Playing catch up!

Wow, I have neglected this blog for a long time...and I'm upset about that! I like to use this for reference when making Corbin's "yearbook" and just to have to remember all the fun memories and milestones! So, here's a recap of what's been going on:

Shortly before Halloween, Corbin started taking his first unassisted steps with confidence! It sure didn't take him long once he realized that he could let go of furniture/someone's hand....now he's RUNNING all over! He got to be a ring bearer in his Uncle Jeffy and Auntie Britt's wedding in November! He did so good and was so handsome! We had a great Christmas with both sides of the family and the extended Younggren family! Corbin was so spoiled, of course, but he really uses everything he got, so I consider that a win! His vocabulary is expanding more and more every day. He seems to pick up new words all the time and is still constantly talking, whether we can understand him or not!

He really loves "Shshe" (Jersey). As soon as we get home, it's the first thing he says and she's the first one he looks for, and is chasing her around and playing with her all day/night long! He likes to grab her "sheep" and run around with it, but gets mad when she takes it away....he forgets it's not his. His other favorite words are of course, "tractor", "mamamama" (for grandma, when the Ipad rings for Facetime),  "Mama" "Dada", "gock-ey" (hockey), "guck-ey" (yucky), "mooo" when asked what a cow says, and last night he successfully said "popotamus" for hippopotamus. The hippopotamus comes from his FAVORITE book, so after working on that one, he said it a couple times, but I don't know that it'll stick around quite yet! :)

He has a favorite book, but he's obsessed with pulling out all his books from his shelf, sitting on them, and paging through them all. He's also obsessed with ceiling fans, and if you have one and it's not turned on, he'll point and ask you about it until you turn it on! He's really good at putting his hands up when he's wondering where things went or when he's wondering something. He also enjoys dancing, tickling your feet (his dad taught him that one), finding your bellybutton, blowing raspberries on your belly, and being tickled. He also enjoys hitting his hockey puck with the stick and if you play a fun game with him one time, that's alllll he wants to play! Oh, and he's in love with brushing his teeth! He does a pretty good job, too!

No need to talk about food, or sleep. Those are his two favorite things! :) I've loved every age of course, but I'm REALLY loving this age! He's so fun, interacting, copying us, and is so happy and goofy! Love this kid!

One year old!

Ahhhh, I have a one year old!!!!! The last year has been the fastest year ever, and has been the best adventure ever, too! I've certainly learned a lot about myself, Tim, and our parenting styles. We've really been on the same page about most things, so that's been great! Corbin seems to teach us something new every day, and I've loved watching him grow into the little boy he's becoming. It's amazing how much he's changed even in the last month or two. Motherhood has literally been the best thing ever, and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful little guy! Check out his first birthday here! Here's what we're up to:

Food!
Corbin is down to one bottle a day (at night). He eats all his meals with us and snacks in between as well. We've just recently started him on whole milk and he's been doing great with it! We haven't really found a food he dislikes, either. He isn't picky, he just wants to be sure we're feeding him while we're eating! We've started ordering off the kid's menu at most restaurants and that seems to be going well, too!

Mobile!
Pretty sure he's the most cautious kid ever. He LOVES walking around while holding onto our hands or cruising along the furniture. The moment he feels like he might fall or that he doesn't have something to hold onto, he wants to sit down and crawl. He's so nervous about sitting down, too! Usually his hand has to go down first to see how far it is to the floor. Little turkey! In the past could days he's been all about climbing, though, so maybe he's coming out of his shell. He's been standing by himself for longer chunks of time the last couple days, too, so I don't think it'll be long before he's a walker!

Wheels!
He is OBSESSED. That's the only way I can put it! He is so fascinated by wheels and loves watching them, spinning them, playing with them, and especially steering wheels! He is also in love with the little cozy coupe cars and if he sees one, that is the ONLY thing he wants, and he wants to be in it right now!

Books!
He loves looking at books and "reading". His favorite are the touch and feel books that have different textures for him to touch. He will sit in his room and pull every book off the shelf and sit and page through them.

Dancing!
He loves music and is really getting into dancing!! It's pretty cute! He just bounces and "sings"

Baths!
As soon as the water starts, he is bolting into the bathroom and standing up at the tub! He gets SO excited about bath time!! Even when the water isn't running or it's not time, he goes in there and thinks he needs to be in the tub.

Tricks!
His favorite is "SO BIG" and then he claps after! He also waves bye bye and we're working on blowing kisses. He still says Mama and Dada. He talks steady, but most of it isn't words. He knows what a tractor is and will go find you one if you ask. He LOVES puppies, especially Jersey, and will point out a puppy if one is nearby!

Personality!
Corbin is seriously one of the happiest kids I know! The only time he isn't happy is if we're taking too long to put food on his plate or he's getting tired. He isn't scared of other people, smiles so easily, and just has such a sweet personality! He's a little goofball who loves when people laugh at him--it just encourages him to be even more goofy!

Naps!
We're starting to wean away the morning nap! He hasn't been taking a very good nap in the morning and really fights it sometimes, so at daycare, he's going to have a morning nap every other day to help wean him off of it and make sure he still gets enough sleep. Yesterday was our first day of this and he seemed to do just great! Just another sign he's growing up :(

One year checkup
He'll have his one year check-up on September 2nd. Anxious to see his stats!

The birthday boy on the birthday saddle at Texas Roadhouse!

Love this sweet little dude!! The first year has gone by so fast, and I only hope time can slow down because we have so many more memories to make! Looking forward to our new adventures with a busy one year old!

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!