Post Christmas; New Toys

Like I mentioned previously, the last two days have been low key and relaxing. Yesterday Connor and I hung out most of the day, then we all went out with Nessler's to the Wow Zone in Mankato. It was quite an impressive place and a very fun night. Baby Kate slept the ENTIRE time, she missed all the fun, and I missed playing with her :( Next time.

Today Connor and I went grocery shopping (hosting Christmas #4 tomorrow) and then cleaned the house, got all the laundry done and put away and prepared as much of the food as I could for tomorrow. Fun fun. I also rented a few movies, Step Brothers and Get Smart. Both kind of disappointing.

Last post for the night, going to bed. We put Connor in his crib awake tonight, screamed for probably 45 minutes? With us going in there 2 times to put the nuk in and calm him down. He did fall asleep eventually, so we'll see how long it lasts. (we're breaking EVERY good baby sleep habit in the books. We go in there as soon as he starts crying to put the nuk in, we wait to put him to bed until he's asleep, we bring him into our bed in the middle of the night, and the list goes on. Pretty sure we're doing everything wrong, but hey, we're new at this :))

Connor discovered yet another cabinet, leftover Halloween candy that no one likes. I really, really need to get to this baby proofing thing. (how many times have I said that?)

Bryan cleaning the garage floor with his new pressure washer from my parents.

Connor watching Dad clean the garage floor. The kid could watch Bryan all day. Mom? No. Boring. Dad? Thrilling. I suppose that's a good thing. I'd be worried if he sat this nice while I scrapbooked...

Three Christmas' tires a guy out. Connor woke up all sweaty, it was pretty funny. At least there is a 3 day break before the 4th and final Christmas.

Kind of a weird video, I wish I could figure out how to edit them or at least crop them in some way. Anyways, the point of the video is to capture Connor's latest sound. The heavy breathing, panting thing he does in the beginning of the video. Does it all the time. It's kind of become his new laugh. Weird.

Christmas #3

Christmas day it's tradition that we go to my Grandma's house in the cities. It's a big party, lots of people, lots of fun. I have very few pictures...but only because my Aunt Mary was there :) So, she'll be sending pictures in the next week or so, but for now, I have just one with the promise to share lots more once she sends hers.

The subject in this picture (besides Connor) requested that his identity remain anonymous quoting that he was "a very private person". But, I just couldn't help it. I mean, he basically posed for the blog. Sorry Bernie. Er...I mean, Steve.

Christmas #2

After Christmas with the Loula's we headed to Courtland to go to Christmas Eve church service and then dinner with the Bode family. Again, we had a great time! Connor definitely started getting a little more into the gift opening.

Uncle Aaron trying to get him to attack the packages.

Grandpa showing Connor how to work his new cell phone.

Getting into the gift opening...

Oh, and did I mention Aaron and Jess got us a Wii? Yes. They did. It was WAY TOO MUCH...but, I can't lie, I'm pretty excited. I think Wii fit will probably be an upcoming purchase. The games are just far too fun.

Christmas #1

Hope you all had a great Christmas! It's been such a relaxing time (well, since yesterday) and I'm sad there is only one day left of Christmas break :( So, for a recap, it'll take a few posts but we'll get through it.

Christmas Eve afternoon we hosted the Loula family Christmas, Mom, Dad, Joe, Krystal, Ashlyn and us. It was a wonderful afternoon!

Gifts of plenty. And my tree that leans a little to the right.

Connor playing in his new 'shed'

He really didn't get how to open gifts yet...for weeks we've had to say 'no' to going by the tree, playing with the tree and playing with the gifts and now we just expected him to tear into them. Such a good boy. Ha.

Cousin Ashlyn looking cute in her sweater dress. She might have pooped on me later.

But I still love her.

When everything else fails...fake him out by getting him all ready to go in the car seat. But no need to go anywhere...just place the seat in a dark quiet spot, like the mudroom.

Works like a charm.

The aftermath.

Playing catch with Grandpa. The shrieks in the background are Ashlyn, she's expanding her vocal range. :)

Santa!

