9 months!

What a difference 9 months makes!
My little cutie turned 9 months this month! It is so hard to believe that she will be a year old in just 3 short months. I remember feeling like my pregnancy was taking forever. It really felt like I was pregnant for years. Now here we are, 9 months after she was born and it went by in a flash! Her 9 month check up was great, especially since she didn't have to get any shots. It's always a good doctor's visit if we're not leaving with her crying! They said she looks great, very healthy and very happy, and of course, very cute! She's 28.5 inches long, which puts her in the 83rd percentile! She's a pretty tall little gal. For weight, she is 18 lbs, 11 oz, which is in the 60th percentile. It is so crazy looking at the above picture. Cora looks so gigantic now!

We started Cora in swimming lessons! I knew we would start her in them eventually, but Adam wanted to go ahead and get her used to being in the water now. We will be going to swim lessons every week until mid-December. The goals for this class is to submerge for 5-6 seconds, move along the wall, be comfortable in the water, float on back with help, and be able to jump to parent. I was super nervous because I didn't know what to expect right off the bat, so I asked Adam to do it with her first. I was just nervous that we would have to submerge her already and I really think she will freak out when we do that. Luckily they don't do that right away, so Cora had a great time! She really enjoyed sitting on the ledge of the pool and then "jumping" in. We are supposed to count to 3 and then bring her into the water, but mostly she would try to jump in herself before we got to 3. She loved going down the slide too during her first session. It was great to see how much she loved being in the pool, especially since she was kind of wary of being in a pool when we took her in one back in May. Since her first session went so well I felt comfortable going with her during her second session, and I will likely be the parent with her from now on. I really love that we have this to look forward to every week!


Excited to get back in the pool!
We took Cora to the park for the first time. My neighborhood has a small playground just a few houses down from us, so we decided to take her down there at dusk one evening since it was cool enough to be outside for a little while. We were the only ones there. I was so excited to put her in the swings! I thought she would love it, but of course she was really just okay with it haha. I think she just didn't know what to think of it. She wasn't upset, but she just didn't have any expression on her face. Adam tried taking her down the slide with him and he held her on his lap on the big kid swings, but she still just seemed confused on everything. Adam tried taking her down there again a few days later. There were a lot more families there that time, and apparently she paid more attention to all the kids running around than to what she was doing. I am sure she will love it in no time!


"What is happening here, Mom??"
Cora has been crawling around everywhere now that she is mobile! She is so quick now. It takes no time at all for her to get from the middle of the living room and on to our kitchen baby gates so she can look at the puppies. She also loves cruising around our ottoman and the perimeter of pack and play. I keep her pack and play in our bathroom so I can put her in there if she's awake when I need to go in there. Before, she would be happy to play with her toys while in there, but now she immediately pulls up to cruise as soon as I put her down in there. She pretty much just keeps cruising around it while I'm in the shower, but I still get nervous in case she falls! She has fallen a few times in there, but she just gets scared and not hurt, so at least that's good!


Forget my toys! I want to walk!
We've been working on Cora's pincer grasp and getting her to feed herself. I've been giving her those Gerber Puffs and Cheerios. She still kind of gags when I give her Cheerios, so I like the Puffs for her better for now since they dissolve more easily. She can get them in her mouth, but she definitely needs a lot more practice to get it in there every time. I find that she usually just keeps them in her hand and squeezes them, or they end up in her chair. She really prefers to feed it to herself and won't let me put it in her mouth. I'm so proud of her!


Being silly while eating her Cheerios!
My parents and sister, Kharmene, came into town last weekend. My parents hadn't seen Cora since July so they were itching to get down here and see her. It was a good time as usual, with a lot of eating out! Cora got a bunch of new stuff - toys, clothes, a play gate, and one of those foam alphabet and number floor mats. She is definitely a spoiled little baby! My parents also bought me some clothes. I haven't shopped for myself in so long. It felt so good to shop and try on clothes! I pretty much only wear 4 different shirts these days when I actually go out and about because I need shirts that are drapey around my tummy haha. It was starting to get a little frustrating to wear the same thing over and over again, so I am so happy I finally bought some new stuff. Of course though, the first time I wore a couple of the shirts Cora immediately got them dirty for me! Food and spit up on one shirt, a poop explosion on the other one! Ah, the joys of motherhood!


