Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Voice

I have been watching The Voice on Hulu this last week or so. It has got me thinking about my voice. I have been trained to sing in choirs, and to sing Broadway type stuff, but other than that I haven't really tried to sing anything else. In other words, I don't really have a style for my solos, should I want to sing solos.
I tried this week to play around with different styles and it's a lot harder than it seems to find a vocal style that I can feel comfortable doing all the time that I like. I know that I'm not a powerhouse, whenever I try to sing powerhouse songs I butcher them royally :) so now I'm trying not to sing through the natural breathy-ness of my voice. I'm trying to embrace my breathy-ness. So far it feels weird, but that's probably more from the foreign style that I haven't ever tried to sing.
If anyone has any recommendations on how to find a unique style that I can embrace, in all ears.

Sustained

**after writing this post, I realized that I wrote one almost exactly like it a little while ago... I say a few different things, so I decided to keep this one too.**

Ever since having Corbin I have felt really blessed. I have felt like I have been made into more than I am.
I have been blessed to have the emotional, physical and spiritual energy to take care of my kids. I know that I have been blessed with patience to be able to stay calm and not get stressed when both my kids need me.

I'm not writing this to say that I'm awesome and I'm super-mom. In writing this to show gratitude to my Heavenly Father. He had blessed me to be more than I am. He has magnified my efforts to make them enough. I truly feel like who the Lord calls, he qualifies, and that includes mother's. That is not to say that those women who long to be mothers are not qualified to be... The Lord has other purposes for you to fulfill right now.

Now this isn't saying I haven't had moments of being overwhelmed, or moments of being literally at my wits end. But it is saying that those moments are far less, should I be left to my own minuscule efforts.
I'm just grateful that I have been sustained through this new transition.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Corbin one month old (a few weeks late)

Dear Corbin,
We have fallen so in love with you this past month!

Aside from learning how to breath, eat, and see (all things you learned within moments of being born) you have learned that you love to be held. There are times that you will cry and cry, but the moment either me or daddy pick you up you are fine. You dive into a pretty intense cry pretty quickly, but almost as fast as it starts you are able to calm down; usually it's as soon as you feel yourself being lifted into loving arms.

By your month mark you were looking right into peoples faces. Mommy loves seeing you see her. I love looking into your pupils and seeing that you are looking at my face. I feel like it's the beginning of us connecting.

You have rolled over three times, we still aren't convinced they weren't flukes, but you have rolled none the less. You either love or hate tummy time. You either fall right to sleep (love) or cry and kick (hate) and your kicking is what got you to roll over those few times.

You started out tiny, but you are eating like a champ and gaining some good weight. Speaking of eating, mommy (and the nurses in the hospital) were very impressed with how efficiently you eat! While still in the hospital, you would actively eat for maybe 5-10 minutes and be done, but you would be getting a lot of food in that time. It's a rare occasion if you take longer than a half hour to eat, which I think is fast...

You have done a lot of sleeping in the first month of life, but that comes with the territory of being early. You have your moments of not sleeping well through the night, but more often then not you will only wake up 3 times a night. About once a week you will wake up a lot more often then that but we are grateful for the nights that you sleep well.

You are a noisy sleeper, you have already basically been kicked out of mommy and daddy's room because mommy can't sleep with all your grunts and other newborn noises. Maybe once you start sleeping a little more soundly, you will be aloud to sleep in our room again :)

You do boyish things already! You grunt and can belch with the best of them. Daddy already loves treating you like a boy. He will give you (very light) love taps while saying something like "hey man! What's up?". Yesterday when you were very hungry he touched your lips (to get you to open your mouth) and then said "let's see your game face"! He loves having a boy around!

Daddy loves to call you boyish nick-names too! Including, but not limited to, "Bro", "Man" "Dude" and then the basic baby boy names like "Buddy". Mommy likes to call you her "Corbin Boy" and "Bug-a-boo" which is often shortened to "Bug". I think it fits.

We love our little Bug! You are such a good baby and we are so glad to have you around!


Mommy would have loved to have put you in something more than a onsie for these pictures but the tiny little Gerber onesies are the only thing that fits right now!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Corbin's Newborn shots

We are so blessed to have family who sends us monetary gifts, and friends who are amazing photographers!
Thanks Grandma F., and Jessica J. We LOVE these pictures! I'm going to do my best to choose my favorite photos and not overload this post.




I love this half smile! He does this all the time. I think it's so cute, and for some reason it seems so boy-ish to me. So cute!






I love that he's also smiling! We have the same smile :)

Kissy faces!




Love this one!









I have a picture almost identical with Cambria like this... Apparently this is where I hold all my babies

Love!



Ya! I'm cool!







Love!!



Love!!


I hope you enjoyed! I certainly did :)

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Sustained

This transition to two kids has been so surprising! I was expecting a long, possibly hard transition period. Just like with my transition from 0 to 1 kid. Not so.
Almost from the moment I came home from the hospital, I really felt like I could do this! I have felt like I have been able to handle the demands that are asked of me.
That being said, I know that it's not all my doing... if any of it. I know that I am being blessed and sustained by my Heavenly Father. I have felt ability beyond my own, patience beyond my own, and the lack of sleep hasn't gotten to me yet.
I am so grateful for the people who have helped me, and especially for a Father in Heaven who I know is watching out for me and helping me through. Truly, when we act in faith, He comes through on His end of the bargain.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

What to do?

Today Cambria was playing SO WELL this morning. She was happy and very pleasant. Then we had some friends come over and all that changed.
This friend of hers likes to steal her toys, but she likes to steal his too. So whenever he would get close, she would scream, and intervention was needed.
This just so happened to be when Corbin felt the need for attention too. Needless to say it was a stressful time. ... This isn't just a one time thing either. This happens every. single. time. they get together.
I'm starting to think that it may just be better if we don't hang out. But i don't want to do that because i have gotten really close with this boy's mom.
So what do i do? If i stopped hanging out with everyone that Cambria didn't get along with, i wouldn't hang out with anyone! Which wouldn't be good for me or her. So what do i do?