Sunday, August 14, 2016
Connor's Birthday Party
Friday, August 12, 2016
Connor - 12 months
- Put his hands over his eyes then said, "boo!"
- Says day-do (thank you), ba (ball), bam-pa (grandpa), uh oh, Na ba (no), and he said apple juice clear as day once, even my mom heard him. He also sings "Let it gooooo" it's adorable But he's hard to get to say or do anything on command, he kind of just does it when he feels like it.
- Is walking between furniture ie. Between a table and the couch. He'll hold on to both and go for it. I've also found him hanging on to door jambs. He has taken a step and stood but gets too excited.
- Looooves Daniel Tiger. It's the only TV show that captures his attention for .5 seconds. He pulls out all the Daniel books and does shakies and points to them excitedly and then he'll give Daniel a kiss.
- Gives kisses a lot now - except to Dallin. He doesn't seem to like the beard. He pushes his face away. He also blows kisses.
- Seems to understand a ton.
- Loves to eat and snack. He's kind of over bottles and loves adult food. Especially churros.
- Still is a great sleeper, especially at night. Since we've been on the go this summer he doesn't really take a morning nap and takes a super long afternoon one.
- Has 10 teeth, his bottom 2 molars recently made an appearance.
- Loves the water like baths, pools, splash pad. Loves it all. Just gotta teach him not to splash in the bath like he does at the pool.
- Is a mommy's boy.
- Busts a move with his whole body.
- Shakes his head for fun.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Connor - 11 months
At 11 months Connor:
-Can point with his pointer finger
-Opens and closes his hand when he wants something
-Can shake his head back and forth like a pendulum
-His favorite word by far is "uh-oh" and says it constantly
-Is sick of being a baby and really over bottles but I have tubs of it in storage so he gets to keep drinking
-Is in size 5 diapers during the day and size 6 nighttime diapers
-Sometimes forgoes his morning nap and I think he'll kick it before long
-Gets up way too early in the morning. He doesn't have a set time, it's so sporadic, is driving me crazy
-Is quickly growing out of his 18-24 month clothes so I had to go but MORE clothes for him to get through the summer. He fits 24 month and 2T clothes quite nicely
-Gets up on all fours to push to sitting but mainly still army crawls
-Loves the bathroom for some reason so we have to keep the door closed
-Had a blast in swimming lessons splashing and wiggling the whole time
-Loves balls and went to sleep with one a couple of times
-Never stops moving
-Gets so excited and shakes his hands and kicks his feet really fast
-Loves to jabber, loudly, which has also lead to squealing for attention and it's ear-splitting
-His nails grow so fast I have to cut them twice a week and he hates it. It's a wrestling match
-Pulled the cold air return vent off the wall (it was screwed in). He's like Godzilla
-Goes to do something he knows he's not supposed to and will stop and give me a grin and I'll tell him "no" and he'll laugh/squeal and scurry away to do it anyway
-Loves his sissy still. He'll sometimes stare at her baby picture on the wall and smile at it
-Does awesome "shakies"
-Has been trying more table food
-Gives kisses
-I swear he repeats words we say. He said "apple juice" clear as day the other day (my mom heard it too!) but doesn't talk, I guess he just mimics
-Will lock his legs so he stays standing instead of sitting down
-Is so lovable and squishy! Random strangers come up to me and ask to squeeze his thighs
-Always the first to smile. He has the most pleasant attitude and demeanor. I wish I was like him
-Has 7 teeth
-Needs another haircut
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Potty Training
Within a day of many accidents, she pretty much had pee down. It wasn't 100% for a few weeks but she did so well. Sometime in the last year she had developed this horrible fear of pooping in the potty. I think it was after a couple poop accidents in the bathtub. She refused. It was awful and we had NO idea what to do. I turned to Facebook, blogs, the pediatrician, books, anything - I was desperate. The thing with Zoey is that she can't be bribed. She has an iron will. Not that it's a horrible thing, I think it'll serve her well later in life, but as a toddler it is really hard to parent.
As she couldn't be bribed, we ended up with a closet full of potty presents for pooping the toilet that she could have cared less about. We tried potty training dolly.
