Pictures!!

Jamie and I in Vegas - Ceasars

Connor's Second Big Birthday Party!!

On the beach in LA!

Recovery

Traveling cross-country is never an easy task (especially with me because I take basically my entire closet, try to think of everything possible little thing to bring, etc....) but doing it with a baby literally takes days and days to recover from. And I don't just mean the three hour time difference .... which does suck, but it's all the other stuff that goes along with it ... mental anguish (mine and Connor's), a destroyed / empty closet (again, mine and Connor's), a list of things to do a mile long (ok, this one is just me!) and a totally messed up schedule (sleep and otherwise) for the entire family!! The only positive thing right now is that we are dog-free at least until tomorrow, so that has been a nice break for Jamie and I (and the house!)

It's just now hitting me that Halloween is on Friday, which I guess means I should be buying candy. At least I've got Connor's Elmo costume all ready to go! I'm glad we went with a warm costume as it appears to have gone from summer to winter in the two weeks we were on vacation!!

Well, I'm off to call Chance school for a tour time and date (which I should have done forever ago!). That is hopefully where Connor will be going to pre-school when he's two .... which I cannot believe we are already planning for!!!

Once I get my life back in order I promise to post some of the best pics from our vaca!

VEGAS BABY!! (without the baby ;)

We just returned from Vegas to Jamie's parent's house in LA and I am so exhausted (and it's really hot, which we're trying to enjoy before heading back home to the cold!) A couple of things about our trip to Vegas:

1.) If Connor wasn't so cute (and also in the ever-improving and adorable stages of toddling) it might not be so hard to leave him for 3 days ... but it was hard! Jamie and I really had a hard time remembering what it was like to be with just each other. No strollers, no time constraints based on nap and bed times, no car seats or ba-bas or diaper changes, just Vegas fun. It was nice, but we were definitely on the fast-track home to our little booger when we woke up this morning! I just couldn't wait to pinch and kiss his chubby thighs. It was as good as I remembered! :)

2.) When we got to the hotel, they didn't have a king bed, non-smoking room available (even though we had reservations and Vegas is basically a dead-zone right now) so I asked for an upgrade and we got it! Sweet! Our room was a huge, bi-level suite with pink tile floor, huge mirrored closet doors, and a sitting area. In the middle of the room, we had a big jacuzzi (which of course we didn't even use - but it looked cool!). There were two separate "getting ready" areas, a toilet room, a stand-up shower and make-up / hair vanity. It was awesome and I think Jamie was kind-of impressed that I got them to give us the upgrade. We definitely didn't leave Vegas "in the money", but the suite kind-of made up for it!

3.) I like getting carded in Casinos. I guess that makes me old. But as a mommy, having someone think I look too young to loose my money on a penny slot makes me feel kind-of good! :)

So now we have a couple more days of relaxation with Jamie's parent's helping us out before a 12-hour day of flying on Saturday (boo).

PS- Pictures to come soon - I'm on Jamie's computer and I don't upload our pictures to his computer ... hopefully by the end of the weekend!

Why Am I Awake Right Now?

We are leaving for California tomorrow morning at 4:15 AM! Just an FYI, not sure how often I'll be able to post in the next week and a half, but I'll try! Have to go to sleep now! Ahh!

Why Women Shouldn't Watch Football --- and 1st Baby Steps!!

Here is something embarrassing about myself that I just noticed. As you know, it is football season, so I find myself, whether I want to or not, watching more football this time of year than I normally would watch any other sport (except when UK Basketball gets good again, then I'll be watching tons of B-ball again) anyway ...

You know when the quarterback "fakes" like he is going to pass the ball, but really already handed the ball off to some other dude who runs fast to try to run it down the field (I realize that if you are a UK football fan, you might be confused right about now. That is because what I am speaking of is what those in the business call an "offense", something UK football apparently doesn't feel is necessary this year. I digress.)

ANYWAY - maybe it's because I'm a girl, or maybe because I don't watch football that often, but I can NEVER figure out who has the ball!! No matter if it's a fake hand-off, faking a fake hand-off, or whatever options there might be that I don't even know about, I am always "faked-out". This makes watching football games that you care about more difficult, mostly because I'll be excited because I think our player is running down the field with the ball, but really, the QB still had the ball, and has subsequently been sacked.

