Connors 1st Birthday Party

I would have posted this sooner, but sorting through the over 400 phots to narrow them down to a "blog-able" amount has been a challenge :-) But I think I've picked the best ones that show what the weekend was all about :-)

We celebrated the big milestone with both sides of the family (Connors Grandparents and Uncles) and his honorary Auntie Suzanne and her family. There was swinging (bundled up of course) ipad playing, dancing (Connor and Kalia, and the parents who were encouraging it), vrooomm vrooommming with cars, trucks, tractors etc. and of course the birthday festivities... cake, food, gifts :-) It was a great weekend spent with lots of great folks (someone gave me a hard time for saying "folks" the other day.. said I sounded old and country...o well :-)

Here are some of the pictures from the weekend and before the actual "party":

Connor took 4 steps the night before his birthday party, we didn't get it on video.. and actually haven't yet :-/ (I better get on that) but this is a picture we took the next day of him taking a few more..

 

Connor and Kalia hanging out... "sharing" toys.. We got a kick out of this scene: Kalia driving, Connor kept trying to touch her, or take the toy either way... she'd push his hand away and glare at him.. this back and forth went on for quite some time :-)

Connor was in a great mood pretty much the whole day.. This is an awesome photo of him showing his good mood :-) It also shows the crazy fauxhawk I gave him... He needs a haircut.. but his hair is just so thin as it is.. I am hesitating :-/

Connor and Kalia both enjoyed getting to be outside in the swing.. it was a little chilly, but that didn't stop them from having a GREAT time :-) I think the ones pushing them had as much fun as the kids did!

Connor was having a hard time going down for his morning nap with all of the activities and stimulation, so I asked my mom if she'd try to get him to sleep... They sat and read some books, this one being on of his favorites.... and within just a few short minutes this happened ... ...

He was out! Way to go Grandma :-)

Connor with his daddy and uncles....

It was incredible watching Connor with Grandpa's Ipad... he literally knew how to use it after just a few minutes... And he really liked it!! This is him and Brian drawing pictures...

I couldn't help myself.. his little buns in these Wranglers are just adorable :-)

Connor with Jeremy and I just before cake...

Yagues side of the family

Draggoo side of the family

The guests waiting for cake...

More guests..

Having lunch before experiencing his first ever sugar high... We had sloppy Joes.. and Sloppy they were :)

For lunch we had sloppy joes, brocoli salad, potato salad, watermelon, chips, punch, rootbeer, popcorn.. A very "tailgatish" meal :-)

Another photo of the yummy food :-)

I may have gone a little overboard with the decorations.. but they were just so adorable and appropriate if I must say:( #1 )... :-)

Connors special birthday spot.. this is his new Ikea high chair... normally we don't use the tray and he just sits up to the table with us, but I wanted him to be the center of attention for the cake :-)

Connors mini football field and the big one for all of us to enjoy :-)

Looking at the candle.. He didn't blow it out but he was very intrigued :-)

Let the fun begin... :-) As we guessed... he didn't hesitate to dig right in

Mmmmm yumm.. took a little while to get past he frosting

Getting into the cake now!!

Love this one! He isn't afraid to get messy!

Mr. Blue Eyes looking around to see why everyone was watching him... didn't phase him though.. he just kept going.. He eventually got tired of it and said "a done" We cleaned him up and headed for some presents :-)

I'd say he is a little spoiled!

Starting in opening all of the gifts.. it took a little while for him to get excited about it, but eventually he did.

His newesst member of the "truck collection" he loved this one! it makes the racecar vrroomm sound

Getting ready to open Grandma Nancy's present..

He loved this card.. it made Elmo laughing sounds and opened like a book :-)

Connor received sooo much great things for his birthday from numerous outfits and PJ's, to lots of cool new books and puzzles as well as a few cars/trucks, a bathtub paint set, a photo album, a toilet seat that is a truck (makes dump truck sounds...) as well as money for his savings account. Thank you to everyone who made this the greatest Birthday Connor has had yet! :-) We appreciate all of our family and friends and for all of the support this past year! Here's to many more :-)

 

Letter to Connor at 1

Connor,

Most mornings you prefer to get up early.. around the time Dad leaves for work (5:30 am) if I am lucky, I can either play with you for a few minutes, or nurse you and you'll go back to sleep for a few hours, some mornings we just start our day early :-) Often I find you standing at the edge of your crib waiting to be picked up. When I do pick you up you immediately point and lean towards the door, ready to start exploring! Usually we cuddle for a few minutes to get adjusted to being awake, then you play with your toys while mom gets breakfast and coffee ready. Your favorite breakfast foods are eggs, toast, pancakes, any kind of meat, oatmeal, and occasionally fruit (lately you've enjoyed watermelon). You have always excelled with eating, both your fine motor skills of being able to feed yourself, as wells as the ability to "chew" about any type of food. You also know how to put the food down! You've been known to eat as much as me some mornings :-) After breakfast, we spend a few hours playing together. You're favorite thing is cars, trucks, tractors... anything with wheels. You also enjoy music, piano, metal bowls and spoons and your train whichs you either walk with or take the blocks out of and move back and forth to another container. We also let Duke and Daisy out to play for a little while (you also love dogs).

