December

Every year, it seems like the holidays come and go so quickly. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always so busy that, looking back, they are a blur. Thanksgiving must not have been too remarkable because I don't have any pictures! I took the boys home to my parents' house. It was just us for dinner but my mom did a great job with the turkey and other Thanksgiving must-haves.

Right around Thanksgiving is the start of hunting season, so I always joke that I'm basically a single mom until the week before Christmas. Not really a convenient time, as it is always the busiest time of the year at work, and I can no longer do Christmas shopping when Connor's with me. Thank God for Amazon.com! On one of the days Ryan was hunting, I took the opportunity to torture have a little photo shoot with the boys for our Christmas card. 

On December 6th, Ryan and I took a bus trip to NYC. My parents accepted my offer to spend some quality time with their grandchildren, so we met halfway the day before. New York was very fun, but very wet. It poured all day long. The bus dropped us off in the Times Square area and it was a madhouse. We had to buy $5 street vendor umbrellas and it didn't take long for me to get enraged by the crowds, mostly because I was tired of getting my eyes poked out by other people's umbrellas. After a quick stop at FAO Schwartz (we left empty-handed, pretending that we just didn't want to lug huge bags around the city all day but knowing full well we really couldn't afford anything there anyway), we took a cab down to the Chelsea Market area. It was much less crowded and we had a great time eating and drinking our way back up to the bus for the next several hours. Sorry boys, your college funds are gone. 

Connor and Grant had a great time at my parents' house. My mom and dad were crazy brave enough to dress them up, take them to the mall, and wait in line with them so they could get their picture taken with Santa.

That's obviously not Santa whose lap he's on.

That's not Santa, either, although he probably could be.

My mom said that Connor was really excited to talk to Santa but right when they got up to the front of the line he got shy. I'm not sure if he talked to him or not. The picture is cute - neither one looks particularly happy, but neither one is having a meltdown either so I'd say it was a successful first visit. Santa visited daycare a few days later and Connor told me he "sat on his lap and gave him a high five!" so maybe he just needed to warm up to him.

Daycare has a Christmas program every year, but this was the first year that they included the two year olds. It was on a Tuesday evening in the auditorium of the hospital. We almost didn't make it. I picked the boys up after work and knew that I would have just enough time to feed them dinner, change diapers, and get Connor's outfit on before rushing back out the door to make it in time for the show to start. Connor conveniently decided to throw an epic tantrum just as I was about to get him changed. He didn't want to wear that outfit!  He didn't want to put on his coat! He didn't want to sing Christmas songs! He didn't want to see his friends! Ryan works late on Tuesdays and I'm pretty sure I was wishing I was still at work but I somehow managed to get them both in the car and get there in time, although by the time I dragged both kids through the parking lot and dropped Connor off with his teachers, I was sweating profusely. There were only about 7 kids from Connor's room there, and their performance took about 90 seconds total but it was very cute. I stayed for the other performances but hightailed it out of there as soon as it was over before they handed out candy canes to all the kids.

He was really impressed by his brother's performance.

Halloween

It's been so long since I posted (again) that I forgot where I left off. I was secretly hoping I had at least put up pictures of Halloween, but no such luck. CC, thank you for your occasional not-so-subtle texts about the status of this blog (about a year ago - Colleen: Sorry for your loss. Me: Thank you, but who died? Colleen: Your blog.; and a more recent one - "Is your blog dead?"). I'm sure my kids will thank you someday when there are old enough to see that I only update once every three months!

So, Halloween seems like forever ago, probably because it was. I was thinking that this might be the last year I get to decide what Connor will be without any opinion of his so I knew I wanted to have the boys' costumes coordinate. I searched Pinterest for ideas and had several cute ones from which to choose. In my head I forgot that I work full time and have zero creativity and craftiness, so most of my ideas were really unrealistic. Connor really likes fire trucks and a couple weeks before Halloween the local fire department came to daycare for a presentation and he talked about the fire truck for several days afterwards, so I decided to have Connor be a fireman and Grant be the fire station Dalmatian.

Neither kid was thrilled to have his picture taken, in costume, at 6:45am.

They had a little party and parade for the kids at daycare. By that time Connor realized you get candy on Halloween and both of them had perked up a little. 

The week before Halloween, I took the boys to one of the local assisted living centers to trick-or-treat from the residents. My friend Adrianne also took her kids. It was a nice, easy, warm, and short introduction to trick-or-treating. On Halloween, we pretty much just stayed at our house. Connor enjoyed sitting on the front porch helping Ryan hand out candy (and toothbrushes/toothpaste). By far, the highlight of his night though was when the police car pulled up in front of the house and started hang out candy to the trick-or-treaters. I walked him down the steps to get some candy and he screamed "Thank you, Police!" and then talked about the police car giving him candy for three days.

