Fishbein Family Fun

A dead mouse or other uncertain specimen

2009-12-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

It's a little gross, so don't read this while eating anything, but there seems to be a dead something rotting in my kitchen walls. I only barely noticed the smell a couple days ago and thought it must just be "leftovers" from Thanksgiving lingering in the garbage or the sink, but I could never quite find the source. Each day it kept getting a little stronger, and last night I was so sick to my stomach (with disgust and worry) that I almost told Shelly to delay her visit for a day while I got an exterminator on the problem. This morning I woke up with a resolve to spend the day at my sister-in-law's house (and stop for breakfast on the way) so we wouldn't have to spend one single minute in the house or near the contaminated kitchen. I could even smell the stench from all the way upstairs in my bedroom as I was waking up, and I marveled at how quickly it had permeated the house in so little time, but as I went downstairs to get my phone so I could call the exterminator I couldn't smell anything. I was still tense as I calculated the potential bill that would ensue with having to tear open the wall and seal it back up again, but to my great surprise when I got to the kitchen, there was no smell. I literally inched my way toward the stove cupboards where the problem originated, but I still couldn't smell anything.

My mom was over for a little visit today and just to be sure I wasn't imagining things I had her take a whiff of the cupboards beneath the stove. She curled her nose up and made a gag face. So I wasn't imagining things. I don't know why I could "smell" it up in my room, but I think I dreamt about it, so it was probably just lingering from my subconscious. I don't know. Call it a miracle, or call it really hungry worms (did I gross anyone out with that?), but the smell is mostly gone now. I'm just really happy it's "died" down--punn intended for sure. Hopefully I won't have to pay for an exterminator after all.

I'll just burn a cinnamon candle in the meantime. Can't wait for Shelly to get here! Yum!

Mahalo and Aloha!

2009-11-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

Chad is in Hawaii with his sister Kristi this week, so Cora, Mary and I are having a big long Girls' Night Out! But tonight we were feeling especially lonesome with our Chad gone, so when I put Cora to bed I told her she could say a prayer and it would help her feel better. I gave her some ideas on what to say, and her prayer ended up going something like this:

"Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. Thank you that mommy isn't crying and that she got the monster today. Please help me to be happy, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I'm not sure which monster she was talking about, or what she meant by me crying (we did cry on the way home from the airport yesterday when we dropped Chad off. Maybe that's what she was referring to.)

I think she felt better after saying her prayer, but I know I did.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-11-18T11:16:00.001-08:00

Just in time for Thanksgiving!

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine dry ingredients:
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
a shake or two of pumpkin pie spice (optional)

In another bowl, beat wet ingredients together:
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Combine dry and wet ingredients.

Add chocolate chips to your delight. (Too many might distract from the subtle pumpkin flavor)

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes. (Altitude tip: 345 for 13 minutes was PERFECT for my oven...)

Soooooo yummy!

October was FUN!

2009-11-09T14:26:00.000-08:00

October was fun! That's all I have time to write. Enjoy the pics!

October 2009

You're so pretty mommy.

2009-11-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was tucking Cora into bed and while I sang her a song she was caressing my hair and tucking it behind my ear, just the way Chad and I do to her. She’s never done that before, so I was very touched by the sweetness. And mid-song she looked at me sweetly and said, “You are so pretty, Mommy.” And smiled. I don’t know how much of it was her own thought and how much of it was just mimicking something I often tell her, but it made me blush anyway.

Thank you for asking so nicely!

2009-10-19T19:46:00.001-07:00

Well, Cora may not be potty trained, but she is quite a young lady sometimes. Tonight I gave her some homemade grape juice our friend Aimee had made from her own vine. Cora was drinking the juice from her purple sippie cup, but you'd think she had just sipped from a crystal goblet by the way she paused and said, "Mmmm. This is really tasty, Mom."

After the juice she asked if she could have a banana. I gladly peeled one for her and gave it to her, but she turned it down. I tried a few different techniques to get her to eat it so she wouldn’t waste it, but she continued to decline—even after a time out. So finally I said, “Cora, will you please take a bite of your banana?”