I FINALLY took Connor to see Santa tonight. The past few times I've been to the mall, the Santa line has been non-existant. Could have gotten right in. Not tonight. It wasn't too bad, but we did have to wait 30 minutes maybe? I lost track of time. I was surpised how well Connor did, he was getting kind of restless, a little tired, and is kind of getting to that 'stranger anxiety' stage. But, I just plopped him right on Santa's lap and he did great. Smiled at the camera for a few and then was just fixated on the man...and then...he got really, really close to crying...I rescued him just in time. So, aside from the super cheesy border and ugly green chair, I think it's a great pic!

It's cool, mom, I'm fine.

christmas spirit

Christmas has just come SO fast this year. I basically started Christmas shopping this past Saturday, I'm still not done, not done wrapping what I do have (and generally I LOVE wrapping gifts but this year it's just a 'need to get done' task), haven't taken Connor to see Santa yet, I'm only taking 4 hours of work off this week, so it certainly doesn't feel like Christmas and yeah. I just feel so unprepared for my son's first Christmas :( (as if he'll even notice or remember)

So, enough of the complaining and whining. I ask for no pity, I know lots of other people are feeling the same stresses and not having any problems with it.

I generally am not very good at vocalizing the 'look what we have to be thankful for'...but, I think becoming a mother and seeing people we know and love go through such pain and troubles...sure makes you see things in a different light. So that said...I have a healthy baby boy, a loving relationship with my husband (well, most days :)), families that are close by, healthy and love being with them, and Bryan and I both have jobs and work to be done. We have lots to be thankful for.

annual vikings game

Dad and I go to the last Vikings home game before Christmas every year. We tried to figure it out on the way home how long he and I have been going, we finally estimated this might have been the 10th year. Good year to FINALLY get a picture, huh? I know. Sad. But, as it normally goes, the Vikings lost but we still had a good time. The seats are 4th row about 25-30 yard line or so behind the opposing teams bench so that certainly adds to the fun! I look forward to it every year...maybe Connor can join us next year :)

riding high

A fun new game around the house...

Muesing Christmas

Friday night we had the Muesing family (Bryan's mom, Cheryl, is a Muesing) Christmas at Whiskey River. Unfortunately the whole clan wasn't able to make it due to a funeral on the in-law side, but we still had a nice time. The following pictures are terrible, I know, but I feel I've been a bad mom and haven't taken many photos lately, so I took the camera out at the late minute and tried to grab SOME memory of the evening.

The future married couple...looking great with babies already :)

9 to 3

These are my new hours at work!

Riiighhht.

This actually was one stretch of Connor's sleep last night, which is probably the best in months? NO nuk replacement needed. From 3 to 6 I probably was in there twice or so, but still, definite improvements. I think the key is that the past two nights he's taken a little nap from 6 to 630. He doesn't nap at daycare very well, so I'm sure he's just over tired.

Today's agenda:
Start and finish Christmas shopping (ok, we have 3 gifts done)
Wrap all gifts
Clean house
Start and finish all scrapbook type gifts (why do I do this to myself?)

That might be it, but I'm not really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow, annual Vikes game/shopping trip with my dad! Excited! Row 4, 30 yard line or so. Always a good time! Next year maybe we'll include Connor in on the tradition.

warm and cozy

Mom got Connor a little snow suit type thing, so adorable. Plenty of room, fits right over his clothes, perfect. We needed it mostly because we're upgrading to the next car seat soon and then I'll have to take him out of the seat every morning when I drop him off at daycare...therefore he probably needs some warmer clothes. Right now I just stack a ton of blankets on him. (well, before we got the suit anyways)




Ok so he might not have been SUPER happy for this picture.

8 months!

Time goes by so amazingly fast. I don't have any pictures from exactly today, but will try and take some tomorrow night.

As a copycat of my friend Sarah, I'm going to try and start detailing things Connor is doing at various ages. Okay, so it's not a total copycat, but basically.

