First Haircut!

What the heck is this? What does she think she is going to do to me?

Yikes!

Well, now, I have something to play with so this isn't so bad.

Snip snip here and snip snip there . . .

Ooooohhhh - WOW.............

I can probably put this in my mouth . . .

All done! Emily, Daddy and Connor




Wow - October has been an incredibly busy month! We've had such non stop events that I have not had any time to update the blog. So much is going on . . .

Most importantly, Kevin & I have made the decision to put Connor in a helmet. Connor has torticollis (or did have rather) which really equates to having a stiff neck in adults. Due to this, Connor liked to lay his head to the right when sleeping (and not to the left), so his head flattened some in the back. We worked extensively trying to get him to turn to the left and we have done an excellent job - his range of motion is pretty much normal now. However, despite how hard we worked to keep him off the flat spot so that his head could round out more in the back, the plastic surgeon recommended that we go ahead and do the helmet so that we have 100% certainly that it will round out. It may round out more on its own over the next three months, but it may not. Better safe than sorry. So on Monday (the 26th), we will go to pick up the helmet from UNC and start wearing it. Personally, I think he will be just adorable in it!

In other news, Connor has also started a new classroom at school. The ages used to be 6 weeks up to 12 months and then 12-24 months. To help keep the children closer in respect to gross motor skill development, they have now changed it up to be 6 weeks to 9 months, 9 to 15 months and 16 to 24 months. Connor has two new teachers - Mrs. Melinda and Mrs. Sarah. He has done really well transitioning into the new class. They try to get the kids to all snack and nap at the same time - which is a small adjustment for Connor. He can adapt very well to new schedules! He really has blossomed since entering the new classroom. We now are crawling on all fours (previously was the commando style), pulling up to standing, enjoy walking while holding his hands, becoming much more vocal, and he has started new foods! We're now on stage 3 Gerber's - a little chunkier and the introduction of meat. He is also eating finger foods - Cheerios, Gerber Puffs, Animal Crackers, mashed up bananas and noodles, etc. He is LOVING the new food. And he drinks his water out of his own little sippy cup - so cute! Dinner has now gone to a 35 minute or so affair - which is good. He can munch on his finger snacks while we eat and then one of us feeds him the jar food while the other does the dishes. Works out well.

He still has just his bottom two teeth - no top ones yet. Developmentally he is right where he should be, according to his pediatrician at his 9 month check up. He also had a seasonal flu shot, so that should keep him healthy. To be honest, I am a little surprised that he has only had one major sickness since birth and that was shortly after starting school. He has the occassional cough or runny nose, but to be formula fed - this kids is pretty healthy! So are his parents, so that is not really a surprise . . . .

We go this weekend for our 9 month pictures. I'll try to post those next week. Oh yes - and the haircut! He did SO well with it. Emily, who is our good friend and stylist, trimmed Connor's hair up for me around the ears. I know everyone loves his hair long - it's getting some of Mommy's curls - but truly - the kid needed a haircut. Mommy knows best! It had just gotten way too long over the ears. Emily did a great job, as usual.

In other news, Uncle John got married last weekend (17th) to Sarah. What a beautiful wedding - and bride! We couldn't be happier for them. We also have about 6 birthdays in October, so we're busy with parties. Next week is Halloween & Connor was going to be a lobster but since he will now have the helmet, I think we're going to switch it up to be a football player or something like that. He has a parade at school next Friday where they get to wear their costumes, so I will post some pictures of that as well. Our little boy is growing so fast!

That's about all for now. More to come soon. Enjoy the cool, crisp, fall weather. It is my favorite time of the year!

Laurel is here!

Baby Laurel sucking her thumb. That's Aunt Kathy behind her.

The Evans Family - from L to R - Laurel, Michael, Noah & Martha

Michael & Laurel just coming in from their 18 hour plane ride!

Noah while he was waiting for his Da Dat to come home.

As many of you know, my cousin Michael and his wife Martha (who kept Connor until he was able to go to preschool) have been in the process of adopting a little girl from the Ukraine. On Saturday September 19th - after almost six weeks of traveling - Michael and Laurel finally arrived back home in the US! Everyone is doing well and settling in just fine. I know this was a long journey for both Michael & Martha and very difficult to leave their son, Noah, behind while traveling to the Ukraine to get everything in order. We are glad that the process is behind them and that they can now enjoy their new daughter.