The family trying out a new coffee house Saturday morning
Adam and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary this month! What an exciting milestone for us! I can't believe that it's already been 5 years. Actually, I can haha. For whatever reason I kept thinking last year was our 5 year mark. Really it feels like it's been no time at all. I have basically been with Adam since I moved down to Dallas. I think I met him 2 or 3 months after I moved down here, and we were officially dating just a couple months after that. He has been such an amazing best friend, husband, and father to Cora! He is so supportive of me and I am so grateful for that. I was reading this post on the Scary Mommy blog about becoming a stay at home mom. One of the things that really stood out to me was this paragraph:

As much as we like to think it will happen, our husbands will never walk in to the house after their day and say, “Hey, you did a really great job today! I am so proud of you and don’t know how you do it all!” I mean, how often do you say to your husband, “I know it is so hard to get up every morning, head in to work despite the weather and our adventures here at home, work hard to keep your job, and come home to kids screaming because they are DONE for the day?” Right? We all take each other for granted. So if you are looking for words of encouragement, your partner is not the right place. Don’t expect it.

I do feel very lucky because Adam is incredibly encouraging, and he actually does tell me that I've done a great job and that he's proud of me and that he doesn't know how I do it. Honestly it's me that doesn't show him how grateful I am. I definitely need to fix that!

Anyway, to celebrate our 5 year anniversary Adam took us to the nice steak house inside the Gaylord Texan hotel. When I say "us," I do mean Cora was included. Yes, Adam and I were THAT couple. We took our baby to a fine dining restaurant! Unfortunately for us, Cora was pretty fussy that night and did not want to be still. Luckily we went early enough in the evening that there weren't a lot of people at the restaurant yet. We had sympathetic wait staff though and no one made us feel bad about having Cora there. We did have to take turns eating though while the other one held and entertained Cora. Towards the end of our meal I was holding Cora and I could feel her just farting away. I just knew she was likely pooping too! Adam had changed a wet diaper at the beginning of the meal, so we already knew there weren't any baby changing stations in the restaurant bathroom. Really, why would there be? I'm guessing not too many people bring their little babies to this restaurant haha. So once we left I was able to change her diaper in one of the hotel bathrooms. As I was washing up I saw that I got food on my shirt that made me look like I was lactating! It was a pretty funny anniversary dinner, but Adam and I still had a great time together.

Another big couple-with-a-baby milestone we met recently was our very first date alone! It is probably pretty unbelievable that it took over 9 months for us to go out without Cora. I guess technically we went on a "date" without Cora back in February when we attended our baby CPR class, but I don't count that. My sister, Khristina, watched Cora while Adam and I went to watch a documentary on my favorite musician, Butch Walker. You may have not heard of him, but you have most likely heard his work. He has written and produced for several big music acts like Katy Perry, Weezer, Pink, Fall Out Boy, etc. I highly recommend you check out his music! Anyway, I was nervous how Cora would react with us gone because she's at the age where babies experience lots of separation anxiety. Khristina sent us this picture to let us know how she was doing.


Khristina is hi-larious! :)
When we got home I was fully expecting Cora to be so excited to see me, but alas, she was more excited to see her dad!

On the Move

Cora has been keeping busy these last few weeks!

For my sister Khristina's birthday weekend, we went to Conroe, TX to visit with Adam's friend, Stephen, and his family, including sweet baby Nora! Cora was very excited to see and play with Nora. She is always so tickled to see other little kids, especially other babies her size. Nora's brother, Tinnin, was so sweet with Cora. He would just come up and hug on Cora and he even kissed her on the lips! It was so cute and funny. Khristina and I joked about how once they get older Cora will probably have a crush on Tinnin and his friends.


Cora eager to get to Nora!


Look at how happy Cora is to be with her little buddy!
We were only there one night but we had a lot of fun. Before we left, they took us out on the boat! I haven't been on a boat like that in so long. I even went tubing with Adam and Tinnin! I was scared and I ended up being so sore from holding on so tightly, haha. We brought Cora and Nora on the boat and they both wore little life vests. They both took naps on the boat, I was so surprised!


