Corbin Tucker Christensen

I love this picture of my model baby boy :) He is so handsome...even when he won't smile!

I love this face

CHEESE!

three

This little boy is such an amazing little guy. I feel so lucky that I get to be his momma. He is such a little smarty pants and makes me laugh every day. He asks to go to the cabin about every other day. When I tell him we can't go yet he will say "okay, can we go next week?". If he finds a toy he forgot about he will say "I've been looking for this all day!!" We have been working on our manners, which he is really good at. But if he ever forgets to say please or thank you I always say "What do you say?"...so I asked him to go grab me a diaper for Kinlee the other day and he ran and got it for me and apparently I forgot to say thank you. He turns to me and goes "Now, what to you tell me mom?" haha well he sure caught me on that one! oops. We are so proud of him and all he has accomplished this year. He learned how to go potty all by himself this summer and he has done such a great job. He NEVER pees the bed at nap time, or at bed time. He is a good helper and picks up his toys all by himself. (When he wants to, of course). He is a great big brother to Kinlee (most of the time) and makes sure no one messes with her. He doesn't let anyone steal her toys, except him...lol. He tells me daily "Momma, I like you." I love it. Corb always has to have a hug and a kiss whenever Mom or Dad leaves the house. If you forget, he cries for a half hour. So don't forget. :) He loves watching movies, and all things dinosaur. His preschool teacher, Mrs. Douglas was telling me how much he has improved since the beginning of the school year. Her words, "He will actually color more than a scribble now...and has branched out to other colors besides grey." haha thats my little Corbin boy. He's a stubborn little guy and comes around on his own time. He can almost count to 20 now and he knows all of his colors. (Colors were a big deal because we were starting to think he was color blind...turns out he is not color blind in the least). I love my little sidekick and am so proud of all his accomplishments. Thanks for loving your imperfect Mommy :)

Family Pictures 11/2011

I feel lucky to have so many friends that love photography. We won a free family session from my friend Ashley Locke who owns Locke Photography. I am amazed she was even able to capture one good shot considering Kinlee and Chris didn't feel so hot that day and Corbin was not in the mood for pictures. Ha. Good thing we got some cute pictures of him that I will also post from his 3 year pics (only about 6 months after his third birthday...oops.) Better late than never though!

K was sick that day and you can see it in her eyes here...but still soo cute! 

My blue-eyed babes

My boys

I can't believe Christmas is in 6 days. I love this time of year and remembering the reason for the season. We have so much to be thankful for this year, and so much to look forward to in the coming year. I am thankful for my two children and a loving husband. I don't know what I would do with out them. Merry Christmas to you and yours and we wish you all the best in 2012. 

KJ's 1 yr portraits

So...back in May we had Kinlee Jo's 1 year pictures taken. I am just now posting them (and she is almost 17 months old....) oops. Actually, I just got the c.d so I thought I would upload them. Considering Kinlee was cranky this day...and it also rained all but the 20 minutes it took for us to get these pictures, they turned out cute! Thanks Carissa, we love them. And I can't believe how different Kinlee already looks since we took these pictures. Babies change too fast! :(

I love all of her many faces in these. Captures how many emotions a one year old goes through in just a few minutes. We love our Kinney girl and are thankful to have her in our lives. She balances our family out and her sweet spirit brightens my life daily. If I knew my next baby would have her personality...I would have another one tomorrow. :) Random story- Kinlee and I were at the Verizon store the other day while Corbin was at preschool and some stranger said "Can I just tell you how NICE it is to see a quiet, happy baby for once?!" I took that as a compliment...because I do know how nice it is. Random people have told me on more than a few occasions how mellow and easy going she is...and not to take it for granted. I don't at all, trust me I have her older, wilder, goofy, crazy brother Corbin to compare her to. Ha! Love both my babies and the crazy life we live and love.

1st day of preschool

I wrote this post yesterday but just got around to posting it today.

