It seems silly to be writing about Halloween in the middle of January, but I think my last post left off right before then. I had high hopes of being one of those moms who makes all of her kids' costumes. I could even envision a few ideas. Unfortunately, I'm not overly creative or crafty, and before I knew it Ryan and I found ourselves in the middle of Halloween hell at Party City about two weeks before Halloween. Since Connor was only 17 months, I didn't want to put him in a cumbersome, complicated costume, and I figured the daycare workers would appreciate something simple as well. He was a late walker, and for the first month or two after he started he looked just like Frankenstein with his arms outstretched and off-balance gait, so we wanted to get him a Frankenstein costume but sadly they were out of his size so our second choice was a bad ass little biker dude. It was so much cuter on him than I imagined, and it was an easy costume to get in and out of!
It was a chilly, rainy day on Halloween so they daycare parade was held indoors and then his class had a little party. I left work for about 45 minutes so I could go see it and Connor's costume was definitely one of the cutest (although the cheese curls and cookie crumbs all over his face made him less than intimidating):
Because it was raining (and because I did not want to be one of those moms who takes her obviously too young to eat a snickers bar child trick-or-treating in hopes of getting candy for herself) we didn't go out at night. Instead, we sat on the porch and handed out candy. Okay, well, Connor and I sat outside for about 5 minutes and then I brought him inside to give him a quick dinner and I swear 10 minutes later Ryan came in with 3 pieces of candy left (this was at approximately 6:25, and trick-or-treating hours are from 6-8) so we turned off the porch light, locked up, and ate the last three pieces of candy ourselves.
Not long after Halloween it was time to start thinking about our vacation! Ryan has taken several courses in Scottsdale, Arizona, and when he was there in the spring he signed up for one in November and suggested Connor and I come along. I had gone out with him a few years earlier and loved it but I knew this time around would be much different with a toddler! I was having anxiety attacks about our decision not to buy Connor his own seat on the plane, and just the trip in general. Ryan and I are both pretty laid-back travelers - I like to start my vacations with a nice Bloody Mary - but there was just so much to think about with a kid. We flew out of Williamsport, which was super convenient, since our flight left at 5:45am and we had a car seat and a jogging stroller in addition to our luggage! The flight to Philly was quick but we ended up sitting on the runway for an extra 20 minutes while they de-iced the plane. The woman who checked us in in Williamsport told us that the flight from Philly to Phoenix wasn't a full flight so as soon as we got to Philly I put on my best tired/stressed/inexperienced mom face and marched up to the gate agent and pretty much begged to have our seats moved to a row with a currently open middle seat. It worked and it was so nice to have that extra space. I don't know what we were thinking when we originally booked and (1) didn't buy him his own seat and (2) got two seats on the aisle across from each other. I had done a lot of reading about tips for traveling with a toddler and had purchased a bunch of new toys/games to bring out periodically to keep him entertained. After the first one (a travel sized magna-doodle), Connor decided he was much more interested in the items in the seat back pockets than anything I brought for him (I don't blame him, Sky Mall is fascinating). All standards of cleanliness and my germophobia went out the window just as long as he was being quiet - you want to lick the emergency landing instructions? Go right ahead. Drop your raisins on the floor and have a scavenger hunt? 5 second rule applies. He ended up napping for about an hour and a half and did so much better than I imagined he would for the rest of the flight. When we got to the airport, we got a porter to help me grab the luggage while Ryan went and got the rental car and soon we were headed north to Scottsdale. It was so nice to be in the warm sun! Our room wasn't ready at the hotel, so we went and got some lunch. When it still wasn't ready at the time they promised, I think I was closer to having a meltdown than Connor! After we were finally able to check in, I knew if I put Connor down for a nap he might be down for the count, so we decided to try to keep him up and walk over to the neighboring hotel for dinner. It was so nice to be able to eat outside in the middle of November! We had a great dinner but were all exhausted and all 3 of us party animals were in bed by 8pm!
The next morning Ryan left for his course and I decided to take Connor to a place I had read about called McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park - it was a beautiful day and we had a great time at the playground, walking on the trails, and riding the train (it is an exact replica of an old railroad and goes on a mile-long loop throughout the park).
Thankfully, I think Connor inherited his easy going personality from his parents and was able to easily adjust to the time change and had no problems maintaining a pretty consistent nap and sleep schedule. While it would have been nice to be able to spend the afternoons at the pool, I was pretty content to relax with a good book on the hotel room balcony while he napped in the afternoons. He also had no problems being up a little later than usual since we would often get a later start on dinner than normal by the time Ryan got back to the room after his course was finished for the day.
