The Birthday Party!!

All the prep work, pinterest-ing, and planning paid off! We had a perfect party and the birthday boy had so much fun!! There were about 38 of us total to help Corbin celebrate, and he was one busy little guy with all this friends! Take a look at our day!

The Cake!

What little farmer wouldn't want a John Deere combine cake?! Thanks to these awesome instructions, it turned out SO great!!! http://aquietlifeinaloudhouse.blogspot.com/2011/07/john-deere-combine-cake-directions.html

We also had cupcakes for the guests

AND since the combine cake was full of skewers and toothpicks holding it together, I made Corbin his own little smash cake

The Food!

I decided on serving a nacho bar! It was a huge hit--tortilla chips, taco meat, salsa, tomatoes, black olives, onions, jalapenos, guacamole, and sour cream! We also had a big pail of fresh mixed fruit! We sure didn't have much left over! Beverages served were a lemonade concoction that Tim mixed up with fresh lemon and lime slices in it. Complete with John Deere plates, napkins, and cups!

The Presents!

I'm pretty sure we have the most spoiled child ever! Everyone was so generous and he got so many awesome gifts!! He has already been trying on his new outfits, and has played with every single one of his new toys! His old toys aren't nearly as exciting now...bring on the new ones!

The Fun!

Corbin was so excited to have so many of his friends and cousins there! There were even 6 babies there who will also be graduating in the class of 2032!! Here's a picture of them!

Nolan, Aspen, Corbin, Haaken, Axel, Harper, Chandler

The Smashing of the Cake!

Best cake smash ever. He was really curious about what was put in front of him, so he just tried a little bit. Pretty soon he decided to go the "no hands" route and just plowed his face right into it!! He loved every second of the cake eating!!

One messy little guy!!

Thank you to all of our family and friends who helped make this day so special for all of us! I can't believe our little man is already one!! Time needs to slow down!

Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease

It has struck our house! When the boys came back from their weekend at Lake of the Woods, I noticed Corbin's chin was full of red spots and looked extremely painful. Then I was noticing a few more red spots on his hand, arm, leg. We talked about what foods he ate over the weekend and it was nothing that he'd never had before. Then the more I'm looking, he's got blisters on his hands and feet as well and a light rash all over his legs.

So, after some googling and talking with people, we determined that it is probably Hand Foot Mouth Disease. He probably had a fever Friday evening, was extremely fussy, and then on Saturday the fever went away and these spots started showing up. I brought him in to the Dr on Monday, and lo and behold, he also has Impetigo on his chin to go along with the HFM. His doctor said he could go back to daycare after he'd been on the antibiotic cream for the impetigo for 24 hours. So, while this mama loved her extra day and half home, would've much rather it been under different circumstances!!!

He seems to be feeling much better the last day or so, and the impetigo is going away. He still has blisters on his hands/feet, and one on his finger opened up. It hasn't seemed to affect his mood much, but hopefully those go away soon!!!!

A farmer never quits...even if he's not feeling well!

Managed to get a little smile out of him!

11 Months....less than 30 days left...

I can't even begin to fathom where the last year went. Like literally, I have no idea. People say that your kids grow too fast, but of course it's hard to really understand what they mean until you're looking at your almost one year old and thinking that you were just making final nursery preparations a year ago. Ahh! I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it!

Corbin is so busy these days!! Here's what we're working on!

Pulling Up

     He pulls himself up onto EVERYTHING now! Nothing is safe anymore, and he is getting more and more brave. He still is cautious about getting down once he pulls himself up, but he's getting better!

Walking

     He's really been getting into walking while holding our hands! He gets so excited--I feel like it won't be long before he's on his own!

Sleep

    This is nothing new, but continues to be one of his favorite things! He's in such a route now that it's really helpful!

Jersey

     Jersey is his favorite toy! :) He loves to chase her around, play "sheep" with her, and he thinks it's hilarious to tease her with her toys.

