Ruthie on February 22nd, 2010

Josh asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told him. I wanted to be with him and our girl, and I wanted to go to the roof at the Reata for their famous appetizers, some drinks, and of course some pictures. Daddy came through as always.

We went a little early, so we went to Barnes and Noble to get Corinne take a look as some new books. What’s funny is Corinne seems mesmerized by Big Bird. She stares and stares at the Big Bird dolls they have. She also loves books. She is getting to where she loves to either look at or eat the pages.

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We had our favorite appetizers: the tenderloin tamales, the smoked quail with jalapeno cheddar grits, and the wild boar ribs. So Good!

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And we got some great pictures with our girl. Happy birthday to me…with my sweet little family!

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The winner…happy birthday, mama!

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Ruthie on February 21st, 2010

On Corinne’s 4 month birthday, we woke up to a sickie. She threw up and had a fever that just went up and up all day. We took her in for her 4 month doctor visit which turned into a sick visit. We followed up two days later (on a Saturday) with a fever and a cough that was quickly turning cruddy. Later that day we decided to head to the Children’s hospital to have her tested for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). We didn’t get the results until Monday and in the meantime, she seemed to be doing better. However, we found out that she was RSV positive and needed to keep her out of daycare for a few more days since that virus is so contagious.

Corinne faired pretty well through it all. A coworker of mine has a daughter a month older than Corinne. She ended up admitted to the hospital for three days to get oxygen and respiratory treatments. I never want to see Corinne as sick as she was again, but I know that our experience was much less traumatic than other families dealing with RSV.

We got through that week and started a new week only to have Corinne wake up one morning covered in puke…seriously covered! We fed her and minutes later she threw up down my back and all over the floor. She just smiled at us. And then she did it again and just kept smiling. I started to take her to school. Since she really didn’t seem bothered by it, I assumed it was just a bad air bubble. Then she did it two more times. Corinne ended up having a terrible stomach bug for the next two days.

So, Josh and I have been inducted into the both-parents-working-while-only-one-has-sick-days-and-the-daycare-keeps-getting-our-baby-sick never ending cycle of craziness. We spent a lot of time preparing for a lot of things, but we weren’t prepared for the stress that working and taking care of a sickie at the same time would cause.

Nevertheless, Corinne has bounced back. After spending most of the first two weeks of her fifth month sick, she went through a major growth spurt last weekend eating every 2-3 hours (all day and all night) for a few days. She seems to have put back on the pound or two that she lost while being sick. She is now about 19 pounds and about 25 inches long. Needless to say, yesterday, we ordered a new carseat since she’ll probably grow out of the one we have in the next month.

And this girl has learned some new tricks. This last week she just started grabbing and trying to eat her toes.

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She started, got sick, and has now restarted some solid foods.

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Here is the most recent video of her eating peas. I like to title it “Corinne heart peas.”

She has also started making more noises and sounds. This past week in particular she has passed blowing bubbles and gone to “aaaaahhhhhh.” (She usually sleeps on the way to Fort Worth in the mornings, but the other day she went “aaaaahhhhh” the whole 20 minutes.) So, here is a video of more peas and Corinne’s new voice.

In addition to her new found voice, Corinne is getting very good at tummy time.

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She is trying to roll over. She actually has done it one time, but she hasn’t repeated this feat just yet.

We had a fun surprise of 13 inches of snow in DFW. Amazingly, Corinne’s first snow wasn’t in Colorado but in Texas breaking 110 year old records.

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Well, that’s all we have for this month. This past month has been one of the hardest but also the most fun. Corinne being sick was rough to deal with as a parent and as a working mom and working dad. But Corinnne has become so interactive and active…and so vocal. Every day she does something new and different. We are looking forward to the next month to see what she’ll do next!

Ruthie on February 7th, 2010

My mom bought Corinne a beautiful dress which she proudly dressed Corinne in on her special day. My friend Bethany almost brought me to tears when she reminded me there would only be one other day when she would get all dressed up in white like this. It was such a special day.

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Cute Cousin Benjamin was very dapper in his tuxedo.

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Pastor Rossow baptized Corinne and the ceremony was beautiful.

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The sponsors (also known as godmother and godfather) were/are one of my best friends Bethany and Uncle Jeremiah.

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Pastor Rossow and his family and Pastor Weichman and his family came along with Bethany, Wyatt, Darin, Jeremiah, John, Amber, Benjamin, David, Tiffany, and Cici. We had quite the showing.

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Afterward we celebrated with cupcakes…devil’s food covered in pure white icing and topped with red sprinkles. Pastor Rossow said it was Betty Crocker meets Martin Luther and Josh said I was a food theologian. Either way, I think Corinne really wanted some.

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Having our family there was priceless.

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Amber put together an amazing book of pictures and prayers for Corinne (and us). We were speechless at all of the love from all of our family and friends whether present in person or in spirit.

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My mom took some pictures of Corinne in her christening gown that were priceless.

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The winner…

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Ruthie on January 21st, 2010

This month, our girl again surprised us with all of her quick learning and growth. She started the month wearing 3-6 month clothes and had outgrown most of them. 6-9 months it is for this little 4 month old! She is 17 pounds 7 ounces and 26 inches (staying right on track with that 100th percentile).

