10 months

Our big boy is 10 months old today and not lacking for size, that's for sure.


He is still crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything, and getting into everything he can. He has had a bit of a "launguage explosion" and is now saying "mama" and "dada" appropriately, as well as copying pretty much every noise we make. This morning Steve left for work and I said "bye bye dada" Corben immediately put his chubby little hand up, started waving and said,"bu da da." So sweet

Pointing at anything and everything is a new favorite thing as well. He lifts up his little pointer finger and lets you know what he is interested in. The other day at the grocery store, he pointed at ice cream and Mountain Dew. As if he has ever had either of those two things!

Without further ado..... his chair picture :)

Santa!

Corben got to go meet Santa for the first time this morning. He did not cry and was not scared. The photographer did, however, have a huge hand clacker thing to get his attention. Whenever he sees something new, he gets very very serious. So that is the face we got.....

There are lots of new things around the house for Corben to explore. He is so good at listening to "no" and "don't touch" so the Christmas tree has not been bothered. He is crawling everywhere, pulling up on everything, babbling all day long. It is a fun stage we are in. He is getting quite the silly personality!

9 months

I cannot believe we are just 3 months away from one year old! Corben is so much fun and doing new things everyday. He almost exclusively feeds himself (he has no interest in pureed foods, other than yogurt) so he picks up all of his food and feeds himself like a big boy.

He is crawling everywhere, climbing anything he can, pulling up on everything, and will even briefly let go and stand for just a second at a time. He should be walking anyday now!

Here are his 9 months stats:

23.5 lbs-96th percentile

31 inches- 99th percentile

Such a big solid boy!

And of course, his chair picture!

Waving!

Clapping!

Catching up!

Yep, behind again on the blogging. Here is Corben's first Halloween, his first ASU game, and some of his beginnings of being a walker videos.

____________________________________________________________________


ASU, ASU, ASU!!!


This past Saturday, Corben got to experience his first ASU tailgate and game. It was an afternoon game, so by the time we got settled at the tailgate, it was time for Corben’s nap. He slept for 2 hours like this….

Here are a few more pictures from the day.

ASU won, by the way!

_____________________________________________________________________

Corben the Cow

For Corben's first Halloween, he dressed as a cow! He was the cutest little cow I have ever seen, that's for sure!

On Friday, we got to go to Steve's work for the firm's family halloween party. Corben had fun crawling around and was the hit of the party.

Then on the actual Halloween day, Corben had his first day at the Little Gym. He had a great time in his class with the songs, exercises, exploring, and climbling.

Then that night, we took the dogs and our cow and went for a long walk around the neighborhood. After the barn door shut for the night and our little cow was fast asleep, Steve and I sat outside, enjoyed the cool night, and handed out candy.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

WALKING!!! EEK!

Last but not least, we have our ALMOST walking boy. He had been pulling up on this walker for awhile now, but has now figured out that he can push it and walk. For now, I keep this upstairs because the tile downstairs may be a little too slick for him to be pushing this on.....Yikes, he's going to be running around this house before we know it!

8 months

It is almost impossible to get a picture of this active boy while smiling AND sitting still. So, you get the smile :)



Here are some outtakes:

Disneyland

Last weekend we took our first family trip to Disneyland. It will definitely be a LONG time before we go again as Disneyland exposes all of my fears at one time (fear of large crowds, fear of heights, fear of rides, fear of people dressed as characters, claustrophobia, etc etc etc)


With that said, we did have a great time! My girls from dance performed in California Adventure on Sunday morning so, we had the entire rest of the day to just play.


Here are some photos from the trip :)

(they were uploaded out of order....)

and now we stand

For a few weeks, Corben has been pulling himself up to his knees to "stand".

Just yesterday he pulled up on the couch all the way.... he was after a dog toy.


This is what we call the big cheeser. He only does it when he is very excited. He was so proud of himself to pull up in the play pen. Then he started almost jumping up and down. This boy is going to be on the move any day now!

