Welcome to Syracuse

I've been working on a few projects for Connor's room. Well...they've been in the works since August 2010...but this week I actually put some plans in motion! I bought supplies around Christmas time to make SU colored letters for over his crib...and I am not much of an artist, but off I went!

Here is what they look like completed. I just also finished a little shelf, and we are going to hang everything next week, so I'll post a couple more pics then.
As you know if you're a frequent reader of this blog, Jonathan's mom saved a good amount of his baby clothes. The only tricky thing is that Connor was born in the fall and Jonathan at the end of winter, so not everything is wearable during the different seasons (that and I'm pretty sure that Connor is a lot chunkier than Jonathan was!). I put him in these sweet Syracuse "bloomers" (I don't know what you call that...a diaper cover?) just to play for a little bit...because I don't think they will fit by summertime!
Levi came over for a little while last week and we were playing cars on the kitchen floor while Connor napped. This is the only picture I got because once he realized I had the camera out he kept running over and laughing, trying to see the pictures I hadn't taken yet. Apparently when he went home he kept telling Matt and Daniela, "Neeny (Lindsay)! Sit down!" Hahaha....I kept telling him to sit down so I could take a picture while he zoomed his car across the floor...didn't happen. We had a great time!
Connor and I had a big adventure yesterday. We flew up to Syracuse to visit all of his grandparents and to see Uncle Will swim in his high school sectionals meet. Connor was quite a trooper, since we left the house at 4:45am and even had to deplane on the tarmac in Cincinnati just to pretty much go into the airport and turn around and go outside again to get on the same plane! We also had to do a diaper change high in the sky...I had never even been in an airplane bathroom myself and WOW what a small space! I was a tad stressed but Connor had a great time kicking the walls and making loud noises. Anyway, we made it to snowy Syracuse and are excited for some fun things, even though we are missing Daddy and Otto. :(

We thought the baby carrier might get a little heavy with just me and bags...so we decided to break out the umbrella stroller and see if Connor could sit up enough. He was loving a few laps around the house!
5:30AM! Wide awake and ready to fly (well after we struggled through security. Phew! There is a lot to put through the scanners all while trying to hold a baby!)
Jonathan said he was like a little old lady with a blanket across his knees. We are so thankful that he took us to the airport and helped us get our luggage inside. We miss you, Daddy!

This weekend is also my sister's final college championship swim meet! Connor and I made an awesome psych up video for her this morning...if only I knew how to get it from facebook onto here I would show you! I did take a quick picture of him, wiped out after his big video production...in his bison t-shirt and nike track suit! :)

Tomorrow we cheer for big uncle Will at the pool and send cheers to PA for auntie Laura!

Super super superbowl Sunday!

Connor's latest trick...lean as far back as possible in his bumbo seat so he can make mommy run and rescue him. Hahaha...I did find out today that he can pull himself back up, and it does air out his neck rolls, but I am worried that he's going to topple right over!
Food Network Magazine had some yummy "lighten up" meals in the last issue. On Saturday I made this mac and cheese soup that turned out quite delicious. I put about twice as much veggies as it called for to up the veggie content and Jonathan (my darlingest who does not love veggies) loved it! Woo! Please note the snowman placemat, bowl, and plate...though there is no snow in NC. Oh well.
Here's cutie boy getting ready for church Sunday morning. This is supposedly a 9 month outfit. Boy oh boy!

I made an "enchilada ring" for our lifegroup's superbowl party. It is stolen from another blogger (actually her mom). You can find the recipe on her page here!

http://kellyskornerrecipes.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-07-20T19%3A28%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

Before wrapping it all up to bake!

I forgot to take a "finished" picture, but Kelly had this beautiful picture of all the food on her facebook! Thanks for letting me steal! :)

Tina and Daniela made this AWESOME cake to celebrate both the superbowl and the one year anniversary of the beginning of our class (which split from another larger lifegroup and has grown a ton in the past year). Look at that 3D logo!

I'm not sure how I feel about this picture...but here's our fam! Yay Packers! (Just for my hubby).

Thanks Shelley and Casey for being super hosts! :)

Eating Words

Well, this morning Connor made me eat my words.

On most normal mornings, my alarm clock is Connor babbling through the monitor...which is a pretty great alarm clock, I must say. I feed him and get him ready for the day and we play upstairs for a little while. Then we go down and I usually lay him on a blanket or his activity mat so that I can grab a bowl of cereal.

I laid him down on his back and a minute later he looked like this...

"Oh hi mom, just rolling onto my stomach since last night you said I only hang out on my side."

"Ta-da!"

He proceeded to spit up all over (eating and then being on his tummy don't usually mix) and I cleaned him up and laid him on his back...so he turned over to his stomach again. Just in case I didn't get it the first time. ;) One more spit up later and our day was off and running!

