Enjoying the holidays...

Connor's first Christmas is quickly approaching! He will be 6 months old 2 days after Christmas -- where has the past 6 months gone?? I have all of his Christmas shopping and most of my other shopping done. I still have a few things to buy. Everything is wrapped and under the tree! We didn't go crazy with buying Connor gifts this year, simply because he doesn't know the difference and we don't have much extra room in our house. With both Ryan & I being so neat and tidy (aka OCD.. ha ha), we would go crazy with toys all over the place! Don't get me wrong, we did buy him a couple of toys. Every kid should get a few toys at Christmas! No need to go overboard though; we don't want him to think Christmas is all about gifts anyhow! It is about MUCH more than that!:)

Connor met Santa last weekend! He did great! We were worried that he would cry, but he was such a big boy! He didn't smile, but he did look at the camera and you could tell that he was intrigued by him!

Ryan, Connor, and I are heading to Philly this weekend for a little get away. We just need a break from the every day routine. We are planning to take Connor to an aquarium and then go on a carriage ride (we will have to bundle him up!!). We are also hoping to make it to an indoor market on Sunday.

Our holidays are going to be very busy. Next week is going to be filled with a bunch of last minute shopping trips. We are also planning on going to the Christmas service at church. We are having Ryan's family down during the day on the 24th. We will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day as a family at home, and then we will spend the 26th with my family. We are also going to start Connor with solid foods at some point over the holidays. That should be fun! I am planning to make most of his baby food, so the first attempt could be a disaster!! ha ha.

Connor goes back to the doc the week after Christmas for his 6 month check up. I bet he's well over 16 lbs.

We are going to lay low for New Years Eve and have a few of our friends over. Both Ryan and I wanted to spend the evening with Connor.

To end, here are a few pictures that I recently took (notice his teeth in both pictures):

Teeth & Colds...

Just as we suspected, tooth number 2 was not far off. Connor's second tooth came through this past week. It wasn't quite as bad as the first as far as fussiness and sleeping distruptions. Unfortunately, however, Connor also got his first cold this week. He took it like a champ. He had a runny nose, was sneezing, coughing, etc. Yet, he was in a great mood!

I had off from work on Monday because I had some time off that I needed to use before the end of the year. Connor and I had fun taking Christmas pictures! I've been exploring a little more with editing my photos. His Christmas pictures are below:

We are making leaps and bounds in the sleep department. He took 3 naps today; two of which he did not cry at all for when we put him down. The 3rd nap he cried for 10 min and then at bedtime he didn't make a peep! It feels good to finally feel like this is under control...for the time being anyhow. He seems to change things up frequently. He has been sleeping better over night as well.

Saturday was a busy day for us. Connor, my mom, and I went to Millersville in the morning to take pictures of a friend's baby. Ryan and my dad did some Christmas shopping after my dad ran in a fun run in Mechanicsburg that morning. That night Ryan and I went out to dinner with a bunch of his coworkers. It was a lot of fun!!

Today was a lazy day at our house. I messed around with editing some of my old pictures. Other than that, the day was filled with laundry and grocery shopping!

This upcoming week is a busy one. I work Mon and Tues, as usual. I have a doc appt on Wednesday, so I am crossing my fingers that Connor behaves in his carseat for my appointment. He is not a big fan of the carseat (although he is getting better with it). We moved last week's playdates to this week since Connor caught a cold last week. So, we are getting together with Jenna and Jameson on Thursday and then Kayla and Khloe on Friday. Friday night we have a Christmas party to go to! The weeks are flying by. Before we know it, Christmas will be here and Connor with me 6 months old!!! Mondays and Tuesdays can continue to go fast, but Wed-Sunday can slow down, please!!?? :)

I'll leave with a few more pictures that I worked on today:

~5 months old~

Wow, I have some major catching up to do! A lot has happened since our last post! Our lives have been busy and I have had no time to update our blog. Every time I would sit down and start, I would get interrupted our distracted.

Connor turned 5 months old today! It is hard to believe! And, he has changed so much over the past month or so since my last post.

Connor was put on reflux meds shortly after his 4 month check up. He was showing some classic signs of acid reflux, but it took us awhile to figure it out. He refused to be flat on his back (hense some of our sleeping troubles), he was arching his back in pain, he was spitting up, and the list goes on. I finally realized that most of our fussiness/sleeping troubles started when I stopped my reflux meds in September. Our theory is that he was getting my meds through nursing and then we I stopped taking them, his symptoms became exacerbated. The doc gave us Zantac and he had a few good weeks where he wasn't fussing at all and sleeping was going much better!

