The merry month of May!

The month of May was a whirlwind. I'm backtracking a little, since the Smiths came to Texas at the end of May ... but, whatev. Let's just get started with the photos from the month!

Conner had his 4-month appointment at the doctor at the end of April, and we discussed getting Conner started on solids. I was super excited, but at the same time, a little overwhelmed. I mean, breastfeeding was a little confusing at first, but now I feel like a pro. I just knew the same would be true for solid foods. So, I headed to Target to get acquainted with the baby food aisle. Holy Too-Many-Choices, Batman! Good grief. I decided to go with Gerber ... I mean they don't have adorable "Gerber" babies for nothing. ;) So I stocked up on squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, applesauce, bananas, pears, peaches, and rice cereal. We started with rice cereal and the faces he made were too cute and funny. He was so confused by this strange taste/texture in his mouth. It didn't take long, though, for him to realized how much he loves food! He is like a little baby bird when he eats now ... opening his mouth before each bite.

My attempt at his 4-month picture with the elephant. This is hard by yourself!

 Somebody's ready for bath time!

All clean!

Feet!!

That can't be comfortable!

Messy rice cereal ... but he likes it!

Mmm, toes.

Baby feet!

Okay, so remember when I told you we were getting some roommates? Well, May was the month to get everything ready for them to move in, since they moved in just before Memorial Day. So here is our guest bedroom all cleared out. I still can't believe we got it all out of there...I'm impressed with us! Ha!

 And this is what our room looked like right after we moved everything out of the guest room. DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!! Thankfully, it doesn't look like this anymore. It actually looks pretty great. We've cleared out a lot of clutter and organized things a lot better, too. It's a cozy bedroom, but that's how we roll. We are cozy people. :)

Conner's 5-month picture with the elephant. He's a growing boy! I think I'll do a post soon with all of his elephant pics from birth to 6 months. It will be cool to see how much he's grown, especially compared to the elephant.

This is Conner playing on the floor in Grandma and Grandpa's townhome. We went over there for a furniture delivery, so I brought over some laundry to do and we camped out.

Conner thankfully fell asleep in his swing while I did laundry. It made for a much happier baby, that's for sure!

 Mommy and Conner playing with my phone. I love the look on his face in this one. He's like, "um, what the heck is that baby doing on your phone, Mom?"

 My wiggle worm squirming away from me while I try to get  a picture of his bottom 2 teeth! I don't think I've gotten a pic of them yet still. Every time he smiles (which is all the time) he sticks his tongue out a little, which covers them up. I mean I'm sure I could fold down his bottom lip with my finger for the picture, but what kind of a picture would that be? Awkward.

 Mama got some new glasses! I love, love, LOVE them!

I have about 100,000 pictures just like this on my phone. When I'm driving around town and come to a stop light, I'll reach back to see if he's awake or not so I can log it on an app on my phone that I love. It's called Baby Connect (most expensive app I've ever bought, I think it was $4.99) and it.is.AWESOME. I log all Conner's diapers, nursing, solids, sleep and am able to keep track of all those things without losing my mind. 

MiMi and Conner. He was being so sweet!

 Mommy and Conner - he was super excited!

MiMi and Conner reading a book before bed.

PawPaw and Conner - "Hey, I know you..."

Conner loving his little buzzing bee.

I got a lot of comments about how embarrassing this picture will be for Conner someday when I posted it on my Facebook page. I disagree. I think this is one of the most adorable pictures of Conner, ever. I think he will love it someday, especially when it's on a big screen at his wedding or something. Mom's know best.

Conner eating MiMi's face! He was not being sweet at all - no kisses for MiMi. No. He was trying to eat her face. Like a zombie.

I thought this picture was cool with the sunlight across it. My sweet boy, playing in the backseat with his octopus.

Somebody's starting to pull his knees up underneath him! I thought this meant he'd start crawling any day. I was, thankfully, wrong. :) I'm not ready for a mobile baby.

Tired, fussy, baby. We snuggled in the rocking chair. I think he liked it. :)

PawPaw and Conner talking. This was after Conner threw up all over PawPaw. What a trooper!

Sweet baby!!

 Uncle Brady reading to Conner. Do elephants really say, "Braloo??"

Hanging at Susan's with Conner while they were here. I was ready for Jason to be HOME! It's hard work taking care of a baby without your spouse around. I don't know how single moms do it. Mad props, ladies!

Conner ready for his first pool experience!

I think he likes it! Mommy and Daddy are excited that he's excited!

"Are you having fun, bud?"

Splashing baby!

That smile just melts my heart into mush. I love this little guy with all my heart!

And that sums up the month of May. I'm kind of bummed we didn't take pictures of Chris and Kylee moving in ... but they did and we are all adjusting pretty well! It's definitely different, but we have been having a great time. Can't believe how fast this year is flying by!

The Smiths come to Texas...

