Friday, August 24, 2012

Brave boy...


Yesterday Conner was playing in his crib, and he is getting so brave! Seriously, this kid is pulling up on everything and wants to be standing as much as possible! It's cute and terrifying at the same time. Haha!

 Holding onto 2 different things ... he's such a brave boy!

 Pulling up on everything ... even things 4" tall...

 Loves "climbing" over my legs. I'm sure he'd climb over bigger stuff, but Mommy isn't ready for that yet!


Conner is also still obsessed with Stella. I can't believe I caught this video while "managing" the situation. Stella is pretty patient with Conner and really just wants to be pet regardless of if Conner grabs a handful of her fur and pulls hard. She's happy to just get another pet after he lets go. Funny cat, and funny baby!



This morning Jason wanted me to take some pictures of Conner to text to him, so here are a few I got...

 Wearing a shirt and pant pj set with socks. He's so cute!!!

 Pulling up on his favorite toy!

Mmm, yummy.
 
 Hello, mini-Jason!

Conner and I hung out with Kylee this morning since day care was closed and Courtney had a conference call. It was very interesting to watch them interact and be alone watching an 8 month old, 20 month old, and giant golden retriever. I definitely tried some things that didn't work, and got some ideas for next time. They are both great kids and I am super excited to watch them grow up together.

 Conner wanted anything Kylee was holding. She was such a good sport. :)

 I had this tiny little guy curled up by my feet the whole time ... or leaned up against my leg ... or licking the babies ... he just wanted some love! ;)

 Kylee checking out Conner's books.

Funny face...

Pulling on those ears ... I expect another tooth soon! Despite the excitement this morning and missing his morning nap, this little guy was in a pretty good mood.

In other news ... Jason gets home TONIGHT!!!! ::sigh of relief:: Missing that man so much!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Missing Daddy already...


Jason is on his way to the airport for a business trip to San Diego and I'm sitting in the kitchen with Conner listening to my Bahamas Pandora station missing him already. He works so hard and has been so busy ever since Conner was born. It's definitely been challenging, but I'm so proud of his work ethic and determination to do a great job despite the stress of it all. He's not satisfied with just doing what's expected and always strives for doing things that are the best for the big picture of the project. That fills me with pride for my husband and for the amazing example he will set for Conner as he gets older: to work hard and not settle for anything less than a little more than what's expected. I'm so thankful for my sweet husband and thankful that I have a sweet baby boy who will probably grow up to be just like him.


So as Conner and I prepare to have a few days here without Daddy, I just want to have this in the front of my mind. We will be Tango'ing with him every night, and I'll take lots of pictures and videos to show Jason when he gets home. I am already excited about some quality family time this weekend!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Cah-ray-zeeeeee weekend, yo...

This weekend was cah-ray-zeeeeee. Let's pick up where we left off. Shall we?

12 Monkeys. Ummm, weird movie. I turned to Jason about half-way in and said, "I hope you know how much I love you." It was one of those.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early ready to head over to Justin and Courtney's to hang out for the day. It's so cool having them here and being able to just pack up Conner's stuff and spend the day with them. I still can't believe they live here now! I hadn't seen Kylee yet, so I was excited to see her. She's 19 months, and it was cool to see the things a 19 month old can do, especially looking forward to what Conner will be into next summer. She's just so cute and active! She can walk fast and say words like mama, dada, thank you, hot dog, baby, hi, and bye (I'm sure many more, those are just the ones I heard on Saturday). She also says lots of words that you can't understand, so she's in that phase where she wants to tell you something, but there's a lack of understanding there, which can sometimes be frustrating for her. She takes naps like a champ and usually requests her naps and bedtime. She's a little daredevil and loves rough-housing. She eats table food cut up in small pieces, and has a ton of teeth. She likes rubbing lotion/soap on her arms. Courtney was putting sunscreen on her and gave her small dots of it to rub in herself to preoccupy her while Courtney got her back, legs, and chest. It was absolutely adorable.

 Kylee, Uncle Justin, and Conner-Bear.

 Sweet babies holding hands!