I even resorted to throwing a tiny bit of tootsie roll in the potty after she peed (before she could turn around and see) and we celebrated that "poop" and she asked if she could go to Lagoon now (another bribe). You see how this wasn't working out? She got to the point that she would hold all her poop in until it would come barreling out at any given time and she would scream and freak out. Luckily, most of this happened at home but there was one choice encounter at the Health Spot and I became THAT mom with the kid that got poo everywhere in their bathroom as she flailed off the seat in pure terror and smeared it everywhere. It was prime timing as their toilet paper, paper towel, garbage sack and soap all ran out during our trip to the bathroom. I learned quickly to carry gallon-sized Ziploc bags with me and a change of clothes.
We were soooo ready to give up but I didn't feel like I could go backward with how well she was doing going pee, it just didn't make sense. So we decided to have her tell us when she needed to go poop and we put a diaper on her. We started slow and small and would just make her stand in the bathroom and poop in the diaper. After a few days of that, we made her sit on the potty (lid up or down) with a diaper on and poop. Until we graduated to cutting a hole in the diaper and she pooped in the potty! It was the biggest celebration and I thought we had turned a corner. Oh, no. Now she didn't want to poop in the potty OR in a diaper and it was just chaos and she held it in. Again. So more Miralax it was. Our doctor told us to pick a reward that could be easily taken away or given on a daily basis (i.e. TV instead of Lagoon) so we took away TV. It may have been harder on me because I didn't know what to do with her while I showered. But it worked and threw a fit she did. We went THREE whole weeks without any TV. Remember I told you about her will and how she couldn't be bribed?? It was actually quite pleasant and got us back into a routine of playing more instead of a TV babysitter.
So we were at Mike and Mary's one Sunday about a week later (after the hole in the diaper poop) for family dinner and she had had so many accidents there (three, I think) that I was out of spare underwear and by some miracle she had a spare pair of pants. And that was all she had, no undies, just pants. So the next time she needed to go she asked to go in the potty (WHA...???) and SHE DID (!) and hasn't looked back. She's earned all her potty presents and filled up her sticker chart and got to go see Finding Dory. She still wears a night diaper at nights even though she tends to wake up dry, I don't want to chance it until she's doing it super well because if she wakes up in the middle of the night we're generally up for hours. I'm so proud of her. I don't know what clicked in her head but she decided to do it and has been ever since. She poops so much now, I can't believe how horrible she must have been feeling to hold it in for 4 days at a time.
We finally figured out that she wasn't afraid of "losing a part of her body" like most kids are, she genuinely just thought it was disgusting. If we held her hand of covered her eyes for the first few times, she did really well. Now she likes to look at it and tell us what it looks like. Nice huh?
So we survived. I thought it would never end and just like that, it was over. And I'm so glad. What's nice too is Connor is in the same size diapers as Zoey was so we just continue to buy the same stuff. But it's so nice to do it for one child instead of two! To all those still in the trenches of potty training, my prayers are with you.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Connor - 10 months
Where has the time gone? Connor has turned into Godzilla baby/toddler and keeps me hopping from 6:15 am - 8 pm. He's so stinking cute and exhausting. At 10 months he:
- Launched himself over some pillows on our bed and rolled off onto his face and gave himself a bloody nose
- Loves to eat, still hates green beans. Sits and cries if we are eating and he isn't, even if he just ate
- Can army crawl. Still faster rolling but now prefers to crawl. He ends up filthy by successfully dusting my floors all day every day. Makes me feel like a slob, so gross
- Gives the cheesiest smiles, especially when he squawks and you give him what he wanted
- Says "uh oh", "woof", "ball" and "hi"
- Waves bye bye and hi
- Claps his hands for signing "more" and waves his arms like dancing to sign for "all done"
- Loves music and dances
- Is into EVERYTHING, he is so curious. He loves to try and put his fingers in light sockets, pull cords, open drawers- especially the one under the oven, play with door stoppers and play with anything that's dangerous.
- He's super strong. He's successfully kicked a slat off of his crib, like full-on broke it and can push various things over with his chunky legs.