Honestly, Halloween isn't really my favorite holiday, and I wasn't disappointed when we ran out of candy about an hour after we got our first trick-or-treater (well, okay, I was disappointed by the fact that Ryan didn't save me any!) but it was really fun to see Connor and his little friends enjoying all the activities. However, the day after Halloween I was pretty much ready to break out Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" and drink hot chocolate!

Stats and Milestones

Grant had his 6 month check up on Friday. I also scheduled Connor to get his flu shot at that time. I was sweating profusely at the thought of having to take both kids to the doctor - for shots - by myself, but luckily everything went well. Here are his most recent stats:

• He weighs 19 lbs. 12 ozs. and is in the 84% (he has gained 11 lbs. 15 oz. since birth)
• He is 28" and is in the 94% (he has grown 7 3/4" since birth)

He is growing beautifully and hitting milestones as expected/appropriate for his age. He is quite "talkative" and is starting to imitate sounds. He can pass a toy from one hand to the other. He can't sit up unassisted yet, but does have very good head and neck strength, so I'm thinking it won't be long until he can do this. He started solids a few weeks ago and, no surprise here, LOVES to eat. I remember with Connor it was very challenging and very messy in the beginning. Not with this kid. I can't shovel it in fast enough. So far I've made sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and peas in addition to the rice cereal and oatmeal. I think the next things we'll try will be beets, green beans, and avocados. I want to get him well established on the veggies before I give him the fruits, but something tells me he will eat whatever I put in front of him, whenever. He already has two teeth on the bottom and is a fairly consistent thumb sucker. He loves being in the bumbo seat, the jumperoo, and still likes to be worn in the ErgoBaby. He is so pleasant and greets me every morning with a smile, but his best smiles come when Connor is playing around him. 

Now that Connor is over 2 years old, he only has to go to the doctor once a year, so his last visit was in June. I don't remember his exact percentages, but I know that he was 36" and weighed 30 lbs, and was somewhere around the 60th percentile for both height and weight. Connor has really developed his own little personality in the past few months. He is sweet and stubborn at the same time; he is funny and he knows it; and he is quite smart (I owe most of that to the daycare workers). He knows his ABCs, can count to about 14, knows the words to about 6 or 7 nursery rhymes and songs (The Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Ring Around the Rosie, Old McDonald, and several others - we are still working on the ND fight song), and is so polite (almost always says please/thank you without being prompted, and also says "bless you," "excuse me," and "I'm sorry"). We are currently going through the "what's that" and "why" phase and I love it. It is almost as if you can see/hear the wheels turning in his head. He's so inquisitive, and remembers everything you say and everything he sees. Every day I am amazed by him!

Knoebels

On September 20th, my office had a a family day at Knoebels Amusement Park. It is about 45 minutes from our house and is just a really neat old fashioned, family run amusement park. You don't have to pay to get in (you buy tickets for the rides, and each ride costs about $1.00), are allowed to bring your own food (but they consistently win awards for best amusement park food), pets are welcome, and it is a manageable size. I was excited to take Connor - we took him last summer and he enjoyed it but was too little to ride most of the rides...so basically we went down for the food and so Ryan could ride the roller coasters a few times. We hadn't gone at all this summer because we knew we would be going in the fall with my office. September was a great time to go - the weather was beautiful and it wasn't very crowded, even for a Saturday.

Before we left Grant was in the Bumbo seat and I noticed how well he was holding up his head...and that being able to do so significantly reduced the number of chins he appears to have!

When we arrived, we had a nice brunch with our co-workers before everyone went their separate ways to ride the rides. 

I swear Grant was there too, but he was content to hang out with me in either the stroller or the ErgoBaby. Connor really enjoyed himself for the most part. He seemed to do best when someone rode with him (Ryan or one of Adrianne's girls). On the rides he rode by himself, he was fine at first, but I think after a while he got disoriented and lost sight of us and started to freak out a bit. Overall, though, it was a really fun day. I thought Connor would sleep the whole way home, since he didn't have a nap and all the sights and sounds were sensory overload, but he stayed awake the entire time, screaming Twinkle Twinkle over and over and over again. We were ALL in bed early that night!

Back to Work

While my maternity leave officially ended on July 21st, I was lucky enough to be able to spend 5 weeks at home working on a new edition of the Pennsylvania Trust Guide, which was originally written by the two partners in my firm back in 2008/2009. It is basically a handbook for legal professionals and trustees who administer trusts, and I'm not sure why they trust me to work on something that is actually supposed to be an instruction manual, but I contributed to the 2nd edition and annual supplements every year since I've worked here and this year I got to co-author the 3rd edition. Anyway, it was wonderful for me because I got to keep Grant home with me for an extra few weeks and was able to make my own schedule for working on it (I definitely worked some odd hours).

