InstaFriday 7.27.12 - Camping and Chaos

It's InstaFriday time with Janette over at Life Rearranged.

 

Little moments create big memories, and this is one of the ways we remember our weeks around these parts.I'm playing catch-up this week because we were camping in Tahoe last week (BIG memories, people!), and we returned to chaos back home this week. Anyway, here's our week(s) in iPhone photos.

As a "non-camper" the part that most excited me about camping was figuring out the meals. Stu and I went to Berkeley Bowl the Sunday before we left and got groceries for the 6 of us for 5 days. We went a little overboard, but man our meals were delicious. Can I just say that I love Berkeley Bowl? I mean, I'm obsessed. Sure, it's slightly overwhelming, and you run into your share of, um, Berkeley characters, but there's just something about the fact that you can find everything under the sun at that store. And if you can't? It probably doesn't exist. That, and their peanut butter. Yum.

We left for Tahoe on Wednesday. We planned to leave before Cora's first nap, but it ended up taking us 4 hours to get packed up and out of the house. Yes, four. Painful. But, we eventually got on the road, and Cora slept most of the way. And then we had to stop for a nursing break along the river. Life is rough.

 

Oh, phone! Gimme!

We got to Camp and both sets of Grandparents had already set up camp, which was so very lovely. We got down to the hanging out business right away.

Grandpa and Cora in her little beach chair

 Cora went to town on some mango slices, per usual. That girl and her mango.

She ended up needing a bath afterward. Nana brought along this blow up bath tub that totally saved us in more than one way. She loved spending time in her pool and it saved us from having to bathe her in a cooler.

The first day was super chilly, so we went into town and found this gem. Clowns for your garden, anyone? Creepy.

We spent most of our days hanging around the picnic table or on the shores of Lake Tahoe, just spending time together. It was nice to not have anywhere to be or any agenda to uphold, and just be. Cora did so well sleeping while camping. She loved all the attention from both sets of grandparents and loved all of the smells and sounds of the pine forest. Really, we couldn't have asked for a better camping baby.

I got to read and put my feet up during nap time, something that I rarely get to go at home because there's always something to be done or laundry to be folded.

And this was our week. Campsite, beach, campsite, ice cream, beach. Love.

Note my freshly pedicured toes. Because everyone gets a pre-camping pedicure, right?!

Cora playing in the "lake", lake water in the tub warmed up by the sand.

She really is such a water baby.

 Yum. Ice Cream. 

Lazy mornings and evenings around the campsite, playing games, and hanging out.

Ticket to ride art

And waking up to this face every morning.

We created a new dessert: Banaileys. Roasted banana with some baileys. It was hit and miss, but eventually the winning combination was banana, baileys, and chocolate, and leaving the banana in it's peel in foil on the fire until it was just mushy. It was pretty good!

Self portrait excitement!

 

And a last little meet up at InNOut in El Dorado Hills before we went on our separate ways.

 

It was such a wonderful week, and hopefully a tradition we can carry on into the years!

Unfortunately, we came home to a bit of a disaster. Our cat sitters extraordinaire, Andrea and Dave, informed us on our last day that the hose running to our washer/dryer sprung a leak. They (thankfully) caught it, turned off the water, and graciously wiped up the water. That wasn't really the end of it though. A few hours later our building manager called us and asked if our pipes had been leaking because our downstairs neighbors came home to a leaky roof and puddles in their dining room. Ruh-Roh. They ended up having to take out the plaster on portions of their ceiling and walls and will replace them in about a week. We're on the hook for the cost of those repairs, and there go our laundry privileges.

Bye bye laundry.

Add that to a cat who decided that our only rug was a very lovely litter box, a baby who is working very hard at crawling, limited space, and a failed offer on a house? Chaos. Absolute chaos.

Life certainly is overwhelming us at the moment, but I'm thankful for our time spent with family, that Dave and Andrea caught the leak before too long had passed, and that they left us delicious surprises in our fridge.

What wonderful friends and family we have to make our lives a bit brighter in the midst of chaos.

Though, if you think of us, can you send up a little prayer that life becomes a bit more manageable? That would be lovely.

Happy Friday!

InstaFriday 7.13.12

Happy Friday!

It's InstaFriday time, where cell phone pictures tell the story of our week. A delightful way to remember the little details that make up our life.

Here goes!

I'd been waiting for this week for months now and it's finally here. Just another reason to never leave this neighborhood. Chipotle opened around the corner from our apartment. Helloooo guac!! 

We obviously had to celebrate their opening with dinner. Winning!

Cora has turned her nose up to every homemade concoction that I've created thus far. No solid foods equals less sleep at night for everyone, so I'm all about finding something healthy for my daughter to eat and I longed for her to be excited to eat solid foods, to even open her mouth. So, Big Dipper Baby Food has been a total godsend. I don't know what it is about the consistency, but    she's actually opening her mouth and excited to eat. It's pricey, but dare I say worth it? Local, organic, sustainably grown food for Cora and more sleep for us at night? Oh, it's worth it indeed.

The mentor mom from my mom's group hosted all of us at her house for a pool party. It was an epically hot day so it was perfect pool weather. There's nothing I love more than seeing Cora in the pool, it really is her happy place.

Andrea came over to watch the Bachelorette while Cora napped one lovely afternoon. And then we made the most massive quinoa salad for dinner.

Massive. Note to self: no need to double that recipe.

This is not what it seems. Okay, maybe it is. What can I say? She really liked the noise the pills made in the prescription bottle. She was fully supervised and very happy. 

Stu put Cora down in her crib for a moment while we were picking up the house and we looked over and saw this sweet face. Sweet, silly girl.

