Feeling giggly

I LOVE my happy baby boy!  Poor little man has been struggling with what I believe are allergies and most of the docs he has seen since Thanksgiving are all saying it is a virus piggy-backing another virus.  Nothing like having six viruses in a row to start off your second year of life right!

Don't get me wrong, he was still a happy little one between all the sneezing, constantly runny noses, coughing up phlegm and vomiting.  He continued to smile between it all.  Amazing!  Unfortunately, the end of January marked his first ear infection, followed by another, coupled with the worst diaper rash and diarrhea that caused screaming in pain with every change and finally followed by a trip to the ER for allergic reaction to who knows what. WHEW!

But he's back!  We had dinner last night at a local Thai restaurant called Chon Som.  I opened up some yogurt for him and he immediately reached for his spoon and started to dig in!  His appetite is back like, whoa!  The restaurant isn't very big, so when he started chuckling, it echoed throughout.  It was awesome!  We have no clue as to why he was laughing, but it was awesome!  He put some yogurt on his spoon, put the spoon in his mouth, then let go of the spoon.  He just left it hanging in his mouth and giggled while proudly showing off to us!  At another point, he used his spoon as a pointer and giggled while pointing at anything.  After finishing his Thai macaroni, he would put his napkin on top of his head and then behind it and laughed.  He was just cracking himself up!  Having him entertain us (and the others dining there) was such a great time.  I am sure that during the hour we were there, he laughed for at least 20 minutes of it.

In other news, Little Man is walking around pretty well.  He mostly pulls himself up still to get started walking, however according to Cody, he did go from standing to leaning forward to pick a ball off the ground and back to standing upright!  YAY!  We're also trying to use his pacifier less.  I found that when it's not in his mouth, he does a whole lot more talking.  It's so cute to see what he'll "say" next.  The signs that he is using these days are still more/yes, food, milk/water.  We've added a few others to his repertoire.  He is now signing please when he wants something and when reminded, he'll say thank you!  It's just the little things that make my heart happy.

My Son is ONE!

12 months and 2 teeth!

Birthday suit

I can't believe how lucky we are to have this little boy in our lives!  He is such a joy to have around and I am so thankful for him.

First shiner

I'm sorry that I haven't posted this earlier, but this is Conner's first shiner.

Menacing, huh, OU O-line.

I want to call him "Bruiser" now.

He achieved this look by falling over while standing next to the coffee table at his grandparents house.  Missed the edge, but caught the spine of a thick magazine.  Don't worry, his beautiful blue eyes are still beautiful and still working properly.  He can spot things in the carpet and put them in his mouth quite well!

Fun photo featurette

Look, Mommy, I can knock things off the coffee table now!

Sometimes those little puffy things require two hands to accurately place into his mouth.

Daddy teaching Conner how to play MarioKart.

Blech.  Mommy kisses.

Conner just found out he's 8 months old! (Remember this chair?)

Mo homut jee hod.

Perfect sunset at the Oasis.

Splashing around in the fountain at the Arboretum.

I have no idea what's going on here, but he's on a cow and he's telling me something. Moo?

Bed time

Pretty much every night before Conner goes to bed, he nurses.  It is easy for us to just to get him to sleep once he's had a little "night cap" and he's happier for it!  I love how excited he gets when he realizes that he's about to get the best meal of his entire life and it's been a grueling 3 hours since he last ate his previously best meal of his entire life!

I say it's easier for us, but really it's my time with him.  I get to stroke his hair and squeeze his chubby legs and sing him a song.  I tell him just how much I love him and that I love his little baby arms, little baby hands, little baby fingers and little baby fingernails.  All the while, Cody is relaxing and waiting patiently for when I "close the bar" and give Conner the pacifier.  He then gently picks the chunky monkey up and cradles him in his arms (so sweet) and places him in his crib in his room.

*sigh* I am so lucky to have a great husband and baby boy!

restaurant tables are yummy

Parenting 101

Lesson 1:  Do not leave your child, who is learning to crawl, unattended on the couch or they WILL decide to come to you while you are trying to prevent your wet (from the rain) dog from getting on the carpet and on their way to the floor they will hit the tv tray you JUST set up so you can be online while your child is nursing even though two or three birds, one stone sounds like a good idea.

Consider lesson 1 learned.

My bad...

