Connor - 2 Months

Connor, I can't believe how big you have gotten already! At your two month pediatrician visit you were 11 pounds 12 ounces and 23"! At your two week visit you were 8 pounds 2 ounces and in the 25th percentile for weight; now you are in the 50th.

What are you up to these days?

You are starting to really smile! 

I think your first real smiles were around 6 weeks, but you reserved those only for Dada. For a long time I couldn't tell if you were really smiling at him or if you Dad was saying you were just to torture me because every time I came to see you would stop and look all serious. I guess at 6 weeks you already knew who the fun one was in our house.

And now just recently we are starting to see the smiles more frequently. I wouldn't say we can really make you smile yet, but you are definitely seeing things that make you happy. Oddly one of the times I am almost guaranteed to see a smile is on the changing table, which cracks me up because for a long time you screamed when you got your diaper changed.

You also are liking to be in a sitting position more and more now that you are becoming aware of your surroundings. You love to sit in the Baby Bjorn Bouncer just like your sister did and you are even starting to play with the toys on the toy bar.

You also like your activity mat and sometimes when we put you on it you will coo and talk to the toys that hang down -- especially your moose!

You are an extremely efficient nurser. Your sister used to take about 45 minutes for a feeding, you are finished in about 10 minutes tops. You also only like to eat on one side per feeding. I was really curious to know how you were gaining weight because I had no idea if you were eating enough -- turns out I had no reason to worry!

We are just starting to do tummy time with you.  For a long time you would spit up when we placed you on your tummy and since this is really the only time you spit up I decided to wait. Your head control has always been pretty good so I'm not worried. We will see how it goes because right now you hate being on your tummy. The only thing that I have found to engage your interest is a black and white contrast book, but even that doesn't keep you happy for very long.

We haven't even tried to get you on a schedule yet. It just seems easier at this point to let you sleep when you want to sleep and eat when you want to eat. You are napping infinitely better than your sister  ever did, so relatively this plan seems to be working. Right now napping in the swing with rain sounds seems to keep you happy. You have always liked being in constant motion -- even in my belly! Since about 6 weeks you generally sleep in 2-3 hour chunks at night with the occasional 4 hour section at the beginning but that is balanced out by nights when you are on the one hour plan…  Before 6 weeks you would sleep for 1-2 hours before waking up. We are very lucky though because we haven't had very many nights where you wanted to be awake for any length of time. You usually eat pretty quickly and go right back to sleep.

Aurora - Thirty Four Months

Aurora - Thirty Three Months

Connor's Birth Story

Connor Howard McCord was born Wednesday morning at 9:17am, just in time for Thanksgiving! He is 7 pounds 4 ounces and 19 inches long.

Nanny and Grumpa arrived Tuesday evening to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and to watch Aurora in case "the baby" decided to come over the holiday. We stayed up chatting for a while and then went to bed. I had very irregular contractions from about 3am until Matt and I decided to get up and shower around 6:30. I got in the shower and the intensity diminished but so did the amount of time in between. I think I went from having 45-60 second contractions to having 20-30 second contractions but all of the sudden I was only getting a 3 minute break in-between. Matt called the midwives and after listening to me through a contraction told us we should head their way. I was surprised to hear this since I still felt very much in control and the contractions were not as strong as they had been when we went to the birth center with Aurora.

Matt had taken Aurora down to Nanny and Grumpa when she woke up so I assumed everyone knew what was going on. However, when I went downstairs to get in the car Nanny looked up from the couch and said, "Oh, where are you off to?" Hah! Apparently Matt hadn't told them anything.

The drive to the midwives was more uncomfortable than I remember during my labor with Aurora. When we arrived at the midwives I was about 8.5cm dilated and quickly got in the tub. The contractions were coming super fast at this point and were really gaining in intensity. I think the only way to characterize this birth is fast and furious! I never got to the point of "I can't do this" with Aurora, but I definitely did this time.

Right before the birth there was a last minute gender vote. Matt and all the midwives said girl, but I knew better :) I had thought boy through most of the pregnancy, but was unsure towards the end. I carried the same as with Aurora so I started to think maybe girl. But as soon as I went into labor I was absolutely sure Connor was a boy! 

I didn't have to push very long, I would guess maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Then Connor was here! I think your Matt was a little shocked but so happy to have a son. He squeaked a little bit but settled right down with us to rest and try to nurse. After about an hour Matt cut Connor's cord and he was weighed and measured. I ate a little and got a bath. Then we were on our way home! Everything happened so fast that we almost beat Nanny, Grumpa and Aurora home from breakfast. By about 2:30 we were back home with Connor and I tucked in bed upstairs.

Aurora - Thirty Two Months

Aurora - Thirty One Months