 Courtney putting sunscreen on Kylee, whose hands are busy rubbing lotion on her own hands. Smart momma!

 Kiki loves remote controls. So does Conner. Must be a kid thing...

 Checking herself out on the camera - she was workin' it!

 Aunt Alina and Kylee having fun taking pictures.

 I thought this was a cute face. She looks so little here. And check out those eyelashes!!!

 Smith boys and their kiddos. This is just the beginning of Conner and Kylee growing up together.

 Somebody just woke up from her 2 hour nap. A little shy about the new people hanging out all day.

 Sometimes, babies just want their own mommas ... especially after a nap. ;)

 You can't forget Trigger! He's a great dog and makes Jason and I want one. I think once Chris and Kylee move out we'll get a chocolate lab. Anybody know of any for sale?

Conner cuddling with Uncle Justin.

I think they are adjusting well to living in Texas, and Justin and Courtney both are really excited about their jobs. Kylee has done great in her day care and Courtney showed me her daily report sheets she gets at the end of the day that show what they did, how long her nap was, what she ate, and how many diapers she had. Pretty interesting stuff for a mom. It's crazy the things you find interesting once you become a mom. Like whether your kid just peed, or pooped, too. Did they use Desitin? This is interesting stuff for a momma, folks! I digress.

We had breakfast over there and then Jason, Justin, and Kiki went to the pool, while I tried laying Conner down for a nap. And he was.not.having.it. I think he just didn't want to miss out on the fun. So after I got him up we played a little more and then fed the kids lunch and laid them down for their naps (which Conner was more than ready for). Justin and Jason went to get Which Wich for lunch and Jason got me the best sandwich of my life. Delicious! We watched the Rangers game and talked. It was relaxing and fun.

Around 3:30pm we headed over to my parents house to drop off Conner so we could go out on a double date with Chris and Kylee. We met them at the movie theater and saw The Bourne Legacy (It was so good!). They bought a new car (Subaru Legacy) that day, so we rode with them after the movie to dinner at BJ's. After dinner, they dropped us back off at our car and we ended up getting dessert at Sonic and talking for a pretty long time. It was good catching up about a lot of things and just (simply) getting on the same page. Life has just been so busy and we had fallen into a routine of just reading/playing on our phones before bed until the last minute when we would give in to sleepiness and say "good night" with a quick kiss, without really talking much about our day. So it was nice to just reconnect. We didn't have to pick up Conner until the next morning, so it was awesome to not have to listen for him at all and be able to wake up and get ready for church on our own.

So, Sunday morning we stopped by my parents house on the way to church and picked up Conner and my mom. The sermon was really good and then in Life Group we had a guest teacher and we learned a lot. It was a great lesson. We picked up Conner who had been whining/crying (for who knows how long...) ... he can't seem to figure out how to either get a nap with so much going on around him, or getting by without having a morning nap on Sundays. Oh well. Hopefully he's still a good baby for most of the time he's in there. The ladies seem to love him, so I hope so. Anyways, we stopped on our way home to pick up a quick lunch at Which Wich (again ... that sandwich was just so good!). When we got back to my parents house, we started the process of helping Brady move. Basically we started working on it around 1:30p and didn't get done until 5:30p or so. We picked up Chipotle for everyone and ate dinner at Brady's new apartment in Denton (which seems super nice) with his roommate Matt (who seems super nice). Jason and I basically left when we needed to put Conner "to bed" and he fell asleep in the car with an easy transfer once we got home (Jason is really good at that). Jason's muscles started tightening up at that point and he started getting really stiff and sore so he relaxed while I unpacked all our stuff and started putting it away. I rearranged some of the furniture in our room and closet, and started some laundry. We crashed too late (again), and I woke up later than I wanted to this morning. I seriously need to get a morning routine down and stick to it. I was checking my Facebook this morning and ran across my college roommate's blog post about why she started a new morning routine, and it got me motivated. That's what I'm going to work on this week.

Jason is going to CA Wednesday through Friday this week for work. Bleh. Hoping this week goes by quick, but at the same time, I want time to stand still and slow down, because next week Conner will be 8 months old, and that just blows my mind!