Then, teething started!!! Ha ha. Connor started to get fussy and night time became a struggle again (he had a few nights where he get up about 8 times!). A few days ago, his first tooth finally popped through! We think the 2nd one isn't very far behind! Hopefully he will get some relief from teething soon!

Another milestone Connor just recently met is rolling over! We were at my parent's house for Thanksgiving a week ago and I had him doing some "tummy time". He reached ahead of himself for a toy and inadvertently rolled from his tummy to his back! He ended up doing it 3 times in a row, but we haven't seen it again since! I don't think he meant to roll over and I don't think he's quite sure how to do it again.

Connor's laugh has gone from a little squeal to an all out chuckle! It is too cute. He is very ticklish too. He absolutely LOVES to be in his just his diaper or naked (who wouldn't?? ha ha). So, the best time to get him to laugh is either on the changing table or after his bath.

We have been having a blast giving him rice cereal. He has been chowing down on it. For a few weeks we were giving him one bowl in the evening. He started out only lasting a few mintues, but now he will eat the whole bowl easily. He knows exactly what to do and very often his mouth is open before we can have the next bite ready. Just recently we started giving him a bowl in the morning as well. We are really excited to start giving him other foods, which will probably be around Christmas time when he is 6 months old. I am going to venture into making homemade baby food.

Our Thanksgiving holiday has been extremely busy. We spent last Saturday with my family, like I just mentioned. I was supposed to be on call for the holiday (Wed-Sunday), but a coworker of mine asked me if she could take Wednesday night and Thanksgiving day. I gladly gave it to her! We ended up traveling to Ryan's family get together in Millmont, PA on Thanksgiving day (it was a surprise). I worked Friday and have been on call ever since. Ryan and Connor have had a lot of quality time together the past couple of days since I have been working!

December is a busy month for us. We have a few play dates with Jameson & Jenna and Kayla & Khloe. Ryan has two Christmas work parties that we are going to. Before we know it, Christmas will be here and it'll be 2011! We are excited to see what 2011 has to bring for our family!

Below are a few pictures from the last few weeks:

A few pictures from today...

Connor & Jameson

Rice cereal!

~4 month stats~

Connor had his 4 month doctor appointment yesterday! He is such a big boy! He weighed in at 14 lbs 15 oz and measured 25 1/4 inches long! He is in the middle of the growth charts for both height and weight. He also got 3 vaccinations (one oral, and 2 injections) and he did fairly well! He had a delayed reaction to the shots, and then cried for only about a minute. He slept a lot at home the rest of the day and was a little fussy in the evening, but he's doing great today!

We were able to talk to our pediatrician about some of the concerns/struggles we are having. Our pediatrician has a son that is 6 days younger than Connor, so it is nice that he is at the same stage we are at and understands our troubles 100 percent! He said that Connor's regression in his sleep habits is normal for this age, and that he and his wife are going through the same thing. Connor rarely sleeps more than 3 hours anymore and fights us so much when we put him down at night. We wondered if it could be teeth or hunger. The doc said his teeth are definitely there, but that it is hard to say when they will come through. He also gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal, but he didn't seem to think it would help him sleep through the night. I guess babies at this age are just becoming more aware and "smart" and are figuring out how to get what they want. He suggested trying to cut out the night time feedings because he'll get into the habit of thinking he needs to nurse every time he wakes up at night. He also suggested letting him "cry it out", but was very realistic and said that he and his wife struggle to do this too. He said he can tell us what the "right" thing is to do, but that he knows how hard it is to actually execute it.

We tried the "cry it out" method for a few days last week. The first night was hard; he cried for an hour long! But, after the first night, we seemed to see some progress. He was going down for naps and at bedtime and only fussing/crying for about 10-20 minutes. Sunday was a bad day, and we think he was in pain -- teeth? tummy ache?? -- so we decided to stop. He wasn't just crying he was screaming in pain. We were taxed out emotionally from listening to him cry so much in the past couple of days, so we decided we would try it again in a couple of weeks. We need to make a decision on how we want to go about this and stick to it.

We tried rice cereal last night! We knew going into it that it probably wasn't going to go well because he was a little fussy from his shots. But, we thought we'd give it a try anyhow. He did well, but he only lasted about 5 minutes. He made some "funny" faces and spit a good portion of it back out. I'm sure it'll take a few tries before he gets the hang of it. Plus, maybe we'll have better luck tonight if he's feeling back to normal.

