Cora's Big Adventure

Sitting in a Bumbo

ypete — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:09:51 +0000

As new parents, Pete and I discovered a world of baby products with incredibly catchy baby names…Boppy, Bumbo, Wubbub, etc. It really is difficult to discern a difference between all of these products by name alone but we are now very familiar with the Bumbo seat-Cora’s new favorite “toy”. She has explored museums, farmers markets, libraries and parks throughout the Bay area but sitting in the Bumbo has by far been the most exciting event in her life thus far. See picture below.

Rivera? Laxton? Rivton?

ypete — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:44:46 +0000

One of the first questions any human asks when a child is first born is: Who does she look like? People (including YPete and family) spend countless hours trying determine what recognizable appendages, facial features and personality traits this new tiny person has. As of now Cora has been determined to look like a mix of her grandmothers, have Pete’s eyebrows, nose etc. and exactly like Y as an infant. She is now 7 weeks and really she looks like Harold from Harold and the Purple Crayon and probably will look as such until she is no longer considered a baby. For now (and really the rest of her life) we can bask in her adorable cuteness, marvel at her baby acne, and appreciate her fuzzy werewolf ears.

Cora side by side with her look alike Harold

Harold the Baby

Sleeping Cora

Werewolf Baby Ears

Road Trip Baby Style!

ypete — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:19:29 +0000

As we set out for California from Austin, it was a bit daunting to think about being on the road with a three-week old newborn for an entire week. We had set up a laid back schedule to accommodate Cora and her feeding needs but she was still only three weeks old! As we finished the first leg of our trip in Lubbock, we gladly realized that Cora would do on the road what she had done every day till that point: sleep, eat and poo. In other words, she did really well in the car and only became fussy at night before bed. Completely understandable as everybody gets cranky after driving through Northwest Texas for eight hours. Cora was able to sleep through the sights of the Mojave Desert, one of the largest clusters of Joshua Trees in the world, the wonders of Bakersfield, CA and finally the bridges of the Bay Area.

I should also mention that whenever Cora did have a baby freak out we were equipped with “The Happiest Baby on the Block” soothing sounds CD, which to adults sounds like the horrifying noise track to Saw or any other horror movie of your choosing. To Cora this CD really did comfort her as it was supposed to mimic the inside of the womb, falling rain and a hairdryer (which are all, as I said before, terrifying). We really would recommend this to any crazy people thinking about taking a road trip across the country with an infant in the near future.

Cora with Grandma Rivera and her future favorite puppy Mooch in Santa Fe

Flying Mojave Desert Baby

Tiny Desert Baby w/ Mom

Use Your Words Cora

ypete — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 01:09:54 +0000

I think I'm hungry Cora. Where is that woman with the milk delivery system?

One of the major challenges YPete faced as we got to know Cora was understanding what she was trying to tell us at any given moment. Does that “bloody murder” cry mean you’re hungry? tired? cold? annoyed? pooping? We think we heard a different inflection in this last “WAAAH”– Are you a combination of hungry and cold? What is this grunting all about? After we ( in loving jest) made fun of her and laughed at how cute some of those mysterious noises were we would say: Use your words Cora! Which is exactly what she was and still is doing. It seems that “mad face bloody murder crying” Cora always ended up being hungry and cold. It makes sense as I also get mad face and fussy when I am cold and hungry. We always knew when Cora needed a diaper change because you could hear it as the noise echoed off the living room walls.

We’ve gotten better at understanding Cora and sometimes have to accept that maybe she is just “fussy”-a word neither one of us has ever used with such frequency in our lives. And now we are happy to report she is experimenting with all sorts of sounds we have yet to understand but can always respond to.

Mad Face Cora

Cora was born in Texas but got out of there as quick as she could

ypete — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:23:43 +0000

Side Note On Title: In the six years that I lived in Texas I had heard countless transplant Texans start a speech with the sentence: ” I wasn’t born in Texas but I got here as quick as I could.” Since Cora lived in Texas a total of three weeks we thought it would be a bit funny if we began her story with the title above. No offense to our Texan friends-there are many things we like about Texas (mostly the people )

That said, welcome to Cora’s Big Adventure. These first posts will be just a few snippets chronicling Cora’s first five weeks of life. On Wednesday, February 24th around 6:00 pm, Coralina Rivera Laxton made her way into the world via my stomach a.k.a a c-section. She was unhappy we disturbed her blissful amniotic fluid world of bliss, but was beautiful, healthy and hungry nonetheless. After a few days in the hospital Cora and the fam made their way home and prepared to make the arduous journey “out California way”. With the help of our very generous families we were able to re-cuperate and rest while adjusting to a 24-hour Cora schedule and packing and planning for the big move.

Cora ready to go to her first appointment