Sleep is Good...

After letting him cry it out a couple of times, Corbin has finally started letting me sleep at night! He wakes up just once - about 3 am. Four nights in a row, I've actually gotten enough sleep. He's also napping better. He's found his thumb and uses it to put himself back to sleep. I don't mind too much right now, but when it's time to break him of the habit...I'll worry about it when the time comes. I'm just glad to feel like I'm once again in the land of the living!

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was the warmest yet! We enjoyed a muggy 85 degrees - enough to make anyone hot and sweaty. Eww! Friday night, Jeff and Bryant carved a pumpkin to go near our front door. I drew the faces on the poor little pumpkins "Jack" decided to have for dinner. Bryant liked getting his hands into the pumpkin guts. Jeff liked using his dremel to carve the face. I enjoyed not having to be the one cleaning up afterward. Jeff started off Saturday building a cabinet for his garage using the workbench he built earlier this month. (No more woodworking projects cluttering my kitchen counters - hurray!) Around 5:30, Bryant and Corbin got ready and posed for their shutterbug mom. Okay, Bryant posed. Corbin slumped and refused to smile. I think he was still irked that I woke him from his nap. In my defense, I think a three-hour nap was too long anyway! At six-thirty, wondering where all the trick-or-treaters were, we wandered outside and explored our neighbor's haunted house he set up in his garage. He seriously had ten to twelve life-sized Halloween figures that talked, moved and/or sang positioned between sheets of plastic. He even had a huge blow-up archway. Needless to say, they were the most popular house in the neighborhood. We had easily double the number of trick-or-treaters this year. They didn't really start until about seven, but I was out of candy by eight! I kept getting ambushed by groups of a dozen or more kids. Next year, I'll either buy twice as much or just hang out in my neighbor's driveway. That seemed to be where the party was anyway.
As for the rest of the month...Corbin had his two-month appointment and weighed in at 13 lbs, 7 oz. The kid is growing like a weed! He's started smiling for everything - bathtime, diaper changing, cuddling, etc. On Friday, he laughed his first real laugh. During his bath, of course, just like his big brother did. We've discovered a fun game for him. I build a tower of cups and put it within his reach. Corbin reaches over and carefully tips it over, then looks at me for approval. Once I start clapping, he smiles really big. He also loves to hold any toy that makes noise and wave it around. This kid doesn't stop moving!
Bryant and Corbin love to spend time together. We tried Corbin in an exersaucer someone gave us. Bryant would push the buttons to make the music play, then dance. Corbin absolutely loved it. He tried moving to the music, too. He thinks his big brother is really funny.
At Bryant's pack meeting this month, he received some more awards, including a couple of beads and a belt loop. He loves being in scouts. He especially loves being able to pass off something new. Only a half-dozen more things to pass off before he gets his Wolf badge! I'm so proud of him. And as a special note, he's almost finished reading the third Harry Potter book. He started the first one a few weeks ago and he's making his way through the series. Jeff just shakes his head in amazement and tells me Bryant is definitely my kid.
A couple of weeks ago, we took a drive out to Suwanee State Park. Okay, so we actually drove all the way to Valdosta, Georgia, but decided as we drove through town it wasn't a place we wanted to stop. However, Suwanee State Park was on the way home. It was a nice, cool day and low humidity, so it was perfect to get out of the car and take the stroller on a hike on a trail that was definitely NOT made for a stroller. Fun, fun, fun. Despite the adventure of navigating the stroller over and around giant tree roots, it was absolutely beautiful. We're thinking of going back with the fifth-wheel soon. That's it for now. I think I've pushed the limit on how long I can do something without Corbin fussing.