* 9 Months! *

That's right! Baby boy is 3/4 of a year old!!!  I can't believe its already time to start planning his first birthday bash!!! (We all know it will take me three months to plan it! LOL)  Here's some updates all about my precious 9 month old! :)


Dear Connor,

You have turned into such a FUN little boy!  I can't believe how big, cuddly, sweet, and funny you are!  Here are some things I don't want to forget about this age...

9 tHiNgS aBoUt mY wOnDeRfUl 9 mOnTh oLd...

1.  You are 24 lbs. 5 0unces and 30 inches long, and perfectly proportionate!  97th percentile for weight and 93rd percentile for height! Your pediatrician, Dr. Kamber, calls you his little linebacker!  Here is a picture of you right before we left for your 9 month checkup:

We can't get enough of those wonderful baby blues!  Even complete strangers come up to us and comment on your precious eyes!

2.  You LOVE, and I mean LOVE bathtime, especially now that you are taking baths in the big boy bathtub.  As soon as you hear the water turn on, you get soooooooooo excited!!  Here's a picture of you enjoying the big boy tub!



3.  You are on the move! and oh my goodness, you are into EVERYTHING!!!!!!!  You aren't crawling up on your knees yet, but you are a PRO at the army crawl! hehe!  You book it across the floor and pull up on everything.  The other day you crawled across the floor and then backed yourself up under the chair!!!

4.  You know who Ma Ma and Da Da are!  At first you were just saying the syllables because you liked how they sounded, but now you say them when you see us!  When you are with Ma Ma, that's all she hears! Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma! When you are with Da Da, its all about him!  We think you are super smart! ; )

5.  You now have 5, yes, FIVE teeth!!!!  More are on the way, too!  So, you chew on EVERYTHING!  Anything you can get ahold of goes directly to your mouth! Toys, shoes, remotes... the list goes on.  Here you are enjoying your shoes...

Your shoes lasted a whole 2 minutes on your feet! hehe!

6.  You LOVE books!  Right now your favorite books are Water Water Everywhere, and Heads & Tails :)  Mommy loves that you love books! You are so funny when you look at your books because you look at the them very intently and turn one page at at time! :) Here is a picture of you and Daddy enjoying a book:

I love how you have your little legs crossed in this picture!!

7.  You have really become a Momma's boy.  If you see Momma you WANT her attention, so you yell MA MA!!!  If she sits next to you on the floor, you have to climb in her lap.   Momma loves it that you will cuddle with her!  You can be a Momma's boy all you want because it makes me sad to think that someday you will grow out of this! :(

8.  Your new favorite toy is your puzzle!  Momma wasn't sure that you would like a puzzle, but gave it to you anyway.  Not only did you like it, but you LOVED it!  Mostly you like to chew on it, bang on it, and thow the pieces so you can go get them, but that's okay.  We'll work on putting it together later! ; )



9.  You LOVE to be outside!  Your like to ride in the wagon, ride in the stroller, and sit on a blankie with your toys in the sunshine!  Momma is super excited to take you to the Easter egg hunt this Sunday at church!!! :)  You may need my help, but that's okay.  Which reminds me, this weekend is going to be YOUR VERY FIRST EASTER!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! You wore your "Baby's First Easter" shirt today to celebrate the upcoming event!!

You are soooo cute!!!

Without a doubt, you have made the past 9 months the most wonderful months of our lives!  We LOVE you sooooooooo much and can't wait to see what you have in store for us next!

We love you to the moon and back a million times!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Bye Bye Sweet Spring Break :( So Sad to See You Go!!!!

I am DEVASTATED that I have to leave my Bubby tomorrow to go back to school.  We have had the BEST week together!  Mommy, Daddy, and Bubby got to spend 9 wonderful days work free, and it was AWESOME!  Weeks like this are the ones that make it so hard to be a working mom.  I WISH, and can't even tell you how much I wish, that we could financially afford for me to be a stay at home mom!  However, that would just not be a possibility on James' salary! (Thus, even more evidence that teachers are not paid enough! We should be able to survive on James' salary!!!)  Here are some highlights of our wonderful week:

Monday:
Connor and I went to story hour at the public library with our friends Georgia, Lily, Zoiee, and their mamas.  We had the best time!

You can tell they were really interested in the story! LOL  Who knew carpet squares were so facinating?!?!?!?!

