Playing catch up

A lot of you have asked me for pictures of Korban's birth and early infancy, which I didn't originally get on the blog because we didn't decide to do it until Korban was already a few months old. So here it is. I know it makes the blog out of sequence, but I hope you enjoy a little look into the past now that he's 7 months old!

The stages of pregnancy

August 2007, our families threw us a baby shower before I left to go to Germany.

September 2007, Papa Kent and I measure to see who's bigger.October 2007, after a long day packing in preparation for the move.

It's finally time for the long flight to Germany, but well worth it to be with Jeff again!

November 2007, Jeff and I finally together and he's feeling Korban move.

November 2007 right after we moved into our house.
November 2007, Thanksgiving
December 2007, company Christmas party
January 2008
February 2008, Any day now...

Here He is...

Korban Phillip Leeper, born February 23, 2008 weighing 7lbs. 7oz. (not 7lbs. 12 oz. like we originally thought) and 20.5 inches in lengthJeff wanted to be the first to hold Korban when he was born. The midwife let him cut the cord, wrapped Korban in a towel and immediately handed Korban to Jeff. The two of them spent the first half hour together while I was getting cleaned up.Then I got to hold him and nurse him for the first time. Then finally after a couple hours, a nurse came into the room and gave Korban a nice long relaxing bath. She sang to him and told him stories in German. He was pretty relaxed the whole time.
Korban's birth was nothing like we expected because we didn't really know what to expect, but the outcome was the greatest we could ever have hoped for.

Bringing home baby

While the nurses were checking me out, Jeff got Korban dressed into his own clothes. At the hospital, they kept the babies wrapped in sleep sacks. At first I thought they were a pain, but I'll definitely get one for our next baby!Here is our new family, waiting to be discharged from the hospital. We went home the same day Korban was born and if I had it to do again, I probably would have stayed at least one night, but Jeff took very good care of both of us!

Isn't he just the cutest baby boy ever!

Sleep...

Like most babies, Korban loved his sleep, we could put him down right in the same room with us.
Mommy needed her sleep too, it was so easy to just cuddle up with him and snooze!
For awhile, on Sunday mornings, the boys would sleep together while I started to get ready for church.
Sometimes Korban was such a fan of sleep that we had to strip him down so he would stay awake long enough to eat. Don't let this bottle fool you, he is just now starting to take a bottle again at 7 months. We didn't have much luck with it when he was younger.
Korban is definitely Jeff's baby, they even stretch the same!

Life at home for the first few days

Korban and I just looking at each other.
Korban was not weighed correctly at the hospital when he was born, so when the Frau/midwife came to check on us, she wasn't happy with the amount of weight she thought he had lost, so he had to get checked a lot the first few weeks.
Korban was a little jaundiced at first, but it only took a little sunbathing to take care of it!
Papa Kent picked out this outfit when he found out we were having a baby boy! Korban wore it for his first Sunday in church.
We tried to get out for walks a little at a time because the house just got boring and stuffy.

Papa Kent, Nona and Great Granny

Papa Kent, Nona and Great Granny all arrived a week after Korban came! It was so great to see them and have all that extra love in our house (the extra sets of hands were great too!)
The four generations of the Kent family; Great Granny, Papa Kent, Melissa and Korban.

We took the train down to Munich to see where Granny and Papaw had been stationed 50 years earlier. It was a good trip to take, but I got exhausted really quick! Korban had a lot of firsts on this trip (first train ride, first hotel stay and first taxi ride) and all before he was a month old!
Granny loved on Korban and I loved seeing them bond! We went out to dinner at a German restaurant we like called Santanas. We invited some of our close friends to come with us! Joey, Jenn, Makayla, Kesha, Donte and Dione.

Grandma Brian, Aunt Tara and Grace

Grandma Brian, Aunt Tara and cousin Grace all came for visit over the Easter holiday. Here is Grandma enjoying some time with Korban while Grace colors Easter eggs.
Here is Aunt Tara posing with Korban.
Grace couldn't get enough of Korban! She wanted to hold him all the time, but sometimes when he wiggled, she would decide to be done for a little bit, then want to hold him again!The morning they flew into Munich, we took the train down to meet them because we had almost a foot of snow up in Grafenwohr. In Munich however, it was just cold and rainy. Under Grandma's big coat, Korban was all snuggled in, sleeping while we toured the Marienplatz, a Toy Museum and a great Art Museum too!
We also took a trip to Rothenberg, a town they had all be to before, but was a first for me. We saw a lot of great architectural history here, as well as a Crime and Punishment Museum. We also had schneeballs, a must if you're ever in the area!

He's growing so much!

This is what Korban looks like when you give him a teething cracker! He really knows how to go to town.
Korban is slowly becoming master of the crawl, although he does a great low-crawl and is pretty fast too!
Korban can now push himself up into a sitting position and almost nothing is safe now! He's also becoming intrigued by the stairs, so it's time for the gates, because mom's not ready to think about him going up and down stairs yet!

Korban and Makayla...

Korban and Makayla took their first bath together!Bath time is one of Korban's favorite things to do.

They're both becoming so active and it's great to see their little personalities come alive!

Korban's first swim!

We went to the Swimbad here in Grafenwohr with our friends Joey, Jenn and Makayla (Korban's first friend!)
Jeff really wanted to blow up Korban's float all by himself, even though Joey offered to help.

Korban loved the water and did everything he could to get to it!

The bottom of the tot pool was metal and the reflection really intrigued Korban.