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!