Connor's first time petting Otto

Connor is a little better at grabbing and pulling than petting, but Otto just sat there and let him do whatever he wanted for a few minutes. Such a good dog...sometimes! :) Here's the reason why I put Connor down next to Otto...

I had to finish this post the next day, because even though Connor has been having awesome 11-12 hour nights of sleep, he is not to keen on napping these days!!!

Happy Groundhog's Day everyone! Surprisingly, we got to take a walk outside on Groundhog's Day while much of the US was having huge storms. This family does not mind snow, but spring would be fine right about now too!

Mrs. Carey M!

It's FEBRUARY! I feel like Christmas was yesterday. This year is flying by! Our lifegroup (Sunday school class) at church is reading the whole bible together this year. I have tried to challenge myself to read the bible from start to finish a few times before...and usually get stuck somewhere around those toughies Leviticus and Chronicles...I think I've made it as far as part-way through Kings. HOWEVER! We are reading it in chronological order and so far that has been awesome, it switches things around a little bit. Have you ever read the whole book of Job? I had never...and it turns out that it is so "conversational" that it makes such great sense to read it all the way through (over some days!). Just wanted to say how much I am loving it, and encourage anyone trying to read the entire bible to try it out chronologically!

I know I've posted thumb-sucking pictures lately. He just melts my heart...

I call Connor "wild man" quite a bit. He is so joyful and smiley but also gets very LOUD now and has a killer grip on whatever he can grab! He is not technically rolling from back to front, but spends a lot of time rolling side to side when on his back to grab and hug and hold and suck on whatever he can find!

I have the book "Eat This, Not That" by David Zinczenco and Matt Goulding. It does not recommend a specific diet but gives comparisons of similar foods and gets you around all of the wording that can be tricky at the grocery store (like "natural" means pretty much nothing...you need to look into a lot more than the giant words on packaging that try to pull you in!).

My sister gave me a new one, "Cook This, Not That", for my birthday. It is pretty sweet because they look at all sorts of delicious restaurant meals that have outrageous calorie, sugar, and fat levels, and have then created recipe substitutes that you can make at home...saving both money and your health!

I have made four of the recipes so far, and was excited to make "Lasagna Rolls" because Carey was coming for a visit! They had chicken sausage (Italian style), spinach, ricotta, and a good blend of spices. Here are some process pics...unfortunately I forgot to take one of the finished meal, which included some more marinara and a little mozzarella on top! YUM!

I have just a few pics of Carey and Connor, she is going to send me some great ones from her camera that I will post later.

We had a fun and relaxing couple of days and we miss her already!

Here's what I mean...my wild man with the awesome thighs. Sorry Connor my love, that is a Twichell trait and I fear you may never lose those and be just like your Mommy and your Papa. Don't worry...at least they are full of muscle, and we know you are strong already!

On a last little note, I am excited for a fun superbowl party. Oh, you didn't know that I was such a football fan? Ha! I'm really not a big fan of any NFL team, I only follow college football. HOWEVER (is that my word today or what?), I'm excited to try some new recipes to party with and my dearest husband is a Packers fan...so I will be excited for him. :) (And I'll show just a little love for the Steelers for my Uncle Bob and Molly!)

Shots Stink

I mean...they're awesome...to keep sweet babies healthy and the people who figured them out are super...I just wish that immunizations didn't come in the form of...shots.

Anyway, Connor had a great 4 month check-up today. Here are his stats:

Length: 25 3/4 inches (67th %)

Weight: 17 lbs (77th %)

Head Circumference: 42 1/2 cms (38th %)

Connor is still not as heavy as his uncle Dan was, though his Marmee was encouraging him to chunk up and beat him. Hahaha. Dan, you win the prize as a 17lbs 15ozs 4-month old. We all know the chub didn't last for you. :)

I should mention that Connor also moved on up into size 3 diapers - the size 2 were not holding up any longer. Thankfully, when I made that decision last week, there was already a giant box in the closet that my parents had gotten for us just after Connor was born. Apparently they knew it wouldn't be long before we'd put them to good use. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

I mentioned in my last post that Connor had gotten a cold, which he's still battling, and then of course two days later I got a stomach bug. This is the 2nd time in about 5 weeks. What gives?

I won't elaborate but let me just say the worst part of it was that Saturday morning ended my 12 year glorious streak of not throwing up...the last time it happened was Superbowl Sunday 1999 - I was at dinner with my high school swim team and had to have my mom come pick me up (hello 10th grade I couldn't even drive yet) about 7 minutes before kickoff and then we didn't even make it home...I was puking on the side of the highway. I really do hate throwing up and would do anything to avoid it...but there are much worse things in life so I'm done reminiscing/wallowing now!