...But, all good things must come to an end and right after Labor Day I went back to the office full time. It was bittersweet - I loved being home with Grant this summer and the extra time I got to spend with Connor when I was able to pick him up a little early, but I really did miss the adult interaction, the challenges, and the routine of my office. It's a struggle that I'm sure every working mother faces. So, on the morning of September 2nd, Ryan and I loaded up the car and I dropped BOTH my boys off at daycare. 

Don't tell Grant, but I didn't get nearly as emotional as I did the first day I dropped Connor off, and I'm sure it has to do with the fact that (1) I knew from experience that he was in great hands and would be well taken care of and (2) I was carrying so many bags filled with diapers, wipes, bottles, etc. in addition to Grant's car seat that I was sweating profusely and couldn't stop thinking about how excited I was to have everyone and everything in order with enough time left to go get an iced coffee at DD before I had to be at work! 

My first day back at the office was good. It was nice to see everyone and get back in the swing of things, but I really couldn't wait until it was time to go get the boys. 

I survived my first day back in the office and Grant survived his first day of daycare. Can you tell we missed each other?

Grant's Baptism

Grant was baptized on August 24th. Thankfully, he was able to wear the same outfit that we got in Ireland (yes, the same one that Connor wore and projectile vomited all over and cost a small fortune to dry clean). He was all smiles during the ceremony. Afterwards, we had a nice brunch at Barrel 135 with the family and Julie & Donald (Grant's godparents).

Summer Recap

And just like that, summer was over. Woah. While we didn't go on any type of family vacation this summer since the boys are a little too young yet, we did manage to stay quite busy. And, since I'm incredibly behind on my updates, I'm going to try to cover the entire summer in one post, so get comfy.

Connor really wanted to sit with Grant, but absolutely did not want to hold him. Good thing, since Grant already looks terrified!

We spent many weekend afternoons at Grandpa's pool, despite the fact that the water was cloudy and a weird greenish color for most of the summer.

The boys and I spent about a week over the 4th of July at my parents' house. This was Connor's 3rd Wyomissing 4th of July parade and Grant's 1st. They still don't quite "get it" but I hope someday they appreciate it as much as I do!

He said he really just wanted a puppy, but I think he'll settle for grandkids!

We had a really nice time visiting, and I was thankful for the extra hands to help with diapers and entertaining Connor! After 5 or 6 days though I'm sure my parents were exhausted and ready to have their house back, and we were ready to get home to see Daddy, so we headed back to Williamsport before we overstayed our welcome!

The following weekend, we were trying to think of something fun to do with the boys, and I found the Tioga Central Railroad. You catch the train a few miles outside of Wellsboro (about an hour north of here), and it takes you on a 1.5 hour round trip up to Hammond Lake and back. It was really neat. We had lunch and walked around Wellsboro before driving to the train station, and we sat in the open air car. Connor really liked it, although he was a little antsy during the last 15-20 minutes. They have a Santa Express train over the holidays that I would like to take them on, probably in a year or two when Grant is old enough to enjoy it too.

On August 1st, Ryan and I went to see Jason Aldean play at Citizens Bank Park in Philly. We took Lisa and AJ, and I was really excited to have some adult beverages with my best friend. All was well and good, except (1) Lisa found out she was pregnant a few weeks before the show,  (2) I kind of forgot that I really hadn't drank in over a year and it's not a good idea to try to keep up with two men who are considerably larger than me, and (3) since we had a designated driver by default, I was home in time to get up with my kids the next morning, and my pounding headache made me much less excited to see them than they were to see me. 

Before...

During...

After. My proud moment of the night came afterwards in the parking lot, when I convinced the vendor to sell Ryan and I two concert shirts for $10. I'm fairly certain that the shirts said Mason Aldean rather than Jason Aldean and I never even got to wear it because after one washing my size M shirt turned into a XXS.

The following night, Sarah, Ann, and I and our husbands & kids all went over to Lisa's for a cook-out. It still amazes me that we have been friends for all these years, but it's probably because we're all jerks and no one else would want to hang out with us so we're stuck with each other. It was so much fun to get together - I wish we could do it more often. Connor had a blast playing on their kids' roller coaster. He pretty much rode it from the moment we got there until it was entirely too dark to be playing outside.

My favorite thing, by far, about this summer was just being able to be home with Grant, and watching Connor grow into such a sweet, sensitive, and caring big brother. I am continually amazed by how interested Connor is in the baby, and how well he has adjusted to having to share attention. Make no mistake, he has his fair share of meltdowns, and we also make an effort to ensure that he has plenty of alone time with each of us, but I feel incredibly lucky that both our boys are very easy going (and the fact that Grant has been sleeping through the night since 6 weeks has made the transition from one kid to to so much easier). Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the past few months:

First day of college football season. Ryan was out of town that weekend, so there was no doubt that they would be dressed in their Notre Dame finest!

We had a great summer, but are also looking forward to fall - football season, changing leaves, cooler weather, and pumpkin everything!