Another boy baby!

Late in August, we gathered on a beautiful afternoon for Sarah & Greg's baby shower. (Sarah is the one with the adorable baby bump and Greg just to her right.) Their little baby boy is going to join the 17 little boys produced by our residency class. That's right, out of 14 women who have had babies, 13 of us have had a boy for the first child! Crazy, huh? There are a few girls, actually; 7 to be exact. But I think no one is suprised any more when another of us announces that she is expecting her first child, a boy. :)

Cora was practicing her walking in her summer party dress.

Oops! Down she goes...

And up again!

So excited to be independent.
The most popular grown-up with the under-4 set is definitely Matt. They just couldn't get enough of him on the swing. This is standard fare for any of our get-togethers.

We tried to crowd as many kids as possible onto the swing. Here's a rare shot of our two little ones together.

And the whole group! Dalton, Alden (getting a little squished, but not seeming to mind that much - yet), Matilda (hiding), Alex, Malia, Kaleo, Larson & Cora.

Annika & Jess produced some very delicious afternoon tea fare and once again outdid themselves. It was great to get together and celebrate another baby boy - congratulations to Sarah & Greg!

Blackberry picking

August once again brought blackberries to our neighborhood. After we decided the strawberry jam I made back in June was actually edible and, in fact, quite good, the family set out to gather blackberries for more jam-making. Last year when I did this, Cora was only a couple of weeks old and slept in the Moby the entire time. This year she has graduated to the backpack and is twice as heavy!
Larson was a bit put off by the "prickers" and elected to spend the morning using his spray bottle to "get bugs."

He did help out a little, though, and all was going well until I set Cora's backpack down & turned around for a minute. I turned back to find a big, black, buzzing insect in her right eye! The poor thing was trying to rub it away and not having much luck. I rushed at it with the fierceness of a mother bear defending her cub, but she was left with either a sting or fly bite just below her eye....and a lot of tears to accompany it. Note to self: do not leave baby unattended near blackberry bushes laden with fruit!

Good thing she likes fruit! Stuffing herself full of blackberries was a good way to feel better, along with dad's lap.

We picked enough for a full batch of jam, which tastes pretty good. I didn't quite figure out how to strain the seeds out, so maybe that's a project for next year. It feels so retro to have a pantry shelf of mason jars full of jam that I made myself. But certainly a great way to "preserve" summer memories for the rest of the year.

Garbage day

Hmmm....what's all the excitement happening outside our window on this ordinary Wednesday morning?

Garbage and Recycling pick up, of course!

Who knew the big green trucks would be such a delight? :)

We made it.

***Warning: this post is going to be about breastfeeding and pumping. Those with a Y chromosome may want to skip it :)

Well, I can finally say that I have taken my own advice. Cora made it an entire 12 months without so much as a drop of formula. I have fulfilled the AAP's recommendation that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first year of life.

Let me tell you: it was no picnic. But I'm glad I did it and would probably make all the same choices if I had to do it again. I thought I would post a little about what I needed to do. Why? Partly because I could have used some advice and encouragement when I was attempting to do this same thing with Larson (didn't quite get there, but a great effort considering that I was a resident at the time), partly because I want to acknowledge on behalf of women everywhere how much planning and effort this can take and partly because I just feel proud of myself. I sustained my baby for a full year (plus other food, of course, for part of that year) and that gives me a sense of accomplishment that I've done something great for her.

Here's a bit of what I learned:

1) Count the feedings. If you're going to pump and not feed your baby formula, it means that every time the baby would be eating, you should be pumping. This seems oh so obvious to me now (maybe I'm just a little slow), but it took a while for me to get that the "supply and demand" part of breastfeeding matters when you pump as well.

2) The Pump. Never leave home without it. I mean never. I have pumped in public restrooms, at my friend's baby shower, in the car, in offices, in a locker room, you name it. You know how in the Bourne Identity, Matt Damon talks about how he looks for the exits whenever he goes somewhere new? I pretty much stake out the pumping options. One of my coworkers always joked that she knew when I was coming, because she could hear the metal zipper things on my pump jingling.

3) You can trick your body. When Cora starting sleeping more through the night at about 5-6 months, I would feed her at bedtime around 6:30, then pump once before I went to bed. I found it hard to pump enough milk just at the regular times (especially later in the week) because, let's face it, the message your body gets from a machine is not exactly the same as what it gets from a warm body. That extra 5oz or so every night was just enough to get me through the work week.

4) Get up in the night. When Larson was about 6 months old, we did the cry-it-out-thing (which lasted only 2 nights, fortunately) and he was done eating in the night. With Cora, I was willing to get up in the night to feed her pretty much until she was 9+ months old. While I was sleep-deprived, I would never trade those precious minutes of bonding with her in the night for anything. It helped keep the whole thing going for me, I think, and I was ok with that.

So that's about it. If I can do it, anyone can. But, like breastfeeding in general, I think it helped that I made my mind up at the beginning that I was going to do it, and was willing to do what it took. But I'm here to say that it's possible. Would she have been fine otherwise? Of course! Am I a bit cuckoo? Maybe. But no regrets at all :)

+ One +

It seems like just yesterday I was logging on to relay all the vital stats of Cora's arrival but indeed an entire year has gone by! We celebrated with friends and family (yay! now that my sister lives here, I get to say that for hopefully every birthday!) in the park on Cora's First Birthday this weekend.She got her own, mini pink cake to destroy while the grown ups and kids ate cupcakes and a bigger version. I love making cake. And who doesn't love eating it? Birthday cake is the one dessert I think should only be made from scratch. Larson helped this year and was a great sous-chef. We made a white cake with strawberry frosting, which had the added benefit of being pink!

Cora had a lot to say to Claire on the blanket. She had been sitting up but decided what was needed was to be directly eye-level with her cousin as she chattered away at her. It was pretty funny!

Happy cake girl...

Our cutie, making a break for it!

Wyatt, Larson, Claire and Elizabeth, who will be one exactly one week after Cora!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to celebrate with us. And thanks to my awesomely artistic sister, who gets the credit for all the great photos of the event. We had a wonderful time!

Cora at One

Dear little Cora,
What a year it has been getting to know you and watching you grow. You've come such a long way from those initial days that you spent tucked inside the Moby, snuggled with mom, oblivious to all the activity around you. You've always liked being held and cuddled, but these days you're starting to become more interested in exploring on your own. Champion crawler, you can move like nobody's business and have a bit more daring than your older brother did. Now that you're starting to walk, you still fall a lot but that doesn't seem to bother you too much: walk a few steps, fall, look around, get up again and keep going! When you do cry, however, it's hard not to notice, with those giant crocodile tears that plop down your cheeks.
For the most part, you are happy and smiling. You love looking at people and greeting them with your babbles and waves everywhere you go. If you're upset, it's almost always because you are hungry or tired or not feeling well. Otherwise, you are good to go! At home, you love to explore everything and do such a nice job of playing on your own, talking to yourself the whole time. Sometimes Larson gets a little defensive when you're interested in his things, but most of the time he can be coaxed to share with his "dear little lady," as he sometimes calls you.


We're so happy that you've joined our little family and it feels bittersweet that this first year has come to a close. We can't wait to continue to watch you grow and change and will cherish the memories of your first days & months always. We love you!

Cousins

We've discovered that having cousins around is pretty cool. You can feel the energy level rise a few notches when these two get together. Drilling, playing ball, running around outside, driving trucks, you get the idea. Yay for cousins!