Sista

We are very excited that Connor is going to have a baby sister in a little over 2 months!  It’s fun to talk to Connor about the baby, he will randomly point to my belly throughout the day and say baby in the cutest voice.  Once in awhile he’ll look down his shirt for the baby until we remind him the baby is only in mommy’s belly, not his too :)  He’ll also point to my belly and say “sista” – if only she had a name we could teach him to say it!  I asked him recently to go get a toy of his out of his sister’s room and he came running back to me with the one piece of clothing we have for her, as if that was his sister :)  Although Connor acts excited I’m sure it will be different once his sister arrives and he realizes I’m preoccupied a lot of the time, but he’ll adjust eventually.  And I really look forward to him having a sister to play with and teach things.  I’m sure he will love showing her everything, anytime anyone comes in the house he runs off to show them all his toys :)  And I hope that they’ll be great friends for life – I know they’ll fight a lot but hopefully they’ll also enjoy being together.  We really look forward to Connor meeting his sister, hopefully he’ll learn to love her quickly!

4th of July Fun

For the 4th we went down to my parents place to watch fireworks from their backyard.  My mom had gotten Connor some patriotic clothes while she was in New York a few weeks before.  Connor wore them proudly :)

We showed him how to wave the flag and he really enjoyed it!  Thankfully Cousin Bruce wasn’t around, I would’ve been nervous the flag might’ve accidentally touched the ground :)

 

 

 

Here’s Connor with his favorite person, JoePop.  They have so much fun together:

The fireworks were so close that Connor wasn’t too thrilled with them at first.  He would whine in between each one that he wanted to go inside.  But as soon as he saw another one going up he would sit quietly until it exploded.  After about 10 minutes of complaining, he finally leaned against me and enjoyed the rest of the show.  Since the 4th every once in awhile he’ll tell me “BoBu” (his interpretation of JoePop) and then “boom” for the fireworks.  I think he liked them :)  I just hope he realizes he doesn’t get to see them every time he goes to BoBu’s house!

Fun in February

I’m a little behind, but Connor enjoyed some new outdoor fun last month that I wanted to share.  I finally found Connor a bike helmet so even though it was a chilly and windy South Florida day, we ventured out for our first ride on the bike.  Connor threw a fit about the helmet but settled once he went into the bike seat. 

A little concerned about this new bike venture:

Checking out the sights with Mommy:

Connor was very serious during the whole bike ride:

Although I thought he wasn’t so sure about the bike ride, whenever we go out now and we pull back up to the house he points back out to the road – a sure sign he loves it. 

We also went to the fair at our church in February and Connor loved the petting zoo!

Checking out the duck (much prettier than the ducks we’re used to seeing):

Checking out the rooster – or is he trying to attack it?  Good thing it was in the cage!

 

We also went down the big slide – I always loved it when I was a kid.  It was hard to tell whether Connor really enjoyed it or was scared – it seemed a little of both :)

He liked being at the top with Daddy:But not so sure about the ride down: 

Connor had fun checking out the fair sights though, we look forward to more fun ventures as he continues to grow!

For all you bloggers out there . . .

So I’m not a big blogger or anything but totally get annoyed at how long it takes to organize a blog post and add the pictures.  This totally hindered my desire to blog.  But a week ago I was reading another blog where she just switched to using Windows Live Writer and raved about how much easier it made writing new blog posts.  I downloaded it immediately and it is awesome.  Inserting pictures is 10 times easier than it was before and for that alone I love it.  But there are also many other options that I haven’t even begun to explore.  And I can write my blog posts while not online and post them later.  Plus it lets you write your blogs as if you’re writing right on your blog page instead of writing them in a window and then previewing them.  Anyway, I just wanted to spread the word that Live Writer is great and definitely encourages me to blog a lot more!

Water Table!

One of the gifts Connor got for Christmas from Nana and Joe-Pop was a water table – it was a great idea and will be very useful to keep Connor entertained while we work outside.  He loves loves loves taking baths and showers so I knew the water table would be a big hit.  It was such a big hit that he complained when I dumped all the water out – and he almost never complains when it’s time to move on to another activity!  But his hands and feet were freezing and his shirt was soaked :) This water table is pretty cool!

He quickly learned he could dump water out of the sailboat and found that quite entertaining.

He then realized he could dump a lot of water out of the little bucket onto the patio and thought that was a lot of fun – now I’m trying to make him understand the water stays in the table!

He spent a lot of time moving around the water table to check it all out :)

I think the water table will be even better as the weather warms up and his hands and feet don’t get cold while he plays :)

Summer Vacation 2009

I'm really late in posting these pictures, but we had a great time in August visiting my parent's house in North Carolina and spending a few days in Atlanta with Jeremy's family. We spent almost a week there and really enjoyed the cool weather and the mountain air. Connor went on his first hike and his first boat ride - actually with all the boating I did growing up who would've thought his first boat ride would be in the mountains? He loved the boat ride, especially when we went fast!

Connor swimming with his cousin Troy:

Connor's first hike - he was heavy, that's why I look exhausted!:
I love this picture of us while hiking up Whiteside:
At Dry Falls - Connor loved walking behind the waterfall:Aunt Maggie and Connor:
I also love this picture, Connor is looking at his friend like what's wrong with you:
Connor's first boat ride - he loves to be with JoePop:
Our little family at the top of Big Sheepcliff:

Relaxing on my parents patio:
We had lots of fun and enjoyed the break from normal South Florida weather, even if Jeremy had to work most of the time we were there. But at least we got a couple of hikes in, and hopefully next year we can do much more exploring!

Christmas with Connor!

So I'm not good at updating often, but I hope to be better in the new year! We had a wonderful Christmas this year and it was a joy to watch Connor open gifts and play with his new toys. We went up to Atlanta the day after Christmas to visit Jeremy's family and enjoyed seeing them, although we all came down with bad colds. I don't have the pictures from our visit with them yet, but here are some from our Christmas in Florida:

Connor loved his new toys:

Connor and me in front of our Christmas tree:

Connor and Daddy playing with his new wagon:
My family with the wagon they gave Connor:
How we found Jeremy at my parents house before dinner - this is their dog's new bed:

In all fairness, Buddy's new bed is very soft - Connor kept cuddling with it! Connor was definitely spoiled this Christmas - I'm still putting together his new toys! But it was such a blessing to enjoy Christmas with him and I love to watch him explore all his new toys.

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 :)