and a prayer for strength and patience instead.  Though the margarita is still heavily on my mind :)  

Wes  helped his cousin Gia celebrate her birthday on January 8th and came home with a fun goody bag.  In it was a pack of hot chocolate and his own mug.  Believe it or not, this kid has never had a hot chocolate!  Though he's in jammies, this was actually after nap time.  He's also become quite opinionated about his attire.  Anyway, I made the hot lukewarm chocolate and topped it off with some whip cream and let him have at it.  Here's how it went: 

He went straight for the whip cream and missed the cup all together...

...and it spilled all over his jammies and the counter...

...so the best solution is to try again naked!

Perfect Day for a Picnic

On January 3rd, Grammy came over and we headed to the park for a picnic lunch.  (We thought about going to Disneyland, but figured it might be really crowded with all the people from out of town who came for the Rose Bowl.  I was bummed I forgot to take pictures on the 2nd, because the Rose Parade is one of my favorite traditions.  We've been to see the floats in Pasadena several times and are planning on making the trip next year when Cora is a little bigger.  But I made blueberry cream cheese coffee cake and we all sat on the couch and ate breakfast and watched the floats.  Wes wasn't as impressed as I hoped, but I'm sure he will be someday!)  Anyway, back to the picnic...the weather was beautiful and the leaves were crunchy!

Happy New Year!

Since Wes stayed with Grammy on the night of the 30th, we left him there let him stay and play on New Year's Eve day and then joined Grammy and Grandpa for dinner at their house.  On our way over, I stopped at Party City to grab some New Year's hats and some of those streamer poppers.  I stood in the most outrageous line but picked up two cute hats and some poppers with the hope of getting a super cute picture of Wes and Cora together.  But guess which one of my kids wouldn't cooperate...and don't say the little one :)

Look at this princess cooperating so nicely.

But she did get over the hat pretty quickly!

Oops

This kid on the other hand....at least this pic is cute.

Happy New Year at 8pm!!!

At least Daddy was being a good sport!

I don't think 10 years ago we would have dreamed the highlight of our New Year's would be poppers at my mom's house with our two kids.  

And the party is officially over!  

Happy 2012 everyone!

Goodbye Auntie Caitlin and Uncle Ben

On December 30th we headed out to the IE to say goodbye to Auntie Caitlin and Uncle Ben before they move to Texas.  Uncle Ben returned from Iraq the beginning of December and we are so thankful he is home safe and sound!  But since he is based in Texas, he and Auntie Caitlin are moving there until his enlistment is over.  We are sad they are moving but excited they are able to be together!

Uncle Nathan, Auntie Madison and Mike

Grandpa Al and his son and son's in law.

Cora came with us and even though there were lots of friends and family there, I didn't manage to take any pictures.  Wes stayed with Grammy, which was an excellent decision on our part.  The drive and crowded pizza joint would have spelled disaster :)  But we had a great time and and wish Auntie Caitlin and Uncle Ben all the best in the Lone Star State!  Miss you guys!

Wesley Says: Grandpa's Little Helper

On December 27th, Grandpa came over to help Mike fix a broken piece on our microwave and Wes just had to be right in the thick of things.  Luckily for Grandpa and Daddy, we were leaving shortly for Wes' dentist appointment (another excellent check up for him, by the way).  But before we left, Wes managed to "help out" a little.  Grandpa brought his big tool box and when Wes began finding and using all kinds of super fun  dangerous tools, Daddy suggested he go get his own tool box.

So he headed up stairs and returned with his own tool box...

...he climbed up on his chair and Dad got out his tools...

...he got all situated with a piece of wood...

...then he turned and said, "ok, so what's the plan Grandpa?"

I see many projects in the future for these three.