Daddy's Home!!!

Curtis finally returned from Bahrain last night at 6:30pm after 6 months over there. Korbyn and I spent all day anxiously waiting. Korbyn kept saying "daddy" all day, and when it was after noon, he started getting quite fussy (probably because I started getting impatient). So at 6pm we finally drove over to the gate on base where he would arrive. Korbyn heard the plane, looked over and with a smile on his face yelled "DADDY". Of course, while waiting on Curtis to get off the plane, Korbyn peed on Tami (a friend of ours). So we had to go to the car (parked like a mile away-seemed like) and change his diaper and clothes. I guess it was perfect timing though, because as soon as we got back to the gate, Curtis was walking out. Korbyn couldn't stop loving on him, although he didn't have much to say. He was just taking it all in I guess. It blows my mind how much they look alike. Its almost scary. They are identical. Korbyn kept hugging Curtis and patting him on the back. It was really sweet. They really missed each other, I also missed Curtis as well. It was nice to finally be together as a FAMILY again. Of course, Curtis really has his days and nights mixed up. So we went to sleep about 9 or 10pm and then Curtis was up at 1am. I woke up because he was sitting up on the computer, and I am not ready to miss one second with him, so I couldn't sleep either. Korbyn woke up about 3am. Curtis got him out of bed, and brought him to our bed, where he wasn't so sure about Curtis touching him or holding him. So I took over. Curtis tried to put his hand on Korbyn, but Korbyn pushed his hand away (he is a cranky boy when he wakes up in the middle of the night). However, today he is a real daddy's boy! He wants his daddy in his sight and he wants to be held by him alot. He is warming up, but definately remembers him. i can tell he really missed him. Thank god that Curtis made it home safely & that our family is back together!!!! Now to prepare for our move to Virginia.

where does time go?

It literatelly seems like yesterday when Curtis came home from Bahrain and I was nearly 7 months pregnant, still waiting on Korbyn to get here. Curtis is now getting ready to end his second tour to Bahrain, and Korbyn is 17 and a half months old. Where did all that time go? It is amazing how fast he has grown up, and how grown up he really is. In addition to everything he has been saying...He now says "uh oh" "no" (like it is going out of style), "kitty" "grandma" (more like DAM-MAW), "drink", "Hella" (aka Hello) "yeah", he can tell you exactly how a snake goes on command. "How does a snake go Korbyn?" and you instantly hear "Ssssss!" Snakes have always been his favorite animal. Lets just hope he never finds one to bring in my house! Cause I will freak! Snakes are my least favorite animal..I don't even like the fake ones (I say that with no exaggeration--ask my husband). Korbyn misses his daddy quite a bit. Over the last 6 months I have woken up to Korbyn crying "daddy", and it breaks my heart. But that is something we have to deal with as long as Curtis is in the military. Deployments are part of the job description as much as we hate it. But this deployement will come to an end in less than 3 weeks now. So as you can imagine, Korbyn and I are extremely excited to see Curt. I added the picture of all of us right before Curtis left. Korbyn was 11 months old.

So it's been a while.......

It has been a LONG time since I have gotten on here. Sorry. I have had my hands pretty full with my 14 month old. He is a mess. getting into EVERYTHING. He is now a walking toddler. He still falls alot, but is getting better. He just started last month. He now says "mommy", "Daddy", "Nana", "no no", "yeah", "hey", "hi", "bye", and at times he will just spit out phrases like "umm good" and "I can go". The week he started walking he walked to my sister and said "I did it!"

I love my baby boy! He has definately got a little attitude. But he has the sweetest side in the world. Can still melt hearts. I know he always will! :)

It is definately not easy being without Curtis. I sometimes feel like a single parent (well at the time I guess I am)...Definately not by choice. I can't wait for Curtis to come home. It's been a little over 2 months now (4 left) YUCK! Time has really slowed down as far as this deployment goes. Seems to be going by fast as far as Korbyn growing up. I don't have any pictures of him on my computer but I do have videos...I am going to attempt to add one at the end of this......don't be too mad if it doesn't work. This is not the video I was trying to load by the way, so I will try a new one...

2nd MRI.....

This past Monday we had a 2nd MRI to see where we stand on Korbyn's situation.....I got a phone call from the doctor yesterday morning, and it wasn't what I have been praying to hear. Korbyn still has encephalitis (which is swelling of the brain--definately not good). They also discovered 2 more spots that are unidentified as to what they are right now. We will have to go to the Children's Hospital in May for a follow up and I expect another MRI soon after that appointment. It's a mild case, so the dr's aren't overly concerned. He looks and plays like a normal 11 month old, and is actually doing more than he is supposed to for his age. I have faith that God will cure this in time (HOPE that it will be soon).

