Happy 8 months Connor!

This handsome fellow is 8 months old!

Big 8 month boy!

It's amazing how big he is getting and how much he is learning - He's like a little sponge! He's been such a blessing and source of fun and laughs for the past 8 months.

"Are you shrinking monkey?!"

Connor has been working on his sitting and is getting better and better. He still topples over occasionally, testing our reflexes. He loves sitting at his xylophone or piano and making music. He also loves to be sung to. It always soothes or entertains him (despite my questionable singing voice and small repertoire of songs - I'm working on it!)

Baby Beethoven

Other new "tricks" include reaching for his toes:

Sitting up in the big kid part of the grocery cart:

Picking up food for my puppies

Playing in his jumperoo (it helps that his feet can reach the ground now and he can turn himself around in it:

Jumperoo fun!

And using a high chair at restaurants:

At chipotle - "where's my burrito?!"

Connor had eye surgery in late September to straighten his eyes, improving his vision and depth perception. He was a champ for the surgery and recovered very quickly. He was a very good (and super adorable) patient. His eyes were a little red for awhile, but he's doing much better now.

Eyes are a little red, but he's happy as ever

We've seen a noticeable difference in how he sees, which is awesome. We often see him "inspecting" things that he may not have been able to see well before.

"Hmmm, interesting..."

He's moved up a size in diapers, to 2, and is quickly outgrowing his 6 month clothes. He is tall and skinny, so a lot of his pants are short, but big around the waist. Luckily, he's a fantastic eater so we can bulk him up a little. We have yet to find a food that he doesn't like. He will happily eat anything we give him, even mushed green beans, which don't seem very appetizing to us. His favorite food right now is bananas (these get a lot of "mmmms" while he eats them.). Honorable mentions include sweet potatoes, apples, and carrots.

"Mommy, take my picture in front of my favorite food"

Connor recently got 2 new teeth - his top 2. His bottom 2 came in with very little problem, but we weren't quite so lucky with the top 2. These seemed to give him a little more trouble and kept us up at night sometimes with the poor little guy. We seem to be almost through it now, however, and he is back to his ever happy, sleeping through the night, self (hopefully I didn't just jinx us by typing that - knock on wood)

Little angel

The little guy always makes us laugh! He is currently in love with ceiling fans and laughs hysterically at them. He is also ticklish, so it's fun to play and find his ticklish spots while he giggles (don't tell him I told you, but his armpits usually elicit a laugh)

tickle, tickle

In other recent exciting Connor news, he rolled from his back to front, a skill we have been working on for a while that he finally did himself (I have to wonder if his indifference toward tummy time made him not too interested in learning this, but he did it none the less). I came in to get him from his nap the other day to find this:

First back to tummy roll!

I witnessed the rolling first hand later that day during playtime. He rolled, lifted his head and gave me the biggest "did you see what I just did" smile. Little stinker :)

the little stinker himself

Connor has been busy cheering on the Browns with Daddy on Sunday (sorry Pittsburgh friends, he inherited his Daddy's football taste, poor kid) and got to see his first Browns win against the Bengals the other day. Father and Son were both excited!

Go Browns!

Happy 8 months Buddy!! We love you to the moon and back!

<3 <3 <3

 

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High Five!

Celebrating his first Browns victory!

Just a quick update (again). Today, Connor is eight months old! Elle will be putting up a post about that tomorrow, but we wanted to share this video of Connor playing his new favorite game

 

 

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Our Little Mozart

Never had a single lesson!

 

Just a quick post to show off some of Connor's newfound musical prowess.

And as a bonus, Connor enjoying the ceiling fan:

 

 

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From Where I'm Sitting

(excuse Connor's red eyes in some of these pictures and the video - he just had his eye surgery so he's still recovering, but doing great!)

Guess who is sitting pretty handsome!?

Connor has been working on sitting by himself for a little while now and seems to be getting the hang of it. He's great at "tripod" sitting and is working on sitting up straight too.

He still tends to tumble over after a little while (as seen in the video) but he's getting better at it everyday (and Mommy is getting better at figuring out which way he might tumble). He looks so old when he sits! Video sitting evidence:

 

And of course, he's mastering sitting and sucking his thumb because everything is more fun when you're sucking your thumb :)

Thumb sucking, sitting, and playing the piano - what a multitasker!

 

 

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Happy 7 months Connor! (and a long overdue Connor update)

Long time no post! Apparently babies keep you pretty busy as we have been blog quiet recently. No fear, Connor has had a lot going on!

Yesterday, he turned 7 months old!

Who keeps shrinking this monkey?

His stats at his 6 month doctors appointment (which actually took place when he was about 6.5 months) were 16 lbs 12 oz (24th percentile) and 26.5 inches (46th percentile). Our little string bean! He seems to be going through a growth spurt recently. He's been getting up in the middle of the night (yawn, although no complaints we have been blessed with many restful nights with this little boy) and scarfing down a big bottle. Who doesn't want a midnight snack?! (although formula wouldn't be my first choice)

Connor had some 6 month pictures taken with a local photographer. They turned out great and I think they captured his cuteness and beautiful blue eyes.

6 month professional pictures

During our staycation in August, Connor got to go swimming for the first time and he loved it! He was a natural little fish in the water. We put him in and he immediately starting kicking his feet in his raft and moving himself around - 2032 Olympics, here he comes!

A natural in the water!

On Labor day weekend, we all went to Pittsburgh for a welcome home picnic for Connor's Uncle Eric, who had been studying for his Masters in England. Connor had never met him before, so it was exciting! Connor also got to meet/see a lot of his extended Pittsburgh family and had a lot of fun.

Meeting Uncle Eric for the first time

Speaking of Uncle Eri(c)(k)s, Connor's Aunt Krissie and Uncle Erik came to visit last weekend from their new home in Cincinnati. What a lucky little boy to have 2 uncles named Eri(c)(k) - we just need a way to distinguish between the 2 when talking about them - we are working on it :). Connor had a lot of fun hanging out with his aunt and uncle and is looking forward to road tripping to go visit them soon!

Connor with his other Uncle Erik and favorite aunt, Krissie

In other exciting news, Connor got some new wheels (well, maybe mommy and daddy really got the new wheels). We are officially a minivan family now and we are loving it! Lots of room for babies, baby gear, our 2 wet nosed children, and all of their stuff too. Now I just need to sign Connor up for soccer..

Connor's new ride

Connor has been very busy at home too, playing, practicing new skills, and eating! Some of his favorite things recently include:

Bouncing in his door jumper (possibly his absolute favorite thing at this point. He is ALWAYS trying to jump!)

He loves music and being sung to. His current favorite song is "Little Ducky Daddle". If you're not familiar with the tune, Connor highly recommends it. This duck song is magic - it soothes him, makes him laugh, and entertains all at the same time. He stops in his tracks whenever you start singing it and waits in anticipation for the "quack quack" that comes at the end. It's his jam.(for Seinfeld fans, it makes me think of that boyfriend Elaine had that loved "Desperado" - this is Connor's Desperado")

Connor has been practicing his sitting and still needs a little work, but is getting better at it every day.

Sitting is fun!

Getting a little sitting help from the Boppy

He was practicing sitting today at the grocery store too, like a big boy!

Helping Mommy grocery shop

He is doing lots of tummy time

So thoughtful...

Loving tummy time now (never used to be a favorite!)

Playing with his toys

Chillin'

And still definitely sucking his thumb

Little Linus

He's always trying new foods and we haven't found anything yet that he doesn't like - even prunes!

Aftermath of eating prunes and sucking his thumb at the same time

Can't believe this handsome little guy is more than half way to his first birthday!

Our little bluestreak

He's such a happy baby, always smiling and having fun and he sure brings endless joy to our lives! Happy 7 months buddy! Love you!

So handsome

 

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Postcard from Staycation: The Zoo

Joe was able to take this past week off of work so we decided to do a staycation in beautiful Cleveland, OH. Our plan was to go and do some fun things close to home and enjoy some family time, which has been awesome!

We decided that a great way to spend one day would be to take Connor for his first trip to the Cleveland Zoo. He was excited! The boy was blessed (cursed?) with his daddy's pale skin, so we lathered him up with sunscreen and off we went.

Ready for the zoo!

 

It was a beautiful day and we decided to try to see as much as we could and leave when we felt like Connor had had enough. So we packed a nice picnic lunch and headed out. Connor did AWESOME! He was great riding in his stroller and enjoyed animal (and people) watching with us.

Strolling through the zoo

We were excited to see the new baby rhino at the zoo and were able to get some good views and pictures of him (her?). Connor, being a baby, was especially excited to see baby animals.

Joe and Elle with baby Connor and baby rhino

We were also able to check out the new elephant exhibit (well, new since we've last been to the zoo, which was, by the way, one of our early dates back in 2006, so its been awhile).

Joe and Connor with the elephants

We stopped for lunch under a covered pavilion and no sooner had we sat down then it started downpouring! We ate lunch (sandwiches for the parents and bottles for Connor) and by the time we were done the sun was back out and we were off to see more animals (perfect timing!). He looks furious here, but I swear he enjoyed lunch!

Lunching while it rains

We switched Connor to the ergo because he as getting a little tired of sitting in his stroller. He had a better view this way.

Connor chilling in the ergo

We stopped by to see one of my favorite animals, the polar bears, who must have been hot in the Cleveland summer sun. Joe assured me that zoologists who were more knowledgeable than me had thought things through and the polar bears were cool as cucumbers polar bears. Don't worry furry friends, the dreaded Cleveland winters are (unfortunately) on their way.

By this time, Connor was starting to get tired and fell asleep in the ergo. Animal watching is hard work!

Exhausted from all of the zoo fun

 

Tired boy

Overall, the zoo was a success! We are looking forward to going back soon. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, although I think the excitement of the day caught up with Connor who was too tired for even his favorite activity.

Poor guy fell asleep in the door jumper

Zoo for the win!

 

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