Big Boy Bed

Today I came into the room to find this....

I have a crazy little monkey boy! So, I considered buying one of those net things to go over the top, so he wouldn't crawl out... but I figured I'd give a big boy bed a try. His crib converts into one, so I figured this way would be cheaper :) When he went down tonight, he looked at me... looked at the walls... and seemed a little nervous. I left the room and he cried for only about 30 seconds, and then was quiet. I went in there about 15 minutes later and he was fast asleep... STILL in bed :) So I'm hoping the future is as nice as tonight was!

Connor & Chloe

I was a little worried how Connor would be with Chloe (my brother and sister-in-law's baby, who was born April 1st)... and how he'd act with me being around Chloe. I held a friends baby at church, and he screamed and tried to pull the baby off of me (this was about a month ago). So I figured it'd be the same. I was shocked to find out that it wasn't. He was fine with me holding her... he even gave her hugs and kisses (he's kissing her in the first picture, not trying to eat her)... and he petted her like he pets my parents dogs, lol... saying "nice" over and over again. I was so excited :) :) :) and I can't wait til they're a little older when they can interact and play with each other.

Connor's 15 Months...

and officially walking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Connor has been "walking" for the past 3 months.... but I wouldn't actually consider him a walker. He would only walk about 10% of the time, and only when he bribbed him, lol. He could walk perfectly fine... but he just wouldn't do it. He just preferred to crawl. Well, I got him two walking toys.... a vacuum and a musical rolly thing (not sure what it's called, lol), and ever since I got those... he walks 90% of the time now, only crawling here and there. And, he's never stood up on his own. He'd only stand by crawling over to the couch or table, etc. But a few times this week, he's stood up in the middle of the floor. And it's weird, because I've NEVER seen a baby stand the way that he does. I wanted to get it on video, but like always, he doesn't do anything on command. But normally I see babies have both hands and feet on the floor with their butts in the air, and then stand themselves up... ya know? Well, he goes onto his knees, then puts one foot flat on the floor, and then just stands up. He doesn't use his hands on the floor to brace himself or anything. I don't know why he does it that way, but whatever can get him up, I guess :) I'm sure he'll be running and getting into everything, more so than he already is... but that's ok... growing up is part of life!! :)

Connor

Connor's discovered some new foods that he likes :) I don't normally give him junk food. He usually gets fruits and veggies with each meal... and then usually a meat of some sort (he LOVES meatloaf). He also loves yogurt and is just starting to like cheese. All in all, he's a VERY good eater, and I'm so happy about that. I hate it when Mom's say "all my kid will eat is chicken nuggets, pizza, french fries, etc." Because if you give your kids the right foods, they'll eat them. Don't give them junk food and they won't eat only junk food... ya know? Well, at least that's my opinion. But... back to Connor. Like I said, he doesn't normally eat junk, but he hasn't been feeling great this week (he had a double ear infection) and he wasn't eating ANYTHING. He wouldn't even eat yogurt, which is his FAVORITE. I went to Walmart and we walked by the bakery section and he saw a donut. He doesn't even know what that is, but of course he starts leaning to grab one, so I thought, why not? It won't kill him. Well, I knew it'd be messy, so we waited til he got home, and he LOVED it....

I've never seen him scarf something down so fast. It was chocolate covered with sprinkles... yummy!!! :)

He's also teething right now, and I read somewhere to give them frozen bagels to soothe the pain. Well, I found frozen big pretzels, and I figured that would have the same affect...

He did not like them too much... he took one bite and threw it on the floor, lol.

Tonight I wasn't feeling like making dinner, so we opted for pizza :) I don't normally splurge like that, but because Dominos is "reinventing" themselves... they have large one topping pizzas for carryout for only $5.99 and I figured you, can't beat that!! :) I gave Connor the crust to eat (and no.... he just didn't have crust for dinner. He'd already had a banana, green beans, and pasta earlier) Well, he took one bite and ate it... but then saw my Ranch I had, and decided that he wanted to dip his crust too. Of course he then started just dipping and sucking the Ranch off the crust. But it was very cute, and definatly picture worthy :)

I look at these pictures and all I can think about is the fact that my baby is turning into a little BOY!! Time flew, and he's growing up so fast. He's almost 15 months old. Where did my baby go?!? He's such a good little boy too. I know I complain a lot. I feel like that's all I've been doing lately. I think it's just that I've been really stressed the past couple of months. For starters... Connor is constantly sick.. we've been to the ER and Urgent Care several times just in the past 4 months. Swine Flu, Peanut Allergy, Croupe, double ear infection, rash all over his body, etc. Plus then Aaron had his hernia surgery which came all of a sudden... and threw me off balance. He went into an appointment last Friday to talk with surgeon and to pick an opperation date (which we thought would be in a month or two) and they said "we want you to come in Monday morning at 6:30am." Luckily Aaron's boss at work said it was ok and that he'll have his job still in 4-6 weeks (recovery time). I'm just really hoping that it holds true.