And, I'm guess the person operating the TV camera is always male, because they are rarely fooled! Or maybe it's just practice. But something about being faked-out by something that rarely fools 10 or 11 football players worries me! Maybe there is some sort of class or training to figure this out, I'm not sure, but if so, I would like to take it! I bet there are more people than just me who get confused - I hope ;)

More importantly, Connor took about 4 little baby steps last night in the hallway! So cute! Jamie and I were basically freaking out screaming and cheering that it kind-of freaked Connor out and he sat down! Off to Grandma Sue's house after Connor gets up from his nap to see if he'll do it again for her!! We only have 3 more days until we leave for LA for a week and a half! Seriously, I don't even want to think about having to fly across the country again! Even worse, our flight it as 6 AM, meaning we have to get to the airport at 4:30!! (which, by the way, is when it OPENS!) This obviously cuts WAY into Connor's sleeping ---- seriously, my blood pressure rises just talking about it -- I can't anymore!

While in Cali, Jamie and I will be spending 4 days in Vegas (sans baby) which will hopefully help us get over the flight and all the stress that accompanies taking a baby cross-country!

I better get a shower in while Connor's still sleeping :)

1st Birthday Pictures!

These are the best of the best and the cutest of the cutest pictures from Connor's birthday party! It was super hard to pick, but I managed! All pictures were taken by our friend and photographer, Jonathan Palmer!

Today we had our first class at Gymboree - and Connor was basically in heaven because they had tub after tub filled with balls of all types... I mean absolute heaven! I think we will get a membership and start going every week so Connor can get more face-time with other kiddos - it'll be good for him! We did bubbles and parchute games, sang a bunch of songs I didn't know (uhh) and afterward basically bathed in antibacterial gel! haha!

Tommorow, we're off to the gym and then to get Connor's shots (that we weren't able to get last week due to Connor's fever :( ... and then off to see Nights in Rodanthe with Bunco ladies from the neighborhood!

Busy busy week! Until next time ...

Does One Year Mean All Grown Up?

On September 26th (last Friday) Connor turned one. We, in true first-time-parent-fashion, made a big deal of the whole thing and threw a big party. Since that time, Connor seems to be a completely different baby in a lot of ways. Mainly, napping, which I have discussed in future posts - only now it's much worse!!

Connor now considers nap-time optional ... which it is NOT! As the first birthday drew closer, he was becoming less and less thrilled about his second (afternoon) nap, which we sometimes skipped if the morning nap lasted longer than, say, 2.5 hours (there is a delicate equation to figuring these things out that only mothers understand - it's complicated;) But, most of the time, he'd get in a good 2 hours in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon. Alas! A schedule.

HA!

Now it seems, being the big boy that he is, one nap may be enough. After much thought about this new system, I came to the conclusion that a 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day, albeit eliminating any possibility of normal-timed lunch dates) would be fine because I could get stuff done during the day and run errands (if needed) in the morning and late afternoon. Once again,

HA!

Today, Connor went down for a nap around noon. One o'clock rolls around and I hear him. Not just the normal "come and get me" cry, but full-on screaming. Great. So I head upstairs expecting to just need to pop the paci back in, but no, he has it in him mouth - and is still screaming (also a new development as of late... baby's got skills!).

Ah ha!

He is too hot! Yes, that is definitely the problem. I strip him down to his diaper expecting a comforting sigh of relief, droopy eye lids, and back to the crib!

Nope - still screaming. Joy.

I know, he must have a dirty diaper! Duh! Why didn't I think of that before?

Nope - clean diaper. Well, pee diaper, close enough.

Of course! He must be hungry! Obviously, that is it!

Nope - after about a half cup of goldfish crackers were fed to the dog via Connor throwing them on the floor from his high-chair, and picking his juice sippy up off the ground about a million times, I had to give up on this idea.

Wow! I am suddenly brought back to the first couple weeks of parenthood where you have no clue as to what in the hell you are doing, but everyone just smiles at you and says it gets better - exec pt now no one is smiling and I thought it was supposed to already be better!!

Ahhh! Dang it!

After another 10 minutes of cranky whining (which might as well be someone pulling their nails down a chalkboard at this point) we are off the his nursery again for a well-intentioned attempt at a nap.

Move ahead 30 minutes - I'm still listening to him 'talk' on the monitor, hoping that any minute silence will fall over the house and I can go clean the garage... fun huh? Wait, do I not hear anything?? Only for 5 seconds - definitely still awake!

So, all I'm asking is that Connor just stay 10 months forever! Sleeping 9am - 9pm, two 2-hour naps per day, and there is no problem a fist full of Gerber Puffs and a Dr. Brown's bottle won't fix. We worked so hard to get to that point, but he just keeps growing up! Sometimes I literally think he is smarter than me when he's playing with his stacking toys ... he almost always gets them in the correct, progressively smaller all the way to the top, order!

All I know is, mommy had better come up with some new tricks to keep little man busy and happy (aka: napping regularly!) or this is going to be a long winter!