Cannot.Stop.Laughing

Took these photos of Cora holding her baby yesterday. I didn't even check to see if they were good because I needed to get Corben to safety once she was "all done". I was flipping through some photos last night and just cannot stop laughing.
 Corben must be thinking . . . Mommy, you are letting a baby who sucks her thumb hold me! Are you crazy?

6 weeks, 7 hours, 8 dresses

Corben is 6 weeks old. That seems about right to me. He wasn't sleeping in his bed, pretty much at all - especially at night 1 week ago. And, on the eve of 6 weeks he slept 7 hours straight, woke up at 4 and then slept from 5 (when I finished feeding him) until past 8 am. Wow. What a difference a week makes. In preparation for our getaway for an upcoming work retreat (and to reward my body with a horizontal sleeping posture again after 6 weeks of a banana in a chair), we started sleep training (merely trying to get him to sleep in a bed) last Saturday night. We are roughly following Twelve Hours Sleep By Twelve Weeks Old by Suzy Giordano. This book is so smart and worked with Cora so we are confident it will work over the next few weeks. To celebrate Corbie's accomplishment (and to prepare for summer/ retreat) I indulged in some retail therapy with Caitlin, Michelle and Corben. Result: 8 dresses. I admit that after kids I tend to binge shop. Not shop forever and then go and buy 5 pair of shoes or 8 dresses. This works for me - I mean, who knows when the next time will be that I get to go shop - could be next week, might be this fall. So, Corben slept the morning away in the Ergo Baby and then snoozed more during our delicious lunch at Seasons 52. This place was such a surprise and so good! Honestly from the outside it looks fairly lame. What kind of name is Seasons 52? Um, I'll tell you - it is smart. They apparently change the menu with the change in seasons. Ding Ding. How did I not think of that on my own? The Spring menu for lunch had all items UNDER 475 calories. Yes, please. I had an artichoke flatbread pizza - so yummy. Caitlin and Chelle each had a sandwich that they enjoyed. The little extra were the tamale tots Cait ordered. Mmmmm. Gonna go back for some of those soon. The atmosphere was a little stuffy - sort of decorated like Flemings (dark, steakhouse feel) which didn't really jive with the light menu but it did help Corben keep sleeping while we ate - so who cares, right? I even got a dress for Corben's baptism! I know it looks like he is sleeping on his stomach. He can roll over! Yikes he is getting so big already!

Can't make this up

Like Father like Son

Easter Ants

Corben is sleeping in his bed (gasp!) so I have about 4 minutes until I have to leave to go pick up Connor from school (so not enough time to mop the floors which so desperately need a scrub) and only enough time to rant about our Easter Ants - which I somehow forgot to mention in my last post. I hate ants - I really hate pretty much all bugs of all sizes and to make myself happy, and thus the rest of my family (who have to put up with me) I spend LOTS and LOTS of money to keep the bugs away. By LOTS, I mean I think I roughly spend close to 1K/ year to keep away bugs. As such, I do not feel like I should have to spend ONE.MORE.DOLLAR on any sort of bug spray. Period. Now, to justify my spending I will disclose that it includes a Mosquito spray for our yard which is 100% necessary as there is a creek that runs behind our house and before we subscribed to the Mosquito Spray I got 12 bites in 10 minutes (bugs LOVE me). After the spray there were 2 bites the rest of the "season". With 3 little ones, it is so worth it to not have to lather up with bug spray everytime we want to go outside. It takes us long enough to get ready to go anywhere without any lotions. Some of the bug budget goes to Termite Bond - which is of course a no brainer. So, I'm not totally crazy but I was super angry when I had just had the bug man out to spray his quarterly spray and the ants arrived. We have wood floors so they aren't easy to spot and then they got into the sink and the counter surrounding the sink which is a nice dark granite - and I'll be honest -- I actually considered changing our countertops to light colored granite because the ants were so hard to spot and I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. I took EVERYTHING (which was a ton of stuff) off the counter and cleaned each item and set it on the opposite counter for 2 days to monitor the affected area. It was painful to squint at the dark granite and try to find the suckers. ARRH. I didn't have any ant spray (see above reasoning) so I used Pledge all-purpose (but mainly to clean furniture) spray. It made my floors shine a little bit too - and I thought it killed the ants. But no. I had to break down and buy ant spray - which did solve the problem (so far) but I'm not happy about the $2.50+ that the spray cost and I have a call into Terminix to get back out here and spray outside again. This is why I pay you the big bucks! A sweet photo of the baby who is now awake and good timing because I have to go get Connor.

20 months

To celebrate 20 months, Cora cracked her head on a side table and is likely to wake up tomorrow with a black eye. Not the best way to start Spring. Luckily after the shock wore off she was fine and up to all her usual dangerous antics. Surprisingly she wasn't being dangerous when she got hurt.

