Corbin -- 3 Months (and one day)

My Dear Sweet Corbin,

You are three months old!  Plus a day.  Because one thing Mommy has learned about being a mommy of two is that we are late for everything!  But I've learned to accept that.

Oh my Corbin!  You are growing!  You are our sweet little chunky monkey!  You have nice little chubby thighs and more than your share of chins :).  But we love it!  We firmly believe chubby babies are healthy babies!  You'll need all that stored energy for later when you start moving and grooving!  And trying to keep up with your sister!  You've been in 3 to 6 month clothes since about 2 months...  So there's definitely nothing small about you! 

You still have blue eyes.  I think you'll keep them.  You also have red tints in your hair.  So cute!  Lots of people comment about it.  You get those two things from your daddy, by the way.  You're also our sensitive little guy.  You startle easily and you do not like loud noises.  I'm pretty sure you're going to be my clingy baby, and I'm actually looking forward to it a bit (your sister tends to wander away from me, because she is an adventurer... so it'll be nice to know you'll stick with Mommy :)).  You love to be held, but you're getting better about being put down on the play mat and looking at the birdie and other colorful things. 

You've pretty well managed to get onto a 3-hour routine in the daytime.  You wake up and eat, then you "play" and then you nap.  Then we repeat :).  At night, you sleep a minimum of 4 hours for the first stretch, but the last two nights you've done 6!  And I'm good with that :).  It means Mommy gets more sleep too :).  We're hoping you'll sleep even longer before too long, but we're trying to just go with the flow and let you learn at your own pace.  And even though you aren't yet sleeping through the night, one thing that has always been true about you is that you understand night-time is for sleeping.  You wake up to eat and go right back down.  Mommy doesn't have to wait for you to be in a deep sleep before she can lay you down.  And even for nap-time, you just have to close your eyes while on my shoulder and then I can put you down for your nap.  That's all it takes.  You are amazing!

You are such a sweet boy, Corbin.  You have the sweetest and most adorable dimpled smile (which you will see below).  You love love love attention and will smile hugely at anyone who talks to you (especially when you're in a good mood and not tired).  You're starting to laugh now, and it's awesome!  You also coo a lot and you get super excited sometimes about things.  You are a strong baby boy, Corbin.  I'm fully expecting you to roll over sooner than later.  You already know how to scoot yourself, whether you're on your tummy or on your back!  You love to be held in a standing position, and I think you know that there are things you'll be able to do one day and you want to do them now!  You'll get there. 

You're also very alert!  Several people have commented on that fact.  And I watch you look at me -- and I know you know I'm you're Mommy.  You stare at me so intently sometimes and watch all my movements when I'm not holding you.  It's pretty amazing to watch you observe me -- and the world around you.  I can already see that you are a smart little boy.

Corbin, I love you.  I love you so very much.  Something I've learned from mommy-hood is that I lack the words to express the love I feel for you both you and your sister.  But it is there.  And I hope that you always know it.  That you always feel it.  You are my precious boy.  And I'm so grateful that you are.  You are teaching me, just like your big sister did.  You are helping me be better, just as she is.  I hope I can be the mommy you both deserve.  Happy 3 months, my little guy.  Here's to a month of new milestones and adventures!

Love,

Mommy

Love these pictures of him!!!

Oh How the Time Flies

Yeah, it's been almost a month since I last posted!  Crazy!  And that means Corbin is almost 3 months old and I'll be posting his 3-month blog post.  Ergo, I wanted to get in a quick one that wasn't his monthly post :).

Life is busy with 2 kids.  Really, really busy.  And, as Corbin is not sleeping through the night yet, I go to bed with the chickens (9 at the latest), so I can maximize my sleep!  It makes me feel like an old lady...  But sleep is important for a happy mommy, so ya just gotta do what ya gotta do.

This girl has style :).

Taking shadow pictures while waiying for Daddy to get home from work one Monday.

The first time Corbin sat in his Bumbo chair and didn't scream with indignation...  And Lynnaea thinks pacifiers are toys ever since Corbin came home.

Corbin likes the play mat these days.  But he likes the picture-taker even more (Mommy)!

At the end of the day...  Just before I laid him down for the night.

Well, that's all, folks.  I have plenty to say, but life is busy.  So this will have to suffice :).

Oh, and P.S...   If you haven't heard, we're Alabama Bound again in a couple months!  Yay!!  Though traveling with Corbin may send us to an early grave :/...

Corbin -- 2 Months

My Dear, Sweet Corbin,

You actually turned 2 months yesterday.  But since we also had your well-baby check (and you got 3 shots!), we had a rough afternoon and I was lucky to get some pictures of you on your 2nd month-day in which you weren't screaming in pain or misery.  So I decided it was better to write this later :). 

