Total relaxation

Facials and pedicures

What boys do during said facials and pedicures...

Sin city suckers!

One of the kids favorite souvenirs from Grandma and Tony's trip to Vegas...

You want one Cora?

Grandma and Tony are here!

First Bath

Don't you wish a montage of you taking a bath was this cute?

Job search

Anyone know anybody that works at Tyler Technologies in Plano? Kyle has applied to a job there that would be perfect for him! An inside word would be helpful :)

Oh and guess what? The doctor was wrong - it is thrush :( it moved to her cheeks and lips - fun for me...

Craigslist rocks!

Inspired by Cjane's blog featuring the Sleepy Wrap I went searching for one myself and found this never used Moby wrap for a fraction of the price on Craigslist. Enjoy that link-heavy sentence. So far Cora loves it, and we have proven its strength by giving Maiya a ride - though she quickly said "get me out Daddy"

PS - MY MOM IS COMING TO SEE ME!!!!!!! Her and Tony leave the good ol Va tommorrow morning. Here's wishing them a speedy trip with low gas prices!

oh and a diaper rash update...

The doctor today said I was doing a "wonderful" job and that its just a plain ol' diaper rash (and that can take up to two weeks to heal). I am to stop the nystatin, and just go with my diaper cream of choice. Can't find the calmoseptine yet Nana, so were using triple paste for now. The white spots on her tongue is just dried milk - thrush would be on her cheeks and lips. so we'll see how it goes. I want it to go away NOW!

You may approach the baby...

Here she is today, on her due date! Weighing in at 10 lbs. 2 ozs. I am glad she was born on the 12th!

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!
"I hate opening my eyes"
There they are
All ready for her first day at church.

So I was thinking lately about my hands on mindset that seems to be different than most of the population. When pregnant I hear from many women how "annoying" it is when strangers think its ok to touch their bellies. I personally think its awesome. There are so many negative things about my pregnancies that when someone thinks its so cool that there is a baby inside of me that they just can't resist touching my bulge it makes me smile!! When Cora was very active I just wanted to take the hand of whoever happened to be by me and let them feel my baby move - whether it was a stranger or not. (I didn't though) I also didn't mind the "you look huge" statements. - Its nice to know I looked pregnant and not just fatter!

And now that she is here I still feel the need to share her cuteness with the world. I know this goes against many mother's instincts but I like people to hold my baby. I want people to give into the urge to stroke her little fingers and melt when they get her in their arms. I sure melt!

Many of you know my irritation with germaphobia. It saddens me that so many are too afraid of germ transfer to touch my baby. Little old ladies swoon, but step back two paces. So sad. I breastfeed her for many reasons, but a big one is the antibodies I know she is getting. Germs don't freak me out at all. In her first two weeks Cora has been to four restaurants, the movies, the mall, and the park twice. Besides, a dose of germs here and there only make you stronger. No offense but I have noticed over time that my germaphobe friends' children are sicker more often and more severely than my kids. This article explains how germs are good for you . So just ask if you'd like to hold my little baby (she won't be little for long) and chances are very good I will let you.

A Native Texan is in the house...

"Never ask a man if he is from Texas. If he is, he'll tell you. If he ain't, no need to embarrass him." - Anonymous

Cora's birth certificate and insurance card came on Friday. I can't believe we have a native Texan in our immediate family! Does that mean she'll end up with this guy?

Well I don't have anything else specific to post - I did want to thank everyone for the very nice and helpful comments about Kyle's impending job loss. It is wonderful to be surrounded by friends - even in cyberspace.

Other than fighting that stress I haven't been doing much else besides breastfeeding and changing diapers. Cora has a terrible diaper rash that so far has not been aided by desitin, buttpaste (my #1 fav diaper cream), or a prescription cream called in by the doctor. So we are not at church today because I barely got any sleep, and diaper changes involve a squirt bottle and numerous towels - something hard to do at church!

Benjamin and Ella are progressing rapidly toward their orange belts at TaeKwondo - testing is in a couple of weeks and if they pass they go onto sparring, full gear and all. They are thrilled!

I can cry if I want to

I had this really bad dream that Kyle's boss stopped by our house on our second night home from the hospital to see our new baby. And that when Kyle walked her to her car she told him that the company was closing the Plano office on September 30th and he was going to be laid off.

