Sunday, December 26, 2004

Day after Christmas...

Phew! I am tired (and sicky too!)...but I will write as much as I can while I'm still awake. Connor's sleeping soundly so this is a perfect opportunity for me to write!!!

Well, we had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year. It feels like we had Christmas all week (we kinda did). On Thurs night, we had dinner at Jeramy's parents' house. Connor opened his Christmas presents for the 1st time. Seemed like he knew exactly what to do, but like most babies, he was more interested in the paper, ribbons and boxes than the gifts themselves. But he had a lot of fun playing with everything. Then on Xmas eve, we had dinner at our house. I prepared and cooked an Italian dinner for all of us AND for all of Jeramy's coworkers the day before, so I was a bit tired preparing everything for Xmas eve. Jeramy had to work Fri, Sat, and Sun so I thought it'd be nice to cook for Jeramy's work for Christmas. Anyways, Connor and I went to church with Jeramy's parents on Xmas eve. It was a really nice service and Connor behaved fairly well, considering how tired he was feeling. Then on Xmas day, we had dinner at Aunt Carol's house with the whole family. Jeramy could only attend for an hour or so, since he had to leave to go to work. My poor baby! And to top it all off, he has been feeling really sick in the past week so I feel so badly for him...

Connor had a blast playing with all the other kids on Christmas. He was so tired that he fell asleep right after dinner. But when he woke up, he was ready to go! He was all smiles and giggles, and was quite the entertainer. It's so fascinating to see how much his personality has grown over the last few months. He's such a happy baby in general and doesn't mind showing it at all. We count our blessings every day for such a lovely perfect boy.

Jeramy and I are feeling quite tired and ill these past few days. It's been a long week for us, especially for Connor. Connor was never on much of a schedule, but we had somewhat of a daily routine these past couple months...but we were all off this past week so I feel bad because he just gets tired so easily. He's so overtired that he wants to go to sleep and actually falls asleep fairly easily but doesn't stay asleep for very long. But then again, he's getting over a cold as well so he's just recuperating.

We received so many lovely presents this year. We made out like bandits! Connor has soooooooooooooooooo many toys and clothes, we have no idea where to put them all. They're still scattered all over the house, since I don't know exactly where to start. I opened a few toys earlier this morning to put batteries in them, but now I don't know just where to store them. Connor is so overwhelmed with all this stuff! And frankly, so am I!!!

Well, I better go to bed since we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I haven't cleaned the house AT ALL since the 23rd and it's a mess!!! My parents, brother, Aunt and Uncle are coming over to stay with us this week since we didn't get to spend Xmas together this year. It'll be nice to see them!! Connor hasn't even met my Aunt and Uncle yet, so this is gonna be exciting for everyone. Jeramy's finally off tomorrow so we finally get to spend some time together! Woo hoo...we'll probably end up staying in bed for most of the day tomorrow to recuperate. haha but Oh well! Catch y'all later...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Friday, December 17, 2004

What's new with Con-man?

We just came back from having dinner with some friends and I have to say, Connor was awesome tonight! He actually played with the other kids and didn't fuss at all until it was time to leave. He is also sitting for longer periods of time, so I think he is having a better time now because he can view the world a little differently. He still can't quite get himself to sit by himself yet, but he's getting there. He's always trying, that's for sure. He's also trying to get up by getting a hold of things and pulling himself up. It's kinda nerve-racking but exciting at the same time.

He still likes to babble ALOT. He has been saying BABA continously for weeks now and starting to move on to MAMA, which is awesome because it just melts my heart. He seems to say only when he feels he needs to (like to get my attention)...and I must say, it works like a charm! He also has this thing about putting his hand to mouth to make the "baba" sound, kinda like the way you do it when we pretend to be Indians. It's really neat to see how he excels at such a silly act. At first, he seemed to be hitting his own face more than anything but now, he is actually hitting the target!

He has been eating solids regularly now for about a month. He's tried rice cereal, oatmeal w/ bananas and peas. He really likes eating! He didn't like to eat peas at first and you can tell he has a harder time trying to eat it (it's obvious from his gagging and trying to spit it back out) but he's not completely rejecting it, which is good. He takes it in, makes the cutest "yuck" face, and then tries so hard to swallow it. It's all a work in progress, I figure. But he's doing awesome overall, so far. I've also been letting him try different kinds of flavors: such as pumpkin ice cream, pears, bananas, mashed potatoes, etc. He really likes to take part in eating while we're eating, and I just don't have the heart to not let him join in on the fun. I like that he's open to new experiences and as long as he's enjoying it, then I'll continue doing it! There's no harm in letting him try things...