By around 8:30am (10:00 on days you sleep in) you're ready for a morning nap. When you are napping I either get the house cleaned (especially vacuuming, sweeping because you still like to put everything in your mouth, and because you still primarily crawl, you are often at the floor level. You did take 4 steps the day before your 1st birthday, so we anticipate that very soon you will switch to walking. If I am not cleaning while you are napping I often shower and get ready for the day. When you wake up we have lunch (your favorites are tunafish, chicken, hamburger and occasionally you'll eat things like vegetables, fruit etc. :-) you LOVE meats!. Anytime you are sitting at the dinner table you point up at the fan and say "dat" .. you will even rotate your hand in a circular motion, its your way of asking to spin the fan, this is also usually an indicator that youare finished eating. After we eat, I get you dressed and ready and we usually go to town to run errands (or on days I work, we go to the store for the day). You are usually pretty happy to run errands, especially now that you are facing forward in your carseat and can see out the window, you often say "vvrrooomm" as we pass or follow cars.. you say vrooomm for just about anything with wheels, which is ADORABLE :-) In town we often hear comments like "he's adorable", "hoow old is he?" "he looks like a workout for you" "he's a big boy" "wow.. look at his eyes!" "I love his cheeks... I just want to squeeze them".... You get plenty of attention :-)

We try to be home by the time you are ready for your afternoon nap.. around 3:00 I either clean, shower, pay bills, or start dinner while you are napping (your naps are usually 1 hr-2 hrs long). Another of your favorite things to do is help me unload the dishwasher. You hand me on utensil at a time, I say "thank you" and you respond with "den du"... you're version of thank you, which you now say often.

Dad gets home at 6:30 (on nights he doesn't go to the gym), we eat together, Dad is always amazed at how much you've changed since the day before.. He says things like "he's such a good eater" "Connor, you're such a cool dude!" "you're pretty cool.. I love coming home to you and mom, it's the best part of my day". Your daddy loves you very much and loves spending time with you. One thing, among many, that you are getting good at is recognizing specific things and pointing them out. The words you point to when we ask: "where is the ..... fan, deer, window, door, fire, clock, Duke and Daisy, Dad, Mom, tractor" sometimes you only get a few, others you get them all.

By about 7:30 we take your clothes and diaper off in the living room and let you crawl naked to the bathroom for your bath... you love being naked and crawl with extra speed.. which makes your cheeks giggle as you crawl down the hallway  :-). During your bath you enjoy playing with your basketball hoop, foam numbers, and ducks. You are also enjoying practicing with cups: pouring and drinking from them. You also like to dip a washcloth in cold water and suck on it :-) You've learned what "bbrrrr" is.. and usually say "bbbb" and shake like you're shivering when you put your hand in cold water, or go outside where it's cold. After your bath we get your room ready (turn on the white noise, turn your baseboard heater to 68', and put your favorite blankie in the dryer to get warm). We read a few stories together (your favorites are DOG, First 100 trucks, The Tickle Monsters, 8 Silly Monkeys, Peek A Boo Baby-Bedtime etc).

Between 8:30-9:30 it's time for bed. You usually nurse one more time, if you don't fall asleep nursing, you usually can just be given your warm blankie (which you bury your face into with a big grin) and laid down and you'll go to sleep on your own. Dad and I catch up on the day, a lot of the conversation being about you.. clean the kitchen, spend about 30 min. sitting down relaxing then head to bed around 9:30-10:00. I feel so lucky to get to be home with you and am so thankful that Dad works so hard so I can. You are such a cool little guy and we are so thankful to have you in our life! Happy first Birthday

Love,

Mom

Visitors

2 weekends ago weekend my good friend Suzanne and her daughter Kalia came to Omak to visit, and to escape the remodel taking place at their house. We had a nice weekend visiting and watching the kiddos interact. While the snow storm that came through wan't ideal for Suzanne's commute, it gave us something to play in once they got here :-)

Kalia sporting her new outfit and Connor rocking the sled!