- He's working on pulling himself up, he mainly just gets on his knees
- Really wants to walk or stand. He's getting less wobbly when we hold him up but struggles taking steps
- Is an early bird. I hate it
- Doesn't nap terrifically, an hour around 10 a.m. then 90 minutes around 2 p.m. With swimming lessons he's kind of all screwed up and will take a really long nap after we get home at 11 a.m. and then no more naps the rest of the day. Not sure I'm ready for him to transition to only one nap
- Is really social
- Got his top two teeth. They were on the verge forevveeerr and finally broke through
- Is so good to let me lay him down and he goes to sleep with minimal fussing
- Loves to blow raspberries, especially with a mouthful of food
- Loves to sit with his bucket of toys and move from thing to thing
- Can cluck his tongue
- He frequently gets his toys stolen by his sister who insists that the toy is "mine" but he's a good sport... For now...
- Is very mechanically and physically inclined. Can figure toys out and how things function quite easily
- He's really coordinated also. He can hit a balloon in rhythm and throw a ball
- Loves to swing
We love him to pieces!
- Launched himself over some pillows on our bed and rolled off onto his face and gave himself a bloody nose
- Loves to eat, still hates green beans. Sits and cries if we are eating and he isn't, even if he just ate
- Can army crawl. Still faster rolling but now prefers to crawl. He ends up filthy by successfully dusting my floors all day every day. Makes me feel like a slob, so gross
- Gives the cheesiest smiles, especially when he squawks and you give him what he wanted
- Says "uh oh", "woof", "ball" and "hi"
- Waves bye bye and hi
- Claps his hands for signing "more" and waves his arms like dancing to sign for "all done"
- Loves music and dances
- Is into EVERYTHING, he is so curious. He loves to try and put his fingers in light sockets, pull cords, open drawers- especially the one under the oven, play with door stoppers and play with anything that's dangerous.
- He's super strong. He's successfully kicked a slat off of his crib, like full-on broke it and can push various things over with his chunky legs.
- He's working on pulling himself up, he mainly just gets on his knees
- Really wants to walk or stand. He's getting less wobbly when we hold him up but struggles taking steps
- Is an early bird. I hate it
- Doesn't nap terrifically, an hour around 10 a.m. then 90 minutes around 2 p.m. With swimming lessons he's kind of all screwed up and will take a really long nap after we get home at 11 a.m. and then no more naps the rest of the day. Not sure I'm ready for him to transition to only one nap
- Is really social
- Got his top two teeth. They were on the verge forevveeerr and finally broke through
- Is so good to let me lay him down and he goes to sleep with minimal fussing
- Loves to blow raspberries, especially with a mouthful of food
![]() |
| Cheesy smile with glimpse of two new top teeth! |
- Can cluck his tongue
- He frequently gets his toys stolen by his sister who insists that the toy is "mine" but he's a good sport... For now...
- Is very mechanically and physically inclined. Can figure toys out and how things function quite easily- He's really coordinated also. He can hit a balloon in rhythm and throw a ball
- Loves to swing
We love him to pieces!
Connor - 10 months
Where has the time gone? Connor has turned into Godzilla baby/toddler and keeps me hopping from 6:15 am - 8 pm. He's so stinking cute and exhausting. At 10 months he:
- Launched himself over some pillows on our bed and rolled off onto his face and gave himself a bloody nose
- Loves to eat, still hates green beans. Sits and cries if we are eating and he isn't, even if he just ate
- Can army crawl. Still faster rolling but now prefers to crawl. He ends up filthy by successfully dusting my floors all day every day. Makes me feel like a slob, so gross
- Gives the cheesiest smiles, especially when he squawks and you give him what he wanted
- Says "uh oh", "woof", "ball" and "hi"
- Waves bye bye and hi
- Claps his hands for signing "more" and waves his arms like dancing to sign for "all done"
- Loves music and dances
- Is into EVERYTHING, he is so curious. He loves to try and put his fingers in light sockets, pull cords, open drawers- especially the one under the oven, play with door stoppers and play with anything that's dangerous.
- He's super strong. He's successfully kicked a slat off of his crib, like full-on broke it and can push various things over with his chunky legs.
