connor is 3 months!

my sweet little baby you are 3 months old! definitely no pretending you are a newborn anymore :-( this past month has been loads of fun with lots of new discoveries! you've got great head control now and can turn your head easily to see what's going on. you also got to try out your bumbo seat just last week and you LOVE it. you love to watch parker play and see what he's up to. your smiles are contagious and your giggles are hilarious. you're still tyring to find your voice so sometimes when you giggle it's really quiet and then all of the sudden this loud noise escapes surprising you...it's hilarious. you've also started with a "boo boo lip" when you get sad or upset. i haven't been able to catch that on camera yet. you love to grab things, mainly my shirt and fingers when you're eating, but the other day you discovered your toes!

overall you are a happy baby, although you insist on protesting every nap now. you cannot go to sleep with out a good 5-10  minute cry these days. i used to try and rock you, but you still cried, so i've found it best to just put you down in your crib and let you get it all out! as much as you love your thumb, you haven't figured out how to use it instead of crying to calm you down before naps. you've gotten pretty good at finding your thumb and strategically placing it in your mouth, whereas last month you just couldn't seem to keep it in there. you are also back to spitting up a lot again. we go through quite a few outfit changes every day...luckily you are a "happy spitter", in fact you often spit up because you are laughing!

this past week you've started going to bed around 7:15pm like your brother which mommy LOVES!!! you still eat 6 times a day, but i have a feeling you'll be dropping one of those feedings soon. your day time naps are all over the place as with parker in preschool we are always on the go and luckily you happily come along THANK GOODNESS! you still love your big brother and whenever he's around he instantly brings a smile to your face. you love it when mommy reads to you and sings you songs and you also like to watch tv with daddy which mommy is not happy about :-) this morning i caught you intently watching ESPN!

connor you are so much fun to spend each day with, although between you and your brother i am worn out these days. but it is so worth every minute i get to spend with you! love you!!!


your milestone bear pic at 3 months.....

you've figured out how to use your legs to bring the ball to your hands so you can grab it!

working hard at that thumb!

you LOVE bathtime!

trying out your bumbo seat....

2 month and 2 year pics

ever since parker was a baby i took a picture of him in this chair next to the FAO Schwartz bear to see how he grew each month. now it's connor's turn!

here is connor at 2 months:

parker at 2 years and connor at 2 months:

and parker with the bear....as you can see he's now quite bigger than the bear :-)

connor's 2 month stats

connor had his two month check up monday and weighed in at 11 pounds 3 ounces and 24 inches long. he's in the 50% for weight and 90% for height! future bball player??? he also got a round of shots and screamed his little head off which i think is pretty funny. yes i felt bad because my baby was hurting BUT he hardly ever cries so it's just funny to me when screams like that! praise god that he's doing well and over the virus from last week!

connor is 2 months!

dear connor,

yesterday you turned 2 months old! where did my little newborn go??? each day, week, month that goes by at this point is so bittersweet. it's so exciting to see you grow and learn new things each day, but oh how i'll miss your squishy newborn skin, the sweet little cries and grunts you make and your complete dependence on me.......

this past month you've become quite the smiler! you smile all the time and try and "talk" to me. i can see you squealing with delight inside and soon enough you'll be squealing and laughing on the outside too. you are so cute when you entertain yourself in the pac n play playing with your hand or looking at your bears. you are such a sweet little thing. i often call you "sweetness" because you just are! you are a very content and happy baby. you just go with the flow....every once in a while if you are REALLY hungry, you prove to us that you've got quite a set of lungs, but those days are few and far between. some days your daddy and i try and remember if you cried at all the whole day! we just love you so very much and parker loves you too. it's amazing how much he shares everything with you from his toys and sippy cups to his most prized possession his blankie. you have really taken to parker as you always look toward his voice and smile when you see him. i pray that you two will be best friends. you are getting really good at holding your head up for long periods of time and you're doing great sleeping. you started sleeping through the night during week 7 going from 9:30pm to 7:15 am!!! last week you scared us all and caught some virus and fought a high fever for a few days. praise God that it wasn't anything serious like meningitis, but we were definitely worried as you were not yourself. luckily all you had was a fever and when that finally went away you were back to normal! we're also thankful that the reflux has toned down and we were able to stop your meds a week ago.

connor, we love you so very much and feel so blessed to have you in our family. we are so excited to grow with you and look forward to each and every day we spend together!