"mom look at those crazy dogs! they are running around like they've never seen snow :-)"

Connor and I....Fun time in the snow :-)

We also had our workers Scott and Lucus stay with us a few days which was fun.Lucus loves kids, so he spent a good bit of his time with Connor, which made prepping the meals etc. much easier for me :-) I meant to get s few photos of them playing, but never did :-(

I have been getting brave the past few weeks and letting Connor be naked... totally free style naked from the living room to the bathroom for his evenig bath... needless to say he thouroughly enjoys his moments of freedom :-)...

This was him trying to head away from the bathroom to prolong his nakedness :-) crawling under the dining table... on cold tiles! I don't know how kids to it :-)

I was giving Daisy, our small dog,treats the other night, and Connor was getting a kick out of it. This is the hardest he has ever laughed, I was so glad Jeremy was home to see it and to get it on video :-)... Enjoy!! We sure did

I loved this little outfit on him so I couldn't help myself :-)

 Connor now has 7 teeth! and it SOOO close to walking, he walks everywhere barely holding onto things. He even walks down he hallway sliding his hands on the wall. We wouldn't be surprised if he walks this weekend when everyone is here for his First Birthday Party...we'll see :-)

It has been so nice having some company around.. Even though I am working partime at the childrens consignment store in town, with Jeremy being gone so much more lately for work, it gets a little lonely. I am looking forward to the excitement of Connors birthday party, then there is a chance he and I will go back to Boise for a week. Connors party is a "tailgate" theme.. Below is the invite I sent out. We are keeping it small, just immediate family- grandmas and grandpas, uncles and his honorary auntie :-) don't want to overwhelm Connor for the first one!



1st half of February

I am SOO behind on Connors monthly pictures...partly just me being lazy, and partly that my flash broke and I am waiting for my new studio equiptment to get here.... So for now I at least want to get the few good ones from his 10 (and a half) month shoot up-(now that they are a month old)... and we know how fast babies change.. but better late than never!

He's starting to do the "corney.. fake" smile when I bring out the camera.. :-) cute, but makes getting a natural smil a little harder!

He's pointing at everything now.. especially when he wants something, to go somewhere or to know what something is.. :-) The minute I pick him up from his crib after naps or in the morning, he points at the door, like "get me outta here!" :-)

He loves his baths... this is in the new antique baby tub I bought for my studio props...

So serious :-)

Another bath one.. all smiles and still some rolly polly chubbiness :-) He's starting to thin out a bit now that he's mobile, but still a "solid" kid!

Heres a few of Connors favorite things now that he can get around ;-)

LOVES the dishwasher.. I've learned to keep any of the sharp and unsafe objects in the sink until last then I load them and close the door.... He likes to roll the lower shelf back adn forth, and stand up holding onto it as well as empty the silverware out....

I have rearranged the kitchen so that all of the lower cabinets have things in them that are ok for Connor to play with,  was making dinner one night and he discovered the baking cabinet, he surprisingly was able to get this heavy rolling pin out... new favorite toy for about a day :-)

Look mom.. I found a cool new thing that rolls like a wheel!

Connor also enjoys making music.. so he's temporarily adopted the metal bowl, measuring cups and spoons to his toy box.... he uses them more than me :-)

Mom and Connor being goofy with our metal hats...

We babysat Lizzy the other night so Casey and Lisa could have one more date before baby #2 comes along (any day now) Here are a few fun photos of her and Connor from the evening:

riding on the train together (it didn't last very long)

Bath Time! (Connor is going to have so many pictures of bathing with girls.... not sure if that'ss a good thing... hmmmmm... It's cute for now I guess :-)

Lizzy.. 1 1/2 yrs old



Connor 11 mo old (amazing how much his teeth are showing now!)

We decided to keep Valentines Day low key this year, Connor and I decided to make Dad a giant heart cookie and some strawberrys dipped in chocolate. Connor enjoyed getting to help:

I didn't exactly think this one through. I spread the flour out all nice and even, walked away to get the cookie dough and found this when I got back.. He's fast... he immediately saw the flour and thought "I wonder what that feels like and what it would do if I push it around?"

I hoped he would be into helping roll the cookie dough out, but he was more interested in tasting it.. and wouldn't you know it, he was so fast and my hands were occupied holding the rolling pin, he even got a taste (which freaked me out becasue it had egg in it.... but luckily he only got a small bite..)

