Connor, Connor, and MORE Connor

Connor wandered off the other night while I was getting dinner ready, so I sent Emily off on a Connor hunt to make sure he wasn't back there playing with the toilet brush (a favorite past-time of his lately...EW!). I heard her start giggling like crazy, and then she came running out to say he was playing in the saucer, in my bedroom, with the lights turned off.



He hasn't been in this saucer since March when I had my appendix out and wasn't supposed to be lifting him very much and we just got used to NOT using it. It's just been stored in my bedroom. I'm amazed he got in there on his own without tipping it over!

Here, he was deciding he was about done, but didn't know how to get back out!


THEN, Mr. Man thought he was all that and then some when he put on his sister's boots and went tromping through the house in them (NO shoes are safe from Connor these days!)


And lastly, (poor Connor), Emily decided Connor was a willing enough participant and had a little fun with him.

First she did his hair:




Then, she put him in her new robe: (I have to say, I laughed hysterically about the robe, because Connor had that same shuffle/waddle ET did when he was wearing the too-big robe and it completely cracked me up!)


Then, she did his make-up (she wanted him to be a Steelers girl, so she gave him some eyeshadow and lipgloss, and then drew on the black lines which are supposed to be like football players wear on their cheekbones.):




Connor was happy as a clam his big sister was paying attention to him, and both of them were having so much fun, that Dan went ahead and let Emily continue (I would have thought he'd stop her after she sent him out in a pink headband and a pink hairclip!). She wanted to paint his fingernails, too, but I put my foot down on that one. That would have been really messy (on her part, AND Connor's!)

Hey! Who turned out the lights?

Some little person in our house recently discovered the joy of turning on and off the lights in our house, and he does it A LOT. If you turn your back for just the smallest of seconds, he'll push one of the many kid sized chairs, or a foot stool, or even more dangerous things (like ride-on toys with WHEELS) over and climbs up in order to reach the light switch. Suddenly, it's a dance party with strobe light action! I found him messing around with the lights in the kitchen yesterday and took a picture. He really started hamming it up and posing for me at that point. ha ha!

Hand Sandwich, anyone?

I walked into the room the other day, just in time to see Connor bite his own hand! He had it up against his mouth and was giggling about something, then suddenly he says "Owww!" and starts crying. I go over and look at his hand, and sure enough, bite marks!

Connor's First Year

I'm babysitting this morning and it's BUSY around here, so I thought I'd save time and post the photo montage I made for Connor when he turned one. I know several people who were still running on dial-up at the time, and I've since made NEW acquaintances/friends, so I figure there's still an audience for it!!! It's sort of long (just under 12 minutes) so be sure you either have time, or watch it in fast forward or something. Either way, ENJOY!

If this doesn't work for some reason, click HERE

Connor--A-year-in-pictures - Get Video Code

Baby Band

Connor heard about tryouts for a baby band, so begged his daddy for some practice time on the drums...(ha ha!) I think he's got a good chance, don't you?


*sidenote: It was against my better judgement that he be sitting up high on the stool playing the drums unattended, but Dan insisted he'd done it several times already and told me to leave him alone, he was happy. Well, he WAS happy, for a good 45 minutes (no joke!) until he slipped forward, smacked his face against one of the drums, bounced backwards and landed flat on his back. He bit his lower lip, and then scraped a big chunk of skin off his upper lip (that area between your nose and the red part of your lip). Christmas pictures are in 6 days and he's bruised, scraped up, and has a fat lip. NICE, eh? Jared's scar between his eyes is still really pink, so I feel like I should talk Emily into wounding her face somehow so they're all three matching! HA! Cleaned Connor up, calmed him down, and he ran right back over there and was trying to climb back up on the drum stool. Dan moved the drums back out in the garage...

This is NOT Connor

This is not Connor. I don't know who this is. But I know it's NOT Connor.


Connor doesn't want to be held every two seconds. Connor doesn't CRY all day long. Connor doesn't WHINE in between the crying spells. Connor doesn't refuse to eat his food, and then two seconds later, be crying and pointing at the food he just refused. Connor doesn't beg for a drink and then promptly throw it on the floor when it's given to him. Connor is a tough little cry that doesn't cry over every tumble or frustration. Connor sleeps nicely through the night. Connor doesn't wake up screaming at the crack of dawn (or before!), and then be totally inconsolable.

I miss Connor.

I also miss the calm, less frazzled mother I used to be!

For my sanity and Connor's tear-ducts, please pray these these canine teeth giving him so much grief break through SOON and leave us in peace!!!!!

Livin' in the Wild Wild West

I don't envy Connor's future wife as she desperately tries to get a good night's rest despite his WILD thrashing in his sleep...
(this is what I saw when I looked down into the crib when I was checking on him before heading to bed myself...)

The Calm Before the Storm

Here's Jared, laying pretty much exactly how I left him after tucking him in...
"the calm"


(Except he's not wearing the pajamas I put him to bed in... He LOVES this particular pair of footed zipper pajamas, but they're too small! Notice his feet all stretched funny inside them??? But he'll get out of bed and put them on anyway!)



Here's Connor, pillow at the wrong end of the crib, ON his blanket instead of UNDER the blanket, sippy cup launched out of the crib altogether, stuffed monkey down at the other end...
"the storm"


I honestly think he sat there and just tossed stuff around in his crib until he couldn't stay awake a second longer and then fell over, sound asleep. LOL!

A Short Life

I think Connor's goal in life is that he live a short life. And if he's not the death of HIMSELF, he's going to be the death of ME! I swear, I keep a close eye on this kid, but he KNOWS when my attention is turned towards one of his siblings, or that minute or two that I'm in the bathroom, or I've gone to answer the phone, ETC...

He now knows how to climb onto the spring horse we have. The part you sit on is pretty much level with his head if he's standing on the ground. The way he gets up is rather terrifying (once we actually SAW him doing it; previously we've just walked into the room and he's already up there!). I was torn between yanking him back off and directing him towards the BABY spring horse we have which involves no further effort than lifting his leg up and over the "saddle", and letting him continue with his climb (knowing he's accomplished getting up there several times before uninjured). I let him continue with his climb. He doesn't WANT to ride the baby one.



He's also taken to climbing on the piano bench. It doesn't matter if it was nicely pushed in under the piano. Some helpful sibling inevitably pulls it out (for themselves, then forget to push it back under) and Connor takes only a very split second to climb right on up. I wasn't very concerned before, because he'd just climb up and SIT on the bench, and play a little tune for me. But NOW, he STANDS on the bench.



And when he STANDS on the piano bench, he can reach up and get professional pictures propped up against the porcelain doll display cases sitting on top of the piano. I took this picture later on in the day, because I didn't realize what he had and I thought it was just assembly instructions for one of the many toys we have around the house, and he was so sweet sitting there, babbling away like he was reading. Until I went to take it away and realized it was my one and only copy of a professional picture of Emily and Jared, and there is no hope of ever getting another one because it's been far more than the "one year" they tell you the picture is available for. I now have a very crumpled up copy of a professional picture of Emily and Jared.


I also discovered he knows how to climb up onto the dining table. I was 10ft away, helping Jared put all this matchbox cars away, and between the clanking of the cars into the bin, and Jared talking, I failed to hear the warning sounds of a baby climbing onto the table. Until I heard his voice yelling "HI, HI, HI" and it sounded UP HIGH.


He HAD been standing there. I yelled at him to sit down and grabbed up the camera on my way to get him (camera was 5ft away, so really truly on my way!).

I'm afraid of what he'll come up with next!

(oh, he got ahold of his daddy's VERY LARGE, VERY FULL "jug" of water and poured it out all over the floor last night...)

WHAT DID YOU SAY???

I CAN'T HEAR YOU! MY HUSBAND GOT SOME NEW DRUMS LAST NIGHT AND MY EARS ARE STILL RINGING!!!!!!

Dan fell into a pretty "sweet" deal on some drums last night, and fell into some unexpected money to pay for them, so he's now the proud owner of a set of Tama Swingstar drums. The kids think they're pretty awesome! I tried to take a picture of Dan playing them, but I was told very sternly I'd "better NOT!"

So, here's a picture of just the drums...


My ears are ALSO ringing from Connor's screams at the new Costco we went to today while Jared was at preschool. I got two steps into the building and he started trying to fling himself around in the cart, then tried to stand up, then pulled out the tears and screams. Which left me carrying him for awhile, but that only works for so long because I need one arm/hand to push the cart and the other arm/hand to hold Connor and he's HEAVY!!