Cora not looking too happy in her life vest, haha
Cora really showed just how much she loves her dad last week. Adam had a lot of late nights last week due to work, and one night he had a work dinner so he didn't make it home until after she went to bed. Every time he came home she would snuggle up to him and hold on to him. It was so sweet! Sometimes when he would get up to go into the garage she would start crying thinking he would be gone for good. I'll admit I would feel a little jealous that she didn't cuddle me like that! But I guess she sees me all day every day so she doesn't really get a chance to miss me too much!


Cora loves Papa
The biggest news of late though is all the moving Cora has been doing! We have really been working on getting her to pull herself up, cruise, and crawl. Earlier last week we noticed that she was able to sit up from lying down! She was on her back, flipped over on her tummy, and then moved herself up into a sitting position. It was very exciting! We knew she was so close to crawling! The dogs have been lots of motivation for her, so we thought they would be the motivation she needed to crawl to us. We would hold the one or both of our dogs in our laps to try to get her to crawl. She would be excited and kind of start to crawl, but would quickly just back up to sitting position again. Then on Thursday the 29th, we decided to try something else. On our way home from Conroe, we let Cora watch the latest Muppets movie. She was getting tired of Sesame Street but thought she would still appreciate seeing some muppets on her screen. Every time Kermit the Frog popped up she would squeal in delight! So on Thursday we pulled up a picture of Kermit on our iPad to see what she would do. She was so happy to see him and started crawling! I was so excited and proud of her! Of course, I couldn't help but cry.


I watched the video afterwards and teared up over it again! What can I say, I'm an emotional mama! Haha, and to be totally honest, I still tear up watching it now!


Ha ha
Now she crawls all over the place and I have to be SUPER vigilant when she takes a nap. She still isn't in her crib, so she naps on our bed. I keep the camera monitor on at all times and basically run to the bedroom when she wakes up! She is usually already sitting up by the time I get in there. She's also doing great with pulling herself up and cruising along the couch. I am not as comfortable with her cruising. I get scared she's going to fall at any moment. I guess I need to just get over it though and let her fall if she falls. We have an ottoman instead of a coffee table, so it's not like she'll bang her head on a sharp corner or anything. I know she's going to get a little bruised up now that she's mobile, so I have to get over that fear! She's still my little baby though so it's so hard to think of her getting hurt. Also, and this is really silly, I miss her now that she's crawling! Even though we are still together and in the same room I kind of long for her now that I'm not carrying her everywhere. She's getting so independent! I guess my little baby won't be such a little baby for much longer!


Of course we bought her a Kermit the Frog doll!
As for me, I've been trying to do more things for myself lately. For whatever reason, I feel this strong sense of guilt when there are things I want to do or buy. I feel bad because I think we could be using this money for Cora instead or I could be spending my time with her. I also feel bad since I'm not bringing in any income. Adam has been great though and still tells me that I should buy or do whatever I want, so I'm not sure why I feel so guilty. I officially joined a MOMS club in my area. I'm excited to get to know other stay at home moms and to give Cora a chance to socialize. I am kind of shy though so it feels like a huge step for me to go to these events without Adam! I've only been to 2 meetings so far though, but hopefully I will start going to more as I get more comfortable.

I've also started Jazzercise! I went a few times years ago with my friend and old co-worker, Megan. She is now an instructor and told me about a Groupon they had earlier in the summer. Khristina bought the Groupon too so we have been going together. Khristina used to do Zumba, but she said she likes Jazzercise better. I think Jazzercise doesn't have a "sexy" reputation like Zumba does, but it is really fun! If you've never been before, they do jazz style dances for 45 minutes and then strength for the last 15 minutes. It's really great and I definitely break into a sweat! You can burn up to 600 calories in an hour! I really want to get a heart rate monitor now so I can see just how much I burn.

Last Friday, Khristina and I went to the Backstreet Boys concert. They are the original boy band that I fell in love with years and years ago! I was the typical teeny bopper that had their posters wall papered all over my bedroom. I bought us pit tickets and we had a great spot! We got there while their opening band was on stage and we were still able to stand right up front on the barricade! We were off to the side, but still had a great view. I was kicking myself though the rest of the weekend for not buying the VIP to meet them. I found out after the fact that Adam would have been fine with me purchasing it. I told him about it, but thought he didn't want me to do it, so I didn't push the issue when he asked me if I wanted it. It would have only been $350, which is still a lot of money but a great deal considering everything I would have received with it, and also considering how much other VIP's are! I would have gotten a one on one meet and greet with them, an individual photo with them, soundcheck, q&a, and I can't even remember what else. In comparison, a one on one with the New Kids on the Block is about $1,000! And Justin Timberlake's VIP is $2,500, and you don't even get to meet him! Oh well, maybe next time.

One Month Wrap Up

I can't believe it's already been a month since our cruise. I don't know why it took me so long and 3 entries to write about it haha. Of course so much has happened since we got back!

Unfortunately the combination of Adam being sick and being confined on a germy cruise boat caused Cora to get sick too. She's had little bouts of sickness before, but it's just been stomach related. This time it was an all out flu, complete with fever, coughing, and vomiting. It was so terrible! Cora is an incredibly happy baby but this sickness really took it out of her. She cried a lot too, I felt so bad. There were so many times when she'd cry and I would cry with her. She didn't want to play with her toys or do any fun sensory lessons. She just wanted to sleep a lot, cuddle with Mama, and zone out. We watched a lot of TV. I always feel bad if I let her watch too much tv, but she really didn't want to do much else.


My poor sick baby, refusing to smile
Initially when we went to the doctor her fever was mild and she was acting pretty happy, so they wanted her to just ride out her fever. Even though she was coughing and vomiting, they weren't concerned since her chest sounded clear and she didn't have any congestion at that point. Her vomiting was due to her gag reflex. That night though her fever shot up to 103 degrees, so we gave her tylenol and a tepid bath to help bring her temperature down. Her fever was so crazy. It definitely stayed with her for a few days, I think 5 days total! At one point it got up to 105 degrees! I felt very lucky to have my dad and sister to call for medical advice when I was very worried and couldn't wait for her doctor's office to open or wanted a second opinion. Luckily we never had to take her to the ER, even with her crazy high fever. Adam and I had some very sleepless nights though since she would cough in her sleep and end up vomiting. Even with a sheet saver under her head it would still sometimes get on to the sheets. We would have to get up at least once a night to change the sheets, but there were a couple nights when we had to do it more than once! Needless to say our washer and dryer were put into overdrive that week. I woke up even more during the night though to continually check her temperature with her hand and see how hot she was. She likes sleeping on her side, so her side exposed to the air would be fairly cool, but her side laying on the bed would be so hot. I would flip her and put a damp wash cloth on her to help cool her down. Finally at the end of the week her fever finally broke!


Making up for lost time and playing with all her toys!
While we were on the cruise she started reaching for us. It felt so great to actually be able to see when she wanted to be with us or held by us. She has also started to be cuddly with us! I love when I'm carrying her and she will just lay her head down on my shoulder or chest. She'll put her head on my chest too when she's being bashful. Sometimes she'll turn her head away from whoever she's being shy of, put her head down, and just smile. It's so cute, I love it! She will also sometimes put her arm over me when we're laying down and it really feels as if she's cuddling me!


Cuddling with Mom and cuddling with Dad!
She has also really started to show interest in walking! She can't crawl or scoot or anything yet though. She loves to stand with our help already and now she loves to walk with our help too. Pretty much any time she is cranky it can be remedied by letting her walk around the house. We try to get her to cruise on the couch, but she can't do it still. I can tell that she wants to crawl, but for some reason she won't. I've seen her kind of crawl backwards though! I guess it wasn't so much crawling as it was her scooting herself backwards on her tummy. I've also seen her turn herself while she's sitting to face another direction, so I know she has it in her! My mom said that I skipped the crawl phase and that I went straight to walking at about 9 months, so maybe that's what will happen to her too!


One of Cora's first walks around the house
Cora has really started to appreciate her reflection in the mirror. We have played in front of the mirror before, but now every time we put her in front of a mirror she goes to kiss her reflection. It's so cute! And I guess she's not really kissing it since she doesn't know how, but that's the best way for me to describe it haha. She's just so happy to see herself, or I suppose her adorable baby friend that does all the same things she does. It's so weird though because she doesn't react the same way when she sees herself on the phone. She is still happy to see herself most times but she never tries to kiss herself.


