We got a fur kid

As most of you know I have always been an animal lover but it has been some time since I have had any and Loran as well. I think we both acknowledged the big responsibility that a pet would be and the fact that Corbin is still pretty little. That being said we still enjoy visiting pet stores, zoos, and other places where we are able to interact with the animals so Corbin is able to enjoy them and be familiar with them. Well a local friend of ours told us about an animal shelter that allows you to visit the animals even if you are not adopting. We had a free morning and decided to take a trip to the shelter. We made
our way in to check out all the dogs and after a few kennels we came across 'Dozer' a 2 month old red nose pittbull with the most adorable little ears that perked up like a bunny rabbit. I was in love instantly! We took him out to play with him and I fell in love even more. He was so calm and laid back, Corbin just loved him and the played so well together. After discussion with the husband he decided that if our landlord gave us the go ahead that we would take him. Well.... TADA! We added one more member, a fur member, to our family. We decided to change his name to Loki and we are so very pleased with out decision. He has been such a good puppy so far and we are so happy that we were able to give this little guy a furever home and have a lasting relationship for Corbin!

Best buddies already

Enjoying a nice afternoon at the beach

Silly boys

Sea World!!

Today was the day we went to Sea World and I must say I am not sure which one of us was more excited to be there. We got there early to beat the crowd and I sure am glad we did that. Our first stop was the Dolphin and Bird show and it was so awesome! Corbin has never sat still for so long, he was just so amazed by what was going on as was I. It was an emotional day for me as a parent to be able room provide my child with that experience and memory, something that I as a child never had the chance to do. That being said I am so very thankful and grateful for my husband for providing for us as a family and helping me provide these experiences for our family. I am glad that Corbin  had this chance and although he may not remember today, I have plenty of pictures to remind him of it!

Waiting for the dolphin show to start

Someone had too much excitement for one day

Holiday vacation

So this year for the holidays we are taking a mini vacation down to Florida to visit with Corbin's Great Grandma and Great Uncle and to also go and visit...... Sea World!!! I have never been there before so I am sure this will be just as exciting for me as it will be for Corbin. I cannot wait to see the joy and excitement on his face once we get there and to spend some quality time with each other and our family. Pictures to come when we return!

Mama called the Dr and the Dr said....

As most of you parents may know along with birthdays come doctors visits called Well Child visits so three days after Corbin's birthday we had his well child visit. On this visit we got lucky because Loran was home from work so he was able to join us for out visit. I had already mentally prepared myself for the fact that we were going to have to have shots done so I tried to prep Corbin for this as well to try and make the process a little easier. Upon arriving to the office it was a mad house and I was very impressed with my little guy when he went into the waiting room with us and had a seat nicely and waited with us while I filled out his paper work. No sooner had we sat down we heard our name being called and being whisked off to the back. To our surprise Corbin was already all caught up on his shots so we only had to deal with a finger prick for lead. For this visit we actually got to meet with a doctor that we had never had before so it was interesting to hear her take on him and to hear how well he is doing.

So to summarize the visit:
His fine motor skills are ahead for his age being that he can already turn and open door knobs, zipper his zippers, and balance on his balance bike. The doctor was very impressed with how well his speech is, he is making sentences that consist of well pronounced words with not much gibberish. Apparently he is ahead of the game because he doesn't take a bottle at night (which I didn't think was a big deal, but I guess it is) we have done away with the paci, and we go almost all day without having wet diapers and are mostly using the potty when we are able to so next we just need to master #2, and we were assured that it will happen so no worries. We continue to work on our numbers, colors, and object identification all which we are excelling with on a daily basis between working on them at home and the teachers working with him at school. We still have a ball of energy on our hands but its nice to see that he is focusing that energy on certain tasks, such as playing pretend, and driving his cars, he is not as scattered all over the place.

After Dr. Calguhoun examined Corbin she presented us with his growth curves and his growth certificate for our own records and those stats are as follows:
Height: 37 in tall which is in the 93%, making him as tall as a 3 year old currently (we have a tall one on our hands)
Weight: 28 lb 14oz putting him in the 61%.

We got her blessing and don't have to go back until he is 3 now, unless he is sick of course. Hard to believe he is already 2 and how far we have come. After the doctors visit we took him to lunch at the mall and then to visit Santa, which he just loved to pieces!