At 8 months Connor is...
...getting into everything.
...putting everything into his mouth.
...learning how to go over the ramp at daycare.
...opening and closing his fists while he eats or is excited...I'll to get a video loaded of this.
...starting to miss me when I leave him (at daycare, gets sad and sometimes cries).
...less easily distracted. Take a toy (or a beef stick) away, and he's ticked.
...still getting up at least once a night to get plugged back in.
...doing great from his surgery at 4 days old, no side effects. (occasionally someone will ask so I thought I'd update you all)
...crawling all over the place, taking laps.
...able to find dad when he hides in the mudroom bathroom from him.
...obsessed about the fireplace and getting up on it.
...standing up on anything and everything.
...opening drawers, loves swinging doors back and forth and door stops aren't as cool as they used to be.
...apparently fascinated by the windows at daycare.
...loving his zwieback toast.
...loving his puffs although it is still tought for him to get them into his mouth.
...eating real food at daycare in mashed format.
...has roughly 250 bags of mommy's milk left to drink.
...wearing 12-18 month clothes, however 6-9 still fit. (he's short)
...actually seeming to understand 'no' (are we dreaming?)
...not getting into the Christmas tree thank goodness.
...still smiling and laughing all the time.
...not talking...nor is he close...but he sure makes lots of noises.
...into blowing bubbles at a rapid pace (again, will try and get a video)
...not really waving yet, but we're working on it
...liking books and sits pretty nicely while you read them to him.
...still HATING getting dressed (more like, hating being confined or restricted for 3 minutes)
...loving his bath time and we've graduated into the big tub, no more baby tub.

Well, I think that's about it. I need to get to bed. I wish I would have done this for his other month birthdays (and not that I'll continue this monthly forever, they just seem to change so quickly!).

'human' food

Daycare started feeding Connor the 'big kid' food (well blended of course) and I think he's digging it! I haven't yet blended anything at home yet...but we did give him a beef stick today. Now, I know, these are probably NOT the best baby food (but I feel better knowing it's me that gives him something we're unsure of). But you should have seen him watch us eat them. He was OBSESSED (similar to the water bottle fetish) with them. So, we gave it to him. And, when we took it away..he was NOT happy. This was really the first time we haven't been able to easily distract him with something new when taking something away. We had to document :)

The love for the beef stick...

Taking the beef stick away...

I know. Bad parents. But it was funny, we couldn't help it.

moving up

This is a terribly picture, I know, but it's the only one I got. He's now onto the second level of drawers. And he LOVES the dishwasher. Just this week or the last few days, he's standing up on everything he can. The stool, the couch, his crib. Doesn't really 'walk' along stuff yet, but probably not too far away. (fun to see new things, but so sad he's growing so fast!)

catching up.

This week went really fast! I think I forgot to mention that last Friday after Thanksgiving my friend Kacie came over in the afternoon to help me put up my tree (well, I think I bribed her into that one), we went Christmas shopping (didn't find much, wasn't too crowded) and had great grub at b-dubs. (didn't intentionally rhyme there). I will try and post a picture of the tree, I'm really happy with it! Surprisingly, Connor hasn't gotten into it yet! He's only been interested in it once or twice, and since he listens SO well to the word 'no' (okay, he laughs everytime we say it, no lie), he has since stayed away.

Anyways. I'm working on getting some pictures and videos posted. Aaron and Jess are over for the night and we are playing Wii...it is SO fun (first timer here). I want on. Very addicting. However, not exactly something I see Connor allowing me to play it very often. Oh well. It's fun. And it's nice to have company.

Oh, and we put Christmas lights up today! Bryan refused to do it, so I told him I would do it all by myself. I put our 3-step stool/ladder thing on the tail gate of Bryan's truck and kept backing it up to the house. After like 3 times I realized it would be SO much faster if Bryan would at least drive the truck. So, I got him to do that, he and Connor just hung out in the truck and waited for me to signal to move, etc. Connor just fell asleep sitting in the passenger seat. It was ADORABLE, but I didn't get a picture :( But, the lights aren't anything special, but, they're Christmas lights!!

Enough text. More pictures. I get it.

open...shut...open...repeat

And so it begins...he hasn't figured out how to get anything out of them...yet. This was from about a week ago I think.

thanksgiving table

A late post of the table that Mary set for us at Thanksgiving. She's amazing! She brought all of this stuff down (stuff = tablecloths, placemats, silverware, pumpkin centerpieces, twigs, napkins and napkin holders, beads, candles and more), and then enough for 2 more tables!!

