Connor turns 1!!!!

I absolutely cannot believe Connor turned 1 this week! In some ways, his birth seems like ages ago, and in other ways it feels like it was just yesterday. It is amazing to look back at photos and see how much he's changed. He's officially a toddler now!

We had Connor's 12 month check up yesterday with a new pediatrician. She was nice, but I do miss our pediatrician in Hershey. Our Hershey ped was much more informative. He would examine Connor, talk to us about where Connor was on the growth charts, tell us what he should be doing, tell us what to expect over the next couple of months, and sympathize with us because he has a little one the same age who also didn't sleep for a majority of his first year of life! Ha ha. Our new pediatrician is very good and nice, but just waits for our questions. His doc appt pretty much turned into a wrestling match the entire time because he wants to get into EVERYTHING, so I didn't have a moment to gather my thoughts and ask questions. Of course, I thought of about 5 questions after we left the office.

Enough about that.... I'm sure we'll grow to love her. If not, there are other pediatricians out there.

Connor's 12 month stats:

1. Connor now weighs in at 20 lbs 10 oz. Which is a weight gain of about 12 1/2 lbs in his first year! He is only in the 25th percentile, but the kid never stops moving, it doesn't surprise me!

2. They measured his length at 29 1/2 inches long (50th percentile), which sounds a little off to me because he measured 29 inches at his 9 month appt. But, in their defense, he wouldn't hold still for them to get an accurate measurement.

3. I have no idea what his head circumference was -- I didn't catch that number.

4. Connor got 2 vaccines yesterday and also got a finger prick to check for anemia (he wasn't anemic). He didn't make one peep for the finger prick, which surprised me because I think that hurts!! But, he did cry quite a bit for the shots. I don't blame him!

What else is Connor doing?

- Walking very well.... all day long! He doesn't want held or cuddled. He just wants to walk, walk, walk. Luckily, he has gotten a lot better and doesn't fall and hit his head as much.

- Babbling like crazy. You would think that he has his own language! The only "word" that he says really well is Dada. Sometimes we think he is trying to say "uh oh", "two", and "hi". But, he only attempts these words when he is mimicking us.

- Connor is still in love with VeggieTales and thanks to Libby, Emily, & Greg, we just received a new DVD in the mail for his birthday!! So, now I can get some of those old songs out of my head!! But, of course, I'm sure I'll learn all the new ones now and have them playing in my head all day long too! ha ha.

- Since becoming much more mobile, Connor has without a doubt learned the meaning of "no"! He listens very well unless he is tired. In our small, small apartment, we have a fireplace, vertical blinds at the balcony door, & a fake plant that are 'hot spots' for him. Throughout the day, as he is making laps around the apartment, I'll see him stop at these temptations and look at them. You can tell he is pondering whether or not to touch them. If I see him do this, I'll say "Connor..no!" and 99 percent of the time he walks away. At night before bedtime, that's another story! But, overall, he does VERY well at listening.

- Sleeping!! He is FINALLY sleeping! He has slept through the night since we've been here in IL. Although, he is an early riser, we can usually get him to sleep an 8 1/2 - 10 hour stretch! Naps are also going well with minimal crying when I put him in his crib. He averages 1-2 naps per day depending on when he gets up in the morning.

Connor's 1st birthday

Connor's 1st birthday was this past Monday! We were very lucky to have Ryan take a day off to spend the day with us! We took Connor to the Brookfield Zoo where he saw zebras, lions, tigers, bears, birds, reptiles, fish, etc. He had a lot of fun! After spending the day at the zoo, he (of course) had a chocolate cake for dessert after dinner. He was a MESS!!! And, let's just say you could tell he had much more sugar than normal! He was WILD!

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So, we've been in IL for about a month and we are slowly getting settled. We have a house that we are under contract with and hopefully we'll go to settlement in mid/late July. We are ready to be out of this tiny apartment!! We've gotten to do a lot of sightseeing in our short month here. We've gone into the city, to the aquarium, to two zoos, to a waterpark, for many walks, and to the children's museum. We are trying to be "tourists" before we move into a house and get bogged down with moving/painting/etc.

Connor and I are flying back to PA in about a week to spend 2 and 1/2 weeks there! Ryan will fly back twice over those two weeks for a wedding and for another commitment we made prior to moving. I am more than nervous for the flight back to PA with just Connor and myself. Like I said before, he postively does not want to be held, so I have a feeling keeping him on my lap for a 1-2 hr flight will not go well. I hope he proves me wrong!! Ryan will be on the flight home with us, so I am much less nervous about that one!

