Under the Weather

Last week, I got a call from my sister-in-law that my poor nephew, Tyler, was sick at daycare and needed to be picked up.  She was out of town for the day, his daddy (my brother) was working in Louisville, and Mamaw was on vacation visiting relatives in North Carolina, so it was up to Aunt Eileen to save the day! :)  When I got to daycare, they said the poor little guy had a temp of 103!!!  He was napping, and when I picked him up to put him in the car, he was ON FIRE!  Needless to say, I was really freaked out and worried about him! (Of course, I tend to be the hypochondriac in the family!!)  I took him to his pediatrician, who said it was a virus and will just have to pass its course.  Poor little Tyler was so pitiful in the doctor's office.  He sat on the table and let the doctor look him over, but then his little lip began to quiver and he stared crying.  Luckily, the doctor finished the exam with Tyler sitting in my lap! He prescribed rest and fluids!  Once we left, I got my little champ to eat some apple slices and drink some water for me, and then he was down for the count!  Check out my sweet, but oh so sick, little guy...

Trying to be a trooper and eat for Aunt Eileen.

Just what the doctor ordered!



10 Terrific Months!

That's right! My Bubby is 10 months old!  It seems like yesterday that I first saw his adorable little face!  Can you believe this was 10 months ago?

I miss everything about those days... his full head of dark brown velvet baby hair, those tiny little fingers and toes, how he showed off his toothless gums when he cried for more milk, and even that tiny little patch of infantile acne he had on his nose - that only a newborn could make look cute!  Even though those newborn days are long gone, I cherish the memories, love the ones we are making today, and look forward to the ones we will make in the future!  With that said, Connor, here are  

10 things I want to remember about you at this age... my terrific ten month old baby boy:

1.  You are still army crawling, but like a pro! You can book it across the living room in 5 seconds flat! Really!  You put yourself into crawling position on your knees a lot, but then decide you don't want to do that. hehe!  See:

2.  Your new favorite toy is your cement truck.  You like to roll it around on our hardwood floors.  You push it, watch it go, and then crawl after it!!! We think its pretty cute! ;)

3.You love music! I mean, LOVE, music... any kind!  Lately, your Daddy has been playing the guitar for you and you think it is AWESOME! You like to help him play. :)  See, here you are helping him:

4.  You helped Momma celebrate her FIRST mother's day this month.  It was sooooooooooo special!  We even got special flowers at church for being the youngest Mommy and the youngest baby! :)  You are the best mother's day present in the whole world!  You make everyday super special for Momma!

5.  You now say 5 words!  That's right! You say Mama, Da-Da, hi, bye, and Bubba.  You LOVE to talk.  You jibber jabber all day long, and it is sooooooooooooo cute! ;)  You've even started waving... but ONLY when you want to... not when Momma wants you to! hehe

6.  You learned how to go from laying on your belly to sitting up!  It is so darn cute, too!  The only problem is that now when we lay you down in your bed for naps, you sit right back up and play with your mobile!!!  So nap time is somewhat of a challenge right now, but we are working on making that better! hehe! You are definitely our little wiggle worm!

I caught somebody sitting up in their bed when they were supposed to be sleeping!!! hehe

7.  You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to be outside!  You got to see bubbles for the first time the other day, and you thought they were awesome!  You raised your arms up and cheered as they floated by!  You were even able to catch some of them.

8.  You figured out how to go forward in your walker!  At first you were only going backwards.  Now that you are a pro at maneuvering your walker, you are into EVERYTHING!  You roll around the house trying to open doors and drawers!!! LOL

Here you are on the day you figured out how to walk forward! :)

9.  You have six teeth!  That's right, SIX! You have four on top and two on the bottom!  All the better to eat big boy foods with!!! Your favorite foods right now are spinach and apple puffs, strawberry cereal bars, fresh apples and bananas, and you LOVE water!  You have stared using your sippy cup and are doing so well! Right now you think it is meant for shaking and chewing on, but you have slowly started drinking from it!  You are growing up so fast!

10.  Last, but definitely not least, you just started pulling up from a seating position to standing!!! I couldn't believe it when I first saw you! Luckily, Daddy had the camera ready and was able to get pictures of you the first time you pulled up to standing!  It was quite the moment!!! :)

 

Sorry for the sideways video :P   I'm still learning... lol

Connor, you make everyday so special.  Mommy and Daddy feel so blessed to be able to watch you learn and grow.  We can't wait to see what month 11 will bring!  You love you more than words could ever say!!!

Happy 10 months Bubby!

We love you to the moon and back!

Love,

Momma and Da-Da

***PROM***

You read that correctly... yes, PROM! Many of you may not know this, but I am the legal guardian to 16 year old nephew, Ryan.  He's been living with me for a little over two years now, which has been such a blessing!  I LOVE having him here and am probably NOT going to be able to handle it when he moves to college in the fall of 2012!!!  While I absolutely LOVE having Ryan here, and have ALWAYS felt like he is my own son, I would gladly give him back to his mother to undo the circumstances which placed him in my care.  My sister (his mother) and her family were in a terrible car accident about 2 and a half years ago.  Jennifer, my sister, was killed instantly on impact and Ryan was badly injured.  It is a miracle that he is walking today! Literally... a miracle.  After 4 surgeries, he spent several months in a wheelchair and then several more months on crutches.  I can't thank God enough for allowing him to regain the ability to walk so that he is able to do what he loves... marching band.  After the accident, I left my job in Jefferson County to come home to take care of Ryan.  There isn't a day that goes by that my heart doesn't ache for Jennifer, but I know we will meet again someday!  Until then, I am trying my best to take care of her son to the best of my ability... which will never compare to the loving relationship that she had with him!  You are DEEPLY missed and loved, Jennifer!

Our Angel... doing what she did best - singing God's praises!

Back to the topic at hand... PROM!!! Two weekends ago, we sent Ryan off to his FIRST PROM! I believe I was WAY more excited than he was!!!  Check out the pictures I took! (This is just a sample of the 300 I really took!! LOL)  Ryan and Kylie, his girlfriend, were very cute together!  ...and even cooperated (for the most part) with my crazy direction and posing!!!

Connor had to get in on the action! :)

I'm glad I finally got some shots that show off Ryan's personality!!! AHAHAHAHAHA

Connor LOVED being outside!

And they're off!!!

Wordless Wednesday : )

* Hippity Hop... Easter's here!!!*

* Connor's First Easter *

After Easter dinner at the Benham's on Saturday night,  Bubby went to bed early so the Easter Bunny could visit!  Look closely, he's sleeping on his Peter Rabbit sheet just for this special day!!! :)

The Easter Bunny was here!!!

Look at all these goodies for sweet Connor!  The Easter Bunny must have known it was his very FIRST Easter!

"What's this?"

Connor was excited about his new movie! Tangled!!

"The bunny ears go in my mouth, not on my head!"  "Hey! Who are you??"  Connor LOVEs his blue bunny that sings, flaps his ears, and wiggles his tail!

My sweet Bubby, surrounded by his loot! :)

With all the fun of Connor first Easter, we made sure to remember the reason for the season!!! Thank you Jesus, for dying for our sins!  Today we celebrate because He Lives!!!!  Happy Easter everyone!

* 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)