Proof Of The Tooth

As promised, i am posting pics of Connor's cute little tooth. he finally decided to let me get some pictures without completely flipping out that i was paying attention to the tooth. It's pretty cute, and hopefully we'll see some more soon!

A Tooth Appears

Connor FINALLY got his first tooth! i made the discovery on Friday the 13th. i was putting orajel on his gums during our afternoon playtime and he BIT me! and i was pleasantly surprised by the fact that there was actually something sharp in there to bite with... he now has one cute little tooth on the bottom! we are hoping to see some more soon since he will not stop biting things and has been extremely fussy. he also had a fever over 100 on Sunday and there were no cold symptoms or anything other than he was occasionally touching his ear. we haven't wanted to jump the gun and just take him to the doctor since we've heard teething will sometimes cause jaw pain that goes to the ear. i have been watching him closely and he seems to be just fine now that the fever is gone, besides sneezing sometimes. but i've been sneezing my head off too from allergies with all the flowers blooming round here, so i'm guessing that is the cause. he won't hold still long enough for a cute picture to share, so that will just have to wait for another time. lots of love to you all!

Getting Up To Speed

i feel like i have gotten very behind on my blogging and it is about time i caught up! Connor and i have started trying to get out of the house more lately and we go to the park, the library, and the pool each week. Over Conference weekend i have a huge guilt trip over the fact that i felt like i needed to get my priorities straight and try to focus on the things that are most important in life and not waste so much time. so because of that, it seems each day is full with different activities. i don't have much spare time, but i feel its better that way. Connor seems to really be enjoying the outings out of the house despite the heat of Arizona. Its already been in the 90's multiple times and its very different from Idaho weather, and its weirding me out again like it has since we moved. And I've been doing short workouts every day (well it isn't much of a work out...its more like a short 20 minute exercise) and it has been helping me to have more energy everyday. we are definently having fun and keeping busy! i know a picture says a thousands words, so instead of boring you all with details of every fun thing we have done lately, i'll just show you in a bit. :)

We are also in the process of trying to figure out what kind of formula Connor will take, and i have to admit, its not going so well. He threw up after taking regular formula for sensitive stomachs, and he stubbornly refuses soy formula. we are kind of at a loss as of what to do. and Connor was never willing to take a bottle, so i worry he doesn't drink enough every day to give him the nutrients he needs. But i know it is time to wean him, and he doesn't like that idea so much. Although i have been very impressed that he has given up nursing himself to sleep. The last week i've been trying to teach him to go to sleep on his own. The first few tries were HORRIBLE with nearly an hour of screaming and tons of having to go in and calm him down, and all he wanted was to nurse and would cry and cry for it. But tonight he went straight to sleep on the first try, and didn't even cry! i was so proud of my little boy! i hope he keeps it up!!! i think the whole weaning process will be much easier when he doesn't rely on it to fall asleep! we are just crossing our fingers we will find the right thing for him that won't make him sick or have to literally be forced down him.

This last week Connor has also started walking full-time. He rarely crawls now, and has started to run. And his climbing skills have improved immensely. he can climb onto the couch and also into the tub all by himself. and he loves to climb on the box we have in front out the computer to block the power button from him. i feel like he has grown so much in just a week! he loves to put things into buckets and dump them out. He LOVES to throw things and show off how strong he is. and he has also recently discovered how to take the caps off of bottles and things. just this morning he dumped an entire bottle of hand sanitizer all over the floor while my back was turned! and boy was he proud of himself! Connor has such a little attitude and loves to be naughty and watch for the reaction. Lately when he is being naughty he smiles and scrunches his nose up and squeezes his eyes closed with a big cheesy smile. it ends up being so cute i can't even growl at him. He has started an independent phase where he doesn't want to do anything i tell him to, or eat anything i am holding for him, and he will NOT drink anything if i hand it to him or touch it. He wants to do it all by himself, and gives me a look that says "i'm a big boy mom, leave me alone, i can do it!" wonder where he got that attitude???? lol. but we sure love him.

Taking a walk to the library!

worn out from too much fun!

showing off climbing skills

being proud of himself for making a mess

hanging at the park

loving the swings

playing trains with daddy

climbing on daddy

found this crown from the cake of his baby shower...good fit!

pool time!

this is a daily occurrence....

Easter

Since it was Connor's first Easter we decided to keep it simple and fun. he wasn't really into hunting for easter eggs, he just wanted to hold one and would ignore the others. but that's not the whole point of Easter anyways so its ok! I made a yummy early dinner to eat before Church (we have 1 pm church) of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy and carrots. i missed Easter with my family, but it was relaxing because Connor didn't understand really what was going on. but he has enjoyed the truck that came in his easter basket! since he didn't get any candy we figured he needed a fun toy. and of course both mommy and connor needed a movie. and Connor got to open some presents from his Grandma and Grandpa West! We have been spending some time enjoying all those things. we  made sure to take some pictures to share with our loved ones! i think the older Connor gets, the more we will enjoy it. :)

Two Years Down, Forever To Go

Tuesday was our two year anniversary! i can hardly believe how quickly time has passed! he got the night off of work to spend with me and we went out to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and saw the Hunger Games. and we bought a new tv and a wii!!! i feel very spoiled! i felt a little bit guilty about spending so much money, but like the sweet guy he is, he made me feel better by saying "you're worth it." awwwww what a sweetheart! time sure flies when you're having fun! these last two years have been the best of my life, and i can't wait to spend the rest of eternity together!