Oh sweet Corbin.  You are my precious boy.  We have ups and downs.  You are a true "hold me" baby.  You always want to be held.  Sometimes that makes things very hard for Mommy.  But we figure it out.  And, actually, you are getting more and more okay with resting in your papasan chair while I work on daily chores.  I know it is because you are developing more and able to enjoy the world around you more as you focus on things and observe from your low vantage point.  I wonder what things must look like to you ;).

Oh you are smiling more and more each day!  It is the best!  Your dimples are simply adorable, and every lady who sees them just melts about how cute you are!  You are your happiest in the mornings.  You also are very happy when Lynnaea pays special attention to you.  Sometimes it seems like she's trying to squeeze your guts out when she hugs you...  But you don't seem to mind.  You smile away!  I tell her that she is going to be one of your very favorite people.  But think I may be wrong...  I think she already is.

We have transitioned you to your bed-side crib over the last couple weeks.  You've taken to it like a champ.  Sometimes I miss sleeping with you in the recliner though.  The truth is, sometimes I wish it was just you and I so I could sit and hold you for hours and let you sleep on me.  But...  That's not how it is.  We have our sweet Lynnaea, and she needs love and attention too.  And I wouldn't change that -- and I don't think you would either!  I just know that I wish I had more opportunities to sit and hold you for hours and hours.

You slept for 5 hour stretches two nights last week!  That was exciting for Mommy!  And last night you even slept for 7!  (But that may have just been due to you feeling so yucky after your shots, so I'm not holding you to that ;)).  I think more sleep will benefit us both, so I'm hoping we're moving in that direction for good! 

Of course, you also have had 2 colds (again, courtesy of your sweet sister ;)) in your life.  And one of them has been this past week.  Which means you didn't sleep as well and went back to waking every 3 hours.  So we'll see if things get to where they were as far as sleeping once you're completely over this mess!

And just so you know...  We can already tell you're going to have some red tints in your hair.  And I'm starting to believe you're going to keep those sweet blue eyes :).  And you are a big boy!  We learned you are 15 pounds 3 ounces at your well-baby check-up!  So you are our chunky monkey!  But you're perfect, little Corbin man.  You are perfect to me.  I love you so very much, my sweet boy.  And I always will.

Love Always,

Mommy

In the Still of the Night

Well, this is a song title post!  I didn't even plan it :).

It's a rare thing, but I'm sitting here watching an episode of Wings while my babies are asleep and my husband is at work.  I should probably be getting into bed while Corbin is sleeping...  But the need for mommy time is just too great.  I can sleep when I'm dead.  (Haha, not really... this sleep deprivation thing is rough!)

Corbin had two nights where he slept a 5 hour stretch.  I got hopeful.  And then he changed his mind and decided he didn't want to continue the trend.  Of course, he also has a cold (the second one of his life.  Lynnaea didn't have her first cold until she was around 7 months old.  I'm thinking this is the joy of having an older sibling who is more than willing to share her germs!)

Well, the still is over, just in case you wondered ;).

Oh how I love this girl!!!  She is getting so big!

Catching some smiles!!  Check out those dimples!!

I went with some friends and their kids to the Children's Museum in Tacoma.  It was awesome.

Lynnaea had so much fun there.  We didn't even scratch the surface, so we will be going back.  And then, because we were in Tacoma...  This happened!!!

Washington finally has a Chick-fil-A!!!  Woohoo!!!  It was ridiculously hot in Washington that day... Hence my red face.  Blah.  But what a great day!

My beautiful girl and I painted our toes for our activity for Family Night.  Woohoo!  She picked blue ;).  She thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Just another smiley shot before we say goodnight :).

Out of the Mouths of Babes

As I've mentioned before, I am pretty sure I will learn a lot from my kids...

Particularly what I do that isn't the best.  Because Lynnaea mimics me.  A lot.

Her latest thing?  Well, let's just say when I get frustrated with Jeremy, I tend to say (in a somewhat whiney voice), "Jeremy!"

And let's just say Lynnaea has recently started saying the exact same thing in the exact same way when he is frustrating her...  I don't think she quite realizes that she is calling her daddy by his name though (she still calls him daddy at all other times).  I say this, because last Sunday in nursery, another little boy kept taking her puzzle pieces.  She turned to him and said, "Jeremy!"  In that same whiney tone.  So basically, I think she uses it as a word to express her frustration with someone.  Hahaha. 

Mostly I just wanted to record this for posterity's sake.  These are the stories it will be fun to tell her in the years ahead!

