update on life..mostly Corbin.

Oh man, I have been so bad at updating the blog...I have been putting it off and then the more I do the more I don't want to because I don't really know where to start. (maybe cause I take way too many pictures I know what to do with) But I know this is important as a journal for us so I have to make myself update..and be better at it. I haven't updated with Corbin since his one year and he is actually 14 months today-just noticed that. So I'll of course start with him..

The older he gets the more goofy and fun he is. He face expressions kill me sometimes and he I think knows he can be funny as well. He is always making funny noises and even gives us tummy blows sometimes...ha! On July 8 was the first time I saw him try and actually walk! Jesse saw him a few days before take a few steps. I tried to make him before but he showed no interest at all and would just sit down. He randomly started doing it by himself. He took some good falls at first but got right back up and was pretty proud of himself. He still doesn't walk all the time but I feel like everyday he does a little more-but he definitely can now and can walk across a whole room just fine. He is still wobbly and unsteady but is slowly getting better! I think he prefers crawling right now still because its faster for him and he doesn't have to take all the falls-he gets frustrated when he falls a lot.

My child definitely loves to eat and some say that he is even a bottomless pit...both Jesse and I might have something to do with why he loves food so much. He loves fruit! His absolute favorites are blueberries and grapes but he will pretty much eat anything. He is really into feeding himself and even now wants to try with the spoon and boy it can get really messy...like take a bath after every time we eat. (or just stick him under the sink for a good rinse off (: ) He loves to be outside and his favorite thing is to ride on his toy car-obsessed with that thing. We go on walks with it around the block whenever its not way too hot. He has a little obsession with shoes as well. I think it might be because he knows we put them on before we go outside? Too bad it gets too hot to be out there during most of the day.

We went through a rough patch there for a while...which seems to be a trend we have. I was tempted to vent about it on here but knew it wouldn't be the best thing and I was hoping it would soon pass haha He just can be hard sometimes. It can be hard being a mom. It can be exhausting and overwhelming. (yes and I only have one kid-but he sure does keep me busy) I felt like it was a little over a month where he was just always needy and not the happiest little boy he could be-which I know some kids just have there days but his were more than not. He was always wanting to be held and could never just play by himself and be content. I was started to feel bad for him...and myself. I started to think that it was just who he is and the way he is. We joke around and sometimes say "Oh life of a baby is so hard" but when I really think about it I guess it can be sometimes. I can tell that Corbin is a smart kid and he definitely knows what he wants and he gets easily frustrated when he can't communicate or do/get what he wants. I have tried the signing with him to see if that would help so he wouldn't get so frustrated but it wasn't going anywhere. ha He is now able to communicate a little better with what he wants and I definitely think it is helping. I also think the fact that two of his big teeth in the back popped through and they were bleeding at times-that could make you not feel very good...and give him reason to act the way he was. Of course we still have bad days and even weeks but I try to have a positive attitude and sadly I have had to set my expectations a little lower. I notice the days I don't expect to get much done go a lot smoother for both of us. :) Some days we have a lot of fun together and he's just by little buddy and sidekick! :) Wouldn't change it!

As far as other updating...well lets be honest..we don't do a whole lot. Jesse works a ton during the summer with his long hours and on his days off we usually either have a list of things to get done (mostly around the house) or we just like to relax together. I feel like most of those days have been filled with trying to get our dang grass to grow green! We have had problems since the snow as melted and now its almost August and our grass is now barely looking green but sadly most of it is just the stupid crab grass. Can you tell we are a little bitter towards the subject. Jesse is actually out fixing the sprinklers as I sit here. He has tried fixing/repairing/replacing them too many times for one summer. I feel bad-all he wants is a nice lawn. You live and learn!

I have been still trying to run with my mom-usually 3 days a week and its about the only time I exercise now. My motivation and energy have been suffering lately. I need another race to get me going again...and I might just sign up for my first half-I need something to help me out here! ha But I enjoy being able to exercise with my mom..even though I don't enjoy the getting up early part but its worth it to spend time with her!

We are slowly trying to get the house sput together..I know we have lived here plenty long enough but I keep putting somethings off because they can wait and I don't want to deal with them. ha! I repainted an entertainment center that took me way too long and we are now getting new couches for the family room so I am hoping to get that room all put together nicely. Finish organizing and decorating slowly.

Well, that's basically our life lately. I know of course I am forgetting the little things and hopefully I will be better updating now!
photo bomb!

He loves to climb in and out of this drawer..it makes me nervous

 

He climbed up on the chair to try to get into the bath tub by himself.

loved his new toy he got--I love garage sales.

Its very rare that I can walk into his room without him waking right up...had to take a picture

playing peek a boo in the crib

playin in the tub..opening and shutting the door

2nd time ever falling asleep eating..

he knew their was food on the oven and begged for it.

feeding himself

he's obsessed with this hat..crawls all over the house just like this.

one of our many walks-loves to run his hands through the weeds.

trampoline place. he actually enjoyed it. 

still loves sunglasses

goofy smile that I had to cut myself out because I looked even more goofy..

brushing his teeth to brushing his hair

 

had to buy him is own hat that fit a little better..

yes, I had to carry him in this because he just wanted to be held all day long. Didn't last long he was too heavy.

wrestling on the ground

forgot why is wasn't too happy

new puzzle he has been playing with alot..another garage sale item. :)

He insisted that I put his shoes on over his jambes

Playin with Daddy's tools.

Jensen Family Pictures

I thought I should post some of the family pictures we took with the Jensens. We went and took them up at an orchard in Fruit Heights. Sadly it was SO windy but being within all those trees it actually ended up being not too bad. We (Jesse, Corbin, and I) were really needing a family picture together..the one I have hanging on my wall is when Corbin was around 2-3 months old I think..which our wedding photographer randomly snapped at a wedding we were at...so it worked out great that the Jensens wanted family photos. much needed update for our wall! :)

Winner Winner!!

Oh my I almost forgot to mention:

 This lovely picture of Corbin with his green smoothie mustache...

WON us this wonderful amazing machine/blender for my mother!!

Blendtec had a contest going on through that I saw through Facebook in which you submit a picture of a smoothie mustache. Their were the top 3 winners which we based strictly on votes and then there was one winner in which the judging panel chose. I actually had already bought myself one and I LOVED it. My mom has been wanting one but has not been able to get one. I thought "Hey, why not try to enter and see if I could win my mom a blender" I knew she would love it. So for the first few days I went and voted and tried to have other people vote (thanks for the few who did-which I think it was just my sister Brooke-so Thank you)...after those first few days the votes for the other photos were ridiculously higher... :( so I kind of gave up on the idea thinking there was no way I could ever get that many votes...just not popular enough here! ha

Shortly after the contest ended I got an e-mail saying something like "congratulation! you are the winner of the judging panel vote!" I didn't know if I could believe it or not. I haven't really won anything before. So I replied back with my address and other info. Weeks went by and nothing. I started to worry it was a fake...then I got paranoid and worried that someone had a picture of my child and now they have my address...ha!

So I decided to call Blendtec and just see if it was really true...The guy first apologize in which I thought "oh great..yeah it was too good to be true.." but he explained that there was an employee change and it got overlooked but that they would send me one right away!

So, happily I can say my mom now has a $460+ blender that she uses everyday and totally deserves! (She drinks some nasty green smoothies sometimes..ha) But really she definitely deserves this and I was so happy I was able to help her get one!

Makes for at least 2 happy girls! :)

This past week or so of vacation and holidays

This past week was one busy and exhausting..but very fun week! and I think it will continue for a few more days...

I am in the Young Womens as a Laurel advisor and we had girls camp last week up in Bear Lake but I was only able to go for a day and a half because we had our family reunion in California. I got up early Wednesday morning and drove some of the girls up to Bear Lake. We stayed in a really nice air conditioned cabin--roughin it for the girls. The first day we were there we mostly unpacked and relaxed and we went to the little town of Paris to see the Tabernacle there. That night we did the skits which are always fun..I had to dress up like a Chinese person and just basically make a fool of myself. That night even though the leaders didn't have to sleep by the young women I ended up still staying up late just chatting. So after going to bed really late I got woken up at 4 am because one of the leaders who is diabetic had a low blood sugar episode..so we were up for about an hour taking care of her. So my night of maybe 3-4 hours of sleep is what started my week of exhaustion. We went to Minnetoka cake in the morning which was awesome..I think caves are so amazing. After that I sadly had to rush home to leave to Cali and I wasn't able to stay with the girls..I even missed the water day there! But I am glad I was able to be there for the little time I was..It would have been hard to be away from Corbin for that long!

So Thursday evening we started our trip to California. My dad rented a couple vans and my sisters and their families and my dad, his girlfriend, and my brother matt all went. We stopped in Vegas around 1am and spent the night and got up and drove the rest of the way. Corbin does not like the car..he hates being in a car seat which makes a road trip a bit difficult especially when I have never met a kid that fights sleep more than he does. I must say I have trained him well so he sleeps in his own bed quite nicely but anywhere else he is not so great at. It took us about 12 hours to get there and he slept for maybe a little over an hour--of the whole 12 hours. Yeah..

Friday night was the start of the family reunion which we meant at a church and had dinner and played games and got to know each other a bit. Corbin mostly played in the nursery-which worked out well I guess. Saturday they had a softball game in the morning that we missed most of because I stayed in the car while Corbin slept...definitely was not going to wake him! He actually fell asleep eating...which was hilarious looking! He has never done that before and I kind of felt bad for him cause that meant he was really exhausted. I wasn't too sad about missing the softball game because it was so hot!! We went swimming in one of the relatives pools and had a BBQ and hung out at there house the rest of the day. It actually overall was a good family reunion..you know how they have a bad rap..

