Chrismakwanzakah

Connor and Daddy opening stockings on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, Connor was more interested in the gate than his presents.

Camera shy? Since when?

Mommy helping Connor open a toy. Connor got tons of toys...most make noise...and lots of bath tub toys too. His favorite though is the fake food. Unfortunately we've already lost his favorite piece, the turkey leg. We think we left it at a restaurant when we had to make a hasty exit because Connor puked all over me!

Froggy got just what he asked for....beer!

We had to hold Connor down to keep him from the gate and force him to open presents. I bet this is the only year that happens!

One of his other favorite toys is a mini work bench. It makes lots of noise and came with a mini hammer and screw driver.

News of the Day

Well, the camera is refusing to talk to the computer again, so sorry Mom, this post has no pictures. When they are on speaking terms I will try to post pictures of Connor opening his presents.

But today was a big day for a Sunday. Yesterday we got new carpet downstairs and on the stairs. We spent a mad 24 hours cleaning and today our wonderful realtor, Samantha, came to take pictures of the house and put a sign in the front yard. So tomorrow our listing will be on MLS and the house will officially be on the market. We are moving for a few reasons. The main one is that it takes Dave at least an hour and fifteen minutes to get home from work. So being that the market in S. Austin is still fairly decent and that there are only 5 houses for sale in our neighborhood, we decided it was time to try our luck. We looked at our competition and we win hands down, but we'll see how it goes. So as long as we're moving we need to look at the schools because the one this neighborhood goes to is ok, but a very old building with bugs. We are looking in the area where I used to teach up in Round Rock. I found a house a week or so ago, but Dave hasn't seen it yet. I think it fits everything we're looking for, but it's off the market for now. They are re-doing the floors and counter tops and will put it back up in a few weeks probably at a higher price, but we'll see. The ironic thing is that I think I taught their daughter when she was in first grade. So, we'll see how it all plays out...keep your fingers crossed for us!

Our second big news of the day is that we went to the after-hours clinic today with Connor. He's had a fever for almost a week now, but it's been around 100 and he's getting his two top teeth. His nose has been congested but now it's running non-stop. He's also started with a bad hacking cough. We decided to go to the doctor anyway just to make sure. The doctor said she thought it was just the common cold and we'd just have to wait it out. We'll see. The poor little guy doesn't seem to be feeling so hot, but hopefully it will run it's course quickly and he'll be back in top shape soon.

More Thank You's

Connor got a package from Aunt Lydia and Uncle Matt the other day. He had fun ripping open all the gifts.

He got a cute outfit.

An Elmo towel that the beagles were obviously VERY interested in.

He really liked the pelican bath toy but wasn't so sure about the Gloworm. We've taken the Gloworm upstairs and he plays with it while he gets changed. He likes to hold on to the ears and bite it's face. It makes changing time a lot less of a fight.

Then yesterday Connor got a package from Auntie Breezy and the Rev. He got this cute outfit with a monkey wearing a matching sweater. Too cute!

He also got some money from Grandma Linda, a bear from Aunt Carol and Uncle Paul and a gift certificate from Grandma Anna and Grandpa Gerry (I think that one was really for Froggie).

He also got a bribery gift from Molly's mommy, but unfortunately for the dogs it has a mallet as part of the toy. The dogs aren't so happy about it.

Thank you to everyone for your generosity. Connor is having so much fun!

PS- One front tooth has popped through. The other shouldn't be far behind.

Thank You

Today a package arrived from Aunt Mary Ann. It was this cool Tonka truck. It can be a walker or you can ride on it. It scoops up toys and has a wheel that makes all kinds of noise. Connor loves it, thanks Aunt Mary Ann.

Yesterday Connor got a Target gift card from Grandma Betty and Grandpa Joe. He also got a check from Uncle Roger and Aunt Nancy. He can't wait to spend them on more toys...maybe a kitchen or tool set or a wagon! Thank you!

PS - His two front teeth are about to come in...maybe even in time for Christmas! We'll be able to sing that song.

Walker?