Today we are getting a visit from Jenna and baby Jameson!! I'll try to get pictures of Connor and Jameson together and post an update later today!

Last week was a busy one! Connor and I had a few playdates. Last Wednesday, we got together with our friends Kayla and baby Khloe! I met Kayla and her husband, Kris, through work and they ended up being in one of our childbirth classes. Khloe is about 8 weeks older than Connor, and when we get them together, you can definitely tell the difference in age. She is rolling around all over the place! They had a lot of fun! Below are pictures of Connor & Khloe:

Last Friday, we got together with Libby & baby Emily. We also met Libby and her husband, Greg, in one of our childbirth classes. Emily was born about 2 1/2 weeks after Connor. Libby and I met up in Elizabethtown for ice cream! YUM! We dressed the kids up for Halloween and took pictures. Below is a picture from that playdate:

Last Thursday night was trick or treat night in Hummelstown. We decided to dress Connor up and walk around the neighborhood to see our neighbors and all the kids that were out. We cannot wait until he is old enough to really get into trick or treating.




Baby Dragon!


Last Tuesday, I was able to go and meet baby Jameson! He is so sweet and snuggly! I left Connor with Grammy for the day and went to keep Jenna company. Matt went back to work, so I was able to go help for the afternoon. We gabbed the whole time, as usual, and I got to love Jameson for a few hours! It is so funny because Connor is gigantic compared to him even though he is a pretty good sized newborn; his birth weight was 8 lbs 10 oz. I forgot what it is like to hold a little newborn already! It is amazing how much they change in 4 months!

Saturday was my last photography class. It was amazing to see the difference in my photographs from the beginning of the class until now. I learned a lot!! Hopefully I can keep up with it! I'm thinking about taking another class during the winter session; not a photography class, but something out of my comfort zone like painting or pottery. I've never considered myself artistic, but I think it would be fun to just see what I can do with a little instruction.

So, what new things is Connor doing?? Well, he is getting more and more interactive each day and he is getting pretty darn close to rolling over. When he is on his tummy, he can get up on his side, but he gets stuck because of his arm. I'm sure he'll roll over any day now!

Here are a few pictures to end with:

Welcome Jameson!!

Connor's new best friend entered the world on 10~17~10!! His name is Jameson Michael and his mommy and daddy are our good friends Matt & Jenna! He's such a little cutie! Congrats Matt & Jenna!

This week has been a little bit of a whirlwind! We were home in Lewistown over the weekend for the grandkids photos for my mom. The pictures went well! We are very excited to see how they turned out! We should have them in about a week!

I ended up getting sick over the weekend with a sinus infection/flu bug. It wasn't fun and I ended up missing a day of work this week. Unfortunately now I have passed it on to Ryan and he has been feeling miserable! We are so glad that Connor has seemed to stay healthy! Between talking to his doctor and reading a bunch of articles, it seems like breastfed babies are usually the only ones in the house NOT to get sick! I'm very glad to be breastfeeding him this time of year! Hopefully we can keep it going!!

Connor had about a week and 1/2 where he was getting up in the middle of the night to eat. The past two nights he has been back to his old self! He'll wake up usually between 5-6 to eat and then usually go back down until 7am. He still isn't really liking the bottle if I am around, but that's okay. He has shortened his feedings down to about 5 minutes (it used to be about a 40-60 minute process) so it isn't really causing me much of a sleep deficit! I am SO thankful for that! Connor's 4 month doc appt is coming up in about 2 weeks. We are excited to hear when we can start cereal. I'm thinking they are going to tell us either 4 or 6 months.

Ryan and I are going to a dinner theatre tomorrow night with our friends Joe & Katee. It is Halloween themed, so we are dressing up. We bought costumes last year but I had just found out that I was pregnant and didn't feel like going out, so we are wearing them this year. We are going as a 1920s gangster and flapper girl! Ha ha. I'm sure we will take pictures!

Next week is another busy one! I work Monday and Thursday, on Tuesday I'm spending the day with Jenna & baby Jameson, on Wednesday Connor has a playdate with Miss Khloe who is about 8 weeks older than he is, and on Friday we are meeting Libby & baby Emily for ice cream! Libby and I are going to dress the kids up in their Halloween costumes for our ice cream date! It'll be good for us to go out and about!

