Feed Me!

Today we gave Evan rice cereal for the first time to help him celebrate the New Year! I think he may have liked it better than the bottle...which is still a no go. We actually got through a good portion of it before he started fussing. I think some of it even went down so we're considering it a success!

I took Evan to the dr on Monday for his 3 month shots. He has been kind of snotty too so we saw the dr about that. He did give us prescription for antibiotics but kind of encouraged me to wait a few days and see how it goes. I got some saline spray and that seems to have helped a bit...except for the time he turned his head and I sprayed it in his eye. Anyway, he weighed 16 lbs 12 oz. He's a big boy but pretty much the same size as his brother was at this age. He hasn't been sleeping so well the last few nights...I definitely won't make it to midnight tonight.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Santa brought Connor a Cozy Coupe which he calls "Bus" and Evan a Jumparoo...which it looks like he's more interested in Connor's toy. Connor was SOOOOO excited about his bus. He was in it straight from 8am until 3:30 pm when I had to drag him out to take a nap. Santa picked good!

Cheese!

They each got a rubber ducky and he's crying because he wants both...which eventually he ended up with because face it...Evan can't defend his toys yet.

It took 1.5 hrs to open all of our presents...and not because we had tons but because Connor was too interested in playing with each one. As you can see we had to just start handing them to him in his bus.

Experimenting with different ways of getting in the car...Dukes of Hazard style...the door doesn't open on this side.

He got some new Matchbox cars. When he saw what this present was his voice got really high and he said "Whoooaaa!" He loves cars!

Daddy got beer and beagle boxers!

Evan had quite the haul too! Lots of noisy toys!

Mommy's favorite present was Dance Dance Revolution...come over and play any time!

Thanks to everyone who sent presents! We had a great Hanukkah/Christmas!

Evan is 3 Months Old!

Evan is 3 months old today! He is getting so big! I just weighed him and he's a little over 17 lbs which is big but is about the same as Connor was at this age and Evan was born 1.5lbs bigger. He's started laughing when you play peek-a-boo and getting ticklish. He will be following in his brother's wild ways very soon!

Connor, Connor, Connor

Evan had his playgroup today. They're starting to get big enough to notice each other...very cute!

Connor's had another busy day. He got his first grass-stained knee today. He got put in time-out at someone else's house for the first time today (but the 3rd time in 24 hours). Speaking of time-out...not sure that one's gonna work. Yesterday he smacked my computer. I told him not to do it again or he'd go to time-out. I watched him think about it and you could see him think "What's she gonna do if I do it again?" So, he did it again. I took his toys away and put him in time-out. I think he was more upset about losing the toys than going to time-out. This discipline thing is going to have to be creative if he already doesn't care about time-out at 22 months!

But the big Connor story today was.....

Connor said "Juicy please." I said "Where's your cup?" Dave was checking his email and I was gathering cookies to go meet the other moms...so neither of us was paying close attention to what he was doing. He went to his drawer and got a cup. He went to the dog bowl, dipped his cup in and drank! I started laughing so hard that I couldn't do anything to stop him. This kid is constantly into something! I'm just glad I can still laugh at it!

Cold, Cold, Cold

It's been REALLY cold here lately so we've been spending a lot of time inside. Connor has this little DVD player (which I highly recommend to every parent who wants a few minutes to make dinner or go out to dinner) that he calls "Me-moo." He has almost loved this thing to death in the last 6 months, but it seems to have rallied and is making a come back. It must know that we have a spare one waiting in the wings should it give out. Connor's also had one of his first extended colds this week. I'm pretty sure he got it when he licked the window of the playroom at Chik-Fil-A. You'd think he'd learn his lesson, but when we went there yesterday he licked a chair...weird dude!

While I was making dinner last night, Connor plopped right down in front of Evan and gave him some of his tools. Pretty cute!

Evan is growing so fast. He is very social and knows how to use his voice to get your attention. He can now roll left or right onto his back if you put him on his stomach. He still refuses a bottle, but he did fall asleep while Dave was holding him yesterday so that's a big accomplishment.

This beagle is AGAIN pushing her luck!

Funny things this week:

1) While I was feeding Evan, Connor jumped out the dog door. It was cold so I thought he'd come back in. After 3 min. I decided to go get him. He came walking towards me holding up his latest collection...dog poop. I kept telling him to put it down, but he just continued to pick up more. He had 3 pieces by the time I got to him. YUCK!

