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!

Last Day

Today was Dave's last day at his job at Freescale. A few weeks ago he decided to accept a position with SMSC. SMSC is located at Braker and Mopac in Austin, but he has to spend at least the next two weeks in AZ for training. He is very excited about the opportunity to get some varied experience and will also hopefully pursue his Master's. Connor and I are very sad that Daddy will be gone during the week for the next two weeks, but we hope this new job will mean more regular hours and more family time. We're proud of you!

More Milestones

Today Connor learned to climb the stairs. I was on the phone and I looked down and he was up a step. He has also been leaning on his toys or the couch so that he can play with toys with both hands. He ends up on the floor sometimes. He's gotten some good bumps and is starting to turn black and blue.
This child is obviously up to something!

Grandma Betty hit a milestone today too! It's her birthday! Actually next year is the BIG milestone! We hope you enjoyed your day! I tried to get Connor to hold the sign, but he crumpled it immediately.

Connor hit another milestone tonight....he has the highest temperature he's ever had at 100.0. I'm not sure what's going on. No teeth appear to be coming in. He doesn't seem to feel bad. Just has a fever. He's been going up and down all week between 98.6 and 99.7, but tonight he seems to be getting worse. I hope it's no big deal and just teeth. Keep your fingers crossed.

Our Next President

Today Froggie had the deciding vote that elected Barack Obama our next president. Obama says he is "change" and we just hope that he is able to do what he says he can. We think that this is the first step for our nation to begin to heal itself. We thank everyone who voted and took part in this amazing process. We wish that Connor could realize what a momentous, historic day this was....but he's sleeping. We hope this day is one that changes Connor's life for the better.

BTW, Froggie's passed out from drinking...he's upset because like a true Texan, he voted for Ron Paul. We just realized that this means that Froggie voted twice. We're looking for his fake id as you read this.