But I'm really trying to look for the positive and stop the negativity and complaining. Connor can be a major handful at times, but most of the time he's an absolute JOY.

Some of the things that Connor enjoys to do:

- playing the piano with Mommy or Daddy

- Go to grandma and grandpa's house

- visiting cousin Ollie (Katie's dog, Oliver)... when we go to Katie's house and Connor see's him, he says "HI OLLIE" very loudly :)

- helping Mommy out with the laundry... whether it's helping to fold, or put clothes into the wash or dryer

- talking to Auntie Ya-Ya (my sister, Bethany) on Skype (because she's in Russia til the end of May)

- talking to my Mom on Skype... yes, she lives 10 minutes away... but he's OBSESSED with calling anyone. He will go to the computer and whine until I call her, lol

- coloring (on paper and on himself... I perfer the first)

- going on walks in the stroller
- taking medicine (he spits out his pacifier and opens his mouth ANY time he sees his tylenol bottle or a syringe of any kind, lol)

- sitting on the potty like a big boy (he actually went pee and poop one time) :)

Some of the things that Connor hates to do:
- going shopping

- sitting in his carseat

- getting his diaper changed and getting dressed and/or undressed. The only thing he likes about it is crawling away from us and laughing as he does so

Some words that Connor says:

hi, Ollie (my sisters dog), night-night, bye-bye, wow, no, ow, yucky, nice, oh no, doggy, pen, Mama, Dada, NingNing (which he calls my mom), Ya-Ya (which he calls my sister, Bethany)

Some facts about Connor:

- he's exactly half the height of his Auntie Kate and Auntie Ya-Ya

- he still isn't sleeping through the night... he's up anywhere from 1-3 times

- even though he CAN walk... he would rather crawl. He crawls 90% of the time, instead of walking

- if he wears disposible diapers, he fits into 12 month pants, because he's so skinny in his waist. BUT... he wears cloth diapers (because he's allergic to disposible) so he can sorta fit into 18 month pants. But they are pretty big on him.

- he LOVES my dad. He always gets a big smile on his face when he sees him and will give him a hug and kiss

- speaking of kisses... he doesn't like to kiss people, and you should feel VERY lucky if you get one. If you ask him for a kiss, he will either 1. ignore you 2. go in for a kiss and then move away and fake you out or 3. kiss something OTHER than you... and that could be anything from his toys, to his sippy cup or food, to the wall lol... I don't know why that is :)

- he likes going to the doctors. He will smile and laugh and flirt with anyone he sees. And this last time we went, the doctor had him lay on the bed to examine him and he just sat there, perfect and smiling, while he checked his ears, nose, throat, breathing in front and back, his stomach, and his legs/feet. He was also fine with getting his temperature taken and having that little oxygen test thingy on his finger. I guess he's totally over his stranger anxiety issues.

Well, I'm sure there's TONS of other things I can say about my beautiful baby boy... but that's all for now. I just wanted to make sure I got some of these down, before I forget. I've heard that there are websites that can print your blog into a book, and some day I'm going to have that done... and I would love to have all the fun facts of him growing up :)

Why Some Babies Need to be Caged!!!

Don't get me wrong... I LOVE my son dearly. He's everything to me. But sometimes I want to ring his neck. Why is it that he ALWAYS gets into trouble and does EVERYTHING that he's not supposed to do when I'm busy trying to get stuff done. And why is it that he only acts this way for me?!
Today Aaron surgery for a hernia. I was at the hospital with him from 6:30am until about 4:00pm... it was a long day!! My mom and Katie watched Connor for me so I didn't have to have him in a waiting room all day (thank you guys again, by the way!!!) And when I got home, they said that he was WONDERFUL. He was happy all day long with no crying or anything. He entertained himself. He ate a good breakfast and lunch for them. He took 2 naps without a problem... just laid right in his crib and went to sleep. He was basically an angel. But as soon as I'm around him, he won't let me go more than 3 feet away from him without crying. So instead of trying to get stuff done at the house, I figure I'll go run an errand or two. He screams the WHOLE time in the car when I go to Walgreens and Walmart, and pretty much cries sitting in the shopping cart at both stores. I get home and he won't eat his dinner. He just puts it into his mouth and spits it back out and throws it onto the floor. Then he's FINALLY playing on the floor by himself, so I try to get stuff for Aaron, because he's on bed rest for 2 days. I go and get him his medicine and a drink... a blanket... etc... and I come back into the bedroom to find this........