The other hilarious thing she did the other day was not so much mimicking what I say so much as what I do.  Though things are the same as they were with Lynnaea (in regards to nursing) and I don't produce enough milk to sustain Corbin's life by just breast-feeding (though I do produce more this time around), I am still nursing as much as I can.  Hoping to keep it going until at least the 6 month mark, as I did with Lynnaea.  Anyway, the other day she wanted to feed him his bottle, so I let her do that for a few minutes.  She said she was all done, so I took him back.  And then she said she wanted to feed him again and started lifting up her shirt...  She said she wanted to feed him out of her belly-button.  Which is the only thing on her torso that sticks out, so she thinks that will work.  She's also been known to walk around with one of the breast shields for the breast pump (one of our many extra ones) on her belly-button, because she saw me pumping when we first brought him home...  Oh she is a sweet one.

Just a picture of Corbin the other day.  He is usually happy on the changing table (as Lynnaea was when she was a baby).  There's just something about that place!

I was trying to catch Corbin's smile...  This is a sort-of smile.  And you can see at least one of his dimples (he has one in each cheek ;)).

It's been a while since Lynnaea and I took a selfie.  Sow e did that today.

And then we got Corbin in on the selfie-action.  He's a little unseasoned ;).

It's a Bittersweet Symphony -- Take 2

I haven't done a song title post in a while.  And this is one I've done before.  When my life was changing in a huge way.  You can read that here, if you feel so inclined.

The longer I live, the more I realize how true it is...  Life is full of bittersweet moments.  Last week I got to experience a new one. 

You see, my little girl has spent the last two years being rocked to sleep by yours truly.  A bad habit?  Yeah.  Turns out it was.  I thought I was doing a great job, because I would get her almost completely to sleep while rocking her and singing I am a Child of God.  Then I'd lay her in her bed and she'd roll over and go to sleep. 

...And then Corbin came along.  And this night-time routine was taking 30 to 45 minutes.  And then I'd lay her in the bed thinking she was asleep enough.  And she'd immediately open her eyes and start crying "rock rock!"  And so...  We had to sleep train our toddler in the weeks Jeremy was home from work.  That was a fun (sarcastic) and heart-breaking 4 days.  I don't like to listen to my babies cry.  The good news is it only took 4 days and it got less traumatic each day.  I would go in, rock her and sing the song through (all 4 verses) 1 time.  Then put her in bed and tuck her in and kiss her goodnight.  And this became our new routine. 

...Which lasted all of 2 weeks.  Then suddenly, last Sunday, it changed.  She didn't want me to carry her to her room.  She didn't want me to rock her.  She just wanted to climb into her bed on her own  and I could cover her.  She gives me kisses and hugs and tells me she loves me and night-night. 

She doesn't know that I cried for the first two nights after I left her room.

My little girl needs me less and less.  And I know it is good for her to grow up.  It is good for her to be able to go to sleep on her own (frankly, we've had less mid-night waking and no screaming in the middle of the night since she started going to sleep on her own).  But there is still that little piece of my mother heart that is broken.  Because rocking my Lynnaea and singing to her was my favorite part of the day.  It was precious time for just she and I.  And now it is gone.  We still read our stories together before she goes to bed, though, and she still sits on my lap at that time.  And I will cherish that for as long as I can.

Of course, then she also goes and does awesome toddler stuff like stick a little tiny elastic hair "pretty" (the kind I put in her hair) up her nostril so far I have to get a flashlight and tweezers to get it out...  Yeah, that's fun too.  We followed that up with a conversation of why we don't stick stuff up our noses.  I'm hoping she understood...

As for Corbin.  He is growing like a weed.  Seriously.  I had a friend ask me at church today, "He isn't even 3 months yet is he?"  She was commenting about how alert he is for his age.  I replied, "He isn't even two months yet."  He's just a big boy.  He is 6 weeks today.  He is smiling on purpose, and it's adorable.  He is awake more, and I'm trying really hard to create a routine for him.  Jeremy starts swing shift this week, so I'm going to try transitioning him to his little bedside crib in the hopes I can return to my own bed to sleep after more than 6 weeks of sleeping with him the recliner. 

Honestly, part of me doesn't want to give up having him sleep on me.  Each night in the recliner, as I look down at him asleep on my chest, I feel happiness and peace.  But I also feel like a walking zombie every 2 hours when he wakes up or gets restless -- and I think sometimes he is just restless but doesn't need to eat; but since he wakes me up, I automatically assume (in my sleep-deprived state) that he is hungry.  So I fix the bottle.  If he isn't sleeping on me, maybe I won't wake up when he's restless and only if/when he cries from hunger.  Because lately I've had to "wake him up" to eat after the bottle is ready.  So yes, it will be bittersweet for these moments to end too...  But I know more sleep will do me wonders.  I often wake up disoriented at first and trying to remember if we are in the recliner or not.  I don't really like that feeling. 

Anyway... Just a few pictures of recent adventures.  Like Northwest Trek and the Bug Museum.  And 5 of the grandkids all together ;).

Lynnaea feeding her baby brother.  She likes to help.  But she also likes to hold him for about 30 seconds max.  Then she says "all done."  and it's best if you're standing at the ready, because she pretty much wiggles out from under him in a flash...

I do love a side-ways picture.  Thanks blogger!  Anyway, you can see he's keeping his eyes open more.

Sweet kiddos!  They had fun playing that day.

Doing a new toddler activity I thought would be awesome:  making rainbow toast.  Basically you "paint" your bread with colored milk and then broil it.  I thought Lynnaea would love eating it.  she pretty much licked off the nutella and didn't want to eat the toast...  But she had fun with the painting part.

On the tram at Northwest Trek.  She loved seeing the animals.  It was kind of a rough day for the mommy....  But Lynnaea loved it, and I did it for her.

Corbin slept through pretty much all of the Northwest Trek...

And there she is with this lizard thing at the bug museum, which is just down the hill from our house.  Hadn't been before so we checked it out.  She loved talking to the lizards in the tanks.  She wanted to hold them all.  Clearly she is nothing like me...

Corbin, the last dinosaur ;)...  He was thrilled.

Corbin - 1 Month

Dear Corbin,

Time is a funny thing.  In some ways, this past month has seemed interminable.  The sleepless nights will do that to you!  In other ways, the past month has gone so quickly.  I see you every day and don't notice how you're growing, but looking back at your newborn pictures, I can certainly see how you've grown!  And how you've developed.  You smile now.  And you're awake so much more these days. 

I can't say it's all been roses.  It's been a challenge for me to be a mommy to 2 who are so young.  But we have managed to muddle through.  Thankfully, Daddy was home for 4 weeks to help with everything.  And we're starting to find our groove.  But the nights are still hard for me.  Mostly because I can't sleep whenever you do during the day :).  Your big sister needs my love and attention too, and she's awake during the day.  So sometimes I feel zombie-like.  But I know these days will end.  And, on some level, I will miss them.

And so I can honestly say that I love that we are sleeping together in the recliner these days (actually, they're nights).  I feel like it's some of our best snuggle time -- and something I didn't really do with Lynnaea (we didn't have a recliner then...).  I know I regretted not enjoying the snuggle phase with Lynnaea as much and so I have tried to really relish that with you.  There really is something wonderful about having you snuggled up on my chest sleeping. 

You are pretty serious about your food, Mr. Corbin.  You eat every two hours, pretty much like clockwork.  It's amazing.  You can also scream with the best of them...  You let us know when we aren't coming fast enough for your liking.  And when I'm home alone with both you and Lynnaea, often I can't come as fast as either of us would like.  And boy do you ever give me the what-for!  It's like you know how much I hate hearing my baby cry, even when it has to happen for a couple of minutes. 

We've had some ups and downs with things like nursing.  You weren't the best latcher initially.  Which meant I got some owies.  And we had to stop nursing for a while.  But we persevered through that, and we are now a successful nursing team!  There were many days I wanted to give up, but having reached this point, I'm glad that I didn't.  It's some time that is just for you and me, and I think that's really nice and important. 

You love bath-time.  The first two baths we gave you, you weren't such a fan.  But ever since then, you've liked the bath!  Which is totally awesome.  You sit there as content as can be until the bath is over (at which point Lynnaea is usually trying to splash you, and then you're done!).  You have been smiling for a couple of weeks, but the smiles are getting better and better as you learn more and more how to control yourself.  And you hold your head up really well -- you have since birth!  We attribute it to your large size at birth.  Daddy says maybe you should have been born a week earlier ;). 

I love you Corbin.  I don't have the same amount of one-on-one time to give you as I did your sister.  And I often feel guilty about that.  But I love you.  And I hope you'll always know that.  It is different to parent a second child.  My attention is divided and things I want to do (like write your 1-month blog post letter) get pushed back and back and back until the day is almost done.  But I will do my best to give you as much as I can.  I will fail at times.  I am only human.  But I will try.  I will try to just sit and hold you and look into your eyes when that's what you need most.  I will smile as you smile at me, because those are beautiful wonderful moments.  And I will hold you close when you just need some snuggles.  Because you are my boy.  And I'm so grateful you are.

Love Always,

Mommy

Bath-time is good times ;)!

I have a couple of awesomely talented friends who made me a sling so I could survive Jeremy going back to work!  And they even made one for my mini-me!!

Today's 1-month pictures.