Lake

     He loves the lake! He's a big fan of swimming in his mushroom pool, loves being on the boat, and is such a good napper at the lake!

Crawling

     He's a super fast crawler!! It really gets him where he needs to go although he doesn't fully pick himself up off the floor! Silly guy.

Food

     He's pretty much eating everything we eat these days. He gets really cranky if you're eating something and not sharing with him! He's still drinking his bottles, but we're starting to work on weaning off a bottle or two and just giving his formula in a cup so he gets used to that. He's really not a fan of that transition!!!

Bath

    Bath time is the BEST! He loves his big boy tub, he loves all his toys, and he gets so excited when we start the water!

Bike Rides

     Corbin is a big fan of bike rides in the trailer! So much so, that he falls right asleep! :)

Birthday Party Planning!

I'm in the process of planning Corbin's 1st birthday!! Invitations went out yesterday, plates/cups/napkins/decorations are here, now just time to figure out food & presents! I'm really really hoping for a nice day. The plan is to have water activities/lawn games set up in the yard for kids and adults to entertain themselves before, during, and after supper, and of course gift opening and cake smashing! Can't even wait, but it still makes me sad!!!

10 Months!

I've got a little guy who thinks he's a big boy! I can't believe how fast this kid picks up new tricks and skills! It seems like every day he's doing something that he wasn't quite doing the day before! Here's what's up:

• Crawling!
• Corbin is EVERYWHERE! We've been baby-proofing like crazy, even when we thought we had that kinda figured out! Yesterday he thought he needed to have Jersey's food--still not sure how we're going to handle that one, since she's used to her food being in a certain spot.
• He's got the army crawl down. I can't imagine dragging myself all over the place, but that's what he does, and he's really fast at it, too! He gets up on all fours, but he just seems to think that dragging himself around his faster. Whatever works, buddy!

• Dancing
• Who just wants to stand up and just hang out? Not this guy! He wants to stand up so he can bounce and loves to dance to music! :)

• Transitions
• He's officially mastered going from laying on his belly to sitting up! He's really proud of himself when he does it, too! Of course we've had a couple hitting of the head on the floor incidents, too while learning this skill, but he's getting pretty graceful!

• Food!
• Corbin really loves food. I'm starting to get a little more comfortable with giving him new things, and he's been a great little eater. Don't you dare eat in front of him without giving him something!! :) Boring old Cheerios don't quite appeal when there's something better. He's really taken a liking to grapes, honeydew, chicken, sweet potato fries, spaghetti, stuffed shells, etc!

• Jersey
• They're such BFF's!! When we get home every day, we say hi to Jersey when we walk in the door. He squeals and gets excited until I put him down so he can see her! I love it! He also will look for her when I ask him where she is. He's still trying to learn which toys are his and which are hers...

• Pictures/Facetime
•  We have a picture of the three of us up by his changing table. Whenever I put him up there to change him, I point to Tim or myself and ask him who it is. He now gets the biggest smile on his face when we play this game. I can't wait until he starts answering the question! We also facetime with mom and dad fairly often and he is so fascinated! He always tries to touch their faces and usually ends up disconnecting our conversation :)

• Lake!
• Corbin is such a good vacationer. When it's time to head to the lake on the weekends, he takes a nap on the way out there, plays and crawls everywhere, "swims" in his pool, drives the boat, and SLEEPS even more than normal! He is such a good napper and sleeper at the lake which is amazing, because we love it, too! He definitely gets his sleeping traits from his mama :)

I'm starting to plan a first birthday party and that's so sad!!! I can't believe he's growing up so fast, and pretty soon he'll be walking all over the place. It's so much fun to see his funny, goofy, sweet personality show! I just wish he'd slow down the growing up process a little bit!!!! :)

Annnnd....

We're mobile!! (well, more than barrel rolling)! I know I just posted yesterday, but last night Corbie decides that he wanted to go after the new bowling set he just got from his friend Riggins. So, lo and behold, he picks up his big belly and crawls to it!! He also wanted to spend the entire evening standing up at his piano and learning to walk along side of it. That's pretty much how we spent our evening last night! So busy, but I love every second of it!

