03/07/09

Korben has been talking more & more. He repeats everything he hears. It is amazing that just a few months ago I was worried about his speech. He still loves numbers & letters. He knows all his capital letters and almost all lower case letters now. He is also starting to connect the words together & realize that they make up words. He can read the words Wal-Mart, yes, and no. We are working on cat & dog. He says bye to everything now, when we turn off the TV - he says bye-bye Tv, if we are leaving Wal-Mart he says bye-bye Wal-Mart, he does it with everything. He is constantly amazing us with the things he knows & picks up from us or the TV.

Mickey Mouse has become his best friend. Although he has many Mickey's he is attached to the one we got him in Disney World & he has to sleep with that one & then he takes it to the living room to play during the day. He no longer has to have his Teddy, I will clean him up & put him away for Korben when he grows up. He also has a giant Mickey, you can see in the pics he reads to that Mickey & he sat Mickey in one of his chairs in front of the TV so Mickey could watch it. He is getting so cute! His favorite Mickey he shares his food & drinks with him & will even sit that Mickey on his potty & claps for Mickey like he went potty. He likes to sit his Mickey's & Minnie's in chairs while he is eatting. Every night after Korb goes to bed Brent has his Mickey's doing something, like his big Mickey was laying on the couch with a pillow & blanket or sitting at the table. One day he had Mickey sleeping in Korb's house & so Korb laid down in there with Mickey & told me night-night. With his little Mickey he likes to hold him by the ear & likes to pretend Mickey is walking beside him, it is really cute seeing Korb & Mickey walking down the hall together. Oh & we have (still) been working with Korben saying "mickey" instead of "dada" he still says dada most of the time but he is starting to say "icky" when we correct him.

Speaking of the potty, Korben still doesn't care if he is wet or dirty. I thought the cloth diapers would change that but nope, not at all. The cloth diapers are working out wonderfully though & I wish we had bought them earlier. He has had a couple of rashes with them but they were minor rashes & after 1 day of diaper cream they healed right up. He is starting to understand the concept of going potty more & is starting to willingly come to his room to change his diaper. He would still rather play though so he doesn't do that all the time. We have his potty set up in the bathroom next to the real potty, he likes to sit on it for a little bit (fully clothed) and play. At least he is getting used to it. One day he told me "potty" so I ran him to the bathroom & pulled down his pants but he didn't want on his potty he wanted on the big one. Well he felt like he was going to fall in & kinda freaked out until I got him off of the potty & when I did he promptly peed all over his clothes. That was the only time he told me he had to go. Oh well, we will get there, I don't want to force him if he isn't ready. But I am trying to make him more aware of it.

We solved the clothing issue. All those annoying overalls that we wouldn't dress him in before have now become his standard wardrobe. He has started taking off his clothes during the day too, though not too often. Some of his overalls (the cloth stretchy ones) he can get off so we cross the straps on them & then he can't take them off. He also can't undo any one piece outfit that has snaps in the crotch area. So those rompers that we love to dress him in he can't get off, good thing it is getting warm here so he can start to wear those. Although he only fits into a few of them & I have yet to find any 3T sized ones. I might have to look on the internet & see if I can find some for this summer.

Korben's new favorite show is Wow, Wow, Wubbzy. I have added a picture of him so you could see what he looks like. We bought him a Wubbzy book & Korb kept trying to take it to bed with him. We ended up buying him a stuffed one too but he is not really a stuffed animal, he is a bath toy so he is not very soft but Korben loves him & Wubbzy has to go in & out of bed just like his Mickey. We tried to find him a stuffed one but we couldn't find one. Wubbzy comes on the Noggin channel, we like that TV channel because there are no commercials & it is educational TV.

