18 Months

*Second post today, see below*

Connor was 18 months in February, now 19 months. He's a toddler now, I have to remind myself that he's no longer a baby, even though he'll always be MY baby! He's an active little guy and stays very busy playing, gibber-gabbering, running, learning, singing, dancing, and on and on. He's a major snuggle bug and LOVES to give hugs, kisses and snuggle constantly. He loves stuffed animals and gives them plenty of hugs, kisses and snuggles as well. He likes to help whenever he can: doing the dishes, carrying groceries, bringing us our phones when they beep, etc etc. He's a great sleeper and loves bedtime and baths. He's still a fearless daredevil like his Dad, which of course scares his Mom to death. He thrives on bed time wrestle mania with Daddy and loves to be tickled. He took to nursery quick and easy. He never looked back! While the other kids are crying and fussing and reaching for their parents, Connor is off playing with toys with no concern about where Mom and Dad are or if they're ever coming back. He's still tall and skinny, 90th %ile for height and 50th %ile for weight. He waves and says "hi" and "bye" to every person and animas we see when we walk, drive, or even watch TV! He knows what he wants and has his ways of letting us know. When he grabs our hands and places them on his feet that means "I want a foot massage", he'll grab our arms and put them around him when we just aren't snuggling well enough, and when he wants something or needs help he will put out his hand and go "eh?". We keep telling him he's going to need to use actual words sometime! He has recently discovered Disney movies and his favorites are Cars, Toy Story, and A Goofy Movie. He also still loves Curious George and Mickey Moue Clubhouse. Although he is a very happy, affectionate, friendly, easy-going little guy, he is also...a toddler. He can throw a mean fit with the best of 'em! He throws back his head, melts to the ground, and sobs when things just aren't going his way.
We love this boy to pieces and still find everything he does hilarious, adorable, and just plain wonderful. You could say he's a little spoiled.

Christmas in The Big Apple

So it's been almost 3 months since Christmas and I'm just now posting about it. SLACKER ALERT. Better late than never I suppose. Back in April or so we decided we needed to take a trip back East to see Adam's mom. We hadn't seen her since our wedding almost 5 years ago, and she still hadn't met Connor in person! So we thought it was high time to bite the bullet and spend the big bucks. It's worth it for family, right?? And, since we have the ability to go back East SO seldom, we also decided to make a slightly bigger trip of it and see what the buzz about NYC is all about. Neither of us had ever been, and may never get the opportunity again, so we did it! Christmas in NY?? Yeah, that happened.

2 long and painful flights, 1 short painless flight, 3+ days with Granny Todd in North Carolina, and Christmas Eve/Christmas Day in NYC, WHEW! What a short, but wonderful trip! Connor loved getting to know his Granny and even getting to spend some time with his crazy Auntie Laura who was also visiting. He warmed up to them both very quickly (good thing since it was such a short trip!) and was perfectly happy to give snuggles whenever asked for. Sleep did not come so easily on the trip however. For the first time in his life, he ended up in bed with Mom and Dad, the only way we could get him to sleep. He was not a fan of the hotel crib obviously. So he caught naps in the car whenever he could and ran on empty the rest of the time. And we came to a deeper realization of why we don't allow him in our bed: he's a wild sleeper! One of us ended up on the floor or hanging by a thread each night! Thankfully by the time we got to NY he was so tired that he slept GREAT!


In NY we saw as many of the sights as we could fit in, ad managed to pretty much see everything we cared to! We stayed in a pretty inexpensive hotel that actually ended up being fantastic and super close to everything! We really lucked out! We had even gotten tickets to see the Rockettes Christmas show which was SO cool! It was a family show, so Connor was able to come of course and he actually sat through most of it before he was ready to move move move again. Adam took him out and watched the last few numbers from the window in the lobby. What a saint! We had pizza, cheesecake, hot dogs from a cart, Reuben sandwiches, Gelato, all the must-tries in the Big Apple. I have to say it was such an amazing trip it was worth the big bucks for the life-long memories of our Christmas spent in NYC!

November

And in November we

Went camping at Casper's Wilderness Park. It was a beautiful place, nice weather, and we had a great campsite. We set up camp, went on a hike, played a card game, made a fire, cooked tin foil dinners, put Connor to bed, made S'mores, and watched a movie on our laptop. Once we decided to head to bed and snuggled into our sleeping bags, Connor woke up, screamed, would not be consoled, fell back asleep for a half hour, woke up again screaming, and the cycle continued until about midnight when we put him in the car, packed up camp by the light of our headlights, and headed home. Oh well. We tried. It was fun while it lasted. We had our shake-and-pour pancakes and sausage on our griddle at home the next morning.
















Connor discovered some fun places to play








We went to a USC football game




We spent Thanksgiving with my aunts, uncles and cousins in San Diego.








And we decorated for Christmas! (And by WE I mean ME, while Connor napped and Adam went rock climbing!)










Stay tuned for December, my favorite month of the year! And don't miss the following 2 posts, they're also new!