9 months old?!

Well, I have a 9 month old. How is that even possible?! It literally seems like yesterday. Nonetheless, life is SO MUCH FUN right now!! Corbin is such a great kid, and that makes everything fun. Here's what we've been up to!

Baby Cousin!!
     Corbin got promoted again to big cousin on May 15th! Savannah and Evan welcomed baby Axel to the family. I am so in love with this little man, and he's going to know it! Auntie can't wait to spoil him! I am so excited to watch the boys grow up together.

Lake!

     We got to spend our first weekend of the summer out at the lake! Corbin, Jersey, and I went on Friday and Tim joined us late Saturday night. The kids and I had so much fun, and Corbie was such a good boy. I can't wait to do it all again this weekend! We had a picnic by the beach for snack time, had a bath on the deck, and even went on our first pontoon ride!

Dr Appointments

     We had our 9 month appointment yesterday and weighed in at a whopping 21.8lb (80th percentile). We are actually on the charts now for height, too! (27"--6th percentile) and head size 18" (70th percentile). He's following right along with his milestones and he even watched the nurse give him his shot and didn't even cry! He's such a tough guy!

Teeth!

     Tooth #5 is really really really close! He loves showing off his teeth when he smiles--which happens quite often! Thankfully we haven't noticed any change in behavior/diapers while he's been teething. Let's hope that continues as the rest of the teeth come in!

Barrel Rolling!

     Corbin's so incredibly close to crawling, but finds barrel rolling a much more efficient way of getting where he wants to go. It's pretty funny how he'll whip himself around in a circle on his belly, roll, rotate, roll, etc!

Sleeping!

     We've officially moved bedtime up to 8:15 now. We're in the process of cutting out our short evening nap. If I can keep him distracted enough he does just fine and then is really tired by that time. We're going to work towards 8:00, but that'll be the earliest we'll make him go down--otherwise we don't get much time with him!

Toys!

     A resident favorite is our John Deere block set, his toy John Deere combine, his big green monkey, his John Deere corn cob, and his firefly. It's pretty funny to watch him search out those specific toys. Such a smartie pants! :)

Food!

     We've mastered the art of Cheerios (thank goodness...cheaper than puffs) and are starting to explore "real" food. He definitely likes to be doing what we're doing and eating when we are, so we try share a little bit.

Life is pretty awesome right now with our handsome, funny, blue-eyed sweetheart!! He's growing up too fast though...

Quick question...

Is it possible to be obsessed with your child? Because I am. Like, seriously can't get enough of him! I'm sure every mom experiences this, and it's probably the coolest thing in the world. I'm pretty sure I fall more and more in love with this little guy every day, even when I didn't think I could love him any more. His funny, goofy, flirty personality is really starting to show and it makes time with him SO MUCH FUN! I love watching him learn and explore new things that even the day before he might not have been interested in. I love our "conversations" and making him giggle. I hate when he's upset, but I love being able to soothe him (even if sometimes it takes longer than I'd like...). I also really look forward to his "unwinding" nap after we get home from daycare so we can just snuggle! I know my days of snuggling are going be numbered, so I try take every opportunity I can and embrace it! So what if my house is just a little more unkept than it used to be, or that my dishes need to be done, or my laundry needs to be folded. There's always time for that later! I'm just so loving every single step of this mom journey and get excited for my friends and family who are new moms who are about to enter this journey, too, because it's seriously indescribable how amazing it is! It also makes my heart hurt for those who won't get to experience it. I can't imagine life without my little monkey and I count down the hours every day until I get to go pick him up!

ALSO, really excited to spend our anniversary weekend away with just Tim, though...I'm going to miss Corbin every second we're gone, but can't wait for that time to just be husband and wife again! It's so important not to lose sight of that :) Love my boys so much!