Pictures, pictures, pictures

Okay, I know everyone is dying to see more pictures of Cora so this post should start to at least whet your appetite. I have lots of fun things to tell, but I'll do so in later posts and just show off our beautiful little one here. Cora had her one month appointment this past week and is doing just great. She weighed 10 lbs even and was 22 3/8" long. In between Cora's cries, the doctor managed to tell us that Cora is perfect (not that we had any doubts).

Without further adieu, pictures of Cora:

Cora adores her baths and afterwards is very happy, chatty, and full of facial expressions.






Cora has so many adorable clothes I can't capture her in all of them, but this little capri outfit was too cute not to photograph.




Cora surprises us everyday with all of the new things she's learning and doing. Here are some shots from the past couple of days.






Have you gotten your Cora fill yet? No? I understand - she's just too adorable to ever get enough! I'll keep the pictures coming!

1 month old!

Can you believe it? Cora's one month old today! I can't believe how quickly this month has passed...

To celebrate, I took some pictures of Cora with her sweet bear from Aunt Vickie and Uncle Billy. I also have a comparison photo from Cora's first week at home. Dustin weighed Cora last night and she is really growing - 10 lbs! Here are some shots of her now.





And here's a shot from a month ago. Grammie had a photo shoot for Cora (yes, I need to post those adorable pictures) and this was one of Cora with her bear then. She's grown, changed, and was much happier in the 1 month pictures! Oh, and part of her is covered by the bear to protect her privacy.

All About Sleep

Okay, let me start this post by saying that I am in no way, shape, or form complaining about Cora's sleeping. She is my little champion sleeper. She sleeps at night and (for the most part) has her awake time during the day. She sleeps for hours at a time which gives me the ability to take naps myself, get other things accomplished, or just take a little break. Cora's only issue with sleeping is that during the day she's far too interested and curious in all of the things going on around her to fall asleep. So she fights sleep like a WWE wrestler. During these battles, Cora shows us just how strong she is - stretching out her arms and legs and exercising her lungs fervently. We've tried all kinds of different things to try to coax her to sleep with less excitement. Sometimes some things will work; sometimes other things will work; sometimes nothing works except her just crying and screaming until she wears herself out and falls fast asleep. But today, at Grammie's prodding, I put a fighting-sleep Cora into her carrier/stroller combo and a miraculous thing happened. She stopped crying when I started pushing the stroller. So we strolled - around the island in the kitchen and in figure eights in the living room. I stopped once for a quick second and the crying started again. So I kept pushing until I was certain she was out cold and she slept for over an hour! I had so much free time I made Dustin a peach cobbler! Then in the afternoon we went for a walk outdoors in the stroller - and the same results. Love it.
This is us "strollering."

Still in motion...

Starting to get sleepy...

And she's down for the count. This is as close as I dared to get with a flash once she was snoozing.

Speaking of sleep, here's a little sneak peak at some of Cora's favorite dozing positions.
This is pretty much what all of our ultrasound pictures looked like - she loves having her hand in front of her face.


This is typical when Cora's waking up. She stretches for at least 2 minutes before ever opening her eyes!

But, at the end of the day, Cora's sweet spot for sleeping is nestled on her Daddy's chest. Looks like he sleeps pretty well that way too!

Breaking news - I went to Wal-Mart today and got a swing. This post is brought to you courtesy of Graco's Lovin' Hug Plug-In. I'll get pictures up after I take some of the little one napping away.

Independence Day - Happy Fourth!

We started the festivities of Cora's first Fourth with her first trip to church. Cora was great - she slept through the service! Afterwards, she was on display for our church family. Daddy insisted that Cora stay in her carrier and that everyone view from a distance.

When we got home, we wanted to get some pictures but it was Cora's lunchtime. So these pictures show exactly how she lets us know she's ready to eat!



Grammie got Cora the most precious little red, white and blue outfit for the Fourth and she actually wore it all day without requiring a new outfit! Grandpa and Nana came up for the Fourth and brought Cora a new playmat that she absolutely loves. She has been spending lots of her awake time on it.



On Sunday evening, Grammie volunteered to keep Cora while Dustin and I went down to the dock to watch fireworks. While we were gone, Grammie had a photo shoot with the little firecracker! Here are some of the best shots that she got.
Pretty sure this is how Cora held her legs in the womb. She only unfolds them and straightens her legs when she needs to get her point across.



Cora definitely has a lot of hair, but we have a hard time keeping it going any one direction. So for now, she has a natural spike!

Cora is practicing fending off the paparazzi!

Hope you all had a great Fourth like we did!

Some of Cora's Firsts

Cora has been super busy growing, learning new things, going to new places, and meeting new people. We have so much to share - especially pictures - so here's a quick look at our lives recently.

Cora was only 3 days old when she visited her first National Wildlife Refuge! It was our first day home from the hospital and Cora had a follow-up doctor's appointment. On our way home we stopped by Rappahannock River Valley NWR (Dustin's office) to introduce Cora to Joe before he headed off to Massachusettes. Joe's wife Julia was also there helping Joe pack his office so we got to see both of them!

Cora also got to meet several other RRVNWR staff and we took advantage of the photo op. She's a blue goose fan already!

Well, she may not remember the visit at all, partially because she slept through it, but this will not be her only Refuge visit!

During her first weekend at home Cora also got to meet her Daddy's wakeboarding pal and her only uncle (so far). Uncle Foco could practically fit Cora in one hand - and she's not a tiny baby!


Grandmama is recovering well from her knee surgery and she and Atdaddy have visited a couple of times.


While the weather was much cooler last week, we took Cora to the beach in the evenings a couple of different times. We even put her in her bathing suit for the occasion, but I managed to convince Dustin it's still too early to toss her off the dock just yet.



We're just having a blast with our precious little one. She's sleeping well at night, eating like a Packett, and all in all is just the sweetest little thing!

Meet the Martins!

During our first weekend at home with Cora, Dustin's dad and sister were able to come up from North Carolina to meet her. Cora loves her Grandpa and Aunt Kelli and is very excited that they're coming back with Nana this weekend to celebrate the fourth!
Love at first sight...

And second sight...

Grandpa just can't keep his eyes off of Cora, but who can blame him??

It was really special to have the Martins here because it was Father's Day weekend so we got to celebrate with both of our fathers - and we took the opportunity to get some great Martin family photos!
The whole gang

Proud new Daddy and Grandpa with their precious little Cora

Nana and Grandpa

Aunt Kelli and Cora

Our new family

Dustin had a really special first Father's Day with his sweet baby girl.