Welcome Fall

What a busy summer!  Corbin's baptism, Moving to Raytown, Getting accepted to Midwifery school, Doula births, Camping in Eminence, Traveling to Kentucky, Corbin's first birthday...

Now it is fall, and I am so enjoying the weather.  This is my favorite season.  I've taken Corbin to the park several times in the last week.  We've gone on walks and to the dog park and will be going on bike rides.  Corbin is a playful, mischievous, stubborn pre-toddler.  He's not walking yet, but has been crawling and cruising since we moved to our new house in May.  He just started standing for moments at a time around his birthday.  His favorite things now are to throw all the food from his high chair for the dogs to eat, bang his toys or throw them across the room, stick things in mama and dada's mouths, and climb on everything.  He makes it up and down the three steps into our lower living room.  He loves playing with his wooden hammer, blocks, balls, and noisy things.  He makes "brrrm" sounds when he plays with his cars.  He loves to be chased around the house, dancing, and being flipped upside down.  He's as girl crazy as they come and very affectionate with other kids, giving them hugs and kisses.  He says some words, "dada" "mum" "odi (odin)" "doddy (doggy)" "ball" "yeah" "hi" "byebye".  He repeats us a lot and babbles all the time.  He has his dada's temper and has started throwing mini temper tantrums when he's angry with us.  We threw him a first birthday party with lots of family and friends. I love watching my little baby becoming a little boy.

How can you resist this handsomeness:

Spring and Happy Baby

Well, it has been quite some time since I posted.  The months are flying by for me and my incredibly active 7 month old.  Corbin is not crawling yet, but he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth.  He pushes himself backwards with his arms, but hasn't figured out how to propel himself with his legs yet.  When sitting, he can turn himself around.  He has gotten a lot more comfortable on his tummy.  When we hold him in our laps, he climbs all over us.  He is so curious about every little thing and, of course, everything goes straight into his mouth.  His favorite new thing is to stand (supported) by the coffee table and pound on it with his palms.  He breaks out into a huge smile and giggles.  He also likes being tossed up by his dadda and hanging upside down over our shoulders.  As always, he loves to be read and sung to.  A couple we are friends with brought over their guitar and bongos to play for us the other night.  Corbin was absolutely captivated by the music.  Corbin has started eating softened finger foods, but is allergic to every fruit we've given him.  His poor skin breaks out into a rash all over his tummy and chest.  Because of this, we are introducing new foods slowly.  No teeth yet, but he sure is acting like they're ready to make an appearance.  He babbles quite a bit now, mostly "ahhh" and "da da da da" or variations of that.  He says "mba mba" when he's upset with his dadda and wants me.  He is long and lean, but he's starting to get a little chub on him.  We started taking him to a pediatric chiropractor for adjustments.  Apparently, he was very out of line and this was affecting his nursing.  Since we started going, he has been much less fussy and a better nurser.  We've been taking him to the park since the weather has been nice.  He loves the swings and playing with the bars on the jungle gym.  He got his first baby sunburn on his arms when mama didn't think to put sunscreen on him.  He didn't seem bothered by it and it was gone in a day, but now I keep some sunscreen in the diaper bag.  We are starting baby safety swim lessons next week at the YMCA.  He already loves the water and taking baths, so this should be fun.  My favorite thing is being told by everyone around us how exceptionally cute Corbin is.  I would have to agree!

In our lives: Chris started a new job at Truman Behavioral Health (doing the same thing but more $).  I am serving as a doula (kcbirthmama.webs.com) in addition to working as a nurse on the weekends at Truman.  We were looking at houses to buy, but decided that now wasn't the right time.  So we will be spending another year in Oak Grove.  I applied to midwifery school to get my CNM through a distance education program and am waiting to hear back from them.   This spring has been uplifting and I feel like a lot of good changes will happen this year.

Zen in 2010

I read in my Parenting magazine that 2010 is supposed to be the year of Zen style parenting, or parenting based on the assumption that everything will be OK and parents do in fact know what is best for their children.  I have noticed that I am constantly being pressured/guilted into things regarding Corbin that I would not have naturally chosen.  Things regarding the time I spend holding him, that I stay home with him during the week, how I worry about germs and him getting sick, that he still sleeps in our room, that I haven't and am not planning on giving him formula, that I haven't started solids yet, that I don't want a break from him...etc.  And each time, I worry, thinking Are these more experienced moms right? 

The conclusion: I love my baby...and if I couldn't wait to hand him off so that I could have a "break," or couldn't wait for him to sleep in another room, or didn't spend time cuddling with him, then we would not have the attachment, love, and trust that our relationship is based on.  I am so thankful that my job allows me to spend only two days away from him a week.  When I worked full time, I did notice that I wasn't as in-tune or responsive to his cries.  As for the rest of the stuff, he's only barely 5 months old as I'm writing this, we are certainly Not behind schedule.  I shouldn't let other people pressure me to parent in a way that goes against my instincts

The end to that rant.  As for Corbin's milestones, he has rolled from back to front and front to back, but seems to have forgotten how to now.  He is sitting up on his own, which makes play time much easier on mommy.  I'm sure he'll be crawling before too long.  He has been very fussy, drooly, and has been chewing on everything.  He spiked a low fever last week and had a loose stool, so teeth might be showing up soon. He also loves to have his gums rubbed.  He smiles at himself in the mirror, talks to his toys, laughs when we talk to him, and reaches for everything that catches his eye.  His favorite thing to do is bounce on mommy and daddy's lap.  Corbin loves it when we sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," or being sung to in general.  He loves being read to, danced with, and tickled.  Corbin is very curious, demanding, and energetic, getting bored easily.  He loves being around other kids and babies.  He now sleeps in the pack-n-play next to our bed because he's outgrown his bassinet.  We have said goodbye to the pacifier except for long car rides and restless nights.

Christmas loaded us with a car full of toys in bad weather.  His favorites: a stuffed car that he can sit in, a crawly ball, a music table, a rattle, and a book called "10 Little Penguins."  His great grandpa Cottrell made him a wooden rocking horse.  I'm really glad we made it through the weather to see everybody.  New Years was spent with another couple who have a baby girl the same age as Corbin, much better than being stuck at home.  I have to say, the Estlund's have been tremendous mentors on our new parent journey. 

We have taken him to the pool at the Y a couple of times.  He loves it, he'll kick his legs like a frog and splash the water.  We're putting him through parent-child swim lessons in April.  We are getting him baptized in May at St. Andrews Episcopal, which we are very excited about. Hopefully many more exciting things will come with warm weather.