Hard Hats Still Required!

I have had many requests for picture updates of the basement so here goes. We have been at this remodel thing since the beginning of January and minus a few set backs (ie: Stewart the"Inspection Nazi" who is bound and determined to make this project difficult for us) it is coming along very well. My dad and brothers have worked their fingers to the bone and spent countless number of hours making sure that the job is done well. All of the sheetrock and trim is up and we are just about ready to start painting....yeah!!! Which also means that the dust will soon be starting to settle. I never could have imagined just how much dust that I would have to contend with in my upstairs with this job. It is literally going to take me years to get it out of all the nooks and crannys, but I have no doubt that it is going to be worth it.

I am STILL fighting a bidding war with the cabinet dudes and I think that I am losing the battle. It is truely amazing how much things cost these days. Wow...I certainly just made myself feel really old with that one! I am so grateful to my dad for all his help in making the thousands of decisions that have gone into this remodel. I don't know what I would do without him.

My Baby's 18 Month Old

It is so cliche, but seriously it is crazy how fast time flies. I looked at Corbin today and thought to myself how amazing that it is that a little person could grow so fast. So much has changed in such a small amount of time and there is so much that I am already starting to forget. I decided that I needed to write down some of the small little things about Corb's so that I will always remember my little baby.
1. From day one he has always been extraordinarily strong and coordinated. He never really was that limp little baby that would just lay still and cuddle. When he was only a few weeks old, if you would hold him up he would jump up and down on your lap as fast as he could go. I will never forget taking him to get his picture when he was two weeks old and the photographer being completely amazed that he was holding his own head up. When it finally came time to crawl, he only spent a few weeks scooting around before he decided it was much to slow paced for him and at 8 months....he stood up and started walking and he hasn't slowed down since. He definitely is all boy!
2. His first word was...debatably..."Dada," with "Mama" soon to follow. One of the next words to crop up was "Bah" or better known as "Boo." We had gone to the sand dunes with Dad and Sonja and I had been running around the truck and scaring him by yelling "Boo." The whole way home from that trip and for several days to follow he continued to shout "Bah." One night while he was in the tub I finally figured out what he was saying and he got quite a kick out of it. Since that time he has gradually increased his vocabulary to include: backpack (from Dora), SpongeBob (of course), grandma, grandpa, CeCe, nana, mine, shoes, truck, WallE, that, more, ahh oh, uh huh, Mac (from Cars), kitty, and my favorite of all MeMe (aka: Binki). Of course, there are many more words that belong to his own little language that he frequently uses to tell you all kinds of stories or to scold you when he feels that you need it. It is hilarious and absolutely adorable to watch all his little facial expressions as he goes on and on.... I can't wait until I can understand what is going on in that little head of his.
3. He has been a little slow to get teeth but he now has 4 on top, 4 on bottom and 4 molars for a total of 12 teeth. He doesn't really love to get them brushed, but we bought a new SpongeBob toothbrush so hopefully we will learn to like it a little more.
4. Well it's no surprise that he is big for his age. He has consistently been in the 95-99% for his age in both height and weight....you would think I would be skinny by now packing him around. He currently weights 30.5 lbs and is inches tall. He has huge hands and feet just like his daddy. From the start, I have had trouble getting shoes to fit him cuz his feet have been so fat that they didn't fit into most shoes. He is currently in a size 8 shoe and we are getting close to outgrowing them as well.
4. One of my most favorite times with Corbin is rocking him at night and putting him to bed. He often gets very silly just before bed when he is really tired. Literally, just looking at him will send him into hysterics. Once we are finished laughing and having fun and he decides he is exhausted I get my few chances to just hold him and cuddle him. Most of the day he is just way to busy to stop for more than a minute or two to give loves so I have to soak up my moments with him whenever and however I can. Once he is asleep and I lay him in his bed, it is so fun to just sit and watch him sleep. His little face is so precious. For some reason, it is in these times when he is quietly sleeping that I am reminded that he is still my "little" baby.
5. Most of all, Corbs is just a very happy and lovable little boy. He has such a personality to him. I can already tell that he is going to be a little jokester just like his dad. He brings such happiness into our home and we are so blessed to have our sweet little "Scooter"

The Bee Gee's

Alright....so anyone who really knows me knows the real 70's girl that lives inside of me. Today I was searching through my music for something to listen to and I came across one of my many Bee Gee's albums and I just had to put it in. You know there is nothing to lighten your mood and make you want to get up and dance quite like some good ole' disco music.

