What have we been up to?

As mentioned in the previous blog, we went on a little family vacation after Corbin's birthday party in Oct. We stayed in Leauge City at a very nice hotel (thank you Hotwire!) and we explored the surrounding areas. We went to Kemah Boardwalk and we had so much fun at the Aquarium restraunt, then played a few carnival type games! 

The next day we ventured downtown to the Houston Zoo! We took a train ride around the park and had a blast at the Zoo, even got to ride the carousel, pet a goat and feed Giraffes! 

Later that day we went to Galveston and had dinner at "the spot", after we had some beach time! Speaking of the Spot...we saw a man walking his dog along the beach as we ate, a familiar looking dog. Big lab, short legs. He was black, where as our Pudge was yellow. We had another opportunity to see him as we were leaving the restraunt and spoke to his owner. Sure enough, Bassett lab. We told him about our Pudge, and how we had to put him down in October, the 1st. We miss Pudge. I know I haven't blogged about him yet, and I don't know if I can without crying. He was like a child to us. He hurt, bad. His back, his legs. He couldn't go as he wished he could anymore, hurt miserably after just walking to the mailbox. And he was aggressive. He had bitten and snapped before, and he went after Corbin a second time and it could have been way worse than it was. We had to make a difficult decision, and took him to the vet and had him put down.

We couldn't risk him hurting someone else, and making him go live his life with anyone else would have made him depressed. We know we gave him a great life, he did a lot in the years we had him. So here's my tribute to Pudge. "Play on in heaven with the other pets we've lost over the years, kiss Nana a big one for us, and chase many squirrels...till we meet again..."

Corbin enjoyed the beach, hated the waves! 

View from the room!

And then Halloween was upon us! We had the day off, so travis and I went furniture shopping and then to Corbin's party at daycare! Once we got home we had fun carving pumpkins before we handed out candy, daddy and Corbin dressed up! We had quite a few trick or treaters this year! It was awesome! 

Speaking of furniture shopping... We finally committed to a new bed. We had been looking for almost a year, but the cost was a detourant since we're trying to pay all extra to student loans. We finally saved though and purchased a King bed! It's a sterns and foster, and it keeps you cool. It's very nice and we haven't had any back aches or restless nights since. We had been on a queen that I purchased before we got married when Trav moved to Amarillo. It was a cheap mattress and it was time for a new one. We didn't want to pay $$$$ for a bedding set. We have my old wooden dresser from eons ago, and a night stand from Travis, then my vanity that I redid from my grandma. So, we went to Pinterest and Lowes, and yet again my handy husband amazed me. I think it looks awesome! We haven't finished buying pillows yet need 2 Euros and 1 King still! We will probably stain the dresser and night stand at some point,

But I haven't even finished painting the dresser I'm re doing for Corbin yet! 

Life has been busy. We have been making more time as a family lately and it's been great. We have made a huge dent in our Christmas shopping thanks to this little helper...

Travis and I are hosting thanksgiving again this year since my Mom is going to be having foot surgery 2 days before thanksgiving. Then quickly approaches our 4th wedding Anniversary. Looking back on the last 4 yrs makes me smile, because since day one (may 30, 2005) we've had goals and a plan... And to watch them all unfold and see Gods plan for us... Amazing! Looking forward to forever more with my amazing husband, loving son, and our wonderful families and friends. Until next time... :-)

We have a ONE year old!

 For starters, I am so upset with myself right now. I had spent a good couple of hours blogging about the updates to the house with a ton of pictures early in Oct...and what did I just do?! Deleted it! Arghhh... Oh well. It's just a blog.

On to important things, we have a ONE year old!? When did this happen! He's such a handsome, smart, and outgoing little man! I would make this post totally picture heavy, but I've been having difficulty with that as well...sigh...

