7 months of Joy

"Yes, I love sick days when I get to stay home with Mommy ALL DAY and have her all to myself."

Hehe I am hiding my new tooth! (sorry Iphone pics didn't come out too well)

Don't feed the lion, please! He's fierce!

We met Mimi today at the hair salon. WOO WOO Mimi, love your sassy short haircut!

Corbin is seven months today! I am still in shock at how quickly the time has flown by.

While I miss that sweet tiny little baby he once was... everyday with Corbin is a new adventure! Corbin has really blossomed into a sweet little boy (when hes not waking up his Mommy and Daddy at 4:45 a.m. almost daily!) Whenever we are in public he LOVES to get strangers attention. He will stare at them as if to say "Hello, cute baby over here, please pay attention to me!" He also likes to try out his new "roar" on strangers, especially at restaurants and the grocery store. We discovered this new noise last Thursday morning as I was getting ready for work and we had Corbin in the exasaucer. It has a lion on it that roars when you press the button and Corbin pressed it and then growled. Jason and I looked at each other and both said "Did he just roar?" Ever since then he LOVES to show everyone his new noise!

Corbin has a new found LOVE of Kylie, our dog. He just looks at her and starts going into hysterics. Kylie has been wonderful and patient with Corbin and has even endured a few many fur pullings. (I am sure a few of many thousands to come. Poor Kylie!) He also loves roaring at Kylie too!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

Well Corbin is certainly working on one of his front teeth by Christmas!

Yesterday we planted an herb garden in the back yard and spent much of the day either outside or at Home Depot getting plants etc. (Pictures to come later) After we were done planting for the day we went to Central Market to get the yummy tomatillo guacamole sauce that Jason loves because his Mom was coming over. Jason mentioned that Corbin felt like he may have a fever but we weren't sure because 1) we spent most of the day outside and 2) the air system STINKS in our CRV... poor little guy gets NO air back in the back of the car. (on many occasions when I get him out of the car he is sweating profusely... and that's with the air on full blast! Needless to say I want a new car so our son doesn't have to endure the awful Texas heat.)

So when we got home we took his temperature... it was 102.8! I thought something was up because he was not crying or acting sick at all other than feeling really warm. He wasn't fussy or anything. (He also had pooped a bunch a few days in a row and even woke up one night with a dirty diaper and that has only happened once before. So I guess that was a sign too! Mommy needs to read up on these things. Since yesterday I have read that babies getting their first teeth can be fussy at mealtimes and Corbin certainly hasn't wanted to eat solids lately.) Jason went upstairs to take a shower because he had just spread some topsoil over our garden. I started getting Corbin dressed in his p.j.s and when I noticed something white sticking out of his top gums. I felt and sure enough it was a tooth on the top right! His first one and its on the TOP! I was in total shock and ran upstairs to tell Jason because I thought babies all got their first teeth on the bottom! I hadn't even thought to feel around on the top! So I started calling all of my family to let them know this new milestone in Corbin's life. Jason called his step mom Kathy who is a dental hygienist and she said it is rare for children to get their first teeth on the top!

Oh our son likes to do things out of the ordinary like rolling over from back to stomach and stomach to back at the age of three months and crawling just shy of six months! He is already pulling up to standing and he even lets go of things and holds on with just one hand (much to my dismay!) This kid is a daredevil! I swear he will start walking any day now!

Five years ago today I "met" the love of my life!

(haha I just realized Jason likes wearing red/coral colored shirts!)

Our Wedding November 2005.

At a wedding October 2006.

Thinking back on that fateful day five years ago when I got that phone call... and that deep voice saying "Is MacKenzie there?" "This is MacKenzie." "This is Jason Ziaja." (I am thinking who?) I am Wendy Lange's son."

Many of you may not know that Jason and I met because of our parents and my sister. In August of 2003, my sister took her two month old daughter, Payton, to my Dad's laboratory. My dad is a pathologist and at the time was the President of Clinical Pathology Laboratories. Jason's mom, Wendy, is the accountant for the laboratory. We walked around and introduced Payton to all the people my dad works with... he was so proud because Payton was his first grand baby. When we got to Wendy's office, my sister Carrie saw Jason's picture in Wendy's office and said "Oh he is cute, MacKenzie!" I said yes he was and didn't think anything more, at that time.

We went to lunch with my dad and my sister brought up Jason again. My dad said he thought that Jason has a girlfriend. I distinctly remember that I was sad when I heard that... wondering to myself why I was sad about a guy I had never met.

My dad asked me later on if he could give Wendy my phone number to give to Jason and I said yes. My dad gave Wendy a picture of me for Jason to see.. wouldn't you know it was an awful picture of me from 8th grade! (its all he had in his office) I am surprised he even called me!

Back to the phone call.. Jason and I talked for four or so hours and I felt like I had known him my entire life. He asked me out on a date for a week later and we started dating three days after our first date. I knew this was different. I knew I was going to marry him a month into our relationship and were engaged nine months after we started dating.

I am so fortunate to be sharing my life with a wonderful friend, husband, and father to our baby.