Thank you so much Mary!

day two

Well, day two went really well in Infant II (and I think day one went really well too, he was just starting to get a fever when I picked him up). I went over there and played with him at lunch, while we were sitting there reading a book, a little girl came up and stole Connor's book. We need to work on his reaction time a little... :)

Then Bryan picked him up early and took him to get part II of his flu shot. Went well, was running a little bit of a fever tonight, but went down at 6:30. (we'll see how long that lasts)

diaper box

Connor is definitely getting more mobile, but fun to watch. No serious falls yet, but I think it's inevitable.

tough day?

Well, Connor's first day in Infant II was today. I was sad about it, but only because it means he's growing up. When I dropped him off today he looked totally excited looking at the new toys and 'safe' things to crawl up on, over, through, etc. So, that made me feel better.

Then, when I picked him up, he was sadly sitting in the swing. When she took him out he started crying, when I got him, he nuzzled right into my shoulder and was crying/whimpering. I was too concerned with trying to make him feel better, I wasn't fully listening to what his daycare lady was saying, but I caught something about 'friend got too close...scared him...think babies are step stools'. Step stools?!?!? Poor Schmo. I guess this is probably what the babies in the Infant I room thought of Connor, but man, I felt so bad for him. Then, when I got him home, as soon as I took him out of the car seat he nuzzled again into my shoulder and has been laying there every since, except now it's Bryan's shoulder.

So sad. Not sure what's up with him. Hopefully he's our happy little Connor when he finally wakes up! And to think he gets another shot tomorrow! (part two of the flu shot)

pool again

I forgot to mention, the morning after the wedding we took Connor down to the pool again, just Bryan and I, and he did much better. The park was empty and so we just sat with him in the baby pool, and eventually he warmed up to it, thought it was hilarious that he could 'crawl on water', and didn't really get it when he would crawl into deeper waters... It was a little cold, too, so had it been a little warmer I think he would have had more fun. Definitely will be trying it again!

bathtime

Mary took a few shots of Connor's new 'look' in the tub the other night :)

Such a ham in the tub.

Thanksgiving!

Well, I would say that Thanksgiving was definitely a success! The turkey turned out great (or so I thought), all of the food was great and it was great to see the family! The Fashingauer clan is always good for laughs!

Connor and Ashlyn had coordinating gopher outfits (it was impossible to find matching 'cute' fall colored outfits...so this was all we could find!) and were probably the hit of the party :)

Connor was not cooperating.

water bottle fun

Saturday night when it should have been bedtime, Connor and Bryan were having some fun with a water bottle.

wedding in la crosse

Instead of going back and starting from a week ago or so, I'm going to start with the most recent. This weekend we went to Bryan's second cousin's wedding in La Crosse. Aaron made the trek with us. La Crosse is an amazingly beautiful city and I can understand how some people love being there! I would love to spend a weekend there, looks like a ton of neat shops, beautiful river, and then I'm sure the boys could golf :)

Anyways, we decided to stay at the Best Western (VERY fond memories there as my good friend Sarah was married there 2 years ago) which has a mini water park inside. We were excited to take Connor to the pool!

As you can see, he was not so excited. Quite scared actually. However, as soon as we took him out of the pool he was obsessed about watching the park area. I think he could have sat and watched all the kids playing, sliding, swiming for hours.

My friend Sarah also came and had lunch with us after the pool. Was SO good to see her, miss her, but she's coming down for a scrap book weekend in a few weeks. I'm in need!

Then we got cleaned up from the pool and headed to the wedding. Connor did great, slept thru 90% of the ceremony, and then was pretty good at the reception. We found a little high chair which was key.

Someone at the next table had a cow bell (yes, a cow bell) and he was not sure what to think of it when the guy rang it.

"what, mom?"

We left the reception fairly early, Bryan wasn't feeling well (tail end hopefully of his fever/sickness) and it was getting close to Connor's bed time (ha, funny). On the way down my cousin Laura had said it was too bad that we would miss the Rotary lights. Ok, sure, bummer. Then my friend Sarah text me later at the reception that the lights were indeed up already and that we should go see them (right up there with what Laura had said, a 'must-see'). So, we got directions, and soon found out that it was the place to be in La Crosse at night. We had to find the end of the line a few blocks away. Riverside park is beautiful in itself, but add over 2.4 MILLION Christmas lights and a live nativity and it's pretty amazing. It was definitely worth waiting for. So, they make you turn your headlights off and you take a lap through the park. Truly amazing all of the lights! I attempted to take pictures...but they turned out terrible of course. The website doesn't really do it justice either, but at least there is a picture to give you an idea of the lights.

http://www.rotarylights.org/index.html

I have a video to post, but will do that in a separate post since they take awhile to load.

All in all, a great weekend! The driving was crappy on the way home, but the guys still managed to get us home in 3 hours.

whew

quite the week.

Recap:

Monday: Bryan had the DU Banquet, new TV arrives
Tuesday: Bryan and I put a bunch of shelving together for the basement and I attempted to clean house
Wednesday: Mary and Al came down, more cleaning, etc. Connor up at 11, 12, 1, 2, 3:20 and 6:20
Thursday AM: Grant arrives to install the entertainment center
Thursday mid AM: Start cooking the turkey
Thursday afternoon: Eat! All the food turned out amazing and it was so great to have everyone here!
Thursday night: Say goodbye and go to sleep. Connor only up 3 times.
Friday AM: Bryan takes Connor on venture, I treadmill, take a bath and relax.
Friday afternoon: Kacie comes over, we put up our tree, shopped, ate and decorated the house. Love it!
Friday PM: Got Connor down around 8:20, I've been up there three times since. HELP!

Plans for the rest of the weekend:
Leave tomorrow at 8am for La Crosse for a wedding, we're bringing Connor to a water park!!
Rest of Saturday wedding.
Sunday, drive home to watch Vikings lose, along with our fantasy football team.

Will work on posting lots of pictures the next few days.

Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings!!

speedy

Connor has crawling down, and is getting pretty fast! Sometimes you still have to lure him with something like the cord on the camera to get him going...

Also, his latest trick is climbing up on stuff. He can get to a kneeling position and tries crawling up the bar stools, receiver/dvd/satellite boxes, etc. Have I mentioned I need to baby proof?

driving and standing

just some fun pictures from tonight. And they're not even that good, but it's cute how Connor is getting stronger and able to stand hile holding onto things. I will admit...he did fall once while I was getting these pictures. He laughed.

random update.

1. Connor had his first visit to urgent care on Friday. Daycare called at 4 and said he had a temp of 103! So, we took him in only to wait over an hour, then spend another hour + waiting for the doctor, having everything look 'normal', get some prescriptions, and go home. He kind of had a fever all weekend, but seemed okay this morning and at daycare today, but was a little off tonight again. We'll see how he is in the morning.
2. I miss my friends. Angie is on maternity leave, I haven't seen Anne for what feels like weeks, I haven't seen Sarah in FAR too long but with recent text and facebook communication it might be soon that we are once again reunited in scrapbooking, I am due for a SAC lunch, I did just get to see Heidi, and normally I'd say I probably wouldn't see her again for a year, I will be seeing her in January for a scrapbooking weekend and I'm pumped about that, and yeah.
3. Have I mentioned I'm hosting Thanksgiving? Little nervous. And the brining solution I was going to buy for the turkey is no longer available. Crap. (and no, before 2 weeks ago I had NO idea hat brining meant)
4. I love, love, love volleyball, but 3 nights a week is a little much. I'm just a sub on Monday nights, and then our co-ed team play Wednesday and Friday. However, if you're looking for a good game of co-ed vball to come watch, we play in Nicollet in Friday and it should be a great matchup. 7 pm. See you there.
5. One of our new windows has condensation inbetween the panes. That's not good I don't think?
6. We laid off 31 people in my building and it makes me sick to think about.
7. Can someone explain to me why gas keeps going down? Obviously I'm not complaining, but I'm about ready to save milk jugs and store it in my garage. That's not hazardous I'm sure.
8. It's my big sales season at work so I have my online sales reporting up 24/7 at home and am checking it constantly. It's a small addiction.
9. The card box has a nice long vacation here until March. Now maybe I can get some scrapbooking done!
10. We bought a new TV off of Amazon last night. Sears wouldn't match their price, plus, no shipping and no tax. Can't beat that. Pretty excited! Plus our entertainment center should be done before Thanksgiving so my living room will be a little more presentable and baby proofed as all the cords will be hidden. Thanks Nathan for telling me that Amazon had TV's, I really had no idea.
11. Speaking of baby proofing. I'm in need. Connor can officially open drawers and doors. And I definitely have non-baby stuff (chemicals, glass bowls, etc.) in easily accessible places.
12. Connor took half of his shirt off in the middle of the night last night. Little bugger. Mom picked him up some new zip-up footie pjs tonight. Hopefully that keeps him warm when he does his yoga in the middle of the night and gets out from under the blankets.
13. I'm attempting to get Connor attached to a 'blankie'. It's not working very well. I talked to a fellow mom at volleyball tonight and she's trying to do the same with her daughter and it's also not working.
14. He is still addicted to the nuk. Which, we're fine with. We'll maybe think about taking it away at a year.
15. For the most part, he's sleeping thru the night. Which is awesome, but, you can count on it, 7 am give or take 3 minutes and he's up!
16. I'm stretching to make my list go to twenty for some reason. But I think I'm going to stop here. Have a good night and a great Tuesday. I promise to try and keep the blog updated more often again. How rude of me to expect others to do so, but not do it myself.