At 20 months Cora is wearing a size 5 diaper and 24 month clothes. She is learning even more words. Pink is her first color that she learned. She also knows purple. But her preference is pink. She is now wearing a sleep sack to nap and at night. We call it her princess dress. She flies into bed (since she can't walk) and seems to like it. She still hates the first few minutes when we leave the room but the crying is shorter every night so we are making progress and she is staying safely in bed.

Cora loved my spaghetti squash I made this month. Connor did not. He is still a good eater but is becoming less adventurous and has specific things he doesn't think he likes. But he still eats veggies so ill take it. I let Cora eat yogurt with a spoon all by herself. She loves it. I like it because it frees me up to take care of Corben and she feels like such a big girl!

Cora is still smitten with Elmo and loves her Minnie too.

She enjoyed hunting eggs at the country club and again at the indoor hunt on Easter at my parent's house. She learned quickly that some eggs had prizes inside. She shook each egg and carefully listened before trying to opie (aka open) it. She didn't waste time or energy on empties.

The country club egg hunt was advertised as 12:30 but they started at 12:15 so when the Gambles showed up as our guests at 12:22 the hunt was over. First, the egg hunt has never been on time much less early EVER. Second, who starts early at a kids event. Third, it was billed as the largest egg hunt and clearly it wasn't because some kids didn't get eggs and the hunt lasted less than 7 minutes. I'm not happy with the club and they will likely receive an email from me. Oh and to reduce the cost they changed the advertised menu to include no veggie options - even X'd the Mac and cheese. Luckily the Gamble kids had another egg hunt later that day and didn't mind missing the hunt. I did get some photos with the Easter bunny (sans Cora) who hated the big bunnies all week. Of course there was an employee with the bunny who was in almost every photo because she wouldn't move. I managed to get one without her but I've included others to illustrate my frustration.

Can you see the arm?

Head?
At least she is smiling?


Success!


Selene and Kelly at lunch - Kelly with the token bunny the club tried to appease the kids with after they missed the egg hunt. Um how are you supposed to split a bunny 4 ways? At least they tried? Im still mad though - can you tell?

Easter lunch was super delicious. Thanks mom! The kids were spoiled by all relatives with baskets of toys and candy. Even Corben got lots of goodies.


what must Corbie be thinking?



In other news . . . I started April off with a dermatology visit. Yet another weird skin issue after baby. This time instead of my arms my face looks diseased. Super dry and patchy but hopefully the lotions will work their magic.

Connor had his second swim lesson last week. After the first lesson I was a little worried but Connor was committed to learning and he did "awesome" (his word and mine). He really improved w/o any practice and is eager to go back. Yea!

1 Month Old

It is March 28th so that means Corben is 1 Month old today - although I'm struggling a little bit with the fact that if he had been born on March 1st he would be 4 days away from being 1 month old.  Of course, I've been obsessing over this weirdness for a few days and I still haven't figured it out - but it doesn't change the fact that he is 1 month old - or does it?

Anyway, I'm just going to go with it.  1 month.  Corben at 1 month is a little bigger and a little less jaundice.  He is filling out his newborn clothes but not moving up to 3 months yet.  He enjoys car rides as long as the car is moving - which is tough at stop lights.  He is eating every 3 hours.  He will go a little longer at night but not the full night yet.  He sleeps better on his belly than his back - Connor did too.  I only let him sleep on his belly during the day when I'm not totally exhausted and can watch him, but he can hold his head up and usually has it to one side anyway.

Today we ventured out with the help of Aunt Cathy to see the Easter Bunny.  I probably would have skipped this but she really enjoys going and she did get the kids really cute Easter shirts - so she came over and we all headed to the mall.  Luckily no one was in line.

Connor smiling to get the photo over with and onto the promised lollipop and cookie. Corben sleeping and closing his eyes tightly to avoid seeing anything that would disturb his rest. Cora frantic that her brothers are sitting with a creepy rabbit and not sure which way to the exit is fastest. There were other shots that captured Cora's face better but I figured that this one I could at least crop her out and have a cute boys photo too. 2 for the price of 1 - Yes, I had to pay money for this photo. a few candids after the big bunny
I actually counted 37 photos of Connor and Cora in the same spot at the mall trying to get a good photo of both - together. Working for no money.

