BKF-2009 edition

This past weekend we made our annual trek to the Big Knob Fair. Rumor has it that it may have been the last one. Say it ain't so!Cori loved the animals most of all.

She really liked the horses until "Charlotte" gave an unexpected whinny and scared her.

The train ride was also a hit. Cori rode with her cousin Aubree and the dads went too. When the ride was over, Cori wanted to go right back on.

Strike a pose

I think Cori learned the above pose from her dad.

TOUCHDOWN!

Be sure to check out Molly's new blog!

Open House

We always knew that our current home would be a "starter home" for about 5 or so years. For the past year we'd been feeling the itch to move, and it's been growing a lot stronger recently. So we've been working on specifics details like a time line, financial plan, investigating school districts and taxes. But part of the "fun" has been going to open houses and seeing what's out there.

We know some of the things we want (4+ bedrooms, 2.5+ baths, non-basement laundry, a decent yard, master suite, attached garage) and some of the things we don't want (like a ranch or patio style home, pool, location on a main road). But going to some open homes has allowed us to consider different things (and sometimes reconsider things we said we'd want). Two of our favorites have been these:

House #1 - pretty much the perfect house in person.Only 6 yrs old with an awesome entry way, great space and natural light, and a beautiful open kitchen with hardwood floors. It has a wonderful master suite with HUGE walk in closet, and a second floor laundry just to name a few perks. Even the price & location are perfect for us. Unfortunately the yard is fairly small. Dave doesn't seem to like my idea of excavating out the hillside in the back. Sure, it makes the yard private, but what's a move without some demolition?!




House #2 has a much bigger yard, and it's a wooded lot to boot. It has a first floor office with french doors and a beautiful fire place in the formal living room. The basement is finished and has a "mother in law" suite which is a nice open bedroom and a full bath with sitting area. The house is only 6 years old and is environmentally friendly as it is geothermal heated and has a whole house fresh air exchange. Unfortunately it's a little above our price comfort zone, but hey, you never know! Maybe it will be on the market for a while and they will drop their price.

But we both agree that while looking at houses is fun, it's kind of a tease since we're looking to move early next summer / late spring. We still have a few minor cosmetic things to finish up with this house before we put it on the market. And we definitely can't move unless we sell this house - 2 mortgages are not in the cards. Since we didn't win the big powerball jackpot, I'll guess we'll just have to dig deeper and find some patience.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Take me out to the ball game...
Take me out with the crowd....

wait, there's no crowd here....

Tonight Cori got to experience her first ever Pirates baseball game. As the pictures show, she was more interested in the surroundings than the actual game.

Mmmm - veggies! Oh wait, no zucchini? Never mind...

A friend / sub-contractor of my work invited us to their company suite. We were the only ones there for some time, so we dug into the food and beer. Hey, someone had to be first!
Cori had her 15 month check-up on Tuesday and I wasn't able to post until now as she was under the weather - a normal reaction from her shots. She had a fever for 2 days and was fairly miserable, just not her regular self. But the doctor was very happy with everything. Cori weights 24 lbs 5 ozs which places her in the 72nd percentile. Her height is 31.5 inches which is the 76th percentile. But the funniest statistic was her head circumference was 48 cm which is the 97th percentile! Our girl's got some big brains in there!

15 months

Just a quick update but is our little bird really 15 months old today? We can't believe how fast time flies! Cori has been doing great since walking on her own last weekend! She can still be a bit tentative in the mornings but not too long into the day she is pushing our hand away and off and about. It's really helped tire her out in the evenings too, so that is an added bonus.

Speaking of sleep, at the risk of jinxing myself, I have to say how wonderful Corinne has been doing sleep wise! We went through sleep training part 2 last week and the worrying was needless. Cori cried for less than 5 minutes each night for the first few nights and slept through the night every night. Most nights she doesn't even make a peep and sleeps 10-11 hrs through. If she does cry out, she puts herself back to sleep fairly quickly.

Tomorrow we have her well visit with the pediatrician and will find out Cori's weight and height. Updates and pictures then!