On Monday, Connor turned 10 months old! I cannot believe it. He's changed so much in just the past few months. I think back and remember that he only started crawling at the end of Sept. and then two weeks ago he took his first steps. This week he's gotten much braver. I didn't notice at first, but yesterday he kept falling down. I watched him letting go of things more and more, and still not being too steady, would fall after a few steps. Then last night we were playing the walk between Mommy and Daddy game and he took 5 steps. Then today he tried to walk from a toy to the couch which was about three feet away...I found him face down on the floor about a foot away from the couch, but at least he's trying. He even used Sophie as a walker yesterday. That was pretty funny. I'll try to get some pics of him in action, but it's hard to catch right now since I'm trying to catch him most of the time!

Look Mommy!

The other day Connor decided it would be fun to play "with" the toy bin instead of with what was "in" the toy bin.

Then he discovered that if you flip it and push it around it can help you get to things.

Each time he did this I flipped the bin back over and moved it and him to the middle of the floor and put toys in it. He would just flip it again and push it to various other objects in the living room and climb on them.


Yesterday morning he picked up Froggie and started beating on him. I got out the camera and tried to catch him in the act, but when he saw the camera he started posing. This kid needs to be a model. He knows exactly what to do when the camera comes out!

Snow? In Austin? Are You Sure?

Last night we heard something hitting the windows. We looked outside and this is what we found....BTW, it had been 80 earlier in the day.

The cars had a little snow on them too.

It was still there when we got up this morning.

New Dog Bed

Since we're all having some trouble sleeping, we thought that getting the dogs a new bed (and out of ours) might help. Connor thought it looked like a great idea.



Sophie and Marley aren't so sure. The first night Marley slept on it while Sophie wandered the house until 3 am when I just gave in and let her on the bed so I could get some sleep.

When Connor and I came home today, we found the dogs like this. Sophie obviously needs to learn to share, but hopefully this means they think it's a good idea...at least during the day.

Eggs? No Thank You!

Since Connor's been eating more "real" food, I thought I'd try scrambled eggs again. As you can see, he's just not a fan. He actually picked them up this time and tried some, but would make this awful face and shake his head after each bite. I think he even tried three times, but just couldn't do it. I guess we'll try again next month.

Not sure what was different about last night, but he actually slept. He cried at 10:45pm and I just resettled him. He woke again at 3:40am and I nursed him. He took a little while to get back to sleep, but then he didn't wake again until 7:15am. I wish I knew what was different and I'd market it. On Tuesday night he woke 3 times and eventually ended up just standing in his crib screaming from 4:30-6:00am. That wasn't fun. Let's hope he's gotten over whatever was keeping him up and we're back on the program!

Steps and Cribs

The whole crib thing is not going so well. Last night he decided he would just stand up every time someone left him alone in his bed. So he stood there and screamed until one of us came back, laid him back down and then we did it all over again. At 2 am, after our third round of this, I finally decided I'd just hold his shoulder and hip and keep him in his favorite sleeping position....forcefully. He finally fell asleep and slept until almost 7:30am. Then he just sat up and played with his aquarium toy that's tied to his bed instead of screaming for someone to come get him. That was at least a little progress.

Today we've been working on standing up alone. He's just not very steady so I was standing him up and letting go to see if he'd learn to balance. After dinner we were playing (trying to keep him occupied while we tried to watch a movie) and he started catching himself with his toes to make himself balance. Then he started adding in steps to get to me. We tried having him go back and forth between us and one time he took three steps! I knew it was coming, but he just turned 9.5 months! Can't wait to see what he'll be doing next week...running down the street probably!

Let's just hope all this change is the reason we're having trouble sleeping and soon he'll be so tired from walking he'll sleep through the night...yeah, right!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Connor has had a lot of firsts this weekend. He had his first grilled cheese sandwich...which he liked. He had his first Thanksgiving dinner...which was just ok. He ate a little of the turkey, stuffing and green bean casserole. He's really starting to eat more and more "real" food.


He wasn't so sure of the Thanksgiving food.

He also has his first bloody nose. He tried to make a transfer from the chair to me and missed, hitting his head on the chair. Poor little guy!

We are seriously thinking of putting our house on the market in January. So we replaced the brass lighting downstairs. It took a lot of time in Lowe's to pick exactly what we wanted, but I think I like what we ended up with. We're also planning on replacing the carpet downstairs with laminate flooring. So if anyone's up for helping, I'm sure Dave would be happy for the help.



Then Connor got to decorate for his first Christmas. He wasn't really into the tree, but he liked the bags and boxes everything had been stored in.