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Today Corbin started his first day of preschool! He looked so cute and big with his new backpack on I couldn't believe it. How did this day come so fast?! Check out how cute he is :)

I may be a little biased...but that is one handsome kid!! :)

These next ones are all kind of blurry...I'm so sad! Didn't realize it until I uploaded them of course.

"I'm going where again, mom?"

This turkey wouldn't smile.

And his new backpack. So stinkin cute.

It was crazy dropping Corbin off for 3.5 hours this morning! Kinlee and I walked him up to the door and then watched him put his backpack in the bin and then said goodbye. Then K and I went and shopped and just hung out...didn't really know what to do with our time alone. Corbin has preschool twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:30-12. When I picked him up today he ran up to me and layed his head on my shoulder. I asked him if he had fun and his response was "I wasn't really happy there Mom". Aww, I felt so bad. But then I started asking him questions about what they did and he started saying he had fun. They played and he met some new friends (probably a little overwhelming) and made some paper plate faces that resembled them. I'll have to take a picture. I think this will be good for Corbin because he doesn't have a lot of kids that he plays with, so the interaction will be good for him. I hope he is nice and listens to his teacher...and I also hope the kids are nice to him as well.

He is doing great with potty training, but still needs me to wipe him. Still can't believe it took me so long to get him potty trained! It is so nice only have one kid in diapers. Let's hope I never have to have two in diapers at the same time again :) Kinlee is still as sweet as ever but definitely has a sassy, naughty side. If she wants something...she is going to get it...or else she will scream for days. She is climbing on everything now and is 16 months old tomorrow! Crazy. She was only in the 10th percentile for weight at her 15 month check up...she is very petite. Which is weird because I swear she puts down more food than Corbin! Other than that, not much is new in our family. Just trying to survive the rat race of life :D 



Potty Learning

Preschool Starts in one month....

This has kicked us in to high gear with potty training. Given the fact that Corbin has to be be 99% potty trained to be able to go...and hasn't been very close...at ALL...I was beginning to worry. Yesterday I decided to buckle down and start this rollarcoaster. I knew it was going to take a few days of staying home ALL day which is what I think I was putting off most. It's hard to sit home when it is 100 degrees outside and we have passes to the water park. I'm proud to say that: He hasn't worn a diaper since he woke up yesterday morning!! WOW! That is a big accomplishment for us.

Corb did really well going pee pee in the potty but I knew it would be a different story when he had to go poopy. We went through about 6 or 7 pairs of big boy underwear yesterday...but ONLY number 1 accidents!! I tried to have him go poop before his nap...a lot of bribing went on here. I've got to hand it to him though...he tried REALLY hard to squeeze one out (TMI? haha sorry) but it just wasn't happening. He really wanted the surprise I had been promising (even if he didn't know what it was).

So down for our nap we went, with out a diaper. This I thought....was going to be interesting. But, he woke up DRY!! Miracle. I totally thought I would be washing all of his bedding. We tried the potty again right after and then went on playing. I kept a really close eye on him all day and made sure that I would see the signs of an accident coming. The book I read is all about catching them in their accidents and using positive reinforcement to help them. No acting frustrated when we have another accident, no saying "bad boy" or anything like that. It seems to be working, so far so good.

A little while later he wandered off to the potty all by himself and yelled "Mommy!! I pooped! Can I have my surprise now?" I run over super excited and peek in the toilet....Sure enough, he's right! He did poop! HALLELUJUAH! sp? [Sidenote: I never thought I would be screaming and jumping up and down with genuine excitement all over a poop in the potty. haha, oh the joys of parenting] So after this big accomplishment I decided nothing was stopping us. I think my child just really likes to poop in private. Both of his poops yesterday were done on his own, by himself in the bathroom. Chris caught him the second time, and I heard him yelling "Yay buddy, you pooped! Good job!" I know he is ready because of this.  

