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...