This is the beautiful hardbound book my aunt-in-law sent Coraline commemorating her meeting her Great-Grandma Lee for the first time. We think Coraline will grow to love this book as much as we already do.
Tag Archives: coraline
Photoblogging: Angry Face
I asked Coraline to show me her angry face, which first made an appearance last Wednesday (7/3/13). I see this as a somewhat frightening glimpse of the headstrong teenager she is going to be. God help Rich and I. (Photo taken 7/5/13)
Filed under coraline, personal, photoblogging, photography
Photoblogging: Mother’s Day 2013
Today was pretty much the best Mother’s Day I could have hoped for. I thanked Rich and Coraline repeatedly throughout the day for making my day so incredibly special, fun, and memorable. Getting to swing by my parents’ house to wish Mom a happy Mother’s Day was the icing on the cake. And now, because it’s late at night and I have to get ready for bed and work tomorrow, I’m just doing a quick little post to commemorate the day. I’ll *try* to write more in depth tomorrow night since we did a lot today. I hope all my fellow moms had a great day, too.
Me with my mom, who I am lucky enough to live close to. Notice the tiny person popping up in the lower right-hand corner.
I absolutely love this photo of me, Mom, and Coraline. She's still wrapping her head around the fact that her Abuela is MY mom.
I love this photo of Coraline and her abuela more than I can say.
During bedtime, I realized I forgot to ask Rich to take a picture of me and Coraline, so I set my camera's timer since Rich wasn't around right then. I got Coraline to smile like this by promising we'd work on a puzzle together. This sweet little girl is my heart and made my Mother's Day so wonderful. (With help from her dad, of course.)
Photoblogging: A Chilly Day in the Park
While in Columbus last week, Rich, Coraline, our friend Chris, and I did a bit of sightseeing and ended up in the lovely Topiary Park near where Rich and Chris used to live while in college. Here are a few shots from that cold, windy, fun day (2/11/13). I can’t wait to see it in warmer weather when everything is in bloom.
The plaque describing Georges Seurat's famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
A shot of the park mirroring the image etched on the plaque
The reeds along the shore of the partially frozen lake
Coraline stands on the "magic" square to the left of the plaque, which supposedly provides the best view of the park as depicted on the plaque. She would have run around all day there if we'd let her.
Filed under coraline, photoblogging, photography, travel
And Bajingo Was Its Name-O
Song Lyric of the Day:
You want me to change, change, change / You want me to change
Several months ago, Coraline started expressing interest in and naming body parts: “Mommy’s nose! Poppa’s eye! Coraline’s bell butt!” (In case you need a translation for that last one, “bell butt” is her way of saying belly button.) Her unrelenting interest in learning the names for various body parts led to an interesting discussion between Rich and I. We decided easily enough that her butt was to be called either — you guessed it — “butt” or “tush.” As for her girl parts, well, that was a different story.
Calling her girl parts “vagina” seemed awfully formal for such a small child. So me being me, I suggested “bajingo.” For you non-Scrubs fans, that’s the term the uptight female doctor, Elliot, used for lady parts.
Everything was hunky-dory for a long time. Then we started potty training and lo and behold, our preliminary research taught us that in addition to not giving your child a complex about bodily functions (no “Oh dear God, what just came out of you?! So gross!”), you’re supposed to use the proper (formal-sounding *cough*) terminology for private parts. This is where I should mention that Coraline pronounces “bajingo” as “bingo,” leading to my recurring nightmare in which I get a call from her daycare about Coraline grabbing her crotch when the class sang “B-I-N-G-O.” So, on a subconscious level, I guess I already knew that it was time to teach her the proper word.
Coraline now knows that the correct name for her bajingo is vagina, although she will occasionally use the wrong term for it. We gently correct her when she does. God help me, though, because last Wednesday when I was getting her dressed for the day, she placed her hands over her chest and said, “These are my boobs.” I won’t even get into how she thinks her nipples are boo-boos.
At least we never used the term “whizzy winkles” with regard to potty training.
Cousins!
Song Lyric of the Day:
Ev’ryone can see we’re together / As we walk on by / (FLY!) and we fly just like birds of a feather / I won’t tell no lie / (ALL!) all of the people around us they say / Can they be that close / Just let me state for the record / We’re giving love in a family dose
Sister Sledge / “We Are Family“
On Saturday we celebrated my niece Miranda’s first birthday party. We met at Build-a-Bear, where Coraline surprised everyone by not choosing Hello Kitty but instead choosing a pink snowflake-covered bear Rich and I, in a stroke of genius, named Snowflake since Coraline wouldn’t commit to a name for the birth certificate (and yes, I took the opportunity to remind Mom about this again). After Build-a-Bear, the kids hitched a ride on the train that runs around the mall, making Coraline’s day because she LOVES riding that train.