As you can see, we decided not to decorate the bottom 1/3 of the tree and only used about 1/3 of the ornaments that we had. We also put a gate around the tree. Hopefully that keeps babies and beagles away from the tree...fat chance, right?

We've had a few people ask for more Froggie updates. Froggie's busy people! He has a job! He is chairman of the transition team! He has been staying in bed helping Connor get used to his bed and his room. It has been a tough road the last few nights too. Connor's been waking up screaming a number of times through the night and no one is getting much sleep...esp. Froggie. But...Froggie is thinking of branching out and getting his own blog. He feels he has a bigger following than we do and even has a name for his blog...The Froggie Chronicles. Just keep watching for more info.

Connor Has a Ball

Connor loves to play with this ball. He spent about 20 minutes yesterday picking up the ball, dropping it, chasing it and doing it all again. It was pretty funny.

Connor pulls up on everything. By 8:30am yesterday he had touched almost everything in the house that he wasn't supposed to touch....even going so far as to unroll some toilet paper while I was in the shower. Here he is looking out the window and watching the cars go by. I'm sure he will be walking by the end of the year.


The sleeping thing is going ok. He slept 7-8 hours each night straight, nursed and back down for another 3 for 4 consecutive nights, but he cried every three hours last night. Hopefully that was just a bad night and he'll be back on schedule tonight.

Ferber - Night 9

Success???? I think that's what I'll call it since I got some sleep too! I nursed him and put him down last night with NO fuss at 8:15pm. Then he cried at 3:30am. I got up and nursed him and put him back in his crib, again with NO fuss. Then he woke up for good at 7:15am! I think I actually slept for 8 hours during that time. Amazing! I'm sure we'll have some back steps, but I hope we're adjusting.

9 Months Old!

On Saturday, Connor turned 9 months old! I cannot believe he's growing so fast. We went to the doctor's this morning. He was 22 lbs. 8 oz. which put him in the 75-90%. Hard to believe, right? But I guess the crawling and pulling up on everything must be a good work out. He's also been a little difficult to feed lately (as you can see in the picture) so we need to work on getting him used to more solids. The doctor actually talked to me about how to get more calories in him (butter and cheese on things). I never thought she'd talk to me about feeding him more.

He's 29.5 inches tall and, of course, his head is still off the charts (big brains). He had some blood drawn and didn't cry at all. His hydrocele has completely closed up so no hernia. Yeah! We are going to work on weaning by the end of the year. He will actually take 4 oz. of formula from a sippy cup now! Big improvement...I told the doctor that we're still using the free can of Similac that they give you in the hospital. After the puking incident last night, he slept for 5 straight hours, then I nursed him and he slept 3 more. This afternoon he took an hour nap in his crib and tonight I haven't had to go back in there yet. He's been fussing off and on for 15 min., but not enough to warrant a reassuring visit. Maybe we'll both get a little sleep tonight...doubtful!

Today we went to UT to participate in an infant study. They had him sit and watch a screen and they showed pictures of objects 2 at a time. Then when he got bored with that, they showed two trees and then three trees to see if he noticed a difference. Not sure if he did or not...he got bored real fast but was very cooperative. He got a Bevo bib for his troubles. Then we had playgroup! It was a very busy day for a little guy.

Ferber Night 5

Well, I'd have to say that the first two nights were a fluke!

On night 3(Fri. night), he cried for 90 minutes (off and on) in the middle of the night. Dave came home that night and got to experience that. It was rough on everyone. So on Sat. I went and got a massage!

On night 4 (Sat. night), he started into the crying jag around 11:30pm or so and I just couldn't do it anymore. I went and got Dave and then I went into the spare room ALONE, turned off the monitor, turned the fan on high and slept until 6am.

So tonight, night 5, I decided maybe it would be best to move his crib back into his room. We had to be extremely silent or he'd wake up when it was in our room and there's no convincing Dave and Sophie to stop snoring! So we went through the routine and put him in bed. He screamed pretty hard so after 5 min. I went in. I was rubbing his belly and trying to give him Froggie to help and SPEW...he puked all over the place. I screamed for help! We changed everything and put him back in the crib as the book says and he screamed some more. He finally fell asleep after about 15 more min. but that was only 30 min. ago. I hope he sleeps some more. He's not been very friendly to be around because he's so tired during the day. He's back to taking three naps and cries if I'm more than 3 inches away from him. Poor little guy! We know it's the right thing to do and the right time to do it, but it sure seems like an awfully mean thing to do to a little guy that just wants his mommy and daddy.

