Easter Egg Hunt

The Sunday before Easter we had my entire family (except my parents who are serving a mission and my sister Julie's family who live in Spokane) over for an Easter egg hunt. There were 40 of us and we had about 350 eggs hidden in the back yard. We had a yummy dinner of Honey Baked Ham and funeral potatoes. Then it was time to enter the backyard and watch the kids find easter eggs.

Kids waiting their turn for the hunt on the back porch.

Corbin with Uncle Duane Brigham
Macy Kamryn KinsieChecking out their stash.

The weather was great and we had a really fun time. With it being such an early Easter this year, the yard sure doesn't look so pretty for an Easter egg hunt, but the kids don't seem to notice. We've only found 2 eggs so far that were missed. I'm sure we'll find a few more when I get around to doing some yard work.

Happy Easter from the Robbins Kids

Corbin is 4 months old!

Corbin is getting so big. At his 4 month check he weighed 14 lbs and was 24 inches long. He is still not the best sleeper, but we are making progress. When he is awake, he is the best baby ever. He only cries 3 times during his awake times. First, when he wakes up and you are taking an extra 10 seconds to get the bottle in his mouth. Second, when the bottle is taken from his mouth, empty. And third, when he is ready to take his next nap. Usually though it's just fussiness because he is tired. We laugh at the crying when he is finished with his bottle. He truly screams hysterically for about 20-30 seconds and then he is fine. I guess it just really upsets him when he has to push away from the table. I honestly think that if we gave him 20 oz, he would do the same thing at the end of the feeding. His soft, curly hair is falling out (Boo Hoo!). From what we have been told, it will grow back course hair. We love to play with his soft hair. He loves toys and reaches for anything in front of him. Which includes my face, I love that moment, when a baby reaches out and touches your face while smiling. Pure love. He "talks" a lot and loves being social. I also love when he hears my voice, he starts looking for me and the minute his eyes meet mine, he grins from ear to ear and is so excited.

Here is Kinsie feeding him.

Corbin taking a bath. Corbin is ready for the BYU Basketball game. He takes his BYU sports seriously, like his dad.He has begun sucking on his fingers with a vengeance. It's actually pretty cute, it's typically the 2 fingers you see here. And here he is so excited that I am talking to him, he can hardly contain himself. Oh how we love this little guy!(Cami, recognize the cute brown & orange jammies you gave him for Christmas? They are so cute on him!)

St. George

We decided to use the long weekend to get away to the sunny, blue skies of St. George. Wow, did I ever need that. We had a great trip. Corbin was an angel and slept the entire drive down and the entire drive home. We played pretty hard on this trip. We went swimming twice, went hiking twice, went to the park to play soccer twice, and went to our favorite park with water features twice. Notice a trend here? Of course I forgot to charge the camera battery, so we didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but here are the few we did get.Ty took the 4 oldest and Toby on a hike, my cousin recommended this trail and they seemed to have a good time. I enjoyed staying home reading a book while Corbin napped.

This is a hike Ty did as a kid. They named it "the short and scary hike". It's a MUST for our kids, every time we go to St. George. The kids climb through basically a crack in the rock, while the larger, unable to fit parents climb around to the top. Here's the kids coming out of the crack at the top.

Corbin got to hike up with mom and dad.

It was so nice to see blue skies the entire time, no inversion! I even got a little sun on my face. We really had a great trip, I was worried with travelling with a baby again, but Corbin has truly redeemed himself. What a great baby! The only thing missing was my mom. I got a little home sick for her while we were down there. The kids and I kept mentioning places she likes to go and things we have done with her down there. But they have passed their hump day and are on the home stretch of their mission. 8 & 1/2 months to go and you can bet next winter we will be taking a trip to St. George with Grandma! (Don't think I'm leaving my dad out of the equation, he doesn't enjoy the heat and truly doesn't know how to relax, so St. George isn't his kind of place.)