I am pretty positive Connor is teething. I read that babies can have symptoms of teething for a few months before the first tooth pops through. He is chewing on everything -- his fingers, bottle, pacifier, us! Ha ha. This is definitely something new. And, he has occasional crying fits where it seems like he is in pain! We think we might see two little white buds popping through, but since it's our first time going through this as well we really aren't sure what to look for....I hope this little sucker pops out soon!! Poor guy!

Happy belated birthday to my Nana who turned 88 on Monday!!!:)

Below are a few pictures that we've taken in the past week or two!

At the corn maze last Friday!

This is how I found Connor after a car ride home!:)

Connor & Nana!

Connor & Pop

Happy baby!

Daddy thinks Connor should be walking already! Ha ha!



Updates!!:)

Connor & Daddy!

1. Connor got weighed yesterday for a research study we are in.  He weighed in at 14 lbs 1 oz!!! He has gained 2 lbs since Sept 1st! He has also grown 2 inches since that date; he is now 25 inches long. He's a growing boy!!!

2. Connor went down to bed last night on his own with no troubles!!!! This is a HUGE step in the right direction. We put him down sleepy, but awake, turned on the white noise and he dozed off himself! The previous 5 nights, we found that if we turned the vacuum cleaner on in his room (kinda silly, I know) that he would go down in his crib and hang out there content until he fell asleep on his own. We discovered the vacuum cleaner trick during a moment of desperation! Ha ha. I was also doing this for day time naps and it had been working. We are/were trying to teach him to go to sleep on his own in his crib. It seems like it has paid off. Hopefully he keeps this up!

3. My cousins, Sean & Jen, had their baby girl, Phoebe, on 10/12/10! I don't know all her "stats", but I was told she weighed about 6 lbs 12 oz! Phoebe has two big sisters, Grace & Evelyn, whom I'm sure are soooo excited about their new baby sister.

Sleep Baby Sleep!

Our current challenge = sleep! Connor has been fighting bedtime and occasionally naps ever since I went back to work. We aren't sure if he is still adjusting to me going back to work or maybe if he has started teething. He does show some signs of teething (drooling, fussiness, chewing on anything & everything), but we really aren't sure if that is the culprit. I guess time will tell! In the past, Connor would go down for naps and at bedtime with no problem. Now, we are in the bad habit of rocking him, singing him, walking him to sleep each night. On bad nights, it can take up to an hour and 1/2 to get him settled into bed. Naps have been hit or miss; some days he will nap well and then the next day he won't nap more than 20 minutes at a time. One night we tried letting him "cry it out" for 25 minutes, but we both agreed that he was more awake after those 25 mintues than he was when we first put him down. The poor little guy had a puddle of tears beside his head and his eyes were so puffy from crying. And, he had such a sad face/cry! We decided that we need to find some other way to break this habit other than letting him cry. This little guy keeps us on our toes 24/7!

Connor is definitely becoming more aware of his surroundings! Yesterday, we had all of my cousins over for the afternoon to watch the PSU game & play games. He would go to my cousins for a few minutes and then realize that neither mommy nor daddy were holding him and he would start crying!! He knows what he wants...as soon as we would take him back to calm him down, he'd stop crying! It makes us feel good to know that he wants us and knows when we aren't holding him, BUT it would be nice if he would let our friends/family hold him. Maybe he'll get better with this as he gets older. We had a lot of people at our house, so maybe it was just too much commotion for him. He's becoming very sensitive!

A few weeks ago, Connor had a play date with his buddies Ravi & Ethan. Ravi & Ethan are 12 and 8 months older than him, so they are much more mobile! Connor pretty much just sat back and watched the other two boys walk and crawl around. In a year they will have a blast together!! It is nice to have friends with babies close in age. Below are pictures from their play date:

Work has been going okay; I have 3 weeks under my belt. I still do not enjoy leaving him (I don't think I ever will), but it is a nice change of pace. I am very, very ready to stay home with him once those 2 days are over with. After working Monday & Tuesday, Wednesday is usually our lazy day. I am usually wiped out after working those two long days. Thursday and Friday I try to make sure we get out and do something: walk, run errands, shop, etc. With all the rain over the past couple of weeks, it has been hard to be outside much.

