My Boys

My boys are already having such fun interacting together. Austin watches Dylan play and smiles when he comes close. Here are a couple more pictures:

Belly Kisses!

Dylan reading to Austin about Dinos. Such a good big brother!

Firsts

I have been recording 1sts for Austin in his baby book and writing about them each month on the blog and I started thinking about all the big 1sts Dylan has had this summer since he turned 3. Here are some pictures:

1st Baseball Game
Cheering on the ABQ Isotopes in Cubs gear

1st JetSki Ride
Dylan loved it. He just kept saying "Do that again Dad!"

1st Roller Coaster Ride
We went to Boeing night at Cliff's and Dylan asked to ride the Galaxy Roller Coaster. At first we said no assuming he was to young, but when he persisted we checked and he could ride with an adult. His first words when it ended was, "Let's do that again Dad" So they rode the roller coaster twice while Austin and I waved from the ground. Looks like we have a little adrenaline junkie on our hands.

4 Month Old Austin

WOW, how our little baby has grown. At just 4 months he is already 19.5 lbs and is wearing mostly 6-9 month infant clothes. He is very alert and interested in toys and people. Some of his favorite things right now are belly kisses and being sung to. If you kiss him in the right spot on his belly or neck you get the best big belly laugh. It is awesome to hear. He is usually an excellent sleeper, but he has had a bit of a growth spurt between 3 and 4 months and still wakes up super hungry occasionally throughout the night. For a couple weeks we were back to feeding every three hours. Thankfully I think we are back on track as far as sleep goes.

He tried rice cereal for the first time since turning 4 months and was not all that interested in the food, but was very happy to grab and gnaw on the coated spoon. Anything he can get his hands on goes directly to his mouth. Dylan didn't get teeth until he was almost 8 months so it seems early to me, but my instincts tell me that Austin has teeth on the way. The signs of early teething all there: constant drooling, chewing on things, low grade fever and mild fussiness.

This month we pulled our frog jumper out of the attic and Austin loves it. He has already learned to jump in order to make the music play and reaches out to play with all the little toys attached. He can also roll over onto his side when he is lying on the ground and can lift his legs to maneuver himself around in a circle on a blanket toward toys even though he hasn't rolled completely over to his belly quite yet. Hard to believe we were at the hospital just 4 months ago. Our big little man is already so much a part of the family that I can't imagine life without him.
We love you Austin!

Dylan Singing

Fuzzy Caterpillar - Dylan Connors...

Lovely, Lively Lyssa

Our sweet niece Alyssa turns 1 on Saturday. We were lucky enough to have my brother Michael, his wife Mandy and Alyssa visit all last week. I took a ton of pictures while they were here so I decided to make a quick picture collage for her special day. Dylan and Alyssa kept each other entertained all week. I can still hear Dylan's voice echoing throughout the house..."Lyssa, oh Lyssa, come on Lyssa."

Happy 1st Birthday Alyssa!

We Love You

4th of July!

Hope everyone had a fun 4th of July. Here are some pictures of our 4th fun:

3 Months

Happy 1/4 Birthday to our Sweet, Happy Austin!

Our little Austin is such a sweetheart. As you can see in the pictures he is a very smiley and calm baby. He nearly always sleeps 7-10 hours at night. He loves to be outside. His favorite spot is the swing on our front porch. The times when he fussy we take him outside to rock him on the swing and he calms down instantly. Some of his other favorite things include watching his train mobile, snuggling and being held during nap time, playing pat-a-cake, getting kisses, and being sung to. Austin is also constantly moving his feet. It always looks like he is trying to run. He does this laying down, being held or sitting in his car seat.

Potty Time Success

Hooray for Dylan!

Just wanted to post a quick note about Dylan's success reaching this major milestone. It was a change he was resisting hard, but once he caught on he only had a couple accidents and it was a very natural transition. Yeah!

2-Month Checkup

Austin had his check up Wednesday morning and as we anticipated he weighed 15.2 pounds (97th %ile) and was 24.25 inches long (95%ile). Our good little eater! He is also a champ in the sleep department. I'm afraid to post this because it may change, but he has gone 4 nights in a row sleeping 7 or 8 hrs between feedings. Yeah Austin!! Keep up the good work. We had a rough day after all his shots with lots of tears, but he is now back to his happy self again. Our baby is already leaving the newborn stage smiling and responding to us often. Time flies even faster the second time. Here are more pictures of our sweet Austin...

Happy Baby

Our Happy Boy is already 2 months old. We go to the doctor tomorrow for shots :( and his 2 month check up so we will post more soon. We think Austin is around 15 lbs already. He is a very good eater and overall a very happy guy. He smiles a lot and even laughed the other day. Scott was singing him Macho Man and moving his arms and he did a Big smile and a quick little giggle. One of the things Austin loves most is his Daddy. He is most content snuggling with Scott.

Brothers

These are the pictures we had taken of our boys together. They are my favorites of all the pictures we had taken. My boys are so sweet together.

Last week I was washing dishes while Dylan was playing and Austin was sleeping in the baby swing. Austin started crying and Dylan instantly ran into the room to report that Austin was crying. By the time I dried my hands and came into the other room Dylan was already standing next to the swing gently holding Austin's hand. Austin actually stopped crying for a couple minutes. It was so sweet!

Dylan also wants to include Austin as much as possible for story time and play time. He makes sure that Austin has a dinosaur or car near him even though he knows that he is too little to play. Soon I will have to be careful of all the little choking hazards that are being shared, but for now I just love that he is doing what he knows to include Austin in the things he enjoys!

Another thing that I love about my two boys together are the explanations that Dylan gives for Austin's cries. Here are some of my favorites:

• "He wants his milkies Mom"
• "He doesn't want Daddy to go to work Mom"
• "He just wanted that other Dinosaur"

Too cute!

