Taking a Break

Hello : )

Considering Corbs is 14 months old I have been away from the blog for a while!

I am not sure I will continue posting here, even though we love the family scrapbook it had become.  Time is precious with two littles and we feel prompted to step away from recording so much online.

Maybe we will be back soon - but for now this is our family signing off and hoping to stay in touch in person!

Love,
Andrea

Corbin :: 10 months

loves playing 

giggles when we tickle his neck or give him Eskimo kisses :)))

movement He is pulling up on anything and everything and cruising

talking Corbs has started saying mama, and I think he is calling me that.

eats started table food this month.  His favorite is graham crackers : )

favorite toy an old remote control

favorite hangout kitchen chairs and sneaking out to the laundry room to play with baskets

routine Dude's daytime routine is the same as before.

night time sleep he sleeps from 7pm to 7am.  Thank goodness for the time change and now he sleeps later than 6 am!

naps He is a great napper with a short morning nap and a 2 hour afternoon nap.

dislikes 5-6 pm 

started 
* resting his head on my chest as soon as I start singing naptime and bedtime songs ; )
* loves to be tossed in the air or swung by his hands/arms
* laughs the whole time he swings in the backyard.

brothers Gav loves brother Corbin and enjoys helping feed him

and even tries carrying him!

Corbin is our little man love and such a joyful addition to our family.  

Corbin :: 9 months

loves playing peek and boo with Gavin

smiles the cutest close mouth smile, as well as pretty onery smirks and big open mouth smiles

movement He is crawling all over the place (1/15), then a leapfrog crawl (1/26)

AND pulling up on things.  

talking Corbs is babbling away and blowing lots of raspberries.  He says dada and baba

eats This baby is an eater.  He is the fastest, hungriest little eater of his baby food.  He eats 2-3 containters of baby food 2-3 times a day and we have worked thru stage 3 foods and started puffs, yogurt drops, and smashed avocado and bananas this month.  We are weening off store-bought food and into mashed up table food this next month. 

favorite toy   Corbin's airplane set or G's duplos and train track

favorite hangout kitchen chairs - he likes to pull up on one and then walk around the perimeter of the table transferring from chair to chair

routine Dude's daytime routine is the same as before.

night time sleep he is doing so well!  This last month has been one of the most consistent thru-the-night sleeping that we have had.  Dude goes to bed around 6:45 and is up at 6.

naps He is a great napper with a short morning nap and a 2 hour afternoon nap.

dislikes traveling during the nighttime/sleep time
and a millisecond passing between when he swallows food and the next spoonful is ready ; )

started
* first haircut - his side burns were longer than Elvis'.
* diving off the couch.  He is fearless...
* snuggling more often :)))) He is responding more and more to singing songs too, and will babble along with me

 folding laundry and unloading the dishwasher are back on the list of tricky tasks with a a baby around ; )

 hanging out with daddy at the back of the room at church : )
Corbin is just clapping away!

riding in the grocery cart with Gav

Corbin :: 8 months

loves playing with toys with brother G and looking in the mirror with mommy

smiles all the time... when he is not teething ; )

movement he scoots around on his bottom and tummy.  And will take a knee forward when crawling, but only on soft surfaces.

night time sleep is becoming more consistent!!!  If he goes to bed at 6, he will sleep till 5-6.  But if he goes to bed later than that (like 8 pm) he has the hardest time staying asleep through the night and getting back on track with sleep in the following days.

naps He rocks his short morning nap and longer afternoon nap.  He sleeps best in his crib with sound machine compared to sleeping on the go, or in his car seat during errands -- so we stay at home a lot, and it is lovely.

eats He is nursing and eating pureed fruits and vegetables.  It has been a fun game for me to grocery hop around different stores (Wal-mart, Target, HEB and Randall's) to check out all the fun different Gerber baby food options (Randall's has the coolest options).  I made G's baby food (and highly recommend that) but have had fun shopping for stage 1 foods this time.  C seems to have taken to eating faster than G did, and I wonder if it's because how thoroughly Gerber stage 1 food is pureed, compared to what my mini-prep food processor did...

routine little man loves to play in the morning, eat solids at lunch and dinner and play more in the afternoon.  Around 5 he starts to like to be held until bedtime, so we are getting in some sweet snuggles too!

dislikes his face being washed,

favorite toy
G's duplo legos are a guaranteed hit.  He also likes my spatulas and a small metal bowl ; )

started
*raises his arms to be held, or lunges forward (BEST THING EVER!)
* Corbs cut his 2 front bottom teeth! (Dec 18 and Dec 22)
* blows raspberries, and thinks it is the funniest thing ever.
* claps his hands
* likes to play peek-a-boo when he is on his changing table
* is distracted while eating food if G is sitting by him. Otherwise he has a great appetite.