In May, Jason's whole family came to Texas and it was awesome. His parents drove in on a Wednesday, and Thursday, Justin, Courtney, Kylee, and Josh flew in to DFW and we were complete. For those of you who are thinking, "Holy Cow! Alina, your house is going to be crowded." Have no fear. Jason's parents bought a townhome back in October and so the rest of the Smiths stayed there. A great time was had by us all for the long weekend before the boys all headed to their man trip to Salt Lake City, Utah.

 Susan and I headed to Wal-Mart on Thursday to stock up on the essentials of having all the Smith boys under one roof: little smokies, 10 lbs. cheddar cheese, fixin's for quiche, beer ... you know the bare necessities.

We have a membership to LifeTime and so Jason and I brought Justin and Josh with us one morning so they could check it out. Here, Jason is showing them how to do the P90x ab routine. It's intense. I was told guys on yoga mats look funny ... those aren't yoga mats, they are green beds of nails. Just to clarify.

Here are the boys (Josh, Jason, Justin) playing on their phones laying on the pallet we made on the floor for Conner. For the whole weekend, there was no living room furniture - it came after the boys all left for their trip. So we made due with pallets on the floor and lawn chairs in the living room.

On Saturday, Susan, Courtney, Kylee, Conner, and I went to the The Village Fountain in Fairview. It was such a nice day and Conner loved people watching with me and checking out the kids playing in the water. 

Kylee came all decked out in her swim suit looking super cute! She was ready to play!

It was so cool to watch Kylee play in the water. She didn't know what to think at first and I think it kind of scared her a little. But slowly, she started getting more and more brave. A lady saw her playing and gave her a little bucket to play with and after that, she was golden. She would fill it up and pour it out over and over.

Grandma and Conner watching Kylee play.

Kylee playing with her bucket. You can see Courtney's shadow ... she was trying to keep Kylee in the shade most of the time so she didn't get sunburned. Good mama!

Get it, girl!

She is just too cute. I love her little pony on top of her head!

 

Conner and Grandma in matching hats!

The boys right before they left for their trip.

Our little family before Daddy left for Utah.

This was a "Good morning, Daddy!" picture we sent Jason one morning while he was gone. :)

This picture cracks me up. All this kid needs is a remote in his hand, and he's set!

Hanging out with Grandma ... so sweet! Notice the lawn chair. Haha!

 So once the boys had gone, Susan and I were doing laundry, and noticed it was getting HUMID and there was condensation forming around the door-frame in the laundry closet (it's not big enough to call a room). Susan squeezed back there and realized that the hose had disconnected from the dryer. Oops! So she got back there and I handed her duck tape over and over until it was sealed. It was a very random thing to have happened and we were super proud of ourselves for figuring it out ourselves.

Conner playing on the floor mat. Loving his tummy time!

My 5-month old baby, with 2 teeth, wearing 9 month footie pjs. This cute outfit was from Great-Grandma Grace. I love it because it has bears ... for Conner Bear. :)

We finally have furniture! It is super comfortable and looks great in the room.

Another "Good morning, Daddy!" picture. Somebody was in a great mood! I spent almost the whole week Jason was out of town with Susan and Conner and I slept in the same room. He did awesome! Slept 12 hours like a champ. Thank you, BabyWise!!

 He definitely started discovering his feet about this time. Lots of toe sandwiches from here on out. ;)

There are fun new things on the horizon for the Smith family. Can't give a full update quite yet, but know that change is coming and we are excited!

My 1st Mother's Day...

This year I celebrated my very first Mother's Day. It was a great day and I felt so loved by my sweet husband and family. We woke up and Jason got Conner ready for church while I got ready by myself in our bathroom (this happens every Sunday, but it's still nice!).

Daddy and Conner playing.

Me and my baby before church.

 Our family at church. :)

Daddy and Conner hanging out at lunch so I could eat by myself. I'm not really used to that - it was so nice, though! On the Border was super yummy. :)

Uncle Brady and Conner back at our house.

Playing all by himself in his Bumbo seat. He likes to turn around in it. Haha!

Mommy and Conner for my first Mother's Day!

Yummy sweet potatoes!

MiMi and Conner on Mother's Day. So sweet.

Jason was so sweet to give me money to go get a massage (which I still haven't gotten yet ... I keep saying I will soon!) while he watches Conner, and a movie gift card so I can go see a movie with whoever I want while he hangs with Conner, too. It was so nice for him to acknowledge all that I do and that I may want a break and some time to myself. It was great to spend time with my family, too. They are awesome and I love spending time with them. They love Conner so much and it's so fun to watch them all interact.

Conner - I love you more and more every day and am SO thankful for you, sweet boy! God is so good. I can't believe He let me be your mom. You bring me so many smiles all day long and I love watching you grow and learn new things. You are such a happy boy, and I love watching your personality unfold. You look more and more like your daddy every day and I could kiss your little cheeks all day! I look forward to seeing you grow up, but I'm so glad that you are still so little and I am enjoying every single phase you go through. I love you, Conner-Bear!