Christmas in July

We headed out to Spokane this last weekend for the wedding of Rowan and Kristina. It was Corbin's first trip, and he was fantastic. We went down to Bainbridge on Thursday, and he slept the whole way to the ferry. Perfect. On Friday we took the 7:05 ferry and he slept from Coleman Dock in Seattle to almost Moses Lake. More perfect.

He was well-behaved and popular throughout the weekend, and Grandma was a great help. By the end of the trip, though, he was certainly tired of his car seat, and we had to stop several times on the drive home to Bainbridge.

Whew! And we head down south again this weekend for yet another wedding! Should be a fun time!

Corbin enjoys the luxurious Davenport Hotel. Which is pretty much the fanciest hotel we've ever stayed in. Very nice.

Erin and Corbin check out the historic, ornate lobby. Wow. Four ballrooms in this hotel.

All tuxed out.

The happy couple. Looking fabulous.

Grandma and Corby dance the night away. He had so much fun on the wedding night that he slept for seven hours! His all-time record!

Kristina's grandpa restored old Model A and T Fords as a hobby. This one is a Model A (or a B, based on the engine or something). Rowan and Kristina rode in it from the cathedral to the reception.

Fun weekend! Yow!

Corbin's tree

We finally got around to getting a tree to plant over Corbin's placenta, which had been chillin' in the freezer for a month plus. We headed to Cloud Mountain Farm and picked up a Lapins cherry. This was recommended as a good cherry to have if you only have one tree, which is the case for us. It's a sweet cherry, so it's for munching, not pie.

We planted it outside the fence, so I made a cage for it to hopefully protect it from the deer until it gets taller.

Corb helps me water. Sort of.

Hard to see in front of those lilies, but it's there, I swear!

5 weeks

I keep meaning to write a post every day. That way I can post a few pictures from that day and not have to take too much time to write everything... but that hasn't happened. Oh well. Here are a few shots from the last few days.

Here he is with Grandpa! He looks pretty content in grandpa's arms :-)

His first Raspberry picking adventure. Little does he know that he will have to do this every summer, with strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries!

But he knows how to get out of it pretty good. "Mom, I am HUNGRY!" So we found a spot in the shade/sun with a view of Mt. Baker and had some lunch.

Yesterday we made two trips to town. Once to have coffee with Tara but then he got really hungry right as were leaving so I didn't want to risk a Co-op trip or do another feeding in the car. So we went home. Then we ventured downtown again to go to the Co-op and the card store and saw Tara and Jeff! Tara just can't get enough of him either.

This is his new "crack mobile" Brody recommended it and named it such. Corbin is just now getting the hang of it.

And here is is today. Five weeks old. Looking cute as ever on dad's legs. He and dad are now tired from a not quite as successful bottle feeding. I will go rescue them both.

A movie for us, and a movie for you

We've written about Corbin's first outing. Now it's our turn.

The Hinkley grandparents came up for the weekend. It was our anniversary Saturday, so we thought we'd leave Corb with them and try to see a movie.

Well, Erin made it to the car before she started crying and wondering if we were bad parents. She got over it, though. Well, enough that we could go to the movie, anyway. We saw WALL•E, and went for ice cream afterward. But we were ready to see Corbin again by the end of the night. Actually, we were ready to see him again immediately after leaving him, but...we had a movie to see. He was great for his grandparents (they "worked through" a few fussy times), and was sleeping when we got back.

Who knows how many more movies we'll get to see this summer. But it was nice this once.

Here's a movie for you, too.

Firsts

He smiled at me for real yesterday!

He screamed in the store today and there was nothing I could do. He goes from quiet to screaming if he is hungry. There is no in between.

He is making cooing sounds!

He is the best ever!

Blogger is being slow. So no pictures today.

One month old!

Sleeping baby! That is what he is doing right now. But is in the swing right now. So this might be a short post. But I wanted to get on and do an update since last week! He is a month old. I can't believe it. I have had him for a month. What a fast and crazy month it has been. Wow! But we are figuring it all out. Or at least until it changes again. He has no real routine at all. We eat when he's hungry, he sleeps when he is tired, and he is awake and alert some of the time. But he is changing daily. I might have gotten a real smile this morning. He definitely looks me in the eye now. I can hold his gaze for a while. He is slowly starting to see more than a few inches away.