( I didn't bring my camera, so my phone was all I had to take pictures with the whole time)

cooking in the nursery

when he fell asleep eating

swimming at the reunion and releasing balloons

My Dad and uncles

Sunday we went to church and meant some of our extended family at the San Clemente beach...where my mom used to take us when we were young. And funny thing a few of us got pooped on by a bird..it was nasty! Brown spots all over me..but thankfully we could laugh about it even though it had quite the unpleasant smell...and I was still in my church clothes because we were planning on going back to church for one of Candace's friends farewell.. it was coincidently the same week we were there.

Yes, I take a picture basically anytime my child is sleeping..because its a miracle. ha

These two enjoy playing with each other!

Monday we went to Huntington beach and hung out there most the day. Corbin enjoyed the beach for the most part just playing in the sand most of the time. I would take him to the water and play in the waves but he made sure I was holding on to him real tight the whole time. And you gotta love changing a poopy swim diaper with a kid covered in wet sand...after attempting to clean him the best I could I went and did a final rinse in the ocean. (He pooped quite a few times in his swim suit and made not only his swimsuit stink but many other things stink) Finally he was once again so exhausted by the afternoon I was able to lay him down to take a nap on the beach. I thought he looks so cute just sleeping there...but anytime he takes a nap not in his bed its usually no more than 30 minutes. That evening we went and ate dinner, got some gelato, then walked the pier! So pretty!

bad pictures..sad that pictures never show how beautiful it really was..especially phone pictures..

Tuesday the plans were to drive all the way home. Tuesday was my birthday and I was not going to spend it driving 12+ hours in the car so I booked a flight home with Corbin. Even though he fought sleep on the plane and had a little screaming episode, it was much better than spending my birthday in the car. We had to wake up at 5:30am (4:30 utah time) to get to our plane by 7. We were able to meet Jesse for a brunch which was way nice to see him after our 6 days away from each other! After Corbin and I came home and crashed..but he only slept for about 40 minutes. I was still so exhausted I knew I had to lay down at least for a while...so I grabbed my pillow and took Corbin out of his crib and just laid there on his bedroom floor half alive. He sat there and crawled all over me, pulling my hair and poking at my eyes like "come on mom!" I honestly could not do a thing and thankfully he gave up and fell asleep on the floor next to me..even though he stole my pillow. Not the best nap for me but I wasn't going to complain..at least he fell back asleep!

Corbin pooped right as we got on the plane..this was the changing table right above the toilet..basically his head fit on it..

I looked the same exhausted laying on the floor

Jesse had to work late so he didn't get home till around 8:30 but then we were able to go out to dinner and get sushi! It was half off on Tuesdays..and I thought "That's great, we wont spend as much on sushi" (since it can get pricey) but Jesse thoughts were "That's great, now we can get twice as much sushi!!" I liked Jesse's thinking!!  :) so we got A LOT of sushi! And it was delightful. (besides the TNT--my mouth was on fire) Then we topped it off with some ice cream from Cold Stone. :) 

Jesse is always so good about making me feel special! He knows I love boating so he planned a little boating trip on Wednesday for me with his family! So we spent the morning at Pineview enjoying the Lake! ( I was even able to get Corbin to take a little nap on the beach again) 

sleeping on Megan in the boat

We came home and took a great nap, went to a little BBQ at our friends, then Jesse surprised me with being able to get tickets to the Real soccer game! We had a great date night just the two of us and even enjoyed the firework show after the game! feeling patriotic with the music blaring! :)

For the 4th of July we actually didn't do anything too exciting but it was perfect for us for now. I woke up and went and ran the 5k with my mom and sister Courtney. My mom and Courtney both placed 1st in their division and ran it in 25 minutes or so. My division was 18-24 so I had the fast girls...ha! I was actually the 5th girl overall it said though. I ran it in 22:55. I am pretty sure that is the fastest I have ran that race which I pushed myself and I am happy about.

After the race I came home to Corbin and Jesse in the shower together...it was the cutest thing to walk into..wish I could have taken a picture....haha! Corbin enjoys taking showers now and pretty much insists on getting in and playing in the water. We put Corbin down for a nap and took a nap ourselves-which was much needed for me. We went and meant my mom and sister Brooke over at the splash pad for a bit-which was during the parade so there was like 3 other people there which was great. We went out to lunch with our friends Kirk and Ashley and I came back and put Corbin down for a nap and Jesse went to the movies with them. We went over to my moms house after and played games and had a BBQ. We hung out with Jesse's parent that night and did a few fireworks then came home before the good big ones started and laid in bed and listen to them..ha I know we are lame. But since we saw a good firework show at the game we weren't too disappointed we missed out.

these were the best pictures I could try to get of his lovely 4th of july outfit. I decided to stick with the goofy themed clothes for the 4th.

Whats the 4th without some watermelon. yum.

enjoying the fireworks.

now its time to slow down and get some things done around the house and just relax for a bit...if that possible with a teething boy now....