Robbins Kids

I took pictures of the kids on Saturday. It was a bit of a last minute decision, but I think we got some good ones. Corbin wouldn't smile for any of the group shots and spit up 5 or 6 times during the whole process. But all in all, I was happy with the pictures I got. I updated all of their pictures on the side, except Corbin's. These are some other cute ones, love the goofy pic!

The Beauty of being Different

I love looking at my children and seeing how different they are from each other, from me, from Ty. Yet we have similarities too. I can see similar characteristics that my children have to me, to each other, to Ty. I have always appreciated the differences of my children, but I have never appreciated the beauty of those differences . . . . . until now.

Corbin is Smiling!

At about 4 & 1/2 weeks old, I spotted my first Corbin smile. I thought to myself surely not, he's too little. But the next day, I spotted another. Then Ty spotted one and he has continued smiling more and more each day. We have moved on to giggles and cooing. Oh how I love a baby's smile. Have you ever seen anything as cute or sweet? Just a minute ago he was having some awake time in his swing and I looked over at him and he had this huge smile on his face!

Corbin's beautiful smile.

Corbin giggling.

Adoption

Ty spoke with our friend, Beth that works for Heart to Heart Adoptions today. She told him that they have been crazy busy lately. So much so, that they need families desperately. I know that September was a record month for Heart to Heart. They placed 13 babies. Then October beat out September with 16 babies placed. November (when we adopted Corbin) tied with October, they place another 16 babies.

So if any of you have ever thought about adopting, now is the time. We had a really good experience with them. My only real complaint is that I would have liked better communication. I think part of the problem was that we really were only with them from the beginning of September, until we got Corbin in November. Their busiest time ever. I know that most of the people we worked with, were overwhelmed. I know they've done some hiring and hopefully they are better equiped to handle the work load.

I can't even express to you the joy that it has brought to our family. Obviously, this is only if it's something that you've thought about. Just thought I'd pass the info along if your interested.

Heart to Heart Adoption Website: http://www.hearttoheartadoptions.net/index.html
Heart to Heart Adoption Blog: http://www.hearttoheartadoptions.blogspot.com/

The best of part of the blog is the links on the bottom right hand side to other people's blogs who have adopted. I have really enjoyed reading about other people's stories.

Just think about it.......

Corbin's Photo Shoot

On New Year's Day we went over to Ty's sister Whitney's beautiful new home. Whitney took these great pictures of Corbin. He is so cute, it's really hard to not get a good one. Didn't they turn out adorable?

Christmas 2009

This year, Christmas felt different to me. I'm one of those people who can't sleep Christmas Eve because of the excitement. The excitement builds from Thanksgiving to Christmas as we go to Temple Square, have family Christmas parties, spend time together at home drinking hot chocolate, building snowmen. I love the entire season. I don't know what happened this year, it just wasn't there for me. I'm sure there is a lot that lead to it. Lack of sleep due to a newborn with Colic, Macy breaking her arm a few days before Christmas & having to be in the hospital. It could be because we weren't able to do any of our annual family things. Maybe it was the fact that 11 prime shopping days were gone while I was in Louisiana causing stress to get the shopping done. Maybe it was the fact that now I have 5 kids to take care of and to shop for. I'm not sure, I just know it wasn't there this year. Well, now as the season is over, I am grateful it wasn't there. I usually come down from my excitement with the January blues. It happens every single year, Ty prepares himself for it. Not this year. Which is truly a blessing because I don't know how I would be holding up right now. Truly we had a wonderful Christmas, simplified some things and spent a lot of time with family. As I look back it was a great Christmas and best of all, I don't have to plow through these first couple of weeks fighting the January blues!