We have been out and about a lot this week. I have even taken two trips without him and one with only him, no Adam. I had to go and buy dresses for the upcoming weddings, so I braved the mall without him and left him at home with a bottle of breast milk for daddy to feed him. Adam has been doing some feedings, a couple a week with the bottle, just to get him used to it once in a while. He seems to do fine with it! Pumping is a very strange thing. It's very weird to put a machine to your breast and then watch your nipple be sucked in and out with milk squirting out. I still am in awe of it. You can see the milk go from the front milk, which is mostly sugar, to the hind milk which has all the fat and calories. You see the squirts. I know its the same thing that happens in his mouth, but it's weird to see it. And weird to be hooked up to a machine pumping. Just strange. I have talked and thought more about nipples and breast in this last few months than I ever have. Breast feeding is an amazing and wonderful thing, but its also REALLY hard and has some strange components to it. I can see why so many people give up on it. I have a friend who is struggling with it now, having just given birth to her daughter through a C-Section. Milk not coming in, babies getting hungry, your nipples getting cracked, sore, swollen, and then once your milk comes in being engorged, and your milk letting down. It's all very strange and sometimes very painful. But it's the perfect food that we produce for our little babies! It's amazing that we produce food that is made just for them! But it takes a while to get used to.

Other than that, we are getting along just fine! Next week is a big week. We head to Spokane for Rowan and KK's wedding. His first road trip. But until then, we are just hanging out.

He seems to spend lots of time on Daddy's lap. It's a good place!

It's fun to see his facial expressions. I hope I caught some on video. I will have Adam help me post some of the ones I took (I don't know how to do it yet). I am trying to capture some of his super funny faces!

All swaddled up and ready to sleep!

Nikki and Mark came for a visit! He was a bit fussy. He seems to be pretty fussy from about 6-9 pm unless he has gotten a really good nap in the afternoon. He seemed pretty content with Mark though :-)

And, we went to our first baseball game! We invited Oliver, Jen, Bjorn, Becky, Kevin, and Brody all to join us on the lawn for a Bellingham Bells game. They came from behind to win in the bottom of the 9th!

And here is one of his funny faces! Ha!

Wow, I made it through a whole post! He is still sleeping! He will be hungry when he wakes up though! Good thing I got food :-)

Getting into the "Swing" of things

I am finally feeling like I am getting into the "swing" of things lately. I have been up and around and about. I actually helped and did the dishes and helped with dinner! Corbin has been sleeping pretty well lately, with some 4 to 5 hour stretches, which allows me to sleep that long too, making it so I don't need as many naps :-) The lactation specialist made another home visit and helped with his latch. It's amazing how a small change in latch can make my nipples that much happier ;-) and me happier :-) We have been out in the garden, picking flowers, swinging in the hammock, and doing some outings. My aunt Connie and cousin Mary are here visiting before they go down to see my mom and grandpa. So we feel like life is good! Summer is here! We are doing great!

Corbin gets some great hair after he nurses! Here he's got the "wings" (with a little help from daddy!).

I put Corbin in the Becco and we did some flower picking and directing of weed pulling. Then we decided to take a time out in the hammock. Swinging away!

This felt like one of our first "REAL" summer meals. An Eating Well meal! Blueberry burgers, our own Swiss Rainbow Chard, and some roasted potatoes! Yum!

Our garden is starting to really produce yummy veggies! When we go to the market, we already have almost all the things they are sellling; broccoli, artichokes, strawberries, sugar snap peas, greens, garlic, and soon zucchini! We will be eating zucchini every night soon.

We went on a good outing yesterday to Fairhaven. He slept the whole time. We used the stroller for the first time around and about. He falls asleep instantly as soon as it starts moving. He started to stir after we ate lunch, but then fell asleep again on my sholder. We also did our 2nd nursing in public at Village Books. The "Hooter Hider" is a great thing! Although I am not good without my "Boppy" pillow. I still haven't figured out how to get really comfy yet. Oh well.

