Connor is One!

My little baby turned one a few weeks ago and I can't believe it. Actually I can believe that it's been a year since he was a newborn because he's nothing like the little newborn who used to sleep all the time and just lay still on his playmat looking around. Now getting him to sleep anywhere but in his crib or carseat is nearly impossible and he never sits still for more than 10 seconds. He's quickly getting into everything and going everywhere - still not really walking, just taking a few steps here and there. But he's a very fast crawler and the callouses on his knees are so rough I don't think his knees feel pain when he crawls on them anymore!

Connor had a wonderful 1st birthday party and discovered he really loves cake. My biggest fear was that he would be miserable, especially for the big cake moment, but he put on quite an act. It began with crying - he doesn't like everyone singing happy birthday, and this wasn't the first time he's cried during the song:
He wasn't so sure about the cake at first:
But finally decided to try some:
And decided that cake was pretty good:
And then he really started getting into the cake and kept smiling away to show everyone just how much he really loves cake:
Here's Connor at the end of his cake experience, very pleased with the cake and the wonderful mess he made of himself:

He definitely has a sweet tooth! He had a wonderful 1st birthday party and received so many wonderful gifts, he loves to play with them all. And I enjoy it when the toys keep him entertained for a little while - but not for too long, he usually finds his way to whatever room I'm in to play with a drawer, a cabinet, a door, the toilet paper, the toilet handle, a box, the window, the dishwasher, the refrigerator and so on :)

Connor also enjoyed his 1st birthday the day after his party. I made him chocolate chip pancakes that he really liked. Later that day we went to the bookstore to buy our gift for Connor - The Foot Book by Dr. Suess. I had borrrowed this book from the library and Connor loved it so we bought it for him and we've read it many times a day everyday since. He always laughs at the clown on one of the pages, it's funny. Then we got gelato from our favorite gelato shop - Connor is a big fan of gelato too! And that night we capped off Connor's birthday by going out to dinner for pizza with JoePop, Nana and Aunt Maggie. I think he enjoyed his first birthday - but I think I enjoyed it much much more. It's so exciting to see him grow and learn and turn into a little person. It's amazing to see how even though he can't say but a few words he really understands a lot of what we're saying and really wants to communicate with us. He loves to blabber away to us and tell us all sorts of stories - I really wish I knew what he was trying to tell me! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful little boy and to have had such a great first year with him. I look forward to watching him grow more and more :)

Summer Days

Ok, so I haven't written in awhile, which is due to the fact that I'm bad at taking pictures. We have been pretty busy though - well Connor's been busy crawling everywhere and standing up while holding on to anything and I've been busy watching him and trying to baby proof the house. He's fun to watch though - and if I open the refrigerator he drops whatever he is doing and sprint crawls to try and make it over before I close it. It's pretty funny to watch him sprint crawl.

Connor got his first haircut mid-June and he needs another one again, his hair grows fast! Jeremy cut his hair with his clippers, Connor really didn't like it at first but once we turned on the tv for him and gave him some cheerios he was much happier. Connor also got to finally visit Jeremy's family again when we went up to Atlanta in June. He had a great time smiling at everyone and he loves loves loves his cousins, he's quite content to watch them all day!

He also likes to swim a lot now, he's finally realized the pool is just like a big bathtub that he can splash in. Here are some pictures:
I love him in his floaty, it's so cute!

Unfortunately we've been having a problem with dead ants in our pool, so we haven't been swimming as much as we'd like to, but hopefully we can clear up the problem soon - we love the pool but it's a lot of work!




I'm still amazed at how quickly Connor is growing up and how independent he likes to be, every day he shows me more of his personality and I love it - but he's definitely more like his daddy than his mommy, he's such a people person! I can't believe in less than 2 months he'll be one - I've got to start planning a party :)

Where did my little baby go?

No seriously, where did he go? Because he's crawling now, which is exciting and fun, but if I leave him for too long he's definitely not where I left him. He likes to crawl but he really loves to try and stand - he's done it a couple of times in his crib now and he tries to climb up anything to try and stand up, including the wall, which doesn't work too well. The funny thing about him crawling though is that he doesn't like crawling on the tile too much, so he usually sticks to our area rug or the red mats he plays on. Plus he has a hard time managing the edge of the mat - for some reason that two inch ledge is very hard to get down! He's cute crawling though, once I get a good video I'll post it.

Connor is 8 and a half months now and I can barely remember when he was a little baby. I see little babies while we're out sleeping in their strollers and I think was there really a time when he slept when we were outside of the house? I forget that already! Now he has to sit in the cart and spend most of his time turned around so we can either see where we're going or see what fascinating stuff mommy has put in the cart. Time really does fly when you have a child - which is a blessing in some ways, no one would want to be stuck in those first three months for very long!

It amazes me how quickly he learns to do things - a week and a half ago he learned to go from lying down to sitting up. Five days later he learned to crawl and that night he learned how to stand up from crawling. The funny thing was that the first time he crawled he went like two feet and then tried to stand up by himself, with nothing around to hold on to. I was thinking, what makes you think you can suddenly stand by yourself? You crawled two feet and now you think you can just stand up? He thinks he's invincible!

He is such a joy and a blessing and he is more fun every day. I am so honored that God chose me to be his mommy :)

There's Nothing Better

So I might be better at posting if I wasn't working on one of the slowest computers ever. Hopefully I'll get one of Jeremy's hand offs soon, my patience is wearing thin with this computer!

Anyway, Connor must've read my blog because a few days after I posted that he barely spent any time on all fours and wasn't going to crawl, he decided to spend a lot of time up on all fours and is now slowly scooting around. Although he can scoot he only does it when he really really wants something and doesn't seem too interested in doing it otherwise. But he still loves to stand and has just started cruising around while holding on. He also likes to test how long he can stand for himself by - I think we made it up to at least 5 seconds today! And if Daddy is around he insists on walking with him.

He still loves to play the piano and is getting better, he's pounding less and less and learning to play them gently - here's a video:



I'm convinced that the best sound in the world is that of your child's laughter. There is nothing better. Tonight for the first time Connor snorted, which was just too funny. Thankfully Jeremy can make Connor laugh pretty easily, so here's a video of Connor's laughter and snorting :)

The Joy of Never Sitting Still

So this week Connor realized that he loves to stand and wants to stand all the time. Just a few weeks ago he discovered he could move around on his tummy, but now that's boring. Whenever Jeremy spends a few minutes with him during the day they work on standing and now Connor thinks if he's spending time with daddy he has to be standing and will complain until Jeremy helps him stand up. They also walk around the house together - Connor likes to take big steps while holding onto our hands :) All this standing and practice walking makes me wonder if he'll ever crawl or skip it altogether. He can move slightly forward while on his tummy, but it takes a lot of effort. And although he's been up on all fours very briefly, he doesn't seem to enjoy it yet.

We also spent some time trying out his rocking chair:Although he doesn't seem to enjoy rocking too much, he loves to check out everything on it
Until he realizes he might be able to touch the camera . . .

I love the tongue sticking out, that means maximum effort :)

We also had a playdate with Caleb and Judah, but I forgot to take pictures. But it was fun, Connor loves watching the older boys! And we started eating cheerios, which Connor loves, I think he feels like a big boy while eating them. And he's learned how to feed himself puffs and cheerios, which is totally great for me! So nothing too exciting this week but I'm continually amazed at how much Connor learns each week and how excited he is to do each new thing.

Disclaimer: These pics are taken with our old little digital camera, not Jeremy's nice fancy camera :)

I'm already bad at this

So I'm already bad at this blogging thing - I haven't even sent out the link to anyone and I haven't posted anything of interest yet. In fact, right now I'm writing to no one, so I'm pretty much talking to myself, which really isn't all that surprising.

I really created this blog to share about Connor, so here's the latest. He's growing a lot, he really likes to eat real food - he loves his puffs and has mastered picking them up but is not so successful at putting them in his mouth yet. He makes a face everytime he eats them but then wants more. I'll post a video of it.

He's also become quite successful at pooping on his potty. Over three weeks ago I decided to start putting him on the potty while changing his diaper and he went on it - and does just about every day now, which is great for me! And he's started peeing on it too, it's so funny how he just kind of knows what to do on it now.

He's moving around a lot but hasn't really figured out moving forward yet - I've seen him inch forward a little but only a couple of times. He loves doing 360s though and he can scoot backwards pretty quickly, much to his frustration usually. He's gotten up on all fours a few times and can stand holding onto something by himself, which he really enjoys. He loves to be a big boy!

First Blog Entry

Ok, I'm finally starting my blog after much demand. Well not that much demand but I thought it would be fun to blog about Connor anyway. He's 7 months today and life is getting interesting for him now. He's quite a character and he makes me laugh everyday! I love being his mommy and I think motherhood would be perfect if babies would tell you how long they were going to sleep for when they fall asleep. Then I would know how much time I have to get things done or to sleep before he wakes up - but I guess not knowing makes it more interesting - and means I get less done!

Connor really is an amazing blessing and I'm so thankful for him. But he just woke up so I've got to run! :)