Saturday, July 31, 2010

18 month stats...




Connor had a doctors appointment today. He had to get 2 shots which he wasn't very happpy about. Actually, he wasn't very happy about being at the office in general. He's very much in the "I hate everyone besides my mommy" stage, and so when the nurses/doctor/etc. walked into the room, he'd start crying... then when they'd try to touch him to examine him he'd cry even louder... and when he got his shots, he screamed bloody murder! :( Poor little guy. And he HATES band-aids... which they put on his legs and made it worse.


Everyone is always telling me that Connor's tall and big, but I never really think of him as big.

At doctors today he's:
Weight: 25 lbs. 6 oz. (45th percentile)
Height: 34 inches (88th percentile)
Head: 19.5 inches (90th percentile)

So he's tall with a big head, but skinny/average in weight, I guess... :)

(The big head is because he's so smart and he has a large brain with lots of information!) ;)

Nursery Time

Now that Connor is 18 months old, it's time for him to go to nursery at church! :) I have gone in with him 2-3 times in the past couple of months, just for him to try to out and see how it goes. All those times he went in, he'd play with the toys and other kids and not even look at me to see that I was still in there with him. So I thought he'd do GREAT when it came time for me to be able to leave him in there on his own.


Boy was I was wrong!!



They recently split our nursery into 2 classes.. and the junior nursery (his one) only has 4-5 kids. I thought it'd be perfect... not too many kids... not too few kids. But since Connor has recently decided that I can not get more than 2 feet away from him without him screaming bloody murder, it didn't go over so well :( He was fine when we first got in there... but when I left, all hell broke loose. He screamed and screamed and screamed. I teach primary, and my class and the primary room are right across from his, and right down the call from his... so I could hear him screaming (which didn't make it any better). I had someone bring in his softies (his special little blanket) which I thought would make it better. I think it did for a moment. He stopped crying during snack time (he likes food) and they said he had a good 20 minutes... then the crying started again. I guess they had a guy in there for a while (Connor LOVES men) but then he left, and Connor wasn't happy about that. So they ended up having to take him to Aaron 20 minutes before we ended. :(

So I'm hoping that tomorrow is a LITTLE better. I don't need much better, I know that this might take a couple weeks/months. But hopefully we can get a little improvement :)

Here are some happy and smiling pictures BEFORE we went to church...

**********UPDATE**********
2nd week of nursery... just as bad as the first :( He screamed for the first hour. Then the primary president got her husband to go in there. Connor ran up to him and he picked him up and he stopped crying (I told you, he LOVES men!). That lasted through snack time (he actually ate snack this week... last week he just sat there) and then a kid tried to escape and the man ran after him, which upset Connor... and he started crying again... until I came to get him.

I REALLY hope this gets better...



**********UPDATE**********
3rd week of nursery... a tiny bit better. He cried for a good 45 minutes, and then quieted down and they said he actually went over to the play kitchen and played by himself for a little while. But then he tripped (stinkin' new shoes) and he fell, which upset him again and the crying started over. He cried and cried and cried, and then about 20 minutes before nusery ended... he cried himself to sleep in one of the leaders hands :( I really hate this.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

18 Months Old

Our little guy is growing up way too fast! Connor turned 18 months old today :) We didn't do much. Just had a relaxing day at the house. Well, not really relaxing. He's fighting allergies/a cold, so he wasn't in the greatest of moods. I had wanted to do a little photo session, but he wasn't the happiest today. Plus with the runny nose, he was VERY red and splotchy under his nose/on his cheeks :( But I figured I'd do a little session today, and then in a week or so when he's feeling better, do an actual session at park or something.


These ones were just taken in my neighborhood...








Just some things to remember about Connor at 18 months old...

- along with the body parts he already knew... this month he's also learned belly button, fingers, and toes (he'll point them out when you ask where they are)

- if you say "Connor, where are you?" or "hide" he puts his hands over his eyes, and peeks out at you between his fingers

- he HATES it when I get hurt. If I stub my toe, or fall, or trip, etc. and cry or just act like I'm in pain, he will start crying and get VERY upset until I reassure him I'm ok. So if I get hurt, I usually just hide the fact that I'm hurt and just say "I'm ok... Mommy's ok, don't worry!" and then go in the other room and cry (or scream!)

- if you ask him to do "crazy feet" he jumps around the room shaking his feet, and goes crazy!

- he loves purses, baskets, bags & anything else he can carry. He will also find necklaces, bracelets, belts, shoes, etc. and try to put them on :)

- he still LOVES balloons and now flags. When we're driving, he will find and point out every flag and balloon and yell out "fla" or "boom" until I acknowledge that I see them too

- he LOVES the color pink. I don't know why, but he giggles and gets all happy when he sees something pink. And if we're at the store, he always wants the pink pillows, blankets, clothes, etc.

- he started potty training himself this month. One day, he was just sitting there pulling at his diaper, and pointed to the bathroom. So I took him in there and sat him on the potty, and he peed. He's continued to do so, and has gotten pretty good at it (as long as we're at home and he doesn't have a diaper on). I usually just let him run around naked at home, and he only has 1-2 accidents a day. I still put him in diapers for nap time, bedtime and when we go somewhere. He even poops in the potty too :) When we first started, I would just remind him every 15 minutes... but now he'll run to the bathroom on his own, or yell at me til I realize he has to go. He doesn't like sitting on the little potty chair though... but he can't get on to the normal toilet on his own yet... so it does make it a little difficult at times.

- I was still nursing him at nap time and bedtime up until a few weeks ago. I thought it was going to be torture when it came time to wean him, but he actually weaned himself. He just decided one day that he didn't want to nurse and he hasn't nursed since. I was a little worried that nap time/bedtime would be more difficult because of it, but he's great. He takes 1 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon, and all I do is lay him in his bed with his blankets and paci and he goes right to sleep. And then at bedtime, I just give him a bath at 7:30... read him books at 7:45... and sing him 2-3 songs at 8... then lay him down while he's still awake... leave the room, and he goes right to sleep :)

- he's still obsessed with water. All he ever wants to do is play in the water hose outside, or play in the bathtub, or play in the sinks in the house.

- he's learned a few more words this month... he says "fla" for flag, "I can't" (I have NO idea where that one came from... and he even whines as he says it!), "where are you?", "where go?" (where'd it go?... when he's looking for something), "Hi, how are you?" (when he talks on the phone) & "meow" (when you ask what a cat says)

- when you tell him it's time to say prayer, he will fold his arms. As we say prayer, he usually mumbles something along with us, and then when we say "amen" he says something.. not sure what, but I'm assuming his form of "amen".. VERY loudly!

- I think Connor has a little bit of OCD. He HATES it when anything is out of order. He hates when he's dirty, or anything else is dirty. He'll get a wipey and clean his highchair tray after he eats, and then go around the room cleaning all his toys with the wipey. If a cupboard gets left open, he'll whine at me and point to it, until I shut it. He picks up EVERY fuzz or anything else small on the floor, and come hand it to me. I noticed a lot more when I was in Utah this last week. There were 2 lights next to each other in the hotel room. And if only one of them were on, he'd whine and cry, pointing at the other one, until it was turned on too. He puts everything in order (shoes, toes, etc.). We were at Sam's Club and we were eating lunch. There was a little bit of water on the floor, probably from an ice cube dropping and melting. And the whole time we were eating dinner, he was pointing at it, whining. Finally when we were finished, I got him down... he grabbed a napkin, and cleaned up the water spill! Silly little boy!

- most of the time he's an absolute joy to be around... but of course the terrible 2's have already hit. He's into EVERYTHING and when I take him away from something he shouldn't have, he has major meltdowns/screaming tantrums.

- he is always my little helper. He wants to help me make dinner. He helps me clean the house. Today he even started peeling paint off of the wall, and brought it to me all proud with a smile on his face, like he was doing something helpful. (and no, I didn't want the paint peeled... and now I have a 5-6 inch circle of missing paint in my laundry room.. grr).
He's the funniest little guy around and loved by everyone he knows! You can't help smile at the many funny things he does! :) I can't believe how big he's getting, and now his 2nd birthday is now just around the corner! Where did my baby go?!?

