"Mama"

Cora working on sitting up
Cora has been churning right along with her developments and picking up new habits. She is still working on sitting on her own without any support. She always ends up kicking herself backwards for some reason, as if she wants me to let her stand. She's able to do it longer and longer though, so hopefully she will be able to do it any day now. Lately when she naps she will flip herself on to her belly while she's sleeping.The first time she did it I got scared thinking of the back to sleep campaign and started worrying about her suffocating herself. My mom and Adam's mom reminded me though that it is okay for her to sleep on her stomach at this age since she is strong enough to flip herself around now. I still stayed in the room with her the whole time just in case! Now though I feel comfortable leaving the room, I just keep the monitor on the whole time. I usually do that anyhow, so nothing new there. If I get really nervous though I will pan the camera around so I can see that she's breathing!


Terrifying!
The most exciting development for me though is that she finally said Mama! Of course the first time she did it, I just paused, repeated it to myself, and cried a little. I had to quickly refocus and go back to being Mama though because she was fussing and tired. I know she's not really saying Mama though as if she was actually acknowledging me. It is just her babbling, but I still love it! Pretty much she will only say Mama when she's distressed. She starts off just making an mmmm sound and it evolves into her saying "mum mum mum mum." This morning though after she woke up she was happy and just kept repeating Mama over and over again. I get tickled every time! It's funny though, my friend GJ has told me before that Henry will say Mama when he's distressed and Dada when he's happy. Looks like that may be the same situation with Cora!

Cora is battling her first bout of sickness. She's been coughing for the last week or so, but I didn't think anything of it because she fake coughs all the time. I've read before that babies like to fake cough because of the way it feels and sounds, so I really didn't mind her coughing for a while. Then she started coughing in her sleep and harder than her normal fake cough so I got concerned. Then earlier this week her eyes started gunking up. It had happened when she was younger but it was just a blocked tear duct. With a little massage it went away quickly. At first this week it was just one eye, but then her other eye started up too. That night when we woke up to change her diaper, one of her eyes had gunked up so badly she couldn't open it! I brought her in to the doctor the next day and found out she has a little bit of pink eye! I felt so bad. Her eyes aren't red or pink at all though, but the doctor said she had a little bit of it around the outside of her eye. She prescribed her some drops and she's already doing much better! As for her cough, the doctor said she's a congested a little bit so it's just some drainage. Cora is still a super happy smiley baby though so at least I know she doesn't feel too bad!

We had a fun time this past weekend. We went to visit Adam's parents since we hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks. Marianne has been wanting to get a shot of Cora on top of the fake vegetables in front of Central Market. She wants to continue getting shots of her on top of them so we can document how much she grows. I love this idea! Marianne chose the eggplant since purple is my favorite color. Cora was pretty tickled to be on top of it. I'm not sure how often we will take these pictures but I am excited to see the progression as we go along!


Cora also got to hang out with another baby. Adam's best friend, Stephen, came over with his kids, Tinnin and Nora. Tinnin is an amazing kid. He is very friendly, cute, and smart! He is 4 and can already read and knows how to read big numbers too. He showed Adam his score on a game he was playing on Stephen's phone and was able to articulate the exact number, which was over 1,000. I was impressed! Both of his parents are super smart though, so it is not a surprise that he is too. Nora was just born this past March. I love that Cora and Nora rhyme! We are hoping that Cora and Nora will be best friends, just like their dads. Nora is such a good baby. She didn't fuss almost the whole time they were here. The only time she cried was when Stephen and Adam left the house to walk down to the gas station for some soda. She was pretty sad to be with me haha. I felt like a terrible babysitter. Luckily Cora wasn't crying at that time, otherwise I would have called Adam to come home immediately haha.


Proud Papas holding their daughters. I wasn't able to get a good shot with all 4 of them looking at the camera, haha.


Cora and Nora hanging out on the play blanket. Apparently they are already bored with each other.
Adam turned 34 this week! He celebrated it on Tuesday the 4th. I told him that he has officially entered his mid-30's. We actually did not get to spend that much time together that day though since he went into work and then had some celebratory drinks with co-workers after. He didn't think I was going to get him anything. In the past I've always gotten him clothes. He rarely shops anymore these days anyway. He actually told me not to buy him anything and said that he just wanted to celebrate by being with us. However I always feel that birthdays should be celebrated with presents so I had to get him something! Instead of getting him clothes, I decided to take the best way to his heart - his stomach! I wanted to get him all his favorites, so I got him Blue Bell mint chocolate chip ice cream, a jar of Potbelly's hot peppers, a 6 pack of Stella Artois, and I baked him some homemade german chocolate pecan pie bars. He was so surprised when he got home and was very touched. I think he was most impressed that I had found time to bake those bars since it's pretty time intensive haha!

Cora will be 6 months old tomorrow! I can hardly believe it. I am really excited for her check up tomorrow afternoon so we can find out what foods are OK to start her on. Initially I was planning on going straight to the grocery store after her appointment but then I remembered she'll be getting another round of immunizations. We will see if she'll be in the mood for groceries. I can't wait for tomorrow night so we can give her a taste of solids! We will definitely be video taping it. Next blog post will have the full update and surely plenty of pictures of it!