Not Such a Baby Anymore

Connor had his 6 month doctor's appointment this week. Here are his stats:

He weighs 17 lbs. 9 oz., which is the 42nd percentile (he gained 1 lbs. 9 oz. since his 4 month appt. and 8 lbs. 13 oz. since birth)

He is 27", which is the 61st percentile (he grew 0.5" since his 4 month appt. and 6.5 inches since birth)

His percentages went down a bit since his last appointment but the nurse practitioner he sees was not at all concerned. In fact, she said he looks and sounds perfect! He got 4 shots this time around - the three vaccines he got last time plus a flu shot. They double teamed him - 2 nurses, 2 shots in each leg so it was pretty quick. His face turned so red, but he only cried for a few seconds. Thankfully, this round didn't seem to have nearly the effect as the last time - he was a little sleepier than normal during the day but they didn't cause him to have a fever. Actually, he was in such a good mood on Wednesday night that he had us both laughing - wide awak, chatty as ever, and ready to play at bedtime.

In other news, my baby isn't so much of a baby any more. He is sitting up pretty well unsupported. He's not crawling yet, but you can tell he's tryin to figure it out. When he's on his tummy, he kicks his legs and moves his arms in an army style - as soon as he can figure out how to get his legs up underneath him, he'll be on the move! We've also got at least one, maybe two, teeth which have broken through in the last week or so.

Not only is he handsome, he's also smart. He likes to read:

 

 

And is  making friends (you can't tell from this picture, but he was chatting up a storm with the hippo):

 



This afternoon I decided to put the high chair together and try it out. We kept telling him he was in his big boy chair:

 

 

Yesterday I made roasted sweet potatoes. They seem to be his favorite food so far.

This week Santa is coming to Bostleys. I am anxious to hear how he does meeting him. I imagine he'll probably just try to eat his beard. I hope they get a good picture. I am a bad mom but just have not had time to go get real pictures taken with the mall Santa (nor have I really wanted to pay $22.99 for said pictures). I would love to run over to Bostleys while Santa is there just to see him, but we are going to be so busy at work this week I don't think I'll even have time to run to the bathroom, so I guess I'll save those "get out of jail free" cards for when he's a little older and will actually be able to appreciate me being there!

Deck the Halls

Last weekend I fnally got around to getting the Christmas decorations out of the attic. We don't go overboard with the decorations since the dogs will eat anything that isn't displayed up high. For example, a few years ago I bought these really neat window candles that are battery powered. They turn on at a certain time every day and then automatically turn off 6 hours later. If you've ever seen our house, you know we have A LOT of windows. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out that I had to line up all of the candles on the dining room table on the first day of the season and turn them all on at the same time at 4pm so when they were in the windows they would all turn on and off every night at the same time. Anyway, pretty much every day when I would get home from work I would find one of the candles formerly in the downstairs windows chewed up on the floor. We have about 1/3 of the amount that we started with and I didn't even bother to put those in the windows this year. I did put up my second and third most treasured Christmas decorations though:

Both were made by my Granny, who was a very talented ceramics artist. She used to put her initials and the year on the bottom of every piece she made.The mice were made the year I was born. I'm not sure what year she made the tree, but I do know that pretty much every family member has one. I did not get out my most treasured Christmas decoration this year, which is the ceramic Christmas village and model train set that my grandparents made and which was left to me when my grandfather passed away a couple years ago. It reminds me of some very special memories growing up. I have been hesitant to set it up, knowing how rough the dogs play and how curious they are around the tree. I know it won't get any less dangerous over the next few years when Connor and any future Baby Linns are poking around the tree, but thankfully when we are in our new house next year we will (1) live across the street from a Christmas tree farm and can have multiple trees and (2) there is a perfect room with french doors that we can close to keep the dogs/kids away from the tree so I'll finally be able to set it up.

It was fun to decorate the tree this year. Last year we didn't even get a tree because we left on December 23rd for Puerto Rico, where we started a week long cruise. It was a different, but nice, way to spend Christmas. I prefer to be at home for the holidays, especially now that we have a family, but I would definitely go away again between Christmas (after Christmas Day) and New Years. Anyway, several years ago Ryan and I started a tradition of buying a Christmas ornament from every trip we take. My grandfather used to do that and I thought it was such a neat idea. Sometimes we forget, and sometimes it is impossibly hard to find Christmas ornaments, but we've amassed quite a collection over the years. I found ones from Vail, Aspen, Beaver Creek, San Francisco, Scottsdale, St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Martin/St. Maarten, and Ireland. I'm sure in a few years we'll be buying ones from family trips to Disney World!

I guess I should clarify a little bit. Those were formerly my most treasured Christmas decorations. I think it is safe to say each one has dropped down a notch on the list, and I have a new favorite one:

Don't worry, we didn't let him chew on the wires and glass bulbs any longer than necessary to get a good picture!

It is hard to believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. I feel like I have so much to do at work and so much to do at home before then but I am very much looking forward to having a few days off over the holidays to relax (although our social & family calendar seems to be pretty packed between now and the end of the year)!

Oh Christmas Tree!

This afternoon we went to Bill's Pick-Your-Own-Christmas-Tree Party. This year it was at the farmhouse, since he's been living there for a while. It was nice to see everything he's done with the place since the last time we were there. He said he is nearly moved out of his other house (the one we are buying) and that we will be able to start moving stuff down there soon. After everyone had some food and drinks, Bill fired up the tractor for a hayride to the field where he was going to cut the trees. We didn't actually ride the tractor because I was afraid it would be a little too cold and windy for Connor, so Ryan drove his truck up to the field. However, I swear Connor is meant to be a country boy. As soon as we got out of the car and into the fresh air he was all smiles and he literally squealed with delight when I walked him over to the tractor.

Bill generously allows all party guests to choose a Christmas tree, and it didn't take us long to find our perfect tree:

After everyone had chosen a tree, he bales them up and loads them on the truck.

 By the time ours was done, Connor was tuckered out from all the attention at the party and all the fresh air.

Being down there, out in the country where it is so pretty and peaceful, made us that much more excited to move. I was hoping we'd be moved in in time to spend Connor's first Christmas in our new house, but I don't think that is going to happen. It's probably for the best though, with hunting season and how busy I am at work right now, there's no way we could be out of hour house in 3 weeks. But, hopefully the buyers of our house will sell their current house soon so as soon as the holidays are over we can concentrate on getting packed up and moved out!

Ryan needed to head up to Blockhouse as soon as we got home in order to make it in time for dinner, so he's going to put up the tree on Tuesday when he gets home and hopefully we'll get to decorate it on Wednesday. This will be the last year we'll only have to worry about the dogs eating the ornaments - next year Connor will be able to walk and we'll have to keep his little fingers AND Lucky & Murphy's noses out of the tree!