Friday, August 17, 2012

Kinda sorta crawling...maybe...

So this past week Jason worked a TON, and saw Conner Tuesday morning and then not again until this morning due to working like a mad scientist ... but he's working so hard and doing so great at work. We are really proud of him, and it's so cool to see how much Conner just melts for his daddy. They already have such a special bond - I love having a little boy!

 Mover and a shaker!

Sweet boy!
 
 Wednesday morning this is what I was greeted with when I walked into his room...so big!

This morning he was so cute in his crib having fun with his elephant stuffed animal (the one we take pictures of him with every month to see how big he's getting...). He's moving around more and more, and getting so much more adventurous and brave. He's taken a few spills, but he's a trooper and is so determined to get to where he wants to be, so he just rolls with the punches. He wants to climb on EVERYTHING. It's pretty exhausting to hold him sometimes, when he wants to climb up you. Crazy, kid!


Then this afternoon, I was letting him explore in his room, and he was just having the best time. This video is long and somewhat boring for the reader who only wants to see funny baby stuff. This is just him looking around and half-crawling as he explores one corner of his room. This new freedom he has is definitely something I am anxious about, but excited at the same time, because I know there are so many more fun things to come with crawling, walking, talking, and playing.



 Paw Paw came over today for a little bit and played with Conner, read to him, and put him down for a nap. It was a nice break for me, and I got to hang out with my dad for a little bit.

 Daddy loves his boy! They are always rolling around on the floor together.

Long week for daddy ... TGIF!

Jason and I are about to go watch 12 Monkeys, and eat chocolate chip cookies. Happy Friday!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Morning with Conner...

Yesterday morning while I was quickly updating my blog before feeding Conner breakfast I could hear him behind me talking and squealing away. He's always in such a good mood in the mornings ... I think it's safe to say that for now, he's a morning person like his mommy.


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Carrots and chicken...

So I've been wanting to make my own baby food and the other day decided to try it out. I used my smoothie maker instead of my food processor since it was in the dishwasher. It ended up chopping up the carrots I made into pretty small pieces, but it wasn't smooth. I thought, no big deal, Conner needs some different textures anyway. I also boiled some chicken and cut minced it up really fine. I tried to feed it to him, but every bite he made a disgusted face and gagged as soon as the food hit the back of his throat. I then decided to put the food directly onto the tray of his highchair so he could "discover" it himself and maybe even eat some of it with his hands.


He never even took one bite, but he was definitely checking things out! I had to constantly tell myself that the mess is only the first of many. I shook the highchair out in the front yard, so I'm sure the neighbors were amused!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Can my 7.5 month old really be in 12 month pjs already??

Saturday we went car shopping with my SIL, Courtney. Conner came with us and did so great. He had a few fussy moments, but no meltdowns and even though it was super hot, he was a trooper. 

Since the Bear finally has top and bottom teeth, his new fascination is grinding them together. It sounds so horrible. I hate it! But here he is full on grinding those baby teeth.
 
 Practicing with the sippy cup. He so does not get it.

 Hanging out in the finance office with Aunt Courtney! She bought an awesome 2011 Hyundai Sonata. It's a pretty sweet ride.

 Hanging out like a big boy in the high chair at Palio's Pizza. He had just woken up from a nap in Daddy's arms, so he was still warming up to everyone at the table.

 Cuddling my baby before laying him down for bed one night. I will so miss these days when he gets older. I'm just so in love with this sweet little son of mine!

 I was trying to take a picture of Conner in his 12 month pj's ... now that he's in super explorer mode, it's hard to get a good photo of him!

 Reaching for those stuffed animals...oh boy, am I ready for him to crawl???

 All these pics are in a span of like 1 minute. Hyper boy was ready for bed!

He wanted those toes, SO BAD!!
 
 Conner was standing in MiMi's lap this morning looking at Stella. He was so excited that he could see her. He'd get distracted and look away and we'd say, "Conner, where's Stella? Where's the kitty?" and he'd look back over MiMi's shoulder and smile so big when he saw Stella. Could have been a coincidence, but I like to think he knew what we were saying, which is pretty darn cool.