Robbins cousin Nativity on Christmas Eve

Beckstead cousin Christmas party
Sledding on New Year's Eve
Being pulled behind the 4 Wheeler

New Year's Day with the Robbins Family

Macy's Broken Arm

Monday morning we headed up to a cabin in Sundance to spend a couple of days with Ty's family. Tuesday evening, the kids were all heading to the kitchen to make Gingerbread Houses and Macy tripped over the vacuum cord that was still plugged in and fell on the wood floor. I guess everyone just thought it was another kid falling down and didn't really pay attention until she stood up and her arm was crooked. We headed down the canyon around 5:30 PM. It had snowed all day and there was 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was a pretty intense drive. Well, to make a long story short, she ended up having surgery Tuesday morning and had to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. Her Ulna broke and punctured her skin on the top of her arm and she dislocated her elbow. The surgery was a little more difficult than the surgeon had hoped, but ended up good and he expects everything to heal well. I stayed with her in the hospital all day yesterday, we got home around 8:30 PM last night. I hadn't seen Corbin for 12 hours!!! She kept throwing up at the hospital, so we were worried if she would be able to come home, but finally held her dinner down. She had to stay in the hospital for 24 hours because I guess when the bone is exposed, the risk of infection is so great they keep them on antiobiotics for 24 -48 hours. Luckily her poke hole was small enough that he wasn't too worried about infection and let us go home after 24 hours. If we had to stay 48 hours, we wouldn't be coming home until tonight, Christmas Eve! She still has to be on antiobiotics for a week. She's been amazing, no tears, no complaining the entire time. Everyone at the hospital was amazed at how brave and strong she was. Merry Christmas to us!!!!

Visiting Santa

Today was Kinsie's last performance with Manila Magic at University Mall. She has sung in the school chorus every year and loves it. This year she even talked her best friends into joining. I can't believe that next year is Jr. High!

Kinsie is on the far right. To the left of her are her best friends.So after the annual performance, it's tradition to head to the PretzelMaker for soft pretzels. Then onto see Santa.

Corbin & Santa

Macy & Santa
Brigham & Santa

Kinsie & Kamryn did not want to sit on Santa's lap. But I told them that they had to at least be in a picture with their sister and brothers.

The whole thing went surprisingly well. I was a bit concerned venturing out with 5 kids, but we all enjoyed spending the afternoon together, and the girls love to help with Corbin. It definately got me in the Christmas spirit, that is until I realized there are only 15 days til Christmas! Agh!

Chubby Baby

So, since his first day in this world, Corbin has eaten like he is starving and will never get another meal in his life. The nurses at the hospital thought it was so funny and laughed at how quickly he polished off his bottle. By the time he left the hospital he had gained 5 oz. Where most babies have actually lost weight. On Tuesday, I took him in for his 2 week check and he has gained a pound and a 1/2! My Pediatrician said that they hope for babies to be back up to their birth weight at their 2 week appointment. Look at those cheeks! Ty says that he has definitely been inducted as a member of the clean plate club! (bottle club in this case!)

Corbin Tyran Robbins

We officially decided on a name, Corbin Tyran Robbins. Fun coincidence is that his initials are CTR. Corbin is doing great, we are thoroughly enjoying him. When the girls are home, I feel like I don't even get to see him, they hold him and feed him and take care of him. It's pretty cute and pretty great! He still struggles with his tummy, but it's getting better every day. In Louisiana, he was up every night for 3 or 4 hours, just being fussy in the middle of the night. Since we've been home his fussy times tend to be no longer than a couple of hours and they haven't been in the middle of the night. So I actually feel like I'm getting some rest. Plus it helps that since he is being bottle fed, Ty likes to do at least 1 feeding each night. Plus everyone let's me sleep in, in the mornings, so I'm doing pretty well actually. It helps too that I'm being spoiled rotten by all my neighbors. We've had dinner brought in pretty much every night, with leftovers, so I'm covered for lunch too!

There's no picture with Brigham. Well, he hasn't shown a whole lot of interest, plus he threw up the other night. So we are keeping him away. I'll tell you, this whole experience has definitely been more emotionally and mentally exhausting, but it sure is nice to not be so physically exhausted. I actually came home and got my Christmas all up Friday and Saturday. The kids finished the tree decorating yesterday and we are done!

We're Home!!!!!

Nana.

Excited Aunt Cami.

Big sister Kamryn.
The whole group (except Aunt Cami who was taking the picture).

Baby and I made it home today! I'm so happy! I think we are all so happy!