Tuesday:

Momma, Daddy, and Connor took a trip to Babies R Us and Whole Foods to stock up on allllllllll kinds of yummy goodies!  The trip wore poor Bubby out! He slept the whole way home AND went to be at 7!!!

Wednesday:

We went to the park with Cousin Tyler and Aunt Jill! The boys had such a great time on the swings! Check it out:

 Connor LOVED the swings!

Tyler loved them too! Isn't he so cute with his little hat on!?!?!

Thursday:

We helped Momma's cousin Melanie and baby cousin Laci Sue with their yard sale! Connor and Laci Sue were born 3 days apart and are big buddies! They had a great time playing together!



Friday:

We STAYED HOME! We had such an eventful week, so we stayed home to nap (a lot) and play! Here is a picture of Bubby in his favorite toy: the toy basket! LOL

Momma LOVED every second of spring break with her two favorite guys!  If only every week was spring break!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the bright side... only 7 more weeks until SUMMER VACATION!!!!!!!!!  Big things to look forward to this summer! Connor turns 1 and daddy turns 30 (and on the SAME DAY!)    LOL   :o)

The Benham Babies

Connor's cousin Tyler came over to play on Saturday evening, and they had such a good time!  Tyler was so funny! Every time he picked up a toy, Connor thought he had to have it... and eat it!  Tyler was such a good big cousin and let Connor steal his toys! LOL

Poor Tyler!  LOL Connor is just a little young to understand the concept of sharing! ; )

Connor has recently learned how to go from a sitting position to his belly... especially when he is trying to get something out of reach.  While trying to get a toy, he plopped onto his belly right on Tyler's leg!  The funny part is that neither of them acted as if they noticed!  Connor laid there chewing away on his latest accomplishment, and Tyler sat there, Connor on leg, playing as if he didn't notice.  HAHAHA!

I'm surprised Tyler's leg wasn't numb!

Tyler LOVED Connor's giraffe toy! You put a ball in the giraffe's mouth and it spins around his neck while playing music.  It didn't take him long to figure out how it worked!



 Needless to say, the Benham babies had a great time playing together.  I think Connor thinks is big cousin is pretty awesome! ; )  I'll leave you with one last picture that absolutely cracks me up!  Mamaw was trying to get her grand babies to look at the camera, but they are both looking at her instead!!! LOL 

Look closely at these faces.  Can you say TWINS?!?!?

****SpRiNg FeVeR PaRt 2****

While spring cleaning / babyproofing the house this weekend, I moved Connor's jumperoo over by the window, and HOLY MOLY, did he go WILD!  He was bouncing all over the place, jibber jabbing, and waving his arms in the air.  It was absolutely hilarious.  I wish I had gotten video of it because these pictures don't do the cuteness factor justice! (But they're still adorable!)

*SpRiNg FeVeR***

Spring has spring in the Shacklett household! That's right, we all have spring fever!  James has been working in the yard, and Momma has been spring cleaning!!!!  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was actually excited for spring break so I could clean my house!  What has happened to me?!?!?!  Anywhoo, while cleaning, I decided it was time to BABYPROOF!  Connor is on the move... slowly, but surely.  He is rolling and scooting to where he wants to go, and  he has almost perfected the army crawl! So, I figured my spring break was the perfect opportunity to get some babyproofing accomplished!

First on the list was to organize my living room and get any dangerous items out!!!  We have an unfinished basement that we plan on finishing in the near future, complete with a playroom for Connor and any future siblings!!! Until then, we have to make do with the living room being multi-functional... living room, tv room, office, playroom, all in one!  Until recently, my living room looked like I owned stock in Babies-R-Us.  The solution, you ask??? The cutest bookshelf from Target!!! How cute are the little bins shaped like animals?!?!?! They house all of Connor's toys perfectly, and his books are neatly organized on the remaining shelves! So, I took out a couple pieces of furniture and gave Connor his own play nook in the living room.   I can FINALLY see my living room floor again!!! YAY!

 Above is Connor's nook in my living room :)

Hands down, cutest shelf ever!

We still have much to do on the babyproofing list, however.  James has begun babyproofing our cabinets, and we need to decide what to do about our TV.  What did you do with your flat screens?  Ours is on top of a media cabinet, but I feel like it would be safer mounted to the wall.  What do you think?

*eIgHt eXciTiNg mOnThS*

That's right! Connor was officially 8 months old on Sunday, March 20th.  I'm a little late with this update because I have been sooooooooo sick, but that's a completely different post entirely!

So many exciting things to share about our eight wonderful months with our little blessing!


***************************************************************

Dear Connor,

We have had the best eight months with you!  I will never forget the first time I laid eyes on you!  From then on, I have just loved on you and loved on you!!! Here is a picture of us in the hospital.  Of course, Mommy is loving away on you.  When you were itty bitty you would just lay on Momma and let her love away! Now, you are too busy for that.  You are very curious and like to learn, so that means you don't have much time to be cuddled.  When Momma tries to cuddle you, you usually wiggle your way out!  You are quite the wiggle worm now!  However, sometimes you still let Momma cuddle you.  You let me know when you are ready for cuddles, too! If you want to be picked up or Momma walks away and you don't want me to, you scream at me to let me  know it, and you raise your arms up to tell me to pick you up.  I LOVE it when you do this!!! I don't want you to outgrow our cuddles!

This is you and Daddy only minutes after you were born! He was sooooooooo excited that you were finally here!  You and Daddy have a very special bond!  You say, "Da-Da," all the time!  Daddy thinks it is hilarious that you say Da-Da more than you say Ma-Ma.  I told him it was because Ma-Ma is harder to say.  So, when you decided to wake up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning, and we could hear you saying "Da-Da" over the monitor, I told Daddy that you were calling his name and that he better go get you.  hehe!

I have so many things to tell you about all that you are doing at 8 months old!! So, here are EIGHT things to share:

1.  You absolutely LOVE bath time! As soon as you hear Daddy turn on the water, you start kicking your legs and don't stop! It makes is a challenge for Momma to get your clothes off!  You LOVE being a naked baby!  It means that it is bath time!  Once you are in the water, you don't stop kicking the WHOLE time! You splash and splash and splash! Usually the bathtub starts out pretty full, but once you are done kicking, there is only about an inch of water left.  A lot of it ends up on Mommy and Daddy or on the floor!  You think it is soooooooo funny, too!

2.  You DO NOT like your changing table at the moment.  It doesn't matter what you are on it for... a diaper change, clothing change, lotion, or the like... you DO NOT like it, and you let us know!  We have tried giving you toys and singing to you, but you STILL ABSOLUTELY DO NOT like your changing table.  Hopefully that changes by nine months! ;)

3.  You LOVE puffs! They are your first "solid, solid" food.  Your favorite flavor is the banana/peach combo from Plum Organics.  Mommy thinks they are pretty yummy too!  When you first started eating them, you would get frustrated because you had a hard time using your thumb and pointer finger to pick one up out of Momma's hand.  You figured out how to just bring your face down to Momma's hand.  It worked out much better for you! LOL  Now, you are a pro at using your thumb and pointer to pick up your puffs!

4.  You have SUDDENLY become a paci baby!  That's right! As soon as you got your first tooth, you wanted a paci and you haven't put it down!  This is a shocker for Momma, who desperately tried to get you to take a paci for about the first 3 months of your life.  Now you love to sleep with your paci!  You have no interest in it during your playtime... only for naps and bedtime!

5.  You are now in a big boy car seat in Mommy's new "mom mobile!!!" That's right, Mommy got a new ride for her 26th birthday, and you got a new car seat!

This is mommy's new ride!  You like it because you have a lot more room now!

Here you are all snuggled up in your big boy car seat FACING BACKWARDS in our new car!!! You even have a paci!!!  There is emphasis on the 'facing backwards' because several people on facebook thought I put you facing forward when I posted this picture.  They are silly because they know what a worry wart I am!!! You will be facing backwards until you are AT LEAST two and hopefully longer! Your seat has a 40 lb. weight limit while facing backwards, so you will be RFing until then! The American Academy of Pediatrics recently came out with these new recommendations.

6.  You suddenly have 4 teeth! Yes, FOUR, teeth!!!  We went from zero to four teeth in about two weeks, so you've be quite the grumper sometimes.  But, that's okay.  Mommy would be a grumper, too, if she were teething!  You like to use your new chompers to eat puffs!  Soon you'll be able to eat even more yummy foods!  Mommy learned the hard way that you won't be able to chew on my fingers anymore! Your chompers are razor sharp!!! OUCH!

7. You are trying awfully hard to crawl!  I'm sure its pretty hard to lift up 22 lbs!! You aren't quite there yet, but you still get to where you are wanting to go.  You wiggle, squirm, roll, and scoot until you get to your desired destination!!! So, Mommy and Daddy have started on the baby proofing that needed to be done!  Pretty soon you are gonna take off, Mommy feels it coming... real soon!

8.  You LOVE being outside!!!! The weather has just recently become warm enough for us to venture outside with you.  You thought your stroller ride was the greatest thing EVER until your Mamaw put you and Tyler in the wagon together!  You both LOVED riding in the wagon!  You squealed and clapped your hands because you liked it soooooooooo much!  Here is a picture of you and Tyler enjoying the wagon.

You and Tyler look sooooooooooo much ALIKE, and you both absolutely LOVE to be outside.  Here you are enjoying your wagon ride at Mamaw's.

Mommy and Daddy have had the BEST eight months with you, and we can't wait to see what all you have in store for us.  We love every minute we get to spend with you, which never feels like it is enough!  You are such a HAPPY baby, and love to learn.  We are soooooooo blessed that God chose us to be your parents!  We thank Him everyday!  I think you're pretty excited we're your parents too... see:

We LOVE you to the moon and back a million times!  Happy 8 months Bubby!!!! WE LOVE YOU!
XOXOXO
Love,
Mommy & Daddy

~A 7 1/2 month update~

That's right... so many new and exciting changes in the Shacklett household that I couldn't wait until 8 months to update you!  Where shall I start!?!?!

1.  Connor has learned how to clap! It is absolutely precious and he really gets going when he's super excited about something!!!  Check it out:

What makes it super adorable is that he doesn't clap palm to palm yet.  He claps hand over hand! hehe!  This picture doesn't do the cuteness factor justice!

2.  Connor is OFFICIALLY saying "ma-ma!"  I can't even tell you how much this made my day... my week!!!  He will even repeat "ma-ma" after I tell him to say it! Needless to say, Ma Ma was very excited about this new development!  Hopefully soon he will connect "ma-ma" to the real Ma-Ma!  On a separate note...  Why is it that babies always say "da-da" first????  Connor has been saying "da-da" for months... and the Da-Da's always think it is SO HILARIOUS that babies say "da-da" before "ma-ma!" I'm sure it has something to do with the syllable "da" being easier than "ma." hehe!  I don't have a picture or video of this yet. It's on my to-do list though!  Instead, I'll share some of "Ma-Ma's" favorite recent pictures! :o)

This is my "what is that!?!?!?!" face.

Ma Ma LOVES these BIG blue eyes!

This is my sweet Bubby, mid-giggle!

Ma Ma LOVES this onesie!  If any of you know the Justin Timberlake song, "I'm bringing Sexy Back," then I'm sure you think this is hilarious too!  "I'm bringing chubby back! Those girls won't know how to act!" LOL!!!!!!!!

 3.  Bubby OFFICIALLY has his first tooth!  (I feel like I'm saying officially a lot in this post, LOL!) That's right... we have our first chomper!  Connor was super fussy in church on Sunday. So, I took him back to a Sunday school room to feed him and let him play.  Well, this didn't do much to improve his demeanor.  I was thinking he may just be really tired.  He FINALLY fell asleep in the truck on the way home.  3 1/2 hours later (yes... you read that right! 3 1/2 hours!) he finally woke up from his nap.  If you know Connor, then you know 3 1/2 hour naps are unheard of.  I kept checking on him to make sure he was breathing! LOL!  Anywhoo, he woke up with a TOOTH!  I've tried to get of picture of this toofer, but he has been very uncooperative so far.  I'll keep trying!  On a good note, one tooth through, and ONLY about 20 more to go! LOL!

4.  Bubby's personality is really starting to shine at 7 1/2 months old!  He absolutely cracks me up all the time!  One of his new favorite games is to throw his toys off of his exersaucer and then to look and see where they land.  It is so cute how he looks over the edge of the exersaucer to see where it landed... then, of course, he looks up at you with those big puppy dog eyes as if he is saying, "Mommy, please pick up my toy for me so I can throw it on the ground again."  Check it out:

Isn't this too cute!!??!!

5.  For Christmas, one of the gifts from Connor's Mamaw was a hamster in a ball that rolls around on the floor.  He thinks it is HILARIOUS!!!  He cackles and giggles out loud and watches where he goes! It is priceless!  I'm sure he will be crawling after him soon!  Here is Connor's new friend:

Oh... the hamster is NOT REAL... I repeat... NOT REAL! LOL

Dear Connor,

We all love how you keep us entertained and on our toes! We can't wait to see what you have in store for us next! We LOVE watching you grow up!  WE LOVE YOU BUBBY!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy