The Climb

I did it :)

65 miles (100km) later and I completed my first metric century. My father-in-law and Steven were there with me and never left me in the dust. I'm so grateful, since I know how much faster they both could have gone. I'm also so grateful for my mother-in-law who took such great care of my little girls during the race.

We rode 65 miles, climbed 1860 feet, and I burned 2020 calories. I think I deserve some chocolate cake tonight...

I titled this post, "the climb" because that is really what I will remember. The race started in Morgan Hill, and rode through all the hills behind the city. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. Every time I would get through a hill, another would be staring right in front of me.

On this particular hill, I really wanted to cry. The main thing that kept me going was that the hill was so steep, I knew if I stopped peddling, then I would just fall over!

Going down is the fun part.... I wish there were more pictures of Steven, but he was the one strong enough to climb ahead enough the take pictures. I was focusing on survival.

I'm glad I let Steven convince me that I could do this. It was not easy. I'm definitely not a hard-core athlete, and training with a new baby and crazy toddler was tough. This part is mainly for me, but just in case I want to try something like this again (which... I probably will), I want to remember all the work behind the ride.

I am exclusively nursing Cora, which made this tricky. Luckily she takes a bottle, but I had to have plenty of milk to leave so she would not be hungry. Also, my milk has too much lipase in it, and cannot be frozen. So, I had to pump like crazy the few days before the ride to build up a fresh supply. I also had to pump in the parking lot right before and after the ride.... and I was fairly uncomfortable for a good portion of it.

Going on training rides was also crazy. The first two months after a baby are pretty much recovery, so I had just a couple of months to get into shape. Also, lack of sleep does not help.

The days I would ride, I would spend all of the girls nap time getting dinner ready, making sure Cora was fed right before I left, and cleaning, etc. so that I could leave as soon as Steven got home from work... I have such an amazing husband. He is really great and so supportive.

Becoming a mother is life-changing and has made me know that I can do hard things. At the same time, I want my girls to know that as a mom, you give *almost* all of yourself to your children... but it is important to have a life and goals outside of motherhood.

I am unsure if I will be able to walk tomorrow, but I'm just glad that I could finish!

Las Vegas Fun

Other than Cora's blessing, we had a ton of fun during the week with Steven's family and on the weekend with my family.

We didn't take too many pictures because we were having tons of fun, but here are a few photo highlights:

We went to the new Las Vegas children's museum and the museum of natural history. The children's museum was seriously one of the coolest places I have seen for little kids (and I definitely like to scope out all the cool places.) I wish they had one this good here!

Cora went swimming in the kiddie pool for the first time. It may not look like it here, but she actually enjoyed it.

So, I'm super nervous to write about this, but I figure if I put it in writing then I can't chicken out. Steven has managed to convince me to ride in a metric century bike race (100 km or 65 miles) in just two weeks. I'm terrified, especially considering I just had a baby, and how crazy things have been... but we are signed up, and I hope I can do it.

While we were in Las Vegas, we got to do a few training rides. I did one 40 miler with the first 20 being completely uphill, so I am feeling a little more confident....but still completely terrified.

While we spent hours riding our bikes, the girls got a lot of Grandma time. Aubrey especially soaked it all up.

Lots of cousin time as well. We got to stay with Katie and Tyler for a few days. A five-year-old, 2 two-year-olds, and 2 infants made things kind of crazy, but lots of fun.

On the weekend, we got to spend Saturday with all of my family and a bunch more of Steven's family that came into town for the blessing. It was a busy Saturday!

Pool time with the Footes....

And family pictures with my family. Also, late Saturday night after the kids were all in bed, we went out on the strip to the Stratosphere rides. Steven and Steve stayed with the kids, and the original Peterson family of five all went together. That was pretty fun:

And now we are home! For another day... Did I mention things have been crazy? Our landlords are renovating the other half of our duplex, and it is going to be so loud that we have to live in a hotel next week. Really not looking forward to that, but at least we will have a pool, right?

Cora's Blessing

We have been in Las Vegas for the past week or so and have had a fantastic time. We are getting up at 3:30 tomorrow morning (to get as much kid sleeping time as possible) to start the drive back home. Yikes that is early.

I'm going to gather photos and document the rest of the trip soon, but I wanted to start with the main reason we came... Cora's blessing day!

We are definitely proud parents. I can't even begin to describe the amount of joy that this sweet, loving, happy, calm, patient little girl has brought into our lives.

Cora and Aubrey were both blessed in the same dress that I was blessed in as a baby. However, I didn't make either of them wear the 80's style bonnet.... 

She rarely cries and is a pretty happy baby. She loves to "talk" back and forth and wave her little arms and legs. She gets very excited.

We had SO much family support for her blessing day. Almost everybody on both sides of the family was able to be there (we missed you Jer & Ked & Miguel). I didn't get a picture with everybody... but these two are pretty close.

The grandparents and parents. Cora definitely has the coloring of a Foote. But, I still think she is going to look like me too :)

Aubrey was not cooperative for photos this morning. We did make her take family photos yesterday, so  I really can't blame her.

We were lucky in that Cora was able to be blessed the same day as her cousin Jacob. Katie and I were due just a few weeks apart.... but Cora is two months older.

 Babies are funny to photograph.

Days like today always give me a chance to reflect. Today, I especially thought about how grateful I am to be a mother and how much I love these two little girls.

Easter & More...

Happy Easter from the Foote Family! We love this time of year and feel very grateful to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. We started trying to incorporate some teaching and spiritual traditions this Easter. We will keep working on it. I think the part that Aubrey understood was "Jesus loves you." 

My cute little girls got all dolled up for Easter in their matching dresses. I LOVE having two little girls and will continue to match them until they won't let me.

 Granted, 99% of the pictures looked like this, but I'm happy we got the one cute shot above.

They started off their morning opening up their Easter baskets and gifts. Cora had a basket too, but you can't see it in this picture. This picture cracks me up because Aubrey's bangs are out of control. We are trying to grow them out and make sure to keep them out of her face each day, but they can be crazy left untamed. 

Aubrey got three Easter egg hunts this weekend. One at gymnastics, one at her friends birthday party, and one at home. Today, after cleaning all of the chocolate out of another Easter egg, she looks up and says, "I'm happy!" Oh dear.... she has my sugar weakness.

This picture was last Sunday, but I loved finally getting a decent mother/daughter picture with Cora:

And... here is Aubrey's latest way to use stickers. 5 minutes alone can mean a lot of things with this girl.

I am having fun with these girls being almost exactly 2 years apart. It makes it easy to look back and see where we were two years ago....

Aubrey Easter
& Blessing 2011





































Cora Easter
2013

I think that they look a lot alike. Both have those chubby little cheeks that I get to kiss all day!

Daily Life

Cora is over two months old, and I'm finally getting into a routine/daily life alone with the girls. I was blessed to have so much help... between both sets of grandparents, moving, Steven's paternity leave, etc.... we are now finally just living everyday life with Steven at work and me at home.

And... so far, it has not been as bad or stressful as I thought! I just have really good girls... I was so scared, but it is amazing how you just adapt and life goes on. Going out with both is still completely crazy... but that will hopefully get easier when Cora doesn't have to eat so often.

 Here is what we have been up to:

My sister came to visit for a couple of days. Aubrey loved playing with her cousin. This was sadly our best attempt at getting a photo of all three of the cousins. A 2 year old, 1 year old, and new baby do not photograph well together.

 Cousin bubble bath fun.

 Come back soon! Aubrey is still asking for "Tole... aka Nicole."

 

 We have been loving having a backyard. Aubrey got a new bike. She wouldn't be a Foote without a bike! Cora and I enjoy sitting in the sun watching Aubrey run wild.

The girls are officially sharing a bedroom, and it has been fine so far. Cora gets up once or twice a night (usually once) and Aubrey has slept through it all. I miss having Cora right beside me, but I think we are all sleeping better now.

 Aubrey continues not to nap. A couple days ago, I found this after I got her out of "naptime." I asked her why she didn't take a nap. She told me that she read her babies scriptures and they took a nap instead. Sigh. At least she is learning something good, right?

 My little monkey is taking a gymnastics class. She LOVES it. Her face here says it all. She is a wild one for sure, so gymnastics is perfect for her.

Cora continues to be a joy. She loves to smile, coo, stand on my lap, sleep, eat, and do tummy time. She hates to be left alone, her carseat, and when her sister screams too loud.

She is growing up WAY too fast... it seems like it is going even faster than with Aubrey. I'm trying to enjoy every minute, because I will definitely miss these baby days.

I thought Aubrey was a pretty good baby... but I didn't really know what a good baby was until I had Cora. She is my chunky, sweet, loving little girl.

 And.... that is life right now! Steven and I are here too. I guess we should get some pictures with us in them!

Oh Aubrey....

I try to be good at recording our lives, but I have been terrible about writing down the funny things that this little girl says. She has quite the personality and sense of humor.

Naptime has turned into Aubrey play time and naps only seem to happen about 3 days a week. Way sad for me. But, I moved our video monitor so we can watch what she does while she "naps" and it is hilarious. She watches herself dance in the mirror, shakes her hips, jumps off her bed, has conversations with herself, does summersaults... and gets into trouble.

One day after her "nap" I got Aubrey a snack and went in to her room to clean up. She had climbed up and gotten into our giant bag of baby wipes and pulled out EVERY single one of them. Hundreds. I come out and say, "Aubrey!" in my best serious voice. She looks up at me and says, "The wipes mom?" Arggg.... :)

I came in and found her like this on the bed. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "Mom, I'm feeding my baby with my tummy." Then she ran away about two seconds later and I hear Steven laughing in the other room. Apparently she ran in and told him that it was time for her to "pump."

Oh dear! Two year olds pick up on so much...

I bathe both girls together which can be quite the circus act because Aubrey is a little wild and Cora is still not sure how she feels about baths. Other than being a little too aggressive in her love, Aubrey is a great big sister.

She is so funny. She has had no problems adjusting to having a new sister, having both grandmas come and go, moving to a new place... she adjusts very well to the "big" changes.

But.... leaving the park, getting in the car, end of a tv show... the "little" changes can leave her in tears. I actually often have a hard time not laughing that she can be so passionate about something to throw such a fit.

We love our Aubrey. I love being a mom to these little girls.

Priceless

 This little girl just keeps getting cuter everyday. Bigger too. She just had her 2 month check-up and weighed in at 9 lbs 10 oz. We are officially on the growth chart in the 11th percentile.

It is a good thing she is so darn cute, because she is one expensive baby...

(who me?)

I made this post a couple of years ago about all of Aubrey's NICU and hospital bills. Again, I won't share my views on how ridiculous health care in America is, but here is the final tally for little miss Cora:

My Hospital Bills (including epidural): $24,631

High-Risk Ultrasound Appointments: $4,321

Routine OB Care and Delivery: $6,676

Routine Lab Work and Tests: $1,300

P17 Shots & Syringes: $170

Neonatologist visits during NICU Stay: $6,200

Hearing Screening & Routine Newborn care: $800

And drumroll please.....

NICU hospital stay: $185,610!

FINAL AMOUNT: $229,708

Welcome to California....

Cora had a relatively uneventful 19 day NICU stay, and it was a week shorter than Aubrey's was in Utah. California is so expensive!

However... opening all of these hospital bills didn't give me a heart attack because we have awesome insurance through Steven's job. We had to pay a $250 copay for me and a $250 copay for Cora. Everything else was covered 100%. So grateful for insurance.

So, Aubrey was my $100,000 baby and Cora is my $200,000 baby. 

Both my kids are priceless and I am so grateful for modern medicine and hospitals that allow my little girls to get the start in life they need. 

However, the price tag sure is shocking!