lots of love,
mom

beach vacation

obviously i'm still playing blog catch up since we've been back for several weeks now, but in early august close to when connor hit the one month mark we made our way to bethany beach DE for our annual beach trip. although the drive is long (even longer with a nursing newborn, terrential rain, and an accident shutting down the tunnel)it is well worth it. my parents have a gorgeous condo overlooking the sound and minutes from the beach. we love going there every year and this year was no exception. parker had a blast at the beach playing in his pool and in the sand, although he was afraid of the ocean. connor enjoyed sleeping in his tent and brandon and i enjoyed free help from my parents entertaining the munchkins! i took a ton of pics i'm still sorting through, but here a few for now:

parker's first day of preschool

today was parker's first day of preschool! he's going 3 mornings a week at a local church. his teachers miss rhonda and miss cindy are WONDERFUL! i already LOVE them! last week was technically the "first" day for the kids during parent orientation, but since parker woke up with a 102 degree fever that morning, he didn't get to go and meet his teachers, see his room, etc. SO today was officially his first day. we got him all dressed up and daddy spiked his hair, he carried his "pack pack" and off he went! i barely got a kiss goodbye as he found the trucks to be WAY more interesting than me. i managed to escaped without shedding a tear, although there were several times the past few days where i thought i was going to totally breakdown and ball my eyes out. connor and daddy came with us to the big event and as we were leaving, connor wouldn't stop smiling--i guess he knew he was about to get 100% of my attention for once!

when we got home the house was strangely quiet and even though there are many days i would kill for a quiet house, today it was kind of sad and lonely. i didn't really know what to do with myself, but connor helped out with that as he refused to nap........so much for mommy time! the next thing i knew it was 11:40 and off we went to pick up little man. when i got there parker wasn't waiting by the door looking for me, instead he had pulled out some toy and was trying to get the other kids to play with him. guess he wasn't too concerned about missing me :-) then when he finally realized i was there, he gave me a big smile and came running to me as my heart totally melted. i got a quick hug but then he was off again to look out the window that looks down into the gym. i went over to try and ask him how his day was and he went on and on about the basketball hoops, pointing out the "letter E!" and everything else in the gym. i guess that was his favorite part.

all in all, his teachers said he did great and i think he'll be excited to go back tomorrow. here are some pics documenting the big day.......enjoy!


some outdoor pics on the front porch since it was raining





connor along for the ride

not having any more pics at home

messin' around with daddy

not having any more pics during the car ride....

headin' to his room with his "pack pack"

checkin' out the gym

playing with trucks in his classroom

me trying to steal one more goodbye kiss

this week.....

this week was a little crazy. parker woke up wednesday morning with a 102 fever. normally i wouldn't be TOO concerned, but one of his "girlfriends" came down with hand foot and mouth disease earlier in the week and with tiny #2 i worried about the transmission of germs. the fever went away in 24 hours and now we are waiting to see the rash and/or sore pop up, but so far so good.

today we took parker to the allergist to get him tested again for the egg allergy. although unlikely, we are hoping PRAYING that he's outgrown the allergy. if he's still allergic to eggs then he won't be able to get both the flu and swin flu vaccines. again not good for him or my 7 week old. so please pray for favorable results next week!

connor's been his usual laid back self, getting lots of sleep time in. mommy is very thankful for this :-) the other night i finally moved him to his own room and crib. i have NO idea why i ever even stressed about this because he totally could have cared less and slept 7 hours that night! last night he did great again and slept 5 hours. not too bad for a 6 week old. i love this child!!! connor's still nonstop with his legs and this week he's learned to blow bubbles. i finally caved and stopped cramming his cute little buns into newborn diapers, so now we have moved on to size 1's (tear). i'm still in denial that i don't really have a newborn anymore :-( thank goodness we're not done, right b??? having a baby again you remember all of those little things you had loved so much but totally forgotten about with your first--the little squeaky noises, the arching the back stretches, trying to "talk" and of course all of those precious smiles. ahhhhh, i so love all of those moments.

no too much on the agenda this weekend besides starting our half marathon training program. i've ordered a double jogging stroller and i'm hoping it will be in within the next few days so we can get down to business with this training. b and i are also going to attempt a new recipe tonight for dinner, yes i'm still obsessing with the food network these days. not sure which one we'll choose just yet, but i'm looking forward to trying something new and spending some time with hubs.

have a great weekend y'all!

connor at 1 month

this post is a little delayed, but i wanted to have this for my own personal journal entry to document connor at 1 month.......

having connor in our lives is such a complete blessing! he is so sweet and precious and i just love him so much. crazy how much love you can have for both of your kids! now that we've got connor's reflux under control, he is a VERY happy baby! he likes to sleep (sometimes even 5 hours at night!) and he's also started smiling at us. he's very laid back and seems to be taking more after his daddy :-) at his 1 month appointment, he weighed 10 pounds 2 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. i'm pretty sure though that he is closer to 22 inches as the nurse quickly measured him and he wasn't completely straight. seriously, this boy has got some long legs and if he is awake, they are constantly moving! i have a feeling connor will be my bball player.