I have continued to pretend it was a bad dream and tried to limit my freak outs to only a handful of times this week. I vowed Kyle's week off for the baby would be focused on only that - our beautiful new baby. But alas he returns to work tomorrow and I must face the reality that my husband is LOSING HIS JOB!!!!!!!!!!! And to face something this sad and scary one must share the horrible news with her blogging friends. I don't handle stress well and Kyle doesn't like change. So this news has forced us to our knees. - For much prayer that is. We really, really don't want to leave Texas. We miss our family but little else pulls us away from here. The company has made a half hearted offer to transfer Kyle to Ohio - But we want to stay here, and we would have a hard time selling our house if we did want to leave.

So if you know of any positions open in the Internet/technology/business field let us know. Kyle has been with his company for seven years, the last two he has been a Product Manager. He handles websites for the automotive industry - including marketing and website analytics. (yeah I don't completely understand it.) Oh and he also has his MBA. I am going to try to get a link up to his resume later.

Right now I am going to go cry and rock my baby.........

Birth Of Cora Mae

Little Mommies

Maiya leaves Cora little toys and gifts while she is sleeping
I wish I could convey in the typed word how cute it is when Maiya calls Cora my "liwwel sisda"

Open Eyes

The couple times I have let Ella stand up holding Cora, makes her feel so grown up and proud! Ella will hold her all day if I let her. I haven't taken a shower without Ella in my bedroom holding her the whole time. Kyle is even getting a little jealous.

Benjamin is sweet too. He comes straight into my bedroom every morning to check on her.

so adorable they are...

Things I love right now...

• Sarah's suggestion to run hot water on a diaper and place it on my GINORMOUS chest for some relief from engorgement.
• My Nursing cover clips - A very cheap version of a nursing cover up that so far I like better. I don't have to take up room in my purse with another blanket and it works with any blanket. And down the road I can use it to make disposable "bibs" from napkins when we are out and about. Can't beat this one for $6
• Our new awesome stroller - we searched high and low for an umbrella stroller that accomodates an infant for our planned trip to Disneyland. This Stroller is a tri-fold that folds in half like a bigger stroller, then folds again like an umbrella. Its soooooo light and much smaller than those HUGE travel systems deals so it fits in our van easily. Using it for the first time today was a dream, so light and easy to push even with one hand. I could manuever all the doors solo without a problem. LOVE IT! Oh and it has a strap when folded so you can hook the whole stroller on your shoulder, so perfect for carrying through airports and such.
• And last but not least our Take-along Swing, Cora's favorite place to sleep. I can move it around where we are and still see her, but it has all the bells and whistle's of a full size swing - just perfect.

Update:

Cora went to the doctor for the first time today. She got rave reviews - she is jaundiced but everything else is perfect. She now weighs 8lbs. 9 ozs. The doctor was shocked that she was above birth weight. He said she was only the second baby he has seen that has gained above birth weight in five days.

We have fallen in love!

My first photo shoot with Baby Cora!