He was sitting up dumping out the whole container of raisins on the floor. And as soon as he saw me standing there, he started laughing and dumped even more out... and then started swatting his hand back and forth, spreading them out ALL over the floor. I get down on the floor and tell him to help me pick them up.... which I know he's only 1... but he usually does it. He LOVES putting things away for some reason. But not this time... he just goes spazzy... throwing raisins everywhere. Of course I tell him no and move him to the other side while I start picking them up, and then he goes over to the diaper bag and starts emptying it. I CAN NOT WIN!!!
So.... to sum everything up.... this is why some wonderful person invinted a cage a playpen :)

I love my son... I promise I do :) I just needed to vent. Thanks to all who listened (read).

Sunday - April 4, 2010

This past Sunday was a very busy day in our family. For church, we had General Conference (for those of you who don't know... that happens twice a year, where all the general authorities get together and speak to the members of the church nation wide over the television). Chloe, my new niece, also got to come home from the hospital with her Mommy and Daddy. My sister Katie had her 22nd birthday. And as everyone knows.... Easter.

With everything going on, it was a non stop day.

Happy Birthday Katie!!!! I can't believe my BABY sister is 22!! She's grown up into such a wonderful and beautiful young lady!!! I LOVE this picture of her... it sums up Katie in one photo

-SPAZ-

-BEAUTIFUL-

-SILLY-

-SPUNKY-

-FUNNY-

-LOVED-

Because we didn't actually go to church this year due to conference, I still had Connor wear his little Easter suit for egg hunting and pictures. I bought this for him when I was a couple months pregnant. When I was working at Olan Mills, the baby clothes (at K-Mart) were right next to my studio. So on my breaks or off time, I would ALWAYS look for cute baby clothes. Well, I saw this little suit and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. But I was not going to pay the original price (I think it was $17 for the jacket and $15 for the pants). So I waited, knowing that it would eventually go on sale. And because I was at K-Mart EVERY day... I would watch as the price went down. So I was VERY patient (and I am not a patient person!!) until I found it at what would probably be the lowest price possible... I got the jacket for $2.50 and the pants for $1.50 WOO HOO!!

Well, because I bought it when I was pregnant, I had no idea what size he'd be at Easter. I just assumed he'd be chubby... so I got a 24 months. I didn't realize he'd be a little skinny thing who still fits into 6-9 month waist, lol. He's in 18 months pants for length... but he's got such a tiny waist that non of his pants stay up!!! That's ok though, I still think he looked cute!! :)

Last year, Connor was only 2 1/2 months at Easter... so of course he had no idea what was going on. So it was LOTS of fun with him understanding a little more this year. He had so much fun going on an Easter egg hunt. His daddy... I mean the Easter Bunny.... was nice enough to hide some easy eggs for Connor to find...

In Connor's Easter basket... he got a couple of essentials (shampoo, balmex, etc)... but the Easter bunny was also nice enough to give him some fun stuff. Bubbles, fruit snacks, a bunny toy, and baseball & carrot bat... aka Connor's bam bam stick!!

When my brothers and sisters were growing up, we always took a picture of us with our Easter baskets on our heads. I don't know why... it was one of those things that we did once and it just continued. Well, I tried with Connor... but he was not liking something being on his head and wouldn't sit long enough with it on for a picture...

I decided to try to get a couple of cute pictures of him in his little outfit. Usually he just refused to take any posed picture... he either runs/crawls away, or refuses to look at me. Luckily... I had his wonderful Uncle Nate (who Connor loves and adores) out there with me, who was awesome enough to get him to smile in almost every picture!!! (Thanks Nate!!!)

Chloe Elisabeth

My brother (BJ) and sister in law (Kimmy) had their first baby this past week, on April 1st. Her name is Chloe Elisabeth Eller. She was born at 7:29pm and weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 21 inches long. She's beautiful, and looks just like her Mommy!!! Congrats guys!!!