I used up my Mother's Day gift from Cora and ventured out on my own and got a pedicure. We're going camping next week for 5 days, so naturally a pedicure was in order. 

And when I got home from my time away, I came home to this sweetness. My two favorites napping. I let them carry on and I took more time for myself and watched an episode of Revenge. That's my kinda day!

That's our week in pictures! I hope you have a wonderful week.

Happy Friday!

7 Months Old!

Dear Sweet baby girl,

Seven? Really? Seven months. How in the world did you turn 7 months old a few days ago? It feels like you just showed up yesterday but my heart tells me that you've been here forever. You are getting so big and your precious little personality continues to amaze me. I love discovering who God created you to be and seeing how you interact with the world around you. It's delightful. You're delightful.

This month, we drove down to Southern CA (again!), but this time for a wedding. One of daddy's friends got married so we made sure to celebrate along with them. Marriage is a pretty amazing thing to celebrate! We stayed less than a mile away from Disneyland but we didn't go, sorry baby! We did explore Orange County a bit though. We went to Balboa Island, you spent way too much time in the car, we attended wedding party festivities, and you spent time with your buddy Piper. Mommy was a bit overwhelmed with you though so there aren't many pictures, sorry! You were such a trooper! You also got to swim in the pool for the first time and you were beyond excited. I briefly wondered what you would think about the big bath with the loud kids, but you were in heaven! 

This month, we celebrated what an awesome daddy you have. We spent a good portion of it on I-5 with you being not-so-happy about the car seat situation on our way back home, but before that we walked around Huntington Gardens. You slept most of the time on daddy because you're wonderful like that.

This month, you are turning into quite the expressive little lady. It's clear that you have wants and desires and that they don't always match up with what mom wants or desires. You started protesting when I leave the room, even if it's for a brief moment. You clap your hands when you are excited and it's so precious! You get really excited for mommy and daddy, but your world stops when Olive is in your sight. Although we're still working on your gentle touch, Olive seems to really love you also. She will nuzzle you and sit right next to you as you play with your toys. I have to keep a close eye on you though, because Olive is not a fan when you grab her back or face. Honestly, I think the cat is slightly dumb for tempting fate, but it's really cute to see you interact with her.

This month, solid foods are hit and miss with you. This is unfortunate because I'm pretty certain those calories would help you sleep a bit better at night. One thing is for sure; you don't care for my cooking. I'm not sure if it's the consistency or what, but if you are going to eat something, it's from the packet and it likely contains mango. In fact, mango is about the only thing we can consistently get you to eat. I freeze it and put chunks of it in a mesh feeder and you go to town. Unfortunately, you can't subsist on mangoes alone, so we'll keep trying (and trying and trying) to get you to eat other things.

This month, you have two very cute little teeth.

This month, you have shown very little interest in movement. You sit happily on your blanket with a basket of toys and you take everything out. You can entertain yourself for awhile like this depending on your mood. It's really nice because it means I can have a moment to myself to eat some lunch or cook some dinner, or on really special days, shower. I love that you can play independently, but I also love that your most favorite toys are books. You love books. You clap and pant with excitement when we sit down to read them during the day, and you snuggle in close for your bedtime stories. Your new happy place though? Daddy's shoulders. You are never sad up there!

This month, you started biting me while nursing. Not cool, baby girl, be gentle! You make up for it with your kisses, your snuggles, and your pat-pats though. You are very very sweet. You also put our hand to your mouth when you want to "play" our finger as an instrument.

Oh hey, what's this?

Think they'll notice?

Anybody watching?

Nom nom nom 

This month, you went from taking three naps to taking two naps. We started being more consistent with your bedtime routine starting at 7pm with you (typically) asleep by 7:40ish, and you are (typically) up for the day around 7:30am. You're up a handful of times though, sometimes you're hungry and sometimes you just need help getting back to sleep. Long gone are the days of solid 10 hour stretches of sleep that you gave us as a newborn. What's up with that? You consistently go down for your first nap an hour after you wake up for the day. You definitely nap better when I'm napping next to you, and I generally oblige for the first nap because I'm sleepy too! Your second nap happens around 1 or 2, but it varies from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. Honestly, I would be okay if you napped a bit more, just saying.

This month, you have become very sociable. You win strangers over with your smiles, your cute cheeks, and your single curl. You are very free with your two tooth smiles, and people often stop to tell daddy or me how wonderful you are. I mean, we already know how lovely you are, but it's nice that other people notice as well! You started riding in the shopping cart this month and you love smirking away at perfect strangers.

This month, we solidly kicked the swaddling habit...well, at night. You are still swaddled for naps, but you break out and still stay asleep. You wear size 6-12 month clothes with a couple of 12-18 month sizes thrown in there as well. Some 3-6 month shirts still fit if they are long enough, but that basically proves to me that baby clothing sizes are an inexact science. You are still on the medium setting of the cloth diapers, and you graduated to size 4 disposables. I'm sure you are at least 20lbs by now, and you are taller than tall! So tall that you grew out of your infant car seat this month and now you have a fancy convertible one that you like much better.

Next month, we'll see what developments are around the corner. I think you have more teeth coming in, and hopefully we can get you on board with the solid food business. Daddy wants you to start crawling, but I'm perfectly happy with you taking your time with that. Next month, we're going camping in Lake Tahoe with all of your grandparents and your great grandma, just like mommy did when she was your age. Get excited, baby girl! 

Excited face!

Cordelia, you are more than we could have ever asked for. You are such a blessing and a joy and daddy and I are amazed that we get the privilege of raising you. We love you, baby bear.