We are going to have a true birthday party for Connor while we are back in PA! It'll be nice to see all of our friends & family!

Well, that's all for now! Hope to post again soon!:)

Post 15 - Something that upsets you

Okay... so after a couple months hiatus...I am going to try to continue with our blog challenge without Ryan. We are just too busy in the evenings when he gets home from work to bother him with it. So, I will try to finish it myself!:)

~Something that upsets you ~

I have a few small pet peeves that I just happened to be exposed to yesterday, so I'll write about them..

1. We were at the pool of the community where our temp housing is, so there is an array of ages spanning age 5-40s. It seems like a younger community and I haven't seen too many people over 40. Anyhow, we were at the pool and there were young kids swimming and these 20-somethings found it appropriate to cuss loudly around these kids. Of course, I don't like them doing it in front of Connor, but he doesn't understand yet. It bothered me more that they found it acceptable to swear in front of these kids.

2. I know we've come a LONG way with laws banning smoking in restaurants, bars, etc. So, I shouldn't complain. But again, we were at the pool last night and I was overwhelmed by cigarette smoke from these 20-somethings! Again, I find it offensive, but it bothers me even more that they are blowing their smoke in the direction of my 1 year old son. I hope some day they ban smoking everywhere except your home/car! I'd rather not die of cancer from 2nd hand smoke..thank you!

3. The drivers in IL!!! It is routine to see drivers run red lights, especially if they are waiting to make a left turn. The light will turn red and you'll see a line of 2-3 cars turn left after the light turns red. I understand if you are in the middle of the intersection because you are waiting for your chance to make a left turn and the light changes, but c'mon....they are definitely pushing the line with this one! But, like I said, it is so common...I wonder if the police officers ignore this one!?

That's all for now!:)

My first few weeks as a SAHM!

I've been an official full-time SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) for a few days short of 3 weeks! Considering we spent 1 of those weeks with family in PA and the other weeks running around house hunting, I don't feel that Connor & I have gotten into a rhythm or routine. I'm guessing we won't find our routine until we are settled into a house. Who knows how long that will be!?

In the 2 weeks that Connor and I have been in IL, we have tried to keep busy. There were a few days where we were stuck indoors due to storms (today being one), but other than that we've had a blast! Let's see...we've done some shopping, explored the downtown area, gone for long walks to explore the area, gone to a children's museum, and gone to the zoo & the pool. We have been able to meet a few new people. I met a mom at the pool, at the children's museum, AND at the zoo. Hopefully I can continue to meet up  with a few of the moms and form friendships. Connor met a little boy at the museum and they "clicked". It was very cute. Connor's form of "loving" someone is by putting his forehead up to your face (my family calls it "eye-eye"). Well, when he met this little boy, he immediately gave him eye-eyes. I had to explain to his mother what he was doing so that she didn't think we were weird! Ha ha.

Connor is taking off in all directions!! He is cruising around our little apartment & making laps nonstop! Of course with walking comes the bumps & bruises. I am really struggling with that because he's starting to collect a few on his face. Ugh. He is also becoming insistant on feeding himself. If I have yogurt or something else REALLY good that he likes in a pureed form, he will let me feed him, but that's the only time. We have learned the hard way that spaghetti makes a big mess when we let him feed himself! :) But, man it is so darn cute!!!

We are getting visitors tomorrow - Meme & Pappy (my parents). My dad does business in Chicago and is coming for a business trip. Of course my mom is tagging along and he extended the trip through the weekend! We are planning to do a lot of fun things. We are hoping to go into the city over the weekend & show them the downtown area. I am hoping the weather is nice because we'd like to take Connor to a splash park & to a few festivals going on here this weekend. Should be fun!

Well, that's it for now.. we have a lot of fun things planned for next week! I'll post an update later in the week!

~ The Windy City ~

Connor and I reunited with Ryan on Saturday! We were so excited and happy to see him at baggage claim after a long day of delayed flights! Connor did well considering the circumstances. We took off from State College at 10:30 am and arrived in Philly shortly after. It was a very short flight. Connor does not want held anymore; he wants to be on the go, go, go!! So, I had to fight him a little bit to stay still on the plane. He fussed and whined for me, so I was glad that it was a short flight. Let's just say that the first flight made me nervous for the next, much longer, flight. We were supposed to take off in Philly at 1:50pm, but as you can guess, we were delayed. First it was 25 minutes, then 50 minutes, then 70 minutes, and then finally 2 hrs and 5 mins later, we took off ! Our time in the airport was challenging...again because Connor doesn't want to stay still and because he was tired and couldn't settle in the busy airport. I guess our struggles in the airport were a blessing in disguise because he slept throught he entire 2nd flight, even with having it extended 35 min because we couldn't land in O'Hare due to storms. I was extremely nervous about nursing him in public over this trip (yes, he's still nursing full-time ~ we are cutting back when he turns 1), but it went really well and he fell asleep within minutes of nursing!