So here is the story

I was waiting for my amazing sister to finish the slideshow with all the great pictures Sarah got at the hospital, but college and work come first - and nursing round the clock doesn't leave me much time for making that slideshow either. So here goes - Cora's birth story.
I left you guys with the info that I would be having my membranes stripped Friday morning. Well Thursday nature kind of started on its own when I began to lose the mucus plug (yes this will be chock full of too much information - so turn back now if you so desire!). I was thrilled. I didn't lose my mucus plug with Ella until I was at the hospital in strong labor, so I thought the show was beginning to start!!! Well it didn't so I arrived at the doctor's visit frustrated but optimistic. I had my membranes stripped - and yes that did hurt, then headed straight to Target for a two hour fast walking shopping trip. Got home went upstairs with my husband, wink, wink. and then ate a SPICY lunch. I really was pulling out all the stops. That afternoon I even got on the trampoline, jumped for a while then thought no sense hurting the baby and I stopped. I thought I had truly entered crazy land. So I said a prayer, decided to let it go and enjoy the rest of the night. We made plans to go out to eat for Chinese - but strangely I wasn't hungry (should have taken that as a sign). So Kyle and I retreated upstairs again - even bigger wink, wink! This is the part I will spare details, the few that there are, but I began to feel something strange and had a few stronger contractions. Kyle declared we were going to the hospital! I wanted to stay home a while longer, but I conceded to him, thinking they would just send us back home anyway.
Well they didn't. That "strange" feeling was the baby's head. And I was starting to contract. This is where its confusing though. Even though her head was against my cervix, she was still "floating" the nurse could even push her back up as she painfully demonstrated to me. Oh and I was 5 cm dilated. So they wanted me to stay. And stay I did - ALL NIGHT. I was contracting, it was painful, but not a good pattern. I asked to have my water broken several times, but the nursed talked me into waiting and trying really stupid things like walking and laying on different sides - that killed my back!! I was so miserable. I HATED being tethered to all that stupid crap - I think it was around three that I hadn't changed at all, but was in considerable pain, that I broke down and got the epidural. I informed the anesthesiologist that all three previous epidurals failed me at the crucial time. She assured me hers would be the best by far. Well all I know is it hurt the worst going in. I swear she went totally Hannibal Lecter on my back - That hurt so bad. And guess what - it stopped working about an hour and a half before she was born. NICE!!!
So there we were heading to morning - I had been there all night, hadn't seen my doctor yet, they have had me on pitocin since the epidural, and the nurse checks me to inform me I am still 5 cms, and that not only had the baby not moved down further, she had moved up some! This nurse was a jerk too - I say through tears - I am not going to dilate without my water being broken, to which she responds, no probably not, but they won't break your water with the baby high up. My crying picks up and I say I am going to end up with a c-section. And she very lovingly says as she walks out the door "yeah probably" -- I proceeded to officially LOSE IT - I couldn't calm myself down. Sarah's husband Dylan came and he and Kyle gave me a wonderful blessing. My doctor and another doctor from the practice showed up, and decided to just slightly break my water and give the baby a chance to come down. So with a nurse shoving on the top of my belly they broke my water.
I proceeded rapidly to intense, extremely painful labor with a no show on the epidural. I asked for the anesthesiologist to come back - and this "dude" last name of "Zipper" - no joke showed up and pumped me full of more medicine. It didn't work - I cussed him out. I screamed for him to come back and he offered the last thing I wanted to hear "We can re-do the epidural" - I was willing to try anything to stop the pain. Kyle, Sarah, and Meg talked me out of it. Thank goodness because it was not long before she was born.
The nurse checked me and I was at 8cm. Before she got to the door I said I felt pressure - this is where it gets fuzzy to me, Since I had just been checked the nurse and the doctor were hesitant that I was really ready to push. So I just pushed anyway. I was on my side when the doctor realized I was crowning. I so desperately wanted to push her out on my side. That was what brought on the F words. Everyone making me get in the stirrups and on my back and scooted down and all that crap was so annoying! But it was over very shortly and my beautiful baby had arrived. She had swallowed a lot of fluid so she ended up on the warmer before my arms. Then there was trouble delivering the placenta (the cord broke away first) so they gave me a "little something" to help me relax. By time I got to hold her I was about three galaxies away.
I can honestly say that other than the frustration of not progressing all night - this is the BEST delivery I have ever had. Leaving "intact" as they called it, made all the difference in the world. I have been home since Sunday and other than killer after pains and now engorgement. I have felt really, really good. I also have to say that it was hard this time being so far from family and not having either Grandmother at the birth. But it was wonderful to have Meg and Sarah cheering me on. And Kyle - I have to publicly say, did and said all the right things. He made me feel loved, appreciated and even pretty at all the right times. I love him so much.
And thanks guys for all the wonderful comments - they have all made me smile.

Big sisters help with the photo shoot!

I would like to introduce you to...

the best big brother in the world!

Slideshow and story to follow, summary below...

12+ hours of labor (doubling my previous longest labor), frustration, tears, mean nurse, nice nurse, wonderful husband, awesome sister, best friend, doctor who eventually trusted my instincts, broken water (finally), beautiful baby girl one hour later, epidural that didn't work at the end, no episiotomy, tears, or stitches, best I have ever felt afterwards, home 24 hours later!