Connor's Counter

baby

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Family Picture

I really like Ronna's tradition of snapping a family foto with a tripod before (or after) church on Christmas Sunday. So, I tried it this year, but you can tell we need more practice. We definitely need a better background.

This first one was OK, but Ron and I are so far apart! You'd think we were strangers....


I love this one of Connor - he's such a ham! We had the right idea by having one of us stand, too bad we accidentally cut Ron's head out of the picture :P


This last one is OK, but you can tell we were done several pictures ago. Oh, well, better luck next year!


Merry Christmas Everyone! May the joy of the season find you and your family!
-Britney, Ron & Connor

This year's zoo lights

We went to see the zoo lights by ourselves this year, because we went last minute and everyone was busy. It was a little drizzly, but since we had the rockin' stroller with the all-weather gear, we had a good time, and Connor LOVED the lights.

Here's Ron pushing Connor to the entrance...


I love this sign, they have it every year. If you look close, the "ZOO" letters are made out of animals...

The green wreath arch...

The lighted seal...


Can you guess what the animal is? I thought it was a wolf, but no, it's a Polar Bear. Who knew?


Swan Lake...


Mountain range in the background (You can also see the green wreath arch on the left) and some fun lights in front...


More fun lights....



Me and Connor waiting for the train. He did great until we got in the train and we happened to leave his diaper bag with the stroller checked at the train entrance. He wanted a paci or a bottle or something, but we didn't have it. I tried to comfort him with my finger -- eventually it worked.


Ron and Connor on the train (before Connor got cranky).


Some more lights (including the *actual* train that we rode, from the overpass)


Jump Around! Jump up and get down!

Connor LOVES his jumperoo. It's like a little trampoline for babies, and he can spend an hour in there and not get board. So cool! Just pay no attention to the messy office behind him.... :P

Sunday, December 13, 2009

There's a new Frosty in town!

Yesterday I found the cutest snowman while shopping for clothes for our trip. Connor tends to kick the blankets off at night, so I put him in these sleep bags to keep warm. (Double layered, he has pj's underneath). I saw this one and couldn' t resist!

It was a little snug in the arms, but maybe I'll keep it anyway. It's too cute! :)

Bad Santa!

At least this one was... First, he kind of creeped me out. But, I thought, we were already there, and time is something I do not have in abundance. Second, he made all of the kids cry. I mean, who thought dangling a baby in front was a good idea??? You'll notice that no matter how many kids are "on his lap", one of them is always dangled. So wierd. No wonder they all cried. Anyway, I went with my friend Julie and her kids, so at least that was fun!

Below, L-R: Mason, Santa, Connor, Morgan, Evan.




We tried some shots with just Julie's kids, but we lost Morgan pretty quickly.


Then we lost Mason (luckily I snapped a shot right before he started to cry...)


My favorite one of Connor is one that I photo-shopped Santa out! and it's not that good...


Does Connor look like he's having fun? No!


And this is the one I paid for. pant leg scrunched up and everything... :P blech!


Oh, well, we'll try again next year! For now, I'm just trying to decide if I send these out with the Christmas cards or not... argh!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Some Connor Quips

(Pictures added, but may be more later... :)

I have some fun stories of Connor Rolling around in my head, so I thought I'd share them here... Just a warning, this can get long-winded, so feel free to skip it if you want. :)

He has the best smile ever! Most of the time he has his eyes glued on me or Ron, and will smile whenever we look at him. But sometimes he'll be watching the other people around him. It was so cute at his 4 month checkup yesterday (BTW, 15 lbs 12 oz, 26" long). He was watching the nurse with a kind of half-smile as she was explaining something to me about the next milestones (which he's already reached most of them). As soon as she looked at Connor, he busted out this huge grin with a little squeal and scrunched his shoulders up with his hands pulled together. He did this 2-3 times in a row. SO CUTE! :)

He is one smart little dude. EVERY TIME I put him on the changing table his legs go up automatically and he looks at me. I give him all kinds of praise and he loves it! Well, today he decided to play a trick on me. He pushed his legs out straight when I was trying to get his diaper on and pressed his thighs together so I couldn't squeeze anything through them, let alone a diaper. After I finally wrangled the diaper on, and got his jeans on him, he flipped his legs up like he was ready to get changed and then he looked at me. :) Silly boy! I laughed.