Well since I don't have access to a car any more I can't take Korben to the library any more for storytime. I didn't like that he wasn't getting any interaction with other kids. He sees his cousins but it is only about 1 a month now, if that. So I started up a Mother's Day Out program, last Tues. was the first time. So every Tues. for 5 hrs I watch 3 kids (all boys) for a small fee. All the kids are younger than Korben. I tried to find some his age or older but after a month of looking could only find younger kids to join. But that is ok because it is still allowing him to interact with other kids & hopefully will learn to share. We have two 8 month old babies, Aiden (he is the baby of a friend of mine, we used to work together at Wal-Mart, she is a single mom, works & goes to school full time) and Brandon (his mom runs a daycare herself but he has real bad separation anxiety so she wanted him to learn to be away from her for awhile) and Stone is 14 months old & so he is the closest in age to Korb & he wants Stone to go everywhere with him, but Stone has just learned to walk so is still wobbley. Korb loves to play with them all. Aiden & Stone are very, very laid back little boys. Brandon just scared & doesn't like anybody to touch him but his mom but he did really good with us & warmed up & had fun playing with Aiden. Korben is learning to be gentle around them & loves to hug & kiss them all. He gets mad though when they touch his toys & he takes them away & hides the toys from them. So we are working on that. I think it will be really good for Korb. The pictures are of Aiden, I watched only him this past Friday as my friend had to run to school to take a test. Korben looks like a giant next to Aiden, Korb is tall for his age & Aiden is small for his. Korb calls him Aid. I am glad I still have all Korb's baby stuff because we are using some of it again. :)

We got a Chick-fil-a here in Moore & we went to eat there yesterday. They have a little play area indoors for kids, it is one of those things that you take off your shoes & climb all in. Well we told Korb if he ate his food he could play (he has been becoming a picky eater.) He ate so we took him in there & he started to climb up the thing & I was nervous as I thought he would fall or get stuck or knocked over in there by the bigger kids. But he climbed all over that thing & laughed & laughed. He had so much fun. He wouldn't go down the big tunnel slide but after standing at the bottom of it & watching kids come down & laughing at them he finally tried it out & came down feet first but on his belly. Then he just kept climbing up and going down the slide over & over. He had so much fun but near the ground there were some toy things on the wall. Spinner toys & steering wheels & such and Korb decided those were his. He pushed a couple of little boys that were about his age & we had to keep telling him no. Then he pushed over a kid that was about 6 or 7! It knocked the poor little boy down! Korb is strong, at that point we told him we had to leave since he couldn't be nice. Of course he threw a giant fit & screamed & kicked all the way to the car.

02/18/09

Well we hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day! We sure did! Brent & I had plans on going to the new Cheddar's for a Valentine's lunch. My mom & Larry knew we were going & gave Brent a gift card to Cheddar's for hooking up their surround sound & helping them hook up their dvd burner & showing them how to use it. So that worked out nicely for us. We were so excited that we got a Cheddar's in Norman, it was one of our favorite places to eat when we lived in Plano.

Brent surprised me & got me a book I wanted & the collectors edition of my new favorite book -Twilight. If you read I highly recommend the series, right now there are 4 books out. I was staying up until 2 & 3 in the morning reading them! If you don't read make sure to watch the movie - at least I am hoping it is as good as the book - it comes out on DVD towards the end of March. It is about vampires but don't let that stop you, I am not into vampires & all that at all & I LOVED these books, it is really more of a unique love story. Anyway I borrowed the books from my mom so I don't own them. I have been trying to get them from my book swapping site but so many people are wanting them they are extremely hard to get. Usually I don't reread books so after I am done with the book I trade it. I only have two books that I have always kept & one of them I have reread about 3 times, the other one I have only read once but I do plan on reading it again. Anyway that says alot about these books that I want to not only own them but reread them again. Sorry for going on about this, I could talk about Twilight for days - just ask Brent! ha -ha! So let's just say it was a very good Valentine's present for me!