On another note, Curtis is leaving next weekend to go overseas for 6 months. Not excited about that.... :( I will miss him alot, but so I can still see him everyday, he bought me a new labtop with a built in webcam! :)

Blue Angels

Yesterday we took Korbyn to see the Blue Angels airshow. He is still too little to enjoy that kind of stuff though, but we still all had fun. He is doing alot better. He would be 100% if he didn't catch this dang cold. He has had a runny nose for the past few days. I took him to the dr but they said it's just allergies. (Everyone has them down here now...even me. YUCK!) Korbyn got a little, tiny sunburn on his face, and I got a sunburn everywhere. Shows how much sunblock really does work. Korbyn had it on (except on his face. Not sure what I was thinking not putting it on his face as soon as we got there, I waited too long I guess, he did have it on, just not at first).

Of course it was really windy...so without his hat, this is what he looked like......ha! It was funny too cause we had to buy him headphones for his ears, cause the jets fly right over the top of the crowd, and it is LOUD! He looked so cute in his headphones.

Lots of Stuff Going on.....

It seems like we have lived int the hospital and Dr. offices the last 3 weeks....
Dr. offices for the first week because of unexplained fever, never did get an answer as to why he had a fever, followed by a seizure on Sunday night after his fever broke Sunday morning. Got flown to Arkansas Children's Hospital by Med Flight on Monday, and Spent 4 days running tests on him. He was diagnosed with Encephalitis, or inflimation of the brain. The virus he had apparently spread to his brain and that is probably what caused his seizure. I can't tell you how scared I was when my baby stopped breathing in my arms. Even though it wasn't long, it felt like hours before he started breathing again.

So since we thought he was better, we came home this last sunday, 6 days ago, and he was fine, thought he was finally over it. Wednesday morning I heard Korbyn over his monitor wining, so I went to look at him in his room, and he was sleeping, so I left him alone, and went back to bed. He kept wining so I told Curtis I should probably go get him. When I did he was scalding hot. And later in the day I checked his temperature rectally and it was 103.5, so I called his pediatrician and took him in. Since his blood count was 28.6 thousand they told us to go admit him to Driscoll Children's Hospital here in town (the only children's hospital in town). So for the 2nd time...we are back in the hospital. Another spinal tap (lumbar puncture), IV that took them 45 minutes and 3 different nurses to put in ( I was so mad that they kept poking him, without getting a sucessful IV in him). He was screaming so hard he almost made himself throw up. I am surprised I held it together..I wanted to cry for him. They took alot of blood cultures, we still don't have an answer as to what was going on. We were discharged Friday. We go to his pediatrician tomorrow, they are supposed to have our results. So we'll see. For now, he is back to himself. Very cranky though, but I believe it is because he is about to get a TOOTH...HIS FIRST TOOTH! Crazy though, it's on top, and not the middle one on top, it is the top tooth to the left side of his center teeth.

On a brighter note, Korbyn got his first haircut on March 31st! He felt like such a big boy! He did so good too! Until the stylist got the clippers and started using them close to his ears, then he freaked! HA! So you can imagine when she busted out the blow dryer to blow off the loose hair, he freaked again. It looks so adorable. Now his hair isn't in his eyes and hopefully he will stop being called a girl.

Hospital Stay

Just wanted to give everyone an update and story of what happened to Korbyn.

We are in the Little Rock Children's Hospital...and have been since Monday.

Korbyn had a little fall on Sunday night and had a seizure. They say he fell because of the seizure, not he had the seizure because he fell. He has been on seizure medicine since Tuesday, and it is making him EXTREMELY HYPER! He is jumping off the sides of his crib. However he is pretty wobbly, the seizure affected his balance. So we went backwards a little bit in his attemp to learn to walk. He seems a little better at keeping his balance today....expect us to be here a few more days, because they did a chest x-ray and found he has pneumonia. In the MRI, they found a virus that spread to his brain, which they call Encephalitis. He seems to be acting like his self...other than the standing. And he is wobbly when he sits too. Curtis came in from his deployment on Tuesday. Thank God for that...I was a wreck handling it without him. Watching him go through so many painful tests.

Please keep him in your prayers. If I find out anymore I will be sure and let you know.

We love you all.