Spring Break

As we anticipated, we had a blast in Idaho during Caleb's spring break!!! we got to spend time with each one of our family members, and even got to see a couple friends! Connor was perfectly well behaved on our flight there, and didn't scream until we were on our way to my parent's house, and that was due to the fact that he was sooooooo done with being in his carseat! lol the first day we were there we got to do a super fun thing and go to the zoo!!! my entire family went, plus Caleb's mom and siblings! it was seriously the funnest thing ever. and we got tons of pictures! i'll just show a few, but if you want to see more there is always my facebook page to visit.

Sunday we got to take new family pictures with my whole family, and it was quite exciting because it had been nearly a year and a half since we had all been in the same place at the same time!

Other fun things we got to do while there include shopping, doing hair, celebrating Cami's sweet 16, having an early 1st birthday for Eli and Connor, and going to see the highschool play, West Side Story, which both Michael and Cami were in. it was so fun to watch them! they really did a great job. it was such a relaxing week for us since i didn't over schedule us this trip and it really felt like a much needed vacation. Caleb even got to see two friends from Utah that came up to see him! we were so happy we got to go see all of our family members! it was definitely a great spring break!

Life

we have been doing wonderfully this last week. and we are SO EXCITED because we are taking Connor to idaho on friday for spring break!!! we will be there for a whole week and we're so excited to see everyone!!!! its all I've thought about pretty much the last couple of days. we can't wait!!!!

we have been trying to make sure we are getting everything done that we need to before our trip. we are flying, but we still felt it was important to get our car all fixed up on repairs since we got our tax return. we had to buy some new tires last week due to a little incident of running over some big chunk of metal. and when i say chunk i really mean it, this was not a nail....the guys at the tire center couldn't even get it out to get a look at it, so it was definitely unrepairable and we needed a replacement. luckily with our return we got we were able to get two new tires and have the car in good working order again. atleast that's what we thought. haha. that was just the calm before the storm it seems. we took the car in for an oil change today and also had them check on this whining sound the car has been making, which we were told the last time we were in there was because of a battery that was going bad. but this time the guy didn't even mention the battery and told us we have two major problems, and one needs to be fixed asap before the problem worsens. apparently our AC compressor is leaking badly and that's what part of the sound is from, and the other half of it is because our power steering is going out and is also leaking. the compressor is the major problem, but its also the more pricey one and we just don't have $2000 laying around. would be nice if we did huh???? lol. but despite the frustration of the newly discovered car troubles we are not letting it get to us and drag down the excitement about our trip.

Connor has been into everything lately! he takes more and more steps everyday, and i can't wait to show him off to his grandma's! he is one proud boy of his walking! and he has started to love to bounce. and instead of just babbling and saying mamma and dadda he has started to talk and chatter in his own little language. he loooooves to communicate with me. he definitely has a mind of his own and knows what he does and does NOT want, and he's not afraid to tell me so! he looooves his bath and constantly stands up and claps and then plops himself down to splash. he has developed a new fondness for eating bananas, and especially loves smashing it into his hair and every crevice of his body as he possibly can. he is very much enjoying his new bedroom, and loves when we play in there before bedtime. we have just recently cut him down to 1 nap a day instead of 2 because he had decided that he didn't need to go to bed until midnight when he had both, and mommy just couldn't take it! so we have altered his bedtime routine, and now i usually have him down for the night by 9:30, and takes his nap around 2. it is much better than before, but he is still fighting it. i'd really like his bedtime to be earlier but i'm taking what i can get for now lol  i'm pretty sure he's still trying to get used to sleeping in his own room without mom and dad, since he has been waking up multiple times during the night ever since the move. its a work in progress, but i'm feeling we're moving forward with it. it will be nice once he is on a schedule again! i have a few cute videos i've taken of him recently to share :) the first two were taken on my old phone so i'm sorry if they freeze. its not you, its the video! but they were just too cute to not post :)

this last week i took Connor out to the new pool for the first time. the pool is heated to about 80 degrees so it wasn't too cold for him, and i was very excited about it! i invited my friend Marne and her kids over to swim with us too. i only had Connor in the pool like 5ish minutes because there was no sun shinning and he was getting splashed on a bit and i didn't want him getting too cold, but he seemed to be very excited and curious. we sat in the hot tub for quite a while and relaxed. well, Connor wasn't exactly in the hot tub, it was more just me and occasionally letting his feet in. i didn't want him roasting since he is such a little guy!!! here's a pic.

Caleb had drill this last weekend and connor missed him horrible. he was so excited to see him when he came home! and when Caleb was packing Connor even helped him. it was ridiculously cute, so i couldn't help myself, i took a pic. he's such a cutie!!!! hopefully all his cuteness is just making everyone want to give him a big squishy hug, cuz we can't wait to bring him to see everyone!!!!! yay!