The Tale of the Five Filter Wrenches

Once upon a time, I decided to work on my car. The highly anticipated, yet greatly dreaded 100k milestone had been reached, and it was time to make some changes. It was also time for a oil change on Gena's car, so I went to Oreilly's Auto and started buying parts. Half the things on my list were not in stock, so I was told to come back the next day to pick them up. The fuel temp sensor that also needed changing on my car was not available at any of the local parts stores, so I ordered that from the VW dealer.

Marshmallow pictures - Month 4

My fall semester has ended, and I am looking at 5 weeks off to stay home with Cora!  We decided to change her daycare to a site closer to home, so if one of us is late coming home, the other doesn't have to drive an extra hour to pick her up.  With the timing of the change, we decided just to keep her out of daycare for the month I'm home so I can spend some time with her, and so we can save a few bucks.  So far, things are going pretty well.  I'm learning my way around full-time daycare, and Cora's learning her way around full-time Dad.  After a rough couple of days, I think we're finally coming to an understanding.  Of course as I type, she is fighting going down for a nap, so maybe we're not as understood as I'd like to think!

One perk of being home is having time to take pictures.  Once again, we are a little behind, but here are a few of Cora's 4 month marshmallow pictures.  I believe she was actually 4.6 months old when I took them, but who's counting?

Thanksgiving

True to form, I am now writing about Thanksgiving.  Three weeks late.  Oh well.

This year for Thanksgiving, we flew to Indianapolis to be with my side of the family.  My brother and his wife, Peter and Alison, recently bought a house there, and decided it was the perfect place to host this year.  My mother, Paula, flew in from NM.  My sister and her husband, Janna and Ryan, flew in from CO, and the three of us came up from LA.  This trip marked a very important occasion, not only as it was Cora's first holiday, but it was the first time my siblings had a chance to meet her!  Cora loved being doted on all weekend, as evidenced by these photos.

Ok, that last one's not fair, she just wasn't in a picture taking mood.  I was sorry to find we had no pictures of Janna holding her, but I have two theories: One, Jan was behind the camera for much of the weekend; Two, Cora was usually passed to her from Peter, and it turned out that when Janna was holding her, she needed a diaper change.  I draw no solid conclusions, but it seems Peter has a strange effect on our daughter...

After all the travelling, Cora and I were pretty tired, so this is how we spent a large part of the weekend.

The trip was a blast until the final descent on our flight home.  Cora did great on the first three legs, but on the way down into New Orleans she realized how much her ears hurt.  It was a little ironic, as the 4 month old behind us had just finished crying about 10 minutes earlier.  I'm sure the other people on the plane were very ready to be home!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and thanks Pete and Alison for having us over!

Halloween

I'm a little slow.  I know Halloween was two weeks ago, but I'm just getting around to posting these pictures now.  I could say that I wanted to space out our blogs, and wanted to wait a while after Gena posted the last one, but that would be a lie, I'm just slow.

For Cora's first Halloween, we were invited to join my classmate, Jeff, and his family at their church's "Trunk-or-Treat" chili cook-off.  For those of you who have not heard of this before, it involves backing your vehicle up to the sidewalk around the church, decorating your trunks, and handing out candy to all the kids (and as in our case, the Dads carrying around their babies!).  The chili was delicious, the candy was plentiful, and Cora was my good luck charm in the pie-walk, where we won a peanut butter pie.  Also delicious.  We didn't want to spend money on a costume that would only get worn once, so Gena decided to knit her a pumpkin hat.  So I guess for Cora's first Halloween, she went as a drooley pumpkin head.  Here are a few of our favorite pics from the night.

Marshmallow pictures - Month 3

Another month older, another month cuter.

It is hard to believe that our little Coco is 3 months old now. She's gotten a lot bigger and changed quite a bit. Her motor skills are improving, but her spacial awareness isn't quite there yet:

She follows us with her head and eyes when we move around the room.

She makes a lot of direct eye contact, but she hasn't yet learned to mug for the camera. I think I like it better this way.

She's very expressive. 

She can hold herself up for a long time.

She notices and explores her surroundings.

She drools. A lot.

And she tries to eat things. A lot.

She's learning to use her hands more and more. She's got quite a grip, and it can sometimes be a challenge to get her to let go.

Her hand use also includes bringing things up to her mouth.

Mostly, though, she's just a sweetie who likes to smile and cuddle.