July?!?!!

Is tomorrow really July? Uh what happened to June? Our summer is off to a bang! And there is no looking back. The busyness has begun! We don't waste time around here. These pictures are out of order but I had to go with the cutest first and finish with the least cute.

As you saw in the video, Corbin was "playing" and tricking us the other day. It was one of the first times that he has humored us. It was pretty cute. He has been so much fun lately. He is just off exploring the world now that he can walk. And he is communicating with us so much. It's so cool. I need to get some more of his signs on video. When we ask him what a dog says he woofs. When we ask what Gryffin says, he signs the word for cat. He can now ask to eat or drink. His latest funny sign is fish where he also does this super cute fish sound with his lips as well as the sign.

We went down to Bainbridge for the the annual Rotary Auction this weekend. Good stuff cheap. And then off to Vashon for some beach cabin time. Now we are home for less than 2 weeks before Hawaii!

No Corbin does not have the chicken pox. He just though the sand was too cool to not splatter all over himself :-)

Eating grapes with dad.

One of the new camping chairs we picked up at the auction. He has one for a friend too. It was also one of 6 baby chairs I seemed to have thought we needed. Some where only a $1 how could I pass that up?

The Corbin Beach Cabin. Literally. On Vashon Island, south of Bainbridge. Adam's parents are renting it for half of the summer, every other week, with another family. Of course Meghan did a great blog about it too, so if you want even more pics check it out.

Brindzi was in heaven. There was water she could access any time she wanted (one she figured out not to drink the salt water), tons of sticks, and being outside the whole time!

Looking out at Mt. Rainer to the South East.

Playing "I'm gonna get you" with uncle Kevin.

Now back to Bainbridge...Or first stop, Bainbridge.

Our Rotary Auction loot; 2 plastic outside chairs= $1 each, a small table and chair set= $15, a medium sized cooler, toy storage bins and shelf, and two small camping chairs all =$20, 3 baskets =$1, a hose roller= $6, a bag of baby clothes, about 10 books, a toy zylaphone piano thingy, and toy car all =$12. Pretty great deal!

Oh and we are painting our kitchen! It has needed a face lift for a while and since we don't have the money to remodel it fully, it gets a new color, cleans up the dirty cabinets, and maybe even some new nobs. I just haven't figured out what color the cabinets are going to be... I am thinking Orange. But it will be BOLD! I am not sure if I should go with two shades of orange- one for the back of the cabinets and one for the doors. Or just orange doors and a neutral color. Or what to do with the wainscoating... I do know the green though! And there is still a lot of prep to get the cabinets ready to be painted. They need to be washed, then the top ones have oil paint on them so we need to prime them first... oh and we have a walking sometimes one nap taking baby!

Our local home grown meal! Local beef roast, our first zucchini of the year with chard and then shallots and garlic from last year! Yum!

Birthday Bash

We celebrated Corbin's first birthday on Sat. with friends and family! It was a PARTY! More for us than for him but I think we all had fun!

Adam made some excellent carrot cake and wacky cake and I frosted them. I must say I was quite proud of myself :-) We even had party favors, thanks to Tara. Tara and I made choc. chip banana muffins for our little monkey and put them in the cute bags that Tara got. Color coordinated of course too.

Everyone was beyond generous with their gifts. Corbin got some great gifts! And our friends and family know us well and everything was very Corbin friendly and awesome!

And then we ate the cake! Yum! Corbin LOVED it!

So did Edie.

Thanks everyone for coming and bringing yummy food and partying it up in Corbin's honor! And thanks for all the great gifts too. Meghan of course took some great pictures too. So check them out here.

We celebrated father's day with both of our dads. It was nice to be with them all. Corbin also had some fun with balloons and baskets the following day.

And Grandpa Bert made him a sandbox to play in!

We filled it up with sand from Jill and Paul's sand pit last night. We went out first thing this morning to check it out but it only last a few minutes because it started to poor. But we got some good playing in! He is going to love it! Thanks Grandpa! And to the people who got him awesome sand toys too :-)

Monkeys Monkeys everywhere!

We headed down to the zoo in Seattle for Corbin's birthday! Grandma Susan made him a cute little badge to wear on his hat!

He was ready to GO! Let's go see those Monkeys!!!

Not only did we meet Aunt Meghan and Uncle Kevin and Grandma Susan and Nikki down there but a bunch of Corbin's buddies from Bham came down for some zoo fun too! Here is Jack eating some of the yummy zoo droppings that were everywhere. Mmmm...good.

For some of the babies, the wood chips, grass, people, and reflections were way cooler than the animals. Oh well. Corbin did seem to really like watching the animals though. If you could get him distracted from walking that is.

Here is the whole group of Bham mama's and babes!

It was also Adam's first day of summer break! Yahoo, he's home for the whole summer!

What is that monkey doing?