On Sunday we had somebody coming to look at our TV. We were selling ours since we got Keith's. Brent promised me if I let him have Keith's TV & we sold ours I could take the money & buy a new couch. Ours hurts my back really badly. It is really comfy for naps but not for just sitting. In the meantime for months now I have been looking on Craigslist every day to find a good deal on a couch. I knew I wanted a microfiber one as that is what my mom's recliners are made from & I love them. They are soft & clean up very well. So on Sunday I came across the best deal ever, somebody was moving & needed their couch gone that day. They said it was only used in their formal living room & mostly the cats just sat on it and the microfiber was too much of a pain to keep cleaning everyday because the cat hair stuck to it. I called my dad & he came to pick me up & we drove to the north side of OKC to go & get it. So it came with LOTS & LOTS of cat fur & took me 4 hours to clean it all up. I vacuumed & then steam cleaned every single spot on the couch. Brent ended up doing the cushions for me as I was so exhausted & had pulled my shoulder out of place cleaning it. But I had to get every single piece of cat hair off of it since I am allergic. I swelled up so bad & my face broke out in hives & I itched like crazy until I got it all clean but it was worth it for only spending $50.00!!!! You can see from the pictures it was an EXCELLENT deal! Brent & I are very happy with it.

We did end up selling our TV but they didn't come to get it until yesterday. Brent brought home fast food for dinner since our water was turned off because we got a new water heater!!!! YEA!! No more fast showers & having to keep turning down the cold water. We have got great landlords! After we ate I headed to Wal-Mart to pick up the other cloth diapers I had ordered for Korben, I had them shipped to the store so I didn't have to pay for shipping. While I was there Brent said I could buy a few things for the house since I didn't spend that much on the couch. I got a rug that matches the new couch - we had a blue rug in the living room. I got a couple of throw pillows that were marked down half price. I got a blender since ours broke when we lived in TX and we hadn't replaced it yet & I have been wanting to make homemade salsa & breadcrumbs. The blender was on clearance too, $10 off! Then I sale that they had the towels on clearance too & I found purple ones, so I got light purple & dark purple! Brent & I have not bought new towels since we first got together almost 10 years ago & most of our towels we hand me downs from Brent's mom when he moved into the dorm. I had forgotten that towels were supposed to be absorbent! I almost bought some luggage too as we only have one big suitcase & always have to borrow my mom's big suitcase but the one that was on clearance was only a med. size bag but it was such a good deal ($50 marked down to $15) I almost bought it. I looked to see if any of their large bags were marked down but they weren't. You would think that store is going out of business because almost everywhere I looked everything was on clearance. When we went grocery shopping there last week I bought a big toy police car set. It was $25 marked down to $5.00, I got it for my nephew Ryan. I put away & will give that to him for his birthday in May. I thought about getting one for Korben but it has tons of little people & parts & it was for ages 5+ and I really didn't want to store it that long.

Anyway I had fun, I had a little shopping spree I don't think I have done that since I was single. I don't usually like spending money on myself & I really hate paying full price for anything. I also would rather buy some items used as it is usually cheaper but more importantly it is better for the environment. I had also bought some Valentine's Day stuff that was supposed to be marked down but when I got home I checked my receipt cause I thought it was a little higher than I calculated & sure enough I got charged full price for all the Valentine stuff. So I am going to take that back tonight & I think I am going to buy some new pots & pans. I was going to get them last night but I felt like I had gotten too much stuff already. After talking with Brent he agreed that we need them, we bought them when we moved in together & some of my pots are from when I first moved out with a friend when I was 18! It is pretty bad when all the non stick coating stuff is almost off of it.

Anyway we have been having MAJOR issues with Korben keeping his clothes on at nap & bedtime. Today he actually started taking off his clothes during the day. He has been taking off his clothes & peeing all over his bed. At first he couldn't figure out how to get off his cloth diapers but now he has figured that out as well. We have been having to change his sheets at least twice a day. We are so far behind on laundry now because we still have the little bitty washer & dryer, hopefully in the next couple of years we will be able to afford new ones. Today I put him in overalls & just a little bit ago while I was typing this I heard him whining & I went to check on him & sure enough he was trying to take off his shirt but he couldn't get it off because of the overalls & he was stuck. I ran & got the camera & took some pics & a video clip.

Korben is starting to say 3 word sentences, like he will say "up, please, okay" or "open please, okay" he always says okay at the end because if he asks me nicely & says please then I will say "okay" so that is what he wants me to say. He has also gotten very into play doh. Every morning, he has "hand please playdoh" or "play doh please okay" it is cute. He really only likes to open the lids of the play doh & then he tries to eat it alot of the time!