She looked up at me and said, “Mom, thank you for asking so nicely.” And she took a bite.

If only it were that easy every time!!!

Another funny one she's done a couple times recently is wait for help. If she asks me for something and I tell her, "Just a minute, Cora" then she respectfully responds with, “O.K. You just let me know when you’re ready, Mom.” And she'll walk off and do her own thing. This coming from a 2 year old who ordinarily throws a tantrum under such a circumstance--it's quite a hoot. I'm not sure if it's genuine or if she's just experimenting with being a "big girl" like mommy, but it's really something else. If I didn't know that she was two, I'd almost be convinced that she respects the fact that I'm busy and will get to her at my earliest convenience. But I think she's just trying on mom's shoes a lot lately. And it gets us rolling.

If that's not enough, this afternoon she put herself to bed on her own. I was finishing up Mary's diaper when Cora walked in asking for a new blankie, which I gave her. She then disappeared into her room and shut the door, so I set Mary down to go spy on Cora and she was taking her shoes off and saying, "Good night everybody. It's time for me to go to bed!" She tucked herself in bed and that was that! She's going off to college next week, so it's a good thing she got that skill down.

Cora-isms

2009-10-05T09:11:00.001-07:00

Summer End 2009

1. At random times during the day Cora holds up three fingers (counting them very deliberately) and says, "When my free, I can get a birfday time!" (she says "my" instead of "I'm"). Cora is pretty excited to turn three next year. When people ask her how old she is, she says she's three.

2. (The missionaries for dinner):
CORA: "Where did daddy go?"
MOM: "He went to the store."
CORA: "No, he went to feed the missioMaries (with an "m")."
MOM: "That's right. He went to meet the missionaries at the store so he could give them money for dinner."
CORA: "But we're gunna eat teeter totters for dinner."
MOM: "Yes, we're having tater tots for dinner. But you've been sick so we don't want the missionaries to come here and get sick too."

3. Cora is trying to make her sentences longer these days. She thinks it makes her sound like a big girl. The other morning I told her we were going to do a fun activity together pretty soon and she said, "Oh my goodness! That's just so beautiful and strong!"

I had to try really hard not to laugh at her efforts to sound grown up.

4. Whenever we have pickles with anything, Cora says, "I love pickles. I love to eat pickles, mom!" But when it comes time to actually try one, she turns her nose up.

5. After watching the garbage truck drive away the other day, Cora said, "When my a big girl, I can drive a garbage truck!"

That's right, Cora. Dream big.

6. The best one of all: Yesterday we were watching General Conference and she noticed the Salt Lake Temple on the screen and said, "When my a big girl, I can go to the temple!"

That's right, Cora. Dream big.

The main focus around here is Cora being a big girl, if you hadn't gathered.

She is almost there. As of now, she officially:
1. Sleeps in a big girl bed
2. Buckles her big girl shoes all by herself
3. Sits in a big girl booster seat in the car
4. Entertains Mary
5. Can drink out of a cup without the sippie top

The only things left on the list to be an official big girl are

1. Not sucking on her blankie anymore. She's slowly but surely getting there.
2. Potty training, which is around the corner...once that's complete, I think we're going to reward her with new butterfly wings, since that is her favorite game (being a butterfly).

On Mary:

Mary loves to giggle (at Cora mostly). She thinks everything Cora does is either fascinating or hilarious. Which warms my heart, to be certain.

She may only be 4 months old, but she already has a sense of pride and shows it unmistakably. Yesterday she was having trouble getting a burp out, but when she finally got it out she looked up at me and smiled and wiggled as if to say, "I did it!" so I said, "Good job, Mary! You did it all by yourself!" which only made her smile bigger and wiggle faster and giggle more.

She's already getting curious about food at the dinner table, so I am sure to let her inspect lots of different things with her tongue. It's funny to watch the reactions on her face.

She's had a yucky diaper rash this week that has broken the skin, and I hate to wipe it clean but I have to do it. She doesn't cry, but just gasps over and over until it's done. Then just smiles at me like she appreciates me torturing her. Crazy kid. I think I'll go get some thicker ointment, despite her smiles.