So we had a wonderful birthday party for Mr. Corbin on the 18th of Oct. It was a Safari Zoo theme. I was so consumed with making sure we had enough food, enough seating, enough cupcakes (I made over 5 dozen and had just a handful left) it ended up being more stressful than I was anticipating! I was planning far in advance, ordering things, figuring out what would go where...but it came down to the wire the day of when I was prepping the veggie tray and a knock came on our door...Aunt Sue!? All the way from Gonzales Louisiana to surprise us for Corbin's big First Birthday party! (I must admit, my parents managed to pull it off, the secret of her being here, being as they realllllly almost blew it on multiple occasions (including my mom the morning of the party: "It was a heck of a night, Aunt Sue flipped off the Futon bed"...I say, "Aunt Sue's down!?" And she quickly tries to change the subject saying it was my niece who flipped off the bed...I was just in a hurry to get off the phone to get the house clean I wasn't going to push the subject! So they dropped her off a street away, so they arrived and then 10 mins later she came on in. Great surprise indeed!))

We had a house full. There weren't enough chairs, and the White House wouldn't have been big enough I don't believe! Corbin was blessed to have 2 of his Aunt's (my sisters, Tab & Amy), several of his great Aunt's & Uncles, cousins & friends. He received more than plenty of gifts, to the point we actually contemplated the whole "lets hide this and re-wrap for Christmas!" But we didnt. We just wanted to play with, I mean...him to play with, all his new toys :)

Corbin  is an amazing little boy. He learned to walk just days before he turned 1, and now he's full-fledged toddler mode. He says mama, dada, ki-ki (For kitty), ball, "Doh" for dog, and a bunch of other gibberish we hope to understand one day!

After his party we took off on Sunday for a family vacation. We went to the Kemah boardwalk, Houston Zoo, & Galveston. He really enjoyed the train at Hermann park & feeding Giraffes at the zoo!


Other than that, we've had a lot going on in our busy little lives lately. I just am thankful that I had 5 minutes to jot down these fond memories after filling in his premade baby book, while procrastinating the scrapbook part! This time change is for the birds :)

Until next time...

Where does the time go?

For Travis' 28th Birthday in Feb we went down to Corpus and saw Allan Jackson! It was a great show, and now Travis can say he's seen both of his favs (George & Allan!)

Valentines day we went to Houston, Travis had a continuing ed course so I hung out with little man, then we went shopping afterwards :)

We had fun with the 4 mo picts!!! :) getting so big!

St Patty's day he was sick, but we still sported our leprechaun shirt! 

He loves going for Rides to go check the mail! (You can see part of our pretty flower bed behind him!)

I went back brunette :) (I had blonde highlights) 

Annnnd our spare  bathroom/Corbin's bathroom is FINISHED!! New tile, paint, mirror, vanity, fixtures, shelves, ect!! Travis did an awesome job! He's very good at everything he does (I helped paint!)

Other than that, not too much has been going on! Just keeping busy with work, Corbin, the house and our lives!

I'll try to update again soon with more Picts :) 

Well, it's been a while!

Our lives have been anything but boring since I last blogged. So let me fill in briefly and then I'll try to blog more often!

As mentioned in my last post, we were buying a house! And we did :)

It's a 3/2/2 car garage with a formal dining room that we converted to our office/scrap booking room 😀

As soon as we closed we began the work we wanted complete before we moved in: New carpet, new roof, painted the nursery, office and laundry room... And well, that's about all we had time for! 

October 22nd we were induced. Corbin was measuring at 8lbs at 36 wks so we knew we had a big baby on the way! He of course, if you read from the beginning, has been a stubborn baby! Bed rest, shots, sever swelling... Well, his delivery was no exception! 

