Corbin Sledding Party

We decided to take advantage of our backyard hill with a sledding party for all the cousins on Sunday. The freezing cold temperatures dictated a little less sledding and a little more consumption of hot mulled cider (among other things!). Here's some video of the big event.

The sledding was followed up by an intense indoor dancing session:

And yes, that is my handsome husband dancing in his Ireland rugby team shirt and hat. Eat your hearts out ladies! Rebecca said her favorite part of the day was when she "turned into a fairy" and Gregory's was when he "got to be a big chicken!".

Thank Goodness For The Tooth Fairy

Rebecca, after tooth pulled,
before Tooth Fairy Reminder

Rebecca lost her first tooth last night. I mean, it was the first tooth she ever lost, but it was also the first tooth to come in when she was a baby. As far as baby teeth go, hers were a bit late to poke through. I remember when she was 13 months, sticking my finger in her mouth and feeling the sharp little point as that first tiny tooth painfully burst through her sore, irritated gums.

I felt a mix of emotions. Excitement that she had finally reached this milestone. Nostalgia that her cute little gum smile would never look the same. Amazement at how quickly the time was rushing by. Relief that I had stopped breast feeding just a week earlier (talk about good timing!). In the following months, the rest of her tiny baby teeth rapidly popped through. That one little tooth, the right of her 2 lower front teeth, seemed to have opened a dental floodgate.

Now it's gone from her mouth forever. Somehow over 5 years have passed since that late summer day of discovery. Her adult tooth has already pushed through, coming up behind the baby tooth, indicating the need for numerous wiggling sessions to loosen up the baby tooth and avoid expensive orthodontic bills. That adult tooth looks way too big for her mouth, so much bigger than the rest of the her baby teeth. I can't believe it's supposed to be there.

This has also been a nostalgic milestone, although it was a bit overshadowed by Rebecca's reaction. The tooth was so loose, it was causing her pain and she didn't want anyone to touch it. As soon as an adult hand came within 3 inches of her mouth, she would start crying and screaming, the anticipation too much for her. Greg and I finally convinced her to let us tug on it, and she tearfully opened her mouth. One quick tug, one small trickle of blood, and there it was.

She cried while we held a washcloth to her mouth, until I asked a question, "so, what does this mean? Who's coming tonight?". All at once the tears dried up and a newly landscaped smile formed. "The tooth fairy!" she shouted.

Finally she gets to use the tooth pillow

From then on it was all excitement. She showed the tooth to her brother, who seemed a bit wary of it, to say the least. She called Grandma and Grandpa. At bedtime she carefully placed it in her long waiting tooth pillow (bought at a craft fair over a year ago), and stuffed it under her big pillow.

Lo and behold, this morning the tooth was gone, a crisp $1 bill in its place. I asked her if she saw the tooth fairy last night, and she said yes. Apparently the tooth fairy was 'wearing a sparkly pink dress, with ruby red rings, red hair, and a tooth wand'. Go figure.

Amid all this drama, I still have to wonder at the speed with which my baby is growing. If this tooth opens the floodgate again, she will soon have a mouth full of adult teeth. And I will still be sitting here, scratching my head and wondering where did all the time go?

Buddha Belly = Built-In Floatie?

New England Winter Swimming Lesson Style

Today was week 2 of winter swimming lessons. Gregory continues to amaze all the Moms with his level of comfort in the water. The other kids make an effort to keep from getting their faces wet, but Gregory makes an effort to keep his face from getting dry. He spends as much time as possible with his entire body, including his head, submerged, and just one hand sticking out, holding on to the side of the pool. I think he has an unfair advantage - his little Buddha resembles a built in floatie - maybe it acts as a buoy?

The Floating Buddha

Tired, happy kids

Rebecca and I swam for the first half of Gregory's lesson - apparently as part of the lesson the parent can take the kids in the free swim part of the pool. She's doing great - swimming further than she was this summer, and even trying to swim with her face in the water. She gets some good speed going that way although I keep telling her she'd go faster if she'd let go of her nose. She made it through her entire lesson without any floatie, while Gregory and I swam. I actually did most of the swimming while he held onto my bathing suit straps yelling 'Hi everyone, I'm riding a dolphin!'. Hey, it could have been worse, at least he didn't think he was riding a whale!

I'll leave you with a video of the Gregory's class high fiving their teacher while jumping in the pool. Can you guess which one he is (hint: look for a certain feature in the midriff region)? Big sister Rebecca (wrapped in a pink and white striped towel) watches from the side.

Weekend Roundup: Swimming, Snow, and Line Dancing (Really)

Future Bloggers?

Don't you just love weekends that follow this simple formula: busy Saturday, quiet Sunday? We've just had such a weekend here at casa Corbin. The fun actually started Friday night when the kids had their first swimming lesson at the Y (I forgot my camera - still kicking myself). This was Gregory's first swimming lesson ever and I was amazed by how well he listened and followed his adorable teacher's instructions. He is really comfortable in the water and had no problem doing everything she asked (while she was encouraging the kids to dunk their chins, he was submerging his whole head - I was so proud!). I promise to bring my camera next week and get some photos/video.

