Corban is 4 Months

Corban was 4 months old today so we celebrated by going to the pediatrician and getting some shots.  He weighed 15 lb 1 oz (55th percentile), his head circumference was 16.75 inches (59th percentile) and he was 26.75 inches long (95th percentile).  He's so tall!

Corban is such a happy baby.  He likes to smile and "talk" and he's usually the most vocal when Gabriel is taking a nap and the house it quiet.  He likes his hands, drooling, his play mat, his black and white plastic ring, the little stuffed "Jeremy Fisher" crinkle toy, and doing tummy time riding up in the air on our legs.  When he gets fussy he prefers his swing to being rocked.  He sleeps from 6:30 pm until about 7:30 am with a night feeding about 10 pm.  He has no real schedule during the day but he usually naps about 4 times.  He's becoming more predictable and that sure is nice. We even went out twice last week (once for my birthday and once to a ballet performance) and a babysitter put him to bed with no problem.

Tummy time!

A friend at church took this picture when he was asleep in the baby carrier one morning.  He was holding onto my sweater the entire time he slept 

Chilling in the bouncer

Learning to sit up

These boys certainly keep us busy around here but they sure are a joy.  When I was taking Corban to the doctor this morning Gabriel said "Mommy, I will be so happy when you get home!"  Gabriel has turned into such a little boy these past few months.  He lives in his world of pretending, running and jumping, listening to music, reading books, and begging for movies.  He has loved getting ready for Christmas this year with the new movies and music (this years favorite is again Angels We Have Heard on High with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Away in a Manger coming in next), and opening up his daily paper stocking with a Christmas activity (things like drinking hot chocolate, watching Christmas movies, driving through a live nativity, camping by the Christmas tree, shopping for Angel Tree, making crafts and cookies, and shopping for the food pantry).  He is certainly at a challenging age with daily tantrums, whining, and defiance but we're making it and learning along the way.

Playing with Gabriel.  Gabriel has his moments when he's not nice to Corban, but overall he's a very helpful and concerned big brother.  He likes to hug and kiss him, read books with him, and he even pulls down the shade on the carseat when they are riding in the back and sun is in Corban's eyes.

3 Year Old In The House

We now are living with a 3 year old and a 3 month old around here.  Since I'm such an awesome mom I accidentally scheduled Gabriel's pediatrician visit for the morning of his birthday, so after his breakfast of bacon, oranges, and biscuits with honey (his favorite breakfast things) we went for his well child appointment.  He didn't need any immunizations and I think he actually had fun going.  He liked getting his eyes checked and he was talking the doctor's ear off. His weight is in the 55th percentile and his height is the 38th percentile.  After his appointment we let him use a giftcard that he had to pick out a toy at the toy store (he chose some pretend food for his kitchen).  He then wanted to eat lunch at Waffle House (more bacon).  He is currently napping.  When he wakes up he requested to paint with his new paint supplies and then he asked for corn dogs for dinner (we're being super healthy around here today).

Batman sighting at the Children't Museum

We're still all about pretending.  The other day we were playing with ink and stamps.  He decided that the ink pad needed to talk to the stamp.  The conversation went like this:

Hi Ink!

Hi Stamp!

You wanna dance?

OK!

The ink pad and stamp proceeded to dance together.  So random and funny.  We are always pretending to be something around here.  Pixar characters, Kung Fu Panda characters, random animals, pretending with various stuffed animals, making food in his kitchen, etc.  His poor Jessie doll.  He makes her into any character he can think of (and then gets annoyed if we forget that she's not Jessie that day).

Playing the cello in the church nursery

Making cookies with Gammer

Cookie Decorating

His birthday party was actually this past Saturday.  This the first year that he's had an official party with other kids invited.  We thought that he needed something special with all of the transition that he's had the past few months.  He sure did look forward to his party.  He's been asking about it for weeks.  Of course we had it at one of his favorite places, Romp and Roll.  He got to pick two activities (they had a fake snowball fight and played with musical instruments) and also got to use the moon-bounce and inflatable slide.  He had so much fun.  He just ran and ran the whole time it seemed, bouncing from one thing to the next.  And then he of course got cupcakes.  He had such a good time!

