So Much to Catch Up On!

After my last post I was intently getting ready for our annual family vacation in the wonderful Georgia mountains to our family lake house at Tate, then we went on the vacation, spent a week recovering from it, and am now ready to finally share about it before diving headlong into preparing for our trip to Ireland!

The main this about Connor I haven't talked about if how many words he can say!  The week before we went to Tate, he started saying "puppy" and "ball."  He had been saying "dada" for a while, but now it is very clear and consistent.  While at Tate he copied a lot of words that people were saying and picked up a couple more consistent ones.  He calls fun activities "whee."  He would let us know he wanted to go on the swings at the dock at Tate by saying "whee" but since coming home he has added going in our kiddie pool and playing with his baby vehicles/ride toys as whee-worthy activities.  He also will say "rock" when prompted, but he mostly calls them "ball."  

He will also sometimes sign "all done" (I thought that was a steady one but apparently it degraded)  and "more."  With how hot it is, he is constantly signing "milk" to me.  I've been nervous about him getting dehydrated, because although he can use a sippy cup with a straw, he doesn't really get it.  So I remain the sole source of liquid for him.  He is starting to eat a few more solids, but I think he still thinks it's just fun and doesn't associate food with being full or hunger.  We'll get there eventually, I'm sure!  I keep expecting there to be one day where he just gets it, like with sleeping on his own.  We'll see how it happens (soon, I hope).

Speaking of sleep, the week before we went to Tate, Connor was either not taking a second nap, or fighting it really hard.  He was also waking up at 5 in the morning.  Typically a baby will drop down to one nap around Connor's age, or a little later, but it's the morning nap. Connor was trying to drop his afternoon nap and it was really messing us up.  Since I knew everything would be topsy-turvy at Tate anyhow, especially since Connor would be sharing a room with us, we decided to keep him up until mid day and try to establish one solid mid day nap.  While at Tate, this was hard since Connor was in an unfamiliar place.  He was sleep from 6-6, which was great, but only taking about a 45 minute nap in the middle of the day.  Since we've gotten home, however, things have been working out really well.  He's been sleeping from about 6:30-6:30 and taking a 2-3 hour nap starting around 11.  It's really wonderful.  I feel like I have enough time to relax and get things done without him following me around or asking for milk and he is SO much happier.


I always suspected that Connor loved water, which is why we got him a water table for his birthday, but being at Tate confirmed it.  The kid loves being in the water.  When we got home, we found the same pool as the one my brother Parks has on sale at Target so we got it and set it up in the backyard.  Best $20 ever spent.  Connor totally loves it, and I've actually been able to take him outside, despite the 110+ degree weather, because we can get in the pool.  I've even been able to enjoy it myself at night, with a book and a glass of wine.

Next week, our friend Leslie and her daughter Ella are going to come stay with us for 4-5 days.  Ella is 5 months older than Connor and they are like two little Aryan peas in a pod.  Connor learned how to walk from Ella, and he taught her how to climb out of the bath.  I'm sure they will be making trouble together for years to come.  After that visit, we will be gearing up for our trip to Ireland!  It's definitely going to be shocking since their highs right now are lower than our lows and it has been raining for a month straight.  We're going to have to buy Connor and me rain jackets!  While I'm excited for Ireland, it also makes me really nervous!  I would appreciate your prays, especially for good senses on humor and that we would be minimally affected by jet lag!

Camera Blues

Over Mother's Day weekend, Connor hooked his meaty hand in the strap of my camera and yanked it down off the counter.  It knocked something loose in the lens part of the camera and we had to mail it into Canon to get repaired.  The repair cost is almost how much the lens costs to buy new, which is really frustrating since I spent that amount on it to get repaired less than a year ago.  But! We need to have a camera to capture Connor's adorableness and I like this lens.  So, it's my Mother's Day and birthday present from Patrick, which fixes all our problems.