Then, to top off all the baby screaming fun, I had one lady in particular who would suddenly APPEAR in the aisles I was in, just long enough to let me know I should have brought a toy for him to play with (I did, but he threw it down on the ground and tried to hit me when I attempted to give it back), or how I should have brought him a snack (I did, but it was in the car for later, because he'd just finished breakfast an hour ago!), or how I should probably stick to regular nap times because the "poor dear" was just tired. WOW, she knows my baby's schedule, eh? I sure wish I did. I mean, I'm just the incompetent mom who knows NOTHING! And THEN, some old lady reached out and was trying to pet his face, speaking to him in a "baby" voice saying, "I know, it's no fun that your mean mommy is making you come shopping with her, is it?"

WHAT DID YOU SAY??? That's what I wanted to say. What I really said was, "Thank you so much for your opinion, now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to finish my shopping before anymore strangers try to pet my baby like a dog."

Maybe I'll go out and play some drums for awhile...

Taking Care of Business

Connor LOVES sitting at the little table and chairs we have in our house. We have a kid-sized wooden table and chairs set, and we have a little patio-style set. I'm not sure which he loves more. I will say it's probably the patio-style set because it's lightweight and he can move it around the house wherever he chooses. Lately, he likes to haul it all, piece by piece, to the other side of the diningroom, behind the dining table. It's pretty funny to walk into the room and see that he's done some rearranging!

Notice he's got the table and BOTH chairs here and I'll point out this is NOT where it started out this morning!! LOL


Apparently I should take the hint and do some rearranging of my own?

"Bleh!"

Whave this crazy monkey toy on wheels that moves around the floor in random directions, then pauses until you bump it and the music and monkey sounds start up and it takes off again. Connor got it for his birthday and never once played with it, until this week, where he's had it out non-stop. It was turned off this morning, so when he was smacking at it to make it move, it wasn't doing anything. He tried a few more times (and it was funny enough that I didn't run over and turn it on), and when it STILL didn't work, he picked it up, tossed it back into the toy bin and said, "bleh" with his tongue out (like "bleck") ROFL!





(where'd it go Connor?)






Ooh ooh ee ee ee ah ah!

Nobody likes me,

everybody hates me, guess I'll just SCREAM MY HEAD OFF!

The reluctant football player

Connor was all about wearing that helmet until the second I actually had my camera in hand and then he just wanted to take it off and throw it on the ground...

Holy Tantrums, Batman!

How evil am I? My child throws a fit and I run for the camera thinking, "This could be a really great entry for my blog!" The boys were both just OUT OF CONTROL yesterday. Connor's got molars coming in, so I'm sure that was his issue, and I have NO CLUE what was wrong with Jared. I'd tried food, snuggles, games, books, and everything else under the sun and finally decided to just leave them be to let them ride out their tantrums and be FINE again.

Here they both are:


Jared screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" and ran for his room after I took that picture. I guess he wasn't interested in having his tantrum documented in pictures


Connor stayed put and gave me some good shots.


"maybe if I stand here looking really sad and pathetic, she'll make one last effort at making me happy" (which I did, and he screamed louder, and flailed around, so I put him back down again)


"Maybe a little whimper instead of a full-fledged cry will do the trick"


"Fine! I'll just chew on your chair then!"


"wahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"


"How about I just throw myself down on the ground and yell even louder!"


"And then I'll fling myself backwards and whack my head on the ground like I'm so fond of doing, and then I'll roll around a bit and kick my feet"


"I'M REALLY MAD!!!!!!"


I never did figure out what was wrong with him, but he gave up the tantrum very shortly after I stopped taking pictures and turned back into the sweet little Connor we ENJOY having around!

Connor's 1st Haircut

Here is Connor before his haircut. Look how long it got in the back!!! LOL


We put him in the car and he went NUTS "driving"


not real sure what to think


He was a little wiggly, but did very well overall




Every once in awhile he'd beg for some rescuing...


...then two seconds later happily go back to "driving"


All finished!


They tried to give him a green balloon, but there was something wrong with their batch of green balloons because they kept popping or deflating, so he got purple. He didn't mind!

Strength

It's important to make sure you're eating healthy foods and drinking plenty of fluids to keep your body healthy and strong. Connor tackles that job with much gusto. ESPECIALLY if it involves sweets (Um...did I say "healthy foods"? I meant CHOCOLATE CAKE!)




We dont' have any problem getting him to drink plenty of fluids either. He kicked back, tossed an arm out to the side and chugged it down!




As a result, he has plenty of strength! He pushed Jared here and there and everywhere and the only help Jared gave him was putting his feet down to change directions slightly every so often so they didn't crash.




They were going too fast throughout the house to mess with changing settings on the camera, so this one turned out dark and I had to lighten it a little, which washes out the color some, but better than being DARK


awww!