I've gotten on a homemaking kick, and I'm pretty sure it's here to stay. Recently I learned how to make yogurt, granola bars and homemade bread. My mom did the honors of giving me my first bread-making lesson. It was fun, especially since we grew up on homemade bread, so it brought back lots of memories of freshly sliced bread, warm from the oven, with butter and honey on top. There is NOTHING like that memory. So I thought I'd make some wonderful memories for my children as well--all the while eating a little healthier and saving a little money to boot.

I love play group. Lots of great friends, good advice, fun laughs, and other kids for Cora to play with. We're a pretty tight little group. Only a few of us, but we're stalwart. We've got the autumn all planned out with weekly activities for the kids to do. Cora just loves it. She knows all the kids' names and talks about them during the week. They even share water bottles at the park, much to our chagrin. This week half of our kids got colds and none of us know who was the originator. I think it was Cora, but I'll never tell.

Chad starts bowling league today. This summer it's been softball, which would have been fun except for the fact that he pulled a hamstring in the beginning of the season and a groin after that. But he stuck with it and healed up nicely on both accounts. He made some nice hits and did some fancy fielding regardless. There's no stopping the Chadster.

But at the end of the day, the most important thing we need to remember as a loving and devoted couple is that I usually beat him at Yatzee.

Polka dots

2009-09-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Cora put polka dot stickers on my legs yesterday, and I guess not all of them came off in the shower. How do I know? Because I got a massage today and the lady was pulling one off of me. I told her the story behind it and she got a good chuckle.

Mary is not an infant anymore!!! She's turning into a regular baby in no time flat. It's soooo sad, and soooo cute and fun all at the same time. I just wish I could freeze frame her forever. But I'm excited to see what kind of kid she'll be.

You just have to believe me when I say, she smiles and giggles all the time. We all feel so flattered when we walk by her or pay attention to her because she gives us such a grand smile and wiggles her legs and flaps her arms in glee. To think that will end someday breaks my heart!

Summer is Waning

2008-09-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

Chad and I both got new callings. He's staying with the Elders Quorum but is now on the moving committee (as 1st Counselor). Good thing we have a truck, we've already used it a couple times! I get to stay with the Young Women as the 1st counselor. It's a lot more work, but mostly fun, except for when people who don't know me just assume I'm a Laurel. Even when I wear my fancy scarf and earrings and floof up my hair and have a toddler on my hip, I still look like I'm in Young Women? Well, I guess I could be grateful knowing I'll look young when I'm 40, but a Laurel at age 31? Please. I don't take that as a compliment. Mkay?

Onto the muffin face. Here are some new developments that will give you a chuckle:

1. Cora is learning phrases. Her most common are below.

"over der"

"how bow" ("how about...")

"all wight!"

"hold it?"

"Ti tu" ("thank you")

"Hi To-wa" ("hi Cora")

2. Cora is learning to be reverent in church. She often shushes other children who are being too loud (since she knows first-hand that being loud hurts mommy's ears), she folds her arms during the prayers, and she pulls out the hymn books when the organ starts to play (and even sings if we're lucky). She can stay inside the chapel for at least 20 minutes now without having to go out in the hall or eat snacks to stay quiet. She loves nursery and the teachers are always saying what a good little girl she is. I don't think they've ever sat by us during sacrament meeting. We try and shield the ward from that.

3. We don't even try to video tape Cora anymore because she immediately stops whatever she is doing, runs over to the camera and tries to fiddle with it so she can watch herself on the LCD screen. She just had swim lessons last month (and loved it), and Chad came to video tape and take pictures of the event, but the only thing he was able to capture was her running around chasing him on the pool deck so she could have a gander at the camera. Hopefully next years' swim lessons will be more predictable!

4. Cora's favorite song right now is the alphabet (though she only knows "a b c d" and maybe "h"), and she loves counting to three. Chad is working on her counting in Spanish. Next blog.

Enjoy the videos!

