Not-so-Recent Stats and Some Current Tidbits

Connor had his 18 month well visit in the middle of December. Actually, two days before the appointment he got sent home from daycare with a fever of 102.7 so it ended up being a combination sick and well visit. Luckily he just had a virus and, aside from a few miserable days of coughing, runny nose, and no appetite, he's a healthy, growing boy. Here are his latest stats:

• He is 33 inches (he grew 1 inch in 3 months and 12.5 inches since birth) which puts him in the 67%
• He weighs 25 lbs. 2 oz. 23 lbs. 2 ozs. (gained 2 lbs.. in 3 months and 16 lbs. 6 ozs since birth) which puts him in the 37%
• His head circumference is 18.75 inches, which puts him in the 43%

In the past couple of months he has really started developing his own personality. He's now 20 1/2 months old and I feel like every day he learns new words, tricks, expressions, etc. I am amazed at what a sponge his little mind is. I guess it is officially time to start watching my language! 

Here are a few fun facts about Connor at 20+ months:

• He is an excellent sleeper. His usual bedtime is between 7:15 and 8:00pm. He goes down without a peep and sleeps through the night. Thankfully he has not yet attempted to climb out of his crib. I plan to keep him in a crib until he overstays his welcome! Most mornings I am able to get ready for work and if he is awake he just entertains himself until I go in and get him. Other mornings I actually have to wake him up.
• He takes one long nap per day. On the weekends he usually sleeps from about 1:00 - 4:30, which is awesome, because usually by that time I am also ready for a nap! At daycare, they have mandatory rest time. Most days he sleeps for about 2 hours, although there have been days that he has not slept at all. His teachers have said on the days he doesn't sleep that he is very good and will just lay on his mat and look around. The only possible drawback to his routine of taking a long nap is that it pretty much ties me to the house all afternoon on the weekends. I'm not really complaining though because I can get stuff like laundry done and just relax. I am praying that he continues to take good naps into the summer because I'm really going to need that time to catch up on sleep if I'm up 3, 4, 5 times a night with the baby.
• He's a pretty good eater. I try to give him pretty balanced meals and not go overboard on anything processed or sugary. He has some interesting tastes, to say the least. He is really not a fan of any kind of pasta or macaroni & cheese, but give the kid a few slices of ring bologna and he'll be your best friend. Similarly, ordinary vegetables like peas and green beans don't excite him, but he will most definitely ask for more black beans, kidney beans, and cooked carrots.
• Some of his favorites for breakfast include waffles, oatmeal, and Nutri-grain cereal bars. He also goes nuts over sausage.
• For lunch he usually has a grilled cheese or a quesadilla, peanut butter & jelly sandwich, or cut up bologna and cheese, some yogurt, and bananas or blueberries or raisins.
• His favorite dinner is chicken nuggets (but only the Wegman's brand for some reason), black or kidney beans, applesauce and Fig Newtons. He also eats pizza, meatballs, steak, lima beans, and french fries.
• We're working on getting rid of the binky. He goes all day at daycare without it but he knows where we keep it in the house and it is the first thing he grabs for when we walk in the door. I know we should be fully rid of it by the time he is two but I am terrified that taking it away from him will cause him to be fussy in public or ruin his amazing sleep habits. Part of me feels we should just do it cold turkey well in advance of when the baby arrives so that hopefully if he has withdrawal he will get it out of his system and get back to a normal routine in time for me to only have one kid who doesn't sleep. The other part of me feels selfish and thinks that it is important for me to sleep well now AND we have a good dentist in the family so I should just wait because no kid ever went to kindergarten with a pacifier. 
• He's become quite the talker. He knows the following words (half of them are not pronounced fully/correctly, but we know what he means):
• Mama, Dada
• Hi, Hello, Bye-Bye
• Uh-oh
• Baby
• Shoes/socks
• Cracker/Cookie
• Banana ("Nana")
• Doggie/Puppy
• Ball/Balloon (when we are at the grocery store and he sees balloons in the checkout line, he gets very excited and won't leave you alone until you grab him one...and then he makes you pry it out of his little hands when you are ready to leave so you don't have to buy it)
• Yum
• Please ("Peas")
• Car/Truck/Train ("choo choo")
• Blocks
• More
• Red/Green/Blue/Yellow, and he can correctly identify the colors in books, toys, etc.
• Moo (when asked what sound a cow makes....also sometimes when asked what sound a dog makes)
• Eye/nose (and points to the correct body part)
• He knows a few words in sign language and uses them regularly/appropriately:
• More
• All done/all gone
• Please
• Thank you
• His favorite toys right now are any kind of blocks (he especially likes the MegaBlocks), a few select books, cars & trucks, his train table, and these bowling pins that are shaped like animals (even though he does not understand the concept of bowling and really just likes to line them up and say what color they are). Thankfully, he's not overly impressed with noisy battery operated flashing lights and annoying songs toys. Or maybe it's just me that isn't impressed with them and therefore I really try to limit his use of them.
• He loves bath time and hates having his diaper changed. 
• He LOVES dogs and has no fear of them, although he definitely prefers big dogs to small dogs. He can spot dogs and balls from a mile away and it is usually the first word he says when we come downstairs in the morning. Sometimes it amazes me how patient our dogs are with him, especially Murphy, who used to be mean and scary any time Ryan or I would try to take anything out of his mouth. 

