Gena's fourth Mother's Day

It's hard to believe this is Gena's fourth Mother's Day! I know Cora's not yet 3, but I believe women become mothers long before their baby is born. I don't think I was a Dad until Coco actually entered the world, but I know Gena was there long before.

Over the last year, Gena has completely redefined her role as "Mom", and I could not be more grateful for, impressed with, and proud of all she has done! Our baby girl is smarter than either of us already, absolutely LOVES to read, regularly states that she "loves science and music", has a penchant for composing beautiful music and lyrics at the drop of a hat, and occasionally amazes us with the love she has for her brother. Rhys is a crawling fool, pulls up on everything, has started "walking" along the edge of the couch or with the walker toy Cora lets him use from time to time, and will most likely be walking before Father's Day. Thank you, Gena, for being such an amazing Mother to our children. Here is Cora and Rhys's Mother's Day song for your listening pleasure.

Before I leave you with the apparently traditional Mama Collage, I want to wish a very happy Mother's Day to all the other Mothers in our lives: Mom, Leta, Stephanie, Alison, Janna, and anyone else reading this post!

Crawl, walk, run...dance?

As promised, here is my newest video production chronicling Coco's progress from crawling to, well, dancing! Enjoy!

A Day in the Life

You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen...this year's most anticipated drama, "A Day in the Life"!

Click on it twice if you want to go to youtube and watch it in it's full glory.

Rolling Update

As promised, here are the latest developments on Cora's rolling skills!  

learning to roll

In case you haven't guessed by my increased post frequency, I had a few days off.  LSU was on fall break for the second half of this week, so I decided to stay home with Cora.  Now for those of you who don't know, this was my very first time staying with her alone for more than a few hours.  I know what you're thinking: "He'll never make it!", "He has no idea what he's getting himself into!", "He doesn't stand a chance!"...trust me, Gena was thinking something along those same lines, I'm sure.  However, I managed to keep her relatively happy (until this afternoon...but I digress), and I was also lucky enough to see her roll over for the first time!  She rolled from belly to back, but was not at all interested in repeating the feat for the rest of the day.  I thought I'd try again today, so I got out the camera early and kept it on for a long, long time, hoping to catch that moment.  Here are the results.  Be sure to click on the button with four diagonal arrows on the bottom right of the video to see it in full screen.

Chattering

::le sigh::

Its an interesting situation. I'm ready to go back to work and do experiments and interact with my labmates (who I really enjoy). I'm ready to have a normal daily routine that doesn't involve diapers 80% of the time. I'm ready to have a few hours to myself everyday. I'm really looking forward to doing some science and having high end scientific conversations that aren't about physics. 

What I'm not looking forward to is leaving Cora for a big chunk of each day. I know I'm not the only person who's had to deal with the separation anxiety and mommy guilt issues, and that makes it a little easier. That and knowing that the women at the daycare we're using are wonderful, loving people who will take the best care of her. (Seriously - the woman we talked with when I went to visit gave me a hug and promised me Cora was in good hands. All the other ladies came to look at Cora and coo over her.)

So, in order to maximize and really take advantage of these last few days, I have declared them to be "no work all play" days. I'm not doing any unnecessary chores, running no unneeded errands, and taking a break from cleaning. Instead, I'm spending lots of time cuddling and "playing" with Cora. 

As much as anyone can play with a 6 week old. 

We sat on a palate made up on the living room floor for some play time yesterday. Cora squirmed and flailed and whipped her head back and forth. She gurgled and cooed and blew bubbles. I watched and tickled and occasionally got hit by a flailing limb. 

When I pulled out my camera to take a little video, shyness apparently kicked in. The squirming slowed down. The noises all but stopped. She turned her head away. I don't believe she's old enough to either recognize the camera or be shy, but she certainly didn't want to cooperate. 

After 4 attempts I finally managed a decent video, complete with cute baby noises. 

Today we're going to the park for some sunlight (as long as it's still cool when Geoff gets back from his bike ride). Maybe we'll pack a picnic, too, if the timing is right for lunch. Then we can stroll around the little walking path and lay in the shade of the huge oak trees in the park. Not a bad way to spend part of the Labor Day weekend!

P.S. I've never uploaded video before, so please leave a comment if it doesn't work and I'll try to figure it out.