Road Trip!!!

Mom, Dad & Connor as we prepare to leave for our first road trip.

Mom did most of the driving . . .

Dad rode shotgun part of the time . . .

Krissy & Wes - our gracious hosts

Kevin & I at the Farmer's Market in Charleston, SC

Buddy & Chloe went to stay with Monica's Grandma.

Connor just chillin' before we leave for the trip.

Are we there yet??

Aunt Krissy & Connor - he loves to check out your hands!

Aunt Krissy, Uncle Wes & Connor had a great time together.

Uncle Wes and Connor having fun.

Cousin Calvin got a pony ride while Dad, Brian, walked with him.

Cousin Kayliegh also had a pony ride. Doesn't it look like fun???

Aunt Krissy, Cousin Calvin and his Mom, Karen (Kevin's cousin).

Kayleigh taking care of Connor - she has great maternal instincts!!

Aunt Krissy and Connor, hanging out.

Blitzen - Aunt Krissy and Uncle Wes's dog.

LENNY!! Krissy & Wes were dogsitting him for some friends.

On the left is Sandy and the right is Cubby - Karen, Brian, Kayleigh & Calvin's dogs.

Connor loves to play with this apple (and put it in his mouth of course) while in the Bumbo.

Cousin Kayleigh hanging out with Connor in the bumbo chair.

Kevin with Kayleigh - isn't she just so sweet??

Me & Calvin and Kayleigh & Connor watching TV.

Well, we took our very first road trip with Connor. We went down to Charleston, SC to visit Kevin's sister Krissy and her husband Wes for the weekend. It could not have gone better! Connor was great on the car ride there and back (about a four hour drive). We did have to stop to feed him once on the way there and once on the way back, but he happily got back into his car seat and on we went. We had a great time visiting with Krissy and Wes and also with Kevin's cousin Karen and her family - Brian (husband), Kayleigh (their 4 year old daughter) and Calvin (their 2 year old son). They are so adorable - as you can see from the pictures!

Thanks to Krissy and Wes for inviting us and to Karen and Brian for having us over for a cookout. We had a great time and can't wait to see all of you again soon!

Other than our road trip, not much else going on here. We're just enjoying watching Connor grow. It is so exciting to see him develop! The other night we heard him on the baby monitor in the middle of the night and Kevin went to check on him & he was trying his best to roll from his back to his tummy and was trying to grab onto the bumper of the crib to help him roll over. We're not ready for that quite yet! He sleeps in a sleep positioner which is supposed to help keep him from rolling over, but this little guy uses his feet to scoot himself further up in the crib towards the uppermost corner - and out of that positioner! He can roll from his tummy to his back pretty easily (when he wants to) but not yet from his back to his tummy.

He has also really taken to holding his toys or if you lay him on his tummy, he now reaches out with his hands to grab something in front of him. He holds on to everything now - your shirt, hair, ear - whatever he can find. We went to AC Moore yesterday to pick up some stuff and he was in the Baby Bjorn - facing outwards and when I went to pay you use those little pens at the credit card machine to enter your PIN number and he grabbed the pen! That caused me to enter too many numbers for the PIN and we had to try again. He's so much fun!!

He is also babbling away. I think he likes to hear the sound of his own voice! He just goes ahhhhhh ahhhhhh ahhhhhh ahhhhhh A WHOLE LOT now. He wasn't much of a coo-er so we are surprised he is doing all this noise making. :)

The therapist said that from about 4 to 8 months it is like something new happens every week and I think she is right. We'll get some more pics and videos up soon to show any other new developments he has made. Hope everyone has a great week!

Slow Down! You are growing way too fast . . .

Connor and Chloe

Enjoying a spring afternoon on the back porch

Yet another new toy for me to play with

Mmmmmmm . . . Rice Cereal!

Mommy feeding me rice cereal

Me & Mommy swinging - one of our favorite things to do!

Farmer in the dell, the Farmer in the dell . . .

Mommy's little pets - you can see three in this pic

The Lone Deer - she always comes first & then the others follow

Sleeping Beauty - in his own room!

Really guys? Not another picture!

