Tubby Time!

Connor's First Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!!! It was exciting for us for several reasons. Not only was this Connor's first Christmas, but he gave us a gift of his own - he started to crawl! On Christmas Eve he took off on all fours to get to Brian, and has been working on his technique ever since. He can even pull up from that position now - it was a whirlwird of developmental achievements within the last 2 days. He still prefers to cruise around the furniture, but I think that will only last until he realizes that he can crawl anywhere if he wants to.

Also, note the special Christmas bib and hat - it is not only specifically for his first Christmas, but it also has a clover on it (in honor of his St. Patrick's Day birthday). A complete stranger sent that to me whose own son was born on St. Patty's Day last year - talk about the Christmas spirit.

We had a terrific day and Connor was so excited with his new toys he could hardly decide what to play with first. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!!

More cruising

Here's Connor in action with his cruising skills.

Cruising to the door

Connor can now make his way from the couch, to the window, to the door. He can pretty much walk along anything solid, including walls. We are now scrambling to do some baby-proofing that we thought was still going to be a while off. As soon as he figures out how to go from his tummy to pulling up, he will be unstoppable.

Just one of the reasons I LOVE my dog

I let Connor have a magazine to tear up (talk about free entertainment), and Ty played along in his most gentle of ways. The magazine had added benefits - it also motivated Connor to start moving forward on the floor - hurray! Video of that new feat will be posted soon...

Doing some decorating

I just survived a *very* challenging semester, so our Christmas decorating has taken a back seat to other things until now. But, we managed to get the tree decorated and are working on the rest of it. Connor loves the ornaments and lights (as expected), but luckily can't make it to the tree on his own yet - at least not unless we build a bridge of furniture to it (which we are certainly not planning on doing).

Meeting Santa

Connor met Santa for the first time, and let's just say he wasn't quite so sure about him yet. He didn't cry, but was very wide-eyed about the whole thing. Grammy, Nancy, and I tried our best to coax a smile out of him, but it wasn't meant to be this year. I considered it a huge success that he actually sat there like he did!

Party tricks

Speed Racer

First Christmas Tree

It was sleeting, wet, cold, gray, and generally a miserable day, but it was also our annual Christmas tree hunt with our friends the Nelsons. We weren't about to let the lousy weather ruin tradition - especially when it was Connor's first tree. He wasn't amused by the trip, as you can probably tell, but we kept it short and kept him warm. Ty loved it especially since Heather and Steve are probably his favorite people in the world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was Thanksgiving Day #1 for us. We celebrated at my parents house, and on Saturday we'll go to Brian's Mom's for Thanksgiving Day #2. Connor had his first taste of turkey (the baby food variety) and cooked potato (no salt or butter, which Pappy thought was cruel and unusual punishment). He wasn't quite sure about them, but ate it up anyway. Lots of fun with Grammy as usual, and Little Mr. Independent decided he wanted to participate in feeding himself with the spoon. Its amazing how good he is at getting it right into his mouth, although sometimes its the wrong end! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Just for adorable's sake

Here's a photo from today that I just love!

Family photos

We had professional photos of Connor, and all of us as a family, taken a couple of weeks ago. We got the copies this week and here are our favorites!

Getting ready to cruise

He's standing against sofas and trying to move around. Sometimes he's successful and sometimes he isn't, but I don't think it will be long before he's cruising around all over the place!

New ride

He's outgrown the Bjorn (front carrier), so Connor's new ride is a backpack carrier. He seemed comfortable in it right away - we're the ones that need to adjust to not being able to see him back there.

One more

My favorite video of the last few weeks. You can see that Connor is now standing really well (next to something) without support. We still need to stay behind him, though, for those inevitable tumbles. What's really special about this video is Kayla, who continues to surprise us with how good of a sport she is. For those out there who know her, you will be amazed!

