The Joy of Packing

We have been packing up our house these past few days. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate after only about 5 years! We will most likely be closing on the house in the middle of next week and moving immediately after that. Fortunately, Dylan was around to make the packing more bearable. We stuck him in a box with a few toys and he loved it. Here are some of the shots we got of our little mover...

11 Months

Dylan is 11 months old today! Just one more month before his big 1st birthday party. Dylan has really taken to a variety of foods this month. He seems to love everything from peas to celery, apples to bananas, chicken to salmon, and rice to bread. The key is that he has to feed himself or his mouth is sealed. He has not mastered the art of spoon-eating yet, but his finger dexterity is excellent. It is actually a lot more relaxing for us at meal time because no one has to feed him.

His absolute favorite food is peas, which he eats almost every night. If there are peas on his tray in the midst of other foods, he always makes sure to hunt down all of the peas before eating anything else. We call him Mr. Peabody sometimes. Also, he has recently started to eat larger food items instead of having us cut them up first. For instance, he doesn't like apple chunks, he just prefers to eat the whole apple.
In other family news, we bought a new house! I came home from work one night in late January and Crystal informed me she was ready to find a bigger house and that she wanted to start looking as soon as possible. The little man and all of his stuff have caused our house to look like the great baby explosion and I had to agree that we had already outgrown it. After much searching and some frustration, we finally found one that we both love. It has 2 stories, 4 bedrooms (with an optional 5th one), 3 bathrooms, and even a swimming pool. We didn't intend on buying a house with a pool, but it works out nicely because Dylan loves swimming so much. So if you want to come stay with us, come during the summer. We have plenty of extra space, but I'm not going to rent out swimwear, so bring your own.

Here are a few more pictures...

First Haircut

Yesterday we took Dylan to get his very first professional haircut. Crystal had trimmed back some wild stallions around his ears a few months ago, but Dylan was definitely due for a real cut as you can tell from this picture taken last week...

So off we went to Mop Tops, which is a salon dedicated to keeping little ones cropped and cute. Instead of regular barber chairs, they have little animals for kids to sit on like you would see at a playground. Dylan loved sitting on his elephant and watching Mulan on his own personal little TV. We were not sure he could sit still for more than 5 minutes, much less the time required for an adequate cut, but it turns out that our little guy is actually a model citizen when it comes to getting his hair cut. He sat relatively still for the entire 20 minutes and didn't fuss or cry once, even while other little ones were screaming around him. Here is a good picture taken in the middle of the cutting process...


In the end we were very pleased with the whole experience. We saved a few of his longer curls for scrapbook purposes, got a number of pictures, a bit of video footage, and one handsome, little man to take home. It is amazing how grown up he looks with his new haircut. We haven't gotten him to settle down enough to get a really good picture of the new do, so this one will have to suffice for now...

Sooo Big!

This past weekend my parents (Nani & Pops to Dylan) came to visit for a long weekend. We had a great time. On Thursday my Dad and I went skiing in Santa Fe while my Mom watched Dylan. When we came back that night Dylan proudly showed off the new game Nani taught him. How the Sooo Big game works: We Say, "How big is Dylan?" Then Dylan raises his hands in the air and we say Sooo Big. Next Dylan gets a huge smile and claps for himself. It is super cute. Here he is in action...

The excitment continued throughout the weekend: my Mom & I got manicures and pedicures on Friday, and Saturday Scott and my Dad played in a golf tournament. Sunday we went on a hike in the Foothills and then took Dylan to the park.
Here are some pictures of Dylan with Nani and Pops on our hike...

Thanks for the fun weekend Nani & Pops. We love you!!!

10 Month Update

Here is Dylan after a bath. Can you tell by his expression that he is ready to play and explore. He is always ready to go. Our days are busy, busy, busy. I try to keep up as he crawls and walks pushing things around the house. His favorite thing to push down the hall is his toy train, which he uses as a walker. Coming in a close second are the kitchen chairs. Don't be fooled by his size. He is very strong.

Another one of Dylan's favorite things to do is to play the piano. He figured out that he could reach the keys and that it makes noise and then there was no turning back. Dylan loves anything that lets him make noise. We may have a future musician on our hands.