Love,
Brittany, Curtis, and Korbyn

PS. I am at the hospital and have no way of putting pictures on here....will get some as soon as we get out.

Standing....

Korbyn finally started pulling up all the way to his feet...before it was just to his knees. I can't believe the progress he has made in just the last few weeks....he has started clapping, waving, saying a few words ("dada"-only twice, "mama"-only once, "hi"-when he waves, "yay"-everytime he claps almost) crawling, pulling up, and now pulling up to stand. Everything he goes to now, he stands up. I am so proud of him! Also, he just got his room back....Travis has been deployed overseas, and so he moved all his stuff to storage, and Korbyn now has his own room. He is sleeping fine...I am not! Ha! I wasn't so excited about the idea of him not being right next to me in his crib anymore..and the move to his own room was a bit sad for me (but I am holding up fine). He has been sleeping in his own room for 3 days now, and with the monitor right beside me, I am at peace. His most favorite thing about having his own room is the mirrors that are in it. He loves to see himself in the mirror, and he kisses himself all the time..

Korbyn At The Beach

I decided Wednesday that I wanted to take Korbyn to the beach and take some pictures of him, and his first look at the ocean.... So I wanted to share with you a few of my favorites. He needs a haircut...I know. He will have it cut on his birthday..but not short. I love his hair the way it is now. I will probably just get it out of his eyes. He has perfect beach hair. So as far as him liking the beach goes, he loved it, until the water hit him...then he couldn't get out quick enough. Of couse I was standing 2 feet away incase of any falls. It was alot of fun. Hopefully when the water warms up this summer he will like it better.

Let's start from the beginning.....

I just wanted to take everyone back to the beginning, and share with you the happiness that we have with our precious little boy. I would also like to share some pictures from the happiest day of my life, to now, which still make me happy. I can't help but smile every time I look into Korbyn's sweet face.

Korbyn at about 2 days old.....3lbs 14oz...So tiny, so fragile. I was scared to death. The Dr. made a quick decision to go ahead and have Korbyn born 5 weeks early, because he just wasn't growing anymore inside me. At first I was so ready, and then all these questions start to set in when I realized it was really going to happen. I was really going to be a mommy and Curtis was really going to be a daddy. WOW! Will my baby be okay? Will I be a good mother? Am I really ready to take on all the challenges that motherhood brings? And then I laid, shaking as the doctor's cut me open, at that point more worried about how my baby would be when he came out. That he would breathe okay, and wouldn't have to be put on any kind of support. Praying that God would make every single thing okay and give me the strength to deal with anything that would come up. About 5 or 10 minutes after they started, I was looking at Curtis, and he looked down at me and start to cry, I knew Korbyn was here. I couldn't see him and didn't even know he was out. Then I looked over to my left and saw this tiny baby with his hands and feet in the air, crying, and I couldn't help but tear up because he was MY baby! They wrapped him up and brought him over to me. I just kissed him with tears in my eyes. I can't explain that feeling. I still get that feeling when I look at him. Those of you who are parents know what I'm talking about. For those of you who aren't parents....look forward to it, it is the best feeling in the world. God answered my prayers and Korbyn was never on any type of Oxygen, feeding tubes, etc. Even after the Dr. told us Korbyn would be in the hospital for 5 weeks. (till his due date) he was out in 10 days. God is awesome! Babies are such a blessing. I have been so blessed to have a healthy baby who is growing and developing perfectly.

1 month old...about 5lbs 14oz Still little and still in preemie clothes. I am adding a little video so you can hear his cry. It was so soft. I could barely hear him. It seems loud because my sister was filming right in his face!

Korbyn at 2 months.....around 8lbs 3 months.... around 10 or 11 lbs 4 months...around 12lbs 5 months..... Happy Halloween! I did his pictures at home...