From Ho-Downs to the Operah

2008-10-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

The phat buckle

Chad went to a corporate Ho-down last week and won the line dancing competition. I didn't even know he could line dance, but I guess he figured it out at some point, either during his life, or during the evening! He said it probably helped that he had a really great belt buckle to accentuate his cowboy getup. I made him a fat, phat belt buckle out of cardboard and tin foil, and I glued a big red "C" on the front to go with his red western shirt. He got compliments on it all night.

Anyway, with the money he won, he took me to the opera Friday night! We watched the Barber of Seville. It was a great show. Lots of funny dialogue and clever scenarios. (You may remember some of the songs from the Bugs Bunny episode.) The barber himself was the steal of the show. Every time he came out on stage, the audience lit up. He had an amazing and powerful voice, and his acting was a riot. The whole show was in Italian, but there were subtitles. We figured out with all the repetition and variation on the same dialogue, the actual script probably only lasts about 10 minutes, but because it is the operah, that dialogue took over two hours.

There was one scene where the three main characters were trying to escape out the balcony while the police were coming through the front door. Instead of bolting up the stairs quickly to the balcony window, they stopped midway up the stairs and sang for about 5 minutes about how they had better hurry to the window and climb down the ladder so they could escape without being seen. It was hilarious. Part of it was intentional comedy, but part of it was typical opera I'm sure.

July August September

I'm Two!

2009-03-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hooray for being 2!

Sorry to inundate you with photos and videos this time around. I think we're making up for lost time.

UPDATES:

I took Cora in for her annual checkup this month. The doctor asked a series of questions, from how much milk she's drinking to how often we brush her teeth. He also asked if she's forming 2-word sentences yet. Well, today she said, "Ella come over later...play ring around the rosie with me?" Does that count as a 2-word sentence? I guess I should qualify this by saying that anything involving her friend Ella (The Other Princess of the Universe, Her Royal Highness), elicits just about any behavior out of Cora, from getting her to let me change her diaper, to sitting down obediently in her car seat so I can buckle her in. So it's no surprise that her longest sentence involves Ella.

Cora also loooooves to sing. Her favorite songs are Silent Night, I am a Child of God, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and anything else that has words and a tune. We love to listen to her tiny little angel voice forming the words and trying to match the melodies. Do these precious little ones HAVE to grow up??? I guess if growing up eliminates tantrums and diapers, then I suppose we can accept the terms.

We all love our new house. It's in a friendly neighborhood with a nice little park around the corner, and I love being here every day.

I just got a part-time job--I mean, a calling--as the Relief Society enrichment leader. I'll be getting "maternity leave" but I've got a lot of planning to do until then! Shannon, I may have to call you for tips on how to simplify! You think I'm joking...my last email from the presidency took me 20 minutes just to READ.

There are two newborns in our ward. I just LOVE holding and admiring them from a non-exhausted perspective! Speaking of which, our little #2 is quite a kicker. She likes when I eat chocolate and take hot baths, so I try to do as much of that as possible--just doing my job!

Chad is enjoying his work and loves when he has new projects to work on. He is so clever with numbers and charts and database-type stuff. I love to see how his skills in Excel are developing, especially when he applies them to our own budgeting. What a great tool!

Chad is such a wonderful father and husband. He is so kind and patient with us even when we are sassy or grumpy, and he is probably embarrassed that I'm writing about him, so I'll stop now.

We wish you all a wonderful Spring and hope to hear from or see you all soon!

Love the Little Fishies! Enjoy the pics and vids!

New Year 2009

The New Science of Thank You

2009-09-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

I remember my aunt asking me about six months ago why I thank God for my blessings. I can't remember what I said, but as far as just being thankful in general, I now have an official response, though it's kind of selfish: I want to be more optimistic, more energetic, more enthusiastic, more determined, more interested, more joyful, have fewer illnesses, get more sleep, and be more helpful. Among other things.

Tonight Chad's dad gave a lesson on being thankful, and his material came from a publication that is unfortunately declaring bankruptcy: Reader's Digest. We've heard it all before--being thankful makes you happier about your life--but in October of 2007 Reader's Digest published the results of a fascinating scientific study done on thankfulness, and the story is amazing. If you'd like to read the article, click here.