Meal times have been more fun lately now that Dylan is eating more and more table foods. So far we know that he loves bananas, pears, peas, ground beef, chicken, cheese, and tortillas. As for baby foods... we still try but unless his hands are full, Dylan figures out a way to grab the spoon when Scott or I look away for a second and the meal ends up looking something like this...

A Boo Boo For Our Busy Pre-Toddler

We went to the doctor on Tuesday for Dylan's 9 month check up. He is now 29 inches long and 22.8 pounds. This puts him just above the 75% where he has been all along. The doctor said that he is doing great and is officially a pre-toddler. Exploring everything! It is hard to get him to sit still long enough for me to change his diaper and usually requires a toy for distraction. He wants to do everything himself even though he is not ready yet. This includes meal times. We are adding more soft table foods since he often refuses anything that we give him from a spoon. So far he loves cheerios, sweet potato puffs, ground beef, peas and occasionally bananas. I am trying to be thankful and focus on the positive side of Dylan's independent personality because I know we are only approaching the tip of the ice berg of challenges. This independence led to Dylan's first Boo Boo :(
It is hard to see in the picture, but Dylan has a little cut just above his left eye. Yesterday while I was giving him a bath he squirmed out of my hands and bonked his eye on the side of the tub. It was very traumatic for both of us. Luckily only bled a little bit and he was soon back in action happily playing (as you can see in the picture below). My recovery is still a work in progress. I am going to wait until Scott gets home for bath time for a while.
If you haven't seen the 9-month picture video yet be sure to scroll down to the post below. It is long but very cute. Make sure that the sound on your computer is on to get the full enjoyment.

9 Months!

Our little baby boy is 9 months old today! Crystal and I both agree that Dylan has changed quicker than ever since his 6-month birthday. Here are the major events over Dylan's crazy last three months, which I have tried to convey with pictures in the video below:

• He graduated out of his infant carrier to his big boy car seat, which he absolutely loves. It is rare for him to make it through a lengthy car ride without taking a little siesta.
  
• We all took a trip to Joliet, Illinois to meet Grandma and Grandpa Great, along with many great-aunts/uncles and second cousins.
  
• He was an adorable and cuddly bear for his very first Halloween.
• He started to become mobile with his patented pseudo-crawl, which was comprised of getting into a push-up position, moving his legs forward, belly flopping, and repeating until he became too tired to continue. He was quite the little mover with this technique. Alas, before we captured it on video he abandoned his unique style and moved on to the conventional crawl. Now he is really tough to catch.
• We were blessed to take a trip to the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kaua'i over Thanksgiving. Dylan managed to endure 20-hour travel days both ways with only minor fussing. He loved the pool, the ocean, the swings, the grass, the weather (no socks!), and spending time with his Nani and Pops.
• During the trip he sprouted his first 2 teeth in the middle of his lower gum.
• Also during the trip he said "Dada" for the first (but certainly not the last) time.
• He tried many new foods on the trip, such as pineapple-pears, mango, pureed turkey, prunes, apple-cherries, and baby formula (because Crystal got sick and couldn't feed him for a couple of days).
• He began pulling up on things during the trip and really honed his skills when we got back home. Now he spends more time on his feet (holding onto furniture) than he does crawling around on the floor.
• He began feeding himself teething crackers, Cheerios, and veggie puffs.
  
• He celebrated his very first Christmas in Albuquerque in the morning and Camas, WA in the evening.
• During our time in Washington he said "Mama" for the first time.
  
• Through it all he has kept growing and growing. He is poised to walk soon and is already learning to fall gracefully. His blond hair is filling out and he is destined for a trim in the near future. His cheeks are just about maxed out and his little buns have pushed past the #3 diaper. We will get some new measurements on Tuesday at his 9-month checkup.
  

See what we mean by it being a crazy last three months? Enjoy the video...

Merry Christmas!

Ever since we've been back from Kauai we've been going nonstop. I finished teaching for the semester, my good friend Courtney came to visit and now there are just a couple days until the Christmas festivities begin. In the past few weeks Dylan has been changing at a record pace. On the plane ride to Kauai on Thanksgiving he got his first two teeth, he says Dada and is constantly babbling, he crawls super fast and is pulling up on anything in sight. He wants to be on his feet at all times! It is so fun to watch him progress. There will be lots of great pictures and video clips to post when Dylan turns 9 months.