Bowling champ

So to expand on our family birthday celebration... We decided to take Corbin  bowling!! He loves him some pizza so what better way to enjoy each others company than with some family bowling and pizza, but now that I think about it Corbin is the only one who got pizza  (ha ha). Any who we had a blast!! Corbins attention span didn't make it past the 6th frame but fun non the less. Mommy and daddy enjoyed playing too. We took him to local spot which was super dead so we had it all to ourselves mostly so we let the monster run around the arcade area and just really explore things. After bowling we took him to get a few more fish for his tank (a $$ gift provided by his great aunt) and we ended the evening by sitting in front of the tank watching them swim around.

2 years already?!

First Happy Pearl Harbor Day, now Happy second birthday Corbin!!
Where oh where is the time going? I guess it doesn't help that we have been 'celebrating' his birthday for almost a month now but who cares he is little. Since his birthday fell on a duty weekend for my hubs we celebrated as a family a few days ago (i will expand on that in another post) As for today THE DAY, sadly I had to work for a few hours but he got to spend time with a few of his favorite people his auntie and his bff  Tyra! Everyday with my little man is a blessing and one I cherish but today for me was extra special and I found myself a bit emotional over it. My father in law sent Corbin  a voice text and I started bawling  as I listened to him wish him a happy birthday. Made me a little sad that we cant be closer to family but happy that Corbin  has such loving and caring people in his life. 
The past year has been spent with him growing in leaps and bounds, learning like crazy, and giving us lots of heart attacks. We experienced our first set of stitches, our first very large black eye, our first run in with real snow and so many other things. Our most recent accomplishments have been that we are now a tay-tay  (paci) free home!!! I was willing to let him wait until he turned 2 but it happened sooner, yay us! Also we are well on our way to being potty  trained, today for instance he never want pee  pee  in his diaper he used the potty all day for that.  He can count to 4 and say some of his ABC's, he can dress himself with very little assistance, he can tell/show us his left and right hand/feet, identifying animals is a breeze. I am sure the list could go on, he is just such a sponge. Currently one of his favorite catch phrases is 'OH SHIT' shame on me I know.
Every day is something new and exciting and when I have free moments to sit back and reflect I am just so amazed that I, we, are responsible for making such a remarkable person and I am so very proud of him. Becoming a parent will change you forever and you never really understand that until it actually happens, for me, it has been the best change if my life.
Love you Corbin  James!!

From left to right: Birth, One year birthday, Two year birthday

My little sleeping prince on his second birthday

To be thankful

As I lay in bed this evening with my sick baby boy I am reflecting on my life as most people tend to do this time of year and I truly have so much to be thankful for. For started I am thankful for this little boy, he is happy, other wise healthy, and brings so much joy and love to my life. I just don't know what I would do without him. I am also thankful for my parents. Even though we are miles apart we still make it a point to stay in touch and try and be a part of each others lives as much as we can. I am also thankful for my husband, while we do not see eye to eye that often and we have had our differences the bottom line is without him I would not have my beautiful child and I would not be experiencing these things in my life if it were not for him.

The list of things I am thankful for could go on and on but the most important to me are my dear family and friends without them all the other things would not make much of a difference. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Park play dates

Today Corbin and I went out to do some shopping and decided that because it was so nice out that we should treat ourselves to a slushy and go to the park to play. In fact over the last few weeks we have been taking more trip to the park since Corbin is a bit older and bigger now he is really starting to get the hang of playing on the equipment and not needing me as much to help him so I enjoy sitting back and watching him go up the steps and down the same slide over and over again. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from our park trips, enjoy!

SNOW

So growing up in PA specifically western PA I had to deal with snow. Now in most cases how the story goes is.... you love snow as a child, can't get enough of it, and as you get older is when you start to dislike it more and more for one reason or another. WELL not me, as a child I would play in the snow a bit but not for long, it was too cold and yea too cold for me so I was not a fan and as I grew older my dislike for the snow grew and now I could care less if I ever see it again and fortunately thanks to my husband there is a chance that we may never have to deal with that cold white stuff ever again. Now some of you might say that its not fair for Corbin and he should get to play in it, and you are right, thats what he has aunts and uncles and grand parents to take him out and play in it (cruel I know) any who on this trip back home even though Pittsburgh didn't get any snow other areas did so on our drive back to NC we went through the mountains and WAA-LAA snow. Now because I am not that evil we stopped and let the little man out of the car to investigate, and that he did! It did not take him long though to realize that 1. you should not hold on to the white stuff for too long because it would hurt your hands and make them cold, and 2. that you can eat the stuff. It was great to watch him exploring something new and enjoying himself.

