Auntie Laura and Pumpkin "Patch"

Connor likes to be held - and I totally understand. If you could be cuddled all the time, wouldn't you? I am trying to see if he will begin to like some things, like his swing, so that he will be entertained and stimulated but also so I can get some other things done. He definitely likes being in his stroller and we take tons of walks - although today we took our first walk where he decided to start fussing and wouldn't calm down. We were about 10 minutes away from the house and I didn't know what to do - even when I took him out of the stroller and held him while walking he still wailed. So he cried all the way back and as soon as we got inside and I picked him up, he was fine - go figure - while the whole neighborhood thought I was abusing my baby! I guess when your only means of communicating is crying, you might choose to do so at any time...

He did about 15 minutes straight in the swing earlier this week...and then another day I tried laying him in his crib just to "test it out". Thanks for the snugglies Carey and Candee!

He has been sleeping in his pack and play bassinet next to our bed. His doctor okayed sleeping on his side, as long as his arms weren't swaddled in and we propped him up with some rolled up receiving blankets. This has been the only way that he would sleep for longer than 20 minutes in his first 3 weeks of life (besides sleeping in someone's arms). I began to worry that without being wedged into the bassinet on his side, he would never sleep any other way. I know that when we travel and stay with our parents, he will stay in a portable crib and we should really be able to put him on his back - as well as wanting him to be able to sleep in his own crib and room here. So...the past two nights I have tried giving him that "smooshed" feeling by swaddling him with his arms in and putting him on his back - and he's done great for two nights! He has slept for 3-4 hours in his first stretch, and then 2-3 hours for the next two chunks of the night. A few times he has been able to sneak one arm out of the swaddle as he is waking up and fussing - so we've been calling him "Houdini" with his one little arm magically out and flailing around! I do like to let him be able to get at his hands because he attempts to suck his fingers a lot...when he is totally swaddled I have to give him the pacifier quite a few times if he is looking for something to suck on. We'll be trying the crib at night time soon!

Well, once again Connor and I trekked out to the airport and had slight trauma - just a couple cars slamming on their brakes on the highway...I slammed on mine behind them and felt the anti-lock kick in and then looked in terror in my rear view mirror to see a pick-up truck coming up on us very quickly. In that split second my heart about stopped with Connor in the backseat and feeling that we were inevitably going to be slammed, when the truck driver realized we were stopped and also slammed on his breaks and quickly swung out to the neighboring lane, missing us by inches and thankfully not slamming into anything else. I caught my breath, thanked God for our safety, called Jonathan just to say we loved him and update him, and continued on. Isn't it interesting how 30 seconds can make you think more about what you're doing with an hour, a day, or your life???

We made it to the airport and picked up Auntie Laura! She took her fall break to come see her new nephew, even going to an early morning practice and driving all the way from her college to Baltimore to get a flight down here. I got to chauffeur while Laura rode in the back to get to know Connor right away! He did a lot of sleeping last night but he's been showing off his lungs for her today.

We had been looking forward to picking a pumpkin with our baby, sad that we hadn't been able to do any apple picking this year. The four of us (sorry Otto, no dogs allowed) headed out to a pumpkin patch/farm about 1/2 hour away from us. On the way, we passed a "pumpkin patch" (a roadside stand with pumpkins) and I said, "Uh oh, I hope we actually get to PICK pumpkins at this farm!" We got there, parked, put Connor in the baby carrier with Aunt Laura and made sure he was shielded from the sun.

We saw some pumpkins sitting on the ground and the ticket line for the other activities (hay ride, corn maze, etc...we weren't going to spend the big bucks on that). Jonathan went up to the window and said, "Is the pumpkin patch those pumpkins over there?" The girl said, "Yup." Ha! There were some greens planted in the ground but the pumpkins were not actually connected. We made the best of it and I think Connor still had a great first pumpkin picking experience - we had fun with him!

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, sharing stories, talking about where my smart sister should go to law school, and loving on Connor - who was surprisingly cranky! He did spend some time on his tummy using the Boppy pillow - we were all cheering him on as he lifted his head quite a bit - and laughed with him when he got a bobble head effect when he was tired. It was a great day!