Utah trip

This past week, my mom, sister (Bethany), grandma, Connor & I went on a trip to Utah. My sister has been looking for a nanny job up there, and has been considering moving. She had a phone interview with someone and it went really well, but the mom and kids were in Alaska visiting relatives, so they couldn't do an in person interview. She wanted to meet with a couple of people too, to keep her options open, and she had about 5 potential interviews set up, so we all headed to Utah.

If anyone has been in the car with Connor, they would know that he HATES the car. He always has, ever since he was a newborn. He would be happy and content until he got into his car seat, and then he would start screaming. I thought when he got older it would get better... but here we are at 18 months, and he still hates it! So I prayed long and hard that he would be at least half way decent. I brought my portable DVD player with lots of movies, lots of new snacks, and lots of new toys. He was an absolute angel. He ended up sleeping about 5-6 hours of the trip (we left at 4am so he slept a good portion at the beginning and then also his afternoon nap later in the day) and he didn't cry a single bit of the whole trip there. Surprisingly, on the way home, he only cried maybe 15 minutes of the whole 11-12 hour trip too. YAY! :) :) Of course as soon as we got home, he went back to his normal "I hate the car" self :(


Connor got to go on walks with great-grandma almost every day while we were there, which he absolutely LOVED :)






I was doing anything and everything to entertain him in the car...





I had a photo session while I was up there, and we did them at a park. So my mom, grandma, and sister came along and played with Connor while I was doing the session. The family was a little bit late, so I got to take a few pictures of Connor before they got there. This was my favorite one :)



We visited my Aunt Kim and cousins while we were there. For some reason, everyone feels the need to give my child junk food when they see him. I don't know why, and I don't really like it... but I figure it doesn't happen all that often, so I can just deal with it. So here is Connor and his Moon pie :)
My aunt Kim, cousin Valerie, Bethany, Connor, cousin Abbey, me & my mom after church :)
Abbey and Connor
I LOVE this picture...

VERY happy about his treat!




here's Connor at the motel



with Ya-Ya checking her e-mail :)


The first night was rough. He didn't particularly want to sleep in his crib at the hotel, and so I just brought him into bed with me and Beth (we had a queen, and it was a tight squeeze, lol). Beth said that he slapped her in the face a couple of times in the middle of the night, hehe ;)




My husband's brother, Paul is going to BYU and we were staying in Provo... so I thought it would be perfect to get together for lunch. Paul had never seen Connor (the last time I saw Paul was Aaron and my wedding), so I was excited for them to meet. I'd never been on the BYU campus, so Paul thought it would be a great idea to give us a tour, lol... a VERY long and lengthy tour...

and 2 hours later... his tour put Connor to sleep...
It was fun seeing Paul, and meeting his awesome girlfriend, Allison! Hope we'll see them both again soon! :)



Well, that's all for now. There were a couple of pictures I had wanted to get of Connor while in Utah, but of course he always fell asleep when we got to where we were going, and I didn't dare wake him up! Maybe next time.

Oh, and P.S. All of Bethany's interviews that she'd set for while we were up there either canceled or there was an issue, and so she ended up not going on a single one. BUT the person she'd had a phone interview with asked if she has Skype and if he and his wife (who was in Alaska) could do a conference call type interview. So she had that while we were there, and they hired her on the spot :) So she'll be leaving to go back up to Utah in about 3 weeks, to start a new adventure in her life! Good luck Ya-Ya... we'll miss you!!!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Happy 4th of July