I love to stand, so this is becoming a favorite play thing

Baby Connor's First Rice Cereal Feeding

It has been an exciting month of changes for Connor! We had our 4 month well visit and Connor is in the 75 percentile for height, weight and head circumference. He is now 25 and a half inches long and weighs 15 pounds 9 ounces. He is a our little chub-a-lub. The doctor said he was doing fabulous and seemed to be a very easy going baby. We'd have to agree, of course!

She also gave the green light on trying rice cereal. We've attached a video of his first feeding. Hope you guys enjoy it. We also changed his feeding from 6 fize ounce bottle feedings to 5 six ounce bottle feedings. Either way he gets 30 ounces a day, but now he gets it in five feedings instead of six. We also moved him to his crib! He's been sleeping in his own room now for about a week and he's doing great! His only problem is that he is a back scooter! We get up in the morning to find he has pushed himself into the uppermost corner of the crib! He's a little rascal this one. One other change is that we now no longer wake him at 5am for a feeding. We let him sleep. New sleeping times are from about 10pm to 7am! What a good sleeper!!

We also saw the therapist last week and she also had good news. His torticollis is pretty much non-existant now and we're just working on strengthing his neck with some new excercises. She'll continue to meet with us every so often just to make sure it doesn't come back when he starts new phases like crawling, walking, etc.

Other than that, we're just hanging in here, keeping things pretty low key. We went & saw AJ's new place this weekend. For those of you who don't know, AJ is Aunt Jennifer. She just closed on her place in Durham. CONGRATS JENN!! This coming weekend we're taking our first road trip to Charleston to see Aunt Krissy and Uncle Wes and we're also going to visit Kevin's cousin Karen and her family while we are there. Pictures of that coming soon!

Also in good news - we got Mommy her very own camera! Now we don't have to wait so long to post things!

Hope everyone is doing well. More to come after our adventure next weekend!!

Connor's Got a New Toy!

Connor's New Toy Video

Connor Playing in Playland

Connor has a new toy! Aunt Kathy loaned us her bouncy station and Connor just loves it! The physical therapist recommended this as his next big toy so that it will help his neck stay strong and upright. He is doing really well with therapy, by the way. We don't go back for another three weeks, but she did add some new exercises to the routine so that we can get him up and going. This video clip shows that happening! He looks like he is running in this thing. So funny. Kevin was in tears he was laughing so hard!

Mommy also got Connor some hand puppets as he seems to really like those. He especially loves his Cookie Monster one. He just grins so big when I use that to entertain him. He is at a really fun stage now. Each stage is so amazing. Hard to believe he is already almost four months old. We'll let ya'll know how the check up goes on Tuesday. He sure is chunking up!!

Connor is also really starting to hold on to his toys and bring them to his mouth! I don't know how this stuff happens overnight, but it seems like it does. Friday night he also rolled over completely - from his back to his tummy four times! So much is happening all at once! My little boy is growing up . . .

Today is also my first Mother's day and while it is bittersweet day for me, I have to say again that I love being a Mom. There is nothing like it. I think a Mother's love is like no other. It is very powerful and magical. To know that I was once loved like this really brings it home to me. I miss my Mom and wish she was here today to see Connor, but I know she is watching over us from up above. I wish all of you that are mothers a Happy Mother's Day.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Have I mentioned lately how much Kevin & I love being parents?? It's just so exciting to see all of Connor's new developments and just know that we made this handsome little tyke! He's really growing so fast. Martha even said to us about a week ago, "I don't know what happened over the weekend, but it's like he's grown!" His little legs are just as fat and adorable as they can be! And he is getting to be so long. We go for his 4 month check up and the dreaded shots next Tuesday (on his birthday) and I can't wait to see how much he's grown height and weight wise in the past two months.

Connor is also starting to realize that he can do things with his hands. He was at Martha's last week sometime and she said he grabbed a hold of the napkin she was holding and was just looking at it like "I did that??". He's starting to touch his toys more and even trying to hold the bottle a little. He's also starting to roll just a little bit. He's rolled several times already, purely by accident, but now he's laying on his side, almost turning over.

We bought a Baby Einstein movie over the weekend and played it for him Sunday night. We figured if we laid him on his tummy and positioned him to see the TV, he might stay for more than his usual 10-15 minutes. He stayed the entire half hour! And he was just a smilin' and talkin' to the TV. So funny to watch. I included a video for you guys to see of it. Enjoy!