In the mean time, our dear friend Jason is letting us borrow his lens, which include a telephoto lens and a fisheye lens.  I love both of them!  I'll be saving up for the telephoto lens, because it's only around $200, but the fisheye lens is almost $1000!  I've been very protective of it from Connor.  To take pictures of him with the fisheye I have to get really close and he thinks it's really fun so there's been a lot of pictures of him trying to touch the camera while grinning ear to ear.  They both take beautiful pictures and I've been having a lot of fun taking them!

Weird mushroom

How big is Connor?  So big!

Connor in Dada's shirt

Connor likes playing with bags of his dirty diapers

Reaching for the camera with a duck stuck to his back

Consistency

I really meant to become more consistent at blogging once a week, but something always seems to come up.  After I posted the last time, Connor's Happah and Nana came to stay with us for a few days while they enjoyed a motorcycle rally here in Huntsville and then we went to Uncle Will's graduation on Saturday, then Uncle Will, Uncle Henry, and Aunt Sarah all came to visit last Wednesday.  Between the weekend and the end of the month I was working furiously on some photobooks that I had free coupons for that expired on the 31st.  After that I've been alternating vegging out and scrapbooking like crazy, as well as planning our trip to Tate later this month and Ireland at the end of next month.  Whew!

Visit from the aunt and uncles.

Writing all that made me extra tired.  "Extra" because Connor woke up in the middle of the night for the first time since sleeping in his own bed.  I'm not sure what the culprit was, or rather is, since he refused to take a second nap today (I'm not even sure this has every happened before) and he threw up once in the bath and twice before going to sleep.  I'm prepared for a long night mentally, if not physically.

Another thing that has deterred me blogging is my camera.  Connor got a hold of the strap while we were at Sani's for Mother's Day and pulled it off her 4 foot counter.  The lens has something loose inside it and was taking horrible pictures.  I sent it off to Canon to get repaired and I'm crossing my fingers that it's not too expensive.  I sent it in less than a year ago to get fixed the last time. :(  Our good (great!) friend Jason is letting me borrow his lenses until mine comes back.

Speaking of expenses, this has been a costly week!  Yesterday, we booked our tickets for our trip to Ireland and my glasses, which had a bent arm and had been threatening to snap for months, finally gave up the ghost.  They are now duct taped together while I wait for my new frames to get in next week.  Luckily my lenses are in really great shape and they can just be popped into the new frames.

Duct taped glasses

Patrick and I love being physical with our little guy and took some pictures (with the borrowed lens, compare to first picture in the post to see how much better!) of us throwing him the air and me spinning around while he dangles from my back.

Connor loves this and it's a great triceps work out!  We're both really dizzy afterwards.

The First Brush-off

Connor is getting more independent every day.  He crawls less and walks more, goes into rooms and entertains himself, tries to stretch his boundaries and our patience.  It is amazing every day to watch him grow, and learn, and become his own little chunky person.

Today we were playing outside in the front yard.  After discovering that, no, he wasn't allowed to eat rocks, and no, that pipe was not for playing with, he decided to head down the driveway.  I think the act of walking downhill was super exciting for him.  Well, he stumbled, as he often does, and I picked him up, as I often do, he said something to the effect of "Hen Dah!" insisting on being put down.  My first brush-off.  The first time Connor said to me, "No, Mom, I can do this myself and I want to do this myself and not with your help." 

Well, honestly, he's probably done this before, but not with something as independence-giving as walking.  It astonishing to me that at just a year old, he can be so grown up.  He is so different from the tiny baby we brought home, but I still recognize things about him that I observed in the hospital.  My intuitions about his personality have been dead on.  He's sweet, calm, and really stubborn.  He's also very silly, which I didn't observe between bouts of nursing and sleeping!

Some other examples of his new independence and self awareness are:

• He chooses his own clothes.  I set out a few shirts and he picks the ones he wants, and then I set out some shorts that go with the shirt and he chooses the ones he wants.  I've done this several times, but it still astonishes me every time.

• He started signing!  So far he just does one discernible sign (all done) which I think he enjoys doing, since it's basically shaking his hands at me.  Sometimes he does it when he's annoyed at us too, which is funny to me.  I wish I could get him to sign "milk" to me, but he either signs "all done," smacks me on the chest, pulls at my shirt, or just yells.