Great outfit right! Jammies, winter hat, and those shoe things
(rubber on the bottom socks on top)

He clearly had a great time though

Soon to be 2

While in Pittsburgh we took advantage of having most of our friends and family around and to be able to get everyone together for celebrate Corbin's 2nd birthday (a little early). We had his little party at Seabase Family Fun Center and it was FANTASTIC. The place is like a giant indoor playground equipped with slides, ball pitts for the little ones, tunnles, an arcade and a TRAIN!!! It was so great to watch Corbin run around and explore with all of the other kids and just be a free spirit. His favorite part of the whole day had to be the train rides, the train loaded up all the kids and around it went. I swear I yelled "ALL ABOARD" and CHOO CHOO a million times that day. Of course he wouldn't alone so I had to climb my large adult self into the tiny train car with Corbin and at least 2 other small children. it was great don't get me wrong BUT the small train car had very poor ventilation SO the end result was a very HOT and stuffy train car. I would have done it a million times more though just to see that happy face.

I told you it was a tiny car

I know... I look thrilled right

The awesome cake my MIL had made for the little man

Enjoying cake!

We had a wild dragon on our hands

Well its November 13th what better time to fill you all in on our Halloween happenings. As you all know we went back home to Pittsburgh for a few days and it just so happened that we got to be there for Corbin to Trick or Treat. Since we spent our travel time out running that nasty storm Sandy our first few days in PA were extremely wet and soggy which did not please my wild child who just wanted to run and play. Because of the storm and the nasty weather the area postponed all of the trick or treating until the weekend when the weather would be cleared up.

Now if you know my child you know that he is very much so a free spirit. There is not to much that he will do because I ask him to, it is all on his own terms so I don't get those cute say cheese faces when I ask for one and just the thought of having to put his costume on was stressing me out a bit because I thought for sure we were just going to end up having to put on some super hero jammies on him and hope for the best BUT to my surprise all day on Saturday we pumped him up for Trick or Treat and we practiced saying it talked about all the fun things he would say. So the time had come to put the costume on and WHEW he was thrilled about it. We went with my two sisters and their boys and some other friends and he was a real trooper, he carried  his own bucket and walked almost the whole time I could not believe it, it was actually upset when we told him it was time to go.  Our second Halloween was a huge success and we made plent of memories!

Time to take a trip!!

Hi everyone! Hope you all have been doing well and enjoying this spooky time of year. Our little family did a little decorating around the house, we visited the pumpkin patch and we have all been enjoying the fall weather we have been experiencing too! Don't get me wrong I love living at the beach and enjoying the warm weather BUT there comes a time when you just need that cool break.

So this weekend we are taking a trip back home to Pittsburgh! This trip is for business and pleasure so to speak. We are headed back so I can help pick out bridesmaids dresses... I know how exciting! A dear friend of mine from high school is getting married next year and she has asked me to be apart of her wonderful day and I am beyond honored to do so. We are also using this time to have some family pictures taken, visit family, and just relax. This will be our last trip (as a family) until at least next July. While we are there we will also be celebrating Corbin's second birthday... I cannot believe he will be 2 in about 2 months! Where has the time gone, more importantly where has my itty bitty little baby gone? Now I have a wild child who is exploring his ever growing vocabulary. I swear he learns something new every day and on some days it can be a good thing and other it just makes me shake my head. His most recent words he likes to use are , "I dont want to" or when he wants something he will yell Mommy Daddy mommy daddy, no matter who is around (HA HA) I always get a good chuckle out of that. Needless to say this trip home should be a great one and we are all excited to enjoy the time off.

This is a picture from our trip to the pumpkin patch, its one of my favorite because he has his little hand in his pocket.

This is another one of my favorites from that day, a good father son moment

Family pumpkin carving

He was such a good helper

Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween Wish Halloween Card

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Its Fall Y'all

So this weekend was my 'single mom' weekend AKA my husbands long weekend. The little guy and I did a lot this weekend zoo the time just zipped by. Friday night I had to work so the little man stayed with the sitter for a few hours, Saturday was our community yard sale which was an epic fail. I had high hopes of getting rid of a lot of my things, but those hopes were crushed 10x. The effort I put into it was so not worth the 3 hours of sleep I gave up to get up and set up. Needless to say, NEVER AGAIN!! So since yesterday was such a let down I decided I would make up for it today. The little man and I got up this morning and I took him to these little shops in Southport that use a local produce stand to decorate for fall and I took Corbins  picture by all the cool pumpkins, we did this last year too. Since we moved down here I ave discovered that a real pumpkin patch is hard to come by so I resorted to the produce stands products/decor, it works out rather well for us. After we took pictures we went and fed the birds and watched the local fish, which is always a good time for the little guy. We wrapped up our day back at the house by planting my mums, ordering pizza, and then taking a nice walk to the stop sign. For me it has always been thenlittle things that make me happy but even more so now that I have a child and todays  smile moment came when we were talking our walk and Curbing ran up beside me to hold my hand while we walked.