Miss Independent

Tonight Cori took a big step (literally) from assisted walking to independence! For a few weeks she has been just barely holding onto our finger walking all around. She was too afraid to let go, even though we suspected she'd be fine if she did. We didn't want to push it and figured she would do it when she was ready.

Dave got home today from his 100 on 100 race in Vermont - just in time! I let go of her hand earlier today and she took a few steps unknowingly. The video below shows her taking a few steps between Dave and his mom. Of course after I put the video camera away, she decided to walk the whole way across the living room! She did that a few times and she is even pushing our hands away now. She is also mostly successful in standing up on her own after she falls. We figure by the end of the week she'll be off to the races.



I'm also wondering if this means Cori will now sleep great since she figured the whole walking thing out, or if she'll be up tonight trying to walk across her crib.

Exhaustion

How is it August already? Where is the time going so fast?! The past 2 weeks have been really busy and I'm just now having a moment to write a quick update. Last weekend we were at a family reunion in WV which was a lot of fun. We spent close to 3 days with a lot of Dave's step-mom's family members that we don't get to see very often. Early the next day I flew to Dallas for 2 days of busy work meetings. A new project with the USPS has been keeping me extra occupied at work.

Tempered in with the busy last 2 weeks is a total lack of sleep these days. We're not exactly sure what is going on with Corinne but wanting to sleep through the night isn't high on her priority list. We can rule out illness and it doesn't appear to be teething related that I can see. I guess if I had to speculate I'd say it is related to almost walking unassisted. If I can recall, I think we went though something like this right before she crawled. Now if only I can recall how long it lasted....

But lately Cori is up for multiple hours during the night. One night this past week, she was up from midnight to 6 AM (no exaggerating). Sometimes she twitches and will only sleep when held, other times she just out-right screams for hours, and then sometimes she will sleep for an hour, wake up and then take an hour to go back down, and then wake up in another hour, etc. I think the most frustrating part is that one week she will be totally fine and sleep undisturbed, and then we'll have a week of not sleeping well at all. It goes back and forth like a ping-pong ball. And she is taking a really long time to fall asleep as well; the usual bedtime of 7 / 7:30 PM is more like 8:30 / 9 PM these days.

Needless to say Mom & Dad are wiped out. If I'm really honest with myself, I know we need to re-Ferberize. But I hate hearing her scream, and since Ferber fell by the wayside around 9 / 10 months, we haven't been doing it. And we really haven't needed to until recently. She was sleeping great for months! Now it's pretty much a bad habit that generally Cori needs held to fall back asleep. It pains me to say that because I love rocking her to sleep and holding her while she dozes. But it no longer takes just a few mintues to accomplish; it's more like hours now. And these sleep-deprived nights are building on one another that we can't take it anymore.

Efforts to re-institute sleep training for a few days this week have failed miserably. It sucks when you know you should do this because in the long run, it's better for your kid. But the "here & now" aspect just bites. Is there a patron saint of sleep that I can pray to?? The next blog update will depend on when Cori returns to "normal" and I get more than a few winks here and there.

t-tapp

A quick post to talk about the exercise program I've been doing for about a month. Some of you have have heard of "t-tapp" from the askmoxie blog. I looked into the program and loved what I read in the book. T-tapp is a 15 minute workout that uses just about every muscle group in your body. You need no weights or additional equiptment. The workout helps move lymph extra well, but most importantly, it uses the entire muscle fiber legnth so that you build long lean muscles using isometric isolation.

Form is critical with t-tapping, and while the moves don't look hard, it only takes one session to see that looks are deceiving. One of the exercises uses so much muscle activation, it lowers blood glucose by 65-85 points within a few mintues of doing it - that is faster than a shot of insulin! But that is just one of the reasons why t-tapp is so good for diabetics and those with autoimmune diseases.

While the book was great for common form mistakes, it wasn't as helpful with the movement flow. Fortunately there is a t-tapp trainer right in the Pittsburgh area, so my mom & I booked a session with her. It made a huge difference, and we purchased the beginner instructional DVD to follow along with. (For what it is worth, our trainer is in her 40s and has 6 kids - I'd trade bodies with her in an instant! And we have the same "body type"- she is proof of how good t-tapp can be for you!)

In 3 weeks, I'd lost 11.5 inches doing a 15 minute workout daily!! I feel really energized and the results are quick enough that Miss Impatient here knows it's working and thus feels even more committed to the program.

This past weekend we went to a t-tapp workshop that our trainer hosted. It was great to get those important form tweaks and we're going to start going to a class once a month just to stay in our best form. I wish we could go more often, but our trainer's class is close to an hour away, so once a month is the best we can do. We're still t-tapping ourselves about every other night; with the way I'm feeling and the results I am seeing, I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon!

I have to admit too that the compliments I'm getting from so many people are really nice. We've gotten about 10 friends & family to start t-tapping as well. I hope they like it as much as we do! If you'd like more info or have any questions, just let me know! You can also visit the t-tapp website or our trainer's website.

Beach Wrap-up

This is an over-due post since so many people have been asking for pictures and how the beach vacation went.
I think saying that we had a great time is an understatement! We really relaxed and played and laughed and enjoyed ourselves. The only "negative" aspect would be the highway traffic to and from Corolla, but now we know and can plan accordingly for next time! Yep, we had such a great time that we already know we'll be back every year. And driving our scoping out future rental homes helped ensure that. We stayed at an awesome beach house with a private (solar heated) pool and lots of pluses.



As much as I'd like to say this is where we stayed, this is just a little place I have book-marked for next time. This shot helps convey our digs.... Cori was playing with Aunt Molly and loving Uncle Mikey:
Oh, wait, before I go much further, I should probably show a picture of the first thing Dave did.... you may need this picture to believe that other pictures of him really are in fact, him. Dave requested that Mike shave his hair off (with a beard trimmer no less - note Molly's laughing expression!) 45 minutes later, we had the next recruit for the army...

We ate out a few times at some great seafood places, and we cooked in mostly. But when you have 7 pounds of king crab legs and 3 lbs of shrimp and a ton of clams as the main dish, I think it's okay to say that you ate in that night!

The beach wasn't as big of a hit as the pool. Cori didn't mind the sand, but the picture below shows her general reaction to the ocean. I guess when you're little, the ocean is a loud and big unknown. We did meet up with Dave's step-sister and her family who happened to be vacationing 2 miles away from us. Cori's cousin Theo is 2 and loved the water; Cori seemed a little less inhibited watching Theo run into the waves. So maybe next year we'll spend more time at the beach.

So for now, we just have a little fish on our hands, and because of this, we spent most of our time at the pool. It probably worked out better since I am a classic over-packer, our house was 3 blocks from the ocean, and Molly had a boot on her broken left foot.

Even though we were pool side with Cori, we still were able to go to the beach often. Every time we were there I saw dolphins swimming not far off shore, which was just incredible! (Everyone would just watch them for minutes at a time; one group would go past only to be followed a few minutes later by another group.) Dave and I had a romantic evening walk on the beach and I got up early one morning with my mom to watch the sun rise. We'll no doubt make this a tradition together since it was just so beautiful.
On the very last day there we took a boat out onto the sound and went parasailing at 1200ft. I have a lot of pictures and video of this adventure (and luckily none of the sea-sickness that followed- gah!) so that will be a post for another time.

Out of pocket

We're going to be out of pocket for a bit as the Spragues head to the Outer Banks for a beach vacation with the Petruskas. We can't wait to relax, have margaritas in the hot tub, cold beers pool side, and play in the sand by the ocean! While I'll have the laptop with us (have to file for my unemployment week while we're gone) I can't promise to be around much. After all, it is a vacation!

Two things I believe in for long car drives - snacks and a clean car. Snacks can make or break the trip, and everyone knows bugs stick better to a clean car!



In other exciting news, Cori has a top tooth that has broken through and has another one about to come through.