Ron is so great with Connor. He has to grab him every time he sees him, even if only for a few moments. Last night, we were asked to go help decorate for the ward Christmas party. (For those who don't know, we are on the activities' committee. And, our ward puts on HUGE parties). Connor was being passed around, as babies tend to do. So, when Ron arrived after work and came in to the primary room where we were setting up, he scanned the room, honed in on connor and made a V-line for him. "Can I steal him back from you?". Why of course, that is your right as a father. :)


When connor is going to sleep at night, we have a little routine that I love as much as he does. First, he drinks his last bottle of the day. He usually doesn't finish it, so then I'll put his jammies on. (We'll give him a bath 2-3 times per week, but usually Ron likes to do that.) We'll have one last little play time and then I take him into his room and put on some mellow music. Sometimes it's Baby Einstein's lullabies, sometimes it's primary songs, sometimes it's the lullaby CD Ron got with the "Daddy's Tool Bag" diaper bag that he got for Father's day this year. Anyway, the music lets him know it's time to start winding down, and I sit with him in the "rocking" chair in his room. It's not really a rocking chair, because the room isn't big enough to fit it. It's an office chair that swivels and rocks, and works great in the space! I use the twin bed for a leg rest, usually. Once we're in the chair, he'll either finish his bottle or suck on a paci while I rock him. He's usually asleep within two minutes. On the days he doesn't sleep right away, I'll put him in his crib after ~10 minutes of rocking. He never cries. (never!) But, you can sometimes hear a "thud, thud, thud" on the baby monitor. I turn on the video to find him picking his legs up to a full 90-degree angle and slamming them down on the mattress. He's in one of those sleep bags (otherwise he would kick his covers off and freeze all night), so it's like a big squishy blob that is making these loud "thud" noises. SO cute! He's not fussy, so I leave him alone, and he goes to sleep pretty quickly. I'm hoping he doesn't go through the power struggle stage where he refuses to go down, because I love this ritual! :) (p.s. the blanket he's using was made by grandma Linda and was put on AFTER he fell asleep. Rest assured, though, it was kicked off by the time he woke up.)


In the morning when he wakes up, he never cries. never. I wake up to hear a bunch of noises -- mostly grunting and these dolphin-like sounds. and some more "thud"s. :) If he's really hungry, he may start fussing as I'm changing his diaper, but I'm convinced he is happier if he eats with a dry diaper. (He usually doesn't poop at night -- only during the day). When I come into the room to get him, he sees me coming across the room and lights up with a huge grin, pulls his hands to his mouth and coos. Then he gets all excited and kicks his arms and legs around to greet me. When I pick him up he turns into this little cuddle ball and just nuzzles into my collar bone. I LOVE IT.

I love how mellow Connor is in most situations. We got shots yesterday at his checkup, and I tried to distract him with a paci and some baby chatter in his face. I could see in his face when he got the first shot, but no fussing! wow. With the second shot, though, the nurse said it would sting a little. and it did, and he cried. But not for long, he's a little champ! When we went out to the lobby to schedule the next visit, one of the other 4-month old babies was there, and she was still crying hysterically. I count my blessings with Connor every day!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Books are DONE!!! YAY!

I finished both of the blog books for the families whose name we had. I *barely* got them in on time, and that 's only 'cause I expedited shipping and had to ship them straight to the destination (not to my house first to wrap them, bummer!). I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'm not going to send out the "order this book" link until after Christmas. That way, no one gets a peak until after the recipients see it. Except me, of course. For now, this is all you get:

Mamie's book (and family, of course):


Ronna's Book (and, family):


How exciting!!! I can't wait to see them!

This time last year...

Remember all of the SNOW from last year? Well, I do, all too well. I'm just hoping we don't see a repeat! It's cold enough, though that we might (12 degrees last night! BRRR!). So, last year Ron and I were going to host all of the Edwards' here in Portland for Christmas. And then we weren't. And then we were.... and then the snow cancelled any hope of having family with us. So then we were going to travel, but then the snow prevented that too. All the planes were grounded anyway, so we would have been stuck in the airport. So, for Christmas, it was just us and the cats. and my 1-month pregnant belly.

It was so bad, in fact, that the zoo lights shut down the whole week before Christmas. We were so bumbed! We even went on Christmas eve with our friends Julie and Jared without knowing it was closed. So disappointing. But then, they opened back up after Christmas to make up for it. So, we went with Aaron & Megan and Ryan. I'm hoping to go again this year, I just don't know when I'm going to make time for it (what with getting ready for traveling and everything).

Here we are, in the FREEZING cold.




Ryan was a little skeptical about all of the life-size animals running around. He didn't really get into it too much. Aaron did, though! :)


Here's Megan on the train. Luckily, it was only a short, 15 minute ride, because a train ride makes the air even COLDER. It was fun, though, because we got to see a bunch of the lights withough having to trek around in the cold. (Much faster this way!)


The PDX Zoo decorates the train in lights, so you can see it coming through the tunnel. It's really cool in real life. I didn't have the equipment or inclination to set up for night shots of the train (it was TOO COLD). So, here are my measly attempts at a shot of the train. Not too bad, but could have been better...






This year, we are going to Arizona for Christmas, and then to Idaho after. How could we deprive anyone from visiting with Connor? :) Ha, Ha, just kidding. Actually, I'm pretty excited to go, mostly to see family and see how Connor likes Christmas. We'll have sunshine in AZ and snow in ID, so we'll get a taste of both extremes... (I haven't been this excited for Christmas since I was a kid!) I'm not going to kid myself, the traveling with an infant will be painful. But, I think it will be worth it. Otherwise, the next time anyone might see our little man will be next summer when he's already a year old! He needs to know his family, right? Wish me luck!

Christmas Cheer!

I don't know if you are aware, but my brother Wendel and his wife Ashley have a holiday gala every year around Christmas time. Actually, it's usually on the same week as his birthday, since it is on the third. Good time for a holiday party... Anyway, he invited us last year, but we weren't able to go because Ron couldn't take the time off of work. (Wendel's party was on Saturday, and Ron works every Saturday from 7:30 am to 8:30 pm). So we went this year, and it was so good to see them! They were so lucky to get a visit from Santa Connor, too! (with Aunt Ashley below). Unfortunately, I don't remember the names of their other guests... Maybe Ashley could help me with that? :)



Here is scary-eyed Ron... Not sure what he's thinking..... Sorry, no pictures of me. (dang!)


Here, you can see Wendel in the way back calling Bingo numbers. There were enough people that it filled up both rooms in their house, so he sat in the middle.. Once you hit Bingo, you got to pick one of the white elephant gifts, and so on. Ron and I ended up with a box of hot chocolate and a package of gingerbread cookies to decorate. I wonder if Connor would like that yet? :)


Here are some other people from the party. Sorry I don't know the names.





It was alot of fun, and totally got me in the Christmas mood. :)

Monday, December 7, 2009

More Random Pictures

... That I am encountering as I finish up these books...

These are from way back in 2001!!!
I found a bunch from JR & Ronna's reception, in March 2001

Diane and CJ -- look how cute!


Me and Ron (Really?)


JR & Ron


Ron & Christi


The happy couple:


Was this really me?
Feb 24, 2001 in Ron's bedroom of his townhouse.




maybe someday again....

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The holidays are here!!!

I love that the holidays give us liberties to dress up our kids in fun little clothes. I had to snap a picture of this before we left for daycare. I have the cutest little booties that go with the hat, but unfortunately they're already too small.... :( bummer. I'll have to keep my eye out for another set. :) That's OK, the green shoes work too, right? :)


Of course, with the holidays comes bad weather and that means congestion, coughs, colds and all kinds of maladies. Connor has had a bad time of it for a few days, so we took him in. He's bordering on bronchitis, so the doctor gave us an aspirator to use so it doesn't get worse. I love the little smoke swirl in this picture (you might have to zoom way in to see it). I guess Connor does, too, because he seems to be fixated on it! :) He didn't mind it so much at first, he thought it was a game. But, it turns out that sometimes he doesn't like it and will cry through the whole thing... poor little guy!

We hope you all are healthy and happy through this holiday season! :) Love you guys!