Ferber Night 2

Last night started off really well. Connor was having a hard time staying up so at 8:15pm we went up stairs to read, rock and nurse. He fell right to sleep. I kind of tried to jiggle him a little so he was kind of awake when I put him down, but he went right back to sleep. He slept until Sophie came to bed and woke him up. I patted him and he went right back to sleep. The biggest problem, other than the dogs, was that Connor woke up crying ever 2 hours. At least half the time he cried for less than 5 min. and went right back to sleep. If not, then I just settled him back down, patted his butt and he went back to sleep. I'd say it was another successful night for Connor. The mommy on the other hand is exhausted! If Connor wasn't up then the dogs were! Will I ever get to sleep more than an hour at a time ever again?

Ferber - Night 1

So, I'm not getting much sleep and have decided that maybe it's time for Connor to move into his own bed full time. So I bought the Ferber book and after the whole fever thing, decided last night was the night. I gave him a bath, we played a little more to make sure he was tired, read some books and then nursed. I kissed him and put him in his bed and that's when the screaming started. I went back in after 3 min. and then again after 5 more min. Then after 10 more minutes I went in and he was standing in his crib crying and when I tried to hug him he threw up a little. So I mopped it up and laid him down again. After just 3 more min. I didn't hear any screaming for about 5 min. I was amazed that it was working so quickly and of course worried something was wrong. I called Nora to get some advice and mid-call heard more crying. I waited a few more min. and went up to him. He was standing again. I hugged him in his crib for a few min and then laid him down again and patted his butt. He fell right to sleep (9:35pm) and didn't make a noise until 2am. Then I turned him on his side, patted his butt and he was down again. Around 3:45am he made some noise, but I don't remember getting up that time. Then at 5:15am he woke again so I brought him in bed with me and nursed him. He slept until a little after 7am when my alarm went off (had to get a flu shot).

All in all, I'm calling it a successful night. He stayed in his crib from 9pm until 5am. So that's a big deal...that's sleeping in his crib, sleeping alone and not nursing during the night. Those are some pretty big hurdles for a baby. I'm guessing tonight might be a little rougher since he'll figure out I was serious and not just a one time thing. We'll see.

Fever!!!!

I think Connor is really sick for the first time ever. He has had that battle with the low grade fever for the last week, but yesterday it took a jump. By 9pm his fever was 101.9 and Mommy was wondering: a) did Connor figure out that I was going to start sleep training and make him sleep in his own crib all night and b) why did he have to wait until Daddy went out of town.

So I gave him two droppers of Tylenol (he's about 24 lbs now) and nursed him to sleep. The child slept ALL night! He woke up at 5:15 and 6:15 and I nursed him both times and he slept until 8:05 when he was woken up by Marley and Sophie who were absolutely beside themselves because no one had fed them yet.

He still feels warm this morning so I ventured into unmarked territory and took a "real" temperature which came out at 100.4. He's got a little cough and his ears are all scratched up because he keeps putting his fingers in them. So I'm sure the doctor will say give him more Tylenol and send me home, but I went ahead and made an appointment for this afternoon just to make sure. I'll let ya know how it goes.

***Update*** We went to the doctor and she said he has some pus on his tonsils. They did a strep test which was negative. So I just have to watch him and take him back if he's not better by the weekend. That's what you get when you go to Gymboree!

Party Weekend

Amanda, Travis and Aiden came to visit this weekend. This was one of the two pictures I think we got all weekend where they were both looking at the camera. It was so nice to see them and we can't wait to visit again.

Aiden has a little cousin Connor's age so he's good with younger children.

Connor had his first visit to Gymboree - a padded play place. Here he has bubble horns.

We went to help Lexie celebrate her first birthday. Lexie had a great time. She was all over the place visiting with all her guests.


We tried to convince Connor to play on all this stuff but he was not interested. He was a little overstimulated and decided it was safer to just watch from Daddy's arms.

He did like the balls though.

Here's Lexie with her mom, Deb, and her dad, Myles. What a cool princess cake! We'll have to think hard to come up with a party for Connor that's as much fun!

Then we went to Round Rock for a surprise party for Elizabeth's 40th birthday. We were exhausted after all the partying!