Notice the flour is everywhere~ including on Daisy's head... She was under the tble hoping for scraps, just as Connor was making snow angels.... :-) it was a mess but he had so much fun.. and the end result was great :-)

Sugar cookie with cream cheese frosting, strawberries in dark chocolate and the roses were from Jeremy (I found them on the seat of my car with a card that afternoon when I went to town..he'd put them there before he went to work.so clever that one :-)

Connor and Mom with the rose from Dad...

Our first Valentines Day as a family :-)

Connor is getting stronger every day! He pulls up to virtually anything, can walk around things and transfer from the couch to the "coffee table" etc like it's nothing. So even though he isn't "walking" he's able to get around. He even is starting to experinemtn with climbing...... (uh oh.. my doctor was right. She joked during delivery that he'd be a dare devil (his heart rate would go up (instead of the normal down) when i'd have a contraction .. as if he was enjoing them) Iguess we'll see. Here is the series of him climbing onto the seat of his train to get to the ottoman of the rocking chair...

standing up holding onto it

figuring out how to get his knee up

ta da!! both knees on the train.... he of course got freaked out after because he didn't know how to get down... I think it's cool to watch him develop, but at the same time scares me that we have ER visits awaiting us in the near future :-/ We'll hope not

Jeremy is still working crazy hours.. It's been hard not having him around, we enjoy Sundays even more than ever beacuse it's the only day we have to really spend quality time together and for him to relax a little. This weekend my good friend from Seattle is coming to visit, then in 2 weeks all the family will be here to celebrate Connors 1st Birthday... I am loving that it is snowing out, I was getting tired of the ugly muddy backyard, it'll be nice to hve a beautiful white sheet over top everything again!

Getting back into the swing of things

Jeremy started working 6-10s two weeks ago, so to have a night away before the project started the 3 of us went to Leavenworth for the night. It was COLD, but beautiful.. and Connor loved the lights!

All bundled up!!

Dad and Connor

Mom and Connor

For Presidents Day weekend, Jeremy's cousin Angela, her husband Dave and their daughter Teagan came to visit. Teagan and Connor are only a few days apart so it's always fun to see them together.

Connor and Teagan kids playing on laptops.... the one is real, the other a toy...

We had Casey, Lisa and Lizzy over one night when Dave and Angela were here, this is the 3 kiddos playing together (well more just playing by themselves in the same general area :-) Lizzy is 6 mo oldr than Connor and Teagan..

We took pictures of the kids for their 10 mo. these are a few of them together... I'll post the ones of just Connor with his 11 mo ones later. :-)

Because of Jeremy working so much, Connor and I have been hanging out at home alot. These are some pictures of just that:

FINALLY gots a good photo of his teeth.. in this photo there are 4 teeth, but now he has 6 :-)

We finally got some snow, we really haven't had any since Thanksgiving, and I was starting to worry that buying a sled for Connor was a waste, but we finally got some snow a few weeks ago. Here's a few pictures of us enjoying it!

The dogs thought it was pretty cool being out in the snow too!

watching the snow fall!

This one is after the sled tipped over.... didn't like sledding as much after he face planted... I felt horrible!

Connor loves that he can get around now which means he can follow and play with Duke and Daisy. Here he is sharing chapstick with Duke...

Connor and I went with a good friend of mine Tawn and her girls to Pentiction Canada to go swimming last Saturday. Connor loved it and it was so nice to get out of the cold into some warm water :-)

Floating around.... watching all the kids play..

Lydia and Gwyn checking out Connor out... He was starting to get sleepy at this point :-)

He wasn't into posing for the photo just wanted to touch my face... ;-)

Connor sitting in the shallow water next to one of the fountains...

Tawn and her girls swimming

Dad and Connor practicing crawling, Connor is getting around SOO well!! :-)

Dad reading bedtime stories with Connor

Eating Oatmeal.. normally I feed it to him with a spoon, but this morning he wanted to eat it with his hands, and i'm all about making messes....:-) and oatmeal is sticky messy! But he had fun and learned all sorts of cool stuff in the process, so I call it a great meal!

Another side note: Connor is sleeping great!! I can lay him down with a warm blankie, some lullaby music and he goes to sleep on his own now!! YEAH.. and usually sleeps through the night- unless he's not feeling well (which between teething and a cold, has been more frequent lately...) but I am loving the extra time it gives me to get things done and the ease of putting him to bed/naps. Connor also seems to be so much happier to play independently now that he can explore a little, I don't have to be holding him all the time, which has also allowed me to get a few more things done!~ Things are going great.. it's hard to believe that in a month he'll be a year!!! I didn't believe people when they said it goes so fast!! But I do now.... it FLYS!!! Well I hear Connor waking up from his nap, so until next post! :-)