Catching up with some video

Its been a busy November. I've hardly had time to sleep, let alone post to the blog, but I'm going to try to make up for it with some videos. Connor has had a few "firsts" in the last week or two including clapping and drinking formula from a sippy cup. I let him watch Sesame Street while I was trying to get some work done and I looked over to see him clapping along with the music! Luckily I had the video camera sitting close by. He has since perfected his technique a little, but these first claps are very cute! He's been doing really well drinking water from the sippy cup, so I decided to try giving him formula that way instead of a bottle. He usually drinks about 2 ounces before deciding he's had enough and wants the bottle back, but we'll keep trying! This video was our first attempt and I thought he was a pretty good sport about it.

Off the subject - I don't know how to avoid these videos looking "squished". I assume its because our camera is filming in wide format and its then converted to standard format for posting online. Does anyone out there know how to avoid that? Anyway, here are the videos!

Happy Halloween!

Good sport doesn't cut it - Connor was pretty much a saint for putting up with his Halloween costume. Not only has he had a miserable cold for over a week, I also sat him outside on the chilly ground, covered his hands with "paws", and put a crazy hat on his head that didn't really fit. The kid was still smiling! The paws did stop him from eating leaves, so maybe I should learn something from this outing. Ty played the big brother role perfectly as usual, although kept snatching a paw and running, trying to get Connor to chase him. Sorry, Ty, it will be a few months for that. Aren't they the most adorable puppy brothers ever?

Fall afternoon

We enjoyed a perfect fall afternoon outside and I managed to take some photos in between pulling leaves out of Connor's mouth every 2 seconds. The only thing better than pulling and eating grass? Crumpling and eating leaves. Ty was a sweet, perfect brother as always.

Never again

Well, never say never, but right now I don't plan on giving Connor a teething biscuit again. I was told they were "messy", but I had no idea! He did totally enjoy it, but look at his clothes for goodness sakes! I think the combination of extra drool due to teething and his recent fascination with dropping things so he can pick them back up again led to our biggest non-poopy mess yet.

Harner Farm

We had a family day today - Brian took off work and we all spent the day together. For some reason, though, Connor wasn't his usual happy self. For those of you who know him, or at least follow the blog, he is a very smiley boy. Today was an exception. And of course it was today when we had a professional photographer come to the house to take a family picture! Afterward we went to Harner Farm to pick out our pumpkins, and although Connor loved feeling everything (the grass most of all - nothing new there), he wore a very serious face the whole time. Oh well, we still had fun. Other than marveling at how pumpkins, cornstalks, and grass felt, we also fed the goats, Joe & Moe, who were kind of freaky - look at those eyes! Definitely makes you think of Halloween. Below is a slideshow- my first attempt at adding one to the blog. Try your best to pick out Connor - he is virtually invisible in his pumpking patch camo...

First tooth! (or two)

About 2 weeks ago I noticed a little white spot on Connor's lower gum, and within a couple of days there was no denying that it was his first tooth. This past week the one next to it decided to pop out too, so both bottom middle teeth are now working their way out. They don't seem to be bothering him, although the drool factor has definitely revved up a bit. I think he was actually having pain several weeks ago and we didn't realize it was teething since we couldn't see anything yet. For the record, it is quite difficult to get a squirmy baby to stay still while you're trying to keep his tongue AND lip out of the way. Luckily he thought the camera lens was fascinating enough to ignore most of what else was going on.

Eatin' puffs

We've made progress in the world of infant finger foods. Puffs are now a favorite and he's even getting better at picking them up and getting them into his mouth - he knows exactly what he wants to do, but the fingers don't always cooperate.

I have a tongue!

Connor "discovered" his tongue today. We had all been trying to get him to mimic us and stick it out for a couple of months now, and all of a sudden he just got it.... and now he doesn't stop! Its been hysterical watching him figuring out that he has control over another part of his body.

Not so sure about puffs

We've introduced Connor to veggie puffs (sweet potato specifically), and sometimes he seems to like them... other times we get some hysterical faces or a puff spit back out. But he always grabs for them when they are offered, and is getting better at manipulating them to his mouth.

Deep Creek

This past weekend we spent the weekend in Deep Creek, MD with our friends Phil, Rebecca, & Madison (Connor's adorable girlfriend). We basically just relaxed, enjoyed having some time together, and went for a hike at nearby Swallow Falls. It was a great time, but way too short.