This week Mommy has a physical and then we have physical therapy on Thursday. Daddy is heading to Nashville for the weekend to see Uncle Tim (his twin) graduate from Vanderbuilt with his MBA. Congratulations, Uncle Tim! We are all so very proud of you!

We also worked it out with Martha to keep Connor full time for all of July & August. He will officially start school on Monday August 24th. I better stock up in Kleenex. Just the thought of it makes me want to cry! It's good for him & I know he'll benefit from it, but still - it's my little boy! :(

Hope everyone has a good week. Hopefully I will have some pictures for you soon.

Three Month Pictures

Oh no!

Family Picture

What you talkin' 'bout Willis?

Chillin'

This is as close to smiling as we got.

Just being his sweet 'ole self.

How many chins do I have??

It's been a busy week for us, as is becoming customary! We went to see the physical therapist on Thursday. Again, she said that Connor is making excellent progress & to keep up the good work. Since he hasn't changed that much (that heavy 'ole head is still bobbing around), we won't go back for three weeks. Hopefully by then he will be supporting his head really well and she will be adding new excercises to our routine.

Friday we went to Chapel Hill to see Kevin's parents, grandparents and sisters. It was Connor's first meeting with his great grandparents (Kevin's maternal grandparents) and his second visit with Aunt Krissy. We are planning a trip to Charleston in late May to see Krissy and Wes and also Kevin's cousin Karen and her family. Should be lots of fun!

Saturday we took Connor to get his 3 month pictures taken. I have attached a few for you guys to see. He was not in much of a smiling mood, but with all those flashes going on, I don't think I would be either! It was lots of fun though and we plan to do it again at 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months. After that it will just be a yearly thing.

Yesterday we had Grandma's 81st birthday party (Monica's maternal grandmother). It was a surprise party and most everyone made it. Grandma was VERY surprised! The look on her face was priceless! I think everyone had a good time and the food was great.

Not much going on this week. Connor and I may meet up with Karen & Chase Thursday for lunch. Other than that, we are going to rest and recover from our busy busy weekend! Hope everyone has a good week!

Growing up fast . . .

This is my hat to wear to the pool. Looks like I am going on a safari!

Yes, yes. I see what you are saying Mr. Star.

Hi Mom! Hi Dad!

Awwwww! Sweet Sweet Baby Boy!

My 'laughing' face.

Aunt Rebekah, Aunt Angela, Mommy & me on Easter.

Mug Shot. Enough said.

Another day in tummy time land.

Up close and personal. I think I might have Mom's eyes!

Oh, geez!!!

Cousin Jordan, Dad, Mom and me on Easter.

Cousin Caleb, Dad, Mom and me on Easter.

Dad, Mom and me in my ears.

Why do they do this to me???

Basking in the sun . . .

Connor had his first PT appointment a couple weeks ago and the therapist said that he has a very mild case of torticollis. His neck is not in bad shape at all - just that gravity is taking effect and pulling his head down (all those brains weigh alot!). She gave us several excercises to try at home. Mom spends about 45 minutes working with Connor about 4-5 times a day with Dad filling in some on the weekends. Martha also works with him on the days she has him. When we went for our second appointment, the therapist could already see an improvement and said we are doing all the right things. We have our next appointment this Thursday to see how things are still going. Martha is able to see some improvement as well. When Connor does tummy time, he is starting to lift his head up and look around at some toys we bought to visually stimulate him. He is growing so fast!

We haven't done a whole lot out of the ordinary lately. We met Karen and little Chase for lunch last week and got our picture taken with the Easter bunny. Saturday we went to Shelby's birthday party (who turned 2 this year) and Sunday we went to Uncle John's and Aunt Sarah's for Easter. Lots of good times. Maw-Maw is turning 81 in a couple weeks, so we are having a surprise birthday party for her this weekend, so it will be a busy week for us. Aunt Krissy and Connor's great grandparents are also coming into town this weekend, so we'll be seeing them as well.

Today we are going for professional photos of Connor since he is 3 months old. If they have a soft copy, I will get them and post them on here. If not, look for your copy via mail.

Hope everyone has a good week. More to come soon!