Today we went to Daddy's flag football game. They won again and are now 2-0-2!! Connor usually does pretty well at the games. He likes to just hang out and watch everybody. If I wasn't holding him, I wouldn't know he was there! He doesn't make a peep! The "cheering" section at the games is slowly dwindling and pretty soon it'll just be Connor and I! The first couple of games, we sat on the sidelines with two expectant mommies (one being my good friend Jenna). Today, Jenna was still there (she has less than 2 weeks until her due date!!), but the other soon-to-be mommy didn't make it. She didn't have her baby yet, but she is 2 days past her due date and very uncomfortable (according to her hubby). Maybe Connor and I will go keep Jenna and baby Moyer company later in the season when it is too cold for us to be outside and watch the games. That way (if they feel up to it) her hubby can go play in the game!!

We have busy week ahead of us!! I work on Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday, we are getting together with Ethan's mommy and daddy (Kristen and Dave). Ryan has off work on Friday, so we are going to a corn maze. On Saturday, we are heading back to Lewistown for a visit and then on Sunday Connor and his cousins are getting their pictures taken for a "grandkid" photo for my mom. Then, we start everything all over again! We have definitely noticed that our lives have gotten much more busy even with me only going back to work 2 days a week!

Hopefully it won't be another 2+ weeks before my next entry...

We survived!

Well, we survived!! I started back to work last Monday & Tuesday. Surprisingly, Monday & Tuesday morning weren't as bad as I expected. Don't get me wrong, it was still incredibly hard, but not what I anticipated. The mornings were a little bit rushed and when I was ready to go out the door Connor was sleeping, so that helped a lot. Sunday afternoon was actually the hardest day of all. I had all afternoon to think about being away from him while I was getting everything ready for Monday & Tuesday; I moped a lot! :) I'm working approximately 20 hours a week, so that means two 10 hour days. However, I was on call Tuesday and the day ended up being 12+ hours. WELCOME BACK! ha ha ha! The grandmothers said Connor did great (however, I bet they wouldn't tell me otherwise). Ryan and I can tell the change has affected him. On Wednesday he cried for 2 hours straight and I had no idea what to do for him. He was fed, his diaper was clean, he wouldn't go to sleep, etc etc etc. We've also been having trouble getting him to bed at night. Usually we can put him down with little to no struggle. This week he wouldn't go to sleep without one of us rocking him for 30 min or more! I know it will take him a while to get use to this change; I hope he's back to normal soon! The end of the week went much better than Wednesday did!

Last weekend, Connor got a visit from Uncle Mike (Ryan's old college roommate) and his girlfriend, Diana!

Connor meeting Uncle Mike!

Connor and I had a great afternoon with Liz & Ravi on Thursday. We went over to their house for a nice walk. Liz is surrounded by hills, so it was somewhat of a grueling walk while pushing the stroller. But, it was a good workout for me! Afterwards, I took Ravi's pictures!! He's such a cutie and his pictures turned out great. Below are a few from our "photoshoot":

Friday night, Ryan and I had a date night with Liz and Jatin! It was wonderful to have some time with Ryan as well as with Liz & Jatin. We use to hang out with them ALL the time before the kiddos but haven't had much time because we are all so busy! As everyone knows, we are busy with Connor, work, and soon Ryan's school (he officially got accepted back to PSU for the MBA program -- classes start in Jan! Connor and I are so proud!). Liz and Jatin are busy with Ravi (he's almost exactly one year older than Connor), renovating their house, both working full-time jobs, plus Liz is going back to school to be a Dietician! There is little time to spare between our two families, not to mention trying to coordinate any extra time we may find! We planned this date night about a month ago! My mom and dad drove down to babysit the boys, and we had dinner at the Batdorf in Annville! We had a blast!

Saturday morning, Ryan & Connor were able to spend some time together while I went to my photography class. Below are a few pictures I took for my first week's assignment. I wasn't that happy with the way they turned out. I was limited on time this week, so I did them last minute before I had to e-mail them to my instructor. I'm hoping in the upcoming weeks I'll have more time to produce more "creative" pictures. But, Connor still looks as cute as can be!!:)

Today, Connor and I went to daddy's second flag football game (they are 0-0-2). We are spending the rest of the day getting ready for the week! We're hoping it goes a little better than last; I'm sure each week will get a little easier!

Connor wearing his "Little Hershey Squirt" onsie from Aimee (Ryan's teammate)!

What new things is Connor doing??? 1. Laughing out loud!! He doesn't do it often, but we've gotten a few unexpected laughs from him! 2. Motor skills!! He is grabbing everything -- bottle, our hands, our faces, my hair/earrings, toys, etc.!!

Below are pictures of Connor in his new toy. He's still a little bit too small for it, but he likes to look at all the colors and shapes.

As always...more to come!