I don't know if you can hear it on this video, but he has recently acquired this devilish laugh that he uses very appropriately...such as when he is teasing the dog.

Back in the Swing of Things

Okay, time to get serious about starting the blog back up again. My baby is getting so big so fast and he is constantly moving - exploring, learning, changing - and that makes it difficult to (1) get him to stay still long enough to get a good picture and (2) find time to actually post them on here. But, that's really no excuse, especially since I don't have any sort of "real" baby book and nearly every picture I have is on my phone and one of my biggest fears is losing it or breaking it and having all my memories erased (side note: I did figure out how to transfer photos to a thumb drive, which is stored in our safe for now, so there is a backup to my phone...I have just been too lazy to actually get many hard copies of the pictures printed). Plus, if I continue to be this bad about keeping this updated about my firstborn, this poor second kid will be completely out of luck! So, now that we've started a new year, one of my resolutions is to make sure I am much better about keeping up with my posts - my goal is more frequent, less lengthy ones. That being said, I have a lot to catch up on from the past few months, so don't expect this one to be short!

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!

A Little More Linnsane

Things are going to get a little crazy around here in about 6 months.

 

We are excited (and a little terrified) to share the news that our family is growing and Connor is going to be a big brother. My due date is April 27, 2014, which means Connor will be about a month shy of 2 years old when the new baby arrives. I am currently about 14 weeks along. This is definitely more difficult this time around with an almost 17 month old to chase after. I've been lucky in the fact that for both pregnancies I've not experienced the puking end of the morning sickness, but for several weeks I was nauseous all day, every day. I'd think that I was hungry enough to eat a full Thanksgiving dinner, but then nothing appealed to me to eat. I also got a nasty cold that lasted two weeks, had a pinched nerve in my neck that was super fun, and by about 3pm every day my arms and legs felt like spaghetti and all I wanted to do was close my office door, pretend I had a "phone conference" and take a nap. Connor very well could have been the smelly kid in daycare on several occasions because I was too tired to give him a bath the night before! Thankfully I am finally starting to feel human again (still tired ALL the time, but I'm pretty sure I've had African Sleeping Sickness for the past 10 years).

Despite all these lovely symptoms, it still didn't seem quite real until I had my first ultrasound about 2 weeks ago. I won't post pictures of the contents of my uterus, but it did confirm the following: (1) there is only one baby in there (THANK GOD!) and (2) it does not have four legs and a tail. Everything looks good so far. Like the last time, we won't find out what we're having. There was just something so exciting about waiting. I'm not easily surprised, and I think that is one of the true surprises in life. I am praying that this labor will be easier and shorter than the last time. I also plan to get an epidural a few days before my due date just to make sure it actually works when the time comes. Ryan can push me around in a wheelchair if necessary.

So, this marks 2 out of 3 football seasons, holidays, and wedding anniversaries that I won't be able to drink, but that's okay because it also means 2 out of 3 summers that I'll be off of work. We know that things will be crazy and expensive and exhausting with a newborn and a 2 year old (the thought of diapers alone is scary!), but I'm so glad that Connor and his new sibling will be so close in age. I hope they will be the best of friends. I truly don't care what we have, but if I had to guess right now, I'm thinking it will be another boy.

I wasn't kidding when I said I am tired ALL THE TIME. It is 8:53 (on a Saturday night!!!) and I am ready for bed. Guess I should enjoy it while I can!

Fall Fun

I am so happy it is fall. This is my favorite time of year - football season, pumpkin coffee, apples, homemade chili and soups, changing leaves, and sweaters. It may sound weird, but I'm not sure I'd trade Central Pennsylvania in the fall for anywhere in the world.

We've been busy the past few weekends. On the last weekend in September we took Connor to the pumpkin patch. It was probably a little bit early to go there, as they didn't actually have the hayrides to the real pumpkin patch where you could pick your own, and it was approximately 85 degrees that day, but Connor still had a blast.

 

 

 

 

The following weekend we went to the Pennsylvania Apple and Cheese Festival in Canton, which is about 45 minutes north of Williamsport. It is a nice drive and the leaves were pretty close to their peak up north. It was also very warm that weekend. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures. We were too busy picking up some local apples, cheese, apple cider, and apple dumplings to take any.

 

Last weekend we went to pick out Connor's Halloween costume. Probably not the smartest idea to go to Party City at 11am on a Saturday two weeks before Halloween, but oh well. I think for the next few years I would like to try to make his costumes. All the options there seem so cheap. Of course, we did pick one, and it is cute, but it is nothing to write home about. I just didn't feel too bad about not putting too much effort into it this year because he is still too little to fully understand the costume concept so we took the easy way out. Next year when he will actually be useful to me on Halloween and be able to get good candy while trick or treating, I will try to be better at planning and more creative with his costume. While we waited in what seemed like an endless line of unhappy kids and even unhappier parents, Connor entertained himself with his trick-or-treat bucket.

 

Last Sunday we decided to take the dogs up to Blockhouse and let them run around a bit and get some exercise, since they have been feeling a little neglected since Connor came along. It was a beautiful day and they certainly enjoyed the chance to run free. We are so lucky to belong to this beautiful club. After our hike we sat by the fire before having Sunday dinner up there with Collin & Emily, Heister & Ruth.

This weekend Ryan went to Lake Oneida, New York, to go fishing with Adrianne's husband, John.
They left on Thursday morning so it has just been Connor & I for a few days. Today, we went over to Adrianne's house for lunch and to visit with the girls. I decided to try to be creative and make some pumpkin rice krispie treats. I think they turned out so cute! I used Tootsie Rolls for the stems and green icing for the leaves.

 

I told you I love fall. Just call me Becky Home-Ec-y.

Are You Ready for Some Football?!?!

The last weekend of August/first weekend of September is quite possibly my favorite weekend of the year - it is college football's opening weekend AND marks the return of pumpkin coffee at Dunkin Donuts! This year, on the Friday before the first ND game, we were at home in Wyomissing. My parents watched Connor while Ryan and I went to the Luke Bryan concert at the Allentown Fair. We had the best time - the concert was so much fun! The only problem was that we had to haul ass home the next day because we had to be at Julie and Donald's before the start of the game. Connor is the only one of us that had "the Shirt" this year (I guess when you have a grandkid your kid no longer gets souvenirs on your trips to Notre Dame, right Dad?).

 

This year watching football games has been a little bit different than last year at Julie's. Last year, Connor was so little that everyone wanted to hold him - we'd arrive and I'd hand him off and not see him again until it was time to leave. Or he'd be content to snooze in his carrier and would sleep right through all the rowdy cheers. We could eat and drink and not have to worry about him. This year, since he's mobile and doesn't quite understand the importance yet of sitting and watching Notre Dame game from start to finish, it is a little more hectic. But, he is so good and adapts very well in new environments, so it is still fun. We just make sure he has lots of things to entertain him and take turns walking around with him.  He is just about the cutest ND fan I've ever seen - don't think he'd be nearly as happy in PSU gear!

 





Connor was also excited for the Eagles debut the following week. He wore his Eagles sweatshirt to daycare that day and was a big hit.

While the Eagles looked awesome that first week, things have gone downhill since then. At least they have a slightly better record than the Steelers. The Irish are unfortunately not headed for a repeat appearance at the national championship game. They are 3-1, but are currently in danger of losing their second game. It is frustrating watching them - they make a lot of mistakes and bad decisions. Hopefully they will turn it around for the rest of the season but they have a touch schedule. At least we have some good company to watch the games with!

 

It's tough being a Notre Dame fan.

15 Month Stats and Fun Facts

Connor had his 15 month checkup earlier this month. He is growing like a weed! Here are his stats:

• He is 32 inches (he grew 2.25 inches in 3 months and 11.5 inches since birth) which puts him in the 72%
• He weighs 23 lbs. 2 ozs. (gained 9 ozs. in 3 months and 14 lbs. 6 ozs since birth) which puts him in the 27%
• His head circumference is 18.5 inches, which puts him in the 42%

Overall, he is doing great! He seems a little skinny, but I think it is because he had a major growth spurt since his last appointment. His physician assistant didn't seem concerned. Actually, in the few weeks since his appointment, Connor's developed quite an appetite and seems to be filling out quite nicely.

A few fun facts about Connor at 15 months:

• He finally learned to walk on his own! He was a late crawler, so I was not surprised that he took his sweet time learning to walk. Actually, for months now he's been able to walk really well holding on to furniture or a hand, but was just never confident enough to do it on his own. Everyone told me to count my blessings, but with two dogs and making it hard to keep the floors clean, I was more than ready for him to be done the crawling. It seems like all of a sudden one day he just decided he was over it too.

• Connor is doing much better drinking from a sippy cup. I would have liked to have him completely off the bottle by now, but I made the mistake one morning of trying to give him a sippy cup of milk instead of his usual bottle and He. Was. Pissed. I mean, inconsolable. Ruined his whole day and stressed me out - and I already find it stressful enough to get showered, dressed, looking somewhat presentable, get Connor up, dressed, fed, and dropped off at daycare and at work on time (give or take five minutes). So, we're going to have to work on that.
• Connor's become quite a good eater. Some of his favorite foods are chicken nuggets, steak, grilled cheese, pineapples, pears, waffles, and oatmeal. And he goes nuts for french fries. He is not at all interested in any kind of pasta and I find it difficult to get him to eat vegetables with his fingers (although at daycare he does it with no problems) but he will still eat the pureed vegetables with no problem for me. He is in the process of learning to feed himself. He's still pretty lazy and likes me to do it for him, but it's a start. Breakfast, as if it wasn't already stressful enough, just got a little longer and a whole lot messier:

• He is really developing quite a little personality. He waves when someone says "hi" or "bye" to him; in addition to "mama" and "dada" he can say "bye-bye," "ball," "more," and he mimics every sound we make like a little crow; his favorite toys are balls (and he's got quite an arm already) and cars (we went to Julie's for a game a few weeks ago and she let him play with some of her son's matchbox cars and he loved them so much we had to go out and buy a few the next day).
• He is an excellent sleeper. He goes to bed without any fuss between 730 and 800 and sleeps through the night. On the weekends he takes 1 nap, usually between 3 and 4 hours long. At daycare, I'm told he does great sleeping on his little mat during naptime and usually sleeps between 2-2.5 hours.
• He is, 90% of the time, the most pleasant little boy. He is such a joy to be around, and warms my heart with his giggles and smiles and funny antics. He is a bit of a mama's boy, which is just fine with me!

