Cora's First Dodger Game

We were back down in southern California again this past weekend for my Grandpa Wilber's memorial. One bright moment of this weekend? Cora got to meet her Uncle Scott and Aunt Coco for the first time!

With grandpa's burial on Friday and memorial on Saturday, our family wanted to go to a Dodger game and eat a Dodger Dog in his honor. I honestly believe he wouldn't have had it any other way.

It was really rainy and cold all day Friday, but we were determined to go and to sneak a sign in honoring grandpa. We drove down to the game in two cars, and Stu, Cora, and I had to stop off at Michelle's to get some Dodger gear for the game. Cora has a Dodger shirt. Her parents? Well, that's a different story.

Funny story: When we were almost to the stadium my dad called to let me know that the tickets he bought were actually for Saturday, not Friday...oops! My mom also totally got caught with the sign, but Coco was successful.

My dad quickly scalped some killer seats, and we sat freezing our butts off, eating Dodger Dogs, telling stories of grandpa, and watching the Dodgers win. It was a wonderful way to remember. We were laughing, telling stories, and remembering. Most importantly, we were together.

Bundled up, Scott in Grandpa's jersey, Contraband sign

Dodgers Win!, 7th Inning stretch, What Up?, Awesome seats, Cora and Grandpa

Cora's First Easter

Easter is easily one of my favorite holidays. I love the liturgical lead up to it, the self-reflection of lent, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then Easter. Holy Week services help to prepare my heart as I attempt to grasp the depth of God's love for us, the tremendous sacrifice that Jesus paid on the cross, the betrayal, the crucifixion, the darkness, the burial, and the everlasting redemption. Amen.

Figuring out church and holidays is different with an infant. Last year, I looked forward to the Holy Week services as a way to prepare my heart for Easter. This year, it was a challenge to make it to church and a disciplined effort to pay attention while sitting in the foyer with Cora. It certainly would have been less complicated to stay home for Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, but these are things that I want Cora to grow up knowing and experiencing, so we made it a priority. Perhaps next year we'll make it to the Tenebrae service. I was sad to have missed that service this year; I find it difficult to truly appreciate the joy of Easter without the darkness of Good Friday.

Easter morning was rushed, and we made it to church about 20 minutes late. Oops! Oh well. It was wonderful to revel in Jesus' amazing sacrifice for us and to celebrate grace and redemption. First Pres (our church) does the Hallelujah chorus every year and it's so beautiful! Cora did well and looked so cute in her Easter dress.

Pardon the blurry picture.

After church we headed to brunch and an Easter egg hunt at the Gustavsons. It's so fun to have a family around to celebrate holidays with since our families aren't local. The Gustavsons have truly become our Bay Area family here, and we love spending time with them and watching their boys grow. Lenny was sure to share his treats with baby Cora.

Easter Egg hunt!

After brunch we came home and got some obligatory Easter pictures. 

We went a little crazy. 

Cora was clearly very interested in her eating her basket! We wrapped up the day with a wonderful dinner with the Lincolns. The day was a beautiful way to celebrate God's amazing love for us.

4 Month Checkup

At 4 months, Cora is 27.5 inches long, and weighs in at 15lbs, 13oz. She's crazy, off the charts, long! 99th percentile for height, and 90th percentile for weight. I'm not sure how much stock I put in these measurements now though, they seem to be an inexact science. 

I had Stu come with me today for backup because Cora was due for her second round of shots. She only cried for a moment and pretty much slept the rest of the day. What a champion baby! 

Saying Goodbye

This weekend we drove home to Camarillo to say goodbye to my Grandpa Wilber. While it was really hard to say goodbye, I'm thankful we had the chance. He died on April 4th, 2012.

Cora meets her Great Grandparents (Christmas 2011)

In many ways the grandpa I knew had been gone for a while. As Parkinsons took over his body, and a few strokes made it difficult to communicate, his quality of life had deteriorated. For the past few years now each holiday with grandpa could have been our last, but I knew that it was serious when my mom called a couple Sundays ago and asked us to come say goodbye.

Seeing him was hard. There was a mass in his brain that was making it hard for him to swallow much less communicate, so we sat with him. I told Cora stories about how wonderful he was.

I told him that we would always tell Cora about what a patient, tenacious, joyful man her great-grandpa was. How he took every downturn of his sickness with faith and peace.

I told Stu and Cora about our last trip to Tahoe together as a family, before grandpa's Parkinsons got really bad, and how we all went parasailing together while grandma stood on the dock terrified, refusing to watch. I'm pretty sure that was his favorite way to see the lake. I told them about how despite my many, frequent tantrums growing up at his house, he never once yelled at me or raised his voice. I told them about our summers, meeting up every Thursday for "Grandma and Grandpa Day!" adventures. How we would play baseball in the field next to their house, sit at the beach all day, go out for ice cream, or play mini-golf at Golf-N-Stuff.

We made promises to play trac-ball in Lake Tahoe at Camp Richardson, to go camping in Yosemite, and to teach Cora to love the Dodgers despite growing up in northern California.

Wearing Dodger Blue in honor of Great-Grandpa. 4/4/12

We told him that we loved him and that his daughter, Janice, was waiting so impatiently for him to join her in heaven. And then we kissed him goodbye.

I love you grandpa. We'll see you soon.