A Christmas Story

Christmastime has come and gone.  It always does that... you wait alllll year for it to get here, then the last few days BAM!  It's over.  Then you're stuck looking at the tree you've come to loathe since it has taken up approximately 2/3 of your living room for the past month. You might ask, "Well why not just take it down?"  Very simple answer, my friend.  Because I and my slightly obsessive self won't just pack the ornaments, ribbon, and twigs away in just any ol' fashion.  The process takes a few hours.  And as you can see below, I have a looot of ornaments:

Overall, it was a great Christmas!  Corbin, being the first grandchild on my side and the only boy/baby on Josh's side, got a lot of loot!  I quickly got over my sentimentality of all his early infant toys (swing, bouncer, play gym) and packed them away to make room for the plethora of Fisher Price that soon ambushed my living room.  We saw family, ate like fattys, and played with Corbin's new toys.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I GOT A CAMERA!  Yes, yes.  The camera I so desperately wanted to buy on Black Friday, but couldn't afford.  I thought I was going to have to save all my Christmas money and wait until after Christmas.  Josh and I exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve and one of my gifts was a camera bag.  Sweet, but a little disappointing since it would be a while before I could put anything in it.  Then on Christmas day, over at my parents', I got to open a big mysterious present.  Inside, it had a paper that said, "From Dad, Mom, Josh, and Corbin." I immediately knew what it was!  Sure enough, buried under a disguise of foam in that huge box, was my new Canon Rebel!

The only part of Christmas I didn't like was me worrying about Corbin catching strep or RSV from my nieces.  It's amazing how being a mom suddenly makes you reconsider and reprioritize every aspect of your life.  I spent a good portion of Christmas morning Googling things like "how RSV is spread" and "how contagious is strep."  We wound up doing Christmas with my in-laws at our house and a separate time from my sister-in-law to avoid Corbin coming in contact with anything that might've been contagious.  Might've not been the popular choice among others, but children and their health/safety come first!

So now's the time you've been waiting for.  Pictures of Mr. Corbin on his first Christmas!  We are very, very blessed!

• Christmas #1: Josh's aunt and uncle's house

Tastes like chicken

•  Christmas #2: My grandma's house

• Christmas #3: Our house

• Christmas #4: My parents' house

•  Christmas #5: Josh's family

(The pictures to this are all on my new camera, so I'll have to upload those later!)

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a soon-to-be Happy New Year!

8 Months!

Happy 8 months, Corbin! I cannot believe my tiny little 6 lb newborn is 2/3 of his way through his first year. I'm so thankful for his life and celebrating another day of it. But this mama's heart is still sad he's growing up so fast.

At 8 months, Corbin...

• Crawls on hands and knees.
• Pulls up to stand.
• Picks up food and feed himself.
• Babble talks a little.
• Puts his arms out for me to take him.
• Plays the "I don't see you... Oh there you are... Whoops I'm gonna hide my face again" game with people.
• Sleeps 9-5.
• Sleeps all night in his crib.
• Eats 2-3 jars of baby food a day (Loves peas, carrots, squash, bananas, and even asparagus! Makes the worst face ever when you feed him green beans).
• Drinks 20-24 oz of formula a day (4 or 5 four ounce bottles).
• Plays games where he interacts directly with me, such as crawling away so I can't "get" him, crawling toward me to "get" me, and throwing himself on his back so I will tickle him.
• Has two bottom teeth!
• Would rather play with junk he finds under the couch than shiny new toys.
• Loves bath time.
• Will put his arms out to go to other people.
• Loves to watch and play with big kids.
• Still in love with me. Seriously. It's more serious than before. :) 
• Wears 6-9 and 9 month clothes.  Has outgrown one or two 9 month items.
• Wears size 3 shoes (well, almost).
• Weighs almost 19 pounds!
• Has the best smile of anyone I've ever seen!
• I loves him :)

Tastes like chicken

Caught ya!

Just "hanging out"

Corbin's 6 Month Pics

Here's some previews of Corbin's super adorable 6 month pictures.  So hard to believe he is almost 8 months now!  But unlike his previous photo sessions, I don't think his looks have changed much.  Seems like it only took two weeks after his newborn and 3 month shoots for it to look like I had pictures of random babies hanging on my walls.  :)