Our new water heater is working very, very good. Before I timed my shower from the time I turned on the hot water until it ran out it was 4 mins. Then the plumber came out & messed with it & I was able to take a 12 min shower but that was with having to turn down the cold water every min. or so & soon the cold water would be all the way off & the water would be warm at best. So last night I wanted to take long shower & I had conditioner in my hair & bent down to shave my legs & my hair fell in my eye & a piece of hair got stuck in there! I couldn't see, I sprayed water in there & that stopped the burning. I had to cut my shower short - at 15 mins and I didn't have to touch the cold water at all and no sign of hot water running out!!! Anyway I took my contact out & called for Brent to hold it for me with saline in his hand since I don't usually soak my contacts I had no idea where a case was. I could see the hair but I couldn't get it out. Finally after about 15 mins I was able to move the hair to the crease of my eye & pull it out. When I pulled it out I could feel it pulling from behind my eyeball - ewwww, it was gross feeling! The hair was at least 3 inches long!!!! My eye was so swollen & irritated I ended up just throwing that pair of contact away and put in a new pair this morning. That was quite an adventure though!

Oh & I am still trying to get a good picture of Korben's big butt with his cloth diapers. You just can't tell how big it looks in the pictures but it is pretty funny in real life.

10/21/08

Well Korben has been as ornery as ever. Not a whole lot happened last week besides the normal stuff. Naps are still an issue and now bedtime has become an issue. He refuses to sleep instead he just plays and plays in his crib. It is making me nuts because I know he needs the sleep and he is terribly cranky in the evenings without a nap. I just don't know what to do. At first I thought it was his teething since that is what usually happens but it has been going on too long. I set up an appointment with his dr. for tomorrow to have his ears checked out. I want to make sure there is not an ear infection. I also had to set a different appointment to talk to the dr. about his speech and to talk about A.D.D. I want to know how soon you can test for it. Since Brent has it and I think Korben might have it too. The nurse said I could mention this stuff to the dr. tomorrow but they are on a time constraint with 'sick' visits so that is why I had to set up a separate consult visit. That appointment is not until Nov. 17th though. I really think he is going to have to start speech therapy and I think it would benefit him to start it earlier rather than waiting until he is 2, even though it is only a couple of months earlier. I told Brent I wish I would have trusted my instincts and pushed the issue more with Korben's dr. when he was 12 months old and I thought he might have a speech problem. Even then he was not babbling like a 'normal' baby, he hardly ever said mama and baba or gaga which are the main ones for babies. He only said dada and now almost everything has a 'd' sound.

Last Wed. I took him to story time at the library and they were having baby sign language story time. As I was buckling Korben into mom's van I pulled a muscle in my back when I lifted Korben up into his seat. I think Korben's teeth were hurting him that day and we only ended up staying for about 20 mins. He didn't want to go into the story time room at all which is fine as there are kids and toys right outside the room so he played there. But he kept trying to run around the library and he kept screaming while doing so. We were disturbing everybody in the library and it was stressful and embarrassing for me so we left. Then he threw a fit because we left. So I had to pick him up and carry him and I was in terrible pain from my back. He stiffens his body and then starts flinging himself around. When we are at home I just set him on the floor and walk away but since we were outside it was not possible. I did try to get him to stand but then he took off running around the library into the muddy grass. So I picked him back up again. I set him down by the van to get the keys out of my pocket and he laid down on the ground. Once we got home both of us were much better. My back hurt the whole rest of the week though. :( I am going to try story time again tomorrow because I really think he needs more interaction with kids his age. I am sure it will be better this week.

