Year in Review

We are just a few days shy of Connor's first birthday. I could fill this page with all the things we've learned in the past year and all the funny parenting fails we've experienced, but I figured that there might be someone a little better qualified to review our first year together. Plus, we all know I'm a little bit behind on the updating of the blog so until I actually get around to posting the year in review, Connor might be a good 18 or 19 months old! Therefore, I decided that the blog will have a special guest poster this week - Connor (I told you he was handsome and smart):

Hi everybody. Most of you know that I go to day care four days a week. Despite the 17 colds I've gotten while attending, being in day care has its advantages because there are so many different kids with whom I can compare notes about our parents - their strengths, weaknesses, etc. For example, Caiden's mom doesn't seem to care that he has a runny nose ALL THE TIME, while my mom insists on digging out even the smallest boogies (I do believe she told you all the story of how she used a bulb syringe the wrong way the first time, and blew the air up my nose). So, my mom gets a negative in that category. On the plus side, my mom never made me wear those dumb hand mitts to prevent me from scratching myself like Raegan's mom is still making him wear (just cut his nails already!).

So, while I was supposed to be napping, I started thinking about life in my house, and how my parents have handled me thus far. In all fairness, I did pretty much change their lives (I hear they used to go to something called happy hour, but they haven't gone since I've arrived), so I will try to be lenient since this is their first year.

My review is based on the following scale:

5 bottles - the baby equivalent of Dom Perignon!
4 bottles 
3 bottles
2 bottles
1 bottle - prune juice (we all know what that's for!)

Household Help
From what I can tell, the staff in the house consists of my Mom and Dad. There are two other hairy creatures but I'm pretty sure they are guests too. If they're part of the staff, they should be fired immediately, because they seem pretty lazy - always sleeping on the couch. They don't have to wear diapers, and they get to poop outside. I get the impression that they were, shall we say, "top dogs" before I arrived. When I first got here, there were a lot of hushed whispers about whether the hairy creatures would get along with the new roommate. They were pretty respectful from the beginning, but after a few days when they realized that my stay at the Hotel Linn was going to be an extended stay, they really started to get to like me. I mean, they've always felt comfortable sharing my toys and you should see them now - when I'm eating, they sit very attentively at the foot of my chair just waiting for me to cast some morsels in their direction. Pathetic fools, they have no idea what they have to look forward to - just wait until I start eating spaghetti!

Anyway, back to the main staff. I could tell this was a new operation when I first got here. They were a little unprofessional if you ask me - like I couldn't see them doing rocks-paper-scissors to determine who had to change my diaper! Additionally, the linens they provided me with the first few nights were a little bit, um, confining. I think they called it a "swaddle," but in reality it was an infant straightjacket. I thought this was a hotel, not an asylum! I'll chalk up the hiccups in the first few days of my stay to the staff being new at this gig (I'm told prior to my arrival they had "real jobs," for which they went to school a long time and acquired a lot of debt) and even though I was registered as a guest a full nine months prior to checking in (and even got delayed a full four days), I resisted the urge to book a room at the Williamsport Ritz Carlton. I'm glad I stuck it out - the longer I stayed, the more confident and competent the staff became. My mom, she was on duty pretty much 24/7 the first few weeks - always willing to meet my demands for a late night snack or wardrobe and linen change when I trashed the place after a night of partying. And my dad, he got pretty proficient at the dirty work as well, especially when my mom went back to her "real job" and dad was left to run the hotel by himself on Wednesdays. Now the stuff runs a pretty well-oiled machine. I am sure some of that can be attributed to me getting a little less demanding in my old age, and the fact that I am a model guest.
Rating: 4 bottles. Pretty good, but always room for improvement.

