November 2016

Happy Birthday Connor! How are you three years old?! You are the sweetest little man I had ever met and I am so thankful to be your Mama!

Funny quotes from Connor --

“The dragon is going to crash the castle… because he has a mighty tail!”
 - While doing a 100 piece dragon puzzle

"Mama who was Connor when I was a baby?"

“I’m not talking to you”
 - This little guy is getting quite assertive!

And Happy Thanksgiving! We did a quiet thanksgiving here in Denver this year and again ordered food from Whole Foods. Why cook a gigantic meal when it is just Matt, the kids and I? Although somehow even though I wasn't cooking a ton of dishes it was still a really hectic day. I think its just the nature of a holiday...

We had our first Parent Teacher STUDENT conference this month. Aurora lead the entire thing and did an amazing job reflecting on her strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments and challenges. Her teacher said she was impressed with not only the depth of reflection Aurora showed but how quickly she was able to express it all.

I got to go have drinks with some girl friends :) I don't know when the last time was that I did that, but it was good for my soul. I would like to say I will make this a semi-regular part of my life but I know I will be writing a few months from now and not have gone again! Why is it so hard to carve out time for myself?

-- Cooper at 13 months --

Cooper is talking more -- Go-gah (yogurt), Dada, go go go, muh (more), baba (banana, book)

He is a pretty reasonable solids eater. He will pick at most things but never eats a ton of anything (except his yogurt!)

He seem to be totally capable of walking, but has no interest. He will take a few steps if someone sets him up to, but almost never chooses to on his own. He gets carried everywhere, why choose to put in effort if you don't need to? ;)

Cooper is standing really well on his own. He has gotten stable enough that sometimes he will stand and eat his yogurt packet at the same time.

That boy is obsessed with books! He reminds me of his sister with his intense love of them. He would be happy being read to all day long.

Cooper got his first haircut! Matt had been on my case for a while to cut that boy's shaggy hair. It was looking so funny being super short/non-existant in the front and long and shaggy in the back. He looks like such a little boy now!

Nanny got him a wheeled airplane that he can push around and he loves to chase Connor with it. It is hysterical to watch him try to catch Connor who is riding the plasma car all over the house.

We are down to one nap. He has been going down around 12 after we pick Connor up from school and have a super fast lunch. He still really wants his morning nap, but then wouldn't nap for the rest of the day so unfortunately he is going to have to adjust.

Cooper has been sleeping like a champ. He falls asleep easy by himself after books and typically sleeps through the night. Thank you Cooper!

November 2015

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Christmas Jammies

Connor Man is two! How does this happen? This boy is crazy and sweet all rolled up into one adorable pint size ball. He is always on the look out for things to jump off of but also loves his cuddle time. He has recently started to tell us he loves us and asks for snuggles when he is tired or sad. I couldn't feel more lucky to be his Mama.

After Connor's birthday dinner we headed off to the Botanic Gardens to see the lights. It was freezing that night so we all bundled up. We ate roasted nuts, drank hot cocoa and saw the first snow of the year. Magical :)

Our nanny situation has been totally crazy. We lost Maddie right after Cooper turned six weeks old. I can't express how thankful I am to have had such amazing help though those first few weeks and we were so sad to see her go. After that we tried another girl that turned out to be a disaster because she couldn't show up on time... or at all sometimes. We are now working with a woman named Nicole who is very sweet with the kids. She is a bit older than any other sitter we have had and more mom like as she has kids of her own so we will see how that goes, but overall I like her a lot.

 

I had Aurora's Parent Teacher Conference at school which was good and I came out of it with some things to work on. Somehow we ended up talking about Aurora's "phone" a lot. She was never meant to have it at her disposal and has ended up being a point of contention a lot in our house. We started using it as a way for her to have "sounds" when on vacation. Then it became something for her to have music stored on but she has started using it up in her room to watch videos etc which she is not allowed to do. Her teachers suggested we take it away because at this age we can't expect her to not look at it if it is there and just go back to a good old CD player. I was very thankful for this exchange because it has been something that has weighed on me -- I knew we needed to make a change I just wasn't sure exactly what to do. So we got her another CD player to replace the one that broke and I am going to burn music CD's for her and also give her Matt's old first generation iPod to store her books on tape. This way she won't have the lure of a screen at her disposal.

Aurora's square of the Inspire Thankful Quilt

Thanksgiving was quiet. We were supposed to go to Farmington but we needed up canceling that trip because I just couldn't face 7 hours in the car with Baby Cooper. Aurora and Connor would have been fine but I was afraid Cooper would end up screaming and it would be a total disaster. So we stayed home and ordered Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods.

Dad took Aurora on a super special date to see Lion King the Musical. She was ecstatic and behaved very well at the theatre. She hasn't stopped talking about it since :)

Dad and Aurora going to see The Lion King

-- Cooper at one month --

We finally have Cooper smiles! It is so nice to see him recognize faces and be entertained by things. I will say though its pretty funny to watch him break out in a huge smile when he is staring at a wall or something. Sometimes I can't figure out what it is that he likes looking at.

 

The crying is starting to decrease, which I am sure is related to him being so much more aware and engaged in his environment. He is also eating less frequently. I don't know how often he is nursing because I let him eat whenever he wants but it no longer feels like he is eating every two seconds.

He is still napping whenever and wherever but will pretty much only sleep while being held or bounced in his seat by dad. We are getting a 4 hour chunk in the beginning of the night from about 9 or 10 until 1 or 2. Then it goes way downhill to usually with a 2 hour sleep until 4 and then I'm lucky if i ever really get him to go back down.

 

Family Pictures 2014

We had Kristin take family photos again for Connor's one year and our Christmas card pictures. The pictures came out awesome… except for the Christmas jammie pictures because I didn't realize I had bought "girl" jammies for both the kids. Oops. They were red, white and navy so I thought they were gender neutral but as I was putting Connor's shirt on at the shoot I realized there was scalloped "lace" around the collar and wrists. Fail.

November 2014

Happy Birthday Connor! This past year has flown. I feel like I'm always saying that but it's true. I need to find a way to slow things down and enjoy this time when the kids are little because it is going by way too fast!

We spent Thanksgiving and Connor's birthday in San Antonio this year with Nanny, Grumpa, Allen, Tucker, Lauren, Erin and all the cousins. It was pretty crazy with all the babies but so fun to finally meet the twins! I only left the house once but I felt like I was busy the entire time. That's what five little ones under the age of four will do!

We let Connor and Brynn have smash cakes together which was pretty uneventful. Neither one did very much damage.

Mimi, Papa and Uncle Matt came to visit us before Thanksgiving. It was fun to see them and spend some relaxing time together. I also used their visit to get a bunch of appointments knocked out ;)

-- Connor at 11 Months -- 

You are talking quite a bit more. You are using Mama, Dada, and ba-ba (bye-bye) a lot more as well as  saying doggie (da-da with different inflection) and ba (ball)

Taking some steps between things if we ask you to, you took off once and fell on your face so you haven't done that again. I love how you throw hands up in the air for balance.

You are measuring pretty small. The pediatrician said you are following a typically pattern for breastfed babies (your weight is dropping below the standard curve) which wouldn't be note worthy but you have fallen off the chart and we need to make sure you have gained some weight by your next appointment. You are somewhere below the 5% for weight… but still measuring 90% for head!

Most mornings you have yogurt for breakfast along with some cut up fruit and cheerios. Lunch and dinner tend to be an assortment of leftovers. You aren't eating a ton of finger foods but you have been experimenting with it.

Your sleep hasn't changed very much -- naps are still about an hour a piece around 9:30 and 2:30 and you sleep from around 6:30 to sometime between 4 and 5 before needing to nurse and then waking for the day around 6.