A couple of examples of Cora kissing Cora
She has also started to notice the art work around our house! Adam's mom, Marianne, is an artist and we have a nice series of seasonal paintings hanging in our living room. One day she started smiling and squealing when she saw one of them. She wanted to go up to it and see it up close and feel it. She still smiles a lot and wants to interact with it when it catches her eye. Marianne painted a cute elephant painting for Cora's nursery and Cora loves it too! It's so funny to think that she is just now noticing something that's been there for her whole life ;)



Another fun thing she's started to do is pulling things out of their bins or boxes. Now she goes through her little toy bins and pulls out whatever she wants. I think that led to what I feel like is probably a kid rite of passage: pulling DVD's off the shelf. Always a fun activity!


Cora in action!



And the end result!
The biggest development for Cora is that her teeth have started to come in! We noticed both her little bottom teeth towards the end of July. For the most part she has been dealing with them very well! There was only one night where they were really bothering her. I definitely cried with her! She was crying like I had never heard before, it was so terrible. I felt so bad for her. It was already late at night and we didn't have anything to remedy her pain. She was also on a nursing strike since it hurt for her to suck. I felt so bad because I could tell she wanted to nurse to eat and for comfort but she couldn't. She would get up to me, eager to nurse, but as soon as she tried she would start wailing in pain. I ended up having to pump. The upside of that night though was that we got her to drink milk from a sippy cup! It felt like such a triumph since she refused to drink milk from a bottle and has always nursed on me. Once she drank the milk from the sippy cup she fell asleep. I was so relieved that she was at peace again! Luckily her nursing strike ended after 20 hours and it was back to normal. I am happy I was able to pump a little supply though for next time!


Check out those little chompers!
I have been doing some more simple sensory/exploratory play with Cora. In this last month we've done cornstarch and water (so messy!), warm water with frozen shaped baby food and ice (also so messy!), rice with hidden objects, and a simple ribbon pull from an empty wipes box. I'm planning on picking up a box of fun pasta shapes for her next. Any other suggestions on some fun sensory play for her? I think I have a ton of things on Pinterest I want to try, but it's always fun to hear about other babies' successes.


So messy with her cornstarch!


Frozen star shaped baby food in water. Cora decided to try out some frozen carrots, and was not pleased!


Someone decided to make a mess with her rice and hidden objects! Oh well, at least she was able to keep exploring!

Cora has been fortunate enough this last month to have some great quality time with her cousins! Adam's twin brother, Andrew, has three children: Caylin, Ellie, and Addyson. Addyson is less than 4 months younger than Cora! We hope that they grow up to be close to each other. Addyson had her baptism at the end of last month and just last Sunday we had a big Phelps family get together where Cora got to play with Caylin and Ellie. It was so sweet to see Caylin trying to play and share with Cora! She was so excited to help her walk around. Ellie, who is turning 3 this December, was so sweet with Cora too. She asked me if she could pet her, it was cute. I really loved seeing them all interact with each other! I really hope they grow up having fun together.


Cora trying to snatch Addyson's headband after her baptism.


Cora getting help from Caylin to walk around


Ellie getting ready to pet Cora while Cora plays with her and Caylin's flip flops
As for me, I finally reached my pre-pregnancy weight! Before I got pregnant I was 132 pounds. As of yesterday's weigh-in, I am 131.5 pounds! Woo hoo! I still have a ways to go before I get to my desired weight though, but who knows if I will ever get there haha. I think my desired goal is 120, but I will probably be ecstatic if I get into the 120's at all. I really need to start exercising again, which I plan on finally doing starting next week! We will see if I really commit though. I am really thankful that breastfeeding has helped tremendously with my weight loss. I am certainly not dieting. I'm not going crazy with food, but I pretty much eat what I want. And I have definitely been eating Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cups as if I can never get them again. Don't get me wrong though, just because I am less than my pre pregnancy weight does not mean I look the same! I still have my baby pouch I need to get rid of. I can wear all my pre-pregnancy pants, but it is pretty much just muffin top city. Unless I kick myself into high gear with working out, I think my days of low rise pants may be no more! I finally understand why mom jeans are so darn high!