She brought lots of smiles for friends and family at Christmas. She even gave us her first little cackle on December 30th.

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Corinne also started the month beginning to grasp her hands and other rattles and toys and mommy’s hair (no more hoop earrings for mommy!).

We also had some changes in schedule as we both returned to work. Josh had Corinne all to himself for a week. Daddy’s are awesome at full time child care. Then, Corinne started daycare right across the street from mommy’s work for now. She did awesome!

Corinne is a super soother! We decided it was time to get her to sleep on her own (i.e. without nursing or rocking etc.) So we braced ourselves for a long weekend. We followed all of the books. We fed her, bathed her, read to hear, sang to her, put her in her crib…and waited. Our plan was to wait after five minutes of her crying and go in and reassure her, then leave and wait ten minutes, and then fifteen and so on. We waited for a minute, she started crying….she cried for four minutes, and then fell asleep. What?! Four minutes?! Since then, she has been a trooper. She rarely cries anymore and if she does it’s only for a few minutes. And yes, we know we are blessed.

Corinne is trying to turn over. We have seen signs this may be coming soon. She uses her legs to push and scoot a little. This just started so we’ll keep you posted. We did find her a few times in her pack n play completely turned around counterclockwise from how we had put her down. Here’s proof.

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Corinne blows bubbles! This is her newest trick and it’s hilarious. She does it all of the time especially when she is excited about something. She is beginning to show a little personality.

We had lots of fun with Christmas in San Antonio this month and we had the new transition of Corinne going to school while mommy and daddy go to work. So far the transition has been smooth. Corinne gets lots of lovin’ and lots of compliments for how good she is. We are so proud of her and love beginning to see a little personality come through.

The decision for a mom to stay at home or work part or full time is a tough one. We’ve decided there are pros and cons to both sides and whatever a family decides needs to be for the family and the individuals involved. There are lots of ways and reasons to do either. For us, we decided for mommy to return to work and put Corinne in a daycare with some of the sweetest church ladies ever.

So last Monday, after three months of maternity leave, I returned to work. Josh didn’t have classes yet and he did an awesome job of caring for Corinne all week. He was also an amazing husband coaching me through going back to work and leaving Corinne for such long stretches at a time for the first time. Luckily, my clinic schedule was light and I was able to leave early a few days. By Friday, I was so excited for the weekend, it was great. Her crying, fussing, pulling my hair didn’t matter to me too much; I was with my girl!

Then, the following week, it came time to take Corinne to “school.” (We like this term a little better than daycare.) It is easier to swallow for some reason. The ladies in Corinne’s classroom loved on her and hugged her tons. They walked me through the process and coached me, too. “Call as many times as you need,” they said. That weekend and that Monday were rough, but I surprised myself that once I was back at work, I dove in and got through it. I did cry on Monday and was nervous most of the day, but I did it.

Little did I know that it was a team effort. The night before, Josh had put a Van Morrison song on repeat in my car to help ease my nerves. I didn’t even realize it until that evening. I told Josh how much music had helped that morning. He just smiled and asked why. I told him how nice it was to have “that song” playing with the piano and guitar. He then told me that he had done it on purpose. I cried all over again about what a good man I am blessed to have.

The rest of the week flew by. I was able to go feed Corinne at lunch a few times which allowed me to observe things at the school as well. The work these ladies do is impressive. She is a delight to her teachers and especially to me. Again, by the end of the week, I was so ready to see Corinne and be with her all weekend (a three day weekend at that).

We spent Saturday and Sunday running errands, going to church, cleaning, and doing laundry. Since it was a 3-day weekend for me, on Monday, I took Corinne on a date. First, we went for a walk in the park at 8:30 in the morning. She didn’t quite think it the adventure I had made it out to be…she slept the entire time.

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Then, we of course went to Starbucks for breakfast to top off our date. I pretty sure that she thought I was crazy. Admittedly, she can’t talk yet, so I went with it anyway. Once Josh got back, we finished the day together as a family. It was a great day (think Van Morrison’s song “There’ll Be Days Like This”).

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Can’t wait for more fun dates with you in the future, sweet girl!

Ruthie on January 17th, 2010

Grand dad Russ and Corinne finally got to meet in San Antonio. It was love at first sight.

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Corinne took lots of naps on lots of shoulders.

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Corinne reunited with her Grammy and DD for a little R and R.

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Corinne reunited with her sweet cousin Isabella

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We got the unfortunate news that Uncle Russel and Aunt Joy would be delayed at the airport Christmas Eve (something about ice at DFW). We went ahead and ate Christmas dinner, but we held off on opening presents. We introduced Santa Isabella and her reindeer.

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After two days sleeping in airports and hotels, Joy and Russ finally made it in! Corinne was so excited to finally be held by her aunt and uncle.

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After some showers and dinner, we were finally able to open presents and boy were we in for a surprise. We were hoping we would have a little more leg room on the way back to Dallas, but we found out quickly that this would not be the case. Everybody had tons of presents to open!

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In between opening gifts and grazing, there was lots of playing the Wii.

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We also had the treat of getting family pictures.

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We loved our time in San Antonio and hated to leave again. But we think this picture of Isabella and Corinne said it all for all of us after days of eating, opening presents, Wii playing, and shopping.

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We were definitely ready to get home, but we had such a great time, we wished we lived in San Antonio. Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

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