Ryan, Connor, and I are living in a western suburb of Chicago called Naperville. It's amazing. It's beautiful, busy, and family friendly! We doubt we'll settle in Naperville permanently because of the cost of living, so we're looking to buy a house in Plainfield. So far we 've seen about 10-12 houses, some for a 2nd time, and we have agreed of a favorite. Actually, it's perfect minus one small thing...the commute! However, it's move-in ready, we love how the previous owner painted, it's on a cul-de-sac in a community with a lot of kids, it has a finished basement, it has a huge back yard with a fence, the yard backs up to an elementary school (I could walk Connor to school if we are still living here when he starts school). The only downfall is that it'll be about a 45 min commute for Ryan. We've realized that he's going to have a 30-45 min commute regardless of where we settle. We've decided that we are going to put buying a house on hold for a few weeks because Ryan's company (Sara Lee) is considering a move into the city. That would mean an hour + commute for Ryan if we live in Plainfield, and we don't want that. We are hoping the company announces a decision in the next week or two so we can move forward.

The furnished apartment they have us in is nice, but small. Connor has already put teeth marks in the TV stand and pulled down one of the blinds. He keeps me busy in this apartment trying to prevent any further destruction.

We haven't had too much time to be tourists yet. We've eaten at a few restaurants and went to the riverwalk downtown. We are hoping to have time to do more sightseeing this weekend!

Connor has been doing great with the transition here and with the time change. He's been very pleasant and has slept through the night each night so far! He even slept through horrible storms we've had two nights in a row. See the link below...after this storm, the temp dropped from 102 to 57!!!

Chicago Storm ~ 6/9/11

In addition to transitioning so well, Connor has also started walking...he's on the move!! He's walking between furniture, across rooms...anywhere his little heart desires!!

Ryan and I are meeting up with other couples with kids tonight at Central Park in Naperville. We found this group through http://www.meetup.com/! We're hoping to be able to make friends with other couples our age who have little ones. Hopefully the weather holds out!!

That's all for now! I'm hoping to be more diligent about updating the blog now that we are hear and 'kind of' settled!

Long overdue!!

We are long overdue for a blog post!! So much has happened in the past month and 1/2. Where to start?

How about the new things Connor is doing...

Connor is pretty mobile by now. He crawls all over the place, pulls himself up, crawls up the stairs, walks around furniture. He can stand on his own for as long as he wants, but he hasn't mustered up the courage to take multiple steps on his own yet. He's taken 1 or 2 steps at a time, but then falls down. I have a feeling he'll be walking in no time!!

Connor's menu continues to grow! He is tasting a lot of the things we are eating, but he doesn't always make a meal out of it. I try to get him to eat pasta, chicken, pancakes (one of his favorites), mac and cheese, but a lot of the times he only has a few bites and is done. He would rather feed himself than be fed. I usually follow his finger foods with pureed baby food to make sure he gets full!

He just turned 11 months old last Friday which means he'll be one in less than a month!! Where does the time go??

Connor is sleeping MUCH better at night!! Bed time usually takes place around 8-8:30 and he can usually make the stretch until about 4-5am. If I nurse him he'll usually go back to bed until 7:30 am, give or take 30 min.

We think he's working on another tooth! He has had an on again off again fever since Friday and has had the classic runny nose & cough that usually comes along with a new tooth. He has also been pretty fussy. I know it is early, but I really think I see a molar pushing through.

Connor got his first haircut last week and looks much older and very handsome!! I kind of miss his crazy, wacky, long hair, but I am sure it won't take long for it to grow back out! 

Connor keeps us busy. I pretty much have zero time for anything else unless he's napping!! He is curious and doesn't sit still -- but I guess that's a good thing !!

So...onto family news..

I am sure everyone knows we are moving to Chicago (actually a suburb of Chicago). Well, we are half moved by now.

Ryan left for IL on Sunday. He started his new job today!! Connor and I fly out this upcoming Saturday. I am really nervous about the flight with Connor because he has no interest in sitting still these days!!

We had a great holiday weekend with friends & family. We spent our last night in our Hummelstown home on Thursday night and then packed up and drove to Lewistown on Friday. Saturday my parents had a going away party for us, so we got to see a bunch of friends & family. I am spending the rest of my time in Lewistown before we leave for IL on Saturday.