Cora's Big Adventures - Part 3

The day after Skagway was just a day at sea. We all got to sleep in and just be leisurely about our day. At this point in the trip, Adam had been sick for days already. It had started out as what he thought was just allergies but then quickly turned into the flu complete with fever and cough. I kept trying to tell him to rest throughout the week but he wouldn't have any of it. Going to Alaska has always been one of his biggest dreams so he didn't want to waste any of it recuperating in bed. I was happy when we finally got our day at sea so he could take it easy!


Cora and I booked it to my parents' cabin as soon as we woke up so we could let Adam rest!
The day was mostly uneventful for Cora and me. I think the rest of my family had fun going around the boat, but really besides eating I think Cora and I hung out in our cabin for most of the day! I think all our being out and about during the previous days really tired Cora. We were a little more active that evening though. For dinner my family decided to try out the Brazilian steakhouse. It was pretty terrible. The service, the meats, everything was just not good! We were most excited about getting some picanha (which is usually the signature meat at Brazilian steakhouses, so crispy and flavorful!), but even that was not good. Probably the best part of the meal was dessert! I think we will probably stick to the great Brazilian steakhouses available here in DFW from now on!


At least Cora found something tasty to munch on!
After dinner we went to the Spinnaker Lounge to watch my little sister do karaoke with the cruise band. It was fun to be up there and to see her perform! Cora of course got tired and cranky though so we went back to our cabin. Luckily we got to see Khloe perform twice. This night was actually the first night we weren't in our cabin during turn down service so we had a towel animal waiting for us! Our room steward made a little monkey hanging from the ceiling. Cora was so interested in it! We held her up to it so she could touch it. She ended up pulling on it and its head fell off haha.


Moments before the monkey decapitation

Our final stop on the cruise was in Victoria, Canada. I think all of us were actually not that excited for this stop, thinking it would be a boring little town. It was actually a really great place! The downtown area was so nice and everything on the water front was so picturesque. In the end we all wished we had more time to explore the city. While we were there though we just took a walk to downtown and had some dinner at a Tapas restaurant. Here are some great pictures Adam took while we were there of some houseboats, what I'm assuming is their capitol building, and a fancy hotel on the water front.




The weather was absolutely beautiful that day and we didn't even need our coats. The sun was out and the temperature was perfect. Cora was good and rode in her stroller on our walk to downtown. It is funny, but Victoria was actually the only place on her whole trip where Cora didn't get a single compliment haha. Ah well, perhaps the standards of cuteness in Victoria is higher ;)


Cora enjoying her stroll
That night not only gave us a big blast out that night, but she also vomited! I started to get nervous that she was getting sick since Adam had been sick the whole trip and we were in such close quarters. We had to get new sheets from the room steward after she had her blast out. After she vomited we didn't want to call the steward again so we ended up removing the sheet from the bed and putting towels down. I don't know why we just didn't call the steward haha. We had already put our luggage out for easy debarkation the next day so we had to just strip Cora down to her diaper for the night. Cora was very upset that night and I was worried for her. I was happy though knowing we were on the boat with several doctors in our group that could help if necessary, and I was happy knowing we were getting off that boat the next day! Luckily the next morning Cora was back to her usual happy self!



Cora's last morning with my parents!
Kharmene, Jonathan, and Khloe didn't have flights out until later so we said our goodbyes to them on the boat and headed to the airport with my parents, Khristina, and Khristian. We got to have one last lunch with them in the airport before we had to say goodbye to them as well.

Cora did pretty well on our flight back to Dallas. Luckily no big blast outs this time! She got a little cranky and cried a little bit here and there, but nothing that we weren't able to handle. At one point she woke up from her nap and started crying immediately. She saw a pack of our Kleenexes and as soon as she put it in her mouth she fell asleep! At the end of the flight the lady behind us told Cora that she was such a good baby, so it was good to hear that Cora did a good job!


Ha ha
Unfortunately, Adam didn't do as well on the flight. He was still sick and congested, and his ear drum popped! I felt terrible because I was so sleepy that I wasn't even awake to be there for him while he was in pain. Although it did hurt him, he said he felt a lot better after it popped!

Finally in my next entry I can tell everyone what we've been up to since the cruise! Lots has happened since then since it's been almost a month already, so it'll be a full entry! Hopefully I can publish it this week if I have time!

P.S. Today is Cora's 8 month mark!


Happy 2/3rd birthday to Cora!