here he is "my sweetness" at one month:

see what i mean, laaaaaaid back........

go panthers!

update on yours truly

ahhhh, i'm so enjoying the peace and quiet right now! connor slept from 9:45 to 4:30 last night, so instead of going back to sleep at 5am this morning after his feeding, i decided to just get up and enjoy some much needed time to myself! i'm lovin' it! it's still dark out and i've got my cup of coffee....decaf unfortunately, but coffee nonetheless. i spent 30 minutes fully indulged in the AWESOME book i'm reading right now called "same kind of different as me". it is truly life changing, so go and get yourself a copy! and then of course i had to check my fb account and see what was going on with everyone since i last left them last night.

as much as i love my kiddos and being home with them, i do miss having some moments to myself, so i'll probably make this getting up early a habit as long as mr. connor continues to sleep well of course!

since most of my posts are usually about THE BOYS, here's some random things that are going on in my life right now, in case you're interested in what a stay at home mom with a newborn and a toddler has got on her agenda :-)

~yesterday i just signed up for MOPS this fall and am super-excited about it!

~since i spend a lot of time feeding the little one, there's limited things to do during those 15 minutes so i've started watching the food network and have been inspired to try some new recipes!

~i think b and i are going to attempt the charlotte half marathon in december, now i just need to find a good jogging stroller.

~on that note, i've really got to figure out a new exercise schedule. it's hard to work around so many schedules that are not your own!

~normally i hate for the summer to end, but this year for some reason, i'm looking forward to fall!

~i've got some new ideas/patterns i can't wait to work on when i find time to hit the sewing machine.....they are soooooo cute AND i even found some cute boy outfits too YAY!

~i'm attempting to help b out with his real estate business now that i am fully licensed. i'm actually excited about working a little bit and setting some goals for myself, plus b is really busy and could use the help!

enough about me for now......i'm off to get my second cup of coffee before the boys wake up!

p talk and the oh so fun terrible two's!

my sweet little boy has become quite the talker lately. he's saying more and more sentences each day and it's completely amazing at how he just picks up different language skills and concepts without being directly taught......namely the concept of "mine" :-) we have such a blast hearing parker point out different objects with such excitement (motorcycles and airplanes are the latest faves) and it's too cute the way he pronounces certain words. here are a few in his language which i call "p talk":

parcher--he started calling himself this for some reason at times and while we think it's hysterical, we try to avoid the urge to call him this ourselves as we're afraid it will stick!

ohpuss--octopus

pack pack--back pack

earplane--airplane

ont that--want that

luv lou--love you

my quack--my duck (he knows duck but likes to call them quacks!)

oohce cream--ice cream


that's just a few i can think of and here are a few favorite phrases right now:

"i do it"--totally mr. independent!

"i broke it"--every morning when we walk past the blinds at the top of the stairs, he tells us "i broke it" as he points to the broken blind. and yes, he did break it!

"big hug"--possibly my favorite as he gives GREAT big yummy hugs that melt my heart everytime!

and some of his cute "antics" as i'll call them:

opening his yogurt shake--this a an obsession of his, yogurt shakes. he has to have one almost every morning and EVERY morning this is our ritual.....he says "shake shake" so i go to the fridge to get one out and he informs me "i do it" (meaning HE has to open and shut the fridge door). i then have to give him the shake to "shake" and even though he knows he can't open it, he attempts first to twist the cap off with his hand and makes this grunting noise and then proceeds to put the bottle under his shirt to use his shirt to get a better grip and tries to twist it open, still making the grunting noise. then he hands it to me and says "help" so i open it and then it's back to "i do it" so i quickly give him back the shake. he then takes his straw and punches a hole in the foil. same procedure EVERY TIME.

imitating connor--the other day connor was crying and crying and parker was in his room supposed to be going down for his nap. sometimes after we put him down, he gets out of bed and lays by the door to his room (which is shut of course). this particular day, he decideds to imitate connor's cries to get our attention. i mean if it works for connor it must work for parker as well, right? parker's imitiation cries were hysterical and brandon and i could not stop laughing.