Wishing you a holiday full of:

PEACE

JOY

ADVENTURE


ENTERTAINMENT

AND

LEISURE

Thanks for following our blog. Merry Christmas and God Bless!

8 Months!

Dylan is 8 months old! It is amazing how fast time flies. It seems like only yesterday that we were counting the number of weeks that Crystal was pregnant and now Dylan is quickly approaching the 1 year milestone. We have spent the last few weeks on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kaua'i and have tons of pictures and stories to share. For now I will just leave you with a great picture Crystal took of Dylan at the resort. He is definitely a paradise baby!

Leaves & The Pseudo Crawl

Leaves

The leaves on our neighbor's tree all fall at the same time. Half of our yard is completely covered. Dylan loves to be outside, so we played in them for a few minutes yesterday until they started to become Dylan's afternoon snack.

The Pseudo Crawl

Dylan is on the move now with a pseudo worm crawl. He starts in a push up position as you can see here and then drops his knees down, lunging himself forward. Next he flops on his belly to scoot his hands forward. Then he goes immediately back into the push up. He is surprisingly fast considering all the extra work he is doing. Scott and I keep trying to show him to stay up and move his hands, but he does not like that one bit.

Eye on the Prize (Going for the orange star)

Mmmm! Got It!
Yes, Dylan is still teething. I keep expecting to see a tooth one of these days.

7 Months!

Our busy little boy is 7 months old today! It is also our Nana's Birthday. Happy Birthday Nana! We love you. Here are some pictures that capture the most recent Dylan updates.

New Car Seat

We have switched from his infant carrier car seat to a big boy convertible car seat because he was quickly approaching the max weight and height limits. So far he is very happy with the change. It must be comfortable because he fell asleep on the very first ride.

Get Ready, Get Set...

Dylan is working hard on crawling. He rolls all over the place and pushes up into either a push up position or a crawling position, but still has not put all the steps together yet. It won't be long before he is ready to GO!

Big Boy Baths

The infant bath tub we had been using was getting a little small so we switched to the big bathtub yesterday. He is still a little wobbly sitting on his own so this change was actually more work for Scott and I. Dylan loved it though! What could be better than playing (aka eating) his bath toys and books (Yummy!)? He enjoyed it so much that he cried when we took him out.

More Peas Please :o)

We finally found Dylan's veggie of choice! Much to our surprise Peas are the winner. Peas are my least favorite veggie and Scott does not like them either, so we saved them last. Anticipating the grimace followed by a stubborn refusal to open his mouth that has followed every other veggie attempt, I was shocked when he is opened his mouth and ate every bite!

Halloween

! HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

From a Little Guy Who is "Beary" Cute!


Goodnight Bear!

A Wonderful Trip with a Blowout Finish

Last weekend we flew to Chicago to visit Great Grandma & Grandpa Connors. We had a wonderful time! Dylan got to meet a lot of his great aunts and uncles and almost all of his second cousins on that side of the family. It was so nice to be on vacation! There was never a shortage of people to play with Dylan. Dylan loved having his Grandma Great hold him and read him stories! Grandpa Great made several comments about what an amazing and strong boy Dylan is. No doubt about it, he is a Connors. We are hoping we can plan a trip to visit everyone again next year.

For Dylan's second plane trip he did really well for the most part. Here is a picture of him sound asleep on Dad on the way to Chicago. After a great trip and a peaceful flight there, we were due for a little excitement... It started when we were in the security line. I picked Dylan up from the stroller in order to carry him through the metal detectors and discovered a record blowout. Luckily there was a family restroom close by, so Scott and I changed him and washed him off before boarding the plane. "At least it happened before we were on the plane," I said to Scott. During takeoff Dylan ate and the timing seemed perfect for him to sleep through the flight. That was until Scott reported a second rumbling. Oh No! A mere 45 minutes after the security incident came a second record blowout, saturating him and his 2nd (and last) outfit. Out of clothes and wipes in the travel bag after the first blowout, we cleaned him up with Wet Ones and were left with a tired, grumpy, naked baby. We covered him with a blanket and he fell asleep in my arms after a mini meltdown that seemed to last much longer to Scott and I than it did in reality. Now back at home, I can reflect on the lessons learned:

• Bring more than one change of clothes for Dylan on plane trips, as well as extra shirts for Scott and I.
• Never say, "At least it happened before we were on the plane!"
  