3

Our sweet Dylan had his 3 year check up at the doctor. He sat very still for the first time while the nurse checked his temperature and blood pressure and actually cooperated getting his height and weight measurements. This is a big change for him. We did not even get height or weight measurements when he turned 2 because he was so upset. He is at the 75% for both height and weight. He weighs 35 lbs and is 38.75 '' tall.

We also also got these pictures taken of our handsome guy! I love that he will say cheese and actually sit still for a few seconds for a picture. It is still a challenge to catch a good picture but at least now we do not always have a moving (ie.running) target.

Dylan's pediatrician said that he calls 3 the, "I can do it, I can do it, hold me, hold me" age. This perfectly matches Dylan's attitude lately. I've heard that this age is especially challenging because it is a big transition year from toddler to big kid. Dylan is still more on the toddler side, but he wants to be independent at the same time. I just pray I have the patience to survive this stage and manage to get him potty trained before August so he can go to preschool again next year.

Even though Dylan is a typical 3 year old boy doing his job to challenge us as parents he is also very loving and gentle. He is an awesome big brother and does surprisingly well sharing and playing with others. He loves music and singing. It is amazing how he can hear a song and instantly pick up the words and sing them back. I love getting to learn all the songs they sing at preschool in Music each week. I hope to post a video sometime soon of him singing the caterpillar song. My favorite! Hope you enjoy the pictures and the update on our precious Dylan!

2 Weeks Already!

Today we had Austin's 2-week checkup and found out what we already suspected... this boy knows how to eat! He was 9.0 pounds at birth and now weighs 10.4 lbs. That's nearly a 16% weight increase in just 2 weeks. He is starting to fill out in all the cute places and is looking more and more like Dylan did as a newborn. Most likely due to all of his eating, Austin is a very good sleeper for such a little guy. The only problem is that he really loves the milk and wants to eat quite often, so we aren't getting very much sleep yet. We love having him with us though, especially his big brother.

Dylan is 3!

Our little, bouncing boy turned 3 years old today! Sometimes it is hard to believe that it has been 3 years already. Dylan has officially left his infant/baby days behind him and is a full-fledged toddler. He has brought such joy into our lives and we love him absolutely. We think he is going to be a great big brother and look forward to the boy he will become.

But for now, we are just trying to cherish this time when he still kisses us goodnight, sings Disney songs at the top of his lungs, takes naps, reads stories with us, let's us cuddle him, if only for a few moments, holds our hands and swings, runs into our arms when we pick him up from school, makes us think we really are super hero parents, and depends on us for everything.

To celebrate the big occasion, we had a special friend birthday party for Dylan on Saturday the 9th. We invited boys from Dylan's class, kids from the neighborhood, and others that Dylan has befriended in his few short years. Naturally, we had a dinosaur themed party with a dinosaur fossil dig in the sandbox, dinosaur stickers for making pictures, dinosaur cookies for decorating, dinosaur tattoos, a dinosaur egg hunt, a great dinosaur cake, dinosaur chicken nuggets for the kids, and dinosaur plates, napkins, and balloons for decoration. It was great. Here are a few picture highlights from the party.

The Cake!

Candles Are Lit

The Candle Extinguisher

Dino Bone Digging

Good Buddies

Happy Birthday Dylan! We Love You!

Austin Has Arrived!

We are very pleased to announce that Austin Michael Connors was born Wednesday, March 30th, at 2:26 AM. He weighed 9 lb 0 oz at birth and is 21 inches long. He came out with a full (well, full for a baby) head of blond hair, just like his big brother Dylan. Crystal is recovering very well and we all were able to come home from the hospital this afternoon.

Crystal was truly amazing during the birthing process. She woke me up around 12:30 AM after having "a few sharp pains", which quickly turned into full contractions, less than 2 minutes apart, by the time we were rushing to the hospital at 1:00 AM. She managed to walk from the car to OB Triage, where they quickly determined she was at 8 cm and ready to go. We took the fast track to Labor and Delivery, where we were greeted with 6 nurses and 2 doctors getting ready for delivery. After about 30 minutes of more severe contractions, her water broke and then a short (but painfully long for Crystal) 10 minutes later, Austin was born. He cried out like a good newborn should and we were all overjoyed. Even the midwife who helped deliver Austin called it "such an exciting delivery".

Austin was able to eat right away and has been eating and sleeping well ever since. We are very excited to have him at home, where he won't be poked or prodded every 10 minutes and we can finally try to get some sleep. Dylan was able to come to the hospital for a visit after his nap yesterday. He loved meeting his baby brother and was excited to see his mommy and daddy again. Unfortunately, he came down with a bit of the stomach flu later in the night, so we have had to curb his enthusiasm to spend time with his little brother until he is feeling better. He already loves being a big brother though. His preschool class decorated a sign for Austin yesterday and made Dylan a "Big Brother" crown to wear. It was very sweet.

Here are some pictures of Austin's first day on the outside...

Austin a few minutes old (bad flash Dad!)


My amazing wife about to take Austin to our room


The whole family

Crystal and her boys

Big Brother snuggling Little Brother

Overdue Blues

Yesterday March 26th was my due date. We have had a month now of anticipating our little Austin's arrival every day. He sure fooled me with all the cramping and early contractions that I've felt. I am now scheduled to be induced April 2nd at 7:30 pm if he doesn't arrive before then. I really hope it happens naturally before then. In the meantime we've been continuing our fun around town. Last Thursday Scott and I got a taste of life with two kiddos when we took Dylan and his friend Hunter to the Explora Childrens Museum. We had a lot of fun and ended up with some great pictures. Scott made this cool picture collage of the boys.