2) Connor shoved a stuffed dog up his shirt and said, "Milk."

3) Connor is not getting into the holiday spirit. He will not let us read a Hanukkah or Christmas book. He calls Santa "Satan." And he keeps undecorating the tree. Maybe next year!

4) Sophie drank my spiked eggnog and then passed out on the couch.

5) Evan went to see Twilight for the second time!

Roll Baby!

Evan's not been so good about lifting his head up while on his belly so we've been practicing the last few days. This morning he decided he'd just roll right over onto his back instead of practice! I was amazed and of course I can't get him to do it again. When Connor was under 6 months I always felt that the cloth diapers were so big that they held him back on some of his physical development. This makes me think I'm right...Connor did this at 4 months and Evan's only 2. Or else it's just that the 2nd child develops faster because he wants to catch up with the first!

Also, Evan is starting to lose his hair not on top just on the sides and back so he's going to be left with a mohawk and a tail...not good!

Chatty Charlie

Connor took his bowl of Goldfish, his dvd of Cars, his blue truck and red car and climbed in the cabinet.

The dogs realized he had Goldfish and are usually pretty lucky about being able to steal anything he has to eat.

Connor has really started talking a lot and I'd guess that 75% of it is understandable...if you know his language. He almost always uses 2 or words in a phrase now and can generally get his point across...of course that doesn't cut down on the screaming and fits, but maybe there's still hope. He's doing pretty well identifying colors. He's getting almost consistent with red, blue and yellow. He also likes to help count to 20 and can get more numbers in the right spots than you thin he should be able to. It's amazing to think that he couldn't even walk this time last year and he hadn't signed his first word yet. Amazing how quickly they grow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home and got one of Evan's smiles on camera!

Tomorrow the real work begins. At Halloween we found out that our neighborhood really "gets into" holidays. Trick or Treaters actually walked past our house because we only had our front lights on and were sitting outside (no movies showing or gigantic decorations). So we figure Christmas decorations are an even bigger deal and we better get started tomorrow. We read in the neighborhood newsletter that there's a $50 gift card for the best decoration! Game on!

BTW, please excuse me if I misspell anything in this post...Connor is crawling on me and "feeding" me with his baby's bottle which makes it difficult to type!

Evan's 2 Months!

How Cute!!!!

Evan is 2 months old today! He went to the dr and he weighs 14 lbs 15 oz which means he has gained exactly 6 lbs in 2 months...which puts him off the charts! He is 22.75" long (45%) and his head is only 75th%. He's doing great!

My boys!

Connor refused to smile in any pics today. Here he's shaking his head and screaming "No!" Pretty much what he does all day long every day these days! Can't wait for 2 to actually get here..yeah right!

It's Potty Time!

Connor has been having fits each time we change his diaper...kicking and screaming and making life miserable for all involved. So we thought maybe it was time to start some potty training. We've had a potty for a few months. Before the baby was born Connor was telling me when he had to potty, so I went out and bought a potty. And you guessed it...he stopped telling me. He likes to sit on the potty when I'm using my potty but he refuses to sit on it with his pants off...kind of the point of the whole thing.

Step 1 is to get him to sit on the potty a) for an extended time and b) with his pants off...enter the introduction to candy! We made it all the way through Halloween without him knowing what candy was but boy does he know now. I shoved him on the potty and gave him an M & M and told he could only have them while he was sitting on the potty. By about the third time of this we couldn't get him off the potty! And even asked to sit on the potty last night so he could get some candy.

During one of these rounds Dave let him take the M&M out of the container himself, but he told him only one. Well he took two and Dave told him, "No, only one." So Connor put both of them in his mouth and said "None!" Smart kid! So today I gave him a sucker (which he calls balloons) and told him it was a potty sucker and only let him have it while he sits there. He sits there and says "Red Sucker!" the entire time, it's pretty funny. We haven't had any pee yet but hopefully the pee will come before his teeth rot out of his head...which would be a shame since we waited so long for those to come in.

Another funny Connor story...Dave went in to Connor's room to check on him after he'd fallen asleep and he was gone. Dave looked all over and finally looked under the bed and found him dead asleep with none other than...Froggie! Froggie doesn't get much play time any more, but obviously he's still a bad influence!