Accommodations
Overall it is a nice place. It's really old. Not creepy old, like the hotel in The Shining, just old. After speaking with some of the other day care kids, I realized that I didn't get the VIP treatment in the owners' suite like some of them. From my first night, I was placed in my own room. Hey, if my mom wanted to get up and walk down the hall 2, 3, 4 times a night to attend to my needs, more power to her. My room is a corner room, and the bed is comfortable, but the rest of the funishings are a little sparse. My "dresser" is actually a long folding table. One bottle deduction for that - where do you put the HOLY BIBLE when there are no drawers? There is a comfy rocking chair with an ottoman where my mom and I spent countless hours in those first few months. During the day it sometimes oddly also doubled as her photo studio, so maybe I should charge her rent for the use of it. They do have a weird surveilance system - they can hear me at all times. It's not exactly a wiretap, but they do have a monitor to keep tabs on me. I think it is fun to yell at the top of my lungs when I need something, just because it is amplified about 100x through their monitor. I wish it also worked the other way around, but I can't hear what they're saying in my room. I did hear, however, them talking about getting an actual video monitor - guess I'll say goodbye to what little privacy I did enjoy.

Over the summer, it got really hot in my room. I complained, quite loud and quite often, about having to sleep in insufferable conditions. Maintenance came and tried to open one of my windows in order to put a fan in there, but it wouldn't budge. So, the staff kindly accommodated me in a larger room with a smaller bed. Whatever, it had air conditioning which made it pleasantly cool and I think the white noise also helped me sleep a little better. In addition to my pack and play, the new guest room also had a bed, which was sometimes used by my mom when she was "just too tired to walk the 15 feet back to the owners' suite." I don't really know what she was complaining about - I think the federal labor standards only require a 15 minute break every four hours. I thought I was being generous by giving her 2-3 hour breaks in between shifts.

Once the weather cooled down, I was returned to my own room and my own bed. I've also gotten to explore the rest of the house. Most of the social activity takes place in the family room. Sometimes the two hairy guests and I have to fight over who gets to sit on Mom and Dad's laps. I usually win. It's comfortable, and I have no complaints about the social activities the staff provides. They used to have a swing but after a few weeks I grew tired of it, so I filled out a comment card and dropped it in the suggestion box. A few weeks later my mom brought home this amazing jumperoo. I believe that she was feeling a bit guilty about she and my dad closing the hotel for a week and going on vacation to Ireland, so she upgraded to the deluxe model. I had to wait a few weeks before I grew into it, but once my feet touched the floor, there was no stopping me. As an added bonus, my time in the jumperoo allowed my mom to stop ignoring her duties as the inn keeper, such as laundry and vacuuming. Then, after another few weeks passed, the portable bed from the summer made a return appearance, only this time the bassinet was taken out and it was more like a prison. With toys!!! I like to relax in there and play with my toys. Occasionally I do feel like a zoo animal, but for the most part I like it because nobody bothers me.

Rumor has it that the hotel is going to be relocating and that I'm going to like the new digs even better. It is apparently a little outside of town and I will have a lot of open space in which to play. I've even heard there are occasionally wild animals on the premises, such as deer and turkey. I will believe it when I see it, but for now I'm content with my current room.
Rating: 3.5 bottles. There was that time they overloaded a plug in my room, which caused a spark...
.
Food
When I first got home, I was on a liquid diet. I would see my dad making these amazing meals - steaks on the grill, chili, roasted chicken, homemade pizza, hoagies, etc. I was pretty jealous and couldn't figure out why my mom was the only one cooking for me. Same thing, all day, every day. The one good thing was that it was like a 24 hour buffet - always open! Have you ever gone six straight months eating the same thing for every meal and snack? When the two hairy guests heard me complaining they told me to be thankful and that they have been eating the same meal for 4.5 years and 6.5 years respectively! I've never been to a place where the staff eats better than the guests! After about six months, my mom started introducing me to wallpaper paste, rice cereal. It was pretty nasty and I began to realize what they mean when they say "be careful what you wish for." After several unsuccessful attempts with that crap, she switched to oatmeal. That went a little bit better, but after a few weeks things really started to get interesting. My mom started using the kitchen and making me colorful foods. Should I have been concerned that I never saw my dad eat anything my mom cooked, or that he was constantly asking her if she knew what she was doing in the kitchen, since he had never seen her in there before? Probably, but it was very exciting to try new things. I ended up wearing most of it at first, but I slowly got more experienced in the art of fine dining. I definitely liked the sweet potatoes, pears, and carrots. Over time, I also began to enjoy the peas, squash, and black beans. And then they introduced the Puffs. My parents open a can of those babies and I swear I hear angels singing. I don't discriminate by flavor - I love them all. They are the best way to keep me entertained at a restaurant or while my mom is making my real dinner. Now, I pretty much eat anything. I've got four teeth on the bottom and 2 up top with two more coming in, so I'm learning to chew. So far I've experimented with chicken, steak, avocados, cheese, black olives, tomatoes, fish, mac and cheese, ice cream, and french fries to name a few. My dad told my mom that he even gave me a taste of chicken livers one night while he was out to dinner and she was working late. She's not sure she believes him and I can't talk yet so his secret is safe with me. I hear that I'm going to get to try something called a "chocolate cupcake" next week on my birthday. I don't know what that is, but it sounds glorious. I must admit, however, when I hear them talk about how a whole bunch of people are going to sing to me and (gasp!) cheer for me, I can feel my little lip start to pout and my chin quiver just thinking about it.
Rating: 4 bottles. While I have no complaints about my mom's cooking, I'm withholding that 5th bottle until I can try my dad's since I'm fairly confident his will be even better.