 "Where's the kitty, Conner?"

Do you guys get bored of these pics? I sure don't. I could look at pics of my sleeping boy all day and not get tired of them. This was today while my mom and I were out shopping. Tired baby!

Tomorrow Jason and I are going out on a date night and I am so excited. My mom and dad are going to watch Conner at their place and keep him overnight. It will be so nice to not even have to think about listening for the monitor. I'm sure we'll go to dinner, and maybe even a movie. It's been a while since he and I have been out alone together, so I'm really looking forward to it. I think I may even be able to sleep in until 8am, too! That is a HUGE deal!! Ahhh, sweet, sweet, sleeeeeep.


Friday, August 3, 2012

More Smith happenings...

Last week Conner and I went to pick up my parents from the airport after their week long trip to Boston. They had a great time, and it was fun to hear all their stories. They are definitely not relaxing vacation people ... they are sight-seeing vacation people. I totally lived vicariously through their trip ... and cannot wait to go on a trip of our own once I'm done breastfeeding Conner (which will hopefully be through the end of this year).

On our way to the airport, I checked to see if he was sleeping ... not so much. ;)

Since they had been up since 2am Texas time, they were hungry for breakfast when I picked them up around 9am. We stopped at Whataburger on our way home and put Conner in a highchair for the first time. He loved it! So many things to see and his little highchair/shopping cart cover has a little hook for toys. He was content.

Big boy is getting a little more mobile in the tub. He sits behind the green booty catch on the left side and has recently started pulling on that right edge (which is in front of him) to pull himself over the booty catch into the spot where his feet normally are. He loves bathtime. It's probably his favorite part of the day, other than first waking up.
 
You can see this little cutie's bottom 2 teeth! This is also a picture of the "rash" on his face. I say "rash" because I'm not quite sure you could even call it that. His complexion is normally so good that any small/minor redness looks horrific to me. But you can see on the left (his right) cheek and above his eyelid there's some redness.

This is more of the day of the "rash," but more importantly, he's loving this new toy. He loves the sounds it makes and tries to pull up on it. A sweet friend loaned it to us ... along with almost everything else I could possibly ever have wanted or needed during pregnancy, nursing, and baby phases. She's pretty much a life saver.

Conner is obsessed with Stella. I'm also pretty sure the feeling is not mutual. Ha! She tolerates and humors him, though, which is good.

Too many toys to choose from ... he's a blessed kiddo. :)

When I took Conner outside to check the mail with me (temperature outside was 108 that day...) and he had a couple more spots show up on his elbows and upper thighs, I knew I needed to take him to the Pediatrician to ease my mind. He'd also been grabbing at his ears, which I was pretty sure it was related to teething, but if I'm at the Pediatrician already, I might as well ask the doc! He basically said it could have been an allergic reaction to the sunscreen (Aveeno Baby) and the heat just irritated it. He ruled out eczema and an ear infection which I was glad to hear. The picture above is Conner watching the big screen TV in the waiting room. He couldn't look away! It was so funny!

 Somebody has discovered carpet! He loves moving his fingers back and forth through it. I think he really likes the interesting texture it has. I would love to just let him crawl around on the carpet, but since he's not officially crawling (more like scooting/army crawling) he spits up some. I would much rather wash a blanket than have to spot clean the carpet. Just the phase we're in. :)

Today I turned this on when I came in after his nap. He was loving it! He crawled across the whole crib just to get to it. I'm glad he's liking it. It's funny the way you buy things for your baby and they don't seem to care until one random day and all of a sudden it's their favorite thing to play with.

Jason is home for the weekend, and I'm getting a massage tonight (my gift from Mother's Day). I think it's going to start this weekend off great. I need to get some relief from the tension in my back and shoulders lugging my beefy 18 pound baby around! I think we may go look at cars tomorrow with my sister-in-law because she's going to trade in her Expedition for a car with good gas mileage and we want to look at mini vans just to start getting a feel for how much one of those will cost. It's still several years out, but we like to plan ahead. :)