To bring God into the picture simply adds another dimension of meaningfulness, trust and peace in life, but at the very least, thankfulness breeds a happy heart. It's just as President Hinckley advises in his "Be Attitudes:" Be Thankful!

Divide into 3

2009-08-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish I could divide myself into 3. Just for the month. Or maybe for the year.

Or, actually, maybe just for life.

Not mad like Julie

2009-07-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

I took Mary into the bathroom with me this afternoon because I had to go, but I didn't want to leave her out with Cora or she may not survive. Cora was clearly very upset with this decision and was crying and yelling and kicking the door so she could come in with us. I finally opened the door as I was washing my hands, and I tried to console her by asking her if she was sad.

"No! I'm not sad!" she said.

"Are you lonely?"

"No."

"Are you mad?"

"No, I'm not mad like Julie!"

"Mad like Julie...hmmm," I thought.

And then I bust up laughing out loud because I realized where the comment came from (a picture Cora had seen earlier in the day of Julie making a ginger bread house that kept breaking apart).

So here I was laughing like a hyena when Cora said, "Mommy, you're laughing!" Then she paused for a second and said, "I'm laughing too!" and she started laughing right along with me. Anger quickly diffused. I sure could learn a lot from this two-year-old on how to get over things more quickly!

Soy Milk is $9.50 a Carton!

2009-08-19T15:04:00.001-07:00

Today I ran to the store with the girls to pick up some Soy milk, and when the cashier read me the price, I exclaimed, "$9.50?! Are you kidding me???"

To which she replied, "Oh, well the bear was $6.50."

"What bear? Oh that bear. Cora, we're not getting the bear. Give it back to the nice lady, please."

No beanie bears today, thank you. $9.50 for a carton of soy milk? Please.

Look alike contest

2009-08-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

...Scroll all the way down for answers to all the look-alikes

.......

Cora is the first one in all three photos, but don't think I didn't have to double check them!

Let's talk to each other

2009-08-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

We (the three girls) went to the river today to play on the shore. Once we got down there Cora sat on a big rock across from me, put her hands in her lap and said, "Let's talk to each other, Mommy." Apparently she really loves conversation. So much so that she will keep talking and talking just to make sounds, even if they are not real words. And if I don't reply at the proper time, she will let me know. "Mommy, talk to me now," she will say.

I wonder who she takes after. Chad's got his life cut out for him for awhile.

Easy Baby

2009-08-04T08:27:00.001-07:00

Mary is an easy baby. Yesterday evening she was kind of fussy (and by fussy I mean softly grunting every few seconds and wiggling her arms) and I wasn't sure if she was getting hungry, if she needed to be burped, or if she was just tired and wanted to fall asleep. I was in the kitchen nearby and had to turn the water on to wash some blueberries, when I noticed her eyes getting sleepy...so I left the water on for just a bit longer (a whole 5 seconds) and she was out like a light.

No wrapping, rocking, binky, shooshing, etc. Just plunk her down any old where and she's happy as a lark most of the time.

Daddy, come back!

2009-07-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

Cora was sick today so I stayed home from church with her and Mary since Chad had to teach a lesson in Sunday School. Cora was so sad about her daddy leaving, she went to the upstairs window about every half hour to shout at the top of her lungs, "Daaaadeeee! Come back!" "Daddy, where are you?"

She was so loud and sounded so pathetic, it almost made me cry as well, except for the fact that I knew that she probably just needed a nap and would feel better once she woke up.

But once she did wake up, the first thing she asked was if Daddy had come home from church yet. Awww. So cute and sad.

Family Photos

2009-07-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get some professional photos done this year, so we did! Here are a few of them. Don't die, but they're really cute! You can click on them to see a bigger view. Some are sideways, sorry.

The Poop-capades

2009-07-08T07:19:00.001-07:00

Mary pooped and peed on the carpet this moring when I was changing her diaper on the floor. I had her on a changing pad and everything, but it came without warning and there was just no stopping it. This has happened on her changing table as well, and it’s made a big mess, but it’s contained and can be washed out. I should have known a little changing mat on the floor would not contain a big spill like this if it ever happened, but I just wasn’t thinking I guess. Well anyway, you live you learn. It was 6:00 AM, so I was not raring to scrub, but was instead contemplating going back to bed and calling it quits. But I sleepwalked downstairs to gather up some cleaning supplies and return to the disaster area. When I sat in front of the mess with my scrubber and Oxi-Clean, I just knew it wasn’t going to come out and that I should not even try. This newborn poo, although seemingly harmless, takes hours of soaking just to come out of clothing. Carpets are even worse because it seeps down and into the fiber and there’s just no telling. Well, I went for it anyway, using every employable technique I could manage: toothbrush, spray bottle, paper towels, oxi-clean... I went at it for about 15 minutes and made some progress, but no cigar.

It was then I recalled the glorious days from my mission when missionaries were required to do a deep cleaning of our cars once a month for inspection at zone conference. Some of us, the smart ones, used Woolite upholstery and carpet cleaner on our spot cleaning, and it worked on the toughest stains. As luck would have it, I had a can of it in my house! So I put it to the test. I still doubted that it would work, but 15 minutes later I was looking at a spotless carpet. I’m not even making this up, but you would NEVER guess an accident had occurred in said spot. I bet Chad $50 he couldn’t find the stain, and he couldn’t find it. But I told him he could keep his money anyway because we're trying to save up for a down payment. Plus my personal pride was payment enough.

I would also like to vouch for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser while we're on the subject of effective cleaning supplies. It works so well, I do have to wonder what they put in it...but it has no fumes, it's supposedly safe on the skin (but I don't care since I use gloves anyway), and it works so effortlessly, you can practically bake a cake while using it. My point is, if this were a blog on cleaning products, Mr. Clean and Woolite upholstery cleaner would be at the top of the list.

And Summer Begins!

2009-07-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Cora's favorite game is "Copy Cat" where she sits and does various things with her body and face and I try and copy her. She really loves it, and I get a kick out of it as well. After her nap today she got out of her crib and said, "I wanna play kitty cat." I had no idea what she was talking about until she plopped on the floor and started doing funny things with her legs and hands and said, "See mommy? The silly game."

My favorite Cora-ism for the month is "Blow it down, Daddy!" Chad was blowing up balloons and letting them go so they'd fly through the air, but one of them he actually tied shut, so Cora grabbed it and said, "Blow it down, Daddy!"

Another cute thing about Cora is her absolute insistence on helping change Mary's diapers. She loves it so much so that she comes and checks on Mary's diapers frequently during the day saying, "She has a poopy diaper. Time to change it!" I must say that she does such a good job helping, if she and Mary were stranded on an island somewhere and there was no one to change those diapers, Cora could pull off the job by herself after a little practice.

Mary's greatest accomplishment is 4 hour stretches at night now. We'll be excited when the nightly feeding phase is over, but in some ways I think I'll miss it....Either way, she is absolutely the cutest, sweetest one-month-old in the universe.

Click for pics below!

Summer begins

I wanna go swimming!

2009-06-24T09:50:00.001-07:00

We are planning on going up to Tahoe to meet some friends from out of town today. They have a pool where they are staying so we'll be swimming, and Cora knows it. This morning around 9 she said, "I wanna go swimming now." So I said, "We're going after lunch, Cora. You have to wait until we have had lunch and then we'll go." To which she replied, "I wanna eat lunch now, o.k.?"

Dontcha love the toddler logic?

Welcom to this world, Mary!

2009-06-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

Baby Mary

We are so excited to announce (officially, since it's on the blog now), the birth of our precious Mary Adele. She weighed in at 8 lb. 9 oz. and is already a pound past her birth weight at two weeks old. When she was born she had meconium in her lungs so the respiratory staff had to work on her for about a half an hour clearing out her lungs to prevent infection. They did a great job, especially considering they were both on overtime at that point.

Mary is so different from her older sister, you'd think they were two totally seperate individuals! For one thing, she is quite a bit more mellow than Cora (so far) and generally only fusses if she's hungry or overly tired. That's still sooo weird to us. Also Mary has "blow outs" about every day, when Cora rarely did. We think she just likes saving up for a big show. I'm not sure I can keep up with this whole pretreat the laundry thing. I think I'll have to pick and choose.

Poor Cora has not been crazy about the new arrangement, though. Although she loves to help change diapers and take care of baby Mary, and she asks about her all the time, she does NOT like the idea of sharing her parents with another person.

Symptoms of jealousy include, but are not limited to, waking up at 5:00 in the morning every morning for the last 2 weeks, skipping naps and getting out of her bed, crying and throwing tantrums, changing her mind back and forth 5 times in a row, and wanting daddy to hold her more than usual (which is a lot). Thanks to family and friends (again!), we have all gotten through the last two weeks alive! And just to add my own observation, I have never seen a more patient and loving father than Chad--or a more tired one (except for when Cora was born!).

A friend recently reminded me that this phase will pass with Cora and not to feel bad, because I just gave birth to Cora's best friend. That brought some comfort.

Cora loves to feel like a big girl. Just the other day she snuck up into Mary's room where we had left her sleeping in her car seat, and Cora snatched her out of it and was holding her up like on Lion King saying, "Look mommy! I'm such a big girl! I'm sooo big. Look!" so proud of herself for holding Mary all by herself. It freaked the living daylights out of me, but I had to muster up a "Good job, Cora!" as I bolted up the stairs to rescue Mary's flopping head and body before Cora decided to do something drastic. I knew if I had made a big deal about telling her to put her down, she might have dropped Mary on her can. I had images of Cora dropping her down the stairs or worse...but all she wanted to do was just be a big girl and hold Mary like the grown ups do. We imagine that our helpful little Cora feels like she wants to be 20 already, but she's got a while to wait.

As far as my health goes, I've been recovering much better this time around--the baby is the EASY part! Mary isn't the best night sleeper yet, but that's to be expected, and I try to catch a nap during the day if Cora takes one. We love having her with us and she is the cutest, cuddliest little drop of heaven you ever did see.

Enjoy the photos! (Click on photo above to be taken to web album)

p.s. If you've called and left a message with me and I haven't gotten back to you, be not dismayed. You're not the only one. Just know that I do appreciate your congratulations.

Spring Brings...

2009-05-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

Spring Brings

While there is still only one kid around, we thought we'd share some funny things about just her.

1. Recently we were out in the yard pruning trees, mowing the lawn, etc. (I was a lively spectator, at best), and Cora started pulling the petals off the flowers. She knows better, but kept on doing it despite warnings. Finally she moved on to a tree nearby and started pulling off the leaves, when it suddenly occurred to me she was trying to help daddy with pruning! He had put his pruning shears down and started using his bear hands to pull dead branches off of one of the trees that needs a lot of help. That's right about when Cora started pulling petals off the flowers and leaves off the trees. It was sooo funny. She was being a very good helper.

2. Cora has a problem if Chad and I converse (or do anything that takes our attention away from her) for longer than three seconds at a time (I've counted), and lately her knew tactic of diverting us back to her is by shouting, "STOP TALKING!!!" Today when we ignored her request, she shot down the hall doing the bear crawl and growling, "Stop talking! Stop talking!" over and over to the point that I think she was mildly entertaining herself--until she failed to watch where she was going and bonked into the wall. It was really funny. Maybe you had to be there.

3. Sometimes Cora refers to us by our first names. I really don't think she means anything by it, she's just repeating what she hears. But the most recent thing she said was, "Where's your pants, Becky?" when she noticed I was in my robe. That got a full-bellied laugh from Becky.

As for being pregnant, I'm really having to be patient as I whittle away the hours of the day with active little Cora. I have to sit down a lot, to her great disappointment, and mine. Some days are truly challenging, but there is something to be said for knowing your limits and when to ask for help, which I am lucky enough to be able to do--what with such generous family and friends in the area. Thanks to everyone, thus far AND in advance, for thinking of us!

We're extremely excited to have another special little soul in our home and look forward (for the most part!!!) to the surprises and joys she will bring. We can't WAIT to send out the announcement that she's here, and we'll be sure to tell you all about it.

Love, The Fishies