April/May Frenzy, Family & Celebrations

Sorry for the incredibly long break between blogs. Over the past couple of months we have been a bit overwhelmed with all the exciting events. Here is a brief recap in pictures...

Here is Dylan playing in the empty cabinets just before the move. I love this picture because it captures his love for exploring and adventure. The look on his face is the classic "I'm doing something I know I should not be" look.

The day that we moved into the new house my brother Michael and his wife Mandy came to visit for a week. We had a great time. In this picture we are on the train to Santa Fe. We also took the tram and hiked in the Sandia Mountains and took a trip to the zoo. It was so fun having them visit. Thanks for spending your Spring break with us!

Here is Dylan loving the zoo. His favorite animal seemed to be the monkeys.

The weekend after Michael & Mandy left, my Mom & Dad and Nana & Papa came to visit to celebrate Dylan's 1st Birthday and Easter. We had two parties in two days to break in the new house (I will not attempt to try that again anytime soon). I could not have done it without the help from my family. Special Thanks to my Mom!

Dylan's birthday party was so much fun. He loved his cake and all of his new toys!

Here is Dylan playing in his new Sand Box that Grandpa and Uncle Todd made for him. It is a huge hit. He cries when it is time to leave the sandbox and go back inside.

Six days after Dylan's birthday and four days after Easter, the newest member of the Connors family arrived...our sweet little niece Abbie Hope. That weekend we were busy at work getting our old house ready for our tenants to move in. It looks great all spruced up with new paint and molding. Scott put in a lot of work and it was well worth it based on their reaction when they came to move in.
The next weekend we were able to take a quick trip to Chicago. Scott needed to go to St. Louis for work so we all decided to go to Chicago first to visit Grandma and Grandpa Connors and spend time with our family there. It was great to visit with everyone. Here Dylan is loving running around in Great Uncle Dave's amazing yard. That much green grass is a rarity for us New Mexicans.

During our Chicago trip Dylan took his first steps. He went from three in a row to nine in a row throughout the day. By the next week he had given up crawling completely. Now he practically runs around the house. He has quite a few bonks and bruises through the process, but loves this new found speed and freedom that comes along with walking. Here he is back at home headed straight for the stairs.

The next weekend Dylan's Gigi and Gramps came to visit us in our new house from Phoenix before heading back to Washington for the summer. Gramps built the table and chairs that they ordered for Dylan for his birthday. I love that we have a place for snacks and games now. We were also able to squeeze in a golf tournament on Saturday for Scott and the 5K Run for the Zoo for me on Sunday. Although I am not in shape, I can't seem to get rid of my competitive spirit. I ran so hard that I was sore for a few days and then was still disappointed when I found out I was only 8 seconds from third place (and a medal!) for my age group. I did smoke our nephew Jeremy and Dylan's Grandpa Dan, so that was a small consolation prize.

The next weekend was Mother's Day Weekend. It was wonderful to relax and be home. Here is a picture from a couple months ago of me trying to steal a kiss from my little man. It was taken on the camcorder, so it is a bit dark and grainy, but I still love it.

That brings us up to date for the most part. I'll leave you with a funny picture of our little cucumber bandit. Dylan loves to eat anything. One day last week while I was cooking dinner, Dylan got hold of a whole cucumber and took off running and munching. Mmmmm!

Bye Bye. See you again soon!

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!