For all of you wondering where I got these done....It is by my Canon Rebel XTI that Curtis bought me for Christmas '07 when he was overseas. 6 Months...This was the first time he ever used a sippie cup, and he did really good. He also started sitting up this month. 7 months.... Merry Christmas! 8 months.....This month Daddy had to get his eye surgery. PRK. So he doesn't have to wear glasses or contacts anymore. The surgery was a complete success and now his vision is 20/15. We spent a week with Aunt B and Uncle Tom in San Antonio. Visited the Rainforest Cafe (which was a blast--after Korbyn realized the animals weren't real and stopped crying.) Walked the Riverwalk and went to the San Antonio Zoo. 9 months... He is 19lbs exactly right now, 29.5 inches tall. Korbyn is now a pro-crawler. He waves and says "hi". Claps constantly and tries to say "yay" when he does. He has said "dada" twice and "mama" once. Stands up by holding on to the trail in his crib (today he got brave and let go--only to fall down). He is extremely tickilish (expecially on his sides). He has the cutest laugh I have ever heard in my entire lifetime. He shakes his head no at everything when he is sitting in his high chair and in a shopping cart. But will also do that when I say something to him. I think he has a great understanding of what "no" means...but thinks it is funny, cause he laughs at me everytime I say it to him. He is into absolutely EVERYTHING he shouldn't be... Don't worry, we have child-proofed the apartment. If you can't calm him down, give him a spoon..doesn't matter what kind, he will shut up instantly. Plastic ones are preferrable for mommy! He is a stinker! But I love him more and more everyday!

BBQ

I know I haven't been keeping everyone updated that well this last week. Lots has been going on. Korbyn is keeping me pretty busy crawling EVERYWHERE now. He is quick! He stood up for the first time by himself on Wednesday morning. Curtis woke up and was sitting on the side of our bed talking to Korbyn and he just popped right up. I didn't get a picture. It was too quick and he fell down before we got the camera. Of Course! Monday, Curtis and Travis (our roommate) were off work and decided to have a BBQ for all their close friends. Don't think Korbyn didn't get a BBQ Chicken wing. Cause he did and LOVED IT! It was fun to watch him eat like a big boy till he bit off a piece as big as my entire thumb and I jumped off the couch and dug it out so fast it scared Korbyn, then it hurt his feelings. Curtis got some cute pictures of his new experience of eating chicken.

For those of you who do not know Travis here is a picture of him with Korbyn.

Vacuum Nightmare

Last night Korbyn was playing in the floor with his Pooh bear that crawls and he was so content. Curtis decided to scare him with the vacuum and so he rolled the vacuum up right behind Korbyn and started it. Korbyn dove for cover! Ha! That is seriously something we should send to America's Funniest Videos! We laughed so hard we cried. Korbyn never cried. I think he was too scared to do anything but save himself! Curtis felt bad afterward. Like, what kind of parents are we? Korbyn will be having vacuum nightmares. Poor baby. I am trying to figure out my video camera so I can let you see the video. I am going to mess with it today, as much as I can and figure how to get them over to my computer so that I can share more vidoes with you all.

Also, Korbyn had his first taste of real green beans yesterday. He has been eating baby food since he was 3 months old. But I finally got brave enough to give him some finger foods. He just played in them. I put one in his mouth and he swallowed it. So, I am going to try again until he can get it himself. He still doesn't have teeth yet, so I was kinda reluctant to try it, but now that I see he isn't going to choke I will keep giving them too him until he has it down.

Another milestone we have reached is pulling himself up. He will pull himself up onto his knees, not quite his feet yet. He is getting into EVERYTHING! Especially Curt's Playstation! It's his favorite. He can turn it on and eject the games now. About 2 days ago I walked out of the room and came back to Korbyn holding a CD in his hands and chewing on it. Slobber EVERYWHERE! He didn't scratch it. Thank God.

Korbyn is one COOL dude!

I would like to start off by saying, Korbyn is the coolest little dude around! He loves pulling Curt's hat off of him and chewing on it. And when he wears it he looks so darn cute! What can I say, the kids got style! HA! By the way, he pulled it over to the side by himself!

We had an Ice Cream Night (as I like to call it) at Marble Slab Creamery! UMMM!!!! We went with Mike & Leah, our good friends and neighbors. Korbyn absolutely loves ice cream! I was feeding it to him by spoon, but then I decided to let him just lick it off. Which was cute BUT messy. He had it all over his shirt when we left. Mike and Leah are in the picture with Korbyn! I love that we are making some good friends :), but hate that we are going to have to leave them all soon! :(

The past few days....

I just wanted to share some pictures I have taken over the last few days...


This shirt says "I don't have to take this, I'M GOING TO MY GRANDMA'S" It is just so cute! Of course, it came from my mom! She is always sending him outfits. Thanks mom! I can't believe he is a few days from 9 months old and is already wearing size 12 month clothes and he has been for a few months.