We have a crawler!

Corben has been on the move for about a month now. Wow, life sure changes when babies start moving :)

Copy and paste this link for a video from a few weeks ago :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dva1iNPbCg

Health updates

Lots to report as far as health for the Gross family.

Most importantly, Corben had his 3 month cardiac check up last Friday. We received GREAT news.

The mild enlargement of his aorta(cause by the valve defect) has stayed the same. We were praying for everything to be the same so we know we aren't on a "worsening" path. But even better, the small amount of leakage that he was having back in June is no longer happening. Probably due to his heart and chambers growing.

Like I said, we were praying for everything to have stayed the same, so to have something get better was just an absolute blessing!

Corben caught a virus about a week and a half ago. The little man actually got pretty sick. It caused some pretty bad wheezing and Dr. Grassl set him up with albuterol breathing treatments to open up his airways so that all the gunk can get out. He fought me at the doctor's office for the first treatment. He was ripping the thing off of his face and pretty wild. But at home, he just sits like a good boy and calmly takes his treatment :)

He just looks so sweet in this picture, even though it is kinda sad!

I am still doing them on him but he is feeling MUCH better.

Onto me and my thyroid......

When I had the right side of my thyroid taken out, my surgeon told me that only the "unlucky" ones end up needing to take a thyroid hormone replacement because the half that is left is expected to take over the functioning. Well, I am one of the unlucky ones.

Starting about a month and a half ago, I started feeling pretty bad. (which is a main reason why I have been lacking in the blogging department!) But there was always something that could have been the reason : allergies, Corben up all night because of teething, chasing after a crawling infant, whirlwind trip to the east coast, etc etc etc. So I just kept making excuses and thinking this was just how a mom felt.

Finally a few weeks ago I realized that this wasn't right. The hypothyroidism was blocking my body's ability to absorb iron and I was getting these huge, alarming bruises for no reason. I was dizzy, exhausted, naps and massive amounts of caffeine did absolutely nothing. It was bad news.

I went in to my endocrinologist and she got me set up on taking Synthroid. The first week I was taking half doses to build it up in my system, the second week Corben was sick with his virus which was exhausting for this mama, and this is now the third week and I am actually starting to feel "normal"again. It is amazing how different you can feel with just one simple pill!

Anyway, that is all the news from the Gross family health department. Hopefully we don't have anything to report for awhile :)

Football!

With football season in full swing, Corben and daddy have some fun bonding now. Of course, ASU is number one in this house....

My dad, born and raised in Pittsburgh has made two more Steelers fans(since Steve never really got into professional football)

Yay for shopping days for mommy! haha

7 months

Corben is 7 months old today! This month has been a month of huge changes and milestones for him. He is crawling now (and the fun begins for us!), passes things back and forth between hands (has done that for awhile), has a little bit of success in feeding himself finger foods, is eating all kinds of yummy solids, has 5 teeth, raises his arms when I go to pick him up, walks like a maniac in his little tot walker thingy, says "dada" and other strings of consonants.....but of course, no "mama" there was a "nana" the other day, maybe that is his attempt at some mama! haha

Here is his chair picture:
Check out those teeth :) This is a good picture to show his always smily and silly personality!


I dropped him off at the church nursery yesterday for the first time while I attended the first day of my fall women's bible study. I was a nervous wreck, as the only people that have ever watched him are my parents and two of my good friends. So to leave him with people I didn't know well and with a bunch of other kids, it was kinda freaky. Of course, he did awesome and was a good boy. When I picked him up, I saw him being rocked by a grandma type lady :) He was sound asleep.
But when they brought him to me, and he was being held by someone much shorter than me (or Steve), I really got a perspective on how big this baby boy is. He really is huge! I see everyday that I dress him that I am putting size 12/18 clothes on him (meaning he is the size of an average 12/18 month old) but it wasn't until seeing someone else hold him that I really could SEE how big he truly is! Haha love my little linebacker!