Flamingos are crazy birds. Wow!

And of course Corbin wanted to walk everywhere. No stroller for this guy. And no holding his hand either. He wants to do it all by himslef! He probably walked half of the zoo. He was TIRED! But a super trooper as well. It was his birthday after all!

Thanks everyone for a fun day! Next up, the actual party!! Where's the cake?

Happy 1st Birthday Corbin Dean!

Garden of plenty

Our harvest last night.

This weekend grandpa Mark took Corbin to pick some Salmon berries. At first he wouldn't take them off the bush. Then he got the idea. Now he knows. We picked some of our strawberries the other day. He LOVED it! He wanted to pick them all, even the green ones. I think he might turn red soon.

Watch Out!

Corbin went to full walking this weekend. Watch out!

Imitations

Corbin has been making some awesome sounds lately! And practicing his walking skills all the time.

Of course we can never get on video what we want...but Corbin has been saying "mmmmm" after he eats somthing yummy. And then "Aaaahhh" after taking drink of water. It's sooo cute!

heat + babies = kiddie pools

It's been hot this past week. And hot for Bham, in the 80's! So we had to go out and get some pools and have some play dates. Corbin needs a little more time in the water I think. All he wants to do is stand. He won't sit down. He's so funny. He has been talking lots more steps. We keep trying to get it on video. So here is one that isn't too bad. He is probably 1/4 walking and 3/4 crawling. But each day he walks more and more!

And he got a new molar that I noticed yesterday! So last week was probably due to the molar situation. He is working on two more. Soon he will be a champion chewer!

A couple of steps from Corbin.

Brody, Luca, and Jack hung out in the pool. Corbin stood. Corbin aka "REI gangsta"

Look mama, I've got your sunglasses :-)

I am soo cool with these glasses on upside down!

All Corbin wanted to do was stand in the water. Meanwhile, Alden went from one pool to the next and back again.

Becky and Brody chillin in the hammock.

Even Adam had to get in on the kiddie pool action. He needed a little cool down after his ride home from school.

Who said parenting was easy?

Challenges.

No.
More.
Mobility.
Sleeping.
Food.
Sitting in High Chair.
Teeth.
Nursing.

Those a list of challenges right now. I know parenting isn't easy. Not that is has been so far but now we are getting into some more parenting decisions. And I don't have the answers. Signing is turning out to be a blessing and a curse. Now that Corbin knows how to sign, he can tell me some of what he wants. But then I know what he wants and have to say no. Or give in. He signs more and then points. No you can't have my cereal or coffee or the pen. You can have your cereal, a banana, some juice, a toy. NO says Corbin. I WANT THAT. POINT. CRY. I don't want to sit in my high chair to eat. I will cry and spit out food until I get out. Then when I am out. I want more food. No Corbin you have to sit in your high chair. NO. CRY. Then he doesn't eat. Do his teeth hurt? His other molars are coming in. Does he want something else to eat? Do I offer him other food? Ok. No breakfast. Do you want to play? NO. I want to sit on your lap and cry. Then he pulls at my shirt and signs NURSE. He is tired. We go upstairs. He cries getting his diaper changed. He won't let me set him down. He signs NURSE. He didn't used to need to be nursed down to sleep for a nap. But in NC, I nursed him because we were in a different place. Is that why he wants to nurse? Or is he hungry because he isn't eating breakfast? Or is he just excited he knows he can ask for something? So I nurse him. He falls asleep. He is so cute when he sleeps. He pulls blue softy close and the blanket my mom wove. And is asleep before I leave the room.

NO. It's my weakness. I use it too much. I need to use something else. I know this. I can remember when we got Brindzi and I kept saying NO over and over to try to get her to not do something. Adam asked if I was going to say NO all the time to our kid. Hmmm. I am working on it.

Am I building bad habits if I give in now? What can I give in on and what do I need to stay firm on? I need some discipline help.

We took him to the Sounders game again on Sat. night. It was not fun for me. He didn't want to be in the pack with Adam. He wanted me. He didn't want to be held. He wanted to walk. Where, on the stadium seats. On the hard concrete. Where I couldn't watch the game. He didn't want to hang out with Grandma or Aunt Meghan. He just wanted me. Down low. You can't see down low. He didn't want to fall asleep. Which was ok. But I still tried. I know we can't do the same things we used to be able to do. It's just an adjustment. I don't know if he will be going to any more Sounders game. Which means less games for either Adam or myself.

He is waking up at 6amish. But is then sooo tired. It could be his teeth. It could be the light. It could be that he likes to wake up then. But then he is cranky. Then I am cranky. Bedtime has been later because it's so nice and light out. I want to move it to 8pm... but then he wakes up so early. Is he getting enough sleep?

I LOVE him SO much. And for the most part he is not challenging. I think I am just having a challenging week. Thanks for letting me vent.