I'm sure you all have forgotten about us, but we're still around!  I see it has been since Conner was 7 weeks old that I posted a picture and commented about how freakin' cool he is as a baby.  Here he is at 34 weeks (7 1/2 months) and I'm just NOW getting around to making a new post.  I feel like I should give you some stats on his growth:

Birth: 7 lbs 12 oz  and 21" long

2 month check up: 13 lbs 2 oz (78%)
     23 3/4" long (77%)
     40.9 cm head circumference (74%)

4 month check up: 16 lbs 15 oz (90%)
     26" long (90%)
     44.5 cm head cir. (95%)

6 month check up: 20 lbs 8 oz (96%)
     27 1/4" long (76%)
     45.8 cm head cir. (95%)

What I haven't told facebook is that he is rolling over more frequently, loves to stand and pull himself up, hates tummy time and loves to put Mommy or Daddy's noses in his mouth.  He is exploring sounds with his mouth and it is delightful to hear!  He also claps or makes the sign for more food; we can't tell which one it is ;)  He might also be saying Ma Ma or Da Da.  Conner doesn't have teeth yet (thank goodness for me since he is still nursing) and it doesn't look like he is in any hurry to get them.  Little Man is scooting backwards on his hands and knees so maybe he'll be crawling soon.  We have the baby gate for the top and bottom of the stairs so we're ready when he is.

Conner loves, loves, LOVES to laugh and smile and make others do the same.  It doesn't matter if he doesn't know the person.  Oh, and he will not go to sleep if he thinks he is going to miss out on something.  He is so interested in what's going on around him!  He does, however, fall asleep in his car seat.  Thank goodness for that thing!

I know I'm not telling a ton of info, but how about if I leave this post with a few pictures that weren't posted on facebook?  I hope that will be ok!

Future LHB percussionist!

He fights harder than this now when it's time to get into his car seat!

First time in the lazy river at Camp Longhorn.

Go, Marines!

A little messy after making Daddy's Father's Day gift.

The best way to have tummy time is by crawling on Daddy.

What?? That pitch was not a strike!

Conner sometimes likes to be held like a football!

New best friend, Pledge!

Conner can sleep anywhere!

I certainly love this baby boy.

Conner's birth story

I don't think I have told you about when Conner was born. I was scheduled to be induced 2 days after his due date if he didn't come on his own before then. Cody and I had a normal final day as a twosome. We went shopping that Sunday for a few necessities, had a bite to eat at Panera Bread, then went home. That night I got my hospital bag ready pretty late and started to feel what felt like contractions. I decided it was just gas and kept going on with the packing and straightening up of the kitchen.

I finally went to bed around midnight but my stomach kept hurting from the gas. Around 1 a.m. I was still awake and the pain wasn't getting better and it started to come more frequently so I decided to time it. Sure enough, it was coming every 3-5 minutes. I called my friend, Mary who was helping out with the delivery as my doula and let her know that I thought I was in labor. We decided to continue timing it and see what happens. I woke Cody up and told him that he was to keep track now. He had a note pad and his watch ready. When the contractions stayed at the same rate, we headed to the hospital and I called Mary to tell her it was time.

Boy did the contractions hurt! I had to stop walking several times to breathe through them in the parking lot, waiting room, at the check in desk and once I got to the room. By this time, it was just after 3 in the morning and it seemed like Conner was ready to come 3 hours before we were scheduled to arrive at the hospital! Mary arrived shortly after I had settled in and brought goodies to help with the pain. Thank goodness for her! We didn't plan on anything to help. My contractions kept coming. They seemed to last a long time and were getting quite painful. Cody and Mary were right by my side to help me remember to relax and to let me know when my contractions were over judging by the monitor.

All morning long, the nurse had me drinking juice to keep Conner's activity up. He seemed to have chilled out and the hope was that the juice would keep him stimulated. Cody and Mary were right there holding the juices and the straws for me so I could drink regularly.

At 8 a.m. my doctor arrived. I don't think I had seen a doctor prior to her arrival. She checked me and said that I was dilated to 8 cm. I couldn't believe it!! I had been at 1 for a month and suddenly I was an 8! He was coming and it would be soon! I decided to get the epidural to ease the pain and boy did it work. I was singing along to my collection of George Strait cd's. I was making jokes and hanging out.

Side note: Cody was documenting my labor by taking pictures and updating my status on facebook for me. He was keeping Mary and I entertained by reading the comments people were leaving. I have some funny and encouraging friends. I am glad we were able to share this day with them. Anyway, back to the story.

Noon rolled around and I hadn't made any progress so they decided to give me pitocin to try to speed things up. You see, at 8 a.m., the doctor broke my water and noticed that Conner already had at least one bowel movement. That wasn't a good thing because it meant that he could breathe it in. The pitocin was to limit the amount of time he'd potentially have poo in his lungs. After a couple more hours of pitocin, they saw that it was beginning to stress him out. They stopped the drip for a while to see if it would help him which it did. Then they started it again. At this point they decided to check my contractions to see if they were strong enough. They put some kind of device in my uterus to get a better reading of the contractions because the bands around my belly were not accurate enough. Did I mention that I already had a catheter in? The nurse did that right after the epidural was done. Luckily, the epidural was still amazing and I couldn't feel any of it!

4 p.m. came quickly and I had only gotten to 9 cm. The doc started talking about the potential for a c-section but it was still early. We waited another couple hours and still no progress. Conner wasn't able to get into position because of my "dainty features." It was time to deliver the baby. Somewhere during all of this, Cody and Mary were still there with me. Cody's parents came to visit and so did my step-mom. It was after 6 p.m., I still didn't get any sleep, I had been in labor for over 20 hours, and there were suddenly so many people in my room prepping me for surgery. Boy, was I scared.

Needless to say, it was certainly odd being awake in an operating room and hearing all the machines, the people talking, being aware of the fact that my abdomen was wide open and that soon enough, my baby would be born. I could hear Cody next to me, but I was really busy concentrating on not shaking since I get the shakes when I'm nervous. Before I knew it, the time was 7:18 p.m. and I heard Cody tell me he's perfect! They brought him over to me so I could see him (through my cloudy vision since I didn't have my glasses on) and see for myself. He sounded great with his powerful screams. Man, was I happy! Then I think I fell asleep.

I don't know how much time passed when I woke up. I was in recovery by myself and was so tired. Cody came by to see me. At least I'm sure he did. I can't really remember. The nurse wheeled me to my suite. Cody was there getting us settled. That's when I was given my glasses and my baby boy.

He was so little. So precious. Mine. He knew just what to do. He started looking for food. Conner made our first bonding experience amazing when he latched on and began to eat.

I love this little boy!

Week 7

7 weeks old: This week we went on our first trip. Conner was so very good. He slept in the truck during the ride and didn't fuss when it was "past" his meal time. He got to meet his Great Grandma Edwards. He further confirmed just how easy-going and laid back he his. This is also the week that I packed up his newborn clothes. They were way too small for him! My baby boy is growing!

Week 6

6 Weeks Old: This week, Conner learned how to be a poo poo head! There were 2 days where he would be perfectly calm and then without warning, he would scream and be inconsolable. Usually he would give us about a minute of fussing before he would start to cry and then if we didn't respond correctly, he would scream (though that was rare)!

Conner's Log

I have this idea where I take a picture of Conner every week in the same place (in this case an infant to toddler chair) and write something significant from that week. I'm 5 weeks late, so I have to play catch-up in one post.

(a little out of order) 3 weeks old: Conner's personality started to show. He has some great expressions and we love to laugh at the little things he does. He also is very good at sleeping through car rides and meeting new people.

Birth Day! (12/7/09) He was supposed to be induced but instead decided to come on his own terms... right down to the 20 hours of labor to find out that I have small hips and he couldn't fit in the birth canal. C-section it was! He already melted mine and Cody's hearts when we saw him.
1 week old: He has a strong back and neck. He was already trying to hold his head up on his own. He attempted this mostly when he was trying to find the right spot on anyone to nurse. He looked like a drunken sailor (bobbing his head around) while making this attempt!
2 weeks old: This is Cody's favorite picture because he looks so happy! This week he lost his umbilical stump! He now has a very cute innie.

4 weeks old: Our boy likes to yawn and fight sleep. He also likes to make his daddy change his diaper 3 times in a row during the same diaper change. We have since figured out his expressions for needing to poo. This week he started to blow bubbles.
5 weeks old: He has started to smile and play. We are enjoying his company a ton during this time. Look how big he's getting! I weighed myself and then I weighed the two of us together. He is between 10 and 11 pounds already! He also slept for 4 hours straight earlier this week which worried me, but the doctor said to consider ourselves lucky when he starts to do this. I have news for Doc, we already consider ourselves lucky!!

Snow!

Just one day until Conner's due date and I just thought I would document on here that it did, in fact, snow in Austin, TX! The sun is out and flurries are about. For a bit there, it was snowing hard enough to look like fog as I was driving home from lunch with Cody. It was so pretty!

C'mon out, Conner! I want you to experience this!

Pregnancy progress

Seriously ready to meet this baby, but he seems to be even more serious about staying in! He is still so active! I was sure earlier on in my pregnancy that he would be early because of his size. Well, the doctor did an estimate of how big he was at about 37 weeks and said that he was between 5 1/2 and 6 pounds. WHAT? I'm HUGE! So that's when I decided that he wasn't going to be early. He's never coming out. He's too comfy. He doesn't have to do anything but have fun rolling around, kicking, punching, spinning and tickling me!

Here I am, at 39 weeks, 3 days pregnant and I just had my 40 week check up. I've been dilated at about 1 cm for almost 4 weeks now and apparently my cervix is super soft. The softness is a good thing. The doc said she could hardly tell it was there. This softening is incredibly helpful for when the contractions start up. She says that once Conner's head starts to descend that it will help with the dilation. That was definitely reassuring!

Right now, all I can say is, "Come out, come out, come OUT!"

Many Thanks

Wow, what a trip this year has been so far! I have a ton to be thankful for and YOU are just one person that has made a contribution to my life, so thank you.

I have a 97% complete bedroom for Conner. I owe that 97% to Candace and Christina who thoughtfully came up with the idea that instead of throwing a baby shower for me in Dallas (originally scheduled for 2 weeks before my due date), that they would come to my house and prep Conner's room so that Cody and I could focus on other aspects of getting our house "assembled". I couldn't have asked for a nicer gesture!

The ladies put two coats of paint on the walls, hung up the curtain and moved the furniture in. They also made the crib bed and loaded up the changing table with it's necessities. I also got the hook up with some needed baby items. I can't forget that they also prepared some yummy foods for us to thaw and cook when we are too tired to make dinner after Conner is here. They rock!

Other peeps stopped by, too! It was really neat to see them and accept their help with the baby's laundry, hanging pictures and sterilizing bottles!

Cody and I are so very lucky. Thank you all!

Promised Pics: Castle View makeover

These are before/after pictures of our master bedroom and the front flower bed. I wish I had taken pics of them after they were staged because it looked so nice!

Promised Pics: Aerosmith Concert

Beautiful day in the DFW for an outdoor concert. We got great lawn seats in the shade with a view and easy access to the path that went to beer and bathrooms!

Steven Tyler did not fall off this stage!

My beautiful friends. I'm so so so glad they invited me to join them!

Hard to resist singing along to the songs (or chatting through the unfamiliar ones that were never released)!

I just thought this was a fun picture to take of the ladies and the stage.

Pictures

I need to post them. I promise I will.

What's going on 'round here?

Visiting with Grace and Daniel was such a relaxing trip and a great wind-down for what was going on at the time and what was about to happen.



The night before we left (Wednesday), we found out that the house we were purchasing in just over a week didn't get a high enough appraisal and that scared us because we thought the sellers wouldn't sell for less. What were we going to do? Where were we going to live? How were we going to work things out since we were going to be out of state for the next 5 days? What about the baby?? How were we going to come up with all this extra money that we would now have to apply to the house that we weren't planning for? We worked on answering these questions for the next 4 hours on empty stomachs and with tear filled eyes. Our new home was suddenly out of our grasp unless we figured something out quickly. We finally decided to head home so we could eat and finish packing for the trip. It would work out, we were sure of it.



The next morning, we woke up at 6am, about 30 minutes AFTER we were supposed to be at the airport, finding a parking spot. We were up and out the door in 15 minutes and at the airport by 6:45. We barely missed the check-in time for our flight so we had to book another one. It ended up working out for us though. I called Grace to let her know about our flight "situation" and it meant that she was able to meet us at the airport with Daniel! Hooray! It was seriously good to see them! If you haven't been to visit those guys, DO IT!



Friday morning I missed a call from my mom. This is a huge deal to me because she rarely calls for any reason. At first I was upset that I missed her call, then upon hearing her message tell me that she was in Austin, I was even more upset. She also rarely comes to visit since she doesn't like to travel outside of her comfort zone. When I called her back, I apologized that I was out of town and that she should give me notice that she's coming so I can plan to be there. Unfortunately, she didn't have good news with this call. She informed my that my step-dad's dad passed away the previous morning. All kinds of guilt swelled up in me because I hadn't called him or stopped by to visit even though he and Grammie live just off Mopac and Bee Caves. She said there wasn't going to be a funeral or anything just yet, so I wasn't missing anything "important". I still wish that I had been there, though.

Grace, if you're reading this, sorry we didn't tell you about this while we were there. We didn't want to make the trip about all the crap that just unloaded on us! I hope you understand ;)

Ok, so we get back on Tuesday and all goes well the next day with the closing of our house on Castle View. I'm gonna miss that place but luckily it's only 4 minutes away and we'll get to easily show it to Conner! The purchase of our new house didn't happen when it was scheduled so Cody was called out of town and I got the priviledge of packing a ton of the remaining stuff and begin moving it to the new house that we are renting until we close. Fortunately, a family friend was able to help out some until the guys of Chi Phi and other heavy lifters were able to come out on Sunday when Cody got back. We are so thankful for their time and energy. We also owe them beer! It took until that Wednesday to get completely moved out of the old house (which we rented from the new owner so we could move) and now we get to focus on unpacking while Cody is in town! He has been called out several times, but that is the nature of his job in the spring and fall. Pregnant or not, it's not easy or fun when he's away.

Now, fun baby news! I just had my 34 week check up with the doc and my uterus is measuring at 34 cm. He's staying on track for his estimated due date of Dec. 5th. The other night, I was experiencing a strong Braxton Hicks contraction (a practice contraction) and I could see Conner's outline on my belly! I could practically hold him! That was so freakin' cool. He's still so little! This is my favorite part of the pregnancy!

Right now, that's news that is fit to print and all that I can remember at this point. ;)

10 weeks and 10 days

10 weeks until my due date! No, time has not flown by. I have been too busy to even think about prepping for his arrival, but after next week...

10 days until we officially sell our house and 2 days after that, we officially purchase our next one! But first, we get to visit Grace and Daniel in Virginia!! I've been looking forward to this trip for MONTHS and I can't believe it's actually happening this week.

We are crazy, yes, but we had to get this trip in while we could because I've never traveled on an airplane with a baby before and I thought it would be a nice getaway to see those guys.

To sum up: we're going on a trip, selling our house, buying a new house, moving and then thinking about setting up for Conner within the next 14 days!

I hope these stupid allergies don't get the best of me.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

So I had my 28 week check up with my OB on Friday. I drank the "fruit punch" glucose drink which was pretty gross but not unbearable (thank goodness). It has warnings on the bottle that says it may cause nausea, fainting and diarrhea. PERFECT! Just what a prego lady needs! I talked to the doc about the pelvis pains and she thinks that's just something I'm gonna have to deal with. Some women get kicked in the ribs, I get a baby sitting on my pelvis! Maybe this means when it's time for him to come, it will help me dilate faster? We'll see...

Also, included in this appointment was another doppler check to listen to Conner's heartbeat. He's sounds great! I haven't been worried about that at all because of all of his movements. I received my first Rhogam injection because I am Rh negative. I saw the tube of liquid that the nurse was going to inject into me and decided this was a shot that I didn't want to watch. Cody said the needle was quite big. It didn't hurt, but it did feel like I was being pinched and that the pincher wouldn't let go! Apparently the needle was big because after it was removed, some of the liquid dripped down my arm! It must have left a sizeable hole! When Conner is born, they'll check him for the Rh factor as well. If he's negative, then I won't have to have another shot. I'm hoping he won't be since I found out last weekend that being Rh neg runs in my family.

An hour after I finished my tasty drink, I had a CBC (blood draw) so they could check my glucose levels to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. They also just wanted to make sure that my other levels were fine (like iron). If I don't here from them on Monday, all will be well!

I started with the ugly with this post. The good news is with my weight. Since my last appointment, 3 weeks ago, I gained only 5 pounds! This is a big deal because I've gained a lot of weight each month for each weigh in. The bad news is that I gained 5 pounds. I'm only supposed to gain a pound per week from my last check up until I deliver. Hopefully I'll get on track, though I'm not exactly sure how.

Now I'm going to mention the cute! When I started this post, Conner was positioned on my right side, upper part of my belly. He then wiggled his way to the middle of my left side at about the point when I mentioned the blood draw. Then I mentioned the bad news and he moved over to the right side and now he's spread across my belly because it's moving on either side! This is such a trip!

Good morning, Conner!