Teeth

Quite by surprise, we noticed that Cora had sprouted her two bottom teeth on Saturday! The only clue that something had been afoot was that she woke up on the early side most of the days last week. Drool and chewing on toys seem to be a constant so that didn't really get us suspicious. Sorry you can't see them in the picture, but they're just popping through, so I think it will be a bit before they show up in a photo. Notice also how well she is sitting all by herself!

***Update: Make that 4 teeth! Saw the top two peeking through this morning as well. Whew, that's a lotta teeth at once.

A Niece!!!

Larson and Cora are pleased to announce the arrival of their cousin,

Claire Josephine Pacyna!

~

Our newest cutie was born 2/24/08 and is doing great. You can see pictures of her on the Pacyna blog. We can't wait to meet you, baby Claire!

Congratulations to Kate, Mark and new big brother Wyatt.

Signs of spring

Took a walk around the 'hood with the camera to capture signs that spring is around the corner. I just love that brief period when everything looks like it's waking up. Tiny shoots poking through the dirt - "Yes, we're still here! We made it through the winter!" Plump buds on branches just waiting for longer and warmer days to unfurl their flowery, leafy goodness. If we had more snow to melt here, I would be inhaling that earthy mud smell that breaks the crispness of cold, cold days.

I think it's just so cool to plant bulbs in the fall, on faith that some kind of action will take place down in the earth by spring. Then one day in March/April, just when you've practially forgotten that you even did all that digging back in October, voila!, the tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, etc, pop up almost overnight to herald spring with their friendly colors. It's just what I need to get me excited to plan and plant my garden.

Check out these cuties!

Remember this?

Ok, totally random, I know. But. Brett and I were having a little "date-night" type of thing and were trying to find something fun to watch on our computer from Netflix. So browsing through the TV shows they had for viewing, we found "Family Ties, Season 1". It was such a trip! The first season was from 1982. The pop culture references, fashion, etc: all so much fun to watch & remember. And the other thing was to notice how different the "sitcom" was then compared to now (wait, do we actually have them anymore, at least any that anybody watches?). It was almost like watching a play with a laughtrack. I think it seemed that way because we watch SO much reality TV these days (you know, Project Runway, Top Chef, Amazing Race and -- dare I mention it -- The Hills & The City?) that I've almost forgotten what it's like to watch actual acting. You know, when you think about it, all the drama in those shows I just named comes from the editing, not what's being said by the characters. Watching FT made me realize that once upon a time the actors were responsible for bringing you the laughs, the drama, etc all on their own. Kind of refreshing, really. I think I'll be back for more...

V-day follow up

I practiced using the close-up feature of our camera to capture our yummy cake, so I just wanted to share! Hope everyone had a sweet, lovely Valentine's Day. If you're nearby, come over for cake; otherwise, Larson will be requesting this for dinner every day for the next week!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are sending lots of love to everyone we can't personally hug & kiss today!

Saturdays are pancake day in our house. It's a tradition that I had growing up and soon after Larson was old enough to eat pancakes (and I wasn't working almost every Saturday!) I started making them in my own house. We make them from scratch, with buttermilk and real maple syrup and they are so good. Larson likes to help, too, and almost has the recipe memorized. He can measure and whisk like nobody's business! Today, I decided to try being a little crafty and make heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day. I'd say I did a pretty good job without one of those fancy pancake molds:

Here's the end result (note to self: there's a reason why food magazines put garnishes on the plates - looks a little bland with just the food, huh?):

The activity for the afternoon is making Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and lots of sprinkles! Here's hoping that I don't spill the powdered sugar all over the place like I did the last time I made cake frosting...

++ 6 months ++

So here we are. 6 months already - that's 0.5 of the first year! It's gone by so fast, yet at the same time none of us can really remember our family without Cora. Larson still has a few moments here and there when he probably wishes he had mom and dad to himself again, but overall he's been doing fabulous and dotes on her with hugs and kisses just like the rest of us.

Over the past 2 months, since I last updated, Cora has been joining us at the dinner table almost every night, sitting up like a big girl in the high chair. We've only just started solids and that's going pretty slowly at the moment, but she still likes being part of the action. Right around the 5 1/2 month mark she started rolling both ways, reminding both mom and dad that we can no longer just set her down anywhere!

Still very vocal and lots of smiles for everyone. No teeth yet, which is just fine (Larson had 2 by now!) and beginning to reach her maximum chubby quotient. Stripped down, she pretty much looks like a lady right out of a Rubens painting - I love it!

She has also graduated from the car seat for stoller riding and has been out a few times in BOB, enjoying looking at more than just the cloudy sky. She'll have to start duking it out with Larson for the next Street Scramble! (or, better yet, maybe we could just get L to starting pedaling his trike on a consistent basis...)

So, as I said: loves being at the table, not so sure about the food being eaten there. We mixed up the ol' rice cereal this past weekend and it did not get rave reviews. (after seeing it again, though, I'm not sure I blame her - the dry stuff looks like soap flakes!) No big rush, though, we'll just keep trying every few days or so."Hmmmm...maybe I'll just chew on the bib today..."

True to the fact that things usually just work themselves out, she's been sleeping great for a while now. She reliably takes one morning and one afternoon nap, sometimes a quick second one, then sleeps at night from 7pm to 7am with one night feeding, which is just fine with me. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Swaddle weaning

Both of our kids were swaddled as newborns and happy to sleep that way for several months. We were running into difficulties recently with Cora, though, because as she grew, it became more and more of a challenge to keep her in there. We initially thought that maybe she was just ready to be done and to sleep unfettered but a trial of that soon proved us wrong: lots of crying, flailing arms and frustration because she could remove the pacifier, but didn't yet know how to get it back in. But using our commercial swaddle blanket was just getting to be too ridiculous (we were actually using safety pins because the velcro wouldn't stay put - not exactly the best choice, n'est-ce pas?). So...with the help of my sewing machine, I made the little contraption you see below (Brett refers to it as her straight-jacket):

I just took one of those long-sleeve sleep sack things and basically sewed the arms closed, then cut them off. It worked like a charm! She's able to move her arms around inside, but can't get them up and out of the top. Not to mention it takes about 1/10 the time to put her in it.

So for anyone else out there transitioning out of the swaddle, here's a pretty easy solution to make things a little easier!