Since 4th of July was on Sunday this year, we decided to skip the firework show/food and games/concert festivities at the local park, and instead just have a family BBQ and then sit in the front yard and watch fireworks (the ghetto illegal kind, lol)
We started off the day by going to church. I have been looking for a sailor outfit for Connor for a long time. I haven't been able to find one that I like that I could afford. I like the navy blue and white ones. But they're over $20 and that's so not in my price range. Well, I ended up finding this one on ebay, and I thought it was pretty cute. Only annoying thing is that the lady said that the tags were missing (which I was fine with) but that it's a 2T. Well, Connor is JUST getting out of 18 months (still fits in some though), and barely fitting 2T (most of them are too big on him). But when I tried it on him Sunday morning, it was VERY tight and that will probably be the only time he wears it. It's more like a 12-18 month size :(
That's ok though... I'll think positive... at least he got to wear it once :)
(oh, and Bethany kept making fun of him. She kept saying "ahoy matey!"
Is it that bad? I thought it was pretty cute!!)
I compared last years 4th of July Connor with this years 4th of July Connor... he's growing up way too fast!! He looks the exact same, (as far as facial features) but went from a baby to a boy :(
After church we went over to my brother's house for a BBQ. It was lots of fun, especially since Papa (my sister-in-laws Dad) made BBQ chicken... yummy!!! :)
I didn't get that many candid shots, because I wasn't feeling that great and wasn't in the mood. But I did get a couple pictures of Connor in both his outfits. Good thing I had 2 outfits for him (he's a peeing machine and ALWAYS leaks through his diapers (cloth will do that to ya), and I usually end up changing him about 5 times a day)
Connor refused to hold or touch Chloe... so this is the best we could do. I don't think it's that bad :) (he's smiling a little because my sister held a marshmallow behind me, lol)





(I saved my favorite for last) :)

And here we are sitting in the front yard watching fireworks. My brother also bought a few and was doing them in between seeing the big fireworks in the distance. Every time my brother would stop, Connor would point like below and say "more!" He LOVED them, and would clap and cheer "yay" after every firework!

my brother and Aaron setting them off...

Connor was getting so sleepy. This was probably around 10pm... he usually goes to sleep around 8pm, and that's when he has a normal 1 1/2-2 hour nap. That day, he'd only slept 30-45 minutes.
(I CAN'T wait until we have morning church!!!
12:30 church is torture when he usually takes a nap at 1:00pm)



Thursday, July 1, 2010

:) :) :) Backstreets Back, Alright! :) :) :)

My husband, sisters, Mom and I had one of the best nights of our lives last week :) The Backstreet Boys were in concert again, and we got to go! :) The last time they were around in tour, they performed near us on a Sunday, and since I don't do that kind of stuff on Sunday's (no matter how much of a fan I am), we didn't go. So after not seeing them since I lived in PA about 6+ years ago... this was by far the most awesome night I've had in a LONG time. What was even more exciting to me is that Aaron got to come too. He is also a major fan of theirs (and no, not because of me... he liked them back from when he was younger too!!). What was even cooler was that Aaron's never been to a concert before. So everything about this night was perfect! It was like I was a kid again :)
First, we went and had hot dogs at Pinks, which was DELICIOUS! :) Then we walked around the Universal City walk for a while, where we saw Bella's car from Twilight :) Of course we had to take a picture in front of it...
Next picture kinda stinks cuz of course the flash/no flash issues inside a venue.. But it's Beth and Kate in front of the stage where we were sitting (we had some AWESOME seats, by the way!!)


Some pictures of the Boys...








a short video of one of my favorite songs (they were in the middle of filming the music video to this song when I met them all for the first time, so this song will always hold a special place in my heart!! :) )... I then got yelled at by security to turn off the recording device, hehe...

Chloe's blessing day

My sweet little niece, Chloe, was blessed at church on this past Sunday. It was a beautiful day, yet it was a horrible day. It was only horrible because I was the only one taking pictures (family pictures, pictures of her by herself, pictures or her with Connor, etc.) and about 3/4 thru the day, I realized that my memory card was in my other camera, and not the one I was using. My camera still takes pictures even if there isn't a card in there, and it even shows it on the viewfinder afterwards, so it totally looks like they're being taken and saved. So I basically lost everything from the morning and afternoon. Luckily I was still able to take a few after I figured it out, but I still felt horrible. This was like a photographer's WORST nightmare!!
Here are some of the cute ones I got back at their house after church: