Best Buds!

Brandon's sister Brittnie, her husband Shane, and son Gavin came up to visit this weekend and meet Cora. Eli was so excited to play with his cousin. They are 2 1/2 years apart and play really well together now. It was so fun! We grilled Saturday night and took the kids to play at Sim Park in the sand on the river banks. We spent all of Sunday morning at Riverside Park checking out the little zoo, playing at the playground, and letting the boys splash around in the fountains. It was such a wonderful weekend for us all! The only bad thing that happened was that Eli fell off the couch and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table. He got a huge nasty goose egg that scared us all, but I was able to call our nurse hotline and get instructions on what to do and what symptoms to look for etc. He was fine! We joked that the Braggs are just bad luck because last time they came up Gavin ended up in the hospital with croup. We laughed so much at the boys interactions. Gavin bossed Eli around the whole time, which cracked us up. Eli loved showing Gavin his new drum set and they both loved playing it together. Let's just say it was LOUD! Gavin wasn't too happy with either of his parents giving the baby attention or Eli too much attention. It was funny! It was just precious to watch the boys and how much they love eachother. All of my cousins were always my best friends growing up and we were constantly spending the night at eachother's houses etc. We're all still really close and I'd rather be with them than anyone. It's so awesome to see that developing between the boys!

I'm absolutely thrilled it's the weekend! I will really start cherishing the days I have some help from Brandon and can get things done! I actually got to weed my gardens for the first time since Cora's birth. Woo, what a relief. Cora is just a beautiful sweet little girl. She is very mellow UNLESS you try to put her in her swing. She hates that thing and isn't too thrilled with her bouncer either. Seriously, where do I put her then? I usually end up holding her if she's awake or putting her on her tummy with a mirror and toys to look at. She can flip her head from one side to the other when she's on her tummy and hold her head pretty darn good. She can smile and coo once in a while. She is super wiggly and actually pretty hard to hold when she's awake because she throws her head back a lot and pushes on you with her feet. You really have to hold on to her! She can also poop, fart, and belch with the best of them. Eli thinks it's hilarious. My cousin Megan brought her baby Natalie by this week. She is two weeks older than Cora. It's awesome to both have toddler boys who can play together and now the girls as well!

Eli and Brandon's new adventure is a bike trailer that Brandon got for father's day. Eli loves it! Brandon really loves it because he gets great exercise and Eli has fun too. They just went out for a ride while it's cool to go pick Mulberries at Sim Park. I'm just waiting for the stained clothes when they get back! I took the kids up to Cessna this week, so all of Brandon's coworkers could meet the baby. Eli had a blast as usual raiding the candy bowls and even managed to get a banana muffin...ha ha. This week I asked him what his sister's name was and his response was "Doo doo". I got a huge laugh out of that one! He can't say Cora, but calls her "Bree" which is his word for baby for some reason. I had to put a picture on here of Eli at a month old. It's amazing to me how identical their eyes, nose, and cheeks are! Cora is definitely a lot darker (more of a Judson) and has smaller ears and less hair. Oh, how I love my kids!

Nieces and Nephews

Meeting my nieces and nephew was so wonderful! I have been just dying to meet them for a while now but was unable to travel due to my pregnancy. It was so frustrating to me not to get to support my sister the way I really wanted to during that time. What a relief to meet these wonderful children and introduce them to Cora. Of course everyone's reaction to my sister adopting five kids was that she was crazy...which she admitted was true :-), but once you meet these kids you realize there is no way you couldn't save them from the broken system they were in. The kids are amazing and their personalities are so awesome. They are definitely little charmers. It definitely will be chaotic and hard because there are five of them, but it will be worth it! They all loved Cora and had so many questions about her. They were somewhat horrified at her dried up cord stump (that finally fell off last night) and couldn't believe they'd had something like that when they were babies. They all wanted to hold her all day and the girls all helped me change her diapers and cover her up with blankets. They were all little mommies to her. Even Destin wanted to hold her a lot. They all got a biology lesson with breastfeeding and were so amazed (they'd only seen babies bottle fed). Precious decided the reason Cora can't talk is because she doesn't have any teeth yet :-). I laughed so hard all day at the hilarious comments. What cuties! I love them and miss them already. I can't wait for our trip up to the farm in a few weeks!