So today I updated my playlist to more accurately reflect my music favorites and it just wouldn't be right if I left out my all time favorite band....The Bee Gee's. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do :)

Wow...We Have Walls!

I came home from work today to find that I have a basement full of walls. It was so exciting to finally see the layout of our new basement in real life and not just on a piece of paper. This crew is really flying. They have worked so hard the last week & a half and it really shows. Minus a little furnace problem the other night everything is going very well and we really haven't run into many problems....knock on LOTS of wood!!! Thanks everyone for working so hard. This kind of progress makes the inconvenience of living through construction much more bearable.

New Window HOLES!!!

So today we have had quite a crew at our house cutting out huge chunks in our foundation to facilitate new BIG beautiful windows that won't be here for WEEKS. Go figure! Of course, today we have had rain and snow to make the whole process even more enjoyable for everyone. The big concrete cutting machines have been at our house from 8:30 this morning until 6:00 tonight and there has been so much noise and disruption that poor Corbs hasn't been able to nap all day and is so tired that he can't even see straight. Hopefully we won't have many more of these kinds of days for his sake.
Today was Layne's first day working his fingers to the bone with the rest of the crew. They got all the windows cut, the window wells dug, and most of the mess cleaned up so now all they have to do is come pull the extra cement out of the wall to make the opening. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end when we have all that extra light shining in the basement and new windows to look out of. I can't wait to see the final product!

Construction Begins!

Holy Cow! So we are officially under construction. My dad, Ryan, Blake and a few other guys showed up today to demolish the basement. I had no idea that we were going to be doing so much today and I was totally unprepared. My whole basement still had to be cleaned out so it was a very stressful and busy morning. My stuff is now spread from hell to nowhere and will be that way for at least 6 weeks or more. Horray for me :-)!f course, I am very sad to part with all the beautiful original decor such as the red velvet wallpaper, the one of a kind duck mural, the orange and yellow metallic wallpaper and the psychedelic painted doors and light fixtures, but I look forward to a new basement and most of all BIG closets!!!I will keep you posted of our progress!!!

Christmas 2008

We had an awesome Christmas this year. Last night we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Reed's for our Christmas Eve party. We had great food and lots of fun. Corbie wasn't as interested in opening his gifts as he was climbing on everything possible and trying to mimic everything that Brycen was doing. Everyone was there including Arnauld's brother Kevin and Matt so we had a great time hanging out together. Corb's spent quite a long time just hangin out on Grandpa's lap. He sure loves his grandpa!

This morning we had everyone on my side of the family over to our house for a Christmas breakfast and gift exchange. We have had quite a few inches of snow fall over the course of the last 24 hrs, but despite it all everyone was able to make it safely. Thanks to Grandma Bateman's cooking expertise we had our traditional Ebelskievers along with a baked ham and Monkey bread. We all took turns opening gifts and I think everyone had a great time and I am grateful that everyone came. It really made Christmas special for us.

Corbs and Cierra were spoiled to death by everyone. Corbin got a cool train table and a Shake and Go track, among many other things, that entertained even the bigger boys for hours. Cierra got a little purse with a dog that she was carrying around on her arm like a little princess. It was so cute. I'm not quite sure what we are going to do with all of this stuff, but Corbs sure loves it. Layne and I got each other new IPhones and we are both acting like a bunch of little kids with our new toys. It is totally amazing the things that these little devices will do and we don't even know the half of it yet.

This evening we visited Grandma Bateman and the rest of the clan at her house for yummy homemade ice cream and candies. We were able to talk with Brian while we were there which was lots of fun. He was sunbathing on the top of his apartment in Florida today for his Christmas celebration (wouldn't that be rough?).

Afterwords, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Green. Grandpa was been sick today so they weren't able to come for breakfast this morning so we stopped by late to wish them a Merry Christmas. The snow was really coming down, but the beamer was a champ and just moved right along and we were able to get there with no problem.

Thank you to all that made this Christmas so wonderful for me and my family. It truely was one of the best Christmas's that I can remember. Merry Christmas to you all. We love you!!!