A walking catastrophe!

So anyone who knows me and my family knows that our child is a SERIOUS boy. There is nothing calm or quiet about this kid. From the moment he started walking, or should I say running,  he has been shortening my life expectancy. When he runs he leads with his head, he uses anything he can get his feet on to climb, and well he knows how to tackle already. So needless to say I spend a lot of my days saying "Corbin  slow down" or "Be careful!"

Up until these past two weeks our injuries have been at a minimum, small bumps, bruises, and scrapes.  That all changes two weeks ago though. As we were getting ready to leave the house I was in the bathroom doing some last minute things he came blasting into the bathroom with me and of course he big feet got in the way and one trip over the bathmat and PLOW! He crashed head first into the tub. As soon as i spun around he let out that awful cry that no parent wants to hear, as I turned i was greeted with this... Yep you guesses it, we were holding baby UFC matches in our home!!

His first shiner from the bath tub

 Well finally the bruising has started to go away and we decided to go out on a play date with our friends. We had just loaded up the car and I left wildman  outside with his little friend and my husband while I ran into the house for water. So the moment my feet crossed into the house I heard that terrible scream again. As I came out of the house into the garage I saw him holding his head and I could already see the blood. My first response was to rinse it off to see what we were working with. The more I rinsed the more the blood came. It was deep and I knew we were going to the ER instead of the playdate. What seemed to have happened was he came into the garage after me and again those big feet got in the way and he tripped and fell into the corner of the steps. After the fact and 6 stitches later I can say that 1 I don't ever want to do that again 2 Thank God it wasn't his eye and 3 he is getting a helmet with a full face mask for his birthday!!!
He isn't even 2 yet so I think its safe to say I will be going gray much sooner than I expected.
Who was it that said that boys are easier to raise than girls?!

Six stitches later and he is already acting silly.

Catching up

Hello all! Its been a bit but I thought I would take a minute to update you all on things going on around here. For starters we have been BUSY to say the least. From the month of July through August we had family and friends here visiting almost every weekend and needless to say I barely found time to sit back and relax.

Corbin Started pre-school at the beginning of September and that was an experience for the both of us. The first day was an epic fail, I dropped him off at 8:30 and by 10:30 they were calling me to come pick him up because he never stopped crying, poor little man. Well he should have gone back that following Monday BUT he/we got sick and we were out of commission for almost 2 week, meaning what should have been like his 5 day of school was now he first day all over again. This time around though was much better and we have been going twice a week every since with no problems.

Now that I have two morning a week free I have been devoting my time to running errands and working on my crafts. I opened a booth in my friends store so that has been pretty exciting for me. ALSO, I got a job!!! I start, tomorrow in fact YIKES, but I am pretty excited none the less.

Along with little Mr. starting school he has been on the move as always getting into things all over the place and having me chase him as usual. Its October now so we are excited to enjoy all the 'Fall things' and the cooler weather and October means that there are only a few more months until Corbin turns 2!!! Where has the time gone?! Well I will leave you with a few recent pictures of my little monster, ENJOY

 Might just be one of his favorite fruits... mine too!

 He sure does love to check out the seagulls

 Dressed like daddy

 First day of pre-school

My oh my how time is flying by

I figure it is about time that I update the blog, I wont triuble you with all the old stuff just the most recent.

For starters in four months my little man will be two (I cannot believe it!) In addition to that he will be starting pre-scho after Labor Day and whileI am excited for him to have that experience, I must admit this mama is a bit nervous. We spend every day together and yes on occasion I miss my alone time I am not so sure what I am going to do for those few hours he is at school, besides worry like crazy. 

It has just been amazing watching him over these last few months grow and learn. I swear everyday is something new. His vocabulary is just awesome and being persistent has paid off because now he says his please, thank you, your welcome, and excuse me all without being promted.  Its a great feeling to hear him say those things and know.its because we have taught him that.

We made the big step and switched his bed to a toddler bed and despite some bumps in the road we are doing well with it now. In addition to that transition i decided to give his baby room an upgrade and a theme so i have been using my crafty side to turn his room into a nautical world and so far so good. My hope is that over the next few weeks I can wrap up everything and have it looking great.

Unt next time, hopefully its not as long, enjoy the snap shots