The Ending of a Great Year

i can hardly beleive that tomorrow starts the new year! this year has gone by faster than i thought possible! i figured in honor of that, i'd do a little summary of all the major events that have happened this year for us. i know anyone who got one of our Christmas cards is probably already aware of it all. but i'm including pictures in this one! so don't just pass over it in boredom :) and i might add in fun stuff i didn't even mention before! here goes nothing!

January - Caleb left for Basic Training. Jessica came to stay with me for a few months! She took pictures of us the night before he left.

 


February - My birthday passed without Caleb, and i was sad. but i worked hard and kept busy. and i wrote him a letter every single day.

March - Caleb and i had our first anniversary! i thought it would be miserable, but Caleb secretly had Jessica buy me roses to surprise me with! and she cut out what he wanted her to write on the card so it was in his handwriting :) and i even got a phone call from him :)

April - I got to fly to South Carolina for Caleb's graduation and then drive him to his AIT in Georgia! it was very exciting to see him again!

 

May - probably the most exciting event of our year, CONNOR WAS BORN! my mommy was there with me for it.Caleb came home memorial day weekend to meet him. :)

          

June - My bestest cousin Bethy came to visit me!



July - nothing too eventful happened. except for the fact that i was able to fit back into my pre-pregnancy jeans. and that was exciting for me lol. we were anxiously awaiting Caleb's return home.

August - Caleb graduated as a Distinguished Honors Graduate and FINALLY came home!

  

September - We went to Idaho to visit our families and be in my friend's wedding! Caleb's family met Connor for the first time, as well as my siblings and all our grandparents. Connor and his cousin Eli got to meet! (they are only 6 weeks apart!). Caleb was ordained. and we did Connor's baby blessing! it was a VERY busy trip!

Connor's Baby Blessing                                          Eli and Connor
                      

October - Connor and i flew to Idaho for my cousin Bethy's wedding!

Before the Reception                                              On the Airplane

November - Caleb and i went throught the temple for the first time. We were sealed together, and to Connor, for time and all eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple!

 December - Connor's very first Christmas! we missed our families alot, but were glad to atleast be with eachother.

More pictures of this are on a different blog entry.

      In Christmas PJ's      Looking Cute After Presents

Wishing Everyone A Happy New Year!!!! can't wait to see what's in store for us in 2012! it was a pretty awesome 2011! :)

First Time At The Park

Today i took Connor to the park for the very first time! i had so much fun, but he didn't seem too impressed lol. it was nearly 70 outside and beautiful. he's been teething really bad and was throwing the biggest tantrums today. i wanted to cry cuz everything i tried didn't help. but while we were at the park he didn't cry, so for me it was a nice break. he didn't even make a single sound the whole time.... but he didn't smile at all either. so i was having fun, but i'm not sure what he was having. but, i got some cute pictures to share. he was most interested in playing in the sand, thats when he was the most animated. but i definently enjoyed the slide. but my favorite picture i got has the be the swing one :). such a cute little guy! he's wearing the cute outfit he got for Christmas from his cousin Eli! love him!

I'm thinking i will have to take him to the park alot more often. and hopefully next time he'll enjoy it more! maybe we'll even convince Caleb to come along with us. the park is just down the street from our apartments. super convenient for us, so i've got no excuse not to take him and have some fun! :)

Connor's First Christmas!!!

We started off our Christmas time with our ward party on the 17th. Caleb had to work, so just Connor and i went. we had lots of fun, and Connor wasn't scared of Santa at all and tried to take his glasses right off his face haha

We had an AMAZING Christmas day! Caleb really spoiled us this year! He got me a Canon Rebel, and i have been thouroughly enjoying using it to capture all the cute little things Connor does! We got Connor ALOT of presents lol as well as all his grandparents sent him presents, and his great-grandparents. So, needless to say, our little guy got plently spoiled! Caleb got lots of clothes, plus a few fun things.We started off our Christmas by making a gingerbread train on Christmas eve, and letting Connor open one gift (which was of course, Christmas pj's!) we ended up staying up kinda late just
spending some time as a family, since Caleb had work on Christmas evening.


Then the next morning our sacrament meeting started at 9, but i was up at 7 wishing my boys were up to open presents! didn't happen though haha. i had to wait patiently til after church! luckily it went by fast :) we had a blast watching Connor open his gifts, even though he'd get really mad at us for taking away the new toy after it was opened and trying to give him another gift to open. he didn't like that idea so much. we helped him open most of the gifts, but he did open a few all by himself! he loves all his new fun toys, and mommy is really excited about his cute new winter clothes! we got to talk to both our families on the phone, and it made me feel a little bit less far away from them! i made us a nice meal before Caleb had work, which was meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy and corn. we tried to make it a nice memorable christmas since it was our little guy's very first! hopefully we succeded. all-in-all, it was a great day :) we hope everyone else had a great one too! i took some pictures for you all to enjoy! a couple of them i took today while Connor was playing, just fyi. :)

Bath Time!