2 front teeth!

clapping with Brother G

loves duplos

among the toys Brother G surrounded him with

grocery shopping

his fav chew toys

Our littles ; )

December 2014

We had a nice Christmas season as a family and enjoyed a series of impromptu surprises/treats that I treasure.

Early in the month I got to watch G sing on stage with the big kids at our MOPS Christmas meeting.  Considering he is 3, I did not expect it -- and I loved every second of it.  He was super excited about it and did lots and lots of clapping.  I had no idea watching your little one "perform" on stage would be so special. 

This is Corbin's first Christmas and he is a deer of a young lad!  His two front teeth cut on the 22nd and he has been calm and happier ever since!  He is one of the smiliest twinkle eyes I know!

We enjoyed a 2-day Cousin's Camp - Christmas edition... complete with holiday tie dye shirts! The littles love getting together and amplifying the crazy of kiddo awesomeness together!  It was our last shindig with the Texas Holderbys as they become the Oklahoma Holderbys in a matter of days!

One day on the way to the grocery store Gavin asked me if he could have a tree in his room.  (I have only been waiting for my child to ask that since I was in high school... I know - super random.  But I had a friend with a tiny tree in her room and I thought it was so super cool.)  Anyhow, we went by Hobby Lobby that afternoon to pick up a tree and found some firetruck and car stickers to make ornaments for his beloved tree.  It was a wonderful treat for the both of us!

I spent a lot of time planning our holiday/Christmas menu/groceries this month.  I'm always surprised by how much time & money could be spent in December... Anyhow, in an effort to streamline I bought pre-made gingerbread dough and it was one of my BEST decisions all month ; )  It allowed for us to do lots of impromptu "homemade"/fresh baked cookies for what turned into a gingerbread-cookie-monster of a little boy!  He ate at least 4 or 5 on the first day we baked them.

Another treat -- We received a gingerbread house kit in a gift exchange and G loved loved loved decorating a "candy house".  It was on display for a few weeks and Gavinator made sure to check on it often.  We had to have quite a few talks about why we couldn't eat it (I assembled it using hot glue) and I promised that we would make edible candy houses another time ; )

Other than fun festivities, we had a low key December with lots of brother bonding at home!  Corbs loves playing alongside Gav and is so interested in G's cars and legos!

 As a Christmas gift (for myself) I got the boys a few matching shirts because the next best thing to 2 young boys is 2 matching young boys ; )

We wish you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 
May the Peace of God be with you and your family.

Corbin :: 7 months

This post chronicles what Corbin was up to from 6 months to the day he turned 7 months

loves playing with toys and sitting up

favorite toy is our little piano and blue ball

 smiles when looked at
C has a super sweet spot for David.  And gets the biggest smiles with D comes home from work.  Little man is just the cutest baby smiler!

movement he is sitting up steady and can manuveur with his arms up and down from sitting. He is also getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth. He can also pick up his pacifier and put it back in his mouth :)  Corbs is not crawling yet but is doing a cute scooting movement that I think G skipped. C seems very motivated to explore and get to objects he wants to check out!
 

 

sleep C is sleeping better and better each week. 
With G I did one round of sleep training that lasted 2 days and was effective; Gav slept through the night without any interruptions starting around 4 months.  Corbin's sleep has been more sporatic and less dependable.  He started as a great sleeper and then started waking to eat around 3.5 months.  With Corbs I have done 3 rounds of training, and think we are now in a groove.  (I am dedicated to getting as much sleep as I can and believe that babies need help/training to sleep longer stretches so it has been interesting to me to watch the differences in our boys' patterns, but the overall effectiveness of training both of them.)
 During month 6 we did 2 different series of sleep training to attempt to cut out his middle of the night wakings.  The first was to elminimate his 2:30 wake-ups, and it worked on night 4.  The second was to see if he would sleep later than 4:30 am and so far, it seems successful.  It took more like 2-2.5 weeks of pacifier soothing to eliminate his 4 am wake-ups.  At this point, his sound machine is the soother we have used for a week and he is sleeping from about 7-5/6am.  In general, I would still say his sleep is a work in progress, but we are seeing progress!

naps Dude naps for an hour in the morning and 2-3 hours in the afternoon. He is a napping champ!

 

routine C wakes around 6, naps around 7, for 30 minutes, and plays until 12 or 1, naps until about 3/4 and then plays until bedtime around 6:30/8... things are getting set more in place but are still flexible depending on his demands for the day.

personality calm and sweet

Brother dressed as a fireman and decided to include c in dress-up time.  I love little things like this that G initiates to include C in his play time adventures.

started

* eating solid foods and is doing a great job!

Corbin is very interested in food and has had the swallowing reflex since his start.  It has been lots of fun feeding him baby food.

started

* He is teething too!  Lots of drooling and nibbling on toys.
He had a full day of tears when his bottom teeth were starting to come in and mid-night sadness a few days later.  I am ready for those 2 bottom teeth to give baby some relief!