Saturday morning, we were at the library when it opened (translation: the kids were going stir crazy in the house). The temps reached the mid 40s, so when we got home I decked them out in full snow gear and sent them outside. They sledded, tracked bears, and made snow angels for a full hour and a half.

My parents arrived to watch the boy, while Rebecca and I set off for Mother/Daughter line dancing night at The Dance Ranch in Worcester. Country music is definitely not my thing, but this was a Girl Scout event in which Rebecca's Daisy troop was participating, so I decided to take one for the team. After a feeble attempt to teach her the Macarana, Rebecca refused to dance with me, and played tag on the dance floor with her friends. Here's a video of her dancing (at least she has the bow down!).

Today we spent reading, playing on the computer, playing outside, watching the 2nd half of the Blues Brothers (which ended, as usual, with a massive dance off between me and Gregory, followed by a towel snapping war between the boy and his father). The little monsters are growing up so fast - Rebecca is reading up a storm, and Gregory has discovered that 4 letter word that is a favorite of preschoolers everywhere (you know, it starts and ends with 'P', and has 2 'O's in the middle). Between that, and his newly developed talent for running around, shaking his hips, and declaring 'Look at my bumbum' (thankfully, usually with pants on), things have been pretty interesting around here.

That was our weekend, what did everyone else do?

Where's Noelle??

Not much going on this week. I'm taking advantage of the cold weather to stay indoors and get my professional blog started. Here's what I have so far: noellecorbin.com - stop by and let me know what you think! I'm planning to get the kids out of the house this weekend so I should have some interesting posts coming up. It's supposed to get into the low 40s on Friday! Good times!

Here's the latest picture of my little wild man to tide ya' over:

About Me

Just in case you've never met me, (and in response to MomDot's Introduce Yourself Day) here's some stuff you might like to know. My name is Noelle, I'm in my late 30s, married to Greg (9 years!), with 2 little ones: Rebecca(6) and Gregory(3). I have 3 beautiful stepdaughters (18, 16 and 14). We live in central Massachusetts, where I've lived my entire life.

I graduated from UMass, Amherst in 1994 with a BA in Sociology, and minors in Psychology and Economics, but somehow I ended up working in computers as a web developer. In 2003 I received an MS in Computer Science from Boston University. I've worked as a programmer for the past 14 years, mostly on web-based applications. In that time, I've held a plethora of titles (Programmer, Web Developer, Software Engineer, Technical Business Analyst, Internet Software Architect) but they pretty much all mean programmer, mostly web-based. I started this blog 2.5 years ago because I found I really suck at scrap booking and keeping a journal. It's not commercial. This year I started another blog, The Naturalista about my family's attempt to live naturally, reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals, and enjoy the great outdoors. I might try limited ads there, but haven't done too much on the commercial front. Since I've enjoyed creating my first 2 blogs so much, i'm thinking of starting a technical blog - a mix of programming and technical tips for social media, web pages, etc.

Enough with the official details though, here's some other random facts about me:

• I was born on Christmas Day. That's where I get my name, Noelle. I guess I just wasn't destined to be Debra (what my parents were going to name me before I was born on Christmas and they decided they had to do something special).


• I laugh when people fall. I can't help it. I've always done this even though I try really hard not to. I do stop though if they hurt themselves.


• I'm hopelessly addicted to sugar. If I could just skip the meal and only eat dessert, my world would be right.


• I enjoy making things (crafts), but have no talent for it. I keep torturing my family by giving them 'homemade gifts'.


• I can't cook, but I'm a decent baker. Fortunately I am married to a man who is a fabulous cook.


• I've had a huge crush on Johnny Depp for 20 years.


• I love traveling. Anywhere. I've been to Europe 3 times in the past 5 years and keep trying to figure out a way to go back. I even love airports. That's right, I said it. I get all excited when driving to the airport, even if I'm just dropping someone off.


• My favorite color is yellow. This is because when I was a little kid, I had a yellow baby blanket that I carried everywhere. I still have Yellow Blankie - it's folded up on the top shelf of my linen closet. Every once in a while I let my kids play with it.


• I've worked in at least 9 different programming languages.


• Here's what I look like right now:


• I have 285 movies on my Netflix list. I only watched 37 movies from Netflix in 2009.


• I love dark, scary and/or fantasy themed movies.


• I try to hide it, but I'm a total dork!

That's me in a nutshell. Nice to meet you!

Skating Stars

Gregory practices with a chair

The kids took advantage of the wintry weather Saturday to try out their new skates. A local resident constructs and maintains a little rink in the center of town every year, so that's where I headed with my first timers. We lasted just over an hour before I got cold and packed everyone back into the car. Kind of humbling to be outlasted by a 6 and 3 year old. The kids loved it, didn't want to leave, and Rebecca keeps asking us to take her back. Next time I'm bringing hot chocolate (for me)!