The outpouring of gifts and hand-me-downs from all of you has meant that we have much more than we can possibly use to help Cora have the best new life. We firmly believe she can’t learn too early that one of the best parts of life is giving back whenever possible. We have had so much support from our friends and family, she would like to ask for any additional gifts to go to those less fortunate. We’ve decided to ask all those interested in giving anything else for Cora, consider instead making a contribution to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Tx instead.

We’ll happily continue to take cards and well wishes however. They are making great decoration for her nursery and remind us daily of what a great set of friends and family we have!

We are sooooo incredibly lucky/blessed to have such a great support network and incredible family. We’re definitely also lucky enough to have steady jobs and be in a stable situation that we can take the time to learn how to be parents. But even better than that, we were able to have our parents visit and help us through these first weeks.

First let me say that, first time grandparents are a TRIP! The excitement and love is overwhelming. Downright cute. And I can’t tell you how excited the new grandmas were to find out we had a girl. Can you just say that Cora will have no shortage of pink in her wardrobe for years to come.

Also, do expect a reappearance of the Mr. T onesie, complete with a pastel tutu, courtesy of Auntie Brie. If Brie would let me get her in one, a picture of her with Cora will be on the blog soon enough!

Since we’re talking about family, I wanted to share this lovely shot of the Moore’s and Sean and I at the baby shower/BBQ hosted by my fam in Houston when Cora was -2 months old:

Dad, Sis, Ma, Me and DSH

Man oh man this has been fun. I’m probably saying that because I got nearly a full night’s rest last night, thanks to some creative feeding schedule tricks and my awesome man. But the main reason it’s been so fun can be seen below…

Cora’s 1^st day in the great big world! In daddy’s arms, happy as a clam.

2^nd Night of life: NICU Phototherapy for hyper bilirubin (jaundice). While

this isn’t exactly happiness, knowing that it helped her to be healthy and

vibrant has been a blessing.

But she gets some loving and grub from daddy while in ICU.

Taking baby home!

Daddy and Cora time, first day at home.

After eating some of the good stuff.

Catching some ZZZzzzz’s

Our little Glo-worm! Swaddling makes for not only quality sleep time but real cute pictures.

And of course it’s always a good time to monkey around!     Or sleep. She

does a lot of that. Good thing she’s so flipping cute doing it.

AJ and I are incredibly happy to welcome our beautiful little girl, Cora Marie. She was born on September 4, 2011 at 11:51 AM at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, Washington. When she was born, she weighed 7.04 lbs and was 18.75 inches long. I have to say, as a the “labor coach”, that AJ did an incredible job with labor and pre-labor, and I will leave the details for her to tell. There were no complications with the labor or delivery and Cora was born completly naturally with out any issue.

Like her mom and dad, Cora was born with jaundice and she had to be admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for light therapy to treat the jaundice. We may get to take her home tonight (fingers crossed).

AJ is doing really well, and is bouncing back from the labor and delivery incredibly well. After Cora was born and we were moved to a recovery room, she was already walking around which astounded the nursing staff. All-in-all, the family is doing great and couldn’t be more excited for all of the adventures to come.

I’m seriously worried about this problem that has come up. As I approach my due date, I’m having a whole new set of emotional responses to any new stimulus. I like to call it Babygetoutitis. I am not good with uncertainty as many can attest to (hell I don’t even enjoy surprises even if it is something I like!). It’s made the time drag on ever so slowly these last couple of days. I’ve transitioned my responsibilities at work, and I can’t pick up new projects in the meantime. The laundry is done, the shopping list for baby completed, the classes and reading are in the bag. Just missing is family member #3. I mean sure there is probably a load of other things I could be doing to be ready – filing that paperwork just sitting on my desk, organizing the pantry alphabetically, sorting the sock drawer by length and color. But seriously, can’t the munchkin just join us already?

We finished our child birth preparation class and we’re supposed to continue to practice all the skills we were taught. One in particular was swaddling, and as I didn’t practice in class, I thought I should hone my skills at home. We didn’t have a big plastic baby, so I used my trusty owl doll. Sean practiced being daddy and looking cute. I think he did a pretty good job. For those of you who remember our couch however, he was a little concerned about his ability to get out of the couch with the baby. More practice required I guess, because the owl baby ended up in a less than optimal position….

My dear sweet husband booked us a mini getaway in Woodinville at Willows Lodge Resort. Not too far so we wouldn’t be able to get to the hospital quickly, but not in the thick of our normal lives. Unfortunately, I got some bad news (well rather just news, not so much bad) about the possibly cause of my severe allergies. A blood test indicated I’m allergic to cow’s milk, chicken eggs and of all things, baker’s yeast. So while it’s not as bad as a wheat or gluten allergy, it certainly will make eating out and cooking in very creative opportunities.

I managed to eat an amazing meal at the Barking Frog that avoided all those allergens and to help celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby Beard.

I had the great fortune of being hired to a consultancy in Seattle, WA for my first job in Washington. Despite being really scary starting a new job in a new town while being less than three months pregnant, they made me feel welcome and were even kind enough to provide some camaraderie, with two other ladies in our small office pregnant at the same time! We had the opportunity to celebrate the third trimester at an office gathering and took some photos.

Due dates: August 31, September 3, and September 9. Can’t get a more close knit office than that J I promise that isn’t part of the hiring process.

Sean and I don’t really like the 3D/4D images you can get these days with your ultrasound. We definitely prefer the 2D images that don’t try to make more of the images available. Plus, it’s a little traumatic when the algorithm can’t extrapolate what a particular feature and it just leaves a weird gap or dimple in the image. It also messes with the whole surprise thing.

We’ve found that not knowing the gender has made visualizing the baby post partum more difficult. We live in such a gendered world that it’s hard to conceptualize this bundle without a gender. Also, I’ve got no mother’s intuition about what we’re having so it’s a big guessing game for me.

Here’s a 3D shot though because it is still pretty neat. Although you know I couldn’t take it too seriously…

What's that you've got in there?