• He has very decided opinions on what books we should be reading to him, even if he starts looking at another book.  Often he will ask for the same book three time in a row.  He definitely has rotating favorites.  Right now the book champion is "Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs".

•  He gives us things when we ask for them.  If he's really into the object, he will usually just hold it out to us and get mad when we take it away, but if he doesn't care, he'll drop it in our hands.

• He knows what a lot of phrases mean.  He knows what it means to "go outside," "go on a trip" (in the car), "come get (whoever)," and "where's Mama/Dada."  
  

Walking Man!

Connor took his first few steps on his own first birthday, May 4th.  Then he did his first real walking on mommy's birthday, May 7th.  He is quickly getting more and more confident and sure-footed.  My new nickname for him is Rocksteady.

Rocksteady was a stupid villain henchman from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
but as a kid, I thought he had the coolest name ever.

I've been falling behind on getting videos up on the blog.  I will do my best to go through and get some more good ones this weekend.  Until then, here are a couple of recent videos of Connor walking:

I like how Connor screams as if he's pumping himself up.

It's amazing how far he's come in only two weeks!

If I fail to post new videos any time soon, feel free to pester me for them.  I might need the push to make me do it!

Birthday Weekend

I had so much fun this past weekend!  I had been planning Connor's party for months and months.  I have a multiple page document on my computer with a guest list, menu, recipes, and a shopping list.  I worked on the decorations for a long time, which was really fun.  I made paper mache dinosaur eggs, and a lot of banners out of paper to hang up around our front room. 

Our friends Leslie and Kevin and their daughter Ella, who is 5 months older than Connor, came to stay with us and Leslie helped me a lot!  Connor had been a whisper away from walking, and he finally took his first steps on Saturday!  I'm pretty sure Ella inspired him with her ease of getting around and her ability to get to all the toys.

Connor and Ella watching Elmo with Kevin

 I'm really proud of all my decorations and all the food I made!  So I will subject you all to many pictures.

A chain garland and egg in a nest

Another egg and garland

I was most proud of the bottom garland!  It was because of making it that I had all the scraps to make the other garlands.

We had a slide show on our TV of Connor's first year in pictures.

A dinosaur left his footprints and some eggs!

My first attempt at a fondant decorated cake.  I think it's both cute and really stupid looking.

All my food.  Thanks to Andy for the chocolate covered pretzels (not pictures) and Robin for the cupcakes!

I was really busy during the party and didn't really take many pictures.  I'm kind of sad, but I know I couldn't have done any differently.  Connor's godfather took this one of the birthday boy and his daddy.

Eating some cantaloupe on Sani's lap.  My mom was such a huge help during the party!

On Sunday we went to a restaurant called Connor's Steakhouse for lunch.  I want it to be a yearly tradition!  The food there is really good and it's surprisingly kid friendly.  Connor tried a ton of new food, including eating part of a lemon slice, rind and all.  He didn't make a sore face once!

Connor's Sunday bedhead.

Connor with one of his new toys.  The dog talks and sings and is customizable with a lot of options and even incorporates Connor's name into a lot of what it says.

Connor's First Birthday!

The Birthday Boy!

Connor is a whole year old today!  He doesn't understand what a birthday is yet, of course, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have a lot of fun!

This morning when Connor woke up, I got him out of his crib and Becca and I sang birthday songs to him and I played with him just a little before I had to go to work.

I left work early so I could spend more time with him today.  Connor got to play with two of his birthday presents today: his sandbox from Happah and Nanna, and his water table from his mommy and me!

Connor had a blast with the water table, but he doesn't understand the tower yet.  He just likes to throw it on the ground.

Connor also had a great time in his sandbox, but when I ran to grab the camera, I came back to find that he had put a handful of sand in his mouth.  Guess it was inevitable!

Here are some other recent photos from Sarah's visit on Wednesday.  She went with Connor and Becca to the Greenway.

Fun on the swing!

Wading with Aunt Sassy

Playing in the Wildflowers

Happy Birthday, son!  I hope you have as much fun at your party tomorrow as you did with your Mom and me today!

Love, Dad