Congratulations, guys! We are so very happy and excited for you! We lovingly welcome Laurel to the family and can't wait to get to know her better!

Lots of Updates

Uncle Tim & Connor

Aunt Rebekah & Connor

My first wound! You wouldn't believe me if I told you how this one happened!


See the skinned nose? Accident #2 last week. Connor did a face plant on the playground at school. Oh yes - those are prunes he's eating and yes, Daddy was feeding him.

Ahhhh - it's bath time!

Rubber ducky you're the one . . .

Huh? What's that?

Jailbird. :) He actually really enjoys playing in here at dinner time.

This was Connor while we were singing Happy Birthday to him yesterday.

You want some of this???

Just wouldn't be a post without a pic of my other family . . .

Big poppa and two of the little ones.

Wow - lots has happened since our last post.

In good news - Connor has his two bottom teeth! They are so adorable. Of course, he doesn't like to open his mouth and show them to you, so the only time we can see them really well is at night when he falls asleep. I then get out the little flashlight and open his mouth so we can look at them. Soooo cute!

Our little boy is also crawling! He does a really good job of the army crawl and the teachers at school say he is keeping up with the older kids. I'd say he started the crawling about a week or so ago - around seven and a half months. And let me just say - this is a whole new change for us. Now that he is mobile, he is in to everything. You can't just sit and watch him any longer - you're trying to get ahead of him, anticipating what he might reach for next. It's tiring, but so much fun. I did try to upload a video of this but it just will not upload! Sorry!!

On a note so good note - poor Connor had his very first illness last week. Silver lining - at least he was 7 and a half months before he ever really caught his first cold. On the not so bright side, it was a viral infection that lasted several days (that he passed on to Mom) that turned into a double ear infection! We went to the doctor three times last week and I am confident they knew I was a first time Mom. I didn't know what to do with a sick child! At least we will know what to do should he get sick in the future.

My grandmother used to say that when we were sick, she'd stay up with us all night. And even now, at the ripe 'ole age of 31, she still will call me several times a day if I am sick to see how I am feeling. I never quite understood that. Until now. Amazing what experiencing this on your own can do for you. Kevin and I make quite a good pair as far as this is concerned because I panic over everything where sickness is concerned and Kevin is very nonchalant about sickness. Brings us to a good medium.

But to make matters worse last week - not only was Connor sick, they also gave him a flu shot, he was teething with that second bottom tooth and he had his first couple of accidents and wounds last week too. My poor little boy!

In other news - Martha is back home!! YAY!! Michael (my cousin) is still over in the Ukraine finalizing the adoption of their little girl. He and Laurel are expected home next Saturday. Please pray for a quick and safe trip home for him and Laurel and that she will adjust nicely to this change in her life.

School is going well for Connor and he has adjusted well. I do think that he was a little overstimulated at first because he would wake quite often in the night and you'd have to go in to comfort him and get him back to sleep (Dad's job for the most part). Once he had been in school a couple weeks though, this went down to maybe once or twice a night - just having to give him his pacy back.

Mom & Dad went to Uncle John and soon to be Aunt Sarah's couples shower a couple of weekends ago, which was alot of fun. Aunt Rebekah kept Connor for a few hours while we did that. We also got to see Aunt Krissy and Uncle Wes as well as Uncle Tim that weekend too since they were visiting from out of town.

Speaking of family . . . Kevin's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim have just moved here from the DC area. Kevin's grandparents moved here from the DC area this weekend also. Ironically, Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim have not visited our house before, but their realtor took them to look at a house on our street - not knowing that is where we lived! Small world. They ended up choosing another house though, but we would have been happy to have them as neighbors!!

Cousin Jordan and Cousin Caleb are now playing football. They are practicing now, but should have their first games in a couple weeks. We'll try to make it and get some pics to post on here.

I think that is all that has been going on lately, but there could be some things I missed. Its late at night (since I don't have alot of free time to update the blog) so if I forgot to mention something, family, I'm sorry!

Hope everyone has a great week. More to come soon. And Happy 8 Months to our darling baby boy!

First Week at School

Connor and Miss Yelena, his teacher from Russia (don't you love this new thing he is doing with tucking his lip??)

This is what Connor was doing when Mommy picked him up yesterday.

Ugh! They caught me chewing on my toys again.

OK, OK, I surrender!

I mean, really?? (Doesn't this sound & look like Aunt Rebekah?)

Daddy thought it would be cute to show my rump-a-licious hiney.

So happy watching my Baby Einstein vidoes.

Aunt Rebekah & Uncle Ryan (Mommy's youngest sister and husband).

Grandma, Uncle Brian and Aunt Angela (Mommy's oldest sister & her husband and my granny).

I know, I know! This is hilarious! Uncle Brian thought it would be nice to play with Ma's hair piece and she did not know she looked like this until after I took the picture. She may kill me for putting this on here, but I can't resist.

Connor, in swim gear, taking a nap on the way to the beach.

Mommy, Daddy and Me (I am not one of those women who look good with wind blown hair!)

Walking on the beach - that's Cousin Jordan way in the background by the water.

Little Baby Deer and Momma Deer eating dinner.

And, I got a good pic of my 4 pointer buck. This is about as close as they will let me get to them.

So, Connor started school!!! YAY! His first day was Monday of this week and Kevin and I both were there to see him off for his first day. Yeah, I admit, I cried a little bit once I got back outside to the car. But, I realize that it is just so beneficial for him and that erases some of the sadness. They do grow up very quickly. We just hit 7 months this week and I just can't get over the fact that 7 months ago I was 28 lbs heavier and carrying around an almost 8 lb baby inside of me. Crazy.

Connor wasn't supposed to go to school for another week or so, but my cousin Michael and his wife Martha (who kept Connor since he was 2 months old) got the approval for their adoption last Monday and had to fly out the following Monday! They are in the Ukraine now and hope to bring their daughter, Laurel, back with them when they return at the end of this month. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they travel and meet their new little girl.

Connor does enjoy school quite a bit - I think he likes seeing the other babies - but he sure does miss his Martha! He saw her before she left and he just grins so big when he sees her. I know it was just as hard for her and little Noah as it was for us and Connor to make this change, but it was time for it and it has worked out great for all of us. Martha and Mike - thank you again so much for all that you have done for us over the past six months. You were a great blessing to us and we are just so grateful that you were so willing to help us in our time of need.

Connor has two teacher - Miss Yelena, from Russia, and Miss Essence, who lives right in Raleigh. He seems to love both of them and enjoys playing with the other kids. He is smiling so much these days - his little personality is just shining through. His teachers say he has done great this week - no fussiness or anything. He is a very laid back baby and just as content as can be. He has enjoyed story time, music time and water play time! They play with buckets of water outside in their swim suits and Connor almost dunked himself with the bucket of water he is so strong. Miss Yelena calls him chubby white haired boy, which gives Daddy a good laugh. The school will send us pics from time to time and I will try to post those on here as well. Daddy will be the one to take Connor and pick him up, so it makes it a little easier on Mommy!

I also included some pictures from when we went to the beach with my family a couple weeks ago. We didn't stay in the sun too much, but Connor really enjoyed walking on the beach in the evenings. It was nice, cool, breezy weather - so that was nice. He did good on the car ride, too. I'm telling you - he is a trooper! He handles all kinds of changes so good.

Speaking of change . . . we're changing his feeding and sleeping schedule! I do this every so often to accommodate his age. So, at six months we decided that we would like to try taking him off of his acid reflux medicine, so we did and he is doing great without it. I think he has outgrown that issue. For those of you who don't know, babies with acid reflux have to be held upright for at least 25 mins after eating before you can put them down to nap. So for six months, Connor got used to be held and then put down to sleep. We had to teach him how to put himself to bed at night. And it took some time over several nights (one night until midnight) to get him to learn to put himself to bed and now he does it without any problem. It was hard to live thru that, but it is worth it now! He goes to bed at 9pm and sleeps til 7am. :)

He's also sitting up really good by himself now. He doesn't need much support at all. Rolling both ways of course and no teeth yet, though I can feel them through his gums. Any time now they'll be pushing on through. I can also feel the top ones too, so they won't be far behind the bottom two.

Other than that, not much else going on here. Some of Daddy's family - Uncle Tim, Aunt Krissy and Uncle Wes - are coming into town for the weekend. Uncle John and soon to be Aunt Sarah are having a bridal shower this weekend, so we'll be hanging out in Chapel Hill this weekend. We'll be sure to take lots of pics to post on the site!

Hope everyone has a great week!

The Happy Days of Summer . . .

Awww - isn't our happy little boy so sweet??

As you can tell, like Father, like Son. I think we have us another appraiser here, folks!

Dad & Connor celebrating 4th of July. Connor LOVED the fireworks display!

Well, now, let's see how we like the pool . . .

Hmmm. This is MUCH colder than the water at home, Mom.

One step, two steps, three steps, four!

Me & Dad at the pool. Getting a little fussy cause it's eating time and I LOVE to eat!

This is one of my faves! Connor on the carousel at Pullen Park.

Celebrating my six month Birthday at the park.

BIG kisses from Momma!

Oh all right, I'll give you a half smile . . .

Connor LOVES to go out in his Baby Bjorn. Bad for my back, but worth it for him!

Giddy Up Horsey! Giddy Up!

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but we're enjoying the days of summer. You have to be really careful how long you're out with Connor though - he does have the tendancy to get heat rash on his tummy and back. I do believe this is one hot natured kid. He's wore me down into sleeping in just a onesie and some socks. NOTHING ELSE! I really think he needs something on those fat little legs of his, but hey, whatever makes him happy!

Connor has done some serious developing in the past week to week and a half. Martha says that when I went back to work FT Connor was in a little bit of a funk there, but is now in a groove again. He's so much more alert and interactive all of a sudden. It's great to watch his eyes light up at a toy and he's starting banging on a couple of them. He's also rolling really well - both ways - tummy to back and back to tummy. He does really good supported sitting (you just gotta sit behind him so he doesn't fall backwards). He's still making lots of noise! Matter of fact, Kevin took him to Starbucks last week with him and he started doing his 'Ahhhhhhh' thing which sounds like high pitched squeling to me. But, this elderly man said to Kevin, "Well, I don't think I've heard anything quite like that before. It sounds like he is singing" - and he is so right! It's hilarious and Kevin & I just want him to keep making noise - so no pacy unless it is sleep time or unless he is fussy. The more noise, the better (for now anyways!).

Connor loved the fireworks we took him to see for the 4th. He was in just awe over the colors and the noise of it all. Was not scared a bit. We got off schedule, but it is OK. Come to think of it, since that time he has started to get seperation anxiety in his sleep I think. He's now certain that if he cries in the night, Mommy and Daddy will come running. Usually it is Daddy (I figure it is his turn to take care of him!) but . . . we're been advised it is best to let him cry it out. The docs and the physical therapist both agree. Might take a week, but we're gonna work on that. It's not so much that he awakens, its more like he whines a little and just wants you to put your hand on him and he goes right back to sleep. Takes 4 to 5 minutes usually and happens 2 to 3 times a night.

He's also started eating fruits! YAY! So far, bananas and applesauce and no allergies yet (for veggies either). We'll be changing his feeding schedule next week so that Martha feeds him in the AM and I'll feed him in the PM and he'll still get 4 bottles (instead of the current 5). Will let you know how that goes.

Uncle Tim came all the way from Nashville this past weekend to see Connor. It was so good to see him and visit with him. I wish we had taken some pictures so I could post them, but you get so caught up in visiting that you forget about the pictures. Sorry about that Uncle Tim. We promise to take lots when you come home next month for John & Sarah's shower so we can post them to the blog.

Not much else going on. Hard to believe that July is almost gone and fall will be approaching soon. And then CHRISTMAS! Very excited about that of course. We are also taking our second road trip this weekend - back to South Carolina again - this time to Myrtle Beach. It will be Connor's first experience by the ocean and luckily, he can now wear sunblock (which he will be COVERED in). We're going with Aunt Angela and Uncle Brian, Aunt Rebekah & Uncle Ryan, cousins Jordan and Caleb and of course, Ma (my grandmother). I am VERY excited to be taking a vacation with my family as it has been ages since we've done that. I only wish my other little babies Buddy and Chloe could come with us. That's OK. Maybe we can take a family trip to the mountains soon . . . Mommy, Daddy, Connor, Buddy and Chloe. Sounds like fun to me!

Oh and one last note - no teeth yet, but he is definitely teething. As soon as those joker pop through, pictures for all of you! Also, we got six month pictures taken this week so family members near and far - you'll be getting your copies soon!

Have a good week!

HAPPY SIX MONTHS, CONNOR!!

Happy half a birthday to our baby boy Connor! We can't believe how fast you are growing right before our very eyes. We couldn't be more proud of you, son. We love you very much!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy