Past, present and future

This post is mostly informative, but I'll try to throw in some cute and a little pregnant to keep you reading.

First, the past. In case you've not heard, I did not get the residency position here in Baton Rouge. We were pretty bummed at first, but quickly realized this was our chance to leave Louisiana!

This brings us to the present. I spent the last two weeks traveling around the country interviewing for other positions. Dallas, Philadelphia and Chapel Hill were all very impressive, and I think any of the three would be an excellent opportunity for me. These cities are also good cities for Gena to find work, and she's currently contacting people in each for job opportunities.

Also in the present is #2, who is rapidly growing at 18 weeks. Both Gena and baby are doing very well. Gena seems to be over the worst of the nausea, which is much better than last time! Here she is at 17 weeks, looking lovely as usual (and pregnant).

When pigs sing

One of Coco's favorite books is Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. She picks this book for us to read almost every day, sometimes several times a day.

It's really cute and the first few pages go like this:

"A cow says MOO.

A sheep says BAA.

Three singing pigs say LA LA LA!"

It then goes on to correct us and point out that pigs do not actually sing, but instead say "OINK all day and night."

I think, however, that my poor little Coco is confused. You can ask her what so many animals say and she answers correctly - cow, horse, sheep, dog, cat, you get the idea. But ask her what a pig says and she will not reply with OINK. 

Oh no. She starts singing.

Lalalalala!

Crawl, walk, run...dance?

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

Christmas with the Nichols

We spent this Christmas in Denver with my (Geoff) family this year. Flying with a 17 month old is interesting. She's still free to fly, but that means she still has to sit on our laps. Anticipating a long afternoon, we ran her around the New Orleans airport as much as we could, hoping she'd fall asleep in the plane. Rounding a corner in the terminal we came across someone I expect she will be very familiar with in future Christmases, but with whom she has no love for as of yet. You guessed it, Santa Claus! Southwest Airlines was doing free photo shoots for kids in the airport, and I decided to take advantage. Cora wasn't sure about Santa, but he did give her a candy cane, so he can't be that bad, right? Wrong. I'm not complaining; I think this picture is perfect!

Maybe she'll like him a little more next year.

Second Halloween

Halloween was a blast this year. Cora decided she wanted to go as a cowgirl—by decided, I mean she got to wear the one costume we owned that was passed down from Weston, Ella and Libby—and boy was she cute!