Well, let's see...what else is new? I think we basically have some kind of routine down now. He goes to sleep at about 10:30-11 PM (sometimes even midnite), still isn't sleeping through the night (is waking up 4-5 times throughout the night; sometimes to feed & sometimes just to fuss), wakes up either at 8, 9, 10 or 11 am (depending on what time he slept the night before), change his diaper, play with him for about 10-15 mins, put him in the crib so he can have some alone time to play and watch his mobile, go eat some breakfast, take a bath (if it's bath day; he takes one every other day), takes a nap, play time for 2-3 hrs, I nurse him, he takes a nap, wakes up...blah blah blah. Then when it's bedtime, we or I (if Jeramy's at work) change his diaper, read him a story from the Picture Bible, say a prayer, breastfeed and then night-night time! He's not really on a schedule or anything but it's nice that he's a lot more predictable these days. He hates having to go to sleep, 'cause he'd rather be awake to enjoy the day. Sometimes, he won't go down for a nap at all but we're getting better at reading his cues on when he's ready to eat, sleep, needs a diapey change or is bored. It only took 6 months! haha

Connor's just fantastic and Jeramy and I are enjoying these days so much. He totally laughs and giggles all the time, which makes our lives that much brighter. He knows how to hang on now (sometimes for dear life, it seems), hug and even give sloppy kisses. He's still drooling all over the place and putting everything in his mouth, especially paper. He LOVES paper (as do most kids, I think) so when the Sunday paper comes...I let him go at it. I'm sure some parent or doctor would advise me against it (e.g., "he might get ink poisoning" or "he might choke on it"...trust me, I've heard it all) but I'm sitting right there watching him the whole time and he has his limits. If he starts shredding the paper into pieces, then to the trash it goes. So don't worry, he's in good hands!

Well, here's some interesting tid bits you might not know:

-He actually stays put while I cut his fingernails and toenails...as long as I'm singing! He just LOVES singing and music period. Sometimes, he even tries to sing along!

-He loves getting his hair brushed. And I don't know why, but he loves getting the act of getting undressed, especially when you take his arms out. He just thinks it's the funniest thing ever.

-He found his private parts 2 weeks ago...it's funny! He loves grabbing his balls and starts squeezing them, especially when he's getting his diaper changed and during bath time. He just squeezes and squeezes...I guess boys do start early! haha Like Jeramy says, he's got another 70 years of that ahead of him! :)

-He doesn't like watching TV very much. I try to get him to sit and watch Blue's Clues or other kiddie movies and he loses interest about 5 mins into it. I guess this is a good thing, but sometimes, I wish he would watch TV so I could get things done!!!

-He still LOVES to be out and about. He likes to travel and see the world. I guess, what baby doesn't?

-He loves his Jonny Jumper, exersaucer, and high chair. These are the only places he can stay in for longer than 15-20 mins...and for us, they're life savers!

-He loves people and animals. He loves nature in general, especially plants, trees and flowers. He will stare at the leaves for long periods at a time, as if he's mesmerized. It's kinda weird seeing him in a trancelike state like that, but I think he's just trying to soak data in.

There's so much more that I want to write but our little boy has woken up and I must now tend to his needs!!! TATA!

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Day trip to Lockwood!

We brought Connor to one of Jeramy's friends house for dinner today. We're trying to expose Connor to other kids as much as we can so that he doesn't have severe separation anxiety later on. I mean, we know he's gonna go through that anyway but he needs to know how to deal with other kids!

Jeramy's friend Richie has two kids: Zachey (3 yrs old) and Ian (10 months). Ian actually weighs less than Connor does, only 17 lbs! It's just so weird seeing a little boy crawling around and he's so much smaller than Connor. Zachey just admires "Jeramy Moen" to pieces. He even sings about him when he plays, his Daddy told us. Zachey also LOVES Connor. He's always trying to kiss Connor and Connor just hates it. Connor is learning how to play with kids though, which is awesome since I don't want him to end up like other kids that weren't exposed to other kids at a young age and freaked out when they finally were. I can tell he's still trying to figure things out, because he tends to cry out when they get too close.

Connor is beginning to sit down for longer periods now. He is learning how to balance on his little tush better and can control his "tumbling over" a little better. I did have a wee bit of an accident the other day when I sat him down on the kitchen floor for what I thought were just mere seconds while I tried to reach for the phone, which rang at the time. Next thing I know, he fell backwards and hit his poor little head. OMG, talk about pure guilt on Mommy! He cried his little eyes out for a few minutes, but he was just fine.

I'm also feeding him rice cereal twice a day now. It's such an awesome "event". He gets all messy and tries to use his cute tiny hands as spoons. He's always shoveling the food into his mouth with his grimey little fingers. When I finally get past the baricades, he either blows out the cereal or it comes dripping off his mouth. I don't know why I even use a bib! He just think