If you haven't seen the 6-month videos yet... look at the previous post.

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

It has been 6 months now since we became a family of three! I've noticed already how my concept of time has changed. Instead of measuring my own birthday or the changing of the year, time passes now with new milestones and activities for Dylan every few weeks. It is such a joy! There is always so much to look forward to.

At Dylan's 6 month checkup this week he weighed 19 lbs and was 27 inches long. This puts him at the 75% for both weight and height. He is still eating and growing well and is already wearing his 12 month clothes. Prior to the round of shots this week he was on a good schedule and sleeping about 10 hours at night. He loves playtime, stories, and sound effects.

In celebration of Dylan's 1/2 birthday, Scott created not one... but TWO videos for your viewing pleasure! The first is a fun collection of video clips that we've taken over the past 3 months and the second is a picture slide show. Make sure that your speakers are turned on to get the full entertainment value. Enjoy...

Video Clips

Picture Slide Show

Carrots (:oP) and a Cold Front

Does this picture look remarkably similar to the one in the green beaners post? Thought so...
On Saturday night we attempted to move from green beans to carrots, thinking they would definitely taste better and Dylan would just LOVE them. We clearly don't have a firm grasp of our little guy's taste buds. Alas, we are going to keep at it in the hope that he will soon find his inner-veggie. As his Aunt Chris said, he won't get his yummy fruits until he learns to eat his veggies first. Crystal actually tried the carrots herself and she said they weren't bad at all. I again refrained from putting my mouth anywhere near that spoon.

We also had a cold front move in on Saturday night and with it came a lot of rain. Between downpours we thought it would be fun to take a stroll to the neighborhood Walgreens to get vanilla ice cream to go with the amazing peanut-butter brownies we had bought that day from Sweet Blessings Bakery. Crystal was thrilled to bundle Dylan up in his Oshkosh outfit, complete with a matching ski hat. He did look quite handsome in my humble opinion. We were successful in our ice cream mission, but Dylan didn't make it all the way. He konked out halfway through the journey, which provided us with some unobstructed photo opportunities of our sleeping little man.

Coming up... Big 6-month checkup on Wednesday and a 1/2 birthday on Friday! Also, Happy Birthday! to my sister Allison today and my brother Bill on Wednesday!

Green Beaners (:oP)

We attempted to introduce Dylan to the wonderful world of green beans last night, but as you can see, he wasn't thinking they were all that wonderful. It was the first time we had fed him anything non-breast milk related and we were hoping for a better outcome. Although, after smelling the green beaners myself, I really can't blame the little guy for his reaction. I didn't put that spoon anywhere close to my mouth.

Today Crystal tried to feed him some more green beans along with rice cereal and he has apparently decided he isn't going for anything that doesn't come from his mom or a bottle. In fact, he was actually more interested in eating his foot, which he just got done doing in this picture...

Thank You For Voting!

The Baby Palooza results were announced today and Dylan did not win the contest, but he is still the cutest baby in Albuquerque in our book. Thank you all for your support! It was fun.

Go Cubbies!

!!! CUBS CLINCH NL CENTRAL !!!

Thank you to the Lenke's for this awesome Cubs uniform
and the Raspolich's for the squishy baby baseball!
Dylan is ready to cheer on his Cubbies in the playoffs.

5 Months! & Baby Palooza!

Dylan is now officially 5 months old! Crystal and I get asked how old he is quite often and we have been rounding up for so many weeks now that I was thinking he should be 6 months soon. It is amazing how popular you become at swimming pools and grocery stores when you have a handsome little baby with you. Babies must have some magnetic properties about them to attract so much attention.

As you can see in the picture, Dylan has finally found his feet. He always knew those little piggies were down there, but he wasn't able to capture them until a couple of weeks ago. Now he pretty much just sits like this all the time. These past few weeks he has really improved his motor skills. He constantly reaches for things (like his Mama's hair), jumps and spins around in his Jungle Jumper (look for a video at 6 months), swims like a fish, and has started on his way towards mobility with some rudimentary crawling movements.

