Halloween!!!

It's Cora's 1st Halloween and she's dressed up as a cuddly bunny. 

What a sweet bunny!

Click on the video below to see the bunny "hop" across the room.

11 months

At eleven months Cora is still growing and happy...and our baby is almost one! So hard for me to believe!

Besides shocking us with how big she's getting Cora is
- eating a wide variety of foods
- standing unsupported for as long she wants, really it's till she decides to crawl away
- she likes watching the squirrels, birds, and other kids. And mom and day playing frisbee.

Standing!

I want the pumpkin! And I can't quite reach it!

Really! Give me that pumpkin!

Now, these are to show what we have to go through to get her picture these days...

So proud! She pulled off the sticker.

Ooh, I have a sticker!

Oh, you want the sticker mom?

Yeah!

Let's play peek-a-boo!

A day in the life - 10.5 months

Cora's days have a general rhythm to them - get up, eat, play, sleep, eat, play, etc. But to demonstrate the details I thought I'd do a photo journal of a day in her life.

Today turned out to be not quite our "normal" day, but since I'd already hazarded taking a photo of her nap I just kept on going.

Usually a happy camper first thing in the morning

She plays on the bed from when dad leaves to when I'm ready to get up

After a diaper change she plays on the kitchen floor while mom makes coffee

She's learned how to open and close the cupboards - it's endlessly fascinating

Has breakfast while mom checks email and drinks coffee - generally puffed corn and something else - today it was raisins

Showing mom the bag of puffed corn

Then we play!

About 2 hours after waking up Cora has her first nap. We read books and rock, then lay in the crib.

After nap we change dipes (not the first change of course)

And get dressed for the day

Today we found out that dad was on his way home, so we had another snack while awaiting his arrival - raisins.

And got in the car to go run errands

One of our errands was getting free wood chips (lovely to have Tony there to load them!)

Not excited to be woken up to go in Trader Joes

Big girl sitting in the shopping cart

But we get tired of the cart and want to be held by the end

After a snack it's time for another nap

Cora's up and ready to go while Tony attempts to sleep on

And we play some more - Thanks Auntie Linda for the fun new toys!

And we took a walk to the park and tried out the swings - she's willing to swing about a foot back and forth

And the dolphin bouncer - she was much more interested in the other kids than the equipment

Down the slide...

Watching other kids again

Then it's time for dinner - raspberries are a current favorite. She's even learned not to smash them.

Playing in the kitchen while dad cleans up 

After final playtime we changed, got PJs, had snack, read books, and then Tony put her to bed. Since dad was busy and I was doing the above things no pics...and there is no way I'm attempting to get a flash photo of her in the crib and risk a wake up!

Yosemite!!!

We took a last minute weekend getaway to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite's high country.  This was Cora's first trip to Yosemite and her first true vacation trip.

On the way there, we stopped at Angelina's in Stockton for dinner and Cora taste-tested their ravioli...they did pass muster.  No word yet on whether DeVinci's or Angelina's is better...further testing will be required.

Saturday morning, the weather was mild and we stopped at Olmstead Point for the view and pics:



To the right of Cora you can see Half Dome in the distance, and the high point to the left of Tony is "Clouds Rest"

 

She didn't really like standing on the granite boulder.



Cora didn't think this was as great of photo op as we did - hence her trying to crawl out of the tree.

  Next, a picnic on the sandy shore of Tenaya lake was in order:



What happens when the breeze picks up/temp goes down and baby's sweater is in the car?
Mom's fleece is converted to a baby "snuggie."


Then, storm system rolled in, creating awesome landscapes but altering our plans slightly.  We drove to Tioga pass (the highest automobile pass in the Sierra's at 9945 ft) as the rain and thunder passed overhead.

On the way back the rain let up, but there were still clouds, thunder, and rain in the distance.  We took a short stroll through Tuolumne meadows and made it back to the car during a lull in the storm:




We forgot Cora's socks, so Daddy's extra sweater was turned into an extra bundler layer to keep her tooties warm.



...and tasted the "Soda Springs," a naturally carbonated spring:

The little structure built around part of the bubbling spring



It really did taste carbonated! 



Tracy liked it, Tony did not.