Half-birthday!

Corbin's half-birthday was today! He is officially 6 months old. Wow. He has changed SO much since he was born it is ridiculous. I mean...this guy is moving around on his own (via rolling, scooting, pulling himself), he is eating solid food, he has a hilarious personality, and he is learning things from us! Evans taught him how to "high five". For some reason Corbin likes to slap his hand on stuff repeatedly so Evans started holding his hand out for Corbin to slap and he says "high five!". Now, when Evans holds his hand out, Corbin will "high five" him! I also showed him how to hit a spatula on a plastic bowl to make a sound and he picked that up right away. It amazes me that he can learn things so quickly now!

The only thing we wish he could learn a little faster is crawling. He is a very curious kid and I think he would get a kick out of exploring the house once he knows how to crawl. He gets bored very easily and although we have a trunk full of toys for him he is ecstatic over simple "new" things like a spatula or a cup or a piece of paper to play with.

One unfortunate thing is he has been teething for a very long time. I can see his two bottom teeth are ready to come in but its been almost a month and they are still not out! Also, he has been waking up throughout the night to eat again. He used to sleep 13 hours straight until he hit the 5-month mark. Now he wakes up 1-2 times a night to eat. Not so fun for me! I seem to be handling it OK though.

On my side of things, I've been working out a lot. I hired a trainer who was a mom in our birthing group. She is awesome. I'm wearing my pre-pregnancy pants finally! I'm also much stronger than I used to be and I can carry around my heavy baby like it ain't no thang!

The holidays are approaching! Thanksgiving at Alan's house is tomorrow. I'm going to bake my first pie from scratch (pumpkin). Also, I think Christmas this year will be fun since it will be Corbin's first Christmas and he will get some new toys and things to play with.

I'm really looking forward to New Years Eve. We are going to have our traditional NYE bash! It's gonna be so fun I can't wait. We are going to move Corbin's crib into our walk-in closet and drape blankets along the walls to soundproof it. This will be the first party at our house since Evans's birthday. It is long overdue!

Well - I'm going to celebrate Corbin's birthday by watching some TV and drinking a cocktail. It is as much a celebration for me since I successfully raised a baby (and breastfed) up to this point. I think I deserve it, right??

Oh, and here is your obligatory Corbin photo:

OMG - he's standing on his own! Haha...not really. Our friend Anne-Marie is an amazing photographer and took this photo with her awesome camera. Evans let go of Corbin for a split second while he was being held in the standing position. Corbin does not look amused. :)

Corbin's first flight!

Corbin had his first flight on a plane this last week. We flew to the Outer Banks, North Carolina for a family vacation with Evans's sister and her husband. Corbin did really well on the way there. We had a great time! We rented a beachfront condo. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time we were there, but we made the most of it regardless. Traveling with a baby is really different. There were lots of things we couldn't do that we would have normally done as just a couple. But at the same time, it was fun to see how Corbin reacted to new sights like the beach, the aquarium, the RAIN! Also - Corbin got to be outside almost every day which we haven't done in Texas since its been so freaking hot! So, the flight on the way back wasn't so great...in fact it was a nightmare. He screamed hysterically. It was our fault, we booked the flight to leave right at his bedtime. He was arching his back and tensing up and just exploded with anger. Everyone was looking at me like I was either a) torturing him, or b) hated me for bringing a crying infant on board. Luckily he quieted down once the plane took off and eventually fell asleep.

My lil baby-man turned 4 months old while we were there. He's a big boy now! He is wearing mostly 6-month sizes. We think he may be teething too. Lots and lost of drool, and he is constantly chewing on his hand. He seems really interested in our food, so I'm going to ask the doctor if we can start introducing him to solids at his 4-month appointment this Friday. Other cool things this baby can do: he can sit up on his own for about 15 seconds without being propped up or anything, he loves to stand up and can stand holding onto something for a short while by himself, he talks all the time and laughs at little things...and he sleeps very well.

Corbin is turning into a charming little boy!

Here is a photo I took of him in his Robot PJs that auntie Crystal got him!

Life with a 3-month-old

Man, babies grow so fast!! It's crazy! Corbin is a little person now with his own personality and everything. It's adorable! Evans and I comment how cute he is at least 10 times a day. Our little dude is a big boy too. Last I checked on my scale at home he was about 15 pounds.

In order to keep up with being able to carry this guy around Evans and I have been exercising and trying to exercise every day. We are our own personal trainers. It's been going pretty well and I think I'm ramping up well enough to be able to start jogging in the Fall once Corbin is old enough to jog with in a jogging stroller (BOB Revolution, I have my eyes on you!). I haven't been able to do too much exercise because I have Diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal muscles) from pregnancy which totally sucks. There's not much you can do to heal it other than let it heal on its own. Luckily its not too wide and its pretty shallow. I've also been eating healthier and so far I've lost 7 pounds since the beginning of July. I'm 9 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight!

I turned 30 years old on August 11th. I had a great birthday! Corbin slept in late, and I woke up to breakfast in bed (waffles and bacon) made by my wonderful husband, a bouquet of roses, and my favorite chocolate. I was kinda depressed since Evans was supposed to work that day and I didn't want to be home alone, but he ended up calling in sick to cheer me up. We went to lunch with my mother-in-law and hung out all day and had a really nice time. The next day, we got Evans's cousin to babysit and went out dancing downtown! That was my first time out dancing since before I got pregnant, and it was super fun.

Ok, so less about me and more about Corbin. Corbin is 3 months old tomorrow! He is growing, growing, growing. He's already almost fitting into some 6 month clothes. Here are some of the new things he has learned:

1. He laughs! He has the cutest little laugh. The first time we heard it he was laughing at Evans making faces at him in the car. It was super cute. We heard a few giggles since then but haven't been able to catch it on video quite yet.
2. He can roll-over! He rolls over from his belly to his back, and also can roll from his back to his side. This is a relief because he hated tummy time for the longest time so I thought he would be behind on some of these milestones, but he is able to tolerate it now.
3. He can reach and grab toys. When he grabs them, his first reaction is to stick them in his mouth.
4. He sucks his thumb. He started doing this on his own and it is pretty cute. He can put himself to sleep this way without much help from us. I'm glad that he has found a way to self-soothe. It will be very helpful when we start sleep training in one month. I do want to be careful not to let him do this too often though because thumb-sucking is what ruined my teeth and I ended up having to get braces.
5. He is sleeping without a swaddle. He actually sleeps really well without it too. I was worried that the lack of a swaddle would shorten his sleep stretches, but they have been the same (first stretch is 6 or 7 hours).
6. He talks A LOT. He babbles all day long. He talks to me and Evans, and also babbles at his toys, the ceiling fan, and even the bird poop on the window in the car.

We are taking Corbin on his first 2 vacations in the next several weeks. We'll be going to Surfside Beach in Texas for a weekend with some friends. Then we're heading to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week in September and renting a beach house with Evans's sister and her husband. This will be Corbin's first time on a plane. My fingers are crossed that it will all go well.

And to leave you all with the cuteness I've been speaking of, here's a recent pic of Corbin with his giraffe toy (he put the toy on his shoulder and let it hang out there):

From August 22, 2011