Summer Recap

Ok, I fully realize how ridiculous it is that we are now at the end of September and it has been three months since I've updated. Three months is a long time in the life of a baby! In all fairness, I've started this post about three separate times, written one sentence, and stopped. So each time I came back to it, I saw "I can't believe summer is half over!" then, "How is it already Labor Day?" then "We are mid way through September, where does the time go?" You know it is bad when someone texts you: "I'm sorry for your loss." and after you reply "Thanks, but who died?" you get "Your blog." Anyway, now that summer is over and we are into football season and, in my opinion, football seasom = spending Sunday afternoons on the couch watching the games with laptop close by monitoring fantasy football scores, I fully intend to get back into the swing of things with posting updates. In the meantime, here's an as-brief-as-possible recap of the last few months.

We were so lucky to have some incredible weather this summer. Aside from one miserably hot week, it was so beautiful in Central PA so we tried to do as much outside as possible. A few weeks after having my appendix removed, I was feeling well enough to test out the new hiking backpack we bought for Connor. Okay, I didn't really do any of the testing, other than making sure he was properly strapped to Ryan's back but that's an important job when there is precious cargo involved! We took a drive up to Watkins Glen, New York, to hike the famous Gorge Trail. Within 2 miles, the stream descends over 400 feet and has 19 different waterfalls along the course. It isn't exactly a wilderness hike, but it was really neat. In the 1930s they hand carved steps and bridges into the stone. There are 832 steps total along the trail, with nearly 180 of them coming at the very end on a very steep part of the gorge known as Jacob's Ladder. It was a very hot and humid day, so by the time we were done we were both sweaty and more than ready to refuel with some lunch and craft beers at the Rooster Fish Brewing Company.

 

Connor thoroughly enoyed the ride.

 

 

Who do you think won this staring contest?

 

This summer I was fortunate to be able to work from home 2-3 days per week. A few years ago my bosses wrote two books: The Pennsylvania Trust Guide and The Supplemental Needs Trust Guide. I contributed a few chapters to each book. It's not exactly exciting reading, more of an instructional manual for lawyers, financial advisors, and trust officers. Anyway, each year we have to do a supplement for it, which is an update on statutes, case law, as well as any new material we think is interesting and pertinent. The supplement gets automatically sent to every person who purchased the original guide (think Columbia House). This summer, Adrianne was out on maternity leave so I was responsible for preparing the supplement. I was very thankful for the opportunity (and that they trusted me to do it on my own!) and even more thankful that they allowed me to do the majority of it from home, to avoid the distractions of the office. I still ended up sending Connor to daycare while I worked from home because there's no way I would get anything done with him here with me, but the nice thing was I was often able to adjust my hours in order to do some fun things. Most Tuesdays I would work for a few hours after Connor went to bed so that on Wednesday mornings (Ryan's day off) we could go to the Lewisburg farmers market. Usually we would stop at the grocery store afterwards. Connor likes the carts at the Weis in Lewisburg - they are police, firetruck, and racecar themed!

 

 

We also took Connor to Knoebels for the first time. It was a beautiful afternoon and because it was a weekday, it was far less crowded than on the weekends. Connor was still too little for most of the rides but he was able to go on a few.

 

 



 

Tuckered out after a an exciting day!

 

Knoebels is such a neat park. It is only about 45 minutes away from us. No admission fee, very family friendly and clean, the rides are super cheap, and the food is consistently winning awards for the best amusement park food. I can't wait to go back next summer when Connor is a little older and can ride a few more rides.

 

We didn't get to do too much swimming this summer. Connor enjoyed swimming at Nana & Pop-pop's over the 4th of July but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. I did manage to snap a picture of my dad sneaking him some ice cream!

 



 

Overall we had a great summer. Connor grew so much and I really loved seeing how his little personality is developing. Towards the end of the summer though Connor, like his parents, started to get antsy for football season!