We also purchaced the magic swing! He seems to love it! Although it puts him into a transe, he doens't really seem to fully fall asleep in it. But it does keep him content so we can eat dinner or breakfast!

Yay! Swinging away!

The "I am sleepy" look but don't really want to fall asleep.

Here he is with his Great Aunt Connie and his cousin Mary.

Today The other day on "Cooking with Corbin"

Erin put all this into one picture and one caption. She didn't know I was planning this post. I'm going to write it anyway. And even use the same picture.

Corbin and I have been doing a lot of cooking these days. Basically, the routine is as follows:

1. Corbin wakes up sometime between 5 AM and 8 AM. Today it was closer to 8, thankfully. Because I ate way too much pizza last night.
2. Corbin has his breakfast.
3. I put Corbin in the sling and head downstairs. He usually falls asleep pretty quickly in the sling.
4. Corbin and I putter. Or tidy. Or watch the Tour de France like we did today. I can't quite do the dishes with him in the sling. I'm too far away from the sink.
5. Erin wakes up.
6. Corbin and I make Erin breakfast. Waffles or eggs or pancakes or whatever Erin wants. We're helpful that way.

The other day, though, we revised #4 into "Corbin and I make Garlic Scape Pesto."

I've never really made anything with our curly garlic tops, though I knew that we could. We've chopped them up for flavor before, but that only uses one or two. We have forty. What to do with forty garlic scapes? Hello Google! I found several recipes for Garlic Scape Pesto. This is the one I used, which has walnuts instead of pine nuts. I think I used some saltier parm, because the final product is borderline too salty. I'll reduce the salt next time, which will be one year from now, as I've used all our scapes.

Anyway. We used some of the pesto for pizza sauce last night at Julie and Jerry's, and it was excellent. You didn't even notice the saltiness, really. It has a pretty strong garlic flavor, but without the garlic zap. Tasty. And we've got three ice cube trays' worth in the freezer. Hoo-ray.

Big Boy

I am finding a few minutes to do a blog. It's amazing how my whole day can be taken up and I haven't really done anything...well no, I have done a lot. I have fed Corbin, burped Corbin, changed his diaper, watched him fall asleep, watched him sleep, took a shower, ate some food, maybe given him a bath, and then done it all over again. It's wonderful. I just am not used to not being able to do the other things that you feel like you should be able to do when you are home all day. Adam has been amazing and has done A TON on top of helping and being with Corbin. We are just adapting to a different pace :-)

There have been some big changes this week though! Its amazing how much they change within a week.

Grandma and Grandpa Shaffer came to visit along with Kevin and Meghan last weekend.

It was grandpa's first visit with Corbin.

Corbin has been loving his changing table. For some reason he likes to just lie there and look around.

He also loves to sleep. I love to watch him sleep. When will I get tired of it?

He had his first REAL bath, it wasn't his most favorite thing though. I hope it gets better. Good thing they don't get too dirty :-)

Corbin and Daddy made some Garlic Scape Pesto. Daddy has been "wearing" Corbin around in our new sling. They make me breakfast and bring it to me in bed. They are wonderful!

Corbin checked out his dangly gym like thing for the first time today. He is finally looking around and checking things out, besides our faces.

He is also starting to stretch out and not be in the fetal position all the time. His legs actually are lying flat, at times! It's so cool to see him changing! The other night he was moving his legs around like he was running a marathon. Getting those muscles ready for bigger and better things! Oh and he has a new cute "boy" outfit on. But of course it came off shortly after it went on because his "natural" diapers leaked. Oh well, it's a little cold for shorts today anyway.

We also go the go ahead to try the pacifier. Winni, our midwife, stopped by last night. He loves to suck but can't find his fingers and my nipples needed a rest, along with our fingers. He seems to really like it!

And here we are (a little cleavege shot, Cobin's food source)! Corbin also has been growing and gaining weight like crazy! He was weighed last night. He is a little chunker and eating plenty. He now weighs 8 lbs 12 oz. Just last week he only weighed 8 lbs 4 oz. Wow, he is getting lots of good food. As you can see!

Happy 4th of July!