And most exciting, Cori has been assisted walking! She will go for quite some time (and we have the sore lower backs to proove it) and then her little legs tucker out and she stops. She gets frustrated and wants to keep going but can't. It may be one of the cutest things ever! She is also pushing her walking toys at quite the clip. Sometimes they get ahead of her and she can't keep up and falls. I am resisting the urge to install rubber all over the floor.

Independence Day

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved." I've always been a huge history fan and the patriotism of Independence Day always makes my heart swell with pride.

This weekend I am honoring the patriotism of my grandfathers who served our country during WWII. I've registered them on the WWII national memorial website. I hope to get a chance to visit this memorial in person on our way back home from vacation.

Only 1 of the entries has been published so far and I wanted to share it with my friends and family. It makes my heart swell with that familiar pride every time I see it. Happy Independence Day!

Fun in bed

Get your mind out of the gutter - the title of this post pertains to Cori's latest play area - our bed! In addition to good old fashioned jumping on the bed, she loves to bury her face in pillows. Cori will often quickly come up to them and just push her face right into them. I tried to get good pictures but as quick as she is down, she lifts her face back up.
Cori often just likes to suddenly lay down on the bed, the floor, or where ever she may be. Don't misunderstand her intentions. She isn't tired; she is just stopping to take a break. As quickly as she is down, she gets right back up and continues on!
And we're not sure if she is lacking depth perception, or just doesn't care, but apparently beyond the edge of the bed isn't any danger to our daughter! Trying to escape over the edge of things happens daily, at various spots, multiple times.
Just a quick update to the post below - and thanks to everyone for their thoughts. Cori seems to be slightly better thanks in large part to the advise of a sweet pediatrician friend. She had suggested giving Cori time to decompress after daycare via some cuddle time with mom. It seems to be helping, but I think a lot of it is just because Cori is so social and loves playing with the other kids. It's quite dull here at home! Sometimes we think she is bored with just us, especially on weekends! Good thing the next 2 weeks are filled with playdates and activities. Now if we can just get her to eat table food for us like she does at daycare! Oh, the power of peer pressure...

Question for the moms...

When does this whining phase end?!?! Dear lord I am frazzled from it. I know Dave is too.

Tonight was night #2 of "I'll eat anything and everything at daycare but won't eat at home". Cori screams and cries (and quickly works herself up into hysterics) when we put her in her highchair and / or try to feed her lately.

She is also extra clingy in the evenings when we're home, and she just doesn't seem to be her usual happy, smiling self. At daycare, she is happy and playful and sweet. No signs of her being sick, and she is sleeping well.

I'm at a loss. Please tell me this whining and crying and tantrums (did I mention the tantrums when we tell her "no"??)... make it stop!

PS - I should also add that we ovbiously love Cori very much, and this isn't meant to indicate otherwise. But I feel cheated somewhat - everyone talks about how much fun it becomes when they turn one, and this isn't fun. I think we felt like we just got the hang of things at 11 months, and then BOOM this hits us and we feel inept.

Happy Father's Day!

My 2 favorite people - aren't they just adorable?!?

So it's back to work tomorrow from my week off. But my new mantra is "8 work days" since I only have 8 more work days until I'm off for 2 and 1/2 weeks in July!

Some highlights of my week off this time:

• fun playdate with friends for me and for Cori
• gardening finished and flowers blooming
  
• fun trip to zoo
• got mildly electrocuted 2x trying to rewire / fix the laundry room light
• relaxed and vegged
• exercised
• multiple and various doctor visits completed
  
• lots of family time enjoyed
  

I suspect that the blog updates won't be as frequent as they've been this past week with getting back to the grind. Thanks for sticking around anyways.

Lazy Saturday

Today we had a lazy day playing and relaxing and venturing outside.

We built a pillow fort and climbed it.Even Zoe enjoyed it!

We tried out one of many new bathing suits and swam in our pool.

Can't wait to take Cori to a bigger pool and the ocean - less than 3 weeks until we are beach bound!

And Aunt Molly, we'll be bringing the blocks with us!