Farm

Our MOMS Club activity today was to go to the farm. We tried to go just before Halloween but got rained out. So today we only had 4 moms and 7 kids, but it was a nice small group and a great day for it. Yes, we did ride this tractor/hayride. I didn't think I should but we went ahead. It was a little too bumpy for Evan and I had to hold on to Connor to keep him from bumping off onto the floor, but I think he had a good time. And since we were the last group we got our own private hayride.

We got to see lots of animals on the farm including these ostriches, but Connor's favorite thing was the pumpkin patch. He kept running in there and I had to keep going in and getting him.

Here's what Connor did most of the time...sat in the stroller and ate goldfish. The goats were one of the first animals on the walking tour and they scared him so he spent most of the time in the stroller. Of course he did try to off road the tour a few times and headed into the woods...another reason he's in the stroller! All in all a good day!

Bumbo

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We've been busy and have lots to tell, but just haven't been doing a good job of taking pictures.

Evan will be 7 weeks old tomorrow and is growing fast! Don't you just love the 4 segments of arm?

Got my blood test results today and my iron levels are normal again. The anemia seems to just have been a complication of pregnancy, so that's good. I only have 5 lbs of Evan baby weight to lose and then on to Connor's baby weight. I've been doing WW, Wii Sports Active, and walking on the treadmill. Connor thinks it's fun to do these with me. Hopefully it works!

I'll try to upload the pics we have soon!

Halloween WAS Scary

Freddy Kruger!!!


On Friday we went to Dave's office to go trick or treating. Connor refused to put on either costume (last year's Chewbaca or this year's Underdog), but he did still fit into the onsie he wore last year so we let it slide. He figured out VERY quickly that if you say trick or treat (or even if you don't) people would give you things. He also figured out that he could just take these things from the bowls people had...even better. And then it occurred to him that if you say you're taking one for Mommy, Daddy and Evan...you get even more! But the real coup of the year is....he has no idea that you can eat any of this stuff. He just likes to pick out the colors and talk about those. He calls suckers balloons and even took a snickers bar to bed and the only thing that happened to it is that it melted from being in his hot little hand. He got so much candy that we had to go back to Dave's cube and drop some off half way through. Thank goodness this activity went well because Halloween was not so pretty!


It started with Connor refusing to take a nap! Instead he took all the pajamas out of his dresser and threw them around the room. So when it was time to put on his costume...there was a battle! It took about an hour of talking about the costume (which was just a t-shirt with a piece of cloth pinned to it) and watching the movie Underdog before I could get him to say he'd wear it. Then half way through putting it on...he changed his mind. He almost broke my collar bone by head butting me 3 times, but I did get the shirt on eventually. We got him to go to the next door neighbor's and he decided he wanted to climb Dave's leg instead of saying trick or treat. Finally he went to 3 houses and then stood in our driveway and passed out candy for an hour until he completely lost it and had to be put to bed. Let's hope next year is better!

BTW, we did discover tooth number 12 came in sometime yesterday...let's blame that for the crabbiness!

Pumpkin Carving

Today Connor discovered that it saves time if you just shove your whole lunch in your mouth at once. Then you can go play sooner. Unfortunately he was eating a hard-boiled egg...yuck!

Ok, I'm ready. I'm not sure what we're doing but I like pumpkins so I'm game!

Come on Daddy, just carve the pumpkin already.

Forget it. I'm not waiting on him anymore. I'm taking my pumpkin for a ride.

Ok here we go....the old fashioned way too...very little electric tool use.

I can help clean and look for seeds.

I got it. This is what you do.

All done!

Connor's little pumpkin got carved too, but Evan had woken up and was eating so I didn't get to take a picture. This morning Connor has been carrying around his pumpkin and chasing Sophie with it. She has already stolen the lid and eaten half of it. I'm guessing that by the end of the day we will have a new pumpkin.

Evan is 5 weeks old today. He's starting to fall asleep on his own in his pack n play which is a BIG deal. That lets me deal with Connor and the dogs and go to the bathroom. Yeah Baby!

One Month

Evan was one month old yesterday!!!! He celebrated with Elmo as you can see! He also started to give us a few smiles which is VERY exciting! We can't wait for them to appear on a more regular basis. Evan is up to 12 lbs now and continuing to grow. He likes to sleep and eat and poo! One of our friends called him a milk processor..which is pretty much true. We are getting some sleep at night. He gets fussy between 3 and 4 am so as long as I'm asleep early I get enough sleep to be able to function.

Self portrait

Daddy partied too hard on Evan's b-day...he needed a little nap.