Seriously, Mom?? Not the camera again!

So, in my last post I mentioned how Connor's new thing is to stick out his tongue. I was determined this morning to capture a photo of this; it wasn't that hard! ha ha. Anyhow, I took a ton of pictures, not all of his new trick, so I thought I'd share!

And, here it is!!

And, again!

I caught him in the middle of a cough -- it makes me chuckle!

Chatting away...

As usual, our past week has been busy! Saturday was the last of our Christmas get togethers. The Schell side of our family always celebrates Christmas a week or two after the holiday, which is nice because things have usually died down by then. We spent the day at my grandparent's house with all of my cousins & aunts/uncles and Connor did great! He is starting to not be so "funny" with people he isn't use to seeing on a daily basis. He was so tired after his day with family that he crashed while I was feeding him and he didn't wake up at all when we put him his car seat (first time for that!).

Schell Family Christmas

Connor & Great Grandma Schell

Connor LOVED Laura's hat and necklace!



On Sunday we were able to travel to Arlington, VA to visit our friends Chase & Jenny who just had baby Emma. She is such a sweet little thing! She looked so little beside our giant Connor! She was born 6 weeks early so she was exceptionally little! She was 3 weeks old at our visit.

The boys + Emma!

The girls + Connor!



Chase, Jenny, & Emma

Our upcoming week is just as busy. I was able to grab dinner with a friend last night. Tonight we are going to make a shopping trip for ski supplies! Tomorrow night we are taking Connor to the Farm Show in Harrisburg. And then this weekend we are travelling to State College to brush up on our skiing/snowboarding skills in preparation for our big ski trip to Killington, VT in March! I bet we are going to be super sore after this weekend! 

Connor is still loving his solid foods, although we are starting to see favorites emerge. He definitely loves apples the best; I'd say peas are second and then carrots. We started avocado this morning, and it didn't go well. I had a hard time getting the avocado smooth enough. I don't think he liked the lumpy texture and it made him gag. We might have to save that one for when he is a little older and more use to textures.

He has stopped blowing raspberries and now loves sticking his little tongue out. It is really cute; I hope we don't kick ourselves in the future because we are encouraging it now. We probably will.

Sleep is still a big mystery. He is going down fairly well for naps during the day, but not sleeping well at night. He is getting up 2-3 times per night and usually ends up in our bed (bad habit, I know). I am wondering if he is hungry and if we need to make changes with his feedings.

Well, that's all for now...

The Secret Meeting of the Toys

Welcoming 2011...

Our holiday season was super busy and flew by with the blink of an eye! I think I left off last time as we were getting ready to head to Philly for a weekend getaway! We had a lot of fun on our trip! We went to an aquarium, which Connor loved!! We also went on a carriage ride and visited the Reading Terminal Market where we met up with one of Ryan's college roomates, Mike. Below are some pictures from our trip:

The next thing we knew it was Christmas time! Ryan was able to take off 12 days over the holidays which meant lots of Connor & Daddy time! I had to work 3 of those days so the boys were home by themselves! Ryan and I have started a few holiday traditions since we've been married and also started a few new ones this year! I think the little traditions are going to be what Connor remembers as he grows up. Ryan was excited to start all of the "Santa" traditions this year even though Connor obviously did not understand and will not remember. We put out food for Santa's reindeer and, of course, milk & cookies for Santa. Ryan made sure to put out lots of cookies for himself, I mean Santa to eat. Ha ha. Christmas morning was so nice waking up with my boys and spending the day together.

New Years Eve was nice and relaxing. We had a few friends over for a quiet night. We are all fairly new parents, so we didn't last much past midnight!

What's new with Connor???

- Connor started solid foods on Christmas day! He has had rice cereal & oatmeal cereal, but we just started the "good stuff". He got carrots on Christmas day, which took him quite a few tastes to get used to. He also has had peas and now we are getting ready to start green beans!

- He has also started to sit up by himself!! He loves it when we sit him on the floor and surround him with toys! He can occupy himself for quite awhile.

- Blowing raspberries has been his new thing! It is rather funny to watch!

- He has also been sleeping better the past week or so with one brief waking around 3am! He is also going down for naps & bedtime much easier! All of this is unswaddled, so that is a huge step in the right direction!

We were at the pediatrician's office a week ago for his 6 month check up. He weighed 16lbs 10oz and was 25 3/4 inches long! His height and weight were in the 35th percentile & his head circumference was in the 92nd percentile! Lots of smarts!! ha ha.

January isn't too busy for us, thankfully! This weekend we are going to my grandparents on the Schell side to celebrate a late Christmas. On Sunday, we are going to visit our friends, Chase & Jenny, who had baby Emma a few weeks ago! We are very excited to meet her!!



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: