Counting down to his first Christmas

Sorry for the week off on the blog. We'll try to make up for it today.
Corin is doing very well leading up to his first Christmas. We're pretty sure he's just cramming in some sucking-up to make sure he is not on the 'Naughty' list. He's got his two bottom teeth coming in now, and does pretty well with them. He drools a lot more, but there doesn't seem to be too much pain in it for him.
He is getting much more control over his body, which is fun to watch. He can't push himself into a sitting position yet, but if you sit him up he will sit by himself and play with his toys. When he plays with toys he is no longer just flailing his arms around and getting lucky when something lights up or does what he wants it to. Now he moves deliberately and can easily grasp an object and rotate it in his hands. Most of this manipulation is done so that the maximum amount possible of the object can be inserted into his mouth, but at least he's doing a good job of it.
He is also talking a bit more. No real words yet, but he does babble "Da da da da", which doesn't quite seem fair to Kristi since he spends all day everyday with her. I'm sure "Ma ma ma ma" is right around the corner.
We've gone to my office Christmas party and the office party for Kristi's old job in the past couple weeks. At my party there were lots of babies and small kids around, and Corin had fun playing with everyone. At Kristi's party he was the only baby in sight and all Kristi's friends had fun passing him around. He's still doing well in large, loud gatherings, which is great considering the families he is a part of.
On the new baby front, Kristi is 12 weeks along and we just had our second ultrasound the other day. Everything is looking good. About eight more weeks and we'll know if Corin is going to have a little brother or sister. She's due July 1st.

All I want for Christmas is my first bottom tooth!

This past week was all about getting ready for Christmas at our house. We went out to the tree farm and Corin helped pick out his first Christmas tree, which he then posed in front of in Santa's sack (or maybe just a pillow case). We took a little family Christmas portrait. And most exciting of all, Corin went to sit on Santa's lap and get his picture taken! Okay, so maybe it wasn't too exciting for him (and was ridiculously overpriced for mom and dad), but at least he put on a little smile, Santa was looking good and we've got the precious memories.
On the medical front, Corin's first bottom tooth pushed through this week. He has been a little fussier than usual about it, but mostly he just plays while buckets of drool pour out of his head. We went to the doctor the other day and Corin now weighs 20 pounds, 3 ounces. He has also been getting lots of shots. He got his regular six month immunizations about 6 weeks ago, got his first H1N1 fours weeks ago, regular flu 3 weeks ago, the first of five shots for RSV last week and his second H1N1 today. The RSV shots are to help prevent RSV (a respiratory thing) that presents like a cold (kids and adults get it all the time). It is not usually a problem, but in premature babies or those who were on a ventilator (check and check), it can develop VERY serious complications. So we're trying to head all these bad things off by jabbing needles into his legs non-stop. Luckily he does very well with shots (better than his mom does while he gets them), and is all smiles shortly after they are done.