And here are a few pictures of him opening presents.  He now has his very own little chair, which he is loving.  Just the right size for him to curl up and watch TV or read:

Lightening McQueen CD player!  He was introducing the "Mommy" Lightening McQueen to the "Baby" Lightening McQueens.  

I can't believe that this energetic, TALKATIVE, funny boy is three years old today.  Happy Birthday Gabriel!

Late addition to the above post: when Gabriel went to bed the night of his birthday the song he wanted before bed was "Happy Birthday." Also, toward the end of the day I had said "Happy Birthday" to him so many times that he started saying "Happy Birthday!" back to me when I said it to him.  Funny boy.

Corban is 3 Months!

Time flies.  Little Corban is 3 months old already.  He is frequently smiling, occasionally laughing, and a very happy baby most of the time (he laughed the first time while I was making his arms dance around while changing his diaper). He cries when he's hungry, when he's tired, and when he gets double ear infections.  Poor little dude.  He had actually slept through the night for about 8 nights in a row when a cold that his brother shared turned into some nasty ear problems.  A night of screaming led to a pediatrician visit and our first round of antibiotics.  Thankfully he is doing much better, but being sick certainly broke the "sleeping all night" thing we had going on.  It was nice while it lasted.

You know I'll never smile for a picture when you want me to

Sad little guy when he was feeling sick

When we went to the doctor for his sick visit he weighed 13 lb 8 oz.  This little dude sure has some rolls.  There is an especially troublesome one on his neck.  We give him a bath almost every day but there is still fuzz and milk dried in there sometimes.  He is starting to grow out of his 3 month clothes too.

Still love the play mat!

I'm assuming that this came from watching some Veggie Tales at church, but Gabriel frequently refers to Corban as "Baby Cucumber."  The other day I said "I think it's time for Corban to take a nap," to which Gabriel replied, "No! It's time for the baby cucumber to take a nap!"

I hate tummy time but if you do it this way I get tricked into having fun!

Corban is also mastering the art of sucking his thumb.  I heard him wake up the other night and he was a little bit fussy but I soon heard the sound of him sucking on his thumb and he went right back to sleep.  Hooray for being able to self sooth.  Although if we're in the car and Corban starts crying Gabriel will often put one of his own fingers in Corban's mouth and proudly state "I got Corban to stop crying!"

Corban and I took a very brief roadtrip to celebrate a friend's wedding and to meet his new cousin!  It was kinda tiring but so worth it:

And here are a few more pictures because I can never narrow it down and choose just a few:

If I focus really hard I can sometimes get this thing in my mouth

This guy is funny

Fall Fun

We have been doing lots of fall things around here lately, so here are some pictures (something weird happened with the picture formatting, but I lack the motivation to fix it)

Gabriel's pumpkins - Mike and Sulley

                                                              Rompy's Halloween Party:

When I told him that we were going to Romp and Roll for a party he
immediately thought that it was for his birthday.  Just a few more weeks buddy.

Rolling balls down the slide.  He pretends that they are penguin eggs (from the movie Penguins).

IHOP

Scary faced pancakes at IHOP (which consisted of me putting cookies on it, then Gabriel taking them off and eating them after finishing eating all of his candy corns.  That kid ate candy and bacon for breakfast.  I'm the best mom ever)

 Sinkland Farm:

                              What happens when I try to get a picture with my crazy toddler:

Let me go!

I'm a noodle

Well fine, if you want me to be a monster I'll participate

                                                             Gruffalo Party at the library




                                                               Darth Vader in full costume

Don't scare me! I poop easily.

And a few other random pictures.  He had a nice visit with Uncle Aaron and Aunt Tiffany!  Gabriel wants to fly a plane like his uncle and loves his new hat and airport play set:

As much of a challenge as Gabriel has been lately, his pretend play is really fun to be a part of.  Tonight he went in the kitchen and found, according him, a baby snake.  It was actually a balled up paper towel.  He then decided that he needed to find the baby snake’s mommy.  I was holding the lid to a butter tub and asked him if that was the mommy (totally thinking he’d laugh at me and say “no mommy!”)  Instead he decided that the lid was, in fact, the mommy snake.  He took the mommy snake in the bathtub with him and washed her.  She read bedtime stories with us.  She is currently sleeping in his bed with him.  I even had to kiss her goodnight.  I hope that Gabriel and the butter lid have a restful night