5 months!

Cora "Hangin' Tough" in a onesie her Tita Khristina bought for her!
Cora turned 5 months old this past Tuesday! It is exciting to think that in just one month she'll be half a year and we can do fun new things, such as start her on solids and go swimming! Time just keeps flying by. In this last month she has really mastered holding her head steady when upright as well as reaching for and grabbing at objects. Just this week she reached out and grabbed my face and it made me tear up a little! She really does make me an emotional mess sometimes. She can't sit up on her own yet but I feel like we're getting close. She still hates tummy time though, so she's probably not developing her muscles as much as I would like. Other fun things that developed this month are her desires to stand and jump! If she's getting fussy it's usually a quick fix to get her happy again just by holding her up to stand. Then if she's feeling extra movable, she starts jumping like a little frog! When that happens I usually try to put her in her jumper, but instead of jumping she'll get distracted by all the toys on it.


Fake sitting up
We got a care package in the mail from my good friend from college, Jessica. Her daughter turned 1 this last March so luckily she can give us a lot of hand me downs! She gave us tons of bibs, burp cloths, clothes, and toys. I was excited to see she had given us some soft blocks since those were the next toys on my list to buy for Cora. Since Cora is really trying to develop her reaching and grabbing, I was excited to see her play with the blocks. At first I tried to put her on her tummy to play with them, but of course that turned into her getting upset and crying. So thankfully Adam sat with her and held her up so she could play with them, and eventually try to eat them.



Last Friday we decided to try and get her to sleep in her crib. It was such an internal struggle for me that I started crying about it! That was a good enough sign for me that I'm not fully ready to get her out of the bed just yet. So we're taking baby steps. She has successfully taken a nap in her crib every day since Friday, so that's progress! It's good to know that she's comfortable enough in there to sleep, and that she can put herself to sleep in there. The first time it took a while for her to finally go down, probably 30-40 minutes. She kept kicking and spinning herself around, but she wasn't fussing. She seemed pretty content to be in there actually. Eventually though she wound down and napped for an hour and a half.

I also had something to celebrate on Tuesday - turning 29! Oh yes, the last year of my 20's. Usually I throw a birthday party at the house with all of Adam's and my friends, but I decided not to this year. Basically I was too lazy to want to host it by the time I realized I needed to plan for it! So instead we're meeting up with our friends this weekend to celebrate over lunch and pie. Last weekend we went to the Bishop Arts District and met up with Adam's parents for lunch at Hunky's Burgers and dessert at Emporium Pies. I seriously loved my pie so much that I decided we're going back this weekend! If you are in the Dallas area, do yourself a favor and eat some pie there! The menu changes seasonally, so unfortunately I just missed their Red Velvet Dr Love pie I had been wanting to taste. I ended up ordering the Ebony & Ivory (buttermilk chess pie with hazelnut spread) while we were there and then ordering a slice of Smooth Operator (french silk with a pretzel crust) to go! I am almost drooling thinking about them now. I can't wait for Saturday!

On the actual day of my birthday, Cora and I met up with my friend Audra for lunch. Audra runs the blog at The Kurtz Corner and is one of my very best friends. She and a couple of my other friends, Lisa and Mallory, threw my Dallas baby shower! It was very Pinterest worthy. She did a blog post about it that you can see here! It's a great post, but it almost pains me to see my pregnancy face in the last picture, haha! Not only did I gain 50+ pounds, but my nose spread! It's only in the last month or so that my "normal" face has started to come back. But I am obviously going on a tangent. As I was saying, we met up with Audra for lunch. It was nice to get out of the house and see a good friend. Plus Audra is so sweet with Cora! I can't wait for her to have one of her own.


Cora with Auntie Audra
Adam came home from work early since it was my birthday. He took us out to dinner and then, since my mom bought me a sewing machine for my birthday, we went to Jo-Ann's fabrics! I am like a super novice when it comes to sewing. I don't even know how to stitch up a small hole or sew on a button, so I felt like I was in a whole new world at Jo-Ann's. I picked out a couple of cutesy baby fabrics to practice on, some fabric scissors, and some patterns for when I start to get better! We got home and Cora was fussing, so Adam started setting up the sewing machine without me. Before I knew it, he had started sewing on it and made a burp cloth! Luckily for super novice me, I have Adam to help me get familiarized with my machine. Plus, Adam's mom, Marianne, is a pro at using a sewing machine and she will be giving me a master class next week. I practiced making a burp cloth last night and let's just say I really need to work on my straight seams! I can't wait to start learning from Marianne!



Adam hard at work sewing and the adorable finished result!
It is odd thinking I will be 30 already next year, but I'm looking forward to it. Looking back when I was younger, I don't know where I thought I'd be by the time I turned 30. My early 20's was a lot of partying with my friends - dressing up, going out for dinner, staying out late, dancing the night away under a disco ball! Every night we went to the club I always wanted to dance directly under the disco ball so I could take a picture of it. I seriously have TONS of pictures of them! That part of my life was definitely so much fun! These days I'm lucky to blow dry my hair or get my toe nails painted, and I couldn't tell you the last time I went dancing. I absolutely love my life now though and I'm so happy to be where I'm at. Getting married slowed me down a lot, and then having Cora really changed everything! Although I don't want to be staying out late with my party friends anymore, I do still appreciate it when they send me pictures of the disco balls they get to dance under!