After a few more accidents (little ones...where he just started to pee and then realized it) we were off to bed with out a diaper. I made sure he didn't have a lot to drink 2 hours before bed time. We emptied his bladder one last time after he brushed his teeth and was sent to bed. Long story short, here we are on day 2 and he woke up dry! I am so proud of my little monkey boy....he is proving to be such a smart and quick little learner. Now I know our potty journey is far from over...(he hasn't had friends distracting him from remembering to go to the bathroom yet) Plus we have yet to travel in public to have to use a public toilet....but for now I am a proud Mama Bear. Thanks Megan for showing us your 3 day potty training book! I haven't followed it to a T, but I know that it has helped us come this far for sure. YAY for no more diapers!!!! 

And for anyone that isn't family..this post is probably super boring unless you are going through the same thing. Let me know you if you want the name of the book. It has helped us a TON. This lady swears that if your child is 22 months or older, 3 days is all you need to potty train. (it's a pretty intense three days though) Here's to finishing the process and no more diapers!! Yeah buddy!

Corbin Tucker is 3!



I still am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my baby boy is now three years old! In the blink of an eye we have watched him grow into such a big boy! He has lost all of his baby-ish features...we even got rid of the binky finally! The day he turned three we finally took it away. It might be silly but it was a little sad to see it go. It was the last "baby" thing about him. Well...except for his diapers....which we are working on right now :) Oh the joys of potty training. We have got number one down...its number two that we would rather run and hide for. Sweet.



Here is a little trip down memory lane of my little Corbin boy:



Newborn



1 year old

 








2 years old





3 years old!

Here are some pictures from his Pirate Birthday party that we had on his actual birthday.

The bounce house was definitely the highlight of the party!

His Pirate cake from Fred Meyer's!

Such a cute pirate boy!

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Cousins Avery and Lily

Kinners with a pirate tattoo on her cheek

She just wanted to drink the water that was dripping from the hose! Silly girl.

Krewzer the Pirate

Pinata time

This was the first year we actually threw a party for Corb and he loved it. He got really side tracked opening presents...each one was so cool that he just wanted to stop and play after each one. He had quite a few friends come over to celebrate his day. Thanks to everyone who came!

It's crazy how big Corbin's vocabulary has gotten. Every day I find myself laughing at the crazy things he says. When we were in McCall over the 4th of July his cousin Lily forgot her swimsuit and we were heading to the pool. Corbin said to her "Lily (pronounced Lee-ly) you can borrow my sim suit if you want!" Lily just looked at me and we both started cracking up. I told him that girls can't borrow boy's swimsuits, but it was still sweet of him to offer. Corb can be the sweetest boy in the world and also the very opposite. He is usually a really great big brother and looks out for his little sister. He does have his moments though, when he will just push Kinlee down for no reason. I suppose it wouldn't be a real sibling relationship if it were any different though, huh? I love my little buddy. He is still the best cuddler. He comes in our room every morning and just rubs my arm until I wake up. We watch an episode of Caillou and then by that time Kinlee is usually up, so we start our day. Corbin will start preschool in the Fall, which he has to be 99% potty trained for...so we are working on it. He has still been doing his survival swim lessons twice a week, but we decided to take the rest of July and August off since we will be out of town so much. Corbin is such a little fishy...and still has absolutely NO fear of the water. He scares the crap out of us almost every time we go swimming.

Chris left this morning for his big fishing trip in Alaska with his Dad and a few family friends. They will be gone for a week. I am flying solo with the kids all week so we have decided to road trip to Utah with my parents Tues- Sat. We will go stay with Great Grandma Siddoway and help her with some yard work and whatnot...and probably hit up Lagoon. My kids don't even know how spoiled they are. Who gets to go to Disneyland and Lagoon in the same summer? Lucky ducks. We are excited to see Cori and Nate too. I made the mistake of telling Corbin we were going to their house and he has been asking almost everyday if it is time to go to Cori and Nate's yet? Ha.

I'm thankful for a healthy, happy family these days. We are enjoying making new friends here in Merville. It's official...we love summer and want it to stay forever! Hope everyone else is having a great summer!