Night Life
Things are kind of dull around here at night. Believe me, it isn't for lack of trying on my part. In those first few months, I liked to sleep all day and party all night. I would get up several times each night just to see if anything was going on. It usually wasn't. I only ever saw my mom, and she certainly wasn't dressed in her "going out clothes." I mean, come on, would it kill her to put on a little lipstick? She would usually fix me a snack and sing a round or two of karaoke, but that was about it. She also often mumbled something about having to get up early for work. From what I've heard about their college years, I had big plans for these two. What a disappointment. What's worse is that when I was about 8 months old and really getting into the swing of things with the solid foods, my mom suddenly yelled "Last Call!" one night and after that, the keg was kicked and the taps shut down. Around that time I started to lose all hope in the possibility of fun after dark so I only tried to rally the troops about once a night. About a month later, I completely abandoned ship and quit wasting my time. Now I'm like those old people at restaurants. I get the early bird special for dinner, have a bath, read a book, and I'm in bed by 8pm. Now that it is summer time, I go to bed before it is even dark enough for my penguin dream light to project LED stars on my ceiling. I know we live in a small town, but I really expected a lot more out of this group. I am on the move now, crawling all over the place, and I can pull myself up into a stand so if these two losers aren't careful, they just might find me climbing out of my crib one night and borrowing the keys to the car and sneaking out in search of some better night life.
Rating: 2 bottles.

Entertainment and Excursions
The hotel definitely excels in this category. This is where I really see fun mommy and daddy. I got to go to a wedding when I was 11 days old! I don't remember any of it, but I'm told I was the best behaved Linn family member there! Ever since then, the hotel staff has made it a point to get me out and exposed to new and exciting things. This hotel has offered excursions to the Canton Apple & Cheese Festival, Lewisburg Farmers' Market, the Wyomissing 4th of July parade and picnic at my grandparents' house, Texas Blockhouse Fish & Game Club for their 100th anniversary celebration and for their fish stocking (I'm told that I will be a frequent guest at this place in the coming years since my dad, uncle, and gramdpa are members), numerous Notre Dame game watches with friends, a Christmas tree farm, Bedford Springs, and swimming lessons at the YMCA. I even got a fancy new ride, complements of Nana, to be chauffered around in when we go on these excursions. All of these fun experiences make up for the fact that the hotel staff DID get to go on a few without me in the past year, like to Ireland, Vermont, Cooperstown, and to a Phillies game, but I suppose that they have earned a few vacation days and I can't expect to see and do EVERYTHING right now or I'll get spoiled. I'm told I will be going to Scottsdale, Arizona, in November. The hotel has arranged for me to go out to eat at various restaurants. Every Wednesday my dad has off and we get to do some old fashioned male bonding. Sometimes he takes me to his office and the grocery store where we I flirt with the old ladies. I really like Wednesdays and my mom says it is good for my dad to have to change my diaper and feed me once a week. I try to be on my best behavior whenever my parents take me on these outings so that they won't suspend my excursion privileges. Random strangers often comment about how cute I am or how good I am being, so I think it is working.
5 Bottles.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my stay at the Hotel Linn. The staff waits on me hand and foot and I hope I get to stay with them for a long time. I mean, I live the good life - I get three meals a day, my laundry done twice a week, and plenty of toys to play with (with the bonus of my dad singing along with the puppy piano), and I don't even have to pay rent or ruin my credit before I even get to preschool. I'm sure at some point the hotel staff will want to welcome additional guests, but for now I'm just enjoying being the only one as they are learning how to work out the kinks of parenthood.