- He's working on pulling himself up, he mainly just gets on his knees
- Really wants to walk or stand. He's getting less wobbly when we hold him up but struggles taking steps
- Is an early bird. I hate it
- Doesn't nap terrifically, an hour around 10 a.m. then 90 minutes around 2 p.m. With swimming lessons he's kind of all screwed up and will take a really long nap after we get home at 11 a.m. and then no more naps the rest of the day. Not sure I'm ready for him to transition to only one nap
- Is really social
- Got his top two teeth. They were on the verge forevveeerr and finally broke through
- Is so good to let me lay him down and he goes to sleep with minimal fussing
- Loves to blow raspberries, especially with a mouthful of food
- Loves to sit with his bucket of toys and move from thing to thing
- Can cluck his tongue
- He frequently gets his toys stolen by his sister who insists that the toy is "mine" but he's a good sport... For now...
- Is very mechanically and physically inclined. Can figure toys out and how things function quite easily
- He's really coordinated also. He can hit a balloon in rhythm and throw a ball
- Loves to swing
We love him to pieces!
- Launched himself over some pillows on our bed and rolled off onto his face and gave himself a bloody nose
- Loves to eat, still hates green beans. Sits and cries if we are eating and he isn't, even if he just ate
- Can army crawl. Still faster rolling but now prefers to crawl. He ends up filthy by successfully dusting my floors all day every day. Makes me feel like a slob, so gross
- Gives the cheesiest smiles, especially when he squawks and you give him what he wanted
- Says "uh oh", "woof", "ball" and "hi"
- Waves bye bye and hi
- Claps his hands for signing "more" and waves his arms like dancing to sign for "all done"
- Loves music and dances
- Is into EVERYTHING, he is so curious. He loves to try and put his fingers in light sockets, pull cords, open drawers- especially the one under the oven, play with door stoppers and play with anything that's dangerous.
- He's super strong. He's successfully kicked a slat off of his crib, like full-on broke it and can push various things over with his chunky legs.
- He's working on pulling himself up, he mainly just gets on his knees
- Really wants to walk or stand. He's getting less wobbly when we hold him up but struggles taking steps
- Is an early bird. I hate it
- Doesn't nap terrifically, an hour around 10 a.m. then 90 minutes around 2 p.m. With swimming lessons he's kind of all screwed up and will take a really long nap after we get home at 11 a.m. and then no more naps the rest of the day. Not sure I'm ready for him to transition to only one nap
- Is really social
- Got his top two teeth. They were on the verge forevveeerr and finally broke through
- Is so good to let me lay him down and he goes to sleep with minimal fussing
- Loves to blow raspberries, especially with a mouthful of food
![]() |
| Cheesy smile with glimpse of two new top teeth! |
- Can cluck his tongue
- He frequently gets his toys stolen by his sister who insists that the toy is "mine" but he's a good sport... For now...
- Is very mechanically and physically inclined. Can figure toys out and how things function quite easily- He's really coordinated also. He can hit a balloon in rhythm and throw a ball
- Loves to swing
We love him to pieces!
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Connor - 9 months old
- Weighs 20 lbs 10.5 oz, he's in the 99 percentile and weighs as much as a 20 month old
- Is 30.5 in high, which is the 97 percentile and the size of a 15 month old
- Head is in the 95 percentile
- So he's proportionally huge. A toddler baby.
- He learned how to clap his hands and loves patty cake.
- He throws his head back (especially into his high chair) to get our attention. Especially when we're not feeding him fast enough.
- Hates to watch other people eat and wants in on the action. He's also doing quite well biting off pieces of banana and cheering them.
- His top two teeth are soooo close, they'll break through any second.
- Hates to be left alone or left out.
- Sleeps from 8 pm - 7 am ish. He's become quite an early riser and I am not.
- Looves to play with toys. He will sit in Zoey's room and pull toys out of a bucket and play for exceptionally long periods of time.
- He's really strong and has broken a few toys by pulling them apart.
- Is a nightmare in sacrament meeting. He is constantly on the move and it is exhausting. Perpetual motion.
- Graduated to size 5 diapers.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Zoey Picasso
| Dallin and his beard |
Popcorn Popping
Zoey has been obsessed with the "popcorn popping" on the trees. She has been looking forward to this ever since last Spring and is quite upset that the popcorn is popping out leaves now and disappearing. She loves to sing the Primary song whenever we see the trees and points them out constantly. We were even driving down a road with lots of popcorn trees and she yells out, "Mom! We're in popcorn land!" It's so cute and one of those things that makes her, her.Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Connor - 8 Months
Here we are, rounding the corner toward 1 years old. I can hardly believe it. Connor continues to be mellow and happy - people are drawn to his light and you can instantly tell his demeanor. At 8 months, he also:
- Just learned how to blow raspberries
- Likes his veggies now except green beans
- Is eating little baby cracker pieces that dissolve quickly. He isn't quite sure what to do with them and doesn't seem to like the texture but his liking to eat trumps an texture issue.
- Eats solids 2x a day and drinks 8 oz. bottles the other times
- Wears size 18 month clothes (!)
- Wears size 4 diapers
- Is graduating into Zoey's car seat since he's outgrown his infant one
- Randomly laughs at things, especially his sister
- Still has only 2 teeth
- Takes a binky to sleep but lately will chew on it
- Goes down for the night like a champ but cries his eyes out when I leave him for a nap
- Is super social and fights sleep now because he's afraid he'll miss something. If there is too much going on, he can't sleep, he wants to be right in the middle of it
- Usually takes a 30-60 min. nap at 10:30 a.m. then about a 2 hour nap around 2 p.m.
- Got his second haircut. His hair is still super awesome and grows like crazy. It's always the thing people notice about him and comment on. Quite the conversation starter.
- Eyes squint up when he smiles
- Has started to smile with his eyes pretty much closed and crinkling up his nose with his bottom teeth jutting out - so cute!
- Does little shakies
- Tosses his head all over
- Is sitting up pretty well
- Has started maneuvering himself in circles with his arms. He'll get his feet under him and lift up but hasn't gotten his legs under him yet. He's hefty!
- Went to the park for the first time and looooved the slides until mom got too worn out packing him up the stairs or trying to lift him to the top of the slide
-Haaaates grass
- Loves to roll around on Zoey's floor and play with toys. He especially likes toys that rattle and make a lot of noise
- Really likes touch and feel books
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Connor - 7 Months

Connor has had a rough month. He was diagnosed with human metapneunovirus and spent about a week on a monitor, doing albuterol nebulizer treatments and on oxygen while sleeping. It made for an interesting time, especially since all this happened two days before my brother's wedding. I have to give a shout-out to Owlet sock monitors though. I've been borrowing one from my brother- and sister-in-law and I'd had Connor on it after his Amoxicilin reaction and it went off once a night for a couple nights and then Monday night (leap day), it went off a ton. I put Connor in bed with me so he could sleep and I could keep a sleepy eye on him and could hear him wheezing and he'd arch his back as if in pain every once in a while. I called my mom in the morning then called the doc and told them my app had him in the 70-80 O2 range and they kind of freaked out. My mom then shared with me that his back arching was probably because he was air-hungry. Yikes! So I took him in and the doc was actually very attentive and had had a patient in there with the sock for a different reason and had found them quite accurate. They monitored him for a while and his saturations stayed around 90 awake and upright so they knew they'd go below their threshold while asleep. They had warned me on the phone that if he went below 90 they'd send me up to Primary's.
Luckily, after suctioning Connor's boogers out and giving him a breathing treatment, his saturations improved a little. The doc said the hospital would probably keep us 12-24 hours then send us home with oxygen, a pulse oximeter and nebulizer so we'd just skip the hospital and go straight to home treatment. Bless her! I'm kind of glad our regular doctor wasn't there because I'm not so sure we would have been so lucky with him. So I spent my time running between my Relief Society activity and home to meet IHC Home Health to learn how to use all the equipment. Connor was on oxygen for almost a week and had nebulizer treatments every 4-ish hours for that same time period.
