I am trying so hard to get caught up on blog posts and I am way behind. I am still working on sweet Cora's adoption and birth story and will hopefully post that soon. The entire story is beautiful and full of God's grace and goodness for us and Cora's birth mother.
Cora was born with a mild stridor and started spitting up when she was just a day old. The hospital pediatrician changed her to a more broken down cow's milk formula. She was on that formula for a few weeks. Then I noticed blood in her stool, which was due to a cow's milk sensitivity/allergy and we changed to a hypoallergenic formula. She was a trooper through all these changes and was never fussy or cranky. She continued to spit up. I actually had no idea babies could spit up so much. :) If this kiddo was awake, she had a bib on. I bought bibs and more bibs.
A sweet friend loaned us a rock-n-play. It's a small cradle that allows the baby sleep upright instead of flat. It was a life saver for our little spitter. :) She slept in it until she was 5 months old.
The stridor was never severe and we only heard it when she was really upset and crying hard, which wasn't often. The pediatrician still wanted us to have it checked by an ENT. Thankfully, everything looked fine. It was not a fun experience though. They had to run a camera through her nose and down her throat while she was awake. All of this fun stuff while I was holding her. It was traumatic for both of us. :(
Cora was born breech. We did not know she was breech until about an hour before she was born. She had classic "breech legs" for several weeks and we would see them almost every time she had a diaper change. Ultrasounds are required on all breech babies at 6 weeks. Her ultrasound was perfect and we haven't seen those "breech legs" in a long time.
This girl loves her Daddy. Darren was the first person to get her to smile on a regular bases. He would make funny faces and noises and she would just light up. I would try doing similar things, but I didn't have as much success. She started smiling consistently around 2.5 months and hasn't stopped. She is a happy, smiley girl.
This was one of the first times I remember her being so intently focused on a person. She was memorized by her daddy.
She was (and still is) an excellent sleeper and was always calm and content.
This is one of my favorite newborn photos of her. I love that wrinkled, bald head. I also love that she is wrapped in the blanket Ashlyn made for her. It was our favorite newborn blanket.
We had lots of company those first few weeks.
Aunt Jill and Cora (it was homecoming pajama day for Jill)
Aunt Bill and Brenna still come by almost every Wednesday afternoon to visit Nate and Cora
Granna and Cora
Hadley didn't know what to think about the real, live baby. I love Cora's toes. :)
Nan and Pops still come at least twice a week to love on Nate and Cora
Ashlyn's classes had just started in Mobile and she also had a job that wouldn't allow her to be here until Cora was several weeks old. We were so thankful when she finally got to meet Cora. These girls share August birthdays.
Nate helped make tummy time more fun for Cora.
What a blessed time those first few weeks were! She has grown so much and that precious time is already becoming a blur. I cannot tell you how much we loved having another sweet newborn in our home - sleep deprivation, spit up, every part of it. Having a much older child helped me remember how quickly the newborn stage flies by. Darren and I cherished all of it. :)