Korben has been obsessed with Thomas the Train every since we went to see Thomas. He doesn't have much Thomas stuff....only the pillow Grandma & Grandpa S. got him, he has one book that I got from a online book swapping site (it came with some other books that I got for him so I didn't even realize he had a Thomas book until after we saw Thomas and Korb found it) and then he has the Thomas magnet that they gave us when we saw Thomas. He has to carry his Thomas book and his Thomas magnet (his pillow stays in his crib) with him everywhere throughout the day. I have him come into the bathroom with me so that he doesn't get into trouble and I say 'Come go potty with Momma' and he starts running around going "uh oh, uh oh" until he finds his Thomas book and magnet and only when he has both things will he come with me. Last week we did buy Korben a couple of X-Mas presents, we got him some Thomas bath toys and another Thomas book one that you push the buttons and it says things and plays music. Brent & I are curious to see if he is going to do that with Mickey Mouse and the other Disney characters after Disney World.

Oh I think I forgot to mention that my biopsies came back completely begin. So that was good news last week.

We didn't do anything this past weekend. Just hung out around the house and took it easy. On Sunday Brent was watching Korben and I went out to the kitchen for something and found Korben sitting in the middle of the table playing with the hockey charms that my mom and I made to sell at the Blazers Booster Club booth. Brent had forgotten to push in his chair at the table so Korben just climbed right up on it. Korben did it again today while I was watching him. I heard the chair move though and ran right in there just in time to see him climbing on the table. As I was pulling him off he swiped at the charms that we made last night and they went flying across the kitchen and hallway. He promptly went to time out and was very mad at me.

Yesterday Korben was getting ice out of the ice maker in the fridge door, he is tall enough to reach it now, and he spilled ice all over the floor. I went in there to tell him no and to clean up the mess and he was cracking up laughing because he was holding a piece of ice. My mom was in the kitchen too and I was trying to tell Korben no but then she started laughing because he was laughing and then of course I started laughing so I don't think he understood that he wasn't supposed to do that. Of course when he does something bad he does start hamming it up for you and tries to charm you. I think he really gets away with that with Grandma & Grandpa L. Yesterday he was also driving me crazy because he learned how to turn on the dishwasher, so all day long I had to keep turning it off. Then my mom left to go grocery shopping and Korben stood at the door looking out the little window on the door and kept saying "oh no, oh no" over and over and was crying because he wanted to go bye-bye too. I turned on one of the Thomas shows that Brent started taping for him and he ran to sit on my lap. I still don't like him watching tv and I don't usually let him watch it. But Brent does, he watches about half a Thomas show every day, that is all he will sit still for but during that time he becomes a zombie staring at the tv.

Sunday evening we went to the pumpkin patch to take pictures. We went to the same place that we went to last year. We couldn't get Korb to sit still so we had to put him behind all the pumpkins and then I took pictures as he climbed his way out of the pumpkins so he could run around again. Then we would pick him up and do it again, thankfully he thought it was fun and only got mad at us one time.

This morning Korben woke up at 6:40 and Brent was getting ready to walk out the door to go to work. I went to the restroom and to get Korben some milk and Brent had changed Korben's pull-up. Brent put Korben in bed with me so I could give him his milk and Korben was flinging himself around and wouldn't calm down. So I tried rubbing his belly and his legs and that usually works but this time I found that his jammies were soaked. He leaked out of his pull-up and Brent didn't realize it. So we pulled off his clothes and he immediately calmed down. We dressed him again then he drank his milk and feel back asleep. Poor little wet baby!

This coming weekend is going to be a busy one. Sat. there is so much free stuff going on that we are having to choose what we want to do. I think we have decided that we are going to the Affair of the Heart and then probably home for a nap - hopefully! Then we are going to go with my mom and my nephews and niece to a Halloween carnival that a church down the street is having. If Korben wakes up early enough we might go try to do the pancake breakfast before the local parade starts but if Korben lets us sleep in then we are going to. Then on Sunday we are heading to Tulsa.

Pics are of the pumpkin patch of course and pics of Korb in the overalls that Grandma & Grandpa S. got him. I thought I had better take pictures of him when I had them on him. I am not sure how often we will actually dress him in them as they are a pain to change his diaper in since there are no diaper snaps but they sure are cute! Korben was lining up his toys when I took those pictures, I took videos of that too which I will upload to YouTube one of these days.