4 Months Old Today

Can't believe my baby is 4 months old. His little personality is really shining through. He LOVES standing, holding his toes, and smiles all the time. Tummy time is no longer torture to him either. We went to go visit his great grandparents this past Saturday (April 23rd) and we watched him roll from his tummy to his back for the first time (later on he repeated this for his daddy). He loves going out to relax with his great grandparents! I know they love it too :o) It's neat to see them smiling at him.


Corban's on somewhat of a "routine" these days. Fortunately, he seems to be an early bird, just like us-so that makes things easy. We go to bed early, and wake up early. It just works. Daddy and I wake up between 5:30 and 6. Corban wakes up about 6, beams at us from the bassinet-and I feed him. He snoozes for about half an hour while I get my breakfast going, and get his bottles for daycare squared away. About 6:20 I pick him up change,cuddle, and play with him until 7 AM. We dance, sing, and feed the dogs. Then at 7 he has a good nursing session and we are out the door at 7:20 for the day. Usually I pick him up at 3:30 and I hang out and visit with the daycare ladies for a while. I enjoy talking to them. They love Corban and hang onto him when I get there. Who can blame them !! (haha) Then, we come home-and have play time/tickle time. We go for walks, and swing in the swing. He takes a catnap, then plays some more. If it's a day when James is home, he walks him around the yard and they babble to one another. Around 6:15, Corban starts becoming sensitive. He is TIRED! He just wants to be held and snuggled. He burrows his face into your arms and chest and rubs his sleepy eyes. I try to get him to stay up until 7 or 7:30, but a lot of the time, he is fed and asleep by about 7:15. He wakes up a couple of times during the night-nurses and falls right back to sleep. Even on the weekends, we try to keep up with the same schedule. We try not to deviate too much- Makes for such a happy boy!

So, this morning I woke up and looked over at him-he was awake and just smiling at me with his big gummy grin. He sleeps all swaddled, so one of the first things we do is to undo the velcro and watch him smile and stretch.
Him ready to go to daycare

After work, Corban had his 4 month appt. He did really well. He got his vaccinations and only cried for a minute. I told the nurse that we like her everyday except on vaccination day. Man, she really jabs him. The doctor said he's looking good. He weighs 14.11 lbs, he is 24.5 inches long and his head measures in a 43 1/2 inches. I asked doc about percentiles and he said he's about 50th for everything except his head! His head has grown 3 inches in the last 2 months!! haha! We all knew that was coming!!

I started this blog on the day he turned 4 months, now it is Saturday a couple of days later. He has had a little bit of fever following the vaccinations, and his appetite wasn't the best at daycare yesterday. I am hoping this all passes quickly.

Last night, I realized I forgot to start an Easter post, so I'm going to put some Easter pics in this blog. His first Easter was fun. I dyed some eggs for us at work. One for Daddy, one for me, and one for Corban. The Easter bunny brought him a basket with goodies for him and his Daddy.

This was his Easter outfit...well, the first one. It didn't last long :o) It will now be his Mother's Day outfit. Here are Father and Son before church

We went to church and Corban took a nap-it was nice to be able to sit through a service. This Easter was really special and different for me, now that I have a son. I just really thought a lot about Mary and what she had to endure watching her son suffer the way he did. I can't imagine. But, she had faith and Jesus went through the pain and humiliation for us-so that we could live and be forgiven. Amazing love. After church, we went to lunch with Dennis and his friend Erin-then we went to Phil and Tessie's for a bit. Finally, we came home and my mom and Stan came over after being in Farmington. Corban got spoiled with Easter basket goodies from both sets of grandparents-and so did Jamie and myself . It was a wonderful day. It's neat to imagine Corban hunting eggs someday, but I'm not rushing it. I love him just the way he is, and cherish every single day. Not in any rush!

First Family Vacation Ruidoso (April 2, 2011)

We took a quick trip up to the mountains of Ruidoso before I had to come back to work on April 5th. Ruidoso holds many special memories for us as a couple, and I know it will for "us" as a family too. James and I used to go up there for Valentine's Day weekend and stay in the cutest little studio cabin. So serene. We also have been camping there many times. Nothing like waking up to the fresh, crisp, air after going to bed by a roaring campfire. Can't wait to go camping with our little boy! One of the best memories we have is of last April when we went to Ruidoso to celebrate Brandon entering the teenage years. I knew there was a jacuzzi up there and I didn't want to risk anything-I knew there was a possibility that I was pregnant. So, on the way up we stopped in Tularosa and before pulling out onto the main road-we saw the best sign ever-the PLUS sign :o) We were thrilled!! Can't believe it's been a year. It's truly a dream come true. I remember thinking last year, "I can't wait until a year from now when our baby is safe in our arms." Such a blessing. My pregnancy was wonderful and so is our Corban. God's timing is perfect.
Okay, back to the trip...we drove up on Saturday morning and Corban slept the entire ride. When we got there we stayed at Hotel Ruidoso just two blocks up from all the shops. It was a great location. We were a little disappointed to have to stay in a hotel, but the cabins for whatever reason were on a 2 night minimum for that weekend. When we first arrived, we put Corban in the ERGO and set out for a nice walk around the shops.

Next we went to our favorite little pizza joint, Cafe Rio. YUM!
After eating Corban took a nap while mommy and daddy enjoyed ice cream from the Sweet Shop.
When we got back to the hotel we changed Corban into his little swim diaper and headed down to the indoor pool. He got in with Daddy and swooshed around the water. Then Daddy and I traded places and I played with C in the water for a bit. He loved it until we had to get out. He is the same with baths now, he loves the water and gets upset when he is has to get out.
That night we three slept like royalty in the king size bed, and the next morning we were up and at 'em bright and early. We didn't stay all day in Ruidoso, just long enough to snap some pics by the stream, and have a little breakfast. It was really windy and kind of chilly. We pretty much blew back to El Paso.
All in all, I'd say our first family trip was a success. I love this !!

THREE MONTHS OLD AlREADY!!!!

Seems like I just wrote his two month blog! This month went by entirely too quickly. Corban is a big boy now. He's staying awake longer during the days and practices "talking" all the time. He has the sweetest little voice and expressive face. We take turns "cooing" and "gooing". He also yells and giggled some last week. It's just incredible how quickly he is progressing. He even puts weight on his legs now. He has adorable little rolls starting on his thighs and I can't help but kiss him all over, all day long.

Jaime and I have been enjoying the spring weather lately. He waters the yard and Corban and I walk around the yard checking out the trees that are beginning to sprout their leaves. The dogs are so good with Corban, and so is Haley. He loves being outside and we spend lots of time with him in the swing out front. Here is a picture of him with Daddy, followed by a family shot at my Mom and Stan's.



Last week we met with his friends Anais, and Kyndal. They are both 2 weeks younger than him. Noah was there too, but had to leave early. The mamas had green chili and ham quiche, cinnamon coffee cake, juice, a dutch pancake, and a fruit pizza. The babies had milk (haha) The babies all fell asleep about 30 seconds after this picture was taken.

Next week I go back to work. I've been so sad about leaving Corban at daycare, but I know I'm blessed to have such a great home daycare for him to attend. The ladies are extremely sweet and they are looking forward to keeping him during the day.They have one other baby who is leaving this week, and they keep telling me that Corban will be the only baby-so he will be the King :o) That's reassuring. We went to a picnic they had for all their children past and present on Saturday. We got to see the children interact with the teachers and they all seemed to truly love them. They even made a shirt for Corban. Here are a couple of pics from that day:


Here are some pictures some older and some more recent of Corban with family. Over the weekend, he got to meet Damon and Paul for the first time. The picture with all the Billstone's is a little older-it's from Mimi and Poppie's first time meeting Corban.











Three Days

Three Weeks

Three Months
Thanks for sharing our JOY with us. Please pray for me as I make the transition back to working mom. As of now, I'm having a hard time fathoming being separated from Corban after we've been together for the last year! Yep, it's been almost exactly a year since we found out we were going to be blessed with this precious guy!

TWO MONTHS!!!

Can hardly believe our beautiful boy is two months old now. He changes almost daily in his abilities. He babbles, coos, and smiles at all his stuffed animals, and the paintings on his walls. Then he "tells" us all about everything too. The sounds melt my heart, as does his very sweet face. Have I mentioned how in love I am before :o)
Today he had his two month appointment. I've been anxious about it for a little while -just because of all the vaccines he was going to be receiving. Yes, I'm one of "those moms". I do not believe in not vaccinating, but I do believe in spacing them out and delaying. When I spoke to this pediatrician before deciding on him, one of my questions for him was how he felt about a delayed vaccination schedule. He was fine with it, and that was just one of the many reasons I chose him. A few more reasons being: he is very conservative as far as dispensing meds, which I'm sure may annoy me someday when Corban is sick and I'm just wanting him well-but in the long run, I'm happy that the doc doesn't jump to meds. He is also very pro breastfeeding, and last but not least- he is very research based. For those that know me, I could LIVE very happily as a full time researcher-it brings me great joy to look things up and learn all about them. I love learning-love school-love research. So, when someone is backing up their findings with valid sources , I just eat that up.

Anyways, as the appointment got closer, I became a little nervous. I prayed about it and when we went today, the doctor was absolutely supportive of our schedule and the fact that I no longer wanted to complete the HEP B series which was regrettably started in the hospital. He was also very pleased with Corban in general. Corban was smiling at the nurses, then fell asleep for the doctor. Most of the exam was done while he was sleeping, then he woke up to get his eyes checked. He is 23 1/4 inches in length and weighs 12.11 lbs. He's a healthy, happy baby. We're so blessed. When the nurse gave him his shots, he was a champ. He cried for about 30 seconds, but as soon as I picked him up, he quieted down and I nursed him for a little bit. While I got him dressed to leave, he was all smiles again. Now, he is fast asleep and has been for a few hours. They told me he may be more fussy than usual for the next couple of days, sore at the injection site, and may possibly run a little fever.

These last couple of weeks, we've been meeting friends with babies at a place called "Baby Cafe" it's really great. It is run by a Lactation Consultant and is for breastfeeding mommies or moms in support of breastfeeding. I've met some really cool moms and am now part of an el paso mommies group. They meet for playdates, coffee, and other things. So much fun. Also, there are a lot of cloth diapering mamas and moms that make their own baby food , which we are hoping to do.


After the appointment, we went to Target and bought some new bottles that my friend Sara suggested. We also have daycare all set up for him, so we feel good about that. He will be going to a wonderful home daycare. The lady that runs it has been doing so for 19 years and has a love of babies. He will be her youngest and she is excited about his arrival in April.

We are really enjoying parenthood, and feel so thankful for God's perfect timing in giving us our son.

Corban at 2 days!

2 Weeks!

2 Months!