Six Weeks Old!

So, I seem to be failing at trying to update the blog every week, but I don't guess every two weeks is too bad. Cora is now 6 weeks old! We can hardly believe it, and she is absolutely growing like a weed. I weighed her last week and she weighed in at 9 pounds. She is finally starting to outgrow some of her newborn clothes. A couple of her onesies are getting particularly tight in the belly area. :) Also, some of her sleepers are getting too short - when she fully extends her legs she stretches it out and her toes are at the very end of the feet. So, it's been fun getting to put some of the 0-3 month clothes on her. Most of them are still a little big, but they work just fine.

Cora Leigh is getting better head control. She will hold her head up by herself and it just bobs a little - much like a bobble head doll. It's really cute. She has also started to smile more. She still smiles a lot when she's asleep, but now she's smiling when she poops and sometimes just because. They aren't real frequent yet, but her smiles will absolutely melt your heart when you see them!

My best friend, Brooke, came to visit early this week which was fun. She is pregnant with her first, so she was getting a little taste of what life is going to be like. I could tell by how she was with Cora that she's going to be a great mommy.

Here are some pictures of the last couple of weeks:

Sleeping peacefully



Sporting her Halloween sleeper and hat



Sleeping smiles!



Ready for the day to begin



After bath time - doing her Elvis lip



Watching the Tennessee/Alabama game with Daddy - she was as excited as I was! :)



Cute outfits and more smiles!



In her ducky sleeper



Mohawk



Brooke hanging out with Cora Leigh and Hazel



Another Halloween outfit



Good morning!



Her first leopard print, courtesy of Aunt Mandy



Hazel trying to help her stay clean



Fun in her bouncer

One Month Old!

It is so hard to believe that Cora Leigh is a month old today! To commemorate the occasion, I decided to take a one month picture. I couldn't decide which one to go with, so I've included several takes.


This is one of her favorite faces to make. I think she's preparing her flute embouchure. :)



Another one of her favorites!



We've had a lot going on during the past week. Aunt Mandy came to visit Cora last weekend, which was a lot of fun. It gave me a chance to shave my legs and get some other stuff done while I had an extra set of hands there. It was really nice to have her there on Saturday while Jeremy was gone to the UT game.



Here are some other pictures I got during the weekend. I caught her in action sneezing and then yawning.






This week has gone pretty well. We went to my doctor on Tuesday and everything checked out just fine. Wednesday, our good friend Dana Waldroup came over for a little while to visit and watch Cora while I did just whatever I needed to do. Then on Thursday, Laura Probus came over and cooked brunch for us and also brought us dinner to bake later! Courtney Ortz also came to see Cora for the first time since seeing her in the hospital. It was so great to have good friends helping out this week! If nothing else, it makes me feel less isolated from the rest of the world.

We had a really good night on Wednesday night. Cora went 4 and then 3.5 hours between her feedings! I was really hoping we were starting a new nighttime trend, but last night we were back to every 2.5 to 3 hours. Oh, well. Baby has to eat. She does seem to be growing well. I weighed myself and then weighed again with Cora and it was a difference of 8 pounds! I don't know if it was accurate, but she is certainly filling out!

Here are some more recent pictures:

Cora smiling



Hanging out with Mom



In her adorable Halloween outfit



Enjoying time in her bouncer



Wake time

Our First Week Home

We finally all seem to be doing well, and have been home now for over a week! And what a wonderful week it has been. Jeremy had to go back to work on Monday, so it was just me and Cora Leigh at home this week. We are so blessed that Cora has been such a good baby. She sleeps at night (for the most part) except for when she wakes up to eat. She's not a very fussy baby, though she is a grunter. She normally wakes me up at night grunting when she is ready to eat, so I am able to get up and take her to eat before she gets really upset. This also allows Jeremy to get better rest at night since he has to get up and go to work.

It was really hard for Jeremy to leave us on Monday. I think he called me four times, and usually I just talk to him at the end of the day. He loves to come home at the end of the day and spend time with his family. I usually let him have his daddy time with Cora Leigh in the evenings since I get to spend all day with her.



I was somewhat productive during the week. I was able to get laundry done, clean the kitchen, and catch up on my email. Cora does great sleeping in her swing or her bouncer so she can be with me wherever I go. I even managed to get a shower every day but one! I'm pretty sure that I shower much more quickly now - I hate the idea of not being able to go to her if she gets upset for any reason.

The biggest challenge that I've found this week is trying to find time to do things around feeding times. You don't realize until you have a baby how much time is spent during your day feeding the baby! We had good friends bring us meals this week, and feeding time ended up falling when people got there 2 of the 3 times. Of course, everyone was very understanding, but you still hate to run off when you have company.

Cora Leigh was 2 weeks old on Wednesday, so I had to take her to the doctor for her checkup. It was our first outing together just the two of us. I managed to get to the doctor's office a little early and thought I was doing really well. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab the diaper bag....just one of those things you're not used to having to carry around. When we went to weigh Cora, I saw that she had a wet diaper (though I changed her just before we left). I was going to change it when we got back to the exam room, and that's when I realized - no diaper bag. Unfortunately, they didn't have any newborn diapers there, so she had to be wet until we got home. She checked out great at the doctor! She had gained weight and was up to 6 pounds, 5 ounces - far exceeding her birth weight! Everything else also checked out good. We don't go back again until she is 2 months old. It scares me a little bit to think that no one is going to check to make sure we're doing okay for another 6 weeks! I guess they think we're capable of taking care of her. Here's Cora Leigh before we left for the doctor. She was very excited! :)



Jeremy's parents came to visit this weekend and got to spend some quality time with their granddaughter. The rest of Cora's umbilical cord fell off on Friday, so she got her first real bath on Saturday. It went much better than her sponge bath! She was a little fussy at first, but then was fine for the rest of bathtime. Here's a picture of her after her bath and a picture of her with her Nana.



Here are some photos from the past week:

Her favorite pose


Tummy Time



Our first walk



Checking out the mobile