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!

Beach

Steven is on paternity leave for the next two weeks. He actually could have gotten six weeks off completely paid, but we chose to just take two. More than that felt a little greedy, but it will be so nice to have him around these next couple of weeks while we move. 

Since we have a lot of work with moving coming up, we decided to take a fun day and go to the beach!   

Here are our Foote family "feet" in the sand. Aubrey of course had a hard time staying still, so hers is all smudged, and Cora's foot is so tiny it is hard to see. 

Me and my girls. I'm a lucky mom.

We brought Subway to eat at the beach, which was a bad move. Within 2 minutes, we were surrounded by Seagulls determined to steal our food. Aubrey was terrified. She kept screaming, "Birds, go away! Go away!" Steven, however, is great at getting Aubrey out of her comfort zone. He convinced her that chasing the birds was hilarious, which was way better than having her scream at them. 

I had to go feed Cora, and while I did, I just watched these two play in the ocean. It was definitely a moment I want to remember. Aubrey is so much fun and has way more energy than I know what to do with. 

Spending a hot sunny day at the beach in February? I'll take it!

Fun Hibernating

 Steven's mom has been here to visit. We have had a great time and will be sad that as of tomorrow all our visitors are officially gone. Just in time to move all by ourselves :)

Grandma has enjoyed lots of fun with Aubrey and lots of snuggles with sweet Cora.

Cora is growing fast and still sleeps a lot! She is pretty strong and also developing very well, so I'm enjoying having such a sleepy baby. Cuddling up to sleep on our chests is probably her favorite place to be.

She actually fits in her carseat now. For the first couple of months, my tiny little girls look pretty funny in their car seats... We don't go to the doctor again for another couple of weeks, but I am guessing she is up to about 8.5 pounds!

We have also been doing what I call "fun hibernating," Aubrey loves to have fun, and she has definitely been missing her friends and going out so much. She called some teenage girls we saw walking around our apartment complex "friends" so we know she is getting desperate.

Preemies have weaker lungs and much weaker immune systems than a full-term baby. A common cold could put Cora back in the hospital so fast. I don't even want to think about RSV or the flu. And, honestly, the greatest risk of Cora getting sick is catching something from Aubrey.

So, we are pretty much hibernating until March/April. I tried to take Aubrey to a couple of places, but every time I do there are sooo many sick people! So... for now.... the poor girl is not able to do much.

We have been thinking of lots of fun things to do that are not around lots of germy people. The weather has been great the past couple of days, so we have gone swimming every day. I love living in California. Aubrey is still such a little dare devil.

We have also been doing lots of packing (will it ever end?), cooking, play dough, coloring, games, etc. If anybody has any other ideas of things we can do out of the house but not around people, I would love more ideas!

And.... we move into our new place next Saturday. I'm counting down the number of times I have to negotiate Aubrey from our apartment into the car.

Due Date

Today would have been my due date with Cora. January 28th is a date that was ingrained in my head with both pregnancies, but one that was never reached!

My dad came to visit last week and we had a great time. Aubrey was SO excited to spend time with "papa." She is still asking for papa to play catch with her.

We have been very blessed with lots of help/visitors. My mom left today, but Steven's parents are coming to visit Wednesday night. I will take all the help I can get! Especially because.... we are moving in less than a month.

Yikes! Moving with a 2-year-old and newborn will be interesting, but so worth it. We managed to find an updated duplex with both an attached garage and a yard. I'm so excited to not have to drag Aubrey up two flights of stairs anymore. And a yard! This summer is going to be awesome.

Living in Silicon Valley is definitely crazy for renting though. I searched Craigslist multiple times a day for weeks. When I found this duplex, I responded instantly. We showed up at the open house (along with 50 other people) right when it started with our money and application already filled out. There were so many applications, that we ended up signing a lease for actually MORE than their original rental asking price because so many people wanted to rent it. But... we got it! We must look really nice or something :)

Cora and Aubrey are such cute little sisters. Aubrey is very sweet to her and we haven't really had too much jealousy yet. But, before I make it sound perfect, Aubrey is definitely testing my patience in lots of other ways...

I'm living proof, since I am the second sibling... but sometimes I wonder how younger siblings survive all the "love" they get:

Cora is still such a calm baby. It amazes me! Most people have trouble getting their babies to do tummy time because they scream and hate it. I have a hard time because she is just so calm and completely content to just lay there:

Cora is such a blessing to our family. And.. I won't speak too soon because we have a long way to go, but I seem to have lucked out in the sleep department again. I'm only allowed to let Cora go one 5 hour stretch at night and I seriously have to wake her up every single night. Definitely not complaining about that!