Connor loves his baths! Lately he's obsessed with his little whale his favorite cousin Eli gave him. He insists on chewing on it! I'm usually not crazy about showing bathtime pics/videos, but i figured he was decently covered, so it won't be humiliating for him when he grows up haha. The last time i gave him a bath he tried climbing out of the tub! he's getting so big! its probably about time i just gave up on his little tub and bathed him in the big tub. but it DOES keeps him from hitting his head. He is getting to be at such a fun age! so energetic and giggly and smiley! we are loving every minute of it! since he's ear has been hurting him he hasn't been splashing in the tub lately, and i have to admit, it makes clean up lots easier for mommy!!!

Playing In The Crib

Every day for the past week i've found Connor standing and playing in his crib after naps. The video and pictures i've got are too cute not to share!

 

These are from today. He was soooo funny to watch! i made Caleb help me lower his mattress down so he wouldn't fall out!

A Crawling Cutie

As promised, i got a little video of our boy doing his cute little crawl! I call it the "crippled crawl" because it cracks me up how he sticks his leg to the side to do it. but he's so darn cute! Today he got even better at it, and crawled clear across the room!

And, i have a cute bonus for you all! Connor keeps trying to do a bear crawl, and it makes me laugh so hard! i got a really short clip of it. :)

 

And, because i got some super cute pictures of his crawling on another day, here's a couple of them :)

first he wasn't quite so happy

 

then he was adorable

When Daddy came home from work we showed him how well Connor is doing! he got all the way across the room to him!

A Sick Little Boy

i have this horrible "tradition" of always ending up sick for Christmas. this year seems to be no exception, besides the fact that its Connor who is sick instead of me. poor little guy :( this last week he caught a yucky yucky cold. he had a stuffed up nose with yucky green snot and a fever for 3 days, and he was sooo fussy. my little guy rarely cries and is never clingy, so i knew something was up. he didn't get better as the week went by so i was concerned something worse was happening. i'm glad i followed my gut feeling because the cold ended up developing an ear infection :( i took him to his doctor's yesterday, so he is now on meds til he's all better! its been so sad for me to watch him so miserable! and today MY ear has started hurting too! i'm hopeful i'm just having weird sympathy pain and not getting my own ear infection. but man does it hurt! no wonder my little boy has been so uncomfortable!!! he is one meds for the next week, so my pathetic tradition continues on, and he'll most likely still be sick over christmas. :( but, on a side note, he's now over 18 lbs. and he's continuing to work on his crawling. i'm working on getting a video of it to post for you all to see. :)

A Round of Applause!!!

Give a round of applause for.....
                               A little boy that can clap!!!!!!!


Connor has started clapping and its the cutest thing ever! i've been trying very hard to catch it on camera, but as soon as i would get the camera going he would stop :(. but, i ended up being super sneaky, and i GOT it!!!! It's too cute to not share with the world. Go ahead, admire.

Pretty darn cute huh????? Sorry for the quality. i had to sneak it on my phone. But, it doesn't change the fact that he's ridiculously adorable! Get's cuter every day too! :) We just love him!!!

A Doctot's Appointment and A Present Thief

We finally had Connor's six month check-up, and our little guy is one big boy! he is in the 50th percentile of weight at 17.6 lbs and in the 95th percentile (WOW!) in height at 28 1/2 inches! we are pleased to say that he has been doing very well, and his doc seemed very impressed. and we did ask her about his little hives episode, and she said there's a possibility he may have some kind of a dairy intolerance, but it also could just be because his body wasn't ready to digest it. so, we're supposed to keep him away from the dairy til about 9 months, then try again and see if anything happens. and as far as his hives coming and going after nursing, she said its most likely because hives take a while to go away after they show-up. we're being much more careful of what we let him taste now. we're hopeful it really is nothing though! everyone cross your fingers for us!

Connor hit a big milestone this week! he has been trying to stand using things to pull himself up, and on Sunday he actually did it!!! he was SO proud of himself! he seems to be much more interested in it than crawling, but he has also made drastic improvements with his crawling. its pretty obvious he loves being more mobile and being a big boy! we love watching him play and babble to himself. :) sorry its such a blurry picture... i was worried he'd loose his balance and fall so i snapped one really quick without checking to see how it looked haha.



He still loves his baby food, and loves his fluffy blankies, and especially loves his two fingers for sucking on! he hates bottles unless they've got yummy juice, and we even got him a sippy cup he's been very enthusiastic about. can't believe how fast our little boy is growing up!!!


Because of Connor's new-found mobility, we had a little present thief incident yesterday. :) he decided that since mommy's back was turned it would be a good idea to scope out those cool looking things under that weird tree, and managed to get himself over there and look around. he was handling a couple DVD's at first, and when i peeked around the corner to see what he was up to i saw him pick up a little gift (that happened to be his) and he of course shook it. well, this toy was a rattle, and you should have seen the excitement in his eyes when he heard it make fun sounds instead of nothing! i had to grab the camera and take some pictures cuz it was the cutest thing ever!


He would NOT put it down and cried when i took it away. Of course later when i turned my back again he managed to get back over there and get it. and this time, he succedded in ripping it open. and man was he proud! Caleb had picked out that present for him, so when i told him Connor had got it open he said to just let him have it. It is now one of his favorite toys, and he gets upset when i try to make him put it down. so, here's the little cutie with his new toy. he wasn't in a smiley mood as you can tell, but in my opinion, he's still a cutie :). we're pretty excited for christmas to get here now that we know he does a pretty good job opening his own gifts!!!!