The next day while Ryan was at the course, I decided to make the 1/2 drive back to Phoenix to take Connor to the zoo. It was very warm, but it was a weekday so it wasn't overly crowded. I think Connor really enjoyed it, despite thinking that almost every animal was a "doggie!" The wolves I could understand. The wild boar and giraffes...not so much. My favorite was the African exhibit!
I think he looks so much like Ryan in this picture!
On our last full day in Scottsdale, we did a little window shopping in the morning (Scottsdale has some AMAZING shopping and I was actually thankful that I was pregnant and not able/willing to really buy any clothes for myself because I easily could have spent a lot of money!) and then checked out one of the four pools at our hotel in the afternoon.
He is laughing in this picture, not crying. The sun was just in his eyes.
I wasn't sure how much he would like the pool, since he really wasn't in it much over the summer and it took him a little bit to get used to it when he went in over the 4th of July at my parents' house, but he LOVED it. He had so much fun and we pretty much stayed in the water until his lips turned blue! I was hoping he would take a nap on one of the chairs under an umbrella so I could at least come back to chilly Pennsylvania with some color, but no luck. That night, we had dinner at a really neat Mexican restaurant in Old Scottsdale (okay, I won't lie. We had Mexican food 3 out of the 4 nights we were there because we don't really have very good Mexican options in Williamsport). We discovered that Connor LOVES black beans and guacamole. The kid couldn't get enough!
We left bright and early on Saturday morning to head back to the airport. I did not have high hopes about being as lucky as the flight out to AZ, but even with several standby passengers we managed to get our seats moved to the very last row where there was one open middle seat. I was so thankful, especially since Connor must have been tuckered out from all the excitement of the past few days that he stretched out on that middle seat and napped for about 1/2 of the flight.
Ryan's comment was "at least my beer belly is good for something!"
We got home around 8pm on Saturday night. We had a great time, but I was really glad to be home and have all day Sunday to relax, do laundry, etc. This trip made me realize how lucky we are to have such an easy going, pleasant kid. He exceeded my expectations about how well he would hold up, adjust, etc.
The holidays were right around the corner after we got back from vacation. Connor and I went to my parents house for Thanksgiving and Ryan stayed here in Williamsport to have Thanksgiving dinner with his family and get started on hunting season. It was a nice, quite holiday and I appreciated not having to worry about cleaning the house and hosting/cooking for two major holidays in one month! After Thanksgiving, things seemed to kick into high gear - the end of the year is always our busiest time at work and it is also peak hunting season for Ryan, so it seems to be a little stressful getting everything done AND getting in the Christmas spirit! We got our Christmas tree at Brown's Tree Farm's annual tree picking party and decorated it a few days later.
Despite the hectic time of year, we managed to get everything together, the house cleaned and decorated, presents wrapped, prime rib cooked, etc. I don't have a ton of pictures from any of the holidays because we were so busy! I will have to remember to do better next year. Connor wasn't as in to the present opening as I thought he would be. I guess he is still a little too young to appreciate it. Santa came to day care and his teacher said he wouldn't even entertain the idea of sitting on his lap! He is a very lucky little boy though - got thoroughly spoiled with gifts. Our big gift to him was a train table. I stupidly waited until Christmas Eve to try to put it together, so while Ryan was prepping our prime rib dinner for the next day, I got to work. It only took me two and a half full showings (i.e. 5 hours!) of A Christmas Story to put it together, but I was so impressed with the end result and it is something that Connor (and hopefully his little brother or sister) will be able to enjoy for many years to come.
My Christmas present to Ryan was tickets to the Steelers vs. Browns game on December 29th. My parents came up and watched Connor on Saturday so we could go a day early and hang out in Pittsburgh. We had a great time exploring the city a bit on Saturday night. On Sunday it rained from the minute we got up until the
minute we got home, and it was very cold, but it was still a neat experience. I never thought my first NFL game would be the Steelers and not the Eagles, and because it was so rainy I had to wear a Penn State poncho, so that's why I don't have any pictures to post!
Things seem to have slowed down a tiny bit in the new year. Connor got his first real haircut a couple weeks ago and he looks so cute! He is definitely not a baby any more and after his haircut he certainly looks like a little boy.
Now that 2014 is in full swing, we are starting to think about the arrival of Baby Linn #2. For various reasons we are no longer moving to the house in Hughesville as previously planned, and since it is only about 3 months until my due date, we are figuring that we will be in our current house at least when the baby comes and probably for the foreseeable future after that. We have some things we would want/need to do before we would list it for sale again, but of course I'm always checking out the real estate websites in case something comes up. We are lucky that we have plenty of room in this house, even though the layout is not ideal for little kids, so in addition to getting done what we will need to do in order to get it ready to sell, I'm spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to make it more kid friendly without having to do major renovations for while we're still living here. I really wish we were more handy and creative around the house!