Back on the Market

Well, our house is officially back on the market! We met with a new realtor last weekend who is very sweet and seems to be a real go-getter. We signed the listing agreement on Saturday and we're up and running on the website today. Click here to see the actual listing. She has an open house scheduled for this Sunday and there is already a showing scheduled for tomorrow. We are hoping that we have a better experience this time around!

It is actually working out well that the open house is scheduled for this weekend. We will be out of town and have to board the dogs anyway, so it will kill two birds with one stone. Ryan has a dental conference at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort. He is catching a ride early tomorrow morning with another dentist from the area and Connor and I will join him after work on Friday. I'm already a little stressed out about packing for Connor since it will be his first stay in a hotel, plus I will have to get the dogs loaded up and dropped off at the kennel by myself - I'm getting hot and sweaty just thinking about that, especially since I will be on a tight time crunch to get them to the kennel before it closes, unless I get up super early and take them before work, but I'm usually running into work in my heels at 7:58am on a normal day after getting myself and Connor ready and dropping him off at day care, so I don't think that driving someplace 1/2 hour away and being able to get Connor dropped off and to work before my 8:00am meeting is feasible. Hopefully the trip will be worth it and we will have good feedback from the showing to come home to on Sunday night!

Happy Easter

Sorry it has been a few weeks. I know I've said it before, but sometimes I just don't know where the days go! We have been busy the past few weekends trying to get a lot of our stuff organized - boxing up what we are taking with us when we move and either donating or throwing away what we are not. Ryan's mom has been talking about having a yard sale for quite some time, so we are hoping that our trash might be someone else's treasure, but in reality it will probably be a whole lot of work for the $43.18 we will make and might just end up skipping the sale and asking the American Rescue Workers to come get it. And leave a receipt, preferably blank, for the tax deduction next year.

Ryan and I were talking last weekend and we sort of came to the conclusion that we really need to move sooner rather than later. Those of you who know us know that we don't exactly move at lightning speed on anything, so "sooner rather than later" could mean anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months, but now that we have to put our house back on the market, we think we will have a better chance of selling it if we're not actually living there. Plus, it is a pain in the butt to get a phone call at 6pm telling me there is a showing at 9am the following morning and having to quickly clean up the tumbleweeds of dog hair rolling across the hardwood floors, not to mention the fact that we have to leave the dogs outside when we go to work and then at some point after a showing I have to leave work to go let them back in. So, we met with Bill on the Friday before Easter to let him know that we are interested in moving in before our house sells. We will obviously have to rent it until we sell our house (and possibly longer, depending on what kind of down payment we will need), and it will probably be a little bit of a financial stretch but it just seems to make the most sense right now. We are really excited to get the show on the road! My goal is to be moved in enough to have Connor's first birthday party there. I have big plans for this party - I have been trolling Pinterest to get ideas - I even have a "theme," which Ryan thinks is ludicrous, probably because he knows that I talk a big game but have zero creativity and poor Connor will end up with a few balloons and a Fudgy the Whale cake from Carvel to ring in his first birthday.

Last weekend was Easter. Connor was a lucky little boy! My mom came up the weekend before Easter and brought Connor this adorable basket.

She had filled it with a book and a few outfits for summer. I did not find any baskets I had liked better, and had even debated using the Easter basket from when I was growing up (honestly, I knew it was a little too girly for Connor, but I figured he wouldn't know and it would eliminate us having 148 Easter baskets) so I just unpacked all his gifts from Nana and filled it with treats from the Easter Bunny.