Today we had a fun day with Liz & Ravi. They drove from Hershey to spend the day with us at my parent's pool. Tomorrow we are going to spend time with my dear friend Katie, and then Thurs and Fri I'll be in Hummelstown helping the movers pack up and load our stuff onto trucks to head to IL. This week is flying and will continue to fly by!

I am going to try to start our blog challenge back up once we get to IL and get settled. We are in temporary housing for 60 days, so hopefully we find a house before that. If not, we'll have to rent something for a year.

Wish us luck!:)

Catching up...

Wow... I am long overdue for a post!! I think it's been about a month since I posted something other than our 'blog challenge'.

Connor keeps me busy, especially since he has become mobile in the past month. Right after we got home from Killington, he started army crawling where he doesn't get his belly off the floor. He is pretty good and fast at that; he can get anywhere he wants in no time. I really have to be more aware of where he is when I am trying to get housework done. Mobility has definitely added a new dimension to our day. These days, Connor is doing a combination of army crawling and true crawling. Just this past Saturday, the 3 of us were in his nursery playing and he took a few "steps" on his hands and knees. By the end of the day, he was truly crawling across the room! What a big boy!

He is also standing along furniture & at his exersaucer. He can maneuver around a little bit, but hasn't gotten very good at walking around the furniture. We didn't realize it at the time but, we started a bad game with him. When he first starting standing at the furniture, one of us would always be there with him. He would let go of the furniture and fall straight back knowing that we were there to catch him. He finds this to be hilarious! Anyhow, now that we trust him enough to walk away while he's standing up at the furniture, he tries to do this and doesn't realize we aren't right there. Well, I'm sure you can guess what happens. He falls back on the carpet and hits his head. He cries, but I think it is more because of shock and surprise than being hurt.

Let's see...what else is new? He has pulled himself up a few times. He is eating quite a few new foods, especially finger foods. He loves pancakes, chicken, bananas, avocado, and blueberries. Another one of his favorite foods right now is broccoli (pureed). We had him at the doc at 9 months for a check up and he weighed 18 lbs 11 oz and was 29 inches long! He dropped on the growth charts for his weight, but a lactation consultant reminded me that those growth charts are for formula fed babies. Yes, I am still nursing Connor. I am hoping to cut back drastically at 1 year (which is only about 2 months away...crazy!!). I am thinking that we will keep the bedtime and nighttime feedings until he's ready to give them up because some times that is the only way we can get him to go to bed and sleep well at night.

That brings me to sleep.... *sigh*. We definitely have more good nights than bad nights these days. I really thought we'd all be getting more sleep by this time. We only have really bad nights (up every 2 hrs, screaming) whenever he is getting a new tooth. He's up to 6 teeth now and we are thinking he is on the verge of another one. We have gotten pretty good at recognizing all the signs by now.

Connor and I have been going to swim lessons on Wednesday mornings and he LOVES the water! It is a group of about 8 babies & moms (and one dad), and Connor is by far the youngest. However, I would probably say that out of all of them, he loves the water the most! Some of the babies twice his age scream and cling to their mom or dad. He just splashes the entire time. We haven't made any friends because everyone keeps about a 3 foot radius distance from us so that they don't get wet from his splashing. Ha ha. The water is cold...

He stills says da-da like there is no tomorrow. I haven't heard a true ma-ma yet, but every now and then we get a ba-ba which I think is his attempt at saying ma-ma. When he says it, it seems like he's trying to mimic me saying ma-ma. He'll figure it out

Well, that's all for now!!

Post 12 - What you ate today

Going back to post #12 that we skipped a few weeks ago...

Ashley:
Breakfast: a piece of chocolate pie that my Nana sent for Ryan and I...Yummm...and a Starbucks frappuccino

Lunch: corn pudding.... yes, corn pudding..(kind of like baked corn, but more the consistency of pudding...hence the name) YUM. And, another starbucks (yes I had 2 today... we had a long night last night and got very little sleep... booooo teething!!)

Snack: crackers


Dinner: Ryan made my favorite = chicken cacciatore with bread (Connor got his first taste of Daddy's cooking -- I gave him small bites of chicken & rice)

Snack: well, ice cream... of course!!:)


Ryan:

Breakfast: 3 cups of coffee (see Ashley's comment above)

Lunch: a turkey sandwich, an apple, and a bag of chips

Dinner: chicken cacciatore & bread

Bedtime snack: a beer!  ha ha.