"the hand"--so parker's also decided to not hold back and clearly let us know what he likes and dislikes, wants and does not want. i mean, it's parker's world and everything revolves around parker, right? so as i'm driving the other day, probably to target since we go almost every day now, we're jammin' to "toddler dance favorites" in the minivan and since i've heard every song a million times, i started singing along and happen to look back at parker at the same time. next thing i know, he gives me "the hand" and starts saying "no, no mommy". guess he didn't like my version of toddler dance faves :-)

that's all for now--i can't believe i've had this much quiet time today to write to blog posts! i'm sure i'll be paying for it tonight though!

brothers

many of you have asked how parker is doing with "everything". first and foremost, parker LAHUUUUVs his baby brother. it is so neat to see parker interacting with connor and it really shows his sweet, sensitive side that i hope he never outgrows. ladies, he will definitely make a great husband one day! whenever connor cries, parker stops what he is doing and immediately runs to get a paci and gives it to connor. he will also share his toys with connor by putting them directly on his belly. it is way too stinkin' cute to describe and i totally should have taken a picture, but the other day connor must have had twenty toys on/around him in the pac n play! connor too definitely loves his big bro. he always seems to be so content when parker is around and stares at him intently watching his every move. i admit i was nervous to find out i was having another boy at first, but now as i see parker and connor together, i can tell they are going to be the best of buds and i love it!

connor reid

so on friday july 10th, my parents arrived to be "on call" to watch parker as we waited for the big day to arrive. little did i know that this timing would be PERFECT. my actual due date was july 18th, but when i saw the dr. on july 8th, i was 3cm and 50% effaced. going to be friday night, i felt a little crampy in my lower back, but didn't think too much of it since i had back pain my entire pregnancy. however when i woke up saturday morning at 5:15 for my 10+ trip to the bathroom, i noticed i was having some contractions. nothing too unusual because i had been having those since about week 24 as well. but as i got another one rather quickly after the first, i remembered that i usually didn't get braxton hicks first thing in the morning, plus these felt "different". i told brandon i was going to take a shower, just in case and he should just go back to bed. but then i changed my mind as yet another contraction started. i knew this was the real deal.....it may not happen today, but it would definitely be happening in the next 48 hours. so i showered and finished packing my bags as contractions came and went. i called my doctor and he said to come on in!

we arrived at the hospital around 7:45am. the nurse checked me and still 3cm 50%. boo. she said not to bring our bags in just yet. double boo. so then the wait began. i needed to be seen by my doctor in order to get admitted and get my IVs going. i wasn't on his list until after he made his rounds. my contractions luckily were still bearable. so as 9:15 approached and brandon's BIG appointment with the guy and his wife that conveniently came into LAST NIGHT just to meet with brandon to look at some lakefront property, i said sure go ahead and meet with him, just don't go too far until i know what's going on when i see the doctor. luckily his client was staying 5 minutes from the hospital at the Westin.

as luck would have it, right after brandon leaves and i'm alone in the hospital room, my contractions go from ok to crazy painful! i call the nurse as i'm fighting back tears to see if we could get the epidural ordered, but she can't do that until i get my IVs going and she can't do that until i get admitted by the doctor! so for the next hour and a half or so as i waited for my doctor to finish his rounds and confirm i was really in labor, i fought off some crazy contractions with NO DRUGS. funny enough, i actually thought to myself that hey even with no epidural, i can do this and i still want more children!

i have no idea what time it was when the doctor finally showed up in my room, but i couldn't tell you how happy i was to see him. thankfully he confirmed that yes, i was indeed in labor and ordered my epidural. thankfully the anesthesiologist showed up rather quickly. i feel like CMC does a great job sending in their aneshesiologists right away as with both labors they always showed up right away. the epidural took a little manipulating as it didn't take to my left side the first time around--apparently this is common if you've had an epidural before. but once it was worked out, i was happy as can be. love me some epidurals! again, i thought, yeah, i can do this with baby #3 :-)

my labor progressed just like the text book says, water broke on its own and next thing i knew it was 3:00pm and i attempted "trying" pushing. apparently i push pretty well because after just 9 minutes out pops connor! what a blessing he is and we are so thankful to have another beautiful healthy baby! thank you Lord!

here are some pics we took of the day.......


me...this must have been AFTER the epidural :-)

excited big brother!

sweet baby connor!




mommy and baby connor.........




excited big brother and daddy!

so much to catch up on, sooooooo little time......

ummm ok, so i have no idea where to even begin. quick recap with more detailed blog posts to come to get up to speed:

first, i am happy to report that i am no longer preggers :-) connor reid made his appearance at 39 weeks exactly on July 11 and we've been super busy ever since!

the beloved "boot" is gone

we just got back from a great family vacation at Bethany Beach

my house is a mess, i have no idea exactly when we'll actually get unpacked, and i'm exhausted trying to do it all, BUT i love my life!

and baby is now crying so i've got to run, but i promise, more detailed blog posts to come with lots of great pics and just a warning, they'll probably all come at once and you'll be so sick and tired of hearing about me and my crazy life!

my life at 38 1/2 weeks

pool with parker. lunch. nap time. dinner. tv. ice cream. bedtime.

i'm making the most of these last few days!!!!

forgot my favorite pic from the 4th!