Class Photo

Along with school photos come class photos! This time, our company's photography studio came over and took them, so it was only $5. Adorable.

Connor is in the middle in the exersaucer. Too cute. Good thing the photo is small on the blog, you can't really see the drool all over his shirt :)

School Photos

School photos at daycare conveniently happened the day before Connor's 6 month birthday. Saved us a trip to a studio :) Yes, they take school photos at daycare. Love it.

And, of course, a week after the photos were taken...his little blocked tear duct FINALLY cleared up! Oh well. At least it's clear!

And, LifeTouch does a great job of suckering you into purchasing the photos. They print 8 full sheets of photos and then you pay for whatever you don't return. I think I bought 5 sheets. Oops. Oh well. I probably would have spent more going to a professional photographer!

My favorite of the two.

Classic 'school photo' gray background. He looks absolutely chubby here, I had to buy at least one of these. I can already see it hanging on his graduation board...sad.

And...if you've ever seen the scrapbook I made for Bryan for his 30th birthday, you'll see a similar looking photo in there!

Now that I have my scanner all hooked up and working, maybe I'll scan that in someday.

WAY over due.

I've become one of those bloggers that gets to the bottom of the blog rolls...4 days ago...5 days ago...too long. Sorry!

This past weekend my friend Heidi, her husband Jesse and adorable son, Reece came to visit! It was SO good to see Heidi and it was the first time she's met Connor, so it was great! If you read her blog, you'll learn that we were awful and barely took ANY photos. Sad. But, like she said, it might be due to the fact that we didn't really shower or make ourselves presentable, the boys were basically in their pjs all day, and yeah. Nothing real picture worthy.

The few shots I did take I took right after bringing the camera in from the cold car, so, they're a little foggy. And then I was too lazy to remove red eye tonight.

my big boy sitting at his desk :) Notice the additional padding around him...just in case.

vroom vroom


hey, this is my desk!

congrats Jeff & Aleta!

Saturday night we went to my friends Aleta and Jeff's wedding. The weather was a little crappy, but that didn't stop the fun :) We went with Jay and Ang, and it was SO good to hang out with them! I am 110% ready for her to come back to work... :) The bride was GORGEOUS...however, I unfortunately only have one picture from the weekend.

What is this you ask? Our good friend Sarah. She moved her chair the the middle of the dance floor, all by herself, when everyone else was seated around the perimeter of the floor...to watch the slideshow. Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty comical.

snowfall

Friday marked our first 'real' snowfall, and, I know, as bad as it sounds, it was really pretty! There wasn't any wind really, it was just a nice dusting of snow :) Loved how the trees looked outside our livingroom.