We then adjourned to Chili’s for lunch to be followed by birthday cake, which Coraline and her big cousins Elliott and Stephen all wanted as their main course. Like that was going to happen. And then, by the grace of God and my family — who helped do the wrangling — I got a picture of all five cousins together. Sure, they weren’t all looking right at the camera at the same time, but I got a shot of all five of them. Together. In one photo with five takes. Finally.
The kids had a blast spending time together this weekend, and I love seeing my baby girl having so much fun with my other babies. For all intents and purposes, these kids are each other’s best friends. I hope they know how lucky they are to be close enough to get to see their cousins as often as they do, something my sisters and I were not as fortunate to enjoy growing up. They’re lucky, lucky kids.
***
Here are a few shots from Saturday’s festivities. You can see all the photos here.
Coraline's bear gets stuffed
Coraline squeezes her eyes shut tight while holding her bear's heart in her hands and wishing good wishes for her. I love that she looks like she's praying.
Birthday girl Miranda, who has a little cold, fell asleep waiting for lunch. It looks like she's saying grace.
Miranda gets her sugar rush on
Clockwise: Coraline, Stephen, Elliott, Sabrina, Miranda. This was the fifth shot I got of all of them. They were so over it by then.
Filed under coraline, family, personal, photography
Photoblogging: Princess Coraline
A couple weeks ago on my day working from home, my schedule opened up enough that I told Coraline we could go visit her poppa at work over lunch. She surprised — and thrilled — me when she said, “I want to dress like a princess for Poppa.” We chose the beautiful black-and-white polka-dot dress (and matching sunglasses) her Titi K gave her for Christmas, white tights, and Coraline’s black sequined slip-on shoes. I styled her hair (as best I could) in a top-knot, which Coraline deemed worthy of calling “princess hair.” She couldn’t wait to grab one of her tiaras out of her toy bin, reminding me that princesses wear crowns. She had to look extra special for her dad, of course. She then melted my heart when I finished putting the tiara on her hair and looked at me and said, “I’m beautiful!” Yes you are, sweetie. Yes you are.
Caleb inspects Coraline, who he thinks looks like a princess every day.
Princess Coraline races down the hall after getting all gussied up.
Coraline beams at the thought of her poppa seeing her all dressed up.
Coraline hooks her stroller over her arm, ready to go at last. Because of course Baby Miranda went with us.
Filed under coraline, personal, photoblogging, photography
My Valentines
Happy Valentine’s Day to my two favorite people on earth, Rich and Coraline. I love you both to the moon and back.
Photoblogging: Tiger Baby
My cute, cuddly tiger spent most of last night vomiting, so I thought I'd post a pic of her that will cheer her up when she sees it today (taken 9/9/12).
Filed under coraline, photoblogging, photography
Baby Miranda’s Day at the Office
Song Lyric of the Day:
I’m taking what they giving ’cause I’m working for a livin’
Huey Lewis and the News / “Workin’ for a Living’“
Coraline’s #1 toy is her favorite baby doll, Baby Miranda (named after her little cousin). She never goes anywhere without her and even falls asleep with her in her arms. When we drop Coraline off at daycare, she always leaves Baby Miranda in the car so she doesn’t have to let her friends and classmates play with her (apparently the thought of sharing Baby Miranda is appalling). Yesterday, however, she wouldn’t let her go, which resulted in me taking Baby Miranda from her and leaving Coraline in tears. Thankfully, her teachers are great at calming her and distracting her. They don’t, however, appease my guilt at making my baby cry, so I promised Coraline I’d take Baby Miranda to work with me. So without further ado, here is Baby Miranda’s first-hand account of her day at the office with me.
I started my day by logging on and putting on my headphones. Gotta listen to some tunes while I work!
Hamming it up with a cubemate's Snoopy phone
Getting comfy in Coraline's mommy's office chair
Coraline's mommy's friends helped me play a joke on her by sitting me next to the kitty statues on her cabinet.
Time for a coffee break! It felt like it took forever for that cup to fill up.
I enjoyed a yummy lunch with Coraline's mommy and her friend Mary at Chuy's.
Snuck over to Coraline's daddy's cube and checked out his desk -- and coffee mug. Coffee rocks!
Had to drink lots of water to dilute some of that strong coffee I enjoyed earlier.
Checking voicemail messages at the end of a long, productive day
Back home with the bestest little mommy in the whole world. I love her so much!