Never Leaving Again

Being away from my little man for an entire weekend was an interesting experience. The actual being away part was great....the wedding, spending time with friends, vacation, Rhode Island... all wonderful. But I felt like half of me was missing. By the time Steve picked me up from the airport, I was starting to feel like a crazy person and had no interest in making small talk/telling him about my weekend. I just told him, "Get me HOME!"

The garage door opened and I am not 100% sure that he had the car all the way stopped before I was opening the door to get inside to grab my baby boy! (my mom had come over to stay with him while Steve picked me up because it was right around bed time and we didn't want him sleeping that entire time in the car) I was able to give him his night bottle and put him down to bed. This whole week has just been awesome to snuggle and play with my sweet boy.

Steve did great on the solo childcare all weekend. They did their little activities, Corben was fed, slept, and loved. Not much else to ask for! He finally cut his 4th tooth while I was gone. Then, this morning I found his 5th tooth (one of the bottoms) has come through as well! That one was totally painless! ha yay!

Corben is getting better at crawling every day. He can use a combo of rolling and crawling to get around. He is FAST, too. He also chatters all day long. His favorite string of sounds? "dadadadadadadadadadada" Yes that's right, dada. I think he sprouted an inch or two while I was gone because all of a sudden none of his clothes fit and we are in all 12/18 month size stuff. It is crazy how fast this little boy is growing! He is developing the sweetest/silliest little personality. He definitely cracks himself up!

Here are some pictures of the wedding weekend and Corben:

working on crawling!

such a handsome little guy!

It's been awhile

Wow, the life of this tall family has been crazy busy lately! We were just looking at the calendar and realize that we are booked solid until mid-October. Wow. No wonder they say time flies.

Well Corben has been on a couple of trips lately. One to California with just me (yes, I drove him all by myself...he was perfect!) and another up to Prescott to visit Grandma and Grandpa Gross. It's unbelievable to me how relaxed and easily adaptable he is. He slept his full 12 hour nights, took his normal naps, ate his normal meals, and played like his normal, happy, silly self!

Here he is with Grandma

And playing with Grandpa!

So what is new in our tall man's life? Well he is still working on crawling. He rocks back and forth on his hands and knees and is starting to shift his legs forward. Then he will flop down on his belly and start again because he has not figured out his arms yet.

He is also eating lots of new foods. I was going to start making my own baby food when I get back from one of my best friend's weddings this coming weeked in Rhode Island, but have realized today that he doesnt need the pureed food anymore. He is mashing up soft things with his gums, so banana, avocado, cooked sweet potatoes, cooked squash, etc, etc, etc are going to be given to him instead of the purees (once I use up what I have). If you haven't noticed, this little man loves his food!

Such a handsome little boy!

Hmmmmm what else? I am still waiting to hear back from the endocrinologist to find out if my left thyroid has taken over the hormone functioning. Praying for good news in that situation! But I feel great and normal. So I am thinking everything is fine.

Like I mentioned before, I am going on a solo mission to Rhode Island this weekend to serve as the Matron of Honor in one of my very best friends, Cassie's, wedding. The wedding is in Newport, Rhode Island on Sunday. I am anxious to leave my little one for the entire weekend, but Steve is looking forward to a daddy/son weekend. I know they will do just fine, and I am looking forward to a little "me" time.

Cassie and I at my bridal shower!

In other VERY good news, my other best friend, Kelsey, and her husband, Steve, just recently found out that they are expecting their first baby on February 29, 2012. I am convinced it is a girl. I am SOOOOO excited for them. Their little one is so blessed to have them and I know will absolutely love being parents!

Here is Kels with Corben when he was just a couple of weeks old.



And this is her husband, Steve, trying to figure out how possible "multi-tasking" is with a baby! hahahaha

That is about it for now. Hope everyone has a great week!

Oh.....Corben goes back at the the end of September for a cardiac followup. I am sure hoping to be blogging again before then, but just to update you on where we are with that :)