3 weeks and Counting

Corben is now 3 weeks old and he weighed in at 8 lbs 12 ounces (50%) yesterday at his appointment. 3 weeks isn't a regularly scheduled appointment. At his 2 week appointment, Corben was 7 lbs 15 ounces (50%) and 20.5 inches (50%). He had another test for jaundice and his level creeped up a little to 14 so we had to go back to the doctor this week to make sure he was back on the downward trend. At 3 weeks his level is 12 - so better. We had a bi-furcated test run to see if it was direct or indirect jaundice. No results yet. Anyway, other than being a little tan, Corben is doing well. He eats about every 3 hours (except he can go close to 5 at night) and he sleeps a lot. Sometimes in his bed (longest stretch there is 2 hours) sometimes in the bouncy or swing (he seems to like both of those for limited periods - no more than 30 minutes each). He takes a paci better than Connor or Cora. He hated his first real bath after the cord fell off. The next bath was preceded by screaming but once the water came he was liking it. Not loving it - but liking it. Cora hated her first several baths and now we can't say the word bath out loud or she will start stripping off her clothes and running to the bathtub. Seriously. Corben is a pretty good car traveller (my standard of pretty good is that he doesn't scream the entire time!). He loves his big brother and sister. He lets them hold him despite the fact that Cora is only 19 months old and frequently thinks that he is a pretend baby she can pick up and throw around. I try to get photos of all 3 kids so I can prove that they didn't always look alike. Corben has blonde eyebrows and I'm sure it is just a matter of time before he is blonde like his siblings. My mom seems to think Corben will have brown eyes and dark hair though. In any event, my attempts at a cute 3 kid photo haven't been too "frameworthy". We even had professional photos taken this week and I'm not sure we got one of just the 3 kids. When I say "Look at Mommy" how come no one is looking at the same place?See how Cora is trying to grab the baby back? Speaking of Cora, oh this child is making this a stressful week! She has been a great sleeper since about 9 or 10 weeks old. She sleeps just like the book said she would - 12 hours or about 8 to 8. This has changed our lives for the better and has been a wonderful, reliable schedule. Recently, she has been fussing much more when we put her in bed for a nap or at night. She usually calms down within a few minutes and goes right to sleep. At nap yesterday she climbed out of her crib, twice. The third time she tried I told her "no" through the walkie talkie feature on our monitor. After 45 minutes of trying and hearing "no" she gave up and took a decent nap. While she rested I frantically googled what to do. Crib tents (which we used to own but it didn't fit our crib so I gave it away) have been recalled. The suggestions online were funny. I think I am going to try a combination of tricks, including a sleep sack (so she can't get her leg over the edge) and turning the crib around so the high part is now in front. I ordered the sleep sack so last night I turned the crib around and watched her on the monitor like a hawk until she laid down. She slept just fine once she decided she wasn't getting out. Unfortunately, the sleep sack has a dual purpose. Cora has decided that she likes to take off her pj pants at night. I was a little concerned she would be cold but otherwise wasn't too worried. Until she took off her diaper too. Really? It has only happened once and somehow the diaper was dry and so was the bed. But I figure with the sleep sack that will be hard to do as well. I'm obviously just not ready for her to be able to wander around her room. I need like 8 more months, please! On a positive note, Cora's language is really picking up and she is repeating words we say all.the.time. She loves the word "dropped". It complements "Uh Oh!" so well that it is a common phrase. She has a few sentences like "Come with me" and she will grab your hand and lead you down the hall, "This is trash?" is another favorite. She still creates and searches for trash just to ask if it is trash so she can throw it away. She is really good at playing by herself and she will usually sing softly while playing - I mention softly because Connor loves to sing but he sings more like he has a microphone at all times. Cute and Sweet but not quiet. Connor and Cora are playing well together. They of course fight over 1 toy when there are 50,000 other toys - even fighting over 1 lego when there are identical ones within arms reach. But, they do have mostly sweet moments - dangerous but sweet. Hugging each other (which turns into dragging each other down the hall, falling, butting heads, etc). Cute but I would prefer not to go to the ER. Just me. Connor has learned to play Checkers and is actually really good at it. He seems to tire out after about 17 minutes so if you can last that long, his concentration fades. He got to go to see the Dinosaur exhibit at the zoo with my parents
(Love this face!)
and then had a visit from Grandma Cathy and Pop Pop which included a Globetrotters game. He also filled out a NCAA bracket and is in competition with Colin and me to see who wins (grand prize is choosing dinner take out). Connor picked Florida Gulf Coast (I did too b/c Georgetown always disappoints) so he is off to a good start. He is also really into math. My mom got him started on a computer math program and he has answered more than 2,000 problems since Corben was born (need I remind that was 3 weeks ago). It was Spring Break this week here and I must say that it has been nice having all 3 kiddos but I'm looking forward to a semi-normal week when school starts back (even if only for a few days). Easter is next weekend (which means Caitlin comes really soon!) More photos and Renovation photos soon - promise. . .
Cora and her Corbie

They do have "look at the baby down"
Cora got all her essentials for a picnic - Basket, Baby, Blanket - and Cell phone?  Ha


Just not "Look at Mommy" - I mean really kids?

Cora's newest obsession - ELMO although Minnie Mouse is a close 2nd.