 

 

 

What do you really get a 10 month old for Easter??? Connor got a bathing suit and rash guard (the one with the fish on the right), two little outfits, a puzzle, a ball that "giggles" (so annoying, but he loves it), a book, and plastic eggs filled with Puffs and yogurt melts. Ryan's mom also got him a basket with a neat Peter Rabbit liner with his name embroidered on it. It had an adorable pair of jammies, a stuffed bunny, and some baby shampoo. He made out pretty good for a little guy!

 

We decided to make pancakes on Easter morning. I have been trying to get Connor to experiment with more finger foods (he loves the puffs and yogurt melts, but is not terribly interested in anything else) so I had Ryan make a small one for him.

 

 

At first he seemed excited about the prospect of something new....

 

 

But quickly lost interest and, frankly, was a little pissed when he figured out that HIS pancakes didn't come with butter and syrup.

 

We hosted dinner at our house on Easter Sunday. It was small, just Debbie, Court, Alex, Jackson, and Evie, but it was nice. It is no secret that ham is not my favorite meal, and Easter is not my favorite holiday, but Ryan did a great job cooking a ham and then we made sandwiches with it and had potato salad and baked beans with it. We had an obscene amount of leftovers, and I feel like we have been eating ham for at least one meal a day since.

 

In other news, it has finally started getting a little nicer here. I have been trying to get out and take advantage of the nice weather.

 



 

 

 

(Yes, that is a beer in my stroller's cup holder)

 

I think it is soon going to be time to invest in a better stroller. Right now I am just using a really nice umbrella stroller for our walks. The stroller is great for quick trips to the mall or Target, or would be great to travel with, and Connor seems fairly comfortable, but it is not exactly a smooth ride for him. I need something with bigger tires, especially since our walking route will be through the Christmas tree farms when we move. I have spent countless hours reading reviews of different strollers and comparing prices and I'm about ready to pull the trigger. Hopefully Connor will be riding in style soon!

Boys Bonding Week

We've had a very busy few weeks! Two Saturdays ago we took a large load of stuff down to the new house. It was mostly our (unopened) wedding presents, and we are only storing them in the garage down there for the time being, but it felt good to get the first one out of the way. It was kind of like going Christmas shopping with my dad. Buying the first present is always the hardest, and takes the longest. After that, we're motivated to do more. Plus, it is good to start getting some of our stuff out of this house - it will help us get serious about getting organized with what we want to toss, sell, and donate, and will eliminate some of the clutter when we start showing the house again (more on that in a minute).

On Sunday the 2nd I left for Las Vegas for a course for work. Our flight wasn't until 830 at night, but we were leaving from Philadelphia and I had to pick up Samantha, another attorney/friend from my office who was also attending. I will admit that I got a little teary-eyed saying goodbye to Connor (and Ryan) and I definitely lingered until the last possible minute before leaving, but I knew that he was in good hands, and I was also looking forward to getting away to warm weather for a few days. We got into Vegas very late on Sunday night, but thankfully our course didn't start until 1pm on Monday so Sam & I got to walk around, enjoy the sunshine, and see a little bit of the strip in the morning. I forgot how much I LOVE Las Vegas. I also forgot how much walking you do while there! We were foolish enough to wear our heels out that morning and by the time we went back to the hotel to grab our things for the course, we both had blisters. The course was at a hotel a little north and off the strip, but we wanted to stay on the strip, so we got monorail passes. It worked out great, but the monorail was in the back of the MGM, and that hotel is HUGE! We had to leave an hour before the course started every day just to make sure we'd get there on time.

Tuesday March 5th was our 2nd anniversary. I got to facetime with Ryan & Connor during a break from the course. When we got back to the hotel, I was surprised to find that a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries had been delivered to my room. I will admit for one brief second I thought maybe my parents or my boss had done it, because it was so unexpected. Absence really must make the heart grow fonder :) It was very sweet of Ryan to do that, especially since he had to jump through hoops to get it ordered since he had to play detective to figure out which name the room was registered under! We saved the champagne for the next night when Julie, my boss, was there. I ate the strawberries, figuring it was worth breaking my Lenten sacrifice for.

While I was at the course, I got an email from my realtor. She said she had gone to the buyers' agent to ask him to push his clients to move forward with the inspections and get an update on the status of their listing, as they had had an open house and a few showings in the previous weeks. He came back to her and said that his clients "realized that if they need to accept any amount lower than their current list price they will have difficulty coming up with the funds necessary to proceed with our closing. Seems like they were unrealistic not only with their initial purchase price but also with the funds needed to close. They are asking to terminate the contract and for a return of their deposit." She then went on to tell me in the email that "the good news is that this is the perfect time to be selling so although we lost valuable marketing time it was during the worst time of year to be selling. I think with the sunny skies, extra marketing, and a reduced price we are in good shape to sell." EXCUSE ME?!?!? I thought my head was going to explode I was so angry. Surely it was communicated to these people at the time they made the offer an approximate amount (AFTER we agreed to give them 3% of the sale price towards their closing costs) they would need to come up with at closing...I find it difficult to believe that they just "realized" this. They had repeatedly assured their realtor (in the same agency as ours) that they were interested in moving forward, were motivated to sell their house, etc. It was for this reason that we gave them the benefit of the doubt and did not exercise our option to terminate the contract at the end of the year, and that I did not push the issue when our house was getting NO exposure because of a glitch in the MLS computer system, even though the sales agreement permitted us to continue showing the house while they were trying to sell theirs. And then for my realtor to insinuate that any of this is good news... Needless to say, I wrote a very strongly worded email response and let her know that we will be pursuing our options with a different agency. So, I will be calling a new realtor this week and hopefully with the fresh start and "perfect time of year" we will be able to find a new buyer, fast. Ugh, I hope I NEVER have to move again after this.

I left Vegas on Thursday morning, but because I got into Philly at the worst possible time (5pm), I didn't get home until after Connor went to bed on Thursday night. I was beat, but was secretly excited when he woke up around 1130 that night (he almost never does that). You could tell when I went in to his room and picked him up that he was relieved I was home. He put his head on my shoulder and gave a little sigh and it made my heart melt! On Friday morning he had his doctor's appointment and immediately afterwards I had an eye doctor appointment and then we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. I could get used to three day weekends!

 

Missed those chubby cheeks!

 

Last Saturday morning we took Lucky & Murphy to the vet, did our weekly grocery shopping, and stopped to pick up a new humidifier for Connor's room. After lunch, while Connor napped, Ryan and I tackled our mud room. We took out the shelves, got rid of a lot of crap, cleaned off the few things we planned to save, then washed down the walls & cleaned the carpet. It looks so much better and, again, it felt good to make a little more progress. Staying true to the trend of rewarding ourselves with food for a job well done, we went out for sushi to celebrate. On Sunday morning I packed up several boxes from our dining room and Connor's baby clothes while Ryan packed up some of our kitchen stuff and Ryan drove a second load down. Ryan will be away in Scottsdale for a course this weekend but hopefully I can continue to make some progress while Connor naps. Baby steps...

After dinner on Sunday night we tried out the new self-serve frozen yogurt place. We brought it home and Connor discovered that the frozen yogurt Ryan lets him try is a lot more exciting than the black beans, peas, and squash I make for him!

Sorry this post was long. And had very little to do with Connor. And had very few pictures. I'll post some new ones soon!

Latest Stats

Connor's 9 month well visit was last Friday. Here are his stats:

He weighs 19 lbs. 10 oz., which is the 31st percentile (he gained 2 lbs.1 oz. since his 6 month appt. and 10 lbs. 14 oz. since birth)

He is 28.75", which is the 62nd percentile (he grew 1.75" since his 6 month appt. and 8.25" since birth)

I always imagined Ryan & I would have very chubby babies, but Connor is long and lean! His PA said she has no concerns about his weight and also said that his ears look great and, despite waking up on Friday morning with another cold (can't really complain, we've been cold/cough free for the last month or two), his lungs sounded perfect as well. She was thrilled that he has become a very good sleeper. When mentioned that he's not fully crawling yet and not overly interested in eating finger foods, and asked her if I should be concerned, particularly in light of the fact that Connor's cousin Evie, who is only 11 days older, is practically running a 5k and eating tacos & traditional Thanksgiving dinner, she confirmed what everyone else has been telling me - that every baby develops on a different timeline, and that you can't compare them (especially since Evie has 2 older brothers and wants to eat what they are eating & keep up with them). She said Connor is right on track developmentally and that he may actually skip crawling and go right to walking. In short, he's pretty close to perfect!

He pretty much got a reprieve from the shots this time around. The only thing they did was a routine test for anemia, which involved a toe prick. He didn't even cry! His level was 11.1, which was above the required 10.5, so he "passed." His next appointment is on June 5th. Hard to believe he'll be a year old at that point!

Nine Months

9 months. 3/4 of a year. I can hardly believe it! Connor will only get to celebrate his nine month birthday once every four years since Feburary only has 28 days but it just seems unreal that he his already 9 months old. Time sure does fly.

Celebrating his 9 month birthday with some new big-boy jammies.

Things have been going well around here lately but I am definitely ready for some warmer weather so that we can go for walks and play outside. It just seems so cold and wet here. I'm leaving for Las Vegas on Sunday for a few days for a conference and the temperature is supposed to be mid-upper 70s - I can't wait. Hopefully I'll have some free time to enjoy the nice weather after I lose my money on the penny slots my course each day. I am a little sad to be leaving Connor for almost 5 days but I know he and Ryan will have a great week of male bonding!

Ryan had a trial run as a single parent last weekend when I went to Philadelphia for a no husbands/no kids weekend with Lisa. I am so happy to have her back in PA. We had a great time. I went home after work on Friday night and had dinner with my parents and then we left bright and early on Saturday morning. It was rainy and dreary but that didn't stop us. We checked in to our hotel and made our wey up to Monks, where we enjoyed some amazing burgers and even better beers. Several of them (beers, not burgers). We stopped at a few places on the walk back to the hotel, finally arriving around 430. We had every intention of going to the hotel's complimentary happy hour at 5pm but decided to take a quick rest before heading down. However, the next thing we know, it was 8pm - we had taken 3.5 hour naps! Moms gone wild!!! We quickly got dressed and headed back out to make our 9pm dinner reservations. After a delicious dinner we visited a few more bars before having a nightcap at our hotel's bar. Of course I was unable to sleep in the next morning, waking up at 630 out of habit. Boo! After stocking up on all sorts of goodies in the Italian Market, we ate an amazing brunch and headed home. It was such a fun weekend and although I really missed my little buddy, it felt great to get away for a bit.

 

 

Missed this little cutie pie!

 



Other than the annual Texas Blockhouse Game Dinner, we haven't done anything too exciting over the past few weeks. Collin came home for the game dinner so it was nice to see him.

 

A few days after Collin returned to Colorado he and Emily got engaged! We are so excited for them and can't wait to welcome Emily to the family. Now we just have to work on getting them back to PA!

 

Here's what Connor is up to at 9 months:



• He's still not fully crawling but that certainly doesn't mean he's not mobile! Hes mastered the army crawl and the roll and is able to cover an amazing amount of ground. I wonder if he will ever crawl (apparently I didn't) or if he'll just go right to walking.
• He's a great eater off the sppon. Some of his favorites are Pears, Peas, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, and Black Beans. He's not all that interested in feeding himself yet though. I usually give him some cheerios or little pieces of avocado just to get used to finger foods, but he mainly just squeezes them or throws them on the floor. Great, our dogs are going to LOVE this. And be even fatter than they already are!
• He's not yet a huge fan of juice. When I stopped nursing and upped his solid foods to 3 times/day, he had a few issues with constipation. I tried both apple and prune, both diluted with water, expecting him to love the sweet taste but it is like pulling teeth to get him to drink an ounce. Guess that's not necessarily a bad thing, or won't be once he has more teeth!
• No words yet, but he's definitely vocal. Sometimes he can be a real Chatty Cathy. I'm trying to get him to say the usual Mama/Dada/Hi, but he usually just looks at me like I'm crazy when I repeate those words over and over.
• He has, knock on wood, become a really good sleeper. We usually start the bedtime process around 745 and he is in bed between 8 and 830. I offer him a bottle before he goes to sleep, but since he's been eating 3 solid meals a day sometimes he isn't hungry at bedtime so he'll push it away. He goes down without a fuss and LOVES the dream lights penguin that projects LED stars on the wall ceiling. Most nights he'll sleep through the night and even let me take a shower & get ready for work before he gets up. I have finally gotten past the phase where I wake up every 2-3 hours anticipating that he will wake up, so it has been so nice to actually get a good night's sleep. It was a LONG time coming and I feel so much better in the mornings because I'm not as tired.

I'll have more to report next week as far as his height/weight stats & percentages after we have his 9 month doctor's appointment!

Long Time No See

Oops, it's been a while, again. Sorry. Honestly, I haven't written because we've been rather boring during January. We had such a busy holiday season and then we got some bad weather and Connor and Ryan were both sick, so we have sort of been laying low the past few weeks. Plus, sometimes I think that my mom is the only one who reads this, and since we got my parents an ipad for Christmas and I can text them pictures and we face time at least once a week, it's not necessary to keep up with the blog. But, then I remember that because I'm not creative or disciplined enough to have a baby book, this blog IS Connor's baby book (and hopefully will be any future Baby Linns baby book), so I have to keep up with it, if for no other reason than having a convenient place to store all the pictures I plan to embarrass them with in their awkward teen years.

So, here's what's been happening in the Linn house lately:

 

Looking like a little footballer in the sweatshirt we brought back from Ireland.

 

 

Connor's become a great eater off the spoon. Finger foods...not so much. We're working on it, but he's not overly interested in Cheerios, puffs, or anything of that texture. This is probably the only time he'll prefer my cooking to anything else so I'll be patient.

 

 

We brought the pack 'n play back downstairs and tossed in some of Connor's toys. He loves it, and is content in there for extended periods of time.

 

 

Sometimes he plays so hard that he tuckers himself out.

 

 

He turned 8 months old this past week and he's still not fully crawling, but he sure can cover a lot of ground by rolling and doing 360s on his belly. I'm convinced he's not crawling because all the ladies at day care hold him all day long because he's so sweet!

 

 

Poor little guy was sick for about half of January. He had a combination of cold and cough, and I think his upper teeth are getting ready to break through. He was pretty miserable for a few days. We got some really cold weather and I didn't want to take him out in it while he was sick, so he was all dressed up in the adorable outfit from Gymboree that Nana probably spent all of her reitrement savings on and nowhere to go. Even on the days he felt the worst, he still managed plenty of smiles.

 

 

Connor is really starting to LOVE bathtime. He's learned that kicking his legs makes waves and splashes. As my dad said...wait until he learns that farting makes bubbles!

 

 

Speaking of Nana and Pop-pop, last weekend Ryan had plans both days so Connor and I took a little road trip to Wyomissing on Saturday morning. We just hung out at the house in the afternoon and then went to church and out to dinner. Connor was awake the whole time in church and slept through dinner - shouldn't it be the other way around?!?! After dinner I took him over to Lisa's house. Her boys were asleep when I got there but Connor, who has "Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Syndrome," kept us company until I left at 11:15, then promptly fell asleep in the car for the approximately 500 yard drive home.

 

 

On Wednesday night we went over to Courtney's for dinner. Gramma just got back from her trip to Florida and certainly had her hands full with Connor and Evie!

 

 

 

Connor's learning new tricks every day. He and Ryan were cracking me up last night. I'm still waiting for the day he surprises me with "Mama!"

 

 

So, there you have it. I am ready for the weather to get a little warmer and the days to get a little warmer so we can start going for walks outside after work. I bought a pretty nice umbrella stroller to keep in the car for when we go shopping and Connor really seems to enjoy being able to see what's going on in front of him as opposed to being in his infant seat. It works fine for walks around our current neighborhood, as long as I walk in the streets here since the sidewalks are terrible, but it definitely will not work at the new house. I'm definitely going to need to invest in a good jogging stroller when we move because our walks will be through the Christmas tree farms!