There were quite a few sleepless nights as his saturation so would dip too low and I'd have to turn the oxygen up, then I'd wake up in a panic and notice his O2 was too high and I'd turn it down; it was exhausting. Thursday night was pretty bad. He didn't seem to be improving much and I had to turn him up to 1/2 liter (he'd been on about 1/4). They told me to take him into the suction clinic and have them evaluate him but he improved throughout the day, especially after a few good coughs so I didn't end up taking him in.
It was so hard to see my little guys struggling so much. It was a logistical nightmare to make sure we had everything packed up just to go to Sunday dinner. I didn't realize my little guy was so sick and feel so blessed that he is getting better. There's a little baby in our ward now in the ICU with RSV and now pneumonia and on a ventilator. These sicknesses are nasty! So that was our eventful couple of weeks this month with Mr. Connor. Between the ear infections, Amoxicilin reaction and virus, our little guy needs to feel better. At 7 months Connor:
- Is about 25 pounds and officially too big for his infant carrier but I haven't switched him yet, especially since he sleeps in it and the next size bigger carriers don't remove from the car.
- Wears 18 month clothes (some 12 month clothes barely fit)
- Eats 6-8 oz. bottles
- Loves rice cereal and eats it once a day because I haven't figured out how to do it twice yet
- Like squash - the only veggie he'll eat
- Likes water in a sippy but I think it's mainly to chew on the spout
- Wears size 4 diapers but after this first box I'll probably just move him to 5's - the same size Zoey wears
- Still smiles with his whole face
- Grabs my face and will give me a big, open-mouthed kiss if I ask for one
- Is working on waving "hi" and "bye bye" but isn't quite there yet
- Is bored and sick of being a baby - he wants to get up and GO but can't quite yet
- Loves phones
- Rolls like a crazy person
- Responds to his name
- Loves to splash in the bathtub and eat the bath cup
- Is doing pretty well sitting up but still has a little round bum. He also likes to launch himself backward which isn't good on the head
- Still takes a morning and afternoon nap. They vary in length and what time he goes down.
- Has had a rough go sleeping through the night and it's been ages since he has with all the sickness. I did get a couple nights this week which was amazing.
- Has bad separation anxiety when left completely alone. Also, does not like it when he can't see me.
- Usually wakes up a little earlier in the morning and wants to snuggle; which is strange since he's not super snugly.
- Puts EVERYTHING in his mouth - still.
- Started doing the excited shakies (when he saw a balloon bouncing around his head). This freaked me out as he was sick but I'm glad Zoey did it so I didn't completely lose my mind in worry.
- Only two teeth still.
- Has started babbling more and more, making mama sounds and bo, bo, bo, ba, ba, ba
- Is really good at grabbing things - hair, food, books, arm fat (ouch!)
- Still LOVES to jump in his bouncer or Johnny Jump-up - it's hysterical to watch
He's still such a sweet, happy baby. Even while sick, people couldn't believe how mild-mannered he was, he just didn't complain! The home health guy commented that he didn't look that sick as Connor bounced in his bouncy chair. But he didn't realize that he wasn't bouncing with the same gusto and energy and the smiles were virtually non-existent. It's nice to have the smiles back and celebrate another month with our bouncing baby boy!
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Zoey's Birthday Party
We celebrated Miss Zo on Sunday, Valentine's Day. Our families and close friends were so kind to come to my in-laws house and celebrate with us. Zoey was so excited to have her friends Phin and Hailey there to play with. I'm sooo glad she has such great friends who she loves.
This year I let her pick her party and she wanted a Minnie Mouse party. My mother-in-law did such a cute job with the decorations. (My mom was still trying to recover from my sister's wedding two days prior). I decided we'd do salad and a soup bar with breadsticks. I made a chicken noodle soup, my mom made a taco soup, my sister-in-law did Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocci soup (yum!) and my mother-in-law did a vegetable beef. We had way too much food - like always - but we made good work of it. I don't think anybody left hungry!
Zoey had a blast opening all her presents and was spoiled rotten. She also loved handing out little Valentines and mini-bubbles as party favors. The kids also went and played in the teepee and had a tea party. Zoey did great at blowing out the candle on her Minnie cake and even ate some cake this year! She said he didn't like the Elmo cupcakes from last year's party but she didn't even try it so...
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