Fresh pics! Come get your fresh pictures!

After far too long of a hiatus, I've finally gotten some pictures 1) off the camera onto the computer 2) sorted, culled and variously shuffled and 3) posted on the intarwebs!

Two new albums for your enjoyment. You can find the first at Cousins!, which chronicles not one, but two different sets of cousins. Some are of John, Coraline's cousin. Others are Amber's cousins, Jen, Kristen and Scott who came up to visit.

The new album is Friends and Family, which includes various shots of our more immediate family, along with a few friends (hi Nate and Amy!)

Anyway, there's more to come soon. Enjoy!

Poop cleanup on aisle three...

So what is it about being out and about that prompts my kid to blow out her dipes?

Is it that super-cute outfit I put her in just calling for the poo to come and get it? Is it the Murphy's law of poo that the more inconvenient the moment, the bigger the mess? Or could it just be something about the particular position she's in when she's in the car seat...maybe it mimics being on the pot (if so, potty training here we come!)?

I dunno, but it seems to never fail, though today's incident in particular was really a best-case... strike that -- not too bad...scenario as these things go.

I was near the checkout stand at IKEA and one of their family bathrooms was open. In case you haven't been there, the family bathrooms are one biggish room equipped with diapers (albeit too large for Munchie), wipes, and best of all -- an armchair for breastfeeding in private and relative comfort. Also, thanks to the cloth diaper under Cora in the car seat (keeps the poops and back sweaties at bay), she managed to escape soiling the seat by mere millimeters (unlike in the Great Poop-scapades...don't ask...suffice to say that there was liquid poo down in the base under the seat and I have gruesome pictures to document the whole thing). Unfortunately her dress was thoroughly soiled and as soon as I got her dipe off, she decided to become free-wheeling baby who was FULL of wiggles. I mean, really, how do you get pooed clothes off a wiggly baby without getting poo all over the place....including yourself? Oh well. At least she didn't pee all over the place too....again, don't ask (first dipe change in the car on first road trip nearly brought mama to tears).

It kind of boggles the mind when you think about what we moms just consider SOP (standard operating procedure...or is that poopcedure?). Another day, another poop or spitup, or what-have-you. We moms are made of stern stuff. Suck it up and make it happen and all that...though I'm not nearly as balls-to-the-wall as my sis. You want to talk about making it happen and you've got my awesome sister, Sarah. She's fed and changed John in the craziest places cause that's what needed to happen at the time for her to have a life and keep her little guy from melting down. She even cleaned up an up-the-back blowout with only five wipes from one of those sample packs (kept in the bottom of the diaper bag for such emergencies) because she accidentally left her regular wipes at the pediatrician. Now that's what I call making it happen. Forget war stories about 'Nam...we moms could make any red-blooded soldier pale with stories of our ordinary days.

So go forth and feel proud of yourself for your extraordinary ordinary day.

A few pics

Cora got a little wild at Dad's company picinic...

Nate and Amy visit from South Dakota.

Cora becomes too cool for her parents. yo. yo.
Last time in the birdie outfit...she's a growin' girl!

So I fell off the earth....

but I'm back. I won't bore you with details....actually it's my only hope of getting this posted before Cora wakes up...

Suffice to say that between recovering from two surgeries (c-section and gallbladder) within the first month of Cora's birth, the special hell that we here at the Clark residence like to call "breastfeeding," nurturing our precious daughter, and trying to get my life back -- blogging fell into that category of "not now." Life is steadily improving, though and I am slowly fighting my way back to some new semblance of order for my life.

It's funny how much the little things count these days. Like getting and keeping the laundry caught up helps me to feel so accomplished. Lately I feel like a freak because I love doing laundry -- I think it's because it's the one thing that is fairly easy yet still a big job to keep up with. I also love it when I manage to make dinner or at least have everything planned and prepped for Jason to finish when he gets home. However, I think the biggest thing that gets me so excited is seeing Cora gain weight. Getting my daughter up to the 50th percentile on weight has been a major battle since she was at the tenth percentile about a month ago...have I told you how much I love that my daughter's average? I don't know how many times we have visited the lactation clinic and how many hours I have agonised over the decision to stop or keep breastfeeding (currently I am still doing it, but supplementing with formula).

Anyways, for the most part I am loving my new life and of course there are "those days" -- but what mom doesn't have "those days"? But we are moms, so we put our heads down and keep on keeping on.

YAY MOMS EVERYWHERE!!!!!

On a side note, you have to check out my sis' blog about my favorite nephew and the latest post features my kung-fu Munchie fighting the stereotypical forces of EDI (Emotional Display Intolerance). I'll try to post an updated picture of Cora if she doesn't wake up for a little bit, but I figure I'd better not press my luck if I want to get my mom off my back about updating my blog.

Later!