Smiles!

At one week, Cora was already smiling! I think Eli's first smile was around 3 or 4 weeks. She gave her first smile to Eli, then Brandon, then me! Now when I talk to her she'll usually give me a little smile. I feel guilty she's so wonderful and easy!

Success!

I have almost survived an entire week with two kids. It almost feels like I've been doing this forever. We've fallen into a groove and everything is going great! I don't know how I'm so lucky but both kids take naps at the same time and go to bed at the same time. My hardest part of the day is lunch time because Cora is always tired and ready for a nap right as Eli is hungry. I've still managed to make Eli some healthy lunches this week, so I'm considering that a success! I'm SO excited for Saturday because I'm taking Cora down to Tulsa with my Mom and brother to meet my new nieces and nephew. They are having a shower for the kids, so we're going down for that as well. My sister hasn't been able to see Cora yet, so I'm pumped!

Eli and Cora comparison...

Here's both kids "fish faces". Eli at one month, Cora at 2 weeks!

My wonderful two weeks of having Brandon home to help is coming to a close. Luckily I feel fully recovered and up to the challenge of parenting two children....people do it all the time right? Eli has picked the WORST possible time to start getting his two year old molars. He was being absolutely horrible on Friday night and we were really concerned that it was just terrible two's, but Saturday morning I discovered one of his molars had come in. I've been trying to give him Tylenol and teething tablets, but I'm not sure it's helping that much. He keeps gnawing on things and acting out. Yesterday, was the first time in history he didn't take a nap. He laid in his bed just talking to himself and playing with his stuffed animals but never fell asleep. Today, he went down fine after I gave him some Tylenol. Poor kid! I'm just relieved there's a reason for the madness. We went to a barbeque at the Racchini's last night and Eli had fun playing with all the kids. I enjoyed showing Cora off to all our friends and it felt great to socialize a little bit. Same with church this morning. I haven't been to church in a long time because of sickness and the baby, so it felt wonderful to get back to worshiping and the fellowship. Eli was excited to be back at Sunday school and Cora and I spent the sermon in the nursing mother's room with a few other friends with babies. Now that we have two kids I definitely have been feeling double the prayer responsibility. I feel I have so much to pray for and praise God for. I always pray for health, safety, and that they'll choose to follow Christ throughout their lives. I also pray for their spouses. My mom always prayed for our spouses, and I figure that's the only way I snagged Brandon :-) So much to pray for so little time!

Pure cuteness!

Bath Time!

I asked Eli if he wanted to help me give Cora a bath, and he ran to the closet and brought back the dog shampoo. Only the best for his sister! He wanted to snuggle her on his bed and wouldn't let me be a part of it, yesterday. Today we hit up the Botanical Gardens at the end of our street for a nice family outing. Eli loved walking the paths through the forest and smelling the flowers. I'm feeling so good! I think it mostly has to do with the fact I'm actually getting sleep!

1 Week Appt.

We survived our first outing with both kids! It was interesting taking them both to the doctor's office for Cora's one week appt. We made it out of the house only forgetting our cell phones and my wallet. Cora is doing great! She weighs 7 lbs 14.2 oz (which is the 75th percentile...HOLY COW). She is already up past her birth weight and almost eight pounds. She eats a ton, so no surprise there. My mom was mentioning to Eli how all Cora does is eat and eat and eat and he said, "POOP!". We started cracking up. That's right...she eats AND poops! When we do Cora's "tummy time" Eli lays beside her on his stomach doing it too and today when we went in to get him from his nap he wanted her to join him in bed for a snuggle. He wouldn't let me join them. It's amazing to watch this love relationship unfold. I know once the newness wears off and Brandon goes back to work in a week things might change, but I'm going to try to remember these beautiful moments.