This shirt says "Grandpa's Little Man"---->

My dad got this one for Korbyn for Christmas. I really wanted him to wear it yesterday, but he slobbered ALL over it before we left to go eat lunch with Amber! I'm just wondering if I will ever be able to buy any clothes for him?? He has sooo many that he doesn't really need anything, and his closet is already packed full of his clothes..just 6 to 12 months. I have already had to pack all the rest of his clothes away as he grows out of them, because he has too many! Korbyn and I enjoyed a lunch with Amber at CiCi's Pizza! (I spelled it right now Amber--HAHA!) Korbyn was a little fussy for the lunch, but probably because he was sitting in a high chair that we pulled close to the table and he kept leaning down to chew on the buckle, and hit his head on the table... lol! It wasn't hard, but he gets his feelings hurt easily! Amber came over to hang out with us after lunch for a little bit, and Korbyn was in a better mood! We are thankful to have Amber, she is a great friend, and she is also the Assistant Children's Pastor at our church!

Last night I decided that we should try the mohawk again. But his hair is sooo long now that it was extremely difficult to get it to stay up with just water, and I didn't want to put gel in it before he went to bed. He had already had his bath. So I twisted it to keep it up with just water and it finally stayed! I love it! His hair has really grown. He will get it cut on his birthday!

This picture was taken this morning! I love mornings with Korbyn! He is so full of energy and is always in a good mood! If only it were like that all day(the good mood part). I love this picture because he just looks so sweet! He is a sweet boy! I love him more than he will ever know!

Korbyn Loves Mariah

I have started babysitting a 5 week old little girl, Mariah, who Korbyn adores. He always wants to hold her and touch her. And believe it or not, he is very soft with her, and not too jealous to see his mommy holding another baby instead of him. Since he is so good and soft with her, I decided to take a picture of them. He put his hand around her and held her head and leaned up against her and gave the biggest smile. It was the perfect picture. He didn't have a shirt on, because he was eating his teething cookie and got it ALL OVER HIMSELF! So i just took it off.

When she started Crying he looked at her and started talking to her..soo cute! Like he was trying to tell her not to cry or something.

Some more exciting news: Korbyn crawled for the first time yesterday! I was in the floor with him and he was on his hands and knees rocking (like always) and so I got in a crawling position too and started moving away from him and he followed. It was only for a few seconds. But it is definately progress.

New Cats

Today we got 2 cats for Korbyn. I am not a big fan of cats, but these seem to be pretty calm. Curtis has a co-worker who is being transferred to Japan, and so we took the cats so they wouldn't have to go to a shelter. Korbyn doesn't seem to care too much about them. They're names are Gimpy/the tiger stripped cat on the top (he is 4 years old) and Kirra/the calico cat on the bottom (who is 9 months old). They had their names already, so we aren't going to change them. Gimpy is definately more friendly than Kirra, she seems to be really shy, and scared right now. She hasn't even came out to play, she is hiding in our room...but hopefully she will come around. We will see how it goes.

I Am Amazed by Him

Korbyn is waving now, but it's not a real wave, when he sees anyone his hand goes straight up in the air and he will hold it there for a while. HA! As if they don't see him or get the point! Also today while I was watching him play he was trying to crawl around and all of the sudden he stands up on his feet (with his hands still on the floor of course) for a good 5 seconds or more. I finally got a picture, it was the cutest thing I have ever seen and the bravest thing he has ever done (so far)! :) I am just overly amazed at the things he does. I will try to get a picture of him waving as soon as I catch him doing it again.

It is crazy how such a little thing like a smile or a babble can just melt your heart. But it does everytime I look at his little face and he smiles at me or every little word he tries to say. I love my little boy more than I could ever imagine loving anyone. He is so tiny, but yet, has soo much of my heart. I am so grateful to have the chance to be able to stay home with Korbyn and spend all the time I can with him. It is a hard job and sometimes it is so stressful I want to pull my hair out but I would not change it for the world. I am also thankful for Curtis for allowing me to stay home and for supporting our family so well. He is the best husband and daddy in the world. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else in my life right now. I am perfectly happy right where I am. With an amazing husband and a beautiful little boy.

Keeping Up With Korbyn

Korbyn is a big fan of everything he is not supposed to touch! I could name alot of things, but his favorite thing to get into is the surround sound that is on the bottom shelf of our TV stand. He will go up to it and turn it on and it will be really loud and scare the crap out of him. So this morning, I was looking on the computer and he got really quite (like babies/kids do when they are doing something they know they shouldn't) and I leaned back in my computer chair and tipped right over backwards...luckily I caught myself with my hip or that would of hurt! ha! Now that he is mobile, I can't turn my head for a minute or he is somewhere he shouldn't be! And he always does it with a big smile on his face!