I love you Jason, you always know how to make me smile when I have had a bad day! I love waking up next to you every morning and I smile throughout the day thinking about how happy I to be married to you and what a wonderful family we have together.

By the way, Jason saved the paper with my phone number on it and still has it to this day!

Stand by me

As you can see Corbin really loves this box that I put all his toys into the other day. He is able to crawl right up to it and dump it out and pick any toy he wants. We have spent many mornings this week in our p.j's just playing with the toys in this box. (I don't know how we are going to be able to adjust to rushing around on Monday morning! Its only 8:45 a.m. and I could sleep for another 5 hours it seems! But Corbin has other plans!)

"Oh wow, do you see ALL my toys! YES playtime!"

Well last night Corbin decided to grab his toy box and proceeded to use it to help him stand up. Jason had to run and get the camera!

"I'm going to tackle this box!" HUH!

See Dad I am super strong!

Cruisin'

Here is a video of Corbin crawling for the first time last week! We are so proud!

6 months... OH MY!

Just minutes after being born. Hands down this has to be our favorite picture! He looks as if to say "PUT ME BACK IN!"

Getting ready to leave the hospital!

I woke up yesterday thinking "Oh my gosh Corbin is already 6 months!" Where did my tiny little guy go?!" I have enjoyed every minute of being a Mommy to Corbin! I love to see how he changes almost daily. He is now a super active little guy who is crawling pretty much all over the place. He is also pulling up to standing when given the chance as well! We still haven't gotten around to baby proofing. Corby and I were out of town last weekend. (Its our top priority this coming weekend. Along with getting his things for daycare, which he starts on Monday.)

We went to the doctor for his six month check up yesterday. He had to get three shots and an oral vaccine. Poor little guy, I always feel horrible when he cries. I feel helpless! Corbin weighs 16 lbs 15 oz and is 26 and 1/4 inches long. So basically tall and skinny! Just like his daddy! We knew we would have a skinny baby as Jason and I both had trouble packing on the pounds when we were little. Wish that was the case now!

Weekend in Wichita

My family and I originally were going to Wichita, Kansas to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday and have a party for him. Well about a week ago my Mom got a call from her father saying he was in the hospital.

My mom decided to fly up to Dallas on Wednesday and then drive the five hours with her brother to Wichita on Thursday to see her father.

Corbin was so awesome during the eight hour car ride!

Well, as my family was driving to Wichita on Thursday my dad, who is a doctor, called my grandpa's doctor. (who my dad knew from medical school). The prognosis was not good at all. My grandpa's heart was functioning 10-20 percent than that of a normal person and his kidneys and liver were not working right and he had Staph pneumonia. He also did not have any sort of appetite. He also said to one of his sons that he thought he would never leave the hospital alive. We were preparing for the worse. When I walked into the hospital room that day, my grandpa looked as white as a sheet. It was heartbreaking to see him like that. Of course I was nervous and never know what to say in those situations and I say "how are you doing?" I immediately wanted to kick myself. DUH, you don't say that to someone who is sick!

In the hospital waiting room with Boompa. No kids under 10 allowed in the hospital rooms.

When we went to visit my grandpa on Friday he was out of bed and sitting up eating! He had the color back in his face and he looked a lot better! He completely changed overnight. My mom later said she truly believed that since we all came and saw him and showed that we love and support him, he got better. I truly believe that as well. He is now supposed to hopefully be able to come home in the middle of this week.

My grandpa's cake!

I had my cousin Eric take a pictures of all my siblings. They came out kinda blurry but oh well.

Second attempt.

Reese loved playing with Corbin as he CRAWLED on the floor!

Saturday we had the 80th birthday celebration for my grandpa, who was not able to attend, sadly. My sister Merritt made a slide show of his life, which was beautiful, and we videotaped the party and showed them to him later. It was wonderful because we saw a lot of our relatives that we had not seen for many years. My Dad and I had not been back to Wichita since his mom passed away in 1996.

We did some nostalgic activities that both of my parents really enjoyed. We went to a hamburger place, Nuway, where my dad, mom and her brothers grew up on. We also went to the house my mom and her three brothers grew up in. My uncle Jon started walking around the house and checked out the backyard... we were surprised they didn't call the cops! Well the lady who owns the house came out and even let my mom and brothers and a bunch of other family come in and see the house. My mom said that it has barely changed at all in 50 years. The lady even told my mom that some of the same neighbors were still living in their homes and so my mom and her brothers excited, like little children, ran to go talk to them.

The house my Mom grew up in!

At Nuway, My dad loved it!

We are very happy to be home. We missed Daddy very much! Whenever I called Jason I had Corbin "talk" to him. Every time Jason talked Corbin got a HUGE smile on his face, so I know he really missed Daddy! Corbin did really well on the trip. He even stayed up until 11 or so a few nights and then woke up at his usual 7:30 and was not cranky at all.
Even though his routine was thrown off you wouldn't know it. I hope this is an indication that daycare will go well when he starts a week from today. :( I start back at work on the 18th. I am nervous that he will not sleep there at all and once he comes home all he will want to do is sleep. It will be an adjustment for all of us.