I was doing great, just had my epidural and they just started pitocin, and bam... Lost his heart beat. We got it back quickly, then it dropped again and the next thing I know, I'm being prepped for an emergency c section and within 5 minutes of his heart beat dropping the 2nd time, he was here! They had to intubate me since they didn't have time to change the medicine in my epidural and travis couldn't even be in the delivery room, so I didn't get to see Corbin until I woke up 2 hrs later. It was the scariest time of our lives. All I kept telling the nurses was "don't let me lose him" and she said later that she didn't know why I was saying that, until she read about the difficult pregnancy. Sooo... Then he was here! And of course? Trouble! His blood sugar was so low, and he had jaundice. He didn't have to go under the lamp, but did spend his 1st night in the nicu on IV for his blood sugar, which finally evened out! Anyway, meet Mr Corbin, our first family pict!

Last prego pic!

We had to have some fun :) 

 

I took 12 wks off of work, we tried daycare for one day and that didn't work.. So my parents watch him, but that's for another blog! Here are some photos over the last 3 months!

33 Weeks!

Wow! Time is flying by that's for sure. Travis & I have had a busy busy year so far. Between Travis finishing PT school, graduating, state boards, vacations, the pregnancy, buying land, now buying a home! Crazy! Speaking of the home, we close on Friday! This Friday! So unreal. We are going to get right in there and start working too. We're going to paint Mr. Corbin's nursery, and the laundry room for now. Plus we're going to remove the popcorn from the "formal dining room" that is going to be our office/scrapbooking room. We're also going to have new carpet placed before we move in, and get some quotes on a new roof! Fewf, that exhausted me just typing it! I'm very, "stuck in my ways" so I really don't want anyone's help unpacking (minus the help from Travis!) Needless to say, once we get those precious keys on Friday, I'm sure I will be at the house starting to clean later that day! :) 

In other news, we had a baby shower today at Travis' work. They are so sweet, Corbin received a lot of awesome things from blankets, diapers, a bouncer and books! He is going to be set, and we definitely don't know what we were thinking when we thought we'd have plenty of room here at my parents! Our room is getting smaller by the day, and the dogs just look at us like "seriously?!" when more stuff comes in and they are told "This is a Corbin toy, not a Pudge/Barkley toy!" 

This was a quick picture since we hadn't taken one since our 1st baby shower on the 17th of August, and boy have I grown! I grow daily it feels like! This was after church this past Sunday :) My Aunt said I should have moved over more so you could get a good view of my wedding pic. in the background to compare...well let me tell you, I'm about 50lbs heavier than that there wedding picture!! Thank you Corbin...and Blue Bell Peanut Butter & Chocolate Ice Cream!

The cake at the baby shower for Travis' work! Delicious! They had chopped BBQ sandwhiches and chips as well! Yum!

Travis wasn't expecting a picture! :) Daddy got to open all of the gifts today, and this gift (the bouncer) was heavy, so the therapist who brought it carried it in in a wheelchair! Multi use!

Gifts table

Here's some updates! 

Pregnancy Highlights for Baby Smith:

How far along? 33 wks

Size of Baby Smith? A HoneyDew! About 19" and 4.5lbs

Maternity Clothes? Oh definitely. I can still manage a few of my scrub bottoms!

Gender? It's a boy!

Names? Corbin

Getting Ready? Trying! Will be more so once we get into the house!

Movement? You mean...kung fu jabs to the ribs, each side of my body shaking like I'm about to explode!? Yeah...definitely an active little boy!

Sleep? Eh. It's been okay. Some nights he wakes me up, other nights like earlier this past week before bed (after a really busy/active day), I told Travis I hadn't felt him moving as much...so middle of the night while I was turning over, Travis put his hand on my belly and I guess Corbin kicked him, so Travis woke me up to tell me he was moving, lol.)

What I miss: Being able to bend over comfortably! 

Best Moment of the Week: The baby shower, the movements, the house!

Food Cravings: Tokyo Grill! It's a Hibachi grill in Victoria, that, me being cheap will not eat at for dinner time...but we ate there for lunch recently, twice! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Maybe Friday after we close it'll be our celebratory meal! :)

Symptoms: Just tired!

Due Date: 10-24

Next Dr. Appt: Next week! 

Daddy: Getting super excited about doing the nursery and having projects to work on!