With these new skills, our little man is starting to become an independent rebel. Just yesterday (9/9) I went to work and came home to a completely different little boy. He had decided that he no longer liked to be held and demonstrated this by arching his back and turning to his left to escape his confines. If he didn't escape quickly enough, he screamed and grunted to further his cause. Before he goes down for naps we read books to him. However, last night he decided that he did not like some of his favorite books anymore and kept slamming them shut right after I started reading them. We had to move on to new books (with lots of noisy buttons) to get him to stop doing that. He also developed another language yesterday with a tone that is somewhat of a cross between Donald Duck and a drowning pig (I don't know what this actually sounds like, but I have an imagination). He used to make high pitch squeals but now Crystal says it is like he is trying to swallow his tongue. You'd think he was if he didn't have such a huge smile on his face after doing it.

One of my favorite changes of this past month has been Dylan's awareness in general and his awareness of Snoopee in particular. He just loves that spotted black and white dog. If I put him close to Snoop, he will just coo and scream until Snoopee gets annoyed and walks away. He loves grabbing onto Snoopee's hair and squishing it through his fingers. Luckily Snoop is a good sport and just rolls over in hopes Dylan will scratch his belly. They make a great pair.



Well by this time you might be wondering what the Baby Palooza! part of the title is about. A local radio station (100.3 The Peak) is conducting a contest to find Albuquerque's Cutest Baby, called Babypalooza!. Being the biased parents that we are, we decided that Dylan is definitely the cutest baby in Albuquerque and should win this contest hands down. So we went ahead and entered the photo above (there have been cuter ones since, but this one is in my all time favorites and I entered over a month ago). The voting begins today and we need your help to crown Dylan the champion. So here is what you need to do to vote for Dylan...

1. Click this link... The Voting Page.
2. Know that Dylan is baby #326.
3. Scroll down until you get to #326, then click the white button next to it.
4. Scroll down more and click the "Vote here" button right below #361. If you successfully voted, then the "Vote here" button you clicked disappears.
5. If you want to see Dylan's picture on the site, go to Gallery 4 and click the right arrows until you get to his picture.

The rules say you are allowed to vote once per computer, so if you have access to more computers, vote more! I created another blog with these voting instructions that you can pass on to everyone you know. It is at http://votefordylan.blogspot.com.

The grand prize is a trip to San Diego and a couple of other things, so here is a deal for you... if you vote for Dylan, leave us a comment that you voted and we will send you a super-duper postcard from San Diego if Dylan wins. Sounds great huh?!

Voting goes until Sept. 24th and the winner will be announced on the air the morning of Sept. 25th! Don't delay in voting. Vote today!

Thanks!

Everyone's A Lobo...Woof, Woof, Woof!

For those of you who are not from New Mexico, the UNM chant is the title of this blog. I thought it was fitting being that I started back last week as Professor Connors, teaching two nutrition classes, Dylan spent a few hours tonight with Cousin Ashley in her apartment on campus while I was teaching, and Scott is going to be a guest lecturer for an engineering class later this month. So as you can tell the University is yet to see the end of the Connors Crew.

For me working again has been a big adjustment. It has been a lot of work to prepare lessons during the day during any spare minute I have while Dylan naps. The hardest part is staying focused on a task with multiple interruptions throughout the day. I know... all you mom's out there can relate...welcome to motherhood. Despite the challenge, three nights a week when class starts I remember why I enjoy teaching nutrition.

The experience for Dylan (AND especially Cousin Ashley) was not as enjoyable. First, mom had to wake him from his nap to get to class on time, and then his tummy hurt and he refused to take a bottle. Needless to say it might be a little soon for Dylan to be heading off to college. Thanks to Ashley for doing so well calming Dylan and enduring the meltdown!!!

With the exception of tonight, Scott has been going into work super early so that he could be home in time to be with Dylan. It has been great for Dylan to get more Daddy play time while I teach. However, we are still adjusting to our extra early mornings. Despite the big adjustments we have made as a family these past few months, we are truly blessed to have Dylan in our lives. We love that little guy so much it is hard to imagine our life ever being complete without him.

His First Lobo Gear!!!