Back to Connor's doctor. Thank GOD the cold was not in his chest or ears, so no big worries. I had to fill out a questionnaire about all the delightful things he does or does not do at this point in his little life. At the beginning it says, "Please take the time to try each activity with your child before marking your answer." The survey looks a little like this...

"Does your baby chuckle softly?" __Yes __Sometimes __Not Yet

I was told I should fill it out while waiting for the doctor. There's at least 25 questions like this. I'm supposed to make Connor "chuckle softly" before I can answer that? Gee whiz!

So I ask the nurse, "Am I supposed to really try these things with him before answering?" (while he's in his diaper at the doctor's office either in my lap or laying on the crunchy white sheet?). She laughs, "No, no, you can just answer if you've ever seen him do those things." She must've thought I was a total bimbo...but listen, I'm a pretty good reader, and I tend to follow instructions, and that is clearly what it said to do. Maybe they need to make a slight adjustment on those forms!

Okay I'm getting a little long-winded here sorry. So we saw our awesome pediatrician and she asked me if he was rolling, tracking, etc. etc. and then she asked if he reached for or batted at anything over his head and of course I tell her that he loves those arches and how I put him down for 5 seconds and he grabs the monkey off and bites it and she makes this face and says, "He grabs and puts things into his mouth?! That's a 6 month skill!" So in my mind I think, "Psh, he's been doing that for a month...and...Go Connor go Connor go!" but I just say, "Yeah!" Just watch though...he won't walk til he's 2 but he'll be the best kid in town at putting things in his mouth (hehe kidding kidding)! Then while the doc was trying to look at his nose, eyes, ears, etc. he's grabbing her shirt, her stethoscope, her look in the ears thing (Jill! Are you reading this?! I need the only doctor in my family to tell me what that is called!)...pretty much anything he can get his hands on. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing but he was giving her a hard time and finally I had to hold his hands while he lurched his head away from her - she is super gentle and was just trying to check his ears but he was not thrilled at all.

He calmed down after that episode and then the nurse came in to do his immunizations and one of them was given orally in a little squeeze tube (I wish all of them were). She said, "I'll just try a little first, I know it tastes bad." So she squeezes a little into his mouth and next thing I know he grabs her hand with both of his hands and pulls it towards his mouth like, "YUM! Lemme try some more of THAT!" and she said, "Whoa! Okay! I'll let you do it, I'll just squeeze!" Hahaha he cracks me up. Unfortunately then she gave him a shot in each adorable thigh and it was an immediate 180 from smiles to screams. Oh well, like I said, those awesome shots stink.

If you scrolled down to find a picture I don't have any today. Connor and I send you hugs and kisses instead, come back another day! :)

4 Months!

Hello my friends. Yesterday, 1/19/11, I turned 4 months old.

This is serious stuff - that's 1/3 of a year!

Just kiddin'!

I'm still a big boy with a big belly and I love to play with my daddy!

I also like flying and learning about music with mommy!

On my 4 month birthday, we got to have a playdate. There were lots of girls there - including Miss Kylie, who is only about 2 1/2 months younger than me!

She's one long girl, but I'm not worried.

I make up for length in thigh circumference.

We forgot to get a picture with everyone before some kids started to leave.

Here were mom's not-so-successful attempts at getting everyone in!

"Rock the baby!" Levi was taking good care of Kylie.

But just so you know Levi, you're closer to Grayson's age. ;)

The play date really wore me out!

After a nap, we went to choir practice for some singing! Mr. Phil was able to be there and it was great to hear his voice.

When we got home, I had a bath (which I love, duh) and got ready for bed. For the past week or so, Mom and Dad have been so happy because I've been sleeping about 10 hours per night! Sadly, last night Mom heard me breathing through the monitor with a very stuffy nose...then it was bugging me so much that I woke up in the middle of the night and could not sleep for another few hours til Mom sat me upright in my rocker to sleep for a while more. Today I felt a little better but still stuffy...hopefully that will go away soon!

It wore me out...playing one minute, asleep the next!

I didn't have my 4 month appointment yet but I'll let you know my "stats" when I do!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Connor

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to my AUNTIE LAURA! I love her!

Flirting

Did I mention that a few weeks ago I went to pick up Connor from the church nursery and I was told he was flirting? Apparently he was falling asleep and they laid him down in a crib...so he decided to pop open his eyes and coo through the crib slats at a baby girl in an exersaucer near by. We are already in trouble...

Hahaha I love it. We got to meet sweet baby Allie a few days ago - she was born on Christmas! I told Connor "no flirting" and he didn't make a peep...just made some eyes at her. Good thing she was sound asleep! :)

Mommy and Baby

